Self-concept

In the psychology of self, one's self-concept is a collection of beliefs about oneself. Generally, self-concept embodies the answer to the question "Who am I?".
The self-concept is distinguishable from self-awareness, which is the extent to which self-knowledge is defined, consistent, and currently applicable to one's attitudes and dispositions. Self-concept also differs from self-esteem: self-concept is a cognitive or descriptive component of one's self, while self-esteem is evaluative and opinionated.
Self-concept is made up of one's self-schemas, and interacts with self-esteem, self-knowledge, and the social self to form the self as a whole. It includes the past, present, and future selves, where future selves represent individuals' ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, or what they are afraid of becoming. Possible selves may function as incentives for certain behaviour.
The perception people have about their past or future selves relates to their perception of their current selves. The temporal self-appraisal theory argues that people have a tendency to maintain a positive self-evaluation by distancing themselves from their negative self and paying more attention to their positive one. In addition, people have a tendency to perceive the past self less favourably and the future self more positively.

History

Psychologists Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow had major influence in popularizing the idea of self-concept in the West. According to Rogers, everyone strives to reach an "ideal self." He believed that a person gets to self-actualize when they prove to themself that they are capable enough to achieve their goals and desires, but in order to attain their fullest potential, the person must have been raised in healthy surroundings which consist of "genuineness, acceptance, and empathy"; however, the lack of relationships with people that have healthy personalities will stop the person from growing "like a tree without sunlight and water" and affect the individual's process to accomplish self- actualization. Rogers also hypothesized that psychologically healthy people actively move away from roles created by others' expectations, and instead look within themselves for validation. On the other hand, neurotic people have "self-concepts that do not match their experiences. They are afraid to accept their own experiences as valid, so they distort them, either to protect themselves or to win approval from others."
According to Carl Rogers, the self-concept has three different components:

The view one has of oneself
How much value one places on oneself
What one wishes one were really like

Abraham Maslow applied his concept of self-actualization in his hierarchy of needs theory. In this theory, he explained the process it takes for a person to achieve self-actualization. He argues that for an individual to get to the "higher level growth needs", he must first accomplish "lower deficit needs". Once the "deficiency needs" have been achieved, the person's goal is to accomplish the next step, which is the "being needs". Maslow noticed that once individuals reach this level, they tend to "grow as a person" and reach self-actualization; however, individuals who experienced negative events while being in the lower deficit needs level prevents them from ascending in the hierarchy of needs.
The self-categorization theory developed by John Turner states that the self-concept consists of at least two "levels": a personal identity and a social one. In other words, one's self-evaluation relies on self-perceptions and how others perceive them. Self-concept can alternate rapidly between one's personal and social identity. Children and adolescents begin integrating social identity into their own self-concept in elementary school by assessing their position among peers. By age five, acceptance from peers significantly affects children's self-concept, affecting their behaviour and academic success.

Model

The self-concept is an internal model that uses self-assessments in order to define one's self-schemas. Changes in self-concept can be measured by spontaneous self-report, where a person is prompted by a question like "Who are you?". Often when measuring changes to the self-evaluation, whether a person has a positive or negative opinion of oneself, is measured instead of self-concept.
Features such as personality, skills and abilities, occupation and hobbies, physical characteristics, gender, etc., are assessed and applied to self-schemas, which are ideas of oneself in a particular dimension. A collection of self-schemas makes up one's overall self-concept. For example, the statement "I am lazy" is a self-assessment that contributes to self-concept. Statements such as "I am tired", however, would not be part of someone's self-concept, since being tired is a temporary state and therefore cannot become a part of a self-schema. A person's self-concept may change with time as reassessment occurs, which in extreme cases can lead to identity crises.

Parts

Various theories identify different parts of the self including:

Self-image: the view one has of oneself
Self-esteem: how much you value yourself
Ideal self: what you wish to be
Social identity: the part of the self that is determined by members in social groups
Development

Researchers debate over when self-concept development begins. Some assert that gender stereotypes and expectations set by parents for their children affect children's understanding of themselves by approximately age three. However, at this developmental stage, children have a very broad sense of self; typically, they use words such as big or nice to describe themselves to others. While this represents the beginnings of self-concept, others suggest that self-concept develops later, in middle childhood, alongside the development of self-control. At this point, children are developmentally prepared to interpret their own feelings and abilities, as well as receive and consider feedback from peers, teachers, and family. In adolescence, the self-concept undergoes a significant time of change. Generally, self-concept changes more gradually, and instead, existing concepts are refined and solidified. However, the development of self-concept during adolescence shows a U-shaped curve, in which general self-concept decreases in early adolescence, followed by an increase in later adolescence.
Romantic relationships can affect people's self-concept throughout a relationship. Self-expansion describes the addition of information to an individual's concept of self. Self-expansion can occur during relationships. Expansion of self-concept can occur during relationships, during new challenging experiences.
Additionally, teens begin to evaluate their abilities on a continuum, as opposed to the "yes/no" evaluation of children. For example, while children might evaluate themselves "smart", teens might evaluate themselves as "not the smartest, but smarter than average." Despite differing opinions about the onset of self-concept development, researchers agree on the importance of one's self-concept, which influences people's behaviors and cognitive and emotional outcomes including academic achievement, levels of happiness, anxiety, social integration, self-esteem, and life-satisfaction.

Academic

self-concept refers to the personal beliefs about their academic abilities or skills. Some research suggests that it begins developing from ages three to five due to influence from parents and early educators. By age ten or eleven, children assess their academic abilities by comparing themselves to their peers. These social comparisons are also referred to as self-estimates. Self-estimates of cognitive ability are most accurate when evaluating subjects that deal with numbers, such as math. Self-estimates were more likely to be poor in other areas, such as reasoning speed.
Some researchers suggest that to raise academic self-concept, parents and teachers need to provide children with specific feedback that focuses on their particular skills or abilities. Others also state that learning opportunities should be conducted in groups that downplay social comparison, as too much of either type of grouping can have adverse effects on children's academic self-concept and the way they view themselves in relation to their peers.

Physical

Physical self-concept is the individual's perception of themselves in areas of physical ability and appearance. Physical ability includes concepts such as physical strength and endurance, while appearance refers to attractiveness and body image. Adolescents experience significant changes in general physical self-concept at the onset of puberty, about eleven years old for girls and about 15 years old for boys. The bodily changes during puberty, in conjunction with the various psychological changes of this period, makes adolescence especially significant for the development of physical self-concept. An important factor of physical self-concept development is participation in physical activities. It has even been suggested that adolescent involvement in competitive sports increases physical self-concept.

Gender identity

A person's gender identity is a sense of one's own gender. These ideas typically form in young children. According to the International Encyclopedia of Marriage and Family, gender identity is developed at an early age when the child starts to communicate; by the age of eighteen months to two years is when the child begins to identify as a girl or a boy. After this stage, some consider gender identity already formed, although some consider non-gendered identities more salient during that young of an age. Kohlberg noted gender constancy occurs by the ages of five to six, a child becomes well-aware of their gender identity. Both biological and social factors may influence identities such as a sense of individuality, identities of place as well as gendered identities. As part of environmental attitudes, some suggest women more than men care about the environment. Forms of gender stereotyping is also important to consider in clinical settings. For example, a study at Kuwait University with a small sample of 102 individuals with gender dysphoria examined self-concept, masculinity and femininity. Findings were that children who grew up on lower family bonds had lower self-concept. Clearly, it is important to consider the context of social and political attitudes and beliefs before drawing any conclusions about gender identities in relation to personality, particularly about mental health and issues around acceptable behaviours.