The Self
By Amayah
De La Cruz
How do you view yourself as you interact with
others around you? How do you think you formed
this view of yourself?
– Sociology Matters
What is the self?
The self is a distinct identity that sets one apart from others.
Sociologists and psychologists have expressed an ingoing interest in how the
individual develops and modifies the sense of self as a result of social interaction. The
work of sociologists Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead has been
extremely useful in furthering our understanding of these important, vital issues.
Charles Horton Cooley: Looking-Glass Self
● Early 1900’s, Charles Horton Cooley advanced the belief that we learn who we are by interacting with others.
● Our view of ourselves comes not only from direct contemplation of our personal qualities, but also from our
impressions of how others perceive us.
● Looking-glass self emphasizes that the self is the product of our social interactions with other people.
Process of Developing A Self-Identity or Self-Concept = Three Phases
1. We imagine how we present ourselves to others.
2. We imagine how others evaluate us.
3. We develop some sort of feeling about ourselves, such as respect or shame, as a result of these impressions.
Looking-glass self results from an individual’s “imagination” of how others view them and can therefore develop
self-identities based on incorrect perceptions.
George Herbert Mead – Stages of the Self
George Herbert Mead developed a model of the process by which the self emerges, defined by three distinct stages: the
preparatory stage, the play stage, and the game stage.
The Preparatory Stage - children imitate the people around them, especially family members. As they grow older, children
become more adept at using symbols to communicate with others. Symbols being the gestures, objects, and language that form
the basis of human communication.
The Play Stage - During the play stage, the child begins to pretend to be other people. An important aspect of the play stage is
role-playing. Role taking is the process of mentally assuming the perspective of another in order to respond from that imagined
viewpoint.
The Game Stage - The child of about eight or nine years old no longer just plays roles but begins to consider several tasks and
relationships simultaneously. The child can respond to numerous members of the social environment. Mead uses the term
generalized other to refer to the attitudes, view-points, and expectations of society as a whole that a child takes into account in
his or her behavior.
Mead - Theory of the Self
According to Mead, the self begins as the privileged center of a person’s world. Young children
picture themselves as the focus of everything around them and find it difficult to consider the
perspectives of others. As people mature, the self changes and begins to reflect greater concern for
the reactions of others.
As people mature, the self changes and begins to reflect greater concern for the reactions of others.
Mead used the term significant others to refer to individuals who are the most important in the
development of the self.
Parents, friends, coworkers, coaches, and teachers are often among those who play a major role in
shaping a person's self.
Goffman: Presentation of the Self
Erving Goffman suggested that many of our daily activities involve attempts to convey impressions of
who we are.
Early in life, the individual learns to slant his or her presentation of the self in order to create
distinctive appearances and satisfy particular audiences. Goffman refers to this altering of the
presentation of the self as impression management.
In analyzing everyday social interactions, Goffman makes explicit parallels to the theater that his view
has been termed the dramaturgical approach. According to this perspective, people resemble
performers in action.
Psychological Approaches to the Self
Sigmund Freud stressed the role of inborn drives in channeling human behavior. Freud believed that the self is a
social product and that aspects of one’s personality are influenced by other people. However, he suggested that the
self has components that work in opposition to each other. According to Freud, our natural impulsive instincts are in
constant conflict with societal constraints. Part of us seeks limitless pleasure, while another part favors rational
behavior. By interacting with others, we learn the expectations of society and then select behavior most appropriate to
own culture.
Research on newborn babies by psychologist Jean Piaget has underscored the importance of social interactions in
developing a sense of self. Piaget found that newborns have no self in sense of a looking-glass. They are quite self-
centered. In his cognitive theory of development, Piaget identified four stages in the development of children’s
thought processes.
Sensorimotor stage - young children use their senses to make discoveries.
Preoperational stage - children begin to use words and symbols to distinguish objects and ideas.
Concrete operational stage - the self and socialization children engage in more logical thinking. They learn that even
when a formless lump of clay is shaped into a snake, it is still the same clay.
Formal operational stage - adolescents become capable of sophisticated abstract thought and can deal with ideas and
Piaget - The Moral Development
An important part of socialization as children develop the ability to think more abstractly.
Those under eight years old display a rather basic level of morality: Rules are rules, and
there is no concept of "extenuating circumstances." As they mature, children become
capable of greater autonomy and begin to experience moral dilemmas and doubts as to
what constitutes proper behavior.
According to Piaget, social interaction is the key to development. In order to develop a
distinct personality, each of us needs opportunities to interact with others.
