Transcript Self-concept

Self-concept vs. Self-esteem
Self-esteem (or self-worth):
Emotional. How you feel
about yourself. An emotional
reaction to or an evaluation of
the self.
Self-concept: Cognitive. What
you think about yourself. An
appraisal of one’s own physical,
social, and academic
competence.
How to remember: A concept is
an idea—so that means the
cognitive or thinking portion of
the self is involved.
How to remember: Esteem is
another word for feeling. If you
“esteem” someone highly, you have
good feelings about that person.
How self-concept develops
 Self-concept
develops through self-
evaluation.
 If you do well in something, you will
develop a positive self-concept in that
area.
 If you struggle with something, you will
develop a poor self-concept in that area.
Encouraging self-esteem

Value and accept all students for their attempts
and their accomplishments
 Create a climate that is physically and
psychologically safe
 Become aware of your own personal biases (we
all have ‘em).
 Make sure your procedures for teaching and
grouping students are necessary, not just a
convenient way of handling problem studnets or
avoiding contact with some students.
Encouraging self-esteem,
continued
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Make standards of evaluation clear; help
students to learn to evaluate their own
accomplishments
 Model appropriate methods of self-criticism,
perserverance, and self-reward
 Avoid destructive comparisons and competition;
encourage students to compete with their own
prior levels of achievement
 Accept a student even when you must reject a
particular behavior or outcome. Students should
feel confident that failing a test or being
reprimanded does not make them “bad” people.
Encouraging self-esteem,
continued
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Remember that positive self-concept grows from
success in operating in the world and from being valued
by important people in the environment.
Encourage students to take responsibility for their
reactions to events; show them that they have choices in
how to respond
Set up support groups or study buddies in school and
teach students how to encourage each other.
Help students set clear goals; brainstorm resources they
have for reaching their goals
Highlight the value of different ethnic groups—their
culture and accomplishments.
Comparing self-concept and
achievement
Concepts to remember in order to understand this chart: self-concept is cognitive—
how we assess ourselves as learners and doers across a wide array of activities.
Correlation is a statistical comparison of two numerical values. In this case, it would be
a numerical measure of self-concept of various sorts and a numerical measure of
achievement. Review chapter one for information on correlation (remember the
scattergrams and the second toe of the right foot?).
Self-concept and achievement

Some students only feel worthwhile when they
achieve.
 When these students do not meet their own high
standards, they feel they are no good as people.
 These students may be perfectionists.
 Students of this type may need you to help them
do a “good enough” job and also to learn that no
matter what they DO, they are worthwhile
people.
A few words about perfectionism
Perfectionism is a belief that one’s work has to be perfect or it
is not acceptable.
 Unfortunately, this belief often gets in the way of a person
being productive. It is hard to get started on something if you
think it has to be perfect.
 This belief also leads to a lot of unnecessary stress. While
good grades are nice, eventually they really don’t mean much
as life goes on. So stressing out over an A- is really not a
good use of one’s emotional energy.
 When students have a hard time getting started because of
perfectionism, you need to help them to understand that it’s
okay if the first time through something is not perfect and that
it is okay if what they produce even in the long run is not
perfect. They also need to know how what they are doing fits
in the grand scheme of things—that life as we know it does
not end if they get a less than perfect grade on a math test.

Diversity and perception of self
Over time, boys and girls feel
differently about themselves in
relation to various school
subjects. These differences
have a huge impact on the
courses they choose to take
and therefore the careers they
choose for themselves.
As teachers, we need to be
aware of these differences
and help students to have real
success in areas they may
tend to struggle with.
Ethnic and racial identity
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Four outcomes for minority youth:
Assimilation: fully adopting the values and
behaviors of the majority culture and rejecting
one’s own culture
Separated: associating only with members of
one’s own culture
Marginality: living in the majority but feeling
alienated and uncomfortable in it and
disconnected from the minority culture as well.
Biculturalism: maintaining ties to both cultures.
Maybe this is familiar, maybe this is
foreign to you
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There are many things that can mark a person as “different,”
from IQ (either extreme) to home language, from skin color to
social maturity (or the lack thereof), from physical disability to
home culture, from religion to psychological differences (e.g.,
mood disorders, etc.).
When a person is “different” in some way from the majority, that
person has to learn how to deal with those differences. Much
of the time, these differences cannot be hidden. The first
characteristic people tend to notice about someone is skin
color. If they have assumptions based on the color of a
person’s skin, then that person has to struggle to deal with false
assumptions. This can be discouraging and a source of great
pain.
If you have not had this experience, seek it out. It will help you
to understand those who have this experience everyday.
Racial identity: outcome and
process
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Nigrescence: the process of developing a Black identity
Pre-encounter: attitude is neutral or person is ignoring
race. May feel that “whiteness” is superior. May feel
self-hatred.
Encounter: this stage is often triggered by encounters
with racism. Person becomes attuned to his/her
Blackness
Immersion/Emersion: transition stage. Become eager to
learn about own heritage.
Internalization: secure in own racial identity
Internalization-commitment: secure in own racial identity
and committed to the Black culture.
Racial and ethnic pride
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A positive self-concept about one’s racial or
ethnic heritage.
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No one should be made to feel bad about
characteristics that are inborn. No person is
inherently bad or “less than” based on these
types of characteristics.
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Tolerance and appreciation can be learned and
it is our job to teach them.
Autonomous
morality
Crisis
Anorexia
nervosa
Developmental
crisis
Identity
Autonomy
Distributive
justice
Bioecological
model
Empathy
Blended
families
External
morality
Identity
achievement
Vocabulary
Punishmentobedience
stage
Social
conventions
Integrity
Moral
realism
Parenting
styles
Racial and
ethnic pride
Social
development
Identity
diffusion
Internalization
Moral
reasoning
Personal
development
Relational
aggression
Social
problem
solving
Identity
foreclosure
Interpersonal
harmony
stage
Morality of
cooperation
Perspective
taking
Self-concept
Theory
of mind
Industry
Law and
order stage
Moratorium
Proactive
aggression
Self-esteem
Universal
principles
stage
Nigrescence
Psychosocial
Self-worth
Overt
aggression
Puberty
Social
contract
stage
Bulimia
Generativity
Initiative
Market
exchange
stage
Collective
self-esteem
Hostile
aggression
Instrumental
aggression
Moral
dilemma