The Self Every situation that an individual is exposed to throughout life, helps mold our “self.” As humans we have the ability to see ourselves from the outside, and all through life we try to see what others see and our “self” revolves around the generalized other. We observe how others perceive us and we make conclusions depending on our observations. How we act around others depends on the image we feel they have towards us.
Charles Horton Cooley, a symbolic interactionist, concluded that our sense of “self” develops from interactions with others. Cooley described this process as the
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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. Self concepts begins in childhood but it continues to develop throughout life. As we observe how other people react to us, we modify our “self.”
The “self” is never a finished project, and it continues to change as our life takes different turns. Our “self” reacts to the environment that we are in. As the “self” expands we put together the different reactions making us a unique individual. Every individual has a different way of thinking and therefore they make their own choices about certain situations. Going through different life changes, means the “self” is expected to change to accommodate the life stage we find our selves in. The way we perceived things when
Cooley argues that our self develops through interactions and our impressions about how other people see us. Do you think that he is correct? Why or why not?
Socialization may also be thought of as the development of one’s self based on interactions with other individuals or groups that may shape our ideas, beliefs, or perspectives about the world in which we live. Charles Horton Cooley describes the “self” as the unique human ability to be able to see ourselves from the outside and to internalize the views of how others see us (Henslin 71). As Cooley describes, humans first imagine how we appear to those around us, interpret other’s reactions towards us, and then use these interpretations to develop a self-concept. However, we are not born
Throughout Rudolfo Anaya's novel, Bless Me, Ultima, Anaya presents the reader with the complications and difficulty of cultural identity and in the end suggests that a person can draw from several cultural traditions instead of just one in particular. The main character, Antonio, is the guide to Anaya's lesson. Antonio's parents, Ultima, and even his town present him with different situations and ideas that contributes to his identity.
The self could be defined simply as the sense of who we are, and who we are is created and developed over time and through interactions with other individuals in society. Charles Horton Cooley compares the development of self to a mirror in which an individual’s self is basically a reflection of how we think we are viewed by society. This idea of the “looking-glass self” focuses on how we imagine others see us opposed to how they really see us. There are three phases of the looking-glass self that repeats throughout life. In the first phase, an individual imagines he or she appear to others. The second phase involves imagining how others would judge him or her, based off that appearance. In the final phase, the individual uses the assumptions from the first two phases to define his or her
The main point of Baldwin et al.’s theoretical analysis was to discover how an individual’s sense of self is affected by many components, including personal experiences. The mental association between these two factors was proposed because self-prospection and close relationships are tied to how individuals view themselves. We sometimes see ourselves as who we’re with, and how they treat us translates to how we see ourselves.
Cooley is one of the founders of theinteractionist perspective, which seeks to explain society by looking at the everyday forms of interaction between individuals. Cooley's theory of self is one in which we learn who we are through our interactions with others. This is known as the looking glass self. This basically means that our self-image comes from our own self-reflection and from what others think of us. Cooley believed that it is through these interactions that one begins to develop an idea of who they are; therefore, the self is a product of our social
It is constantly being modified, as it changes with people’s beliefs, morals, and values. According to symbolic interactionism, the self is a perspective. Through interacting
I had never fully understood the word self until middle school or high school. Before that my parents and teachers would constantly say be yourself, don’t follow other people around, etc. However, I never understood when being told that what it truly meant. Once middle school and high school started that is when everyone is trying to figure out where they
For as far back as I can remember all the females in my family have
Profile picture was him and a surfboard - this man looks tall, dark, and handsome - a must meet! He states he is artistic and currently in between Jujitsu careers (oh boy, first red flag). I shake it off, considering myself as being way too judgmental; stop it Tammy - We move forward with the 'meeting' - Big Sur is 5'5 with work boots on and soft-spoken - slightly balding, strands poke through, here and there, like piglet hair. Definitely not a match - now what? Must fill an hour's worth of bullshit small talk in order to get through this, thank GOD I babble when nervous- WAIT! I got a text from some biker guy during the 'so where have you been in the United States question' (like I care) – I use this as my emergency text to take off -
Self-Concept is the perception we have of our skills, abilities and personality traits. The way we are to perceive ourselves and the way those around us perceive us, makes our persona, but these perceptions of ourselves continuously change throughout our lives. From a very early age we start growing an identity and traits that are periodically shaped by experiences. Although I have only lived for 20 years, I have learned a lot from past experiences, experiences involving those that surround me, good and bad.
Throughout high school, I have had the ability to excel in a multitude of subjects. I am not trying to make myself sound better than I am, but I am merely sharing that I have put every bit of effort in each course I have taken. That does not mean I always received an 'A', but it does mean that I am one of the rare students that did not just memorize the information given, but actually understood it. But I believe the point of this question is to understand what I have truly excelled in, and Pre-Calculus is one of the courses that I must say is the best subject I ever did in. It was not in terms of the letter grade; however I did get an 'A' but that is not why I excelled. I excelled because when I was out of school for almost 2 months, that was the only class that needed my
One of the material that my instructor went over in class was about an American philosopher George Mead who is well known for his theory of social self. My instructor lectured us about Mead’s concepts of the “I” and the “Me”. After hearing his lecture and having learned the distinction of the “I” and “Me”, I have a totally different perspective and my self-analysis paper will most likely have more meaning than if I would have not been presented the Mead’s concept. It was rather interesting to learn of this idea that a person’s identity consists of two parts. The way that Mead explained the self, helped me understand my own behaviors and actions in the most basic of activities. Some personal experiences
concerned with a person’s inward self, and with the appropriate balance of the various parts
George Herbert Mead’s theory of the “I and the Me” claims that people are an object to the audience due to the emergence of the perspective of the others. The self is recognized as a social object set by our social structure and behavior. Mead divided the self into two separate parts. The “I” is known as the actor of the self. The “me” is the object that is formed by the evaluations of the audience’s perspective towards the self. Thus, the “me” controls and discipline the “I” of the self. The concept of the “I and the Me” was first derived from the work of self development. Mead wanted to focus on how the two separate part of the self define the identity of the person through symbolic interaction.