Conceptions of Self - History

History

The psychologists who paved the way for this concept were Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. According to Rogers, everyone strives to become more like an "ideal self". The closer one is to their ideal self, the happier one will be. Rogers also claimed that one factor in a person’s happiness is unconditional positive regard, or UPR, from others. UPR often occurs in close or familial relationships, and involves a consistent level of affection regardless of the recipient’s actions. Rogers explained UPR as neither approving nor disapproving of someone based on their behaviours or characteristics but rather accepting them without judgement. From a therapy frame of reference, Rogers identified the significance of a client perceiving a therapist’s UPR towards them in order for it to have meaning because the client should not feel judged as they attempt to accurately express themselves. Evidence of UPR in self-concept research in apparent in studies by Benner and Mistry (2007) and Tiedemann (2000). Research has indicated that adolescents whose mothers and teachers had high expectations for their future educational attainment experienced more academic success than those whose adult influences had lower expectations. Adults’ high expectations for children are also reported as being important buffers from the negative effects of other parties’ low expectations by developing feelings of positive regard in adolescents. In research about parent stereotypes, the correlation between parents’ beliefs about their early elementary age children’s’ mathematics abilities and the children’s actual abilities increased as children aged. This demonstrates the strong relationship between adults’ beliefs about children and children’s beliefs about themselves, indicating the importance of developing unconditional positive regard for students so they can develop it themselves.

An important theory relating to self-concept is the self-categorization theory (SCT), which states that the self-concept consists of at least two "levels," a personal identity and a social identity. In other words, people’s self-evaluations rely on both one’s self-perceptions and how one fits in socially. The self-concept can alternate rapidly between the personal and social identity. Research by Trautwein et al.(2009) indicates that children and adolescents begin integrating social comparison information into their own self-concept in elementary school by assessing their position among their peers. Gest et al.’s (2008) research findings reveal that peer acceptance has a significant impact on one’s self-concept by age 5, affecting children’s behaviour and academic success. Both of these research examples capsulate the social influences on a person’s self-concept.