The dictionary / A closer look
Self-Image
The felt picture a person has of themselves, influential in self-help writing and related to broader ideas about self-concept.
- Identity
- Beliefs
Self-image is the felt picture a person carries of themselves: what feels like someone like me, what seems possible, and how one expects to appear in the eyes of others. The term became especially influential through Maxwell Maltz's Psycho-Cybernetics, which linked change to an updated inner picture.
It is not a photograph of an inner truth or an assurance of success once it is made more positive. Maltz's metaphor has had wide cultural influence, but it should not be mistaken for a settled account of the brain. Images of the self can change attention and behaviour without controlling every result.
Omzoe regards self-image as language to notice and test. An aim can invite a more useful picture of what the user is willing to practise, while keeping the claim grounded in actions they can actually take.
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