Academic Self-Concept

How do we view and develop an image of ourselves? Philosophers and social scientists have been exploring this question for centuries and have expounded on the development and importance of self-concept. Self-concept is people's perception of themselves that is formed through life experiences, and is both multifaceted and hierarchical. [Page 5]Self-concept is multifaceted because people view themselves in related yet independent dimensions. People also develop self-concept hierarchically by first obtaining inferences about self in subareas of a domain (e.g., math or verbal ability) and then by judging the self in general (i.e., overall academic ability). Individuals utilize internal and external comparisons to evaluate themselves.

Self-concept is derived from a variety of sources; thus it is not a unidimensional construct. For example, one's global self-concept can be ...