The Looking Glass Self: How Our Selfimage is Shaped by ... | Exams Social Psychology

TheLookingGlassSelf:HowOurSelfimageisShapedbySocietyByJoachim

VogtIsaksen

Doyousometimesexperiencethatthemerepresenceofotherpeopleleadstofeelingsof

discomfortandtension?Whennotknowingexactlywhatotherpeoplethinkofyouitmay

leadtoselfdoubtandfeelingsofinsecurity.AccordingtotheAmericansociologist

CharlesHortonCooley(18641929),thedegreeofpersonalinsecurityyoudisplayin

socialsituationsisdeterminedbywhatyoubelieveotherpeoplethinkofyou.

Cooley’sconceptofthelookingglassself,statesthataperson’sselfgrowsoutofa

person’ssocialinteractionswithothers.Theviewofourselvescomesfromthe

contemplationofpersonalqualitiesandimpressionsofhowothersperceiveus.Actually,

howweseeourselvesdoesnotcomefromwhowereallyare,butratherfromhow

webelieve



othersseeus.

Themainpointisthatpeopleshapetheirselfconceptsbasedontheirunderstandingof

howothersperceivethem.Weformourselfimageasthereflectionsoftheresponseand

evaluationsofothersinourenvironment.Aschildrenweweretreatedinavarietyof

ways.Ifparents,relativesandotherimportantpeoplelookatachildassmart,theywill

tendtoraisehimwithcertaintypesofexpectations.Asaconsequencethechildwill

eventuallybelievethatheisasmartperson.Thisisaprocessthatcontinueswhenwe

growup.Forinstance,ifyoubelievethatyourclosestfriendslookatyouaswittyor

popularorweirdorsportyorfunny,youarelikelytoprojectthatselfimage,regardless

ofwhetherthishasanythingtodowithreality.

Theconceptofthelookingglassselftheoryconstitutesoneofthecornerstonesofthe

sociologicaltheoryofsocialization.Theideaisthatpeopleinourcloseenvironment

serveasthe“mirrors”thatreflectimagesofourselves.AccordingtoCharlesHorton

Cooley,thisprocesshasthreesteps.First,weimaginehowweappear



toanother

person.Sometimesthisimaginationiscorrect,butmayalsobewrongsinceitis

merelybasedonourassumptions



.Second,weimaginewhatjudgments



peoplemake

ofusbasedonourappearance.Lastly,weimagine



howthepersonfeelsaboutus,

basedonthejudgmentsmadeofus.Theultimateresultisthatweoftenchangeour

behaviorbasedonhowwefeel



peopleperceiveus.

“Iimagineyourmind,andespeciallywhatyourmindthinksaboutmymind,andwhat

yourmindthinksaboutwhatmymindthinksaboutyourmind.”CharlesHortonCooley.

Buildingastrongselfimage

Sohowcanwe,oranyoneelse,knowwhowereallyare?Canyoubesureofthe“real

you”,separatedfromallthestuffintheoutsidesocialworld?Youhaveprobably

experiencedthatyouhavehadastrongsenseofanotherperson’sdislikeforyou,onlyto

laterfindoutthatthiswasnotthecase,andthatthispersonreallylikedyou.Actually,the

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The Looking Glass Self: How Our Self image is Shaped by Society By Joachim Vogt Isaksen

Do you sometimes experience that the mere presence of other people leads to feelings of discomfort and tension? When not knowing exactly what other people think of you it may lead to self doubt and feelings of insecurity. According to the American sociologist Charles Horton Cooley (1864 1929), the degree of personal insecurity you display in social situations is determined by what you believe other people think of you.

Cooley’s concept of the looking glass self, states that a person’s self grows out of a person’s social interactions with others. The view of ourselves comes from the contemplation of personal qualities and impressions of how others perceive us. Actually, how we see ourselves does not come from who we really are, but rather from how we believe others see us.

The main point is that people shape their self concepts based on their understanding of how others perceive them. We form our self image as the reflections of the response and evaluations of others in our environment. As children we were treated in a variety of ways. If parents, relatives and other important people look at a child as smart, they will tend to raise him with certain types of expectations. As a consequence the child will eventually believe that he is a smart person. This is a process that continues when we grow up. For instance, if you believe that your closest friends look at you as witty or popular or weird or sporty or funny, you are likely to project that self image, regardless of whether this has anything to do with reality.

The concept of the looking glass self theory constitutes one of the cornerstones of the sociological theory of socialization. The idea is that people in our close environment serve as the “mirrors” that reflect images of ourselves. According to Charles Horton Cooley, this process has three steps. First, we imagine how we appear to another person. Sometimes this imagination is correct, but may also be wrong since it is merely based on our assumptions. Second, we imagine what judgments people make of us based on our appearance. Lastly, we imagine how the person feels about us, based on the judgments made of us. The ultimate result is that we often change our behavior based on how we feel people perceive us.

“I imagine your mind, and especially what your mind thinks about my mind, and what your mind thinks about what my mind thinks about your mind.” Charles Horton Cooley.

Building a strong self image

So how can we, or anyone else, know who we really are? Can you be sure of the “real you”, separated from all the stuff in the outside social world? You have probably experienced that you have had a strong sense of another person’s dislike for you, only to later find out that this was not the case, and that this person really liked you. Actually, the

“real social world” as we perceive it, is often not only wrong, but may even serve as an illusion.

Most people want to be liked and be appreciated for talents or personality. But if we have a weak self image, if we believe that the opinion of others are more important than our own, we can end up living our lives in accordance to other peoples´ (perceived) expectations. Sometimes, others evaluations mean more to us than our own. This is quite a distressing thought, since it implies that others´ opinion of you can run your life.

A person’s construction of an “imagined self image” is done unintentionally. We are not consciously aware that we often try to conform to the image that we imagine other people expect from us. If a person develops a negative self image the self esteem will tend to be low. Low self esteem and poor self image has long been associated with a whole range of psychological and social problems, and it is necessary to counter the passive individual that depends heavily on the social world for building self image. Hence, it would be a valuable exercise to develop a self image that is more based on our own evaluations rather than how we believe others look at us.

The concept of the looking glass self offers insight not only into our own thinking, but also to how we form our identity based on how others see us. As long as we are interacting with others we are vulnerable for changing our own self image, a process that will continue throughout our lives.

Assignment: Create a comic strip that demonstrates your understanding of Cooley’s Looking Glass Self theory. Make sure that you incorporate each of the underlined steps and the ultimate result in your work. You will not be graded for art proficiency, but you are expected to make your comic strip look good. You will not be graded on the type of comic that you create, but you will be required to incorporate each of the steps and the ultimate result into your work. For most people, you will need to create a multiple “frame” comic.

The Looking Glass Self: How Our Selfimage is Shaped by ..., Exams of Social Psychology

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