Your Perceived and Ideal Self

Your Perceived and Ideal Self

A good friend of mine and I have had many discussions about reality and an individual’s true identity. My friend is more of a spiritualist and approaches the question by examining how a human being functions in what he calls both realms: the natural and the supernatural a.k.a. the physical and the spiritual. His insights are profound and good food for thought.

As a mentalist and student of psychology, I approach the question by looking at the psychodynamics of an individual. After all it’s ALL mental, right?

Of course there’s no question that there is a physical and as well as a spiritual you. But what modern psychologists have known for decades and the ancient Egyptians knew thousands of years ago is that in terms of the mental aspects of an individual there are two selves: The perceived self and the ideal self.

These two selves have a great impact on, Emotional Intelligence, self-esteem, and self-motivation.

Obviously your perceived self is how YOU perceive yourself. Your self-perception is a part of the answer to the “Who am I?” question. You probably already know this…Perception is reality. In your own mind and understanding of the world YOU decide what is negative and positive. And so does everyone else. It is your perception that creates and defines your world.

Based on my hours of research and one paper in particular titled “A Self Concept-Based Model of Work Motivation” (Leonard, Beauvais, and Scholl) the model that I use consists of four general categories of self-perceptions: identities, traits, competencies, and values.

Identities include your perception of your social identity (i.e. mother, African-American, or teacher) as well as your personal identity (i.e. human being, spirit, or woman). Because you perceive yourself differently in various contexts such as in your family, on a global scale, or on a universal scale, it is possible to have more than one social or personal identity (i.e. an African-American mother who is a teacher). However, you will probably perceive one of them to be more important or dominant.

Traits, in this particular instance, are distinguishing qualities of your personal character or physique that you perceive yourself to possess (i.e. humble, tall, or intelligent). Traits express relatively permanent patterns of behavior.

Competencies are the skills, abilities, talents, and knowledge that you perceive yourself to possess.

Values are the element of your perceived self that guide your decisions and actions. You demonstrate certain values through your behavior and actions.

Self-perceptions are determined through interactions with your environment. In other words the places that you spend the most time in and the people that you spend the most time with have a tremendous effect on your perceptions. By the way your environment includes T.V., movies, music, plays, etc. because your non-conscious mind does not separate reality from fantasy.

I am 6’2”. According to many people’s perception I am tall. But since I played varsity basketball in high school and because I was in a number of basketball tournaments in college I do not see myself as being tall. And my friend is about 6’4” or 6’5” so I perceive myself to be right around an average height. This is an example of how the environment impacts perception.

According to Leonard, Beauvais, and Scholl your perception of your attributes (identities, traits, competencies, and values) can be described in terms of two separate dimensions: level and strength.

Continued on next page.

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