Self-conscious, Salvatore Inserra

Self-conscious

Salvatore Inserra

The term self-conscious can be used to understand the experiences of young individuals. With this being said, the dictionary defines the term self-conscious as “excessively aware of being observed by others” and “conscious of oneself or one’s own being” (Dictionary.com). With regards to the history of the term, the idea of self-consciousness actually existed in the medieval and ancient periods (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2017). Individuals such as Aristotle discussed aspects of self-awareness in his work and this continued in the early modern period as well (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2017). Having said this, the term self-conscious can be used to understand various experiences of adolescents; one being their focus on physical appearance. In adolescence, physical appearance is very important and as a result they purchase various types of shoes, jewelry, makeup, and clothes that makes them feel confident and aligns with popular culture. Also, during adolescence, individuals are very conscious about other people potentially judging them, and this is the case especially with friends. Adolescents may dress in certain ways around friends in order to assimilate with them and the overall culture. They are aware and often worry that they may be judged by other individuals for not following certain trends. Additionally, an awareness of being looked at by other people can explain when adolescents behave in a certain manner and experiment with things in order to “fit in” with a group of individuals. For example, when around a group of friends, adolescents can experience peer pressure and thus engage in the use of drugs such as weed for the first time in order to fit in. Although they may not have the desire to use weed, they may still do so in order to avoid being viewed as an outcast and judged by others. Also, teenagers may act in certain ways around different groups of people in order to assimilate with them and avoid criticism. For example,

adolescents may feel comfortable talking about certain topics around one group of friends but avoid doing so around others. Furthermore, the term self-conscious can be related to the health and well-being of adolescents. Having said this, the awareness of being potentially judged by others can cause adolescents to hold thoughts in their minds that have an impact on their well-being. For example, adolescents may think that a group of peers may judge them in a negative way for wearing certain clothes or behaving in a certain manner. In fact, situations where adolescents are concerned about facing potential judgement can cause them to become stressed (Somerville, 2013). Therefore, this stress experienced by adolescents can certainly have an impact on their overall health and well-being. Furthermore, the focus on their physical appearance can lead adolescents to experience different emotions as well. They may compare aspects of their physical appearance to peers or even other individuals on social media. In doing so, this can lead to either positive or negative impacts on their self-esteem and also well-being.

Sources

Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/self-conscious Somerville, L. H. (2013). The teenage brain: Sensitivity to social evaluation. Current Directions

in Psychological Science: a Journal of the American Psychological Society, 22(2), 121–127. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721413476512 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. (2017, July 13). Self-Consciousness. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/self-consciousness/#AnciMediDiscSelfCo