Development Of Self In Society: Self-construction From Different Points Of View
In this work "Development Of Self In Society Essay" paper we will research deeply of self-concept in society. The “self” of every human being is a construct of numerous elements, both external and as well as internal. A person often finds difficult on what is the idea of self should be. Neil (2005) defines the self as an overarching idea about who we are - physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually, and in terms of any other aspects that make us who we are. This connotes that every person in this world has different construction of the self that makes one unique and special to one another. There are no two persons in this world who have exactly the same formation of the self.
Jones (2015) also posits that social media practices opens a new way which to consider these practices within a self-concept frame. This insinuate that social media can be a powerful mean in constructing self-concept, from the basic level of the self to global self which magnifies various aspects of life. Many researches and theories shows the different processes in developing the self, but, the self is not simply established once a person was born rather - it is a product of social experience, interaction, and even the social media practices.
Self-construction is one's cognitive and affective representation of one's own identity. This is a process by which components form an organized structure of interactions and experiences. Many notions of self can be built up through a fluctuating collection of items, from the smallest basic sensation to a larger whole which functionally accomplishes the shaping of the self.
Mead (1934) explains how social experience develops an individual's personality. Mead's central concept is the self: the part of an individual's personality composed of self- awareness, and self-image. Mead claims that the self is not there at birth, rather — it is developed with a social experience. This means that the construction of self is not inherited from the time a person was born rather — it was constructed through social exploration and social experiences.
The very first place where a person can have interactions and build social experiences was from her own family. The environment of a family is very important in upbringing the shaping of the self of a person. Because, a person spends a lot of time with her family, so the home atmosphere influences a lot in developing a person. For example, a parent's love and care for her child can make her feel good about herself and develop a sense of belongingness and as well as self-awareness. On the other hand, when a parent and a child have a poor relationship with each other, then there is a big tendency that the child will feel unloved and may form lack of confidence which can result for not socializing well with others, and can't have a stable relationship that will last for a long period of time when they grow up because of the effect during her childhood experiences.
This was supported by the study of Nguyen (2014) where he stated that children develop their sense of “self” from the environment in which they grow up. The way family members relate to one another as a social group can shape child socialization and identity. This signifies that the type of experience she received from her family in early childhood will then play an important role in the construction of the self and as well as the social environment itself where that person live in. This also has a large impact in constructing the self of a person, here she applies what does she learn from home and be able to explore more things and have a lot of experiences.
Another factor that helps individuals to construct themselves was from social media practices. Because, social media practices plays a very important role in making one’s life easier and faster but it aligns with the possibility that a person will just build a false self. Where the actor can’t be able to conceptualize it’s surrounding rather – it will just leave a person in a fantasy world where she thinks everything is alright but the reality is, her own self was trapped in isolation. This was inclined to the study of Jones (2015) where he shows that social media platforms tend to manipulate your own construction of self because it leads you to showcase an identity that is not reflected on the real you. These platforms make you play certain characters that affect your identity itself. So, it impedes your ability to create an image that will aim your own construction of self.
This study views that constructing the self is not simple. It is like pieces of puzzles you need to collect in order to formulate a whole picture. And even a body itself, a body will never function well without its parts. Every part of the body is important; one missing piece of it then it will never function well. Associating it with the shaping of one’s self, without social interactions, social experiences, and even social media practices, you will never formulate a whole self and identity.
Just like the findings of Baumeister (2018) that through such self-awareness, people collect information about themselves. Self-concept assembled from this information and continues to develop as people expand their ideas about who they are. This means that the idea of self-concept is not simple, stable, and unitary conception rather — it is a dynamic, malleable, and active structure that can be influenced by social situations.
Self-construction is a long way process and not simply heritable. There are a lot of structures where you will be able to shape your identity, from your childhood up to the present — many social explorations and interactions was obtained before you finally come up with your own self. But this did not end there because your interaction was continuous until the time of your death which appears that you’re self will change through time. This influences show how people see themselves and how they interact with others which help them to have a better understanding of themselves.
Therefore, to encapsulate everything, a person is empowered to make changes and to build areas of one's identification. Many dimensions are link in developing the self and it is divided into different factors. There will be no formulation of self if a person only lives alone. Gaining more recognition to others enables a person to probably construct its identity.
