What is the self, self concept , self image and self esteem?

What is meant by the terms the self, self concept , self image and self esteem?

• THE SELF:

The role the self plays in communication is vital. In order to be able to identify the levels of the self, you first need to understand the intimate part of the communication process. We need to recognize the role of the self, and how the self plays into how we communicate.

             The development of how you communicate, is how you see yourself, or your sense of who you are. This sense of self is essential to how you communicate with others. The term for that sense of self is self-concept.

·         SELF –CONCEPT:

           Self-concept is your image of who you are. Put another way, self-concept is the total picture of who you are. Or how you see your whole self. It is your psychological self, your physical self, your spiritual self, your social self, and your intellectual self. Self-concept is how you perceive the different parts of yourself that combine to form a total picture.

At the same time self-concept also means knowing how others see you, how your colleagues see you, how your parents see you. When you interact with different groups and individuals and they see you and react to you, you pick up signals and you change yourself as a result of this feedback.

Self-concept is made up of two components:

a.       Self-image

b.      Self-esteem.

a.       SELF-IMAGE Self-image is how you see yourself and how you describe the roles that you play in life. Self-esteem is also how you evaluate yourself in those roles. How do you see yourself as a brother, as a friend, as a best friend? How do you rate your performance in the various roles you play in life? On a scale of one to ten, are you good to bad, great to terrible, positive to negative, effective to ineffective? No matter what evaluative scale you want to use, self-image is measured by how you evaluate yourself in those roles. Self-esteem is the process of self-evaluation; it is how you feel about yourself in each of those roles.

b.      SELF-ESTEEM:Self esteem is certainly affected by how others evaluate your performance in a particular role. To be found lacking in the performance of a particular role results in hurt feelings and diminished self-esteem.