Friday, May 6

The self-concept

A fiction character's behaviour depends greatly on their personality, but as developmental psychologists are aware, there is often a difference between a person's image of themselves and what they are really like.  Psychologists use the term self-concept to describe the various elements of a person's view of who they are.

Not just self-esteem

The self-concept is a broader idea than self-esteem, and includes several aspects:

  • Self-esteem: how much to we value ourselves
  • Self-image: what do we think of our physical appearance
  • Self-efficacy: how good we think we are at things e.g. our ability to play sports

A person's self-concept is often inaccurate.  The views of others play a major role in how we see ourselves.  We go through life taking in board the comments and judgements of others, distorting our self-concept.  Think of a person with anorexia nervosa mistakenly thinking they are too fat - a clear example of having a distorted self-image.

The work of Rogers

Humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers was a major figure behind developing this idea. He said that everyone has an ideal self - a view of how they would like to be.  A major part of developing into a fulfilled person and feeling happy is to get past the judgements of others and their attempts to control you, and become the person you want to be.  However, this does not mean fantasising that you are successful!

The problem with boosting self-esteem

One thing I notice with my own students is that those who have done the least work and are least able are often the most likely to brag about their abilities.  Carol Craig of the Centre for Confidence and Wellbeing in Glasgow states that this can link to an educational obsession with boosting self-esteem in young people.  Although low-self esteem is problematic, serious anti-social behaviours such as road rage and sex crimes are more likely to be committed by people with high self-esteem (Baumeister et al., 1996).  This may be because their fragile, unrealistically high self-esteem is often threatened.

This links to Rogers' ideas again - having an accurate self-concept is much more valuable than having an unrealistically positive one. 

Writers: do you think about a character's inner conflicts and contradictions?  Is it something you would take notes on when developing a character, or does it develop more organically as you write?

Writing activity

As a writing exercise, have a try at portraying a character whose self-concept is significantly different from their true character.  This could involve a person who has a distored view of their own abilities, their own personality, their likelihood of success etc.  There may also be a contrast between their speech/attitudes and their actions.

Baumeister, R.F., Smart, L. and Boden, J.M. (1996). Relation of threatened egotism to violence and aggression: the dark side of high self-esteem. Psychological Review, 103(1), 5-33.