Communication & Identity

The second chapter looks at who "you" as a person. It talks about self concept which the set of perceptions you hold of yourself. It also talks about self-esteem and personality. Self-esteem is a part of the self concept, it is the evaluation of a person's own self worth. Personality on the other hand are characteristics of how people think or behave. Personality and self concept is something in a persons life that tends to stay stable while self-esteem is more likely to change throughout a person's life.

To create a Self image people compare themselves to to others, this can be both a good and a bad things. it can change a person for the better or it can make a person try to live up to standards that may not be attainable. A person's self concept is not accurate because others will always see people differently, especially differently than the person them self. Two other key terms in this chapter are self-fulfilling prophecy and identity management. Self-fulfilling prophecy happens when a person's expectations influence the outcome. Identity management is when a person acts in certain ways to influence how people see them. They do this mostly to "save face."

I think i have an accuratre self concept of myself because i know how i act and how i am. Self esteem is one things that i do lack, i tend to compare myself to others therefore i always think i come up second best. One thing that would really help me is  using less self fullfilling prophecies. and if i use them i need to make them more positive and believe that something better will become of the situation.