Three key to self- actualization

The three key to self- actualization are: 1-self and identity 2- self awarness 3-  ans self motives

A) Self and Identity

Some of the most significant and influential schema (schema is a knowledge structure that guides individual expactations and beliefs, helps make sense of familiar situations) are those we have about ourselves. Knowlegde about ourself is very much like knowledge about other people.

If I asked who you are, how would you respond? You might tell me your name, that you are a student, or accountant, and perhaps that you are also athlete or have a part-time job. Alternative, you would tell me about your family, ethnic or religion.

There is many way you could describe yourself, all of which reflect your:

• Self-concept,

• Your knowledge,

• Feelings,

• Ideas about yourself.

In its totality, the self is a person’s distinct individuality. At the core of the self-concept is the self-schema. Social psychology believe that we have many different selves that can be more or less discrete and come into play in different contexts. The subjective experience of self is highly context dependant.Self not only decribe how we are, but also how we would like to be called possible selve. In 1987 two psychology took this idea further in their self-discrepany theory.

They distinguished between:

• actual self ( how one really is)

• idea self ( how one thinks one might to be),

• ought self ( how one thinks one ought to be).

The latter two are self-guides which mobilise different types of self-related behavior.

• * The ideal self engages ‘’promotional goals’’ - we strive towards achieving the ideal,

• * whereas ought self engages ‘’prevent goals’’- we strive to avoid doing what we ought not to do.

How do we learn who we are- how do we form self-schemas?


Introspection is one way, but the overwhelmingly social nature of human existence means that we learn much more about ourself from how other treat us, and from how we think others view us.Research on self-fulfilling prophecies shows that

• others’ expectation about us can change the way we behave.

• Social impact can affect self-conception because, according to self-conception theory,

• we often learn most about ourself by simply observing how we behave

If there is no obivious coercion to behave as we do, then we assume that the behaviour reflects the type of person we are.

B) Self-awareness

All this talk of self-concept may give the impression that people spend all their thinking about themselves. This is not the case. People are not consciously aware of themselves all the time. Self-awareness comes and goes for different reasons and with different consequences. Often we just get on with life without being particularly aware of ourselves, whereas at other times we can be totally self- absorbed or absolutely mortified about how other view us. Two psychologist believe that self-awareness is a state in which one is aware of oneself as an object.

Psychologist argues that self-awareness can have at least two foci:

• The private self ( one’s private thoughts, feeling and attitudes)

• The public self ( how others see you, your public image).

Hence, self-awareness can also be raised simply by being in the presence of other people, for example , going something that you hate doing, just to be part of social group.

Private self-awareness directs behavior at matching internal standard, whereas public self-awareness directs behavior at promoting an good impression. Being self-aware causes one’s to exert effort to try to adress any discrepany between one’s actual self and how one feels one would like to be or ought to be. According to self -discrepancy theory described above,

failure to resolve a discrepancy between the actual self and
the ideal self produces dejection-related emotions

C) Self motives

What motivates the different ways that we may want to conceptualise ourselves? Research suggested that there are three general classes of motivations.

• One motive is self-assessment

a desire to find out the truth about ourselves however disappointing or unfavourable the truth may be.

• Another motive is self- verification

a desire to confirm what we already know about our self, by looking for self-consistent information.

• The third motive us self-enhancement

a desire to find our favorable things about ourselves.

Between all of those general classes of motivations self- enhancement is the most important. Why? Because people have a formidable repertoire of strategies and techniques to construct or maintain a favourable self-concept.

• * For example, they take credit for success but denial blame for failure,

• * They forget failure feedback more readily than success feedback,

• * They accept praise uncritically but receive criticism sceptically and dismiss it as being based on prejudice.

REMEMBER

• * Most of the thoughts, feeling, and motives underlying behavior are unconscious or unknown to the individual. This means people are rarely aware of the true reasons they choose to behave as they do, and that there is often no choice at all. Instead, people are ''fooled'' by apparent motives.

• * Unconscious and conscious motives operate in parallel, so that, in the same situation, an individual can be consciously motivated to do X( e.g hate, hit,remember) but unconsciously motivated to do Y (e.g love, kiss, forget)

• * Individual, just like opening flower, have a naturall tendency toward personal improvement and self-actualization or self-realization.

• * Actualization is the capacity to enhance the organism, gain autonomy and be self-sufficient. In simple term, to actualize oneself means to grow.

• * If individual are unaware of their potential for self-actualization or find obstacles that stop them from unleashing this potential, psychologists can guide them and help them overcome obstacles.

• * Self- actualized people tend to enjoy life and be happy, whereas failure to unleash one's potential for growth can lead to mental health problems

• *Failure to self-actualize may also lead to state of reactance, which is the feeling that our freedom of choice has been taken away.

• * Self-actualize leads to congruence between one's ideal self and one's actual self. Conversely, incongruity between one's aspirations and reality cause anxiety

Once we stop believing in our self, and become afraid of every circumstances. Then every affliction become a self fulfilling prophecy. The sooner you understand this concept and the self-discrepany theory concept. The closer you get to your way to better self improvement




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