SYNTHESIS
According to Durbin, (1996), the perception of an individual derives his or her behavior as he or she faces different situations. The way to respond to these situations is a reflection of its perception. Brouwer (1964) mentioned in his article ‘Power to see ourselves’, this way of thinking of an individual can be changed with learning. The perception of individual built on the basis of its knowledge, learning and its own thinking & believes.
Both writers have emphasized on the perception building of an individual. External environment also plays a key role in the self development. The main reason is that the external environment is changing with a great pace and if an individual does not adapt to the changing pace than it would be difficult for him/her to cope up with the environment. Self growth does not mean to ignore the external environment, but to adapt the changes from the external environment and employ it in the development of self concept to modify the self perception.
FIVE MAIN POINTS
The existence of a human is not just a reflection of social and personal environment. Every individual possesses his or her own identity and has the right to look deeper in him or her to determine what he or she actually desires. Self growth and direction is not just that an individual realized its potential and do not apply it to bring changes. The changes in the perception need to reflect in the behavior for the growth and development of self concept in an appropriate direction. Learning is the most important thing for the self growth. Learning brings changes in the self concept and its reflection can be observed by evaluating the changing behavior of individual. Learning for self concept refers to the change in the way of interpreting the situations. For example, a manager considers the declining sales as a threat for the organization. Whereas, another manager considers the declining sales as a challenge, so it is a matter of perception of individuals when they got indulge in the same situation. Continues learning makes the individual competent to understand the difference between the two aspects that are “who I am” and “who I think I am”. Who I am is the reflection of environmental demands. Who I think I am is the reflection of the self potential that an individual possess in it. Sometimes conflicts arise because of some mental disturbance. Conflicts in self concept are the cause of stress, frustration and bad behavior. For example, if an individual is not giving a proper time to his/her family then it would create a disturbance in its personal life. The conflicts can be controlled effectively by developing self-control in the personality. Self maturity or self-control is a state that an individual has in his/her behavior. For example, if the father of a teenage boy asks him not to touch the cigarette and the boy did not touch the cigarette even in the absence of his father so this will be called self-control or self maturity. Self maturity is achieved by self-control and it is the stage where an individual can control over his/her desires and he or she is able to keep maintain a strong balance in his/her life.
References
Brouwer, P. J. (1964). The power to see ourselves. Harvard Business Review, 42 (6).
Durbin, A. (1996). Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior. South-Western
