Self Image
A
person's self-image is the mental picture, generally of a kind that is quite
resistant to change, that depicts not only details that are potentially
available to objective investigation by others (height, weight, hair color,
gender, I.Q. score, etc.), but also items that have been learned by that person
about himself or herself, either from personal experiences or by internalizing
the judgments of others. A simple definition of a person's self-image is their
answer to the question "What do you believe people think about
you?".
Self-image
may consist of three types:
1.Self-image resulting from how the individual
sees himself or herself.
2.Self-image resulting from how others see the
individual.
3.Self-image resulting from how the individual perceives others
see him or her.
These
three types may or may not be an accurate representation of the person. All,
some or none of them may be true.
A
more technical term for self-image that is commonly used by social and cognitive
psychologists is self-schema. Like any schema, self-schemas store information
and influence the way we think and remember. For example, research indicates
that information which refers to the self is preferentially encoded and recalled
in memory tests, a phenomenon known as "Self-referential encoding". Self-schemas
are also considered the traits people use to define themselves, they draw
information about the self into a coherent
scheme.
Poor
self-image
Poor
self-image may be the result of accumulated criticisms that the person collected
as a child which have led to damaging their own view of themselves. Children in
particular are vulnerable to accepting negative judgments from authority figures
because they have yet to develop competency in evaluating such reports. Also,
adolescents are highly targeted to suffer from poor body image issues.
Individuals that already exhibit a low-sense of self-worth may be vulnerable to
develop social disorders.
Negative
self-images can arise from a variety of factors. A prominent factor, however, is
personality type. Perfectionists, high achievers, and those with "type A"
personalities seem to be prone to having negative self-images. This is because
such people constantly set the standard for success high above a reasonable,
attainable level. Thus, they are constantly disappointed in this
"failure."
Self-image
maintenance
When people
are in the position of evaluating others, self-image maintenance processes can
lead to a more negative evaluation depending on the self-image of the evaluator.
That is to say stereotyping and prejudice may be the way individuals maintain
their self-image. When individuals evaluate a member of a stereotyped group,
they are less likely to evaluate that person negatively if their self-images had
been bolstered through a self-affirmation procedure, and they are more likely to
evaluate that person stereotypically if their self-images have been threatened
by negative feedback. Individuals may restore their self-esteem by derogating
the member of a stereotyped group.
Fein and
Spencer (1997) conducted an intriguing study on Self-image Maintenance and
Discriminatory Behavior. This study showed evidence that increased prejudice can
result from a person’s need to redeem a threatened positive perception of the
self. The aim of the study was to test whether a particular threat to the self
would instigate increased stereotyping and lead to actual discriminatory
behavior or tendencies towards a member of a "negatively" stereotyped group. The
study began when Fein and Spencer gave participants an ostensible test of
intelligence. Some of them received negative feedback, and others, positive and
supportive feedback. In the second half of the experiment, the participants were
asked to evaluate another person who either belonged to a negatively stereotyped
group, or one who did not. The results of the experiment proved that the
participants who had previously received unfavorable comments on their test,
evaluated the target of the negatively stereotyped group in a more antagonistic
or opposing way, than the participants who were given excellent reports on their
intelligence test. They concluded that the negative feedback on the test
threatened the participants’ self-image and they evaluated the target in a more
negative manner, all in efforts to restore their own self-esteem.
A present
study extends the studies of Fein and Spencer in which the principal behavior
examined was avoidance behavior. In the study, Macrae et al. (2004) found that
participants that had a salient negative stereotype of "skinheads" attached,
physically placed themselves further from a skinhead target compared to those in
which the stereotype was not as apparent. Therefore, greater salience of a
negative stereotype led participants to show more stereotype-consistent behavior
towards the target.
Residual
self-image
Residual
self-image is the concept that individuals tend to think of themselves as
projecting a certain physical appearance, or certain position of social
entitlement, or lack thereof. The term was used at least as early as 1968, but
was popularized in fiction by the Matrix series, where persons who existed in a
digitally created world would subconsciously maintain the physical appearance
that they had become accustomed to projecting.
Self-image
of victimisation
Victims of
abuse and manipulation often get trapped into a self-image of victimisation. The
psychological profile of victimisation includes a pervasive sense of
helplessness, passivity, loss of control, pessimism, negative thinking, strong
feelings of guilt, shame, self-blame and depression. This way of thinking can
lead to hopelessness and despair.
Children’s
self-image disparity
Self-image
disparity was found to be positively related to chronological age (CA) and
intelligence, two factors thought to increase concomitantly with maturity:
Capacity for guilt and ability for cognitive differentiation. However, males had
larger self-image disparities than females, whites had larger disparities and
higher ideal self images than blacks, and SES (socioeconomic status) affected
self-images differentially for the 2nd and 5th graders.
Self-image
strengtheners
A child's
self-awareness of who they are differentiates into 3 categories around the age
of 5: their social self, academic persona, and physical attributes. Several ways
to strengthen a child's self-image include communication, reassurance, support
of hobbies, and finding role models.
Evolved
awareness of self-image in mirror
When does a
child become aware that the image in a mirror is his own? Research was done on
88 children between 3 and 24 months. Their behaviors were observed before a
mirror. The results indicated that children's awareness of self-image followed
three major age-related sequences:
From about 6 through 12 months of age,
the first prolonged and repeated reaction of an infant to his mirror image is
that of a sociable “playmate”.
In the second year of life, wariness and
withdrawal appeared; self-admiring and embarrassed behavior accompanied those
avoidance behaviors starting at 14 months, and was shown by 75% of the subjects
after 20 months of age.
During the last part of the second year of life,
from 20 to 24 months of age, 65% of the subjects demonstrated recognition of
their mirror images.
Physical
activity and self-image
Regular
practice of endurance exercise was related to a more favourable self-image.
There was a strong association between participation in sports and the type of
personality that tends to be resistant to drug and alcohol addiction. Physical
exercise was further significantly related to scores for physical and
psychological well-being. Adolescents who engaged regularly in physical activity
were characterised by lower anxiety-depression scores, and displayed much less
social behavioural inhibition than their less active
counterparts.
It is likely
that discussion of recreational or exercise involvement may provide a useful
point of entry for facilitating dialogue among adolescents about concerns
relating to body image and self-esteem. In terms of psychotherapeutic
applications, physical activity has many additional rewards for adolescents. It
is probable that by promoting physical fitness, increased physical performance,
lessening body mass and promoting a more favourable body shape and structure,
exercise will provide more positive social feedback and recognition from peer
groups, and this will subsequently lead to improvement in an individual's
self-image.
Automatic
activation of stereotypes and self-image threat
Does
self-image threatening feedback make perceivers more likely to activate
stereotypes when confronted by members of a minority group? Participants in
Study 1 saw an Asian American or European American woman for several minutes,
and participants in Studies 2 and 3 were exposed to drawings of an African
American or European American male face for fractions of a second. These
experiments found no evidence of automatic stereotype activation when perceivers
were cognitively busy and when they had not received negative feedback. When
perceivers had received negative feedback, however, evidence of stereotype
activation emerged even when perceivers were cognitively
busy.
Women's
sexual behavior and self-image
A magazine
survey that included items about body image, self-image, and sexual behaviors
was completed by 3,627 women. The study found that overall self-image and body
image are significant predictors of sexual activity. Women more satisfied with
body image reported more sexual activity, orgasm, and initiating sex, greater
comfort undressing in front of their partner, having sex with the lights on,
trying new sexual behaviors, and pleasing their partner sexually than those
dissatisfied. Positive body image was inversely related to self-consciousness
and importance of physical attractiveness, and positively related to
relationships with others and overall satisfaction. Body image was predictive
only of one's comfort undressing in front of partner and having sex with lights
on. Overall satisfaction was predictive of frequency of sex, orgasm, and
initiating sex, trying new sexual behaviors, and confidence in giving partner
sexual pleasure
person's self-image is the mental picture, generally of a kind that is quite
resistant to change, that depicts not only details that are potentially
available to objective investigation by others (height, weight, hair color,
gender, I.Q. score, etc.), but also items that have been learned by that person
about himself or herself, either from personal experiences or by internalizing
the judgments of others. A simple definition of a person's self-image is their
answer to the question "What do you believe people think about
you?".
Self-image
may consist of three types:
1.Self-image resulting from how the individual
sees himself or herself.
2.Self-image resulting from how others see the
individual.
3.Self-image resulting from how the individual perceives others
see him or her.
These
three types may or may not be an accurate representation of the person. All,
some or none of them may be true.
A
more technical term for self-image that is commonly used by social and cognitive
psychologists is self-schema. Like any schema, self-schemas store information
and influence the way we think and remember. For example, research indicates
that information which refers to the self is preferentially encoded and recalled
in memory tests, a phenomenon known as "Self-referential encoding". Self-schemas
are also considered the traits people use to define themselves, they draw
information about the self into a coherent
scheme.
Poor
self-image
Poor
self-image may be the result of accumulated criticisms that the person collected
as a child which have led to damaging their own view of themselves. Children in
particular are vulnerable to accepting negative judgments from authority figures
because they have yet to develop competency in evaluating such reports. Also,
adolescents are highly targeted to suffer from poor body image issues.
Individuals that already exhibit a low-sense of self-worth may be vulnerable to
develop social disorders.
Negative
self-images can arise from a variety of factors. A prominent factor, however, is
personality type. Perfectionists, high achievers, and those with "type A"
personalities seem to be prone to having negative self-images. This is because
such people constantly set the standard for success high above a reasonable,
attainable level. Thus, they are constantly disappointed in this
"failure."
Self-image
maintenance
When people
are in the position of evaluating others, self-image maintenance processes can
lead to a more negative evaluation depending on the self-image of the evaluator.
That is to say stereotyping and prejudice may be the way individuals maintain
their self-image. When individuals evaluate a member of a stereotyped group,
they are less likely to evaluate that person negatively if their self-images had
been bolstered through a self-affirmation procedure, and they are more likely to
evaluate that person stereotypically if their self-images have been threatened
by negative feedback. Individuals may restore their self-esteem by derogating
the member of a stereotyped group.
Fein and
Spencer (1997) conducted an intriguing study on Self-image Maintenance and
Discriminatory Behavior. This study showed evidence that increased prejudice can
result from a person’s need to redeem a threatened positive perception of the
self. The aim of the study was to test whether a particular threat to the self
would instigate increased stereotyping and lead to actual discriminatory
behavior or tendencies towards a member of a "negatively" stereotyped group. The
study began when Fein and Spencer gave participants an ostensible test of
intelligence. Some of them received negative feedback, and others, positive and
supportive feedback. In the second half of the experiment, the participants were
asked to evaluate another person who either belonged to a negatively stereotyped
group, or one who did not. The results of the experiment proved that the
participants who had previously received unfavorable comments on their test,
evaluated the target of the negatively stereotyped group in a more antagonistic
or opposing way, than the participants who were given excellent reports on their
intelligence test. They concluded that the negative feedback on the test
threatened the participants’ self-image and they evaluated the target in a more
negative manner, all in efforts to restore their own self-esteem.
A present
study extends the studies of Fein and Spencer in which the principal behavior
examined was avoidance behavior. In the study, Macrae et al. (2004) found that
participants that had a salient negative stereotype of "skinheads" attached,
physically placed themselves further from a skinhead target compared to those in
which the stereotype was not as apparent. Therefore, greater salience of a
negative stereotype led participants to show more stereotype-consistent behavior
towards the target.
Residual
self-image
Residual
self-image is the concept that individuals tend to think of themselves as
projecting a certain physical appearance, or certain position of social
entitlement, or lack thereof. The term was used at least as early as 1968, but
was popularized in fiction by the Matrix series, where persons who existed in a
digitally created world would subconsciously maintain the physical appearance
that they had become accustomed to projecting.
Self-image
of victimisation
Victims of
abuse and manipulation often get trapped into a self-image of victimisation. The
psychological profile of victimisation includes a pervasive sense of
helplessness, passivity, loss of control, pessimism, negative thinking, strong
feelings of guilt, shame, self-blame and depression. This way of thinking can
lead to hopelessness and despair.
Children’s
self-image disparity
Self-image
disparity was found to be positively related to chronological age (CA) and
intelligence, two factors thought to increase concomitantly with maturity:
Capacity for guilt and ability for cognitive differentiation. However, males had
larger self-image disparities than females, whites had larger disparities and
higher ideal self images than blacks, and SES (socioeconomic status) affected
self-images differentially for the 2nd and 5th graders.
Self-image
strengtheners
A child's
self-awareness of who they are differentiates into 3 categories around the age
of 5: their social self, academic persona, and physical attributes. Several ways
to strengthen a child's self-image include communication, reassurance, support
of hobbies, and finding role models.
Evolved
awareness of self-image in mirror
When does a
child become aware that the image in a mirror is his own? Research was done on
88 children between 3 and 24 months. Their behaviors were observed before a
mirror. The results indicated that children's awareness of self-image followed
three major age-related sequences:
From about 6 through 12 months of age,
the first prolonged and repeated reaction of an infant to his mirror image is
that of a sociable “playmate”.
In the second year of life, wariness and
withdrawal appeared; self-admiring and embarrassed behavior accompanied those
avoidance behaviors starting at 14 months, and was shown by 75% of the subjects
after 20 months of age.
During the last part of the second year of life,
from 20 to 24 months of age, 65% of the subjects demonstrated recognition of
their mirror images.
Physical
activity and self-image
Regular
practice of endurance exercise was related to a more favourable self-image.
There was a strong association between participation in sports and the type of
personality that tends to be resistant to drug and alcohol addiction. Physical
exercise was further significantly related to scores for physical and
psychological well-being. Adolescents who engaged regularly in physical activity
were characterised by lower anxiety-depression scores, and displayed much less
social behavioural inhibition than their less active
counterparts.
It is likely
that discussion of recreational or exercise involvement may provide a useful
point of entry for facilitating dialogue among adolescents about concerns
relating to body image and self-esteem. In terms of psychotherapeutic
applications, physical activity has many additional rewards for adolescents. It
is probable that by promoting physical fitness, increased physical performance,
lessening body mass and promoting a more favourable body shape and structure,
exercise will provide more positive social feedback and recognition from peer
groups, and this will subsequently lead to improvement in an individual's
self-image.
Automatic
activation of stereotypes and self-image threat
Does
self-image threatening feedback make perceivers more likely to activate
stereotypes when confronted by members of a minority group? Participants in
Study 1 saw an Asian American or European American woman for several minutes,
and participants in Studies 2 and 3 were exposed to drawings of an African
American or European American male face for fractions of a second. These
experiments found no evidence of automatic stereotype activation when perceivers
were cognitively busy and when they had not received negative feedback. When
perceivers had received negative feedback, however, evidence of stereotype
activation emerged even when perceivers were cognitively
busy.
Women's
sexual behavior and self-image
A magazine
survey that included items about body image, self-image, and sexual behaviors
was completed by 3,627 women. The study found that overall self-image and body
image are significant predictors of sexual activity. Women more satisfied with
body image reported more sexual activity, orgasm, and initiating sex, greater
comfort undressing in front of their partner, having sex with the lights on,
trying new sexual behaviors, and pleasing their partner sexually than those
dissatisfied. Positive body image was inversely related to self-consciousness
and importance of physical attractiveness, and positively related to
relationships with others and overall satisfaction. Body image was predictive
only of one's comfort undressing in front of partner and having sex with lights
on. Overall satisfaction was predictive of frequency of sex, orgasm, and
initiating sex, trying new sexual behaviors, and confidence in giving partner
sexual pleasure
