Looking glass self
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Related e |
Featured: |
The looking-glass self is a social psychological concept, created by Charles Horton Cooley in 1902 (McIntyre 2006), stating that a person's self grows out of society's interpersonal interactions and the perceptions of others. The term refers to people shaping their self-concepts based on their understanding of how others perceive them. Because people conform to how they think others think them to be, it's difficult, or arguably impossible, to act differently from how a person thinks he or she is perpetually perceived. Cooley clarified it in writing that society is an interweaving and interworking of mental selves. The term "looking glass self" was first used by Cooley in his work, Human Nature and the Social Order in 1902.
See also