You’ve taken an Enneagram test, checked your horoscope, or filled out a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
When you read how these sources classified your traits, you might have found that some estimations were spot-on while others didn’t describe you well. And you can identify those similarities and discrepancies because you know yourself — saying “Yes, I’m really organized” or “No, I’m definitely not an extrovert.”
Being able to identify and explain your traits is a reflection of self-concept: your personal beliefs and self-knowledge. It defines how well you know yourself, how others see you, and what gaps you might have in your self-awareness. Learn more about the definition of self-concept and how it develops.
What is self-concept?
Your self-concept is a combination of all the facts that make up your identity. If you ever ask, “Who am I?” the beliefs and attributes you answer with are all things that make up the meaning of self-concept. It’s a combination of the image you have of yourself, your understanding of your personality traits, and the activities and values that are important to you.
How others see you also plays into how you perceive yourself, which means your self-concept also includes outside influence. When people tell you you’re a helpful family member or an innovative teammate — and you know that those things are true — it adds to your self-discovery and sense of self.
Self-concept: Psychology definition
In The Handbook of Personality Psychology, a comprehensive textbook published in 1997, Roy Baumeister explored the idea of self-concept as it relates to personal identity. He found that people naturally wish to define their sense of self, whether as successful, educated, or unique, and understand who they are.
Baumeister also said that wanting to grow and know oneself can spur a conflict: an identity crisis. This happens when someone’s vision of who they hope to become doesn’t align with who they think they are today. It could also happen when someone realizes that something they believed about themselves wasn’t actually true. If you think you’re a high performer, but an important performance review reveals you haven’t been putting in as much effort as you thought, it could spur a crisis.
Other times, people deeply believe in their core values but feel external pressure to act in ways that don’t represent them. If honesty is important to you but a friend asks you to lie, your self-concept and behavior would be in conflict. And when that happens, you could experience an identity crisis.
Self-concept versus self-esteem
Self-concepts are usually assessments you make about yourself without judgment. These observations represent facts like “I am a nurse,” “I am organized,” or “My loved ones say I’m very helpful.”
Self-esteem is an assessment of yourself that includes judgment or bias. People with high self-esteem value themselves and demonstrate high levels of self-confidence, seeing their traits as positive or recognizing their flaws in a healthy way. But those with lower esteem give way to self-doubt, negative self-talk, and criticism, even though there are many things to love about themselves.
Low self-esteem can cloud your idea of your self-concept. If you’re an excellent nurse but feel burnt out after a difficult period at work, your emotions could distort your self-image. Instead of recognizing what you did right, you might think you’re bad at your job, even if that’s false. This negative self-reflection represents how you feel about yourself in a moment of damaged self-esteem — not what your characteristics objectively are.
3 self-concept examples
Ideally, your self-concept comprises facts about yourself, like your role as a parent or your introversion. But where’s the line between fact and fiction? What’s an accurate self-description, and what’s an opinion? Here are three self-concept examples to guide you:
1. Physical characteristics and personality traits
Undeniable characteristics of your personality, like being tall, a voracious reader, or a motivated professional, are part of your self-concept.
There’s always a little room for doubt when evaluating your traits, especially when making social comparisons. You may ask, “Am I really a consistent reader if some of my friends are even bigger bookworms?” or “Am I that motivated if I sometimes lose sight of goals?” But when you consistently prove, or others repeatedly cite a trait, it’s most likely a fact of your personality.
2. Work or hobbies
The activities you perform regularly are parts of your self-concept. For example, your work as a nurse is a fact — as is being a yoga practitioner or volunteer at a food bank. Other affiliations, like participating in a club or supporting a political party, can contribute to your self-concept.
3. Roles
Your self-concept is complex. You play various roles, like being a sister, friend, or loving partner. Whether you choose to be in a relationship (like a friendship or partnership) or are in one because of a family structure (like being a daughter), your role in them is integral to your self-concept.
Self-concept theory
“Who am I?” isn’t easy to answer. And like many of life’s tough questions, researchers and theorists have tried to unpack and understand the implications of “knowing yourself.” Here are three self-concept theories that approach the idea in distinct ways:
Rogers’ 3 parts of self-concept
American psychologist Carl Rogers broke the idea of the self-concept into three parts: self-image, self-esteem, and ideal self:
- Self-image reflects how a person views themselves or how others see that person
- Self-esteem is how much value they place on their sense of self
- The ideal self is how a person would like to be
Rogers made a triangle with each of these selves on a side. The ideal self rests at the bottom of the structure, as Rogers believed it was the core driver for who a person is. One of the goals of learning more about yourself is discovering how to bring yourself closer to the ideal.
In psychology and reiterated by Rogers, the divide between the real and ideal self is incongruence. When you become the person you desire, your real and ideal selves align, and you achieve congruence. Working toward the ideal is key to eventual self-acceptance.
Tajfel and Turner’s social identity theory
Henri Tajfel and John Turner established social identity theory in the late 1970s, a theory that associates aspects of a person’s self-concept with a group they pertain to. The social group could be a team, occupation, or nationality — any collective of people with shared ideas.
Tajfel and Turner determined “ingroup” and “outgroup” behaviors that were either in or out of line with the group’s ideals. For example, high school students in a drama club are more likely to have the same behaviors as other drama club members than they would athletes. Future psychologists used this knowledge to explore conformity, socialization, and prejudice.
Bracken’s multiple dimensions
Psychologist Bruce Bracken determined six focus areas within self-concept. Getting to know yourself in these areas provides a holistic view of who you are:
- Academic: Performance in an educational environment
- Affect: Emotional awareness
- Competence: Abilities and skills
- Family: Relationship with parents, siblings, and other family members
- Physical: Idea of one’s appearance and how they present themselves
- Social: Interactions with others
Bracken also developed an assessment to evaluate young people on each of those six self-concept categories. When someone takes that assessment, they can identify places where they’re less sure of themselves or feel negatively, paving a clearer path toward self-acceptance.
How self-concept develops
Some self-concepts are straightforward. If your occupation is teaching, you’re an educator. If you were born into a religious family, you likely share and identify with their religion. These facts are difficult to negate and don’t require much self-evaluation to determine.
But no one’s life exists in a vacuum. Your relationship with others and society helps form your self-concept. You observe the world around you, what you contribute to it, and the behaviors you exhibit, adding those social traits to the things you know about yourself. The same happens when others tell you how they perceive you.
Here are a few real-world examples of how your self-concept develops throughout your life:
- You understand you’re tall at an early age because you measure higher than your classmates
- You know you are a great active listener because your boss has cited this quality in every performance review
- You win a series of races and learn you are a strong athlete
- You read a book about parenting styles and determine you are an authoritative parent
- You consistently get positive feedback at work and characterize yourself as good at your job
- You identify with the interests of a group, like a team or political party, and discover you’re a supporter
Other’s perceptions aren’t always right
How others listen, interact, and react to your behaviors can influence your self-concept. But it’s important to remember that their estimations aren’t always correct. That’s not to say that these ideas won’t seep into your understanding of yourself, but you should assess others’ perceptions carefully.
In a misunderstanding, a friend might assume you aren’t loyal to them. But you know you’re a loyal person, and this trait is central to your self-concept. It won’t change because of this misunderstanding. If you let a misconstrued conception like this one shift your self-concept, you risk adopting false ideas about who you are. Maintaining a high level of self-love and understanding others’ biases can help you maintain a self-concept that’s as accurate as possible.
Can self-concept change?
As many aspects of your self-concept depend on social context and personal growth, your perceptions can shift. If you were born in France but moved to the United States, you may have seen yourself as French as a child but American now. If you were a high performer in one professional role but struggled to gain recognition in a new one, your concept of being a strong employee may change. You’re constantly evolving as a person, so it makes sense that your self-perception is, too.
Research from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology also shows that the behaviors you exhibit publicly can shift your self-concept. If you act a particular way in front of others, you may internalize that behavior as part of your self-concept. Suppose you’re the life of the party or the kind of person who springs to action to support others. You may add “entertaining” or “helpful” to your concept of self as a result.
Most importantly, your self-concept can change or expand as you improve emotional regulation, shift behaviors, or learn new skills. Although there are some things you can’t change about yourself, understanding what your current and ideal behaviors are can aid personal growth and pinpoint development opportunities. You may have once defined yourself as aggressive, but you have improved your communication skills and are now assertive instead.
The relationship between self-concept and career development
Part of your self-concept is the ideal you hold for yourself, and that includes your career goals. Understanding the difference between your current and ideal professional self can help you pave the way toward the career you want, filling in education and skill gaps.
If you dream of becoming a doctor, you likely started moving toward that career in adolescence, acquiring the hard and soft skills needed for the role in studies and later clinical practice. Being a “medical student,” “resident,” or “cardiologist” might also become part of your self-concept, as are the skills you acquire along the way, like empathetic listening and attention to detail. Should your career drastically change, you’ll have a new title and abilities to go along with it, shifting your professional self-concept.
Your performance at work can also influence your sense of self. If your peers consistently congratulate you on being a team player, you’ll recognize this as part of your self-concept. And recognizing an ability may motivate you to push it further. Knowing how well you work in a team, you might consider taking on more responsibility and leading one, adding “manager” to your self-concept later in your career.
The more self-knowledge, the better
Self-knowledge helps you make decisions that align with your values, act in ways you’re proud of, and pursue relationships and professional opportunities that nurture your well-being.
Take some time to reflect on your self-concept and question your impressions of “good” or “bad” traits. Your self-esteem could cloud your perception, or there could be characteristics you can work to improve. In times of self-discovery, being honest about who you are and who you want to become is key to becoming your ideal self.
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