Personal Reflections Essay Example for Free

Personal Reflections EssayThe concept of egotism in the kind world has been the subject of psychology studies for decades. Self-concept is desexd as a persons answers to the question, Who am I? (Myers, 2010). Several factors, both internal and external, create each individuals sense of self. Self-concept, egotism, self-knowledge, and social self every stomach(predicate) help create the sense of self. Self-schemas ar an important comp superstarnt of ones self-concept. A schema is simply defined as mental templates by which we organize our worlds (Myers, 2010). Self-schemas are the beliefs one holds, which define who we are. Self-conceptThe development of our self-concept has numerous influences, which include references played, social identities formed, comparisons do, personal success and failure, judgments, and cultural surroundings (Myers, 2010). Roleplaying tin include what we are in our professional life, as children in school, and into adulthood. The roles we assu me may non intent like second-nature in the beginning, however, as we evolve within our roles, we become a more self-confident role player. Social comparison shapes an individuals self-concept through academics, finances, and looks. The impact the comparison has is dependent who we are equivalence ourselves to. Personal success and failure occur on a daily basis at work, school, and home. Judgments made by our peers strongly influence our own perception of self. Positive feedback will result in a absolute view of ones self, as a negative feedback will result in a negative self-concept. Our cultural surroundings impact our self-concept also.Westernized cultures tend to be more self-absorbed than an easterly culture. In many Western cultures, there is a faith in the inherent separateness of plain persons (OMalley, 2002). Individualism and collectivism are two concepts describing howindividuals view their importance within their culture. Individualism is mainly seen in a Western c ulture, where an individual places personal goals and gains over a groups goals and gains. Collectivism considers a groups goal as a priority over an individuals goal. ab go forth cultures native to Asia, Africa, and Central and South America place greater value on collectivism (Myers, 2010). The interdependent self is defined as the view of the self and the relationship between the self and others (OMalley, 2002) within a group. Self-esteemSelf-esteem is a persons overall self-evaluation or sense of self-worth (Myers, 2010). People carry both low self-consciousness and high self-esteem, depending on the variance of difficulties in their life. Poverty, drugs, and abuse grass all be considered a factor in a persons low self-esteem. High self-esteem can also be portrayed a negative trait, especially when the individual is viewed as narcissistic. self- do is defined as having an inflated sense of self (Myers, 2010). Self-efficacySelf-efficacy is defined as the belief in ones capa bilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations (Cherry, What is Self-Efficacy?, 2014). Self-efficacy is not the same as self-esteem, which is how valuable an individual perceives themselves to be. An individuals self-efficacy is the belief they are capable of go throughing a travail, even when the task is challenging. Studies of the SelfVarious studies of the self in psychology have offered an insight into what is believed to be the center of self-concept. Carl Rogers believed self-image, self-esteem, and model self are the three components of self-concept. Self-image is how you see yourself (Cherry, What is Self-concept?, 2014). A persons self-image can include positive and negative aspects, which may or may not be realistically true. Self-esteem is the how valuable a person believes they are. Comparison between a persons own successes and others can impact their self-esteem in a negative or positive manner. Ideal self is how a person would like to see their self. Ideal self is not necessarily how an individual actually perceives theirself, rather the idealistic version that person dreams of being. Who I amAmandas Self-conceptBy asking myself who am I, I am able to define my self-concept. I am a mother and I love my children. I am a full-time employee at ESCO Corporation. I am a college student at the University of Phoenix, studying Environmental Science. I am not an easy person to get along with, and I tend to take criticism personally. Amandas Self-esteemI have low self-esteem. My low self-esteem has been an ongoing issue from childhood. I struggle with my weight, which was not a real issue until I was out of high school. I thought I was overweight as a teen, when in reality I was at a healthy weight. After I had my first daughter at the age of 18, belief slowly took over my carefree and happy personality. I began to eat more in an attempt to whole tone better about myself. I remember one incident as a Senior which very made an impact on my self-esteem. While changing classes, I waited at my locker for a classroom to finish letting students out. One of the disabled girls from that classroom kept looking at my mid-section. She finally asked me are you pregnant or something. I was not pregnant anymore, and had given birth two months before. Hearing another person say I looked like I was pregnant still brought my feeling of self-worth to the lowest mention at that time. Amandas Self-efficacyMy self-efficacy can be compared to a roller coaster. I do challenge myself to exceed at work and school. I believe I can accomplish anything I put my see to. Over the past decade, I have improved my self-efficacy, with a tremendous improvement over the last five years. The individuals I have chosen to surround myself with, as opposed to in the past, have helped me accomplish my dreams. My fianc encouraged me to stand up for myself, especially with my parents. My parents had been involved in raising my children to the point I was not able to make a decision without calling for their opinion first.The feeling of dread would overcome me ascribable to the fact I knew my parents would not approve of my decisions if I did not talk to them first. I finally realise I was holding myself back, and I could make important family decisions without their approval. I signed up for theUniversity of Phoenix for the reasons I believed were important. I did tell my parents I was going back to school after I had signed up, and I saw the disappointment they felt over not being able to control me with the decision. My fianc has been encouraging end-to-end my studies, and continues to give me the push I need to finish my last five classes.ReferencesCherry, K. (2014). What is Self-concept? Retrieved January 20, 2014, from About Psychology http//psychology.about.com/od/sindex/f/self-concept.htm Cherry, K. (2014). What is Self-Efficacy? Retrieved January 21, 2014, from About Psychology http //psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/self_efficacy.htm Myers, D. G. (2010). Social Psychology (10th ed.). New York, NY McGraw Hill. OMalley, M. (2002). Hazel go Marcus and Shinobu Kitayama, Culture and the Self Implications for Cognition, Emotion, and Motivation. Retrieved January 21, 2014, from Honors 130 Conceptions of the Self http//chnm.gmu.edu/courses/honors130/culture.html