How has your self-perceptions (and/or self-efficacy) been impacted by your inter

Question

How has your self-perceptions (and/or self-efficacy) been impacted by your interactions with your social environment? Have your teachers, family, friends, etc. helped you have a positive belief in yourself, or not? What specific things were or were not helpful? What about the larger social environment? How has our culture (social media, TV, advertisements, etc.) impacted your perceptions about yourself, including your beliefs about your intelligence and physical appearance? How easy or difficult has it been for you to challenge or reject negative messages from the social environment?

Explanation / Answer

As an answer to the above questions, my answers are as follows:

Yes, my self-perceptions and/or self-efficacy have been impacted by my interactions with my social environment.

My family environment, school environment, peer interaction have all had a great impact on me, helping me in the formation of a new self concept, self efficacy, self esteem and self perceptions. The authority figures in my social circle (parents, guardians, teachers, mentors, other elder family members) have been true sources of inspiration for me and have motivated me to face new challenges, combat difficult situations, contributing in the development of my self confidence. For example, during my school days, I used to be a shy kid and had stage fright. My teacher convinced me to take part in debates and although it was a fearful experience for me at first, I did participate in one, and that helped boost my self confidence to a great extent. My peers have also been guiding forces in helping me in dealing with difficult circumstances. Their ways of dealing with different problems have also helped me gain new perspectives at attempting to solve problems and in overcoming difficult and challenging situations.

The specific things that have been helpful in this process, are--- Development of self confidence, gaining new perspectives in problem solving and decision making, realizing my strengths and limitations, understanding priorities, developing the ability to make matured decisions and to come up with different possible solutions with regard to the same the problem.

The specific things that have not been helpful, are--- Advices from peers taken as solutions to problems, which have not worked well, since my peers were as young and lacking in maturity as I was. Other problems with regard to self perception and self efficacy with regard to social interaction included constant comparison with same-aged mates who were higher achievers that led me in developing a low morale and a deflated self-efficacy. The problems also included setting up standards and goals higher than my potentials that made it impossible for me to achieve them, thus lowering my self confidence in the process.

The larger social environment, our culture (social media, T.V., advertisements, etc.) has also had a definite impact on my self-perception and self efficacy. The print and electronic media has, in the long run, exposed us to different personalities, their stories, struggles and inspirational journeys which have led them to success. These stories do have a motivational value that may help one gain confidence about oneself and this may lead one to set goals for oneself (realistic ones though) and work hard to achieve them.

For me, I have also had such role models who have inspired me in a similar fashion. With respect to my beliefs regarding my intelligence and physical appearance, it is true that there have been times when I have wished to have a charming personality and an attractive appearance. Advertisements do play a very important role in this aspect. They tend to portray ideal models of personality and beauty, and that too in a socially acceptable manner. However, in the long run, I have also realized that it is incorrect to set such ‘ideal’ standards because since there are so many diverse forms of personality and models of beauty, adhering to all of those is an impossible task. Thus, according to me, being confident with one’s abilities, actualizing one’s potentialities and being comfortable in one’s own skin are the true sources of happiness.

Lastly, I would like to state that it has not been an easy task to challenge or reject negative messages from the social world. Negative messages do hurt our sentiments and try to break down our self-esteem. But in the process of gaining back our self-confidence we do learn to ignore such messages or to take them in our stride and try and improve ourselves in the process. I have learned to accept myself, my strengths and weaknesses in the same manner.

Thank You.

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