Self Image

I've been thinking about self-image a little bit, lately. I'm guessing that I won't have fabulously complete thoughts on this topic, but I kind of feel the need to put some thoughts down.

I should probably preface this by saying that I've taken exactly 2 courses in psychology: PSYCH 101 (that I kind of slept through because it was at 6:30 at night in this nice warm, dark lecture hall with really comfortable chairs...) and ED PSYCH which focused more on the history of educational methodology and all that stuff--Maslow, Gardner, and friends. Significantly less comfortable chairs.

Anyway, is this one of those things that we come with? Do our circumstances and our surroundings contribute to our self perception? Nature vs. Nurture...the age-old debate, I guess. Which means that I'm probably not going to be terribly insightful on this. Perhaps some of you out there with more psychological expertise than I would be interested in chiming in?

I guess one of the reasons that I've been thinking about this is that I am always amazed when fabulously talented, kind, intelligent, driven people are self-defeating. Then, there are stupid, manipulative, lazy-assed jerks who are pretty sure that they're God's gift to creation and the best at everything. I encounter a lot of people, and people seem to be like this when they're 5, 35, and 65. How does this work?

Maybe what I'm really coming down to is that it might be interesting to be able to see yourself as others do. I know that everyone isn't going to have the same opinion, and my mom has always said, "If everyone likes you, you have no character." So, maybe that wouldn't be terribly helpful. I don't know.

Like I said, I don't have a lot of insight on this, but I'm interested in the conversation. What do you think?