Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The Dynamic Self-Concept: A Social Psychological Perspective

The Dynamic Self-Concept: A Social Psychological Perspective The unifying premise of the last decade's research on the self is that the self-concept does not just reflect on-going behavior but instead mediates and regulates this behavior. In this sense the self-concept has been viewed as dynamic-as active, forceful, and capable of change. It interprets and orga­ nizes self-relevant actions and experiences; it has motivational consequences, providing the incentives, standards, plans, rules, and scripts for behavior; and 0066-4308/87/0201-0299$02.00 MARKUS & WURF it adjusts in response to challenges from the social environment. Virtually all of the early theoretical statements on the self-concept accord it this dynamic role (see Gordon & Gergen 1968), yet until very recently the empirical work lagged far behind these sophisticated conceptions of how the self-system functions. Indeed, the majority of self-concept research could best be de­ scribed as an attempt to relate very complex global behavior, such as de­ linquency, marital satisfaction, or school achievement, to a single aspect of the self-concept, typically self-esteem. In 1974, Wylie reviewed the literature and concluded that the self-concept simply could not be powerfully implicated in directing behavior. In the last decade, however, researchers have redoubled their efforts to understand the self-concept as one of the most significant http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Annual Review of Psychology Annual Reviews

The Dynamic Self-Concept: A Social Psychological Perspective

Markus, H; Wurf, E
Annual Review of Psychology , Volume 38 (1) – Feb 1, 1987
Download PDF
39 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/annual-reviews/the-dynamic-self-concept-a-social-psychological-perspective-ELxCgJ0oRj

References (101)

Publisher
Annual Reviews
Copyright
Copyright 1987 Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
Subject
Review Articles
ISSN
0066-4308
eISSN
1545-2085
DOI
10.1146/annurev.ps.38.020187.001503
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The unifying premise of the last decade's research on the self is that the self-concept does not just reflect on-going behavior but instead mediates and regulates this behavior. In this sense the self-concept has been viewed as dynamic-as active, forceful, and capable of change. It interprets and orga­ nizes self-relevant actions and experiences; it has motivational consequences, providing the incentives, standards, plans, rules, and scripts for behavior; and 0066-4308/87/0201-0299$02.00 MARKUS & WURF it adjusts in response to challenges from the social environment. Virtually all of the early theoretical statements on the self-concept accord it this dynamic role (see Gordon & Gergen 1968), yet until very recently the empirical work lagged far behind these sophisticated conceptions of how the self-system functions. Indeed, the majority of self-concept research could best be de­ scribed as an attempt to relate very complex global behavior, such as de­ linquency, marital satisfaction, or school achievement, to a single aspect of the self-concept, typically self-esteem. In 1974, Wylie reviewed the literature and concluded that the self-concept simply could not be powerfully implicated in directing behavior. In the last decade, however, researchers have redoubled their efforts to understand the self-concept as one of the most significant

Journal

Annual Review of Psychology – Annual Reviews

Published: Feb 1, 1987

There are no references for this article.