How Significant Others Influence On One's Behavior

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Significant other is a person who has a great influence on one’s behaviour. This person could be a parent, uncle or aunt, grandparents or teacher. The generalised other those people whose opinions count less, people that you may see often but do not even know their names. In this essay we are going to be looking at how significant others and generalised others impact on my self-concept, self-esteem, self-perception and self-worth and to what extent I have engaged in impression management tactics. Self-concept means how you see yourself. It can be positive or negative. A positive self-concept means that you like and respect yourself. This means that you are beginning to know what you like and dislike. It also means that you stand up for your rights and what you think is important. A negative …show more content…

As I was growing up I was not comfortable in expressing myself in the first additional language because I was not exposed to the language. When I started to associate myself with the native speaker of the language, I am not perfect in the second language but I am now able to communicate and share my views with native speaker of the language whereas if I was not living by myself and only with the significant others, I was not going to feel the pressure to learn the language, even if I wanted to learn it, it was going to be impossible for me because people around me where going to talk the language that I am comfortable at. In conclusion, both significant other and generalised other are important in the self-concept because they both have an impact in our lives. The significant other helps us to reach the full potential whereas the generalised other impacts on our lives through their contribution to the norms and values in a society. Our perceptions towards ourselves can be shaped and can be altered, and can also be affected by environmental

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