Everyone has a way of defining who they are. You may define yourself based on your personality, your interests, your actions, based on where you were raised, or in any way that you see fit. But what does the term "self" mean in terms of psychology? Let's delve deeper to find out.
- What is the self?
- How is transference important to the self?
- What is the psychological perspective of the self?
The Definition of The Self
In personality psychology, the self can be defined as the individual as a whole, including all characteristics, attributes, mentality, and consciousness A person may define themselves based on their opinions, beliefs, past experiences, actions, place of origin, or religion. The philosophy of the self includes a person's consciousness of their physical self and character, as well as their emotional life.
Fg. 1 The Self, Pixabay.com
The Meaning of The Self
According to renowned psychologist Carl Jung, the self gradually develops through the process known as individuation.
Individuation
Individuation is described as the process by which an individual becomes a unique person encompassing both their conscious and unconscious selves. Jung states that individuation is completed when late maturity is reached. The self is considered the center of an individual's world and encompasses more than just personal identity. The way you perceive the world is a reflection of yourself, along with your thoughts, actions, and characteristics.
If a child is nurtured in a healthy environment, that child will most likely develop a healthy sense of self and self-esteem as an adult and will be able to maintain consistent patterns, self-soothe, and self-regulate throughout his life.
When individuals do not develop a healthy sense of self, they may rely on others in their daily lives and may have bad habits and characteristics such as drug use. Unhealthy self-esteem can affect a person's consciousness of their self-concept.
According to social psychologist Heinz Kohut, people needed to maintain daily life are called self objects. Children require self objects because they are unable to function on their own; however, during health development, children begin to rely on less on self objects as they develop a consciousness and self-concept. As children develop a consciousness, they begin to establish a personal identity and can meet their own needs without relying on others.
Fg. 2 Concept of Self, Pixabay.com
Concept of The Self in Transference
In social psychology, the role of transference is important when evaluating yourself during psychoanalytic therapy. Transference is the process by which a person redirects feelings and desires from childhood to a new person or object. This process reflects unmet self-object needs in a person's life. We will discuss three types of transference.
Mirroring
In this type of transference, the patient projects their sense of self-worth on others like a mirror. Mirroring functions through the use of positive traits in other people to see the positive traits within the person that is doing the mirroring. Essentially, the person is looking at another person's characteristics to see those same characteristics within themselves.
Idealizing
Idealizing is the concept of believing that another person has character traits that the individual wishes they had. People need others who will make them feel calm and comfortable. Individuals seeking comfort will idealize those who have certain characteristics that promote comfort.
Alter Ego
According to Kohut's philosophy, people thrive on the feeling of likeness with others. For example, young children may idealize their parents and want to be just like them. They may copy the words their parents say, try to dress like their parents, and copy aspects of their parent's personality. However, through healthy development, the child becomes able to express their differences and develop their own personality.
In social psychology, the three types of transference allow psychoanalysts to understand what the person's sense of self entails to help the person work through their inner turmoil. But what is self-concept, and how do our concepts of self influence us?
Social psychologist Abraham Maslow theorized that self-concept is a series of stages that leads to self-actualization. His theory is the foundation of the Hierarchy of Needs. The Hierarchy of Needs explains the many stages of self-concept and how. Let's discuss these stages below.
Physiological Needs: food, water, oxygen.
Safety Needs: Healthcare, home, employment.
Love Needs: Company.
Esteem Needs: Confidence, self-respect.
Self Actualization.
According to the Hierarchy of Needs philosophy, our physiological needs are Stage 1. We must first meet our body's physical needs to move up to the next stage since our bodies are the basis of our lives and need to be maintained. The second stage encompasses our safety needs. We all need a home to feel safe and rested; however, we also need financial safety through employment, along with healthcare to treat our illnesses.
To further establish our self-concept, we all need love and companionship in our lives. Having someone to support us and talk with us is needed to reduce stress and depression. Other than love, we also need self-esteem and confidence in ourselves to thrive.
Once we achieve high self-esteem, we can finally move on to the last stage which is self-actualization. In social psychology, self-actualization is the highest potential a person can achieve where they are completely accepting of themself and their environment.
In other words, a person will achieve their highest potential when they accept themself, others, and their environment. Reaching self-actualization can boost your self-esteem, which allows you to feel good about your personal identity.
Understanding The Self
Social psychology philosophy states that to achieve self-actualization we must first develop an understanding of the self. The self can be described by the work of another philosopher known as Carl Rogers. Rogers' philosophy described the self as having three parts: self-image, the ideal self, and self-worth.
Self-image
Our self-image philosophy is how we picture ourselves in our minds. We may view ourselves as intelligent, beautiful, or sophisticated. We may also have negative views of ourselves which can lead to depression and other mood disorders. Our consciousness of our self-image often becomes our personal identity. If we consciously believe that we are intelligent, our personal identities may be shaped around our intelligence.
Self-esteem
A person's self-esteem differs from our self-image philosophy. Our self-esteem philosophy is a part of our consciousness and is how we feel about the self and our accomplishments in life. We may feel a sense of pride or shame with the self and our accomplishments. Our self-esteem is a direct reflection of how we feel about the self.
If a person has poor self-esteem, their personality traits can reflex their self-esteem. For example, a person with poor self-esteem may be depressed, shy, or socially anxious, while a person with high self-esteem may be outgoing, friendly, and happy. Your self-esteem has a direct affect on your personality.
Ideal self
Lastly, the philosophy of the ideal self is the self that an individual wants to create. In social psychology, the ideal self may be shaped by past experiences, social expectations, and role models. The ideal self represents the best version of the current self once the individual has completed all their goals.
If one's self-image is not close to the ideal self, one can become depressed and dissatisfied. This can in turn affect self-esteem and give the person a sense of failure in life. Being far away from the ideal self is a conscious awareness that can affect a person's personality due to the lowering of their self-esteem.
Fg. 3 The Self, Pixabay.com
Psychological Perspective of The Self
In personality psychology, the self is divided into two parts: 'I' and 'Me'. The I portion of the self refers to the person as an individual who acts within the world while also being influenced by the world. This part of the self encompasses how an individual experiences themselves based on their actions.
The second portion of the self is known as the me. This portion of the self encompasses our reflections and evaluations of ourselves. Under the me, individuals pay attention to their physical, moral, and mental characteristics to evaluate their skills, traits, opinions, and feelings.
Within the me portion of the self philosophy, people observe themselves from the outside looking in, similar to how we assess others. The philosophy of me is our consciousness of ourselves from an outsider's perspective. Having a consciousness of ourselves allows us to assess our personality and self in order to help ourselves reach our ideal personality.
The Self - Key takeaways
- The meaning of the self encompasses the individual as a whole, including all characteristics, attributes, mentality, and conscious and unconscious actions.
- People needed to maintain daily life are called self objects.
- The role of transference is important when evaluating yourself during psychoanalytic therapy.
- Transference is the process by which a person redirects feelings and desires from childhood to a new person or object.
- The Hierarchy of Needs explains the many stages of self-concept.
- Carl Rogers described the self as having three parts: self image, the ideal-self, and self-worth.
- In psychology, the self is divided into two parts: I and Me.
References
- Baker, H.S., & Baker, M.N. (1987). Heinz Kohut's Self Psychology
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