Self-Concept :

Perceived self – what we are

Ideal self – what we want to be

Social self – how the society perceives us & vice-versa.

Self-concept Rating scale (SCRS):

General Problem : On Self-concept.

Specific Problem : To study the self-concept of an individual using the self-concept rating scale by Dr.
(Mrs.) Pratibha Deo which identifies the perceived self, ideal self and social self of a person.

Basic Concept :

According to Baumeister (1999), self-concept can be defined as “the individual’s belief about himself
or herself including the person’s attributes and who and what the self is”. It is best conceived as a
system of attitudes towards own self. Self-concept consist of all the perceptions, feelings, attitudes,
aspirations and values concerned on self. Observations, projective techniques and self-reporting list
and inventories are some of the main methods used for measuring self-concept. Of these self-
reporting techniques maintained, it is unique and important position because only this has the
advantage of knowing exactly what the individuals feels about himself or herself. Sometimes
projective techniques are employed for accessing real self. For certain types of self-assessment, Q-
techniques have been observed to be very useful method for the same.

Humanistic psychologist Carl Roger believed that one’s self-concept was made up of 3 different parts
:

i. Ideal self : the person you want to be.

ii. Self-image : how you see yourself, including attributes like your physical characteristics,
personality traits and social rules.
iii. Self-esteem : how much you like, accept or value yourself, which can be impacted by a
number of factors including how others see you, how you think you compare to others, and
your role in society.

Self-concept which was originally considered to be the key stone in non-directive counselling by
Roger is now taken as a major importance in the field of education too because it has been observed
that self-concept has developed close connections with some personal aspects like learning,
motivation, attitude, perception and adjustment that determines the academic and other success of
the individual in and out of school.

Roger 1951 define self-concept as “an organized configuration of perception of the self which are
admissible ideally to awareness”. Markus and Kunda 1986 conducted a study to understand the
stability of self-esteem. In their study, the social environment was varied by creating a situation in
which participants had to be either unique or very similar to others. However, it was found that
individuals were not similar in terms of traits or unique which they used to define themselves.
1. Development of self-concept
2. Self-theory
3. Studies with reference

self-report inventories - A self-report inventory is a type of psychological test in which a

person fills out a survey or questionnaire with or without the help of an investigator. Self-
report inventories often ask direct questions about personal interests, values, symptoms,
behaviors, and traits or personality types. Popular self-report inventories – 16PF, MMPI,.
1. what is projective test ? why is it different from self-report inventories.
2. Who gave the concept of directive therapy ?- Sigmund Freud
3. Who gave the concept of Non-directive / client-centred therapy – Carl rogers (to show
unconditional positive regard)

Self-concept Rating Scale is basically based on the self-reporting technique. This skill was prepared
by Dr. Pratibha Deo.

It consist of 90 adjectives and they are divided in the positive, negative and neutral categories as
well as in the dimensions of social, intellectual, emotion, character and aesthetic characteristics of
individual. This scale measures all the four aspects of the self-concept – the perceived self, ideal self,
real self and social self on all the dimensions for both positive and negative categories. This scale is
also available in both languages Hindi & English.

Scoring of SCRS is done by the use of Stencil Hand Scoring keys. There are separate transparent keys
for all words – positive and negative words as well as for neutral words. For the rating scale, the
weightage for positive words for the 5 points of very much like, much like, uncertain, not like that,
not at all like, that are 4, 3, 2, 1, and 0 respectively. For negative words, it is 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4
respectively. The neutral words are to be ignored in the scoring.

Items Very much like Much like Uncertain Not like that Not at all like

Positive 4 3 2 1 0

Negative 0 1 2 3 4

Reliability of this test is 0.89 and this test is also valid.

Precautions :

i. Thorough reading should be done of the words before choosing an option for the answer.
ii. Not much time is to be spent by the participant on one question.
iii. The participant must be willing to take part in the experiment otherwise the responses will
be biased.
iv. Scoring should be done manually and carefully by following the instructions of the scoring
manual booklet.
v. Z scores range, grade, and interpretation of the same are to be done.

Instructions :

The following instructions are to be given to the participant –

“Kindly be seated comfortably. A questionnaire will be provided to you which contains a set of
adjectives. Read the words and try to think, if you are ‘very much like this’, then mark a [✓on the
first cell. If much ‘much like this’, then mark your response in the second cell. The third cell stands
for the response ‘uncertain’ and the fourth cell stands for ‘not much like that’. The fifth cell stands
for the response ‘not at all like that’. Please mark in the cell that’s the best according to your
perception. Only one answer is to be marked. You should not spend so much time in the same word.
There is no right or wrong answers. Please be honest in your answer if you have any questions, you
may get that clarified from here onwards”.

Intellectual :

Positive items – 3, 11, 19, 32, 33, 56, 58, 66, 67.

Negative items – 39, 45, 52,

Emotional :

Positive items – 2, 10, 30, 70.

Negative items – 4, 14, 15, 24, 57, 41, 59, 62, 64, 82.

Social :

Positive items – 9, 34, 38, 43, 48, 53, 65.

Negative items – 81, 83, 85.

Character :

Positive items – 5, 8, 17, 21, 22, 23, 31, 40, 47, 49, 50, 51, 60, 61, 63, 68, 72, 74, 75, 76, 78, 86, 87,
88, 89.

Negative items – 6, 12, 13, 18, 20, 25, 29, 35, 36, 46, 54, 69, 73, 79, 84.

Aesthetic :

Positive items – 1, 7, 37, 26, 90.

RESULT TABLE 1

Scores Intellectual Emotional Serial Character Aesthetic

Positive 18 9 12 55 12

Negative 5 15 9 30

Composite 13 -6 3 25 12

RESULT TABLE 2

Grand Total of Composite Score Dimensions & Z Scores

Perceived Ideal Self Social Self

Self

47
-2.49 -2.49 -2.38

Grade
f f f

Status Very low. Very low Very low

Level. Level. Level

Procedure

The subject was made to sit comfortably and a rapport was established. The participant was asked
to read the questionnaire and mark the most suitable response. After the completion of the test all
the answers were scored according to the steps given in the manual. The raw score that represented
scores in each dimension was further analysed and comprehended along with that the perceived self
ideal self and the social self of the person was found

Scoring

It's done by using the stencils for scoring keys provided. The weightage for both positive and
negative scores for the 5 cells of " very much like this , much like this, uncertain , not much like this ,
not at all like this" .For each word the scores are 4,3,2,1 and 0 respectively. The composite score is
obtained by subtracting the total negative score from the total positive score The neutral words are
to be ignored in the scoring .
During dimension wise analysis , only the words belonging to that particular dimension are
considered and the positive and negative scores are obtained for which calculations for the
composite score for each dimension is also done. Furthermore separate norms were used for the
conversions of the composite raw score into z score. That was divided into perceived self , ideal self
and social self. The z score further interpreted the grades and status of each type of self.

Interpretation

The self-concept rating scale (SCRS) is used for the assessment of the individual for self-reporting
approach or for the approach of observation by others. It can be used in a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ form or in a
rating scale on a 3-points or 5-points. The main aim of SCRS is to help people in finding out and
assessing what the individual thinks of oneself and through the assessment study many of the
underlying problems of perception, motivation, learning and adjustment. The results can be used to
assist the individual for better adjustment, better achievement, and better successes in life.

Self-concept is how an individual perceives one’s behaviors, abilities, and unique characteristics.
Self-perception affects one’s motivations, attitudes, and behaviors. According to humanist
psychologist Carl Rogers, self-concept consists of three parts:

• Ideal self: the ideal self is the person an individual wants to be.

• Self-image: this refers to how an individual see themselves at a particular moment in time. It
includes physical characteristics, personality traits, and social roles.

• Self-esteem: it is the degree to which an individual perceives and values themselves. It can
be affected by how other perceive an individual, how an individual compares oneself with others,
and their role in society.

In the present experiment, the participant calmly answered all the questions after understanding the
instruction given carefully. The questionnaire assessed five dimensions- intellectual, emotional,
social, character and aesthetic. The positive scores obtained in the five dimensions are 18, 9, 12, 55
and 12 respectively. The negative scores obtained in the four dimensions – intellectual, emotional,
social and character are 5, 15, 9, and 30 respectively. The composite scores obtained by the
participant in the five dimensions are 13, -6, 3, 25, and 12 respectively. The grand total of the
composite score was 47 . The z-scores of perceived self, ideal self and social self are -2.49, -2.49 and
-2.38 respectively. The participant got grade F (low level) in both perceived and ideal self, and E
(below average level) in social self.