Self-Identity or Self-Concept

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Self-identity or self-concept is overall perception (and judgement) of ourselves, bigger than self-awareness, self-image, or self-esteem. It encompasses our psychological, physical, and social attributes — influenced by our motivations, attitudes, habits, beliefs, ideas, emotional wellbeing, and experiences — good and bad. It’s what we think about ourselves in terms of how we look and how we contribute to work, family, and community life, both successes and failures. We have multiple types of identity: cultural, ethnic, professional, national, religious, gender, disability. Humanist psychologist Carl Rogers divided identity into three parts: ideal self (person we want to be), self-image (how we see ourselves now — personality traits, physical characteristics, social roles), and self-esteem (how much we like, accept, and value ourselves — affected by how others see us, how we think we compare to others, and our role in society). Other theories:

• Schema theory suggests our mental structures — schemas/self-schemas — organize and interpret information, connect to what we know from the past and anticipate what to expect going forward.
• Possible selves are ideas of what we might become, what we’d like to become, and what we’re afraid of becoming. Like self-schema, it involves self-projections into the future.
• Narrative identity refers to the stories we construct about ourselves (not always accurately).
• Self-esteem theory is how clearly/consistently we show our self-regard. Low self-esteem shows inconsistency/instability in self-concept, made more vulnerable to negative situations.
• Social identity theory proposes our self-concept is based on belonging to various groups—a source of pride and self-esteem (positive) or perpetuating discrimination and prejudice (negative).
• Self-discrepancy theory suggests we compare ourselves to internalized standards or self-guides. Discrepancies between guides and self-schema affects emotions and behavior.
• Self-complexity is having multiple, distinct, relatively compartmentalized self-schemas. Low self-complexity has a narrower range of life experiences.
• Self-concept clarity is how clear and consistent our picture of ourselves is—high self-concept clarity correlates with high self-complexity and empathy.
• Self-consistency theory suggests we seek consistency among our cognitions (beliefs, attitudes). Otherwise, we feel psychological tension, which we’re motivated to reduce.
• Self-perception theory proposes we develop attitudes and feelings by observing ourselves and concluding what caused our behavior, especially with weak or ambiguous internal cues