Your personal image is a group of ideas that you accept to be true about yourself. Personal image development begins early on and can be quite complex. Even as children we begin to see ourselves a certain way and begin to accept certain things about ourselves. These ideas can be motivated by our environment, our peers, and by our own inner voice.

Judgments about oneself are often decided by being compared to people that a person admires, like a parental figure they look up to or popular celebrities. The latter can potentially cause people to develop an unhealthy self-image it is unrealistic image to model.

While it is true out options about ourselves will grow and change as we do, at a certain point personal image development can become resistant to change. Meaning, the things that we have internalized about ourselves based on our life experiences become hard to change. For example, if a person grows up thinking they are less intelligent than their peers eventually, it may become impossible to convince the person otherwise.

As a child when personal image development is not nurtured it can lead to many problems later on in life because inaccurate personal image can be hard to correct if it is not done so early on. It is important if you notice a person who has low self-confidence as a result of inaccurate self-image to tell the person that their view of themselves is different than how you see them. Otherwise the person may go down the dark path of self-hatred, which can lead to serious mental and physical problems.

Healthy Personal Image Development

It is much easier to help a child develop a healthy personal image than it is to correct an adults unhealthy self-image. Developing a healthy personal image can be done by providing the person with a positive environment and encouraging communication. By being surrounded with positive people and a safe environment early on, children are able to develop more confidence.

Furthermore, by encouraging open communication and discussion early, the child will feel more comfortable talking about things that might cause they to develop a negative self-image. So, if they are teased by peers or do poorly in certain subjects in school and start to doubt themselves, a conversation will more than likely help them maintain a positive image of themselves.

It is easy to gauge how people define themselves just by asking one question, what do you believe other people think about you? The answer of this question will tell you both what a person thinks they are like physically (fat, thin, attractive, plain) and what type of personality traits they believe they possess.

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