Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Miscellaneous Identification of Self Identification of Self The “self” of every human being is a construct of numerous elements, both internal as well as external. According to Baumeister “Personal identity is a crucial interface between the private organism and society. The identity represents an important means by which the physical being takes its place in society so as to communicate and interact with other people” (191). Many things influence and shape someone’s identity and sense of self. Those of us in transition from adolescence to adulthood are especially prone to these influences. These include both social circumstances and a list of unique personal attributes. Individuals in this age group (around the age of 16 to 24) usually experience a number of major changes which force them to make personal decisions with which they have never been faced. Most decision during this age range involve what plans to make for the future. One of these timely decisions include whether to continue their education or not. After graduating from high school there are many decisions to be made. One important choice is whether to keep on going in school. Now society strongly encourages a college education. This is just something that has evolved over the generations. Thirty years ago it was not as common for young men and especially young women to go to college after graduation from high school. The job market today has become so competitive that it is almost impossible to get a decent paying job without a college degree. The decision to attend college is just the beginning of one’s concerns. Once the choice to attend college has been made, there are many more steps ahead. No longer is the individual able to soley depend on parents and caretakers to look out for their best interest. Suddenly, they are completely and totally responsible for each of their own actions. This includes the decision of which college to go to. Should they leave home in order to do so or not. It can be a completely different experience if you attend school close to home or far away. Going farther from home causes one to adjust more to an individual life merely because of the distance between themselves and their parents or guardians. Personally, I came to Miami from Rochester , New York. Choosing to leave my home in upstate New York to go to another state was a test on my ability to make it on my own. The distance has proven to be a challenge as well as a blessing. It has allowed me to distance myself from my parents literally and figuratively. I have become my own person and have become a lot more independent. I have also believe that attending school away from home has expanded my horizons. Being in a completely different city and state, I have experienced that just small differences can be so noticeable. In addition, upon leaving home to pursue a college education, young men and women are usually handed a totally new set of responsibilities, as well as a dramatically increased amount of personal freedom. This change in societal structure includes the challenges of balancing academics, social and leisure time, finances, and a host of other personal concerns that come along with becoming an independent college student. By providing such an environment, colleges and universities offer young people an unmatched opportunity to make lasting discoveries and developments concerning their individual identities and self-perceptions. It has been stated repeatedly in seminar that coming to college has given a number of students the chance to either finally be "themselves", or someone "new" and "different" from who they have been up to the present time. This supports the idea that both men and women often look upon making changes in their surroundings as a time for also making changes in their inner selves. Consequently, a number of social psychologists agree that "change is very likely to occur when one receives feedback that is inconsistent with his or her existing self-schema… or when one moves from one community to another" (Baron and Byrne 168). Baumeister's viewpoint, concerning the modern western individual, is that " …the modern self is seen as having a license and obligation to create itself" (206). He also states that "Modern Western society presents people with a remarkable opportunity to become autonomous, self-determined, unique, and fulfilled…"(208). Yet, it is usually the case that, before leaving the protection of home, a young man or woman has not been exposed to many of the harsher, more demanding characteristics of society. Due to this lack of exposure, the working self-concept that was in place while at home may have been under-developed and unfitting for the level of independence that will soon be forced upon them. As vessels radically influenced by parents and caretakers young men and women may not have had enough independence, preceding their entrance into college, to "be themselves". In keeping with Baumeister, it may just be in the nature of young individuals of western society, to seize the chance at testing out more appropriate, comfortable, and self-fulfilling images upon entering the "real world". And taking residence upon a college campus definitely provides this chance. According to Markus and Nurius "one's self-concept at any given time is actually just a working self concept, something open to change in response to new experiences, new feedback, and new self-relevant information" (Baron & Byrne 167). On certain occasions, trying to compare an individual's college self to his/her home self might leave you with a number of distinct differences; differences in academic performance, fashion sense, speech, religious belief, social and sexual preferences, etc. When such changes take place within a college student, a number of forces can be cited as the cause. Changes may be due in part to that individual’s exposure to the other students attending the same college. This group is generally much larger and more diverse than that of one’s high school. As representatives of social psychology, Smith and Henry state that the social self is both “derived from interpersonal relationships” and “derived from belonging to larger, less personal collective groupings such as race, Ethnicity, or culture” (Baron and Byrne 165). The broad label of “college student” could be included upon a list of such collective groupings, whereby creating noticeable changes in the behavior and ideals of an individual that was not too long ago labeled as a “high school student” Not only is social environment a factor in determining self, but time is also a major player. As a number of my peers and I have noticed, it seems like we have been in college much longer than we actually have, due to the multiple and seemingly strong relationships that we have already formed as well as the great amounts of work having already been completed. Therefore, with the passing of what seems to have been a lot of time in a new setting, it is impossible for college students to avoid making so many changes over such a short amount of time. Baron and Byrne state that " You are not the same person you were ten years ago, and you are not likely to be the same person ten years from now that you are today" (167). Although ten years is much longer than the nine to ten months that pass in a single year of college, the great social transformations that have taken place for each individual help to create such an illusion. In turn, this illusion enables or may even require that individuals make overt alterations internally to go along with the dramatic and sudden external changes. There are also those forms of social control within a college or university that must be considered in this discussion. With the founding of any institution there always exists some form of administrative and political order that needs to be maintained by each of that institution's members. Colleges and Universities are no exception to the rule. Peter Berger stated that "Violence is the ultimate foundation of any political order"(69). At the same time "penultimate means of coercion are more important for more people most of the time" (Berger 70-1), meaning that those methods of social control which usually proceed violence, are those which are more frequently utilized, as well as more successful in the maintenance of social order. For this reason there exists residence advisors, a Code of Student Conduct, The Office of Residence Life, The Office of Judicial Affairs, and University Police. Berger also mentions "the mechanisms of persuasion, ridicule, gossip, and opprobrium [isolation]" (71) as means of social control. Although these three mechanisms would be those utilized most frequently among the students themselves, they are no less powerful in determining self expression than those tactics used by university administration. He states that " What lies at the bottom of this apparently inevitable pressure towards [conformity] is probably a profound human desire to be accepted, presumably by whatever group is around to do the accepting" (Berger 72). Therefore we find negative generalizations and stereotypes placed on different and separated groups of individuals (i.e. Western Campus students and Main Campus students) for the purpose of elevating one's own campus standing or academic circumstances. Along with the pressures to conform and a profound desire to belong, we see the success of fraternities and sororities, college sports, bands and choirs, and the high level of student involvement in many other non-academic organizations on campus. The most obvious attribute of colleges and universities is the chance presented to students at fulfilling personal goals. Their potential to help shape the identities of and clarify some sense of self for students, is the unlimited opportunity for making self evaluations, whether concerning educational and social capabilities, or otherwise. A number of my friends (students of varying institutions, including Miami Univ.: both Western campus residents and individuals living on Main Campus) and I have realized that upon coming to college, a vast array of opportunities/ demands have been made available to us. Along with educational opportunities/demands being presented at every angel (mandatory classes, optional classes, lecture series, well known guest speakers, etc) , sessions are made available for acquiring skill in the areas of dance, sports, theater, computers, career training: the list is almost endless. And one could go on and on about the social skills that are developed ever day upon a college campus, whether one’s free will or not. As stated before, students come into contact with many different kinds of people on a weekly basis by way of classes, jobs, parties, meals, dorm living, recreational activities, and by simply traveling through the campus. By being forced to associate with professors, managers, and other college students, one must either allow themselves to be forced into these realms of self-enhancement and personal development: realms which simultaneously and inevitably lead to self evaluation. According to Baron and Bryne, “Having high self-esteem means that an individual likes himself or herself. Such evaluations are based in part on the opinions of others and in part on specific experiences. “ (p. 170-171). They continue to state that “Different levels of self esteem can bee associated with specific aspects of ourselves... Global self esteem is based on a multitude of such specific evaluations”(171). And according to Dutton and Brown “...specific self evaluations predict cognitive reactions to success and failure whereas global self esteem predicts emotional reactions to such outcomes” (Baron &Byrne). In these statements alone, we see that every risk, or chance, or opportunity taken will lead to some sort of evaluation of the individual, whether it be self evaluation or that coming from peers and associates. And not only do these evaluations shed light upon one’s behaviors and actions while in college, but they also may even bee foreshadowing of that person’s experiences and reactions to come. Due to the fact I have taken a position most similar to that of a social psychologist, I would imagine that someone coming from a biological perspective would be most likely to disagree with me. According to Stevens and Wetherell the biological perspective draws upon “ a wide range of biological research including areas bout the influences of genes and hormones on behavior and the relevance of an evolutionary perspective for understanding social behavior” (352). From this standpoint the person is treated “in the social world as an example of just another species in its habitat (albeit one with other special attributes) (352). They make the statement that “ at the functional level, (biology) utilizes concepts and principles from evolutionary theory and , at the casual level, it is concerned with physiological processes that underlie behavior and experience” (352). Yet, it is doubtful that all of human behavior, as diverse, inconsistent, and complicated as it is, can simply be attributed to the principles of evolution and physiological processes. Although they may be included in the category of uncontrollable external influences upon the human self, cognitive influences are also major factors on behavior and emotional patterns. Furthermore, it is very unlikely that people hold knowledge that is independent of their social and cultural positions” (Stevens & Wetherell 359), as the biological perspective would claim. Cognitive influences can not simply be attributed to chemical imbalances in the brain and neurological components. Decisions making skills and levels of rationality, characteristics that are radically influenced before one’s exit from their birth home, are those that determine atmosphere/ habitats for human beings. And as modern humans, we decide upon location, which is usually only slightly dependent upon where we (or our ancestors)were born, such as is the circumstance for the majority of animals and lower life forms. Therefore, to place so much weight for the complex construction that is the human self, upon evolution and physiology would be a grievous mistake. As the fact remains, each human across the globe is unique, no matter how similar their habitat or physiological characteristics. Interpretation and reaction to each of life’s circumstances differs from individual to individual, and it is the ability to give personal menacing and relevance to any certain event that makes the human beings vastly superior and incomparable to any other species upon the earth. Bibliography: Word Count: 2349
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