Factors That Affect Perception of The Physical Self

FACTORS THAT AFFECT PERCEPTION OF THE PHYSICAL SELF
1. PERSONAL FACTORS
a. INTROSPECTION AND SELF-REFLECTION
 Looking inward is the simplest way to achieve self-knowledge
 Hewstone et al. (2015) - Introspection is the process by which one observes and examines one's internal
state (mental and emotional) after behaving in a certain way.
 Introspection is limited because people are commonly motivated to keep unwanted thoughts and
experiences out of memory and consciousness.
b. SELF-PERCEPTION THEORY
 Since one internal state is difficult to interpret, people can infer their inner states by observing their own
behavior.
c. SELF-CONCEPT
 Self-concept is a cognitive representation of self-knowledge which includes the sum total of all beliefs
that people have about themselves.
 It is a collection of all individual experiences involving one's characteristics, social roles, values, goals,
and fears. Thus, it pertains to all characteristics the person enumerates when asked who he is.
 Physical self-concept is the individual's perception or description of his physical self, including his
physical appearance.
d. PERSONAL IDENTITY
 This is the concept of a person has about himself that develops over the years.
 This includes aspects of his life that he was born into like family, nationality, gender, physical traits, as
well as the choices he makes, such as what he does for a living, who his friends are and what he
believes in.
2. SOCIAL FACTORS
a. ATTACHMENT PROCESS AND SOCIAL APPRAISAL
 Bowlby - people learn about their value and lovability when they experience how their mothers
or caregivers care for them and respond to their needs.
 Caregiving that is consistent and appropriately responds to the infant's needs promote positive
self-concept.
 Neglectful and unresponsive caregiving creates a negative self-concept, believing that they are
not worthy and that other cannot be trusted.
 This is developed prior to achieving self-awareness.
b. MAINTAINING, REGULATING AND EXPANDING THE SELF IN INTERPERSONAL

RELATIONSHIP
 The sense of self is continuously shaped through ongoing interaction with others or with
significant relationship partners.
 They act as a "private audiences" with whom people carry an internal dialogue.
c. THE LOOKING GLASS SELF THEORY

 Charles Horton Cooley stated that a person's self grows out of society's interpersonal
interactions and the perception of others.
 The view of oneself comes from a compilation of personal qualities and impressions of how
others perceive the individual.
 The self-image is shaped and reflected from the social world.
 Other people's reaction would serve as a mirror in which people see themselves particularly the
way in which they are perceived and judged by others.
 Later in life, people internalized other people's appraisal of them through more cognitively
reflected processes.
 Reflected appraisals are inferences regarding other's appraisal of a person.
 It is gained by observing how people react towards the individual.
d. SOCIAL COMPARISON
 Understanding oneself by comparing one's traits, abilities or opinions, to that of others.
 Social comparison is a process of comparing oneself with others in order to evaluate one's own
abilities and opinions.
 2 TYPES OF SOCIAL COMPARISON
1. Upward Social Comparison
a. When an individual compare himself to others who are better than him.
b. Has a positive and negative effect.
2. Downward Social Comparison
a. When an individual compare himself to someone who is in a worse
situation than he is, especially when he is feeling so low.
b. Has a positive and negative effect.
 For a person to have a healthy self-image, it is important to never compare oneself to others.

e. SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY (Collective Identity)
 provides a framework about how people achieve understanding about themselves by being a
member of their group.
 People have a need for a positive social identity that is why they connect to a wider social
network.
 This idea assumes that they will not be discriminated by an out-group.
 Social groups include gender, ethnicity, religion, profession, political membership and business
organizations.
SELF VS IDENTITY
SELF IDENTITY
The person that someone truly is or the entire person Is who a person believes she or he is, representing a
of the individual. synthesis and integration of self-understanding
The total characteristics or qualities of a person both The traits and characteristics, social relations, roles
known and unknown to others but known to oneself. and social group memberships that define who one is.
A way of making sense of some aspect or part of self-
concept.
 The self belongs to an individual level analysis which includes self-esteem, self-states, self-efficacy and
the like.
 Identity is based on societal or cultural level of analysis such as cultural concept of oneself and cultural
make up which makes a person who he is.
 Identities are not stable markers of what people expect to be, but rather are dynamically created in the
moment.
 Choices that feel identity-consistent in one situation may not necessarily feel identity-consistent in
another situation. This flexibility identities make the self-useful.
 The social milieu, therefore, is crucial in developing the individual’s self-knowledge either from direct
or indirect feedback through interaction, interpretation of how others see them and group identification.

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FACTORS THAT AFFECT PERCEPTION OF THE PHYSICAL SELF

b. MAINTAINING, REGULATING AND EXPANDING THE SELF IN INTERPERSONAL

c. THE LOOKING GLASS SELF THEORY

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