Communication And Identity

The first unit on our textbook Interactions by Ann Moseley and Jeanette Harris talks about the self-concept. It is hard to find a definition for the self-concept because it is certain beliefs about ethnicity, religion, and personalities combined. This unit has a number of readings by various authors where it shows struggles with the self. Self-identity, ethnic backgrounds, and self-esteem are the major aspects of those readings. After reading their writings I found that I could relate to their experiences. The three readings that got my attention were “Zero” By Paul Logan, “I’m Just Me” by Lylah Alphonse, and “The Jacket” by Gary Soto.

By definition, self-perception is your interpretation of your own behavior. However, your interpretation of yourself could be influenced by what others think and say about you. Sometimes people find themselves over analyzing who they are and they end up degrading themselves or they try to change who they truly are. As emotional human beings, they seem to find themselves being more judgmental toward their own actions and appearances. When others make assumptions, they only see the outside and make judgements based on appearances rather than looking deeper in order to discover the true beauty that’s exists beneath. “Lonesome, With Snails”, “The Mother”, and “Portrait of My Body” are three essays that will be used to explain how self-perception

Self Concept is based on the perceptions that we make of ourselves. The self-concept is important to the study of communication because it drives our behavior, influencing our communication with others and ultimately defining our attitudes about ourselves as products of our environment or creators of our environment. In the beginning of the film, Michael’s Self Concept about himself is very poor. He realizes that he grew up in an unhealthy environment and that affects the way he communicates. When Michael begins school in the film, he realizes and perceives himself as

The difference between an individual's "self-concept" of themselves, versus their "self-image" is on a situational basis. The overall idea and image a person has of his or her self is the "self-concept." The "self-image" of a person varies from situation to situation. However, these individualistic portraits of the self contribute to the overall "self-concept" of a person.

Self-concept it is the collection of experiences and beliefs about one self, and how these experiences, beliefs interact to form a picture according to individual’s perspective what kind of a person an individual is. This includes physical and mental

No matter how much a person desires to live according to their personal autonomy, he or she will never escape the influence of societal forces. Explicitly or subtlety, these forces shape our individuality. One intriguing manner that these societal forces manifests itself in is our name. As Ruth Graham writes, “It’s becoming increasingly clear today that names carry a wealth of information about the world around us, the family we arrived in, the moment we were born—and that they mark us as part of cultural currents bigger than we realize.” Names alone provide evidence that individuals are made by interactions with social institutions and groups. Ultimately, the inescapable nature of society’s influence demands individuals to ponder how much personal autonomy is actually autonomous and to what extent does the pursuit of personal autonomy lead to a life of emptiness and vanity.

Concept of self, self-esteem and self-efficacy. Refers to beliefs about who we are, how good we feel about ourselves, and how capable we believe we are at performing task.

The self-fulfilling prophecy is a concept in psychology that has an impact on the way we behave towards others and expect them to behave towards us. If we believe ourselves to be worthwhile, pleasant and likeable then we

More often than not, the outcomes of events that occur in a person’s life is the product of the idea of the self-fulfilling prophecy. It is that which “occurs when a person’s expectations of an event make the outcome more likely to occur than would otherwise have been true” (Adler and Towne, Looking Out, Looking In 66). Or restated, as Henry Ford once put it, “If you think you can, you can. If you think you can’t, you’re right!” This brief research paper touches on the two types of self-fulfilling prophecies, those that are self-imposed and those that are imposed by others. Additionally, it gives a discussion on how great of an influence it is in each person’s life, both positively and negatively, and how it consequently helps to mold

Personal identity is essential in the human experience. Identity is complex and can be broken down into two main groups: introspective identity, and bodily identity. Introspective identity is based off of the groups, mentalities, or beliefs that you align yourself with, and bodily identity is based off of the physical side of yourself. Whether physical or introspective, your identity impacts every action you take. Whether choices ranging from what colors you prefer to which college you want to attend are primarily based off of your introspective identity, which is a combination of both memory and consciousness, physical identity impacts how others perceive you. Consciousness is mainly the awareness of bodily identity as well as continuous introspective identify, while memory is awareness of introspective identity. These two different facets of identity are imperative in the distinction between bodily identity and introspective identity. In means of personal identity introspective identity (which is evident in memory), is essential, while bodily identity (based partially in consciousness) has less credit.

Communication affects the development of our personal identity in several ways. One way being that the comments we receive daily, whether it be good or bad, plays a part on how we view ourselves. The things that we say to one another builds the perception that we have of ourselves. For example, if we were called smart for majority of our childhood, then we would most likely view ourself as an intelligent person. Also, our intrapersonal communication affects the development of our personal identity. Depending on how we speak to ourselves, we establish a nice self identity, or a negative one.

Self – concept is the idea or mental image one has of oneself. They also have strengths’, weakness, status, and self-image. Most people have the whole set of attitude, and opinions. Self- concept cognitions that persons has of their selves.

“We develop selves by internalizing two kinds of perspectives that are communicated to us: the perspectives of particular others and the perspective of the generalized other” (Mead). The book explains that self-concept begins from outside – the particular others’ views of and communication with us. How does self-concept differ from self-esteem? Your self-concept or self-image is the sum total of all knowledge and information you have about yourself (Bleeker). The image or idea of yourself that comes from what others think about you and what you know about yourself. Self-concept is the knowledge gained from reflection on ‘Who am I?’. On the other hand, self-esteem is your attitude toward yourself in general. Whether you think these ideas about yourself are rated as good, bad, or indifferent in your mind. The key difference between self-concept and self-esteem is that the addition of feelings. Self-concept is the informational side of things, where you know facts about what you are like. Self-esteem is how you feel about those things you know, like whether you enjoy the fact that you are talkative at parties (high self-esteem) or you think that you are annoying and need to learn to shut up sometimes (low self-esteem).

The psychological definition of self-concept is an idea of the self, constructed from the beliefs one holds about oneself and the responses of others. According to Mead (1934), we develop selves by internalizing two kinds of perspectives that are communicated to us: the perspectives of particular others and the perspective of the generalized other. Our self-concept has a foundation developed by the values of our culture and community. Culturally we learn competency & morality interpreted by attitudes and beliefs. Our community defines and dictates our expectations. To sum up all perspectives, our sense of self comes from the communication with those around us. Self-concept and perception are designed from our experiences in society. Both are affected by the actions or words of others. Self-concept is built on the perspective or particular and generalized others. Self-concept and perceptions influence our interpersonal communication ethically, defines us in a positive or negative light and influence the self-concept of others.

Self-Concept is a representation of oneself as an individual with a difference that cannot be found in another person. A group on the other hand, can be said to be a certain number of people who find themselves in the same environment, interacting and surviving together. Therefore, self-concept of a group of people can be referred to as the representation of each person in this group, as a separate identity from other people in the group. Self-Concept includes individuality, appearance, dignity and carrying out certain roles that is expected of an individual. Interactions between this groups of people usually occur due to special events which shapes the thoughts, reactions, feelings, and possibly actions of each person in the group.