Personal Reflection On The Self

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Personal Reflection on the Self Most people go through their daily routines without giving much thought to why they act, feel, or believe a certain way. While there may be commonalities between people in these areas, no two people think, act, or believe exactly the same, including twins who have been raised together in the same household by the same parents. There are many times that an individual may question why someone else is more or less successful, happier, or confident than themselves. The answers to most of these questions lie in the research of the discipline of social psychology and can be uncovered when “the self” is examined. The concept of “the self” is basically how one may describe them. For instance, when asked the question “Who are you?”, one may answer with descriptive words such as happy, smart, depressed, angry, or hard working. Another way that someone may explain who they are is by naming titles by which they define themselves such as mother, nurse, brother, captain, or student. The way we feel about ourselves is generally parallel to the words we choose in our description. In most instances, the self concept one has emerges from peers and various social interactions, whether it is school, work, or family, and tends to heavily influence our thoughts and behaviors due to the beliefs we come to have from the opinions of others. We are all social creatures to an extent, albeit the varying degrees are grand at one scale and minute at the other. Although affiliating with others is a fundamental drive (Baumeister and Leary, 1995), ones’ sense of acceptance or inclusion is not in a constant state. Given the importance of social relationships to survival in the history of human evolution, forming social relationships is an indirect method of ensuring survival for both oneself and one’s offspring (Brewer, 2004). Not until I began the class
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