Communication and Self-Concept

Chapter 9

Santi Hendrawati - 2011

In this chapter
I. Communication and Personal Identity The Self Arises in Communication with Others Communication with Family Members Communication with Peers Communication with Society II .Guidelines for Communicating with Ourselves Reflect Critically on Social Perspectives Commit to Personal Growth Create a Supportive Context for the Change You Seek

In this chapter
How the self is formed how it changes in the process of communicating with others and with ourselves. Define the self and explore the central role of communication in creating the self. Guidelines for enhancing your self-identity.

What is self?

The Self

An ever-changing system of perspectives that is formed and sustained in communication with others and ourselves.

The Self Arises in Communication with Others

George Herbert Mead: the self is not innate but is acquired in the process of communicating with others.

Shaping the self

Self-fulfilling prophecies: expectations or judgments of ourselves that we bring about through our own actions.

How we see ourselves?

1. Particular others: these are specific people who are especially significant to us and who shape how we see ourselves. The process of seeing ourselves through the eyes of others is called reflected appraisal, or the looking-glass self (Cooley, 1912).

2. The Generalized Other The second perspective: * how we see ourselves * The generalized other is the collection of rules, roles, and attitudes endorsed by the overall society and social communities to which we belong (Mead, 1934).

Communicating with family members

Direct definition
is communication that explicitly tells us who we are by labeling us and our behaviors.

Life Scripts are rules for living and identity (Berne, 1964; Harris, 1969, Steiner, 1994). Attachment Styles how to view ourselves and personal relationships.

4 Attachment styles

1. A secure attachment style develops when a childs primary caregiver responds in a consistently attentive and loving way to a child. 2. A fearful attachment style is cultivated when the caregiver communicates in negative, rejecting, or even abusive ways to a child 3. A dismissive attachment style is also promoted by caregivers who are uninterested in, rejecting of, or abusive toward children. 4. The fi nal pattern is the anxious/ ambivalent attachment style, which is the most complex of the four.

Communication with Peers

Reflected Appraisals Direct Definitions Social Comparisons Self-Disclosure

Johari Window
The The The The

open area blind area hidden area unknown area

Communication with Society

Race Gender Sexual orientation Socioeconomic level

Guidelines for communicating with ourselves

Reflect Critically on Social Perspectives Commit to Personal Growth Create a Supportive Context for the Change you Seek

Nurturing personal growth

Set realistic goals Assess yourself fairly Self disclosure appropriately

Create a supportive context for the change you seek

1.The setting - to improve physical condition participate in intramural sports than to hang out in bars. - to lose weight go to restaurant that sever healthful food and offer light choices than to go to cholesterol castles. - to be more outgoing put yourself in social situation than in libraries. 2. The people - uppers - downers - vultures