As we all know, people are social animals and could not live without social groups. Through the interaction with members in social groups, individuals would form their own values and judgement criterion. Moreover, we also learn to define ourselves in this interaction in society. However, our own identity is formed not only through our identification with social groups but also through our self-awareness.
It is through the communication with social groups that people form their values and judgement criterion. Since we are young, the information from every corner, such as education from schools and parents, news in the TV, inject those values that society cherishes in our minds. For example, we have learned Lei Feng who is a hero in China since we were in kindergarden. The image that Lei Feng transfers is the spirit of self-sacrifice and everyone should learn this to sacrifice our own benefits for the good of our country. As a result, almost all Chinese think this spirit is of great value. In contrast, most American set a high value of individuality because what they learn from their childhood admires self-interest more than social good. They maintain that personal success goes before the general success in society. As for the form of judgement criterion, the influence through our interaction with social groups is especially obvious when we want to know what is right and wrong. We recognize the right behavior by observing how others do. For instance, how to deal with the rubbish left in cinema, how quick we should drive on the streets, how to behave politely in banquets.
The interaction with social groups plays an important role not only in the form of people's values and judgement criterion but also in the process of knowing ourselves. People always have such a judgement of themselves because others beside them say so. A young slave would believe himself as inferior to the whites instead of having equal rights with others because his parents and friends told him that. He would accept his social status easlity after he grows up and never thinks of resistance. On the contrary, Martin Luther King,Jr was deeply influenced by his grandfather and father about the idea that he was the same as other white people and they should have equal rights. As a result, facing great discrimination, he resisted and tried to transform the status of black people in America.
However, we could not ignore the function of self-awareness in the process of knowing ourselves. People often observe their own mental world to explore who they are. We could find our drawbacks and gifts by self-observance. For one thing, when we are going to take some challenges such as public speeches in front of many strangers, we would find that we are so nervous and shy that we shiver all over uncontrollably. After this experience, we recognize that we do not have good mental qualities and this activity may not fit us nicely. In consequence, we may avoid such similar activities later in our life. For another, we also realize our talents during self-observance. Take myself as an example, during my study, I find that I can quickly grasp the information in my medical classes and I always get the first rank in these exams. Then I know that I am good at it and I want to pursue it as my lifelong career. Actually, everyone can find his gifts during his daily life no matter in school or in our own activities. We get the answer of who we are through everyday 's discovery of ourselves.
In conclusion, both our interaction with social groups and our self-awareness determine how we define ourselves. If we hope to have a comprehensive understanding of our own, we need to maintain a balance between these two aspects. Using only one of them to evaluate ourselves will lead to one-sided view and is detrimental to our future.