| Course | PSY 355 Motivational Processes in Human Psychology (PSY/355) |
|---|---|
| Week | 2 |
| Paper type | Self-concept analysis paper |
| Length | about 1,026 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | BS in Psychology |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for PSY 355 Week 2
"Not a Math Person": Self-Schemas, Possible Selves and a Returning Student's Self-Concept
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
PSY/355: Motivational Processes in Human Psychology
Week 2 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The student described is a composite written for a model paper; research findings come from the sources listed.
People do not simply act; they act as the kind of person they believe themselves to be. Beliefs about the self influence what people notice, what they try and how long they persist. This paper explains how self-knowledge is organized and how it motivates, applying the concepts to a returning adult student who has decided he is not a math person.
The Student
Malik, the composite student from Week 1, is a twenty-nine-year-old logistics coordinator in Phoenix finishing a psychology degree online. He describes himself confidently as good with people: coworkers bring him their conflicts, and he enjoys his psychology courses. Asked about math, he says flatly, "I'm not a math person," citing a failed algebra class at sixteen and a teacher who told him some people's brains are not built for it. In his statistics course, when he gets a problem right, he assumes it was luck; when he gets one wrong, he takes it as proof.
Key Terms
Self-concept is the overall set of beliefs a person holds about who they are. Self-esteem is the evaluation of those beliefs, how positively a person regards themselves. Self-efficacy is confidence in the ability to perform a specific task, such as solving a t test problem. A self-schema is an organized belief about the self in a particular domain, built from past experience, that guides how new information in that domain is processed.
Self-Schemas Shape Processing
Markus (1977) identified students who strongly described themselves as either independent or dependent and compared them with students without a clear schema in that area. Those with a schema made faster judgments about whether trait words described them, recalled more examples of their own schema-consistent behavior, predicted their future behavior more confidently and resisted information that contradicted their self-view. Schemas, she concluded, act as filters that make self-relevant information easier to process and harder to challenge.
Malik has strong schemas in two areas. His "people person" schema helps him notice social cues and draw confidence from them. His "not a math person" schema works the other way: it leads him to discount successes and treat errors as confirmation, the resistance to contrary evidence that Markus described.
Possible Selves
Markus and Nurius (1986) proposed that the self-concept includes possible selves, images of who one might become, including hoped-for selves and feared selves. Possible selves link present behavior to future outcomes: they give goals personal meaning and provide a standard against which to evaluate current progress. They are shaped by social context, by role models and by the images available in a person's culture and community.
Malik's hoped-for self is a team supervisor who uses psychology to lead well. His feared self is someone who quits again, as he did at twenty. Both are vivid, and both motivate him to stay enrolled. Neither, however, tells him what to do on a Tuesday night when a statistics assignment is due.
When Possible Selves Lead to Action
Oyserman et al. (2006) tested a brief school-based intervention with low-income middle school students that helped them articulate academic possible selves, connect them to concrete strategies and plan for obstacles. Compared with a control group, students in the intervention attended school more often, spent more time on homework, behaved better in class and earned higher grades, with effects lasting into the following year. The key was not imagining a future self alone but linking it to specific, planned actions and seeing difficulty as a normal part of reaching it.
For Malik, this research suggests that his supervisor self will motivate statistics work only if he connects the two: a supervisor uses data to make decisions about staffing and performance, so statistics becomes a step toward that self rather than an obstacle. He also needs strategies, such as scheduled study blocks, and a way to interpret difficulty as part of learning rather than proof of inability.
Malik can picture himself as a supervisor; he cannot yet picture that supervisor reading a spreadsheet.
How the Schema Formed
Self-schemas grow from experience, feedback and comparison. Malik's math schema formed from one failed course, a teacher's comment that framed ability as fixed and comparison with classmates who seemed effortless. Each later avoidance of math confirmed it, since he never gathered contrary evidence. His family's values also played a role: in his household, work and practical skills were praised more than school grades, and no one questioned the label.
The Role of Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy is narrower and more changeable than a schema. Malik may hold a negative math schema while gaining confidence in specific skills, such as calculating a mean or reading a bar chart. Mastery experiences, small successes he attributes to his own effort, are the strongest source of self-efficacy. Over time, accumulated task-specific confidence can loosen the broader schema.
Rebuilding the Math Schema
Several steps follow from the research. First, Malik can track evidence: a weekly log of problems solved correctly and what he did to solve them, countering his habit of discounting success. Second, he can connect statistics to his hoped-for self by analyzing shipping data at work, as a supervisor would. Third, he can plan for obstacles, deciding in advance what he will do when stuck, such as posting a question in the course forum or attending a tutoring session. Fourth, he can revise the language he uses, from "not a math person" to "still learning statistics," a small shift that frames ability as developing.
Limits
Self-schemas are stable for a reason; they make the world predictable. Change will be gradual and may require repeated successes before Malik believes them. His schema also reflects real gaps in preparation, which tutoring must address directly.
Conclusion
Malik's self-concept includes a strong social schema that helps him and a math schema that filters evidence against him. Research on self-schemas explains this filtering, work on possible selves explains how his hoped-for and feared selves motivate him and an intervention study shows that possible selves lead to action when tied to concrete strategies. Tracking evidence, linking statistics to his future self and planning for difficulty can gradually reshape how he sees himself.
References
Markus, H. (1977). Self-schemata and processing information about the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35(2), 63-78. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.35.2.63
Markus, H., & Nurius, P. (1986). Possible selves. American Psychologist, 41(9), 954-969. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.41.9.954
Oyserman, D., Bybee, D., & Terry, K. (2006). Possible selves and academic outcomes: How and when possible selves impel action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(1), 188-204. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.91.1.188
What the PSY 355 Week 2 instructions ask
The second PSY 355 assignment usually asks students to explain the self-concept and its role in motivation. Typical requirements include defining self-concept, self-schemas, self-esteem and self-efficacy, describing how self-knowledge develops through experience, feedback and comparison, and explaining how self-beliefs influence what people notice, attempt and persist in. Some versions ask students to analyze one of their own self-schemas, while others supply a case. Use precise definitions that keep related terms apart, connect each concept to specific behavior and draw on research rather than popular self-help ideas. Support your analysis with the course textbook and peer-reviewed sources formatted in APA style, and give at least one dated example of the self-belief at work.
How this PSY 355 Week 2 example is built
Our worked paper continues with Malik, who describes himself as a "people person" and "not a math person." Research on self-schemas shows that people with a clear schema in a domain process related information faster and more confidently, which explains how quickly he dismisses his own correct answers in statistics. Work on possible selves explains how his image of himself as a future team supervisor, and his feared self as someone who quits again, both motivate him. A study of middle school students shows that possible selves boost effort only when linked to concrete strategies, and the paper ends with steps to rebuild his math schema from evidence of progress.
PSY 355 Week 2 grading rubric: where the points go
Self-concept papers are usually graded on precise definitions, accurate use of research and a clear link between self-beliefs and behavior. Instructors look for self-concept, self-esteem, self-schema and self-efficacy to be distinguished, for the processes that form and maintain self-knowledge to be explained and for application to a specific person or situation. Credit goes to recognizing that self-schemas filter information, to explaining how feared and hoped-for selves guide action and to realistic suggestions for change. APA formatting and well-organized sections are expected. Graders also reward papers that recognize how culture, family and earlier school experiences shape the self-concept rather than treating it as purely individual.
PSY 355 Week 2 help: mistakes to avoid
A common error is using self-concept, self-esteem and self-efficacy as if they meant the same thing. Self-concept is what you believe about yourself, self-esteem is how you evaluate it and self-efficacy is confidence in performing a specific task. Another weakness is describing self-schemas without showing how they change behavior, such as what a person notices or avoids. Some papers suggest that positive thinking alone will change a self-belief, ignoring research showing that strategies and evidence of success matter. Define terms carefully, show the schema at work in specific moments and propose changes grounded in research. Write a one-line definition of each term before you start drafting. A tutor can help you keep closely related self terms distinct.
Related PSY 355 sample papers
Other PSY 355 week samples
- PSY 355 Week 1: Theories of Motivation
- PSY 355 Week 3: Person Perception and Social Schemas
- PSY 355 Week 4: Attributions and Expectations
- PSY 355 Week 5: Applying Motivation Research
More BS in Psychology sample papers
- PSY 315 Week 2: Probability and the Normal Curve
- PSY 335 Week 2: Ethics in Research With People
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PSY 355 Week 2 questions, answered
What does PSY 355 Week 2 usually cover?
It usually covers the self-concept, self-schemas, self-esteem and self-efficacy and how self-beliefs influence motivation.
Where can I find a free PSY 355 Week 2 sample paper?
The PSY 355 Week 2 paper on self-schemas and a "not a math person" belief is posted above for free.
What is a self-schema?
An organized belief about oneself in a specific area, such as being athletic or bad at math, that guides how related information is processed.
What are possible selves?
Images of who a person might become, including hoped-for selves and feared selves, that can motivate present behavior.
How is self-efficacy different from self-esteem?
Self-efficacy is confidence in doing a specific task; self-esteem is a broader evaluation of one's own worth.
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