Course description

How you see yourself shapes how you work, lead, handle setbacks and relate to others. This course turns decades of psychological research into practical tools for understanding and strengthening your self-image.

You will explore where self-image comes from, why it often differs from how others see you, and how it drives confidence, motivation and behaviour. Drawing on the work of Carl Rogers, Albert Bandura, Carol Dweck, Kristin Neff, Nathaniel Branden and other leading psychologists, the course separates healthy self-worth from fragile, performance-dependent self-esteem.
Through self-assessments, reflection exercises and workplace scenarios, you will identify the beliefs that hold you back and build a more accurate, resilient view of yourself.

Audience: All employees, team leaders and supervisors. No prior knowledge required.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

1. Define self-image, self-esteem, self-efficacy and self-compassion, and explain how they differ.
2. Describe how self-image forms through early experience, feedback from others and social comparison.
3. Identify gaps between their actual, ideal and "ought" selves and the emotions those gaps produce.
4. Recognise common distortions in self-perception, such as negativity bias, the spotlight effect and impostor feelings.
5. Distinguish fragile, contingent self-worth from stable, healthy self-worth.
6. Apply growth-mindset and self-compassion techniques to setbacks and criticism.
7. Build self-efficacy using Bandura's four sources: mastery, modelling, persuasion and managing physical state.
8. Create a personal action plan to strengthen an accurate, resilient self-image at work.

Module 1: What is self-image?
* The self-concept: how we describe, evaluate and believe in ourselves
* Self-image vs self-esteem vs self-efficacy vs self-compassion
* Self-schemas: the mental filters that shape what we notice (Markus)
* Activity: "Who am I?" 20-statement self-description
Module 2: How self-image is formed
* The "looking-glass self": seeing ourselves through others' reactions (Cooley)
* Social comparison and why we measure ourselves against others (Festinger)
* Early experiences, culture, roles and workplace feedback
* Activity: map the key voices that shaped your self-view
Module 3: The gaps within
* Rogers' real self and ideal self, and the cost of incongruence
* Self-discrepancy theory: actual vs ideal gaps bring disappointment; actual vs ought gaps bring anxiety (Higgins)
* Conditions of worth: approval that feels conditional
* Activity: self-discrepancy worksheet
Module 4: Distortions and blind spots
* Negativity bias and harsh self-talk
* The spotlight effect: overestimating how much others notice us (Gilovich)
* Impostor phenomenon among high achievers (Clance & Imes)
* Over- and under-estimating our abilities (Dunning & Kruger)
* Activity: spot the distortion — workplace scenarios
Module 5: Healthy vs fragile self-worth
* The six pillars of self-esteem (Branden)
* Contingent self-worth and the costs of chasing it (Crocker)
* Self-esteem as a "sociometer" of belonging (Leary)
* Why self-compassion outperforms self-esteem under pressure (Neff)
* Activity: Neff's Self-Compassion Scale (short form) reflection
Module 6: Building a resilient self-image
* Fixed vs growth mindset and responding to setbacks (Dweck)
* Four sources of self-efficacy and how to use each (Bandura)
* Self-compassion practice: mindfulness, common humanity, self-kindness
* Seeking accurate feedback without being defined by it
* Activity: personal 30-day self-image action plan