We all hold numerous, varied ideas about ourselves. Some of those ideas may only be loosely related, and some may even be contradictory. These contradictions don't create a problem for us, however, because we’re conscious of only some of our self-knowledge at any given point in time.

Self-concept is made up of multiple self-schemas: individual concepts of a particular aspect of the self. The idea of self-schema is useful when considering self-concept because it explains how we can have a specific, well-rounded self-schema about one aspect of the self while lacking an idea about another aspect. For example, one person may see herself as organized and conscientious, a second person may see himself as disorganized and scatter-brained, and a third person may have no opinion about whether she is organized or disorganized.