Self-concept

Self-concept describes how we think about or describe our sense of self. It refers to the conscious idea we have of ourselves, our self-image.

There are several components of self-concept important in this age group. The physical component relates to concrete attributes such as height, eye colour and so on. The academic relates to performance in learning and the social describes how a young person relates to other people. Self-concept is built up over time as the adolescent develops in relation to family, friends, school life and the wider society. Some things need to have happened during the early years before an identifiable and organised idea of one’s self is established. These include the establishment of a long term memory, the understanding that you are separate from others and the development of ‘Theory of mind’ or the understanding that others have different knowledge, beliefs, and desires than you.

This is different from self-esteem which describes how we feel about our self. For example someone may describe themselves as a slow runner, but if running is not valued by them, then being slow at running won’t affect their self-esteem. Self-esteem can be a generalised feeling about the self, such as, ‘I’m a good person’ as well as judgement about value, worthiness and competence in a particular skill.

Access the images below for examples of self-esteem.

I’m quite bright (self-concept) and this makes me feel good about myself (high self-esteem)

I’m a slow runner (self-concept), but that doesn’t matter 'cos I don’t value running (high self-esteem).

I have a large nose (self-concept), this matters because I don’t like the way this makes me look (low self-esteem)