{"id":52881,"date":"2021-11-03T12:03:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T16:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=52881"},"modified":"2021-11-08T13:07:39","modified_gmt":"2021-11-08T17:07:39","slug":"self-image-psychology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/self-image-psychology\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-Image: The Psychology of Self-Perception"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What exactly is self-image? Do you think your self-image accurately reflects who you are<\/a> and what you are capable of? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your self-image is the mental image you hold about yourself. According to Maxwell Maltz, the author of Psycho-Cybernetics<\/em>, your self-image is not an accurate reflection of who you are. It\u2019s simply a construct of thoughts you chose to think about past experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we’ll look at the psychology of self-image: what influences it, and how it affects your ability to succeed and experience happiness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

What Is Self-Image?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In his book Psycho-Cybernetics<\/em>, Maxwell Maltz explains the psychology of self-image. Maltz argues that your self-image is not a real thing; it’s simply a thought. Thoughts are subjective (for example, you may think<\/em> you\u2019re fat but it doesn\u2019t mean that you are<\/em> fat) and may or may not be true. But if you accept them as truth, they become part of your self-image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why does your self-image accept all of your thoughts, regardless of how inaccurate they are, as truth? Because your nervous system can\u2019t tell the difference between imagination and reality: Your brain doesn\u2019t judge your thoughts<\/em>\u2014instead, it reacts automatically to what you think or imagine to be true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maltz draws on the practice of hypnotism to make his point. He says that if you\u2019re hypnotized into believing that you\u2019re in a snowstorm, your body will react to the cold: you\u2019ll shiver, goose pimples will rise on your skin, and your teeth will chatter. In the same way that a hypnotist\u2019s words have power over the hypnotized subject, what you accept as truth about yourself has power over you, even if it\u2019s not actually true<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maltz argues that you\u2019ve been \u201chypnotized\u201d by others\u2019 words throughout your life. As a young child, you were impressionable and prone to believing what those around you said about your character. You accepted their opinions and beliefs about you as truth and this shaped your self-image in the early part of your life. Your self-image has likely evolved over time, but if you haven\u2019t addressed these original thoughts, they will continue to inform your opinion of yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve also used your imagination to hypnotize yourself: Thoughts plus feelings form mental images and create a strong impression in your mind\u2014these strong impressions turn into beliefs that define your self-image. For example, worries are a form of mental imagery. You think about things that could go wrong and create feelings of anxiety and fear\u2014these thoughts and feelings<\/a> create the impression of the worst-case scenario in your mind. Your mind then operates according to the belief that the worst-case scenario will take place, and your nervous system responds by creating the appropriate emotional and physical reactions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How Your Self-Image Impacts Your Ability to Succeed <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Maltz argues that your self-image determines how you perceive your environment and how you read signals to interpret feedback<\/a>. In other words, your self-image determines how you engage in and perceive every social interaction and experience throughout your life<\/strong>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maltz argues that the self-image is continually reinforced by what he calls \u201cfeedback loops\u201d\u2014how feedback reinforces learned behavior and programming. Machines process feedback so that they can achieve their goal. Once they achieve the goal, they store their successful feedback (memory of successful attempts) and discard their negative feedback (memory of mistakes). Their memory<\/em> of successful attempts creates a feedback loop that allows them to \u201clearn\u201d quickly and operate efficiently and successfully<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, unlike a machine, humans rely on their self-images to interpret feedback to their behavior. Your self-image decides<\/em> whether to release negative feedback so that you operate successfully <\/strong>(behave in a way that results in success), or to remember and reinforce negative feedback so that you operate inefficiently <\/strong>(behave in a way that creates failure). If your self-image decides to focus on negative feedback, this can lead to programming that causes you to reinforce negative patterns of behavior that work against what you want to achieve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n