The centrality of academic self-concept to motivation and learning

The construct of self-concept lies at the core of the positive psychology revolution. Historically, as one of the cornerstone constructs in the social sciences, the approach to self-concept has been adapted to focus on how healthy individuals can thrive in life. In this chapter we differentiate between the historical unidimensional perspective of self-concept (centered on self-esteem) and the evolving multifaceted models discriminating between different aspects of self (such as specific academic, social, physical, and emotional components).

We review:

the definition of self-concept and the reason it is so important;

historical and evolving perspectives of self-concept;

general and domain-specific theoretical models with associated empirical research regarding self-concept, motivation, and performance;

the way different self-concept domains vary as a function of gender and age;

the impact of specific psychological and social traits on self-concept development;

the differentiation between multidimensional perspectives of personality and self-concept;

theoretical models of academic self-concept formation and its relation to achievement;

frame of reference effects in self-concept formation;

a construct-validity approach to self-concept enhancement interventions; and directions for further research.