Discussion 5 gender - Essay Example

This paper is aimed to explicate the concept of looking-glass self in a brief manner, along with an example of this concept. Looking-glass Self Cooley proposes in his concept of looking-glass self that an individual develops his self by interpersonal interaction with other individuals in society and by perceptions of society which are considered as associated with him. The growth of the concept of one’s own self is shaped by the considerations of other people’s perception regarding certain individual.

It is a significant human trait that individuals conform to their own considerations regarding other people’s perceptions for those individuals2. A person does not act in discordance with what other people consider him to act. Cooley describes society as it is the blending, coactions, interplay and interchange of mental selves. The looking-glass self is the depiction of this society which plays an essential role in the development of person’s self in accordance with the perceptions of society which has been shaped by the involvement of several people’s selves3.

In the concept of looking-glass self Cooley has presented three essential components by which a person’s self has been developed. . Lastly, the person develops a self concept in the light of his appearance to others and the imagination of others’ thinking about his appearance in which a person can either develop a self feeling of pride or shame. In the light of imagined judgments about societal perception for one’s self results in the development of one’s self in any particular manner6.

These three components of glass-looking self produce a self of any person which is acquired through social interactions. A person’s self and its appearance in the social structure are intrinsically dependent upon the self assessment of perceptions and judgments which that person conceives by an emphatic relationship with other people in society. A person conceives himself as he imagines how the world conceives him and act in accordance with that imagined judgment. This judgment shapes person’s self and self concept, and it is acquired through social interactions.

Social interactions provide other’s perception regarding one’s appearance on the basis of which one develops his self, behavior and appearance7. Example A person gets inspired by comments which a peer collects from other people regarding any appearance trait which he posses. The inspired individual seeks to adopt that appearance trait to match the stature of public perception and he aims to conform to the criteria of public perception by acquiring certain traits and demonstrate in public.

These traits are acquired due to the social interaction which develops a thought regarding other people’s perception about the individual’s self8. Another important aspect is, if an individual is told by his