Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Blog 3




Soft Skills Facilitation Blog 3
Aizat Abu Bakar
Self-Concept
Self-concept is rooted to one’s development and establishment personally, defined by Rosenberg (Rosenberg, 1989) as an individual’s thought and affection, with assumption of oneself as an object. Bracken (Bracken, 1992) Multidimensional Self-Concept Model displays six domains of self-concept ranging from social up to physical self-concepts. Self-concept can be affected by three main ways: feedback through personal experience, through interactions with others and exposure to success and failures. (O'Connell, 2009).

Hattie (Hattie, et al., 1997) mentioned that the outcomes of adventure programs including self-concept alongside leadership, academic, personality, interpersonal and adventuresomeness followed by its own individual sub-domains. The main domains of self-concept that were greatly impacted were independence, confidence, self-efficacy and self-understanding (Hattie, et al., 1997). Parle (Parle, 1986 cited in Hattie, et al., 1997) mentions that the Outward Bound programs have positive effects of adolescent participant’s self-confidence and their ability to act successfully in a range of challenging activities.

The overall view of self-concept as a major outcome in adventure programs are becoming more refined with the understanding of the multidimensional aspect of self-concept with relations to an individual’s development in other areas (Hattie, et al., 1997). Bracken  (Bracken, 1992)suggests that behaviors linked to adventure programs will be able to influence self-concept and vice-versa, hence integrating into one’s overall behavioral pattern.
Used as an idiom or synonym for self-concept, self-esteem is about how we feel about self-evaluation, be it negative or positive (Sanderson, 2010). It also reveals a person’s overall assessment of their own worth and encompasses of beliefs and emotions (Mruk, 2006).
James (James, 1890/1983) came up with a formula on development of self-esteem which is self-esteem equals to success divided by pretensions. Pretensions being one’s claim to be important or impressive. Self-esteem is created as one reflects on one’s behavior with relations to their own and other expectations, one key note is that two people can have the same success but could develop self-esteem differently because they or people in their environments have different levels of expectations. 

The hierarchy of self-esteem puts global self-esteem which is generally how people feel about themselves with the domains which are the competencies which people based their self-esteem on while sub-domains are the more refined aspects of the domains (Fox & Corbin, 1989).

The intervention in which is talked about is more towards targeting a certain domain which a present is more leaning towards, tapping on to it raise or modify global self- esteem, as it can in return, influence other aspects such as self-concept.

My view of self-concept and esteem is that it linked to one another and can affect each other. Here in my workplace, the usage of such concept is practice via presentations in which fellow classmates will get to observe the failures and success of their peers, feedback from facilitators and interactions with their peers be it in a classroom or outdoor context.








References

Bracken, B. A., 1992. Multidimensional Self Concept Scale: Examiner's manual. Austin(TX): Pro-Ed.
Fox, K. R. & Corbin, C. B., 1989. The Physical Self Perception Profile: Development and Preliminary Validation. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, Volume 11, pp. 408-430.
Hattie, J., Neil, J. T., Richards, G. E. & Marsh, H. W., 1997. Adventure Education and Outward Bound:Out-of-Class Experiences That Make a Lasting Difference. Review of Educational Research, 67(1), pp. 43-87.
James, W., 1890/1983. The Principles of Psychology. Cambridge: MA:Havard University Press.
Mruk, C. J., 2006. Self-Esteem Research, Theory, and Practice: Toward a Positive Psychology of Self-Esteem. 3rd ed. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
O'Connell, T., 2009. Self-Concept and Adventure Education:A Study of Adolescents Engaged in Outdoor Adventure Activities. New York: VDM Verlag Dr. Muller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG.
Rosenberg, M., 1989. Self-Concept Research:A Historical Overview. Social Forces, September, 68(1), pp. 34-44.
Sanderson, C. A., 2010. Social Psychology. New York: John Wiley & Sons.


Recommended reading:
O'Connell, T., 2009. Self-Concept and Adventure Education:A Study of Adolescents Engaged in Outdoor Adventure Activities. New York: VDM Verlag Dr. Muller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG.

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