Self concept develops as an outcome of two different ideas: form and content. Form develops due to the innate experiences of a person and its transfer from the environment to the inner experience occurs through vocal gestures. Therefore, individuals become aware of their self when they respond to other people and how they respond to similar reactions. As such, people realize that responses and stimulus are innate in their personality. Further, social influences are essential to the development of individuals, right from the moment they get into the world. Through the developmental stages, social interaction and conduct affect an individual’s attitude and perception in their environment and thus impacting their self-identity and their placement in a social group (Bertoldo & Castro, 2016). As such, one’s perception of their cognitive representation within a group with innate comparisons to others based on different social components affect their development in school, at work, with the family and friends. Imperatively, this assignment is a reflection that explores the effects of social impacts on personal development based on the concept of self.
Those in the radius of significant others that shaped my development as a toddle, child, and adolescent
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Different studies have illustrated the essence of environmental identity in estimating pro-environmental conduct that helps in predicting self-perception in one’s development. These studies are categorical that in early years of one’s development parents and primary care providers are important to the development of a person (Bertoldo & Castro, 2016). As such, a significant impact in my early years of development as a toddler and child was my father. I believe that my father had a positive impact in my toddler years though I spent most of the time with my mother and primary care giver. My father’s influence allowed me to develop a sense of early independence and self-reliance as well as high levels of self-esteem. The psychosocial theory discusses how bonding influences development of self-identity in early years of one’s development like this case where my father was instrumental in helping me develop self-esteem and independence (Svetina, 2014).
As I transitioned into adolescent, I believe that the dynamics did not shift and my father continued being my main influence in development. However, I began to realize that I would spend more time with my mother and confide in her. My mother offered me a safe environment such that I could confide in her as I developed an identity and become a man. My mother became a huge influence in my life as began to interact more with girls and other male friends. The independence and high esteem that I had developed from my father continued and I knew that I had to live as my personality informed me. I developed as a adolescent who could handle internal struggles through effective sharing and borrowing of ideas from my parents, friends and school mates. I never thought of pleasing anyone except myself. As posited by Svetina (2014) an individual’s development is impacted by the pressures within their internal conflicts influenced by the external situations. At this stage, the effects of childhood are a distant memory and external forces like friends become essential to the adolescent development years.
Verbal messages that suggested situational or dispositional attribution about me
Our internal traits or dispositions and external or situational components change every time in our lives. People take past experiences and utterances to ascertain how their attributions about them are formed by others around them. These attributions can affect their ability to succeed or inform if they will fail. At moments when verbal messages do not provide encouragement, one may feel that their attribution is low and weak among people. However, I recall at time when other would say “he behaves too independently beyond his age” or “he pretends to be independent but he isn’t because he relies so much on his parents for direction.” These are attributions that made me have the internal drive to establish a self-identity and ensure that I succeed in whatever that I do. Again, I would hear my parents state that “he is strong and rearing to go for what he wants” and “he is focused and never gives up” were positive verbal messages that impacted my reactions and perceptions to social situations. These verbal messages also affected the choices that I made in developing individual attributes.
The desire to prove one self and execute what is expected within social environments leads to dispositional attributes that evolve at different stages in life. Based on the above verbal messages, one could either develop low self-esteem or high self-esteem and identity. As such, when we develop resilience from situational experiences, we attain dispositional attributions with time to strengthen our fight innately and lead to a positive self-identity.
Developing current attitudes towards authority, competitors, subordinates, the opposite sex, or another generation
Culture and nurture are essential factors that allow people to develop attitudes and perceptions about different people and situations. As such, Identify who was in the radius of significant others that shaped your development through your toddler, child, and adolescent years environmental interactions that led to early age attributions enabled my parents and primary care giver to instill and nurture the right perception and attitudes towards people, authority and even the opposite sex. The interactions also helped instill the right perception about the acceptable cultural beliefs and behaviors. I have been raised holding high respect and esteem for authority by submitting to the parental authority before the external authority from the accepted sources.
Nurturing has taught me over time that people should not be treated different because of their social status. As such, I respect both my competitors and subordinates like friends. The opposite sex gets similar treatment based on my attitude and respect irrespective of the situations or reasons. It is essential to develop a positive and similar perception to all people irrespective of the status and situations. It is essential to understand how people fit into their social statuses and cultures. Therefore, people should use social comparisons to develop present attitudes in different aspects of life so as to attain social development (Fiske, 2014).
Effects of my Social World in Developing Professional Identity
Personal identity may differ from professional identity because of individual perception in the two areas in comparison to those in their professional life. Through professional successes and failures, an individual compares their colleagues and their successes so that they create their professional identity. Our professional identities are shaped by our childhood aspirations and desires that we nurture and develop so that we eventually fulfill them by seeking careers and professions that meet them. Our personal cultures and social settings make other professions accepted while others not so much. For instance, professionals like lawyers, doctors, teachers, and business executives as well as engineers and social workers are acceptable in many cultures.
As such, developing a professional identity implies that one must fit in one of the acceptable cultural professional and register successes. As an individual, I developed a career to fit into the social world as defined by cultures. Seeing friends, family members, and colleagues succeed and other fail, influenced my approach to the professional situation because I wanted to ensure that I succeed where others failed in their professional advancement. Imperatively, I have always strived to learn from the mistakes made by others so that I evolve in my professional identity and find a perfect fit in a society that continues to change the definition of professional attribution.
Conclusion
We develop our self concept right from birth and only end the process at death. The self concept is influenced by our social world and this world consists of various significant individuals that will have either temporary or long-term influence in helping us develop personal identity. External interactions will always affect our internal loci of control and perspectives based on the situational and dispositional attributions towards social impacts. Therefore,” who we were,” “who we are,” and “who we will be,” will continue to evolve and grow because of social experiences at different stages of development in life.
References
Bertoldo, R., & Castro, P. (2016). The outer influence inside us: Exploring the relation between social and personal norms. Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 112 , 45-53. doi:10.1016/j.resconrec.2016.03.020.
Fiske, S. (2014). Social beings: Core motives in social psychology (3rd ed.). Hoboken, NJ:
Wiley.
Svetina, M. (2014). Resilience in the context of Erikson’s theory of human development.
Current Psychology, 33 (3), 393-404. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12144-014-9218-5.
