Читать книгу The Communication Playbook - Teri Kwal Gamble - Страница 124

How did your self-concept form? The day you recognized yourself as separate from your surroundings, life for you began to change. At that moment, your concept of self—that relatively stable set of perceptions you attribute to yourself—became your most important possession.

Although you are not born with a self-concept, you definitely play a role in its construction.¹⁶ Even though you are constantly undergoing change, once built, the theory or picture you have of yourself is fairly stable and difficult to alter. Have you ever tried to revise your parents’ or friends’ opinions about themselves? Did you have any luck? Over time, our opinions about ourselves grow more and more resistant to change.

A number of forces converge to create your self-concept. Among them are the ways in which others relate to you; how you experience and evaluate yourself; the roles you enact; the messages you absorb from popular and social media; the expectations you and others have for you; and the gender, cultural, and technological messages you internalize.

To a large extent, your self-concept is shaped by your environment and by the people around you, including your parents, relatives, teachers, supervisors, friends, and coworkers. If those important to you have a good image of you, they probably make you feel accepted, valued, worthwhile, lovable, and significant. As a result, you are likely to develop a positive self-concept. In comparison, if those important to you have a poor image of you, it can make you feel left out, small, worthless, unloved, or insignificant. You, more than likely, will develop a negative self-concept as a consequence.