The "I am" assignment was quite an eye-opener for me. I went into it thinking that my self-concept is clear, simple, and obvious to all. I was surprised to find that the way people view me is different from my own self-concept. It was also interesting to see that the words I thought people would use to describe me were not what I expected. My boyfriend, two close friends, three family members, and two co-workers participated in this exercise. The fact that they know me in different roles is probably the best explanation for the differences in their configurations. .
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Before I talk about the differences, there were several similarities. The characteristic that was most often used to describe me was generous. My boyfriend and family members said that I am generous because I always show empathy and compassion to others. My friends and co-workers said that I am generous because I always try to treat everyone with respect and try to be the mediator when there is conflict. I rated myself as most generous because I tend to look at all sides of an issue (I hope that's a sign of cognitive complexity!). .
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Enthusiastic was another top characteristic in all the configurations, including my own. People chose this because they said that I have a positive attitude and try to see the good sides of everything. Not surprisingly, in almost all of the grids opinionated was placed as one of the traits least like me. People said that I am sometimes too kind and try too much to make others happy, to an extent where I do not voice my own opinion on things. I do not like conflict and do a lot to avoid it, so I understand the reason for putting that there. In fact, that was the word I chose as least like me. Almost everyone who filled out the sheet agreed that enthusiastic and generous were two of the words that described me best and opinionated described me least.
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On the other hand, some words were all over the map, such as perfectionism, emotional, courageous, confident, shy, lonely, and fearful.
