The Self Can Be Understood as 'Socially Constructed'.

In this paper I will be looking at ageism and stereotypes that associated with late adulthood, evaluating how people in late adulthood can promote health and wellness to help prevent the negative effects of aging. I will also be analyzing the importance of relationships and social interactions towards the end of a person’s life and identifying the cultural and personal attitudes about death and dignity in late adulthood.

“How is one to know and define oneself? From the inside- within a context that is self-defined, from a grounding in a community… or from the

Self is one’s awareness of ideas and attitudes about one’s own personal and social identity. Identity is shaped at a young age from interpreting concepts about one’s own self from others (Mead, 1934). The present study will compare Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of personality the (id, ego, and, superego) to George Herbert Mead’s social self-theory the (“I” and “me”). The study will give an overview of both theorist and discuss each approach in relationship to each other, and defining the key concepts. According to Schultz and Schultz, (2008) the id is defined as the source of psychic energy and the aspect of personality allied with the instincts. The ego is defined as the rational aspect of personality responsible for

I am Allison Zelinskas, daughter, granddaughter, cousin, Ohioan, friend, only child, athlete and more. I am unique because there is no one else like me. All the labels above make who I am as an individual. Self-concept is “The relatively stable set of perceptions each individual hold of herself or himself” (Ronald Adler, 2015). For the purpose of this paper, I put myself into four categories, culture, gender, reflected appraisal, and social comparison. The four categories combined will give you a picture of who I am as an original. I picked these four categories because I felt I could share this information about myself. These categorizes have built my self-confidence and self-esteem.

Much of individual self-perception is based on aspects of who I am that I had little to no control over; a middle-class Anglophone female from white Germanic heritage born in Edmonton Alberta, but grew up rurally, raised in the catholic faith. To the best of my understanding, these static aspects of who I am is similar to the Cree understanding of the roots of a person’s identity (Martineau 2016). A person’s roots influence what outlook they have toward the world and how they react to events; providing the background to aid how a person grows from their experiences. My perception of self, while guided and influenced by my roots is constantly being shaped. The presence of roots may be a static structure but the formation of identity is not something static forcing you to think and act in a certain way, instead, it influences your opinions and what options you may consider (Lawrence 2003). While I understand the working levels of my own perception of self I find it difficult to explain exactly how I see myself, and even tougher to explain how I believe others do. I choose to believe that my identity shows through my actions more so than based on my roots. Others may have similar root systems, but understand things in a different way than I do based on personal experiences that have shaped who I am (Martineau 2016). These similarities are akin looking through the

The claim of the self as an intellectual determined, developed operator is key to the novel's discourse on self-formation and the constructivist logic that underlies it. Psychological brain science, specifically, attests that the self creates through intellectual and social interconnections. For this reason, intellectual psychology sees the self as

An individual’s opinion of who and what they helps them form and develop their own individuality. It is established through the individual’s behaviour and attitude. It relates to how they view themselves and is associated with their own self-image, body image and self-esteem. Murphy (as cited by Gross, 2001) stated the self is part of the individual which is understood and know to by the individual them self. A person’s physical appearance is the first thing that is seen when they are in contact with others. If the individual feels positive and confident within themselves then this will influence the development of a strong and healthy life. This can also influence how they experience life allowing them to develop in a positive, healthy way and enabling them to build up strong relationships with others. Self concept can be based upon one’s own expectations and goals which they hold

When going through life, every person creates a self-identity. In “A Short Quiz”, Walker Perry asks the reader a few questions that in turn reveal quite a few factors that may affect someone’s identity. It is up to the reader to interpret and confront these factors, hopefully revealing to the reader something about they did not previously know. When finding one’s identity, sexuality, conformity, and familiarity are three large factors that come into play. First off, sexuality is one large aspect of one's identity.

Simple misconceptions of the elder sexuality are often made based on what others say, lack of knowledge, and the medias representation. As stated in chapter 11, Americans live in a youth-oriented, consumer-based society, essentially meaning that only the young are beautiful and sexy and we should fear aging because of the negative side effects that come with old age. Although, we eventually become victims of our own negative views of the elderly and I don’t think the misconceptions of the elderly will change anytime soon, partially because the media would need to change the way they portray how we think the elderly act and behave, and portray them more realistically. A majority of the elder population is at least interested in sex later in

The social constructionist perspective suggest that our interactions in society shape our interpretation of self-worth. The textbook states “To understand human behavior, the social perspective focuses on how people construct meaning, a sense of self, and a social world through their interactions with each other”. Instead of one objective reality this perspective observes several subjective realities. Some social constructionists focus on the human capacity to have a conversation with oneself to find awareness of themselves. This is known as the looking-glass self, which can be explained as “I am what I think you think I am.”

     Two things can happen when we are required to base our definition of “self” on others.  One can take others’ ways of living and thinking, process them, and formulate his or her own definition, independent of anyone else.  Or, one can use the relationships he or she has with other people on which to base their own definition of self, thus making him or her dependent on those other people.  As young people, we learn and take in all we can through the world, our experiences, and relationships with other people.  From there, we grow and establish our own identities, our own “selves”, in response to those interactions with others.  This definition is continually growing and progressing as we evolve as people, interacting with different people in different environments and

The “situation” between the individual and society is not as simple as many people believe. There are three sociological theorists: George Herbert Mead, Karl Marx, and Emile Durkheim; who analyze the connections between the two. As a warning these theories can be quite confusing at times, but fear not I will be translating them into Jersey terms for better understanding. That being said, first we will be discussing Mead’s theory on the development of our “self”. Mead heavily focused on social problems and social reform in his research, his most notable work being Mind, Self, and Society that describes that the “self” is a product of social interaction. He explains that “the body can be there and can operate in a very intelligent fashion without there being self-involved in the experience. The self has the

The text “What is the Self” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is an interesting reading because it gives examples in how that self is created and looked at. There is things we pay attention to and attend to that makes that “self”. Personal objects, images, household objects, collective representation, and images of the ideal self, are some general examples that show us that “self”; and how these images or sense of feeling will help us in the future. This essay will explain in specific details the way we become that “self” and summarize the reading.

Peter Berger’s and Thomas Luckmann’s novel, “The Social Construction of Reality”, explains the theory of how we, as humans, present ourselves to other people mainly from our interactions with others and our personal life experiences. The novel explains how the way we were raised or brought up and what we were raised to believe, affects how we present ourselves, how we view others, and how others view us. It also explains the idea that as humans, our perceptions of reality are influenced by our beliefs and backgrounds.

When introducing the concept of self-consciousness, it can be very difficult for individuals to understand that there are many forms of self-consciousness. Many already have a definition in mind as soon as they hear the word self-consciousness. It is made up of many concepts because it isn’t just a cognitive state, rather, many cognitive states. The mind processes many things as opposed to just knowing things. Humans are capable of doing and desiring many things while self-evaluating and questioning oneself. Everyone is able to consider their own actions and to think about themselves. When thinking, humans are able to consider ideas and depictions regarding the self and others. Regarding oneself allows for evaluating self-worth in refinement to common social roles (Bermudez).