Self-image: its origin and definition.
We can look at self-image as the idea or image we have of ourselves. It is formed and shaped by the main roles we play, our goals and our objectives, our personality, our ideology and our philosophy, to name a few. It is also dynamic, which means that it changes over time.
Knowing ourselves helps us decide what and how we should think and do in every situation. This knowledge of yourself can be either individually or on a group basis. Awareness of our and others' identity makes our lives easier and promotes our relationships.
In psychology one can study self-image from different perspectives. Personality psychologists will focus on getting to know the content of the identity and creating typologies of it. Social psychology wants to see to what extent it affects our relationships and vice versa.
How self-image is formed and modified
Next, we will talk about two theories that explain how the self-image is created and developed. One of them is the theory of self-contradiction, which revolves around one's internal regulation. The other is the theory of the mirror self, which revolves around social regulation.
Reflection of woman
The theory of self-contradiction
This theory starts from the base that man seeks coherence between different perceptions he has about himself. Here comes other self images into the game. They are:
The "ideal" self is a self-image that tells us what we want to be.
The "responsible ego" is a self-image that has an idea of what we should become.
A "potential self" that is the self-image of our potential, to what extent we can become something.
The "expected self" is the self-image that predicts what we can become in the future.
These self-pictures are quite similar to each other. They differ only in small shades. The important thing about these "I" is that they create deviations compared to our current self-image. When one of them is dissonant with our current self-image, we experience anxiety.
From there, the anxiety can motivate changes in the self-images to solve the contradictions.
For example, if our "ideal self" sees ourselves as people in a society, but we usually act selfishly, a contradiction will arise. We can solve the dissonance in different ways:
Change our selfish behavior, and with it our current self-image.
Change the perception of our behavior and stop seeing it as selfish, which changes our current self-image.
Change our "ideal" and adapt it to the current situation.
The theory of the mirror-chase
This theory begins with the creation of self-image as a process in which society plays a major role. The perceptions that others have about us are important here. We build up the image of ourselves with the information that others give us.
This is because we believe others have an idea of who we are in their minds. Therefore, we try to find out what this is. We do not want any contradictions between the picture others have of us and our own self-image. When this contradiction exists, we can solve it in two ways:
By changing our relationships with others so that they see us as we believe us to be.
By changing the image we have of ourselves.
Others create our self-image
We seek confirmation of our self-image
This theory is a good explanation of why we are looking for relationships that are in line with our self-image, and avoid people who see us in a different way than we do. It also helps us to understand the effects that expectations have on a person, such as the pygmy effect, or the rosewood effect.
Another important aspect is that we do not tend to see ourselves as others really see us, but we believe they see us. We do not determine how others see us based on information we receive from them, but on our self-perceptions. We create a picture of ourselves and believe that others see us in the same way.
Both theories explain how the self-image is shaped and modified in different, but not contradictory, ways. It is an interesting look at it from a broad perspective, and to understand how the "self" in self-contradiction theory can also be created and modified by social influence. By having the two positions in mind, we can get a solid picture of our self-image.
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