Theoretical interpretation of the concept of "I-concept"

ABSTRACT

The article analyzes the current state of research of the self-concept of personality. Domestic and foreign approaches to the study of the self-concept are analyzed. The basic concepts underlying the contiguous semantic field of research of the self-concept, its functions and role in the structure of personality are determined.

АННОТАЦИЯ

В статье производится анализ современного состояния исследований Я-концепции личности. Анализируются отечественные и зарубежные подходы к исследованию Я-концепции. Определяются основные понятия, лежащие в основе смежного смыслового поля исследования Я-концепции, ее функции и роль в структуре личности.

Keywords: Self-concept, self-knowledge, self-understanding, self-awareness, self-determination.

Ключевые слова: Я-концепция, самопознание, самоосмысление, самосознание, самоопределение.

In modern psychological research, an actual tendency is formed to rethink the essential characteristics of the "I", that is, the study of "personality in a person" [4]. The self-concept in these studies is considered as a systemic, complex education that reflects significant "potentials and tendencies" (B.G. Ananiev) [1], significant for the personality, its "aspirations and opportunities" (V.S. Merlin) [7].

Actual socio-psychological transformations in the structure and dynamics of social development put forward a number of qualitatively new psychological problems that are characteristic of individual social groups, formations, and social relations. One of these problems is the formation and development of the self-concept of personality during the student period. The growing volume of the frequency of use of terminology in publications beginning with the prefixes self-, self- (self-identification, self-development, self-knowledge, self-determination, and others) indicates a new stage in the appeal of psychological science to the problems of the formation of “I” in personality development. In this context, it implies a goal-oriented focus on the upbringing of an initiative, dominant, active personality, focused on success, building a strategy for a life scenario and ways of professional development. However, the concept of "I" in the structure of the personality, its self and the integrity of the structure is not a purely subject of psychological research, but affects related areas of research in biomedical, social, social and pedagogical areas of scientific knowledge. The variety of approaches to the problems of researching the self-concept is combined with a variety of points of view on the choice of methods for its research.

"I-concept" as a psychological concept entered scientific use relatively recently, but this does not mean at all that this problem has not previously been studied in science. The historical aspects of the development of the self-concept originate in the works of R. Descartes, I.A. Ilyin, I. Kant, A. Camus, V.S. Soloviev, D. Hume and other philosophers.

To date, both domestic and foreign studies have not developed a uniform approach to understanding the phenomenon of "self-concept". Most often it is revealed through the semantic concepts of related concepts: "self-esteem", "self-awareness", "self-determination", "self-identification", "self-image", "identity" and some others. Despite the closeness of these concepts, none of them is fully capable of revealing the essence and content of the self-concept, since each researcher, operating with a combination of these categories, comes to different, sometimes very contradictory conclusions [6].

Comparison of approaches in the framework of studies of various scientific schools devoted to the problem of the self-concept of personality made it possible to determine several uniform areas of its study in psychology:

1) the content of the “self-image” as an integral category, within which the individual is aware of his own characteristics, the presence or absence of features that define him as a person - this direction was studied in the scientific works of B.G. Ananyev, R. Burns, V.S. Merlin, A.G. Spirkin and others;

2) approaches to determining the structure of the concept of "I-concept", which includes the categories: "I-real", "I-ideal", "I-demonstrated" and others (scientific works of W. James, I.S. Cohn, K. Rogers, M. Rosenberg, V.V. Stolin, I.I.Chesnokov and others);

"I-concept" as a psychological concept entered scientific use relatively recently, but this does not mean at all that this problem has not previously been studied in science. The historical aspects of the development of the self-concept originate in the works of R. Descartes, I.A. Ilyin, I. Kant, A. Camus, V.S. Soloviev, D. Hume and other philosophers.

To date, both domestic and foreign studies have not developed a uniform approach to understanding the phenomenon of "self-concept". Most often it is revealed through the semantic concepts of related concepts: "self-esteem", "self-awareness", "self-determination", "self-identification", "self-image", "identity" and some others. Despite the closeness of these concepts, none of them is fully capable of revealing the essence and content of the self-concept, since each researcher, operating with a combination of these categories, comes to different, sometimes very contradictory conclusions [6].

Comparison of approaches in the framework of studies of various scientific schools devoted to the problem of the self-concept of personality made it possible to determine several uniform areas of its study in psychology:

1) the content of the “self-image” as an integral category, within which the individual is aware of his own characteristics, the presence or absence of features that define him as a person - this direction was studied in the scientific works of B.G. Ananyev, R. Burns, V.S. Merlin, A.G. Spirkin and others;

2) approaches to determining the structure of the concept of "I-concept", which includes the categories: "I-real", "I-ideal", "I-demonstrated" and others (scientific works of W. James, I.S. Cohn, K. Rogers, M. Rosenberg, V.V. Stolin, I.I.Chesnokov and others);

- the ratio of the level of self-esteem and aspirations as a measure of self-concept awareness (L.V. Borozdina);

- the formation of the figurative sphere of the personality and the image of "I" (BG Ananiev, AN Krylov, AN Leontiev);

- development of the projective side of self-awareness (V.V. Signs, I.A. Romanova);

- development of the self-concept through personal reflection and self-understanding (V.V. Znakov, B.V. Kaigorodov, N.I. Gutkina, A.V. Zakharov, V.A.Zaretsky and others).

Generalization and identification of some general directions that have developed in the study of the self-concept of personality in modern psychology, nevertheless, allow us to identify some general principles underlying the study of the self-concept. The main ideological principle underlying most of the studies is the basic concept of B.G. Ananyev, on the basis of which a holistic approach to personality is implemented. The principle of a holistic approach to the study of the personality I can be traced in the works of theoretical and philosophical content: S.L. Rubinstein, L.I. Antsyferova, B.F. Lomov. In the methodological study of B.F. Lomov, the idea of ​​the development of the self-concept as a complex structural multidimensional phenomenon is being implemented.

In the study of V.N. Myasishchev also highlights the component structure of the self-concept, in which the author distinguishes emotional, conative (behavioral), evaluative components. And it is the evaluative component that is the mechanism on the basis of which a person realizes the perception and assessment of himself: realizes, perceives, understands and tries to explain the relationship of objects of the environment, people, himself in the environment [8].

Highlighted by V.N. Myasishchev, the components of the self-concept of personality formed the basis of subsequent research. So, in the interpretation of I.S. Kohn, “I image” should be understood as a social attitude, the expressed attitude of a person to himself, which includes three main components: emotional, cognitive, and behavioral. In another study, V.B. Olshansky - the self-concept is understood as an organized cognitive structure of the “I”, which is extracted from subjective experiences and ideas about oneself.

In the studies of V.P. Kolomiets ("Formation of individuality", 1993) considers the problem of the formation of the "I" of the individual, which is realized in the process of understanding the individual's socio-cultural conditions of his existence, volitional, emotional, cognitive understanding of the surrounding reality and his own "I".

A further study of the role of the unconscious in the process of the formation of an individual's own "I" was carried out by L.S. Vygotsky, who noted: “... consciousness represents only an insignificant part of the individual's mental experience, since there is a wide layer of the unconscious, and, secondly, it either denotes some property of this experience, or in a disguised form it represents the same concept as soul, only under a different name” [2, p. 72].

In foreign psychology, the problem of the self-concept was studied by representatives of various schools and directions:

1) Followers of the interactionist approach (D.M. Baldwin, N.V. Groth, C. Cooley, A. Pfender, M. Rosenberg);

2) Followers of the psychodynamic approach (within the framework of self-psychology, psychoanalysis) (A. Adler, E. Bern, A. Fredyom, E. Fromm, K. Horney, E. Erickson and others);

3) Followers of the cognitive approach (A. Vallon, J, Piaget, T. Wilson, L. Festinger);

4) Representatives of the theory of humanistic psychology, personality-oriented approach (A. Maslow, G. Allport, K. Rogers, K. Frankl and others).

Generalization of theoretical aspects and approaches to understanding the self-concept of personality made it possible to conclude that modern theories of studying the self-concept are developing mainly in the mainstream of the problems of self-awareness, the central elements of which are the categories: “self-awareness”, “self-esteem”, “self-understanding”, “ level of aspirations ”,“ I-concept ”. Almost every researcher who determines the field of his scientific activity in the psychology of self-awareness encounters these categories.

I.I. Chesnokova includes three components in the structure of self-awareness: self-awareness itself, that is, knowledge about oneself, an emotional-value attitude towards one's personality, self-regulation of one's behavior [9].

Using the criterion of correlating the knowledge of an individual about himself, I.I. Chesnokova distinguishes two levels of self-awareness: at the first level, the individual compares knowledge about himself with knowledge about another person. At the same time, at first, some quality is distinguished and realized by the example of another person, and then it is transferred to oneself. Self-observation and self-perception of the individual are the methods of self-awareness. At the second level, knowledge about oneself is expanded due to the processes of autocommunication, that is, within the framework of correlating knowledge and ideas about oneself. Specific methods of self-knowledge at the second level are self-analysis and self-reflection. A person correlates his behavior and the results achieved with the motivation that became the source of this behavior and knowledge about himself [9].

Research shows that for the formation of a positive self-concept, it is important that a person's ideas about himself are consistent, not contradicting each other. Otherwise, there is a confusion of roles, "fragmentation" of the personality, as a result of which the person suffers from conflicting feelings of self-forgiveness and self-blame. If a person's behavior is consistent with the image of his "I", then he can do without approval from others, he is confident in himself and is satisfied with himself. On the other hand, the self-concept tends to self-blame, when a person who is insecure in himself and considers himself a failure subconsciously undermines his efforts in order to correct the situation, to preserve the old, most familiar image to him. Thus, in modern studies of the self-concept of personality, the idea is developed that it includes the real I and the ideal I, that is, our ideas about what we really are and what we should be. A person who perceives these two "I" as not too far apart, is more likely to become mature and adapted to life than the one who puts his real "I" much lower than the ideal "I".

Self-concept can be positive, ambivalent, negative. An individual with a positive self-concept sees the world differently than a person with an ambivalent or negative one. Self-concept, in turn, can incorrectly reflect reality, be fictional and distorted [4]. From a phenomenological perspective, the Y-Concept often reflects how we see ourselves in relation to the different roles we play in life. These role images are formed as a result of increasingly complex transactions between people, so the self-concept can include a set of self-images: parent, spouse, student, employee, leader, athlete, etc.

Thus, the self-concept performs several important functions and roles in the life of each individual:

- ensures the consistency of the inner self-awareness of the individual

- determines the interpretation of her subjective experience;

- is a source of expectations and personal growth to the level of expected self-images (self-ideal).

The most important function of the self-concept is to ensure the internal consistency of the individual, the relative stability of her behavior. If the new experience received by the individual is consistent with the existing ideas about himself, he is easily assimilated, it enters into the self-concept.

If the new experience does not fit into the existing ideas about oneself, contradicts the already existing self-concept, then the mechanisms of psychological defense are triggered, which help the person to interpret the traumatic experience in a biased manner or to deny it. This allows you to keep the self-concept in a balanced state, even if the real facts put it in jeopardy. This desire to protect the self-concept, to protect it from destructive influences is one of the fundamental motives of all normal behavior.

The second function of the self-concept is that it determines the nature of the individual's interpretation of his experience. The self-concept acts as a kind of internal filter that determines the way a person perceives any situation. Passing through this filter, the situation is comprehended, receives a meaning that corresponds to a person's ideas about himself.

The third function of the self-concept is that it also determines the expectations of the individual, i.e. ideas about what is about to happen. People who are confident in their own worth expect that others will treat them the same way, and, conversely, people who doubt their own worth believe that no one can like them and begin to avoid all social contact. Thus, the diversity of existing views and approaches to the content of the self-concept emphasizes its complexity and versatility, but, at the same time, structure and a certain integrity. It can also be noted with confidence that the development of the personality, its activities and behavior are significantly influenced by the self-concept.

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