The Self: The Body, Innner, Interpersonal, and Societal Self

The Self

Running head: SELF CONCEPT, ESTEEM, AND PRESENTATION

The Self

Doyle O. Welborn

University of Phoenix

The Self

Social psychology begins with a study of the self followed by the interaction of the self with an ever increasing concentric circle of society. Understanding the development of the self and self-concept is the foundation for understanding social psychology. This paper will examine how the self is developed and the relationships between the self and emotion, cognition, and behaviors. This will attempt to define the self by examining the operational definitions of the self-concept, self-esteem, and self-presentation.

Definition of Self

The term “self” can be defined in using two methods: conceptual and operational. The conceptual definition of self can be examined by defining the boundaries of the self. Those boundaries can be divided into four separate levels: (1) the body self, (2) the inner self, (3) the interpersonal self, and (4) the societal self (Fiske, 2004). Each of these concepts will be considered in detail followed by operational definitions of self.

The Body Self

This is the most obvious concept of self, and this is the first concept that a child realizes as body parts are identified one by one, and the connections of those body parts to one another begin to create a sense of self for every child. The natural progress from this point is that items connected to the body, such as clothing, fingernails, and hair are thought of as being a part of the self. Extensions of the self such as emails, photographs, and the voice are considered less important as those things move farther away from the body (for instance, when hair is cut off and discarded, and when emails disappear into cyberspace). The closer these items are to the physical body, and the more intimate and connected the individual is to those items, then the more those items are considered a part of the body’s self.

The Inner Self

Also called the spiritual self, this level is what most people think of as a reflection of the true individual self, or the inner, private, reflective self (Fiske, 2004). Self-concept develops when an individual examines innermost thoughts and feelings and expresses them as a part of the individual. The inner self is composed of the attitudes, feelings, desires and abilities of the individual. What a person defends in the inner self is what is important to the individual and what is considered an essential characteristic of the inner self.

The attitudes of the inner self are ...

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The Inner Self

The attitudes of the inner self are thought of as predispositions to respond to the world in a certain way. These responses included thoughts, emotions and behavior (Burr, 2002). The attitude, then, predicts the behavior of the self. While general attitudes have not been shown to predict specific behaviors, studies have shown that specific behaviors can be predicted when the size and strength of an individual’s attitude about committing a specific behavior is known and how that individual thinks that behavior will be viewed by others (Burr, 2002).

The Interpersonal Self

This aspect of the self is defined by the roles an individual plays in relationships with others closely involved in the individual’s life (Fiske, 2004). Those roles might include husband, father, cook, professor and other behaviors a person is expected to fulfill in society. The interpersonal self might also include college and career plans, things of interest, and values that are important to the individual. The key to defining the interpersonal self is to identify the roles an individual plays with important people closely associated with the individual.

Defining self and being true to the self that has been defined does not mean that an individual cannot fulfill roles and still be themselves (Butt, Burr, & Bell, 1997). These roles alone do not create the individual’s self, but the roles and the interaction of society with the individual help to define the self in a give and take interaction. The self is defined through the interaction of the inner self with the surrounding world.

The Societal Self

The fourth and final aspect of the self is defined by the interaction of the individual in society and culture in general, but in a broader sense than that of the face-to-face relationships in the interpersonal self (Fiske, 2004). The societal self refers to social identities, and includes characteristics such as a person’s ethnicity, gender, age, and group affiliations such as religion and politics. An individual’s sense of self in society is very important in understanding the concept of the individual self.

Individual’s interactions with society involve a coordination of the behavior of each person but in no way can be thought of as predictable outcomes of preexisting factors, dispositions or intentions (Burr, 2002). Even though individual have certain attitudes and attributions that may lead them to react in specific ways in certain circumstances, the interaction of the individual with others in society is the force behind an individual’s thoughts, feelings and behavior within society.

The conceptual definition of the self is not easily measured and therefore, not the primary concern of social psychologists. Operationally, the self can be divided by areas of research which social psychologists are able to measure. Those areas of research are identified by the way people think, feel and behave; those areas are self-concept, self-esteem, and self-presentation (Fiske, 2004).

Cognition and Self-Concept

The cognitive aspect of self is called self-concept. How an individual thinks, believes or knows about self is considered self-concept. Closely related to the idea of self-schema, the self-concept might organize information as a self-schematic on dimensional scales (Fiske, 2004). But the two are not exactly the same because the term self-concept can also refer to ideas an individual may hold about self which may be organized in a different way. Self-concept is a more broad term encompassing all ideas or knowledge of the self. An individual’s concept of self can be discovered by answering a self-report questionnaire on “Who am I?” (Fiske, 2004).

The concept of self begins with the organization of thoughts in the mind about the individual’s self. Burr (2002) states “Both mind (our capacity for consciousness, for reflection upon our experience) and self are seen as made possible by and emerging from the processes of social interaction and language use” (p. 65). Through the use of our language individuals learn to engage in social interactions, aiding in the further development of a self that already exists in the early stages of life. Even though a baby cannot yet reflect on its own interactions, the process is established through the fundamental, rudimentary interactions of babies with parents, and the baby’s actions eventually become meaningful reflections of the world. As a baby’s cognitive skills grow, the gestures of the baby are replaced with more meaningful symbols such as words, which in turn help to establish a healthy, cognitive self-concept.

Emotion and Self-Esteem

Another area of research which defines self operationally is that of self-esteem (Fiske, 2004). Emotions play an important role in defining self-esteem. The kind of self-esteem that social psychologists are interested in is not trait self-esteem which is based on personality, but state self-esteem which is more temporary and based on situations (Fiske, 2004). Though more areas of study are available, researchers usually prefer to measure an individual’s performance, social regard and appearance to obtain an accurate representation of state self-esteem.

Behavior and Self-Presentation

Finally, behaviors associated with self-presentation are another way in which the self is operationally defined (Fiske, 2004). People will usually try to present themselves in the best way possible. The actions associated with self-presentation are motivated by a desire to “save face.” When people fail or embarrass themselves in public, they will attempt to do a favor, compensate by doing some good deed, and align themselves with people who are successful, or somehow rationalize their mistakes.

Conclusion

The study of social psychology is an intriguing and complicated endeavor beginning with the difficult task of understanding the self, moving into the next level of understanding the interaction of the self with other people one to one, and the interaction of self with society at large. The conceptual definitions of the body self, the inner self, the interpersonal self, and the societal self take us from the micro to the macro study of social interaction. Research in the areas of self-concept, self-esteem, and self-presentation demonstrate that the field of social psychology is on the verge of understanding the nature of the self.