Definition Essay: Defining The Self

The self is a person 's being and what distinguishes them from others. It is what lets people know that they are separate from other people, who they are, and how they interact socially with others. The self is hard to describe because scientists can not pinpoint any part of the body to what makes up the self. Because the self is so hard to clearly define it is broken down into three main parts: self-knowledge, public self, and agent self.
Self-knowledge is the awareness of beliefs that people have about themselves. This knowledge includes things like how people look, what their GPA is, or what personality traits they each have. Self-knowledge can come from inner thoughts and feelings, from what others have told you, or beliefs that you have created about yourself. The parts of people that can not be argued, like their eye color or where they were born, are …show more content…
Whenever the self does something good the self will interpret that as something that it is naturally good at and any positive qualities that are related to that are applied to self. For example, if someone receives high marks on a test they will most likely attribute that to how intelligent and hard-working they are. However, when the self does something that is perceived as negative, it tends to blame that on people or events outside of their control. Using the example from earlier, if someone got low marks on a test they would be more likely to attribute that to the test being too hard or the teacher being unfair, instead of attributing it to their own intelligence or work drive. This self-serving bias tends to make the self see itself as a better person and focuses in on the good that they do. This self-serving bias helps people have higher esteem and see themselves as better than average, but ignores parts of reality and what other people say about