Few of us can accurately judge our outward appearance; yet
our self-concept helps determine the kind of persons we are
Do You Really Know What
bv John T. Harris
You look at yourself in the mirror every
day when you comb your hair or powder
your nose. But is your mirror telling you the
truth? Do you really know how you look to
others?
Many of us kid ourselves all our lives. We
never fully succeed in seeing ourselves as
others do. Experts say our emotions and egos
get in our way.
Your cheeks may have a sallow city pallor,
for instance, while you picture yourself as a
healthy outdoor girl. Diet and golf have
slimmed your figure, you teET yourself, but to
passers-by you're quite probably just another
fat man.
Want to get an idea of what you really look
like? Take a good peek at yourself in a three
way mirror next time you're in a clothing
store. If you can't wait, set up two mirrors at
home, so that you can gaze into one without
seeing your direct reflection. The stranger you
see is you!
Or you might accidentally stumble on your
true image as a New York society matron did
recently when she took the subway home.
Approaching the change booth, she flung a
dollar bill on the counter. When she didn't
receive change immediately; she snarled,
"Hurry up, I haven't got all night!" Looking
up, she saw a twisted face glaringat her. Sud
denly it dawned on her she was staring at
her own image, reflected in the glass front of
an empty booth!
"That sourpuss had become my standard
expression to the world," she confessed later,
"and I had to come face to face with myself to
find it out"
Few of us are able to judge our outward
appearances accurately. Handsome men fre
quently consider themselves nondescript
looking, and many an ugly-duckling woman
mistakes herself for a swan.
This self-delusion about our looks usually
begins in childhood and persists long after we
are adults. Early in life, each of us creates a
special "body image" of what we look like,
and we carry this stereotype with us through
the years.
A psychiatrist, the late Dr. Paul Shilder,
trail-blazed the self-concept theory which
holds that your picture of yourself is a signifi
cant factor in your behavior. Dr. Victor C.
Raimy, University of Colorado psychologist,
explains: "We perceive ourselves just as we
perceive a chair or another person. What we
14 Family Weekly. January 3, 1960
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