Mccornack's Impact On Our Sense Of Self-Esteem

According to McCornack, self-concept is “your overall perception of who you are” (40). As a society, we tend to let factors such as, our family and friends define who we believe we are. The labels one assign to you can have a tremendous impact on your looking-glass self, because you are letting others alter the perception you have of yourself. Therefore, not only do these factors influence our sense of self-concept, but they also impact the level of our self-esteem.
To begin, McCornack states that we are not born with any sense of self-concept, self-awareness, or self-esteem (46). One of the greatest impacts on our self-concept comes from the set values and belief our caregivers embed in our heads while we are developing a sense of who we are. I, for one, know

I, for one, know I have. When one is describing who they wish you would become or do, they are describing your ought self, but what you desire in yourself is consider your ideal self. According to McCornack, self-esteem is “the overall value, positive or negative, that we assign to ourselves” (41). It is said that our self-esteem level is based on a theory known as the self-discrepancy theory. On the other hand, both of these concepts differ from your actual self. E. Tory Higgins combines all three of these concepts into one theory. Higgins suggests this theory “is determined by how you compare to two mental standards” (42). One’s ought self may differ from his/her ideal self. Your ought self is “the person others wish and expect you to become” (42). For example, many people compare my ought self to my sister Chelsea. For the majority of my life, I have heard that I need to be just like Chelsea, because she is a straight A student who just began her career as a Physician Assistant (P.A.). Although my ideal self includes becoming successful, I do not wish to follow in my sister’s