The Self Concept in Psychology and How it Influences your Behaviour
In psychology, Self-concept has many definitions, but they all have the same meaning. Your self-concept is your perception of your own self and your own abilities. When I ask you to describe yourself on one page, you will write down all the beliefs you hold about yourself as a person. The way you view yourself and your capabilities are called the “Self-concept.”
Examples of Self-concept could be:
“I am a sociable person.”
“I can solve any problem.”
“I am fat.”
“I am unattractive.”
“I am clumsy.”
“I am uncontrollable.”
How your psychological Self-Concept affects your whole life
The most dangerous thing about having a distorted self-concept is that your subconscious mind always works to prove your self-concept true. For example, if you consider yourself an unattractive person then, your subconscious mind won’t motivate you to do anything to become attractive. This self-concept may hinder you from following a healthy diet, prevent you from buying attractive clothes, and force you to act in an unattractive way!!
Trying to become attractive without changing your self-concept will never work as You will always feel that there is something artificial in your behavior. If you want to change something about yourself, then know that you must begin by changing your psychological self-concept.
If your self-concept states that you are clumsy, then you will always act according to it, even if you tried your best to conceal that side of you. The harder you try to do something that doesn’t match your self-concept, the more you will find your attempts useless.
The salesperson who believes that he is a failure because of his self-concept will always fail to sell anything. The guy who believes that he is worthless because of his self-concept will always act in a nonconfident way even if he tried hard. The athlete whose self-concept states that he doesn’t have the ability to win the gold medal will never get it.
To summarize this, it’s almost impossible to challenge your psychological self-concept, and that’s why you should try to change it instead of challenging it.
Psychological Self-Concept and Behavior
Suppose that someone’s self-concept made him believe that he is persistent; how do you think this will impact his behavior?
This person would keep trying to reach his goals even if he failed hundreds of times. On the other hand, if his self-concept made him believe that he is a victim, he would have given up after the first try!!!
So it’s all about the self-concept. If your self-concept made you believe that you are self-motivated, then you will always feel motivated.
When you change your self-concept, your subconscious mind will change everything accordingly to fulfill that self-concept. So, whenever you want to change, just change your self-concept and let your subconscious mind make the adjustments.
The Psychological self-concept and breakups
Some people fail to recover from breakups quickly because they have the self-concept of being broken or not being resilient; following repetitive behavior that reinforces the self-concept of being broken can prevent you from recovering fast.
After a breakup, you should reinforce the self-concept of being resilient and solid to recover within a short period of time.
How to change your Self-concept
Your Self concept was formed due to the different beliefs you formed about yourself earlier in your life. You are not born with it, and that’s why you can change it.
Your self-talk is what forms your beliefs, and your beliefs are the pillars that hold your self-concept. So to change your self-concept, you should first question all of the beliefs you have about yourself. You should then discard false ones then adjust your self-talk in order not to form additional incorrect beliefs.
Final Words on the psychological Self-concept
You are what you think, so if you want to change something about yourself, start first by changing your self-concept, and then you will find that the change is happening effortlessly.
