User:Hep4v07

Hey, my fellow Wikipedians :)

Log
 * 4/12/09 I realised that some major changes have been made recently. Will copy and paste the article as it stands here, and will make various changes within the next week or so onto this page.  When Im happy I'll modify the actual page.
 * 06/12/09 I commenced modifying the article here, using the research I have been doing this past month.
 * 17/12/09 I made further changes to the article, but now need some guidance of where to go from here.
 * 05/01/10-08/01/10 I have been modifying the article as per Aiden's suggestions, and have added the original article to my page for easy comparison.

Please note the references in the first half of the reference list relate to the original article, and so are not in APA format.

Self-concept (The original article)
Self-concept is multi-dimensional construct that refers to an individual's perception of "self" in relation to any number of characteristics, such as academics (and nonacademics),    gender roles and sexuality,   racial identity, and many others. While closely related with self-concept clarity (which "refers to the extent to which self-knowledge is clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable"), it presupposes but is distinguishable from self-awareness, which is simply an individual's awareness of their self. It is also more general than self-esteem, which is the purely evaluative element of the self-concept.

The self-concept is composed of relatively permanent self-assessments, such as personality attributes, knowledge of one's skills and abilities, one's occupation and hobbies, and awareness of one's physical attributes. For example, the statement, "I am lazy" is a self-assessment that contributes to the self-concept. In contrast, the statement "I am tired" would not normally be considered part of someone's self-concept, since being tired is a temporary state. Nevertheless, a person's self-concept may change with time, possibly going through turbulent periods of identity crisis and reassessment.

The self-concept is not restricted to the present. It includes past selves and future selves. Future selves or "possible selves" represent individuals' ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming. They correspond to hopes, fears, standards, goals, and threats. Possible selves may function as incentives for future behavior and they also provide an evaluative and interpretive context for the current view of self.

In philosophy, there is the concept of the ipse identity ("who am I?") as introduced by Paul Ricoeur.

Self-concept (My article)
Self-concept is a set of self-beliefs. The beliefs relate to the self as a physical, social, and spiritual or moral being. Self-concept is a multidimensional construct, and is formed through experiences with the environment. Self-concept should not be used interchangebly with self. The self-concept is the belief, and the belief pertains to the self. Self-concept is important as it is the base from which social and emotional development stems from.

Self-concept clarity is the extent that self-beliefs, or self-knowledge is clearly defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable. Self-concept presupposes but is distinguishable from self-awareness, which is an individual's capacity to reflect upon their self. It is also more general than self-esteem, which is the evaluative element of the self-concept. The self-concept is not restricted to the present. It includes past selves and future selves. Future selves or "possible selves" represent individuals' ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming. They correspond to hopes, fears, standards, goals, and threats. Possible selves may function as incentives for future behavior and they also provide an evaluative and interpretive context for the current view of self. Self-beliefs are influenced by what significant others think of them, whether perceptions are reinforced, and how one explains their own behaviour. Perceptions can relate to academic ability, gender roles and sexuality,   and racial identity.

Aspects of the self-concept
Self-beliefs can vary in terms of accuracy, consistency, accessibility and importance, how they are represented in memory, and how they are structurally organised.

Accuracy
The accuracy of one's self-concept is related to the self-assessment motive. One’s self-beliefs can be considered accurate if they correspond with a person’s behaviour. This relationship between self-concept and behaviour has been shown to be weak to modest. Thus, one's own self beliefs may not reflect the nature of their self accurately. Instead, a person's self-beliefs may be more accurate at predicting daily emotional experience. Also, others' evaluations of our selves help to form our own perception of our selves. Thus, it is likely that these beliefs that make up our self-concept are distorted, as our beliefs pertaining to others' evaluations of our selves tend to be biased towards a favourable evaluation. This is because we are motivated to self-enhance (see: self-enhancement), which is also related to self-esteem. This motive affects our perceptions, concepts, and memories.

Consistency
The consistency of self-concept is related to the self-verification motive. We seek self-feedback from others who are likely to feed us information congruent with our own evaluations. This maintains consistency. Those that have a clear idea of their self-concept are most likely to behave according to their self-descriptions in a consistent way across situations. Such people are also less likely to accept incongruent information about themselves than people without a clear self-concept (described as aschematic). In addition, aschematics are least likely to show consistency in behaviour. The self-concept can be useful at predicting one’s behaviour. Perceptions are thought to influence behaviour, and vice versa.

The self-concept is composed of self-assessments relating to personality attributes, knowledge of one's skills and abilities, one's occupation and hobbies, and awareness of one's physical attributes. A person's self-concept may change with time, possibly going through turbulent periods of identity crisis and reassessment. For example, those whom have low levels of self-esteem, or whom are prone to depression may have less stable self-concepts.

Within the self-concept is the gender-concept, which is thought to be fixed and constant from childhood, and is acquired as part of a child's cognitive development.

Accessibility
To measure accessibility of traits within the self-concept, researchers use a spontaneous self-concept test, such as the Twenty Statements Test (TST). This is a free-recall test that poses the question, "Who am I?". The traits that are most likely to be mentioned are those that are more distinctive, or different from similiar others. For example, if one is atypically older or younger than their fellow classmates, or if they were born somewhere other than the local town. It is supposed that not all traits within the self-concept are accessible at any one time. Thus, self-concept has been referred to as the working self-concept. This infers that the self-concept is a continually changing array of self-knowledge.

Importance
The self-beliefs that are most important to a person make up one’s identity. Such beliefs are likely to show the individual in a positive light, as people tend to selectively forget unpleasing knowledge of their self (referred to as mnemic neglect). This is related to the self-enhancement motive. Others, who may place importance on somewhat negative aspects of their self (e.g. I am lazy), do so as this is crucial to change their self-concept. This instance is also related to the desire to self-enhance.

Structure
The self-concept is organised into categories to cope with the vast amount of experiences one encounters. These categories may reflect culture, e.g. family, friends and school. The dimensions of one’s self-concept reflect the general category system shared by a group. It is supposed that facets of the self-concept are also organised hierarchically, with the general self concept at the apex and specific situations at the base.