Self-Concept

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Self-concept is the organized set of beliefs and knowledge we hold about ourselves — our personality traits, abilities, physical characteristics, values, goals, relationships, social roles, and other attributes. It includes how we see ourselves now, how we evaluate ourselves, and ideas about who we may become. Our self-concept develops through experience, relationships, social feedback, and our own interpretations, and continues to change throughout life.

Self-concept and self-identity are often used interchangeably, and their meanings overlap considerably. A useful distinction is that self-concept emphasizes what we know and believe about ourselves, while self-identity emphasizes who we understand ourselves to be as we integrate those characteristics, experiences, roles, relationships, and group identities into a coherent sense of self. Self-concept is broader than self-image, self-esteem, or self-awareness. Humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers viewed the self-concept as including our self-image (how we see ourselves), ideal self (the person we would like to be), and self-esteem or self-worth (how much we value ourselves). Congruence between how we see ourselves and who we would like to be contributes to psychological wellbeing; substantial discrepancies can create distress.

Other theories and concepts help explain different aspects of how we construct and maintain a sense of self:

• Self-schema refers to mental representations of particular aspects of ourselves — and may include cultural, ethnic, professional, religious, gender, disability, family, and other identities — and guide how we process new experiences.
• Possible selves are representations of who we might become, would like to become, or fear becoming, connecting present identity with imagined futures.
• Narrative identity is the evolving story we construct to connect experiences across our lives and give them meaning and continuity.
• Social identity theory describes the part of our self-concept derived from membership in social groups and the meaning and value we attach to those memberships.
• Self-discrepancy theory proposes that differences between our actual self and internalized self-guides — such as who we ideally want or believe we ought to be — can influence emotions and behavior.
• Self-complexity describes how many distinct aspects or self-schemas make up our self-concept and how differentiated or overlapping they are.
• Self-concept clarity (SCC) describes how clearly and confidently our beliefs about ourselves are defined, how internally consistent they are, and how stable they remain over time.
• Self-consistency refers to our tendency to seek coherence among our beliefs about ourselves and to experience tension when important aspects conflict.
• Self-perception theory proposes that, particularly when our internal cues are uncertain, we may infer our attitudes and feelings by observing our own behavior and the circumstances in which it occurs.