Self-Concept And Social Perception: An Introduction And Four Components Model

An introduction to the Self Concept Conceptual Model

Discuss about the Self-Concept And Social Perception.

According to Triviño (2012), the self-concept conceptual model refers to the awareness that a person has with regards to him or herself as an individual. It refers to the images that an individual thinks and forms about himself in relationship to the value and the status that other individuals in the society have placed on him or herself. Male and female are different with regards to their view of self-concept, for example, the self-concept of men is tightly related to their personal efficacy, while the self-concept of women are closely tied to care and the love for others (Yilmaz, 2009). Recent studies on self-concept are based on the Rogerian Theory, which views self-concept as the overall ways in which an individual perceives his personal abilities, behavior, and personality. In this framework, self-concept is considered as the conscious representation of who an individual is, including the ambitions that the individual has. In this regard, self-concept functions as a reflection of an individual’s genuine internal desires, and therefore, it is hugely affected by the conditions of worth (Elnaga, 2012).

There are three major concepts in the Rogerian self-concept model, for example, self-image, ideal self, and self-efficacy (Wilton, 2011). These concepts entail the perception of an individual with regards to the person’s lovability, appearance, ad self-worth, and these indicates what an individual is striving to become in life. According to Jones and George (2013), self-concept is built based on the experiences that an individual goes through on a daily basis. Also, according to these authors, the development of a strong self-concept comes as a result of the revision of the experiences that one goes through. In line with these aspects, self-concept can be used to understand the entire personality of an individual because it is a dimension of human beings that comes as a result of an individual’s social interactions. In an organizational setting, it is the day to day interactions that are vital in the comparisons of the ability of individual employee’s capabilities as compared to that of the co-workers.

The 4 Components of the Conceptual Model of the Self-Concept and how organizations can influence them

According to Ilagan (2014), the four components of the conceptual model of the self-concept are; self-esteem, self-image, self-assessment, and self-efficacy. These components are important to understanding the personality of an individual as discussed below:

The 4 Components of the Conceptual Model of the Self-Concept and how organizations can influence them

Self-assessment: Self-assessment refers to a situation where the employees use to determine their aptitudes, values, interests, and the tendencies of their behaviors. This strategy includes the responsibility of an employee as a part of an organization to establish the dimensions and the characteristics that require improvements. As already mentioned in the section above, self-concept entails what an individual wishes to achieve in life; and therefore, it is based on self-assessment that one will be able to make a positive improvement that will enable him or her to achieve the desired goals and objectives (Dessler, 2012). Organizations play a significant part in the self-assessment of their employees. It is the responsibility of an organization’s management to provide self-assessment information to enable the employees to identify important elements of self-concept namely; values, weaknesses, strengths, and interests. Organizations can assess the capabilities of their employees through strategies such as peer evaluation, questionnaires, and 360-feedback methods. The identification of employee’s abilities enables the organization to improve the performance of their employees because it ensures that employees behave responsibility, and hence, increased productivity.

Self-esteem: This refers to the sens of worthiness that an individual feels within the society. Self-esteem determines an individual’s level of independence, and it gives one a sensible structure to life (Ilagan, 2014). High-self-esteem is associated with high-performance I every social setting, while low self-esteem comes along with poor performance and relationships during social interactions. On this basis, organizations are very sensitive of their employees’ self-esteem at the workplace. This is because high self-esteem contributes to high-job performance within an organizational setting. In this regard, organizational managements incessantly play an active role building the self-concept of their employees by raising their self-esteem to improve their job performance. Sal-esteem can be raised through effective training and mentoring of employees.

Self-efficacy: Self-efficacy is that particular belief that an individual has in himself that is able to perform effectively in different circumstances (Ilagan, 2014). Self-efficacy is tightly based on an individual’s self-concept, for instance, an individual who perceives himself as an achiever has a high self-efficacy, and hence, believes that he can achieve positive results under different circumstances. In an organizational setting, self-efficacy is known to help one to achieve the established goals and objectives of the company. Therefore, the organization should play an active role in improving the self-efficacy of its employees to ensure an increased productivity. The organization can raise the self-efficacy of all employees through strategies such as employee training. Despite the lack of a direct relationship between an employee’s self-efficacy with job performance, recent research shows that employees who have high self-efficacy can be able to absorb stress and the challenges that arise at the work place.

Social Perception is the process by which people come to understand each other - Discuss

Self-image: This refers to the manner in which an individual sees himself and others, and how he thinks that the others are seeing him (Day and Schleicher, 2006). Also referred to as self-schema, self-image influences the cognitive skills of an individual, and therefore, it affects recall and the thinking capacity of an individual. Self-image forms an important part of an individual’s self-concept because it determines how one feels about himself in the workplace. In this regard, it determines the performance of an employee within an organizational setting.

Factors that affect perception: Perceptual learning

According to Srivastava and Nandan (2010), perceptual learning refers to the process through which the sensory elements of an individual reacts to current events based on one’s past experiences. For example, an individual who has undergone a thorough training in a particular job, that particular individual gains a lot of expertise in the given field. In this regard, perceptual learning affects perception during social interaction. In an organizational setting, perceptual learning affects the perception of managers and colleagues at the workplace. For example, employees who have been trained in a given line of work are perceived to possess sufficient skills and experience for high-productivity. On the other hand, new and young employees are perceived to lack sufficient knowledge and skills to perform effectively.

This refers to the state of preparedness or the lack of preparedness of an individual to receive information. When an individual is prepared to receive a sensory information, it means that he or she has the right mind set to receive the information, and therefore, he will have a positive perception regarding the information (Zu’bi, Crowther, and Worsdale, 2008). On the other hand, if an individual is not mentally prepared to receive a sensory information, the individual will have a negative perception regarding the new sensory information, and this will have a negative impact on the processing of the information. In an organizational setting, mindset determines the performance of employees, for example, employees who have the right mindset are associated with high-performance. Conversely, those with negative mindset are associated with poor productivity.

The motives and the intentions of an individual influences the perception of an individual. This is closely associated with the beliefs and attitudes of an individual. In the workplace, an individual with positive motives are associated with high-performance. This is because the positive motive and the desire to achieve enables one to develop a positive attitude, and hence, they perceive tasks as easy, and this leads to success (Certo and Certo, 2010). On the other hand, negative motives contribute to negative attitudes, and this leads to the perception of tasks as difficult, and hence, poor performance.

Factors that affect perception: Perceptual learning

Stereotyping: This refers to a situation where an individual is judged based on his or her background. Making judgments based on such characters is a major error to perception because one makes a conclusion on biased and misinformed facts (Pillai, 2010). Stereotyping has negative impacts in an organization because it may deny skilled and knowledgeable employees from being hired, and this may affect the performance of an organization.

Selective perception: This refers to a situation where one selects what he wants to see or hear. Selective perception is a major cause of perception error because it prevents one from getting vital and comprehensive information that is useful in the making of an informed decision.

Conclusion

In summary, self-concept conceptual model refers to the awareness that a person has with regards to him or herself as an individual. It also refers to the overall ways in which an individual perceives his personal abilities, behavior, and personality. The four major concepts in the Rogerian self-concept model, for example, self-image, ideal self, and self-efficacy the four components of the conceptual model of the self-concept are; self-image, self-esteem, self-assessment, and self-efficacy. Self-assessment refers to a situation where the employees use to determine their aptitudes, values, interests, and the tendencies of their behaviors. Self-esteem refers to self-worth within the society, and it determines an individual’s level of independence, and it gives one a sensible structure to life. On the other hand, self-efficacy means personal belief that one has that one is able to perform effectively under different circumstances, while self-image is how an individual sees himself and others. Major factors affecting perception are perceptual learning, mental set, and the motive and needs of an individual. However, some of the most common perception errors are stereotyping, which is biased judgment and selective perception, where a person selectively chooses what to see.

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