Essay on The Acting Self
The study of concept of self is one of central questions in psychology. Self-concept describes peoples’ perception of themselves. People possess certain ideas about themselves and according to these ideas they choose the strategy of actions and communication. Feenstra(2013) distinguishes self-concept as, “the collection of things you know about yourself – such as your overall cognitive and understanding (beliefs, attitudes and opinions) about yourself”. Self-concept also includes human behaviors and reactions. Feenstra also states that self-perception is formed during communication with other people and through inner perceptions of one’s self. Self-concept and self-perception influence the way people perceive others. Self-concept becomes a kind of filter which makes the person see certain information in the outside world.
Despite the fact that the notion of self-concept and self-schema have a lot in common, there are also differences between theme. Self-schema is used to organize in structure ideas and notions of self-conception. As Feenstra (2013) states: “self-schemas organize and help us use the vast amounts of information within self-concept”. The self is a powerful force which has great impact on our lives. It affects the way people feel, the way they perceive reality around them and the way they act. Self-awareness is another notion which deals with peoples’ perceptions of themselves. Self-awareness is an awareness about the particular aspects of self-concept. Self-awareness can be private and public. The first one includes the awareness of inner thoughts, ideas, attitudes and desires. The second one includes understanding how others perceive us. This internal and external awareness based on internal and external interaction make the essence of social psychology. Self-perception and interaction with other people make two basic values in human lives and condition these lives to great extend. Self-concept, self-schema and self-awareness taken together compose the acting self.
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