The ' Looking Glass Self ' By Charles Horton Cooley

Labelling theory has also been used to apply the interactionist theory to society; the theory, like Mead, emphasises the importance of symbols and situations in which they are used. The main interactionist concepts are the definition of the situation – if we believe in something then it could affect the way in which we behave. The looking glass –self – this was created by Cooley who argues that we see ourselves in a way in which we think others see us. These concepts have been useful in explaining why people act in certain ways in certain situations; therefore, the labelling theory is effective in the study of society.

The looking glass self theory looks at how an individual views themselves. The theorist of this theory is Horton Cooley. The looking glass self is another theory that is separated into stages. This theory is made up of three stages. The first stage id that a person imagines how they are perceived and viewed by others. The second stage of the looking glass theory is when a person imagines how they are judged by others and this is based and concluded by the first stage of the theory which is how a person imagines they are perceived by another individual. The final stage of this theory is the experiencing of a type of feeling or reaction to the staged in one and two. Gbadebo.S.A, (2011), pp124. For example a person may believe that they are perceived as being polite and friendly to another individual. This would be the first stage of the theory (imaging how they are perceived by others).

I believe what drives our judgement is the way people think of others. Today in this world, people are close minded and not open to new ideas. Society’s think that people who grew up from the bad side of town, they will get nowhere in life. We judge people for the way they look, what they wear, where they 're from, where they live, etc. We judge out of our own fears and insecurities. We must treat people the way the want to be treated, not by how you think they should be treated. When we judge someone, do we really know what goes on in their life. Also, still discriminate others to this day, such as, we still judge people based on their race. We have to treat people with equal rights no matter what race or ethnicity they are. We have qualities

In “Ways of Seeing”, John Berger, an English art critic, argues that images are important for the present-day by saying, “No other kind of relic or text from the past can offer such direct testimony about the world which surrounded other people at other times. In this respect images are more precise and richer literature” (10). John Berger allowed others to see the true meaning behind certain art pieces in “Ways of Seeing”. Images and art show what people experienced in the past allowing others to see for themselves rather than be told how an event occurred. There are two images that represent the above claim, Arnold Eagle and David Robbins’ photo of a little boy in New York City, and Dorothea Lange’s image of a migratory family from Texas; both were taken during the Great Depression.

Rogers viewed personality structure in terms of one construct; he named the construct the self. A person’s self-concept is the way he or she views herself. It is all in the mind of the individual. Carl Roger states that each individual is aware of his self-concept, he also emphasis the subjective nature of self-concept. Most people tend to twist their experiences to an extent that they promote a relatively favourable self-concept for example, one might think that she is attractive while another person might not even agree. Roger called the gap between self-concept and reality incongruence. If a person’s self-concept is true than that is called congruence. (Weiten.w.2014)

Cooley’s concept of the “looking glass self” states that a persons identity or self worth comes directly from their social interactions. That our self image is a direct correlation as to the responses and evaluations from others in our society. There are 3 steps:

The concept of the looking glass self is one of the first concepts of personality psychology, sociology. It does not come from the internal characteristics of the person, but from the recognition of the crucial role of the interaction of individuals, who act in relation to each other as standing in a front of a mirror. William James, who was American philosopher and psychologist, was the first, who began to develop problems with "The self" concept. James used fixed language structures in order to distinguish different aspects of a single integrated "Self", who is the individual himself. Thus, James suggested reasonable (but still hypothetical) model

judged based on their sociality’s common opinion at that time. Therefore, this fallacy means if

inferences and judgements about people and sometimes forget that it is our own viewpoint that

Cooley’s concept of the “looking glass self” states that a persons identity or self worth comes directly from their social interactions. That our self image is a direct correlation as to the responses and evaluations from others in our society. There are 3 steps:

This approach is much like the functionalism viewpoint. It argues that action is meaningful to those involved and that they interpret the meaning. They also argue that how others see us affects the way we act and how we see ourselves because our actions are based on self-concept. This is otherwise known as ‘The Looking Glass Self’ a phrase that was coined by Charles Cooley (1864-1929) and his theory backs up the ideas of Interactionism.

Saunders (2013) states that the three steps of this theory are: (1) imagining how we portray

People judge each other on a daily basis. The way an individual presents themselves, speaks, and behave are all qualities other people base their perception off of. Consequently, these inferences are quite useful in determining who you would and would not enjoy being in any type of relationship with based on surface appearance. However, people may take judging people on surface appearance too far. Therefore, although making a judgement on about a person may not be a negative inference, people take their judgmental attitude to the extreme. Consequently, they have placed themselves in a negative lifestyle which negatively impacts their mood and social interactions.

     The social constructionist perspective holds the view that the self is continuing "shaped and reshaped through interactions with others and involvement in social and cultural activities" (Wetherell & Maybin, 1996, p 220). Social constructionist is concerned with explicating the processes by which people come to describe, explain, or otherwise account for the world (including themselves) in which they live (Gergen, 1971). Thus, the social constructionist approach implies that the self is shaped by social interaction within historical, cultural and social contexts. Social constructionist's apply an analysis of societal level which explain the self through social relations. Conversely, the

On the other hand if you see yourself as an individual who can communicate without a problem and you see that you can keep others interested in a given conversations, your reaction is more positive. Through this looking- glass self we develop a “self” concept. Depending on the observations we make concerning the reactions of others we develop feelings and ideas about ourselves. The reflection we see in the mirror is either negative or positive depending on the feedback we get back from those around us. Misjudgments of the reactions of others become part of our “self” concept also the misinterpretations of how others think of us.