Focus Questions
• What is the self?
• How does communication influence
personal identity?
• How can you resist destructive patterns in
communication with yourself?
• What are values and risks of selfdisclosing communication?
• How can you foster your personal growth?
Communication & Personal
Identity
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自我 Self : 網路書店搜尋結果
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Identity
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Self, Identity and Multiculture
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Identity
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Communication & Personal Identity
• “Self” is a process. Continuously evolves
and changes.
• The self consists of perspectives:
– Views about ourselves,
– about others, and
– about social life that changes over time as we
interact with others.
• 自我發展量表 (民80：江南發 )
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The self arises in communication
with others
• Self is not innate but is acquired (Mead, 1934).
• Self-fulfilling prophesy: expectations, judgment of
•
ourselves (internalized labels)
Particular others: parents, siblings, peers
– Reflected appraisals: a process of seeing ourselves through the
eyes of others
– (Significant others)
• Generalized others: collection of rules, roles, attitudes
– Communicated by people we interact with,
– By media,
– By institutions: Judicial system, marriage, education system
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Communication with family
members
• Direct definition: Explicitly told
• Identity scripts: Rules of living and identity of a family
• Attachment styles: Patterns of parenting; how to
approach relationship (next slide)
– Secure attachment: Consistent, attentive; self-worth
– Fearful attachment: Rejecting, abusive; unworthy of love
– Dismissive attachment: Rejecting, abusive; dismissing others as
unworthy
– Anxious/ambivalent attachment: Inconsistent parenting;
assuming others right / self unworthy of love
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Attachment Styles
Views of self
Positive
Negative
Secure
Positive
Views
of
others
Negative
Consistent,
attentive; selfworth
Dismissive
Rejecting,
abusive;
dismissing
others as
unworthy
Anxious/Ambivalent
Inconsistent parenting;
assuming others right / self
unworthy of love
Fearful
Rejecting,
abusive;
unworthy of
love
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Communication with Peers
• Playmates, classmates, friends, partners…
• Reflected appraisals
• Social comparisons
– Judgment about talents, qualities, abilities…
• Self-disclosure
– Revelation of personal information about ourselves
– Hopes, fears, experiences, perceptions…
– The Johari Window: four types of information
(knowledge) about us (p. 214)
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The Johari Window
Known to self
Known to
others
Unknown to
others
Open Area
Hidden Area
Unknown to self
Blind Area
Unknown Area
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Communication with society
• Four aspects of identity
– Race
– Gender
– Sexual orientation
– Socioeconomic level
• Other social values
– Intelligence, weight (slimness), height…
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Challenges in Communicating with
Ourselves
• Reflecting critically on social perspectives
– Ethical obligation to promote positive social values and a fair social
world
– Individual & collective efforts to revise social meaning
• Seeking personal growth as a communicator
–
–
–
–
Set realistic goals
Assess yourself fairly (reasonable social comparison)
Self disclose appropriately: safe, gradual, reciprocal
Creative a supportive climate for change
• Uppers: who communicates positively about us
• Downers: who communicates negatively about us
• Vultures: an extreme form of downers; who attacks our self-concepts
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