What is “Self-Concept”?

Self-Concept is the internal evaluation we formulate about our:

Behavioral Skills
Personality (Traits and Attributes)
Temperament
Life Story Past, Present and Future Self-Concept (the internal evaluation and cognitive processing) drives affect or mood.
Sadness or Depression
Fear or Anxiety
Happiness

Sometimes we refer to our self-concept as that little voice inside my head that critiques or encourages and motivates me as I live my life, interact with others, make decisions, figure out how to deal with the bullshit of life and so on. Self-concept is the outcome of my internal, deepest, most private, thoughts about myself.

Self-Concept (a.k.a. an internal evaluation and cognitive processing) drives affect or mood AND fuels behavioral responses.

When I am sad or fearful, I isolate.
I Drink/Drug when I am hurt or afraid.
When I am happy, because I believe I am good at stuff, I socialize and get out.
I engage in hobbies when I believe that I have good skills and am a good person and I am happy.

At the end of the day, self-concept is among the most important cognitive processes we manage as we live our lives. Self-concept is responsible for a lot of our emotional experiences. Because self-concept is an intrinsic cognitive process it can often be very difficult to identify let alone modify and adapt for the purpose of improving our overall mental wellness.

To begin the process of understanding our self-concept, the manner in which we evaluate ourselves, the way in which we critique our skill sets, watch this great little video below. As you watch the video, I want you to think about which character you identify with and why.