UNDERSTANDING THEY SELF – Midterms

PSYCHOLOGICAL SELF
• A Self-concept
PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY (SIGMUN FREUD)

• Sigmund Freud
o Founder of psychoanalysis
o The self is multi-faced because it consists of a stratum of such structures as the conscious, pre-conscious, and the unconscious
Ø Freud’s Concept of the Self
o Asserted about a self or an EGO that needs
Ø Psychosexual Stages of Development
1. Oral Stage (birth to 12-18 months)
- Mouth s the center of pleasure
- The aim is to receive into one’s body the object-choice
- Weaning (withdrawing the breast or bottle) is the main conflict at this stage
- Thumb sucking is a self defense against anxiety
- infants are either overly indulged (being def every time they cry) or frustrated in their search for oral gratification,
they may become fixated at this stage
• Thus, the term oral fixation
2. Anal Stage (12-18 months to 3 years)
- Anal region is the major source of pleasure
- Emphasis is on toilet training
- Children obtain pleasure from both retention and expulsion of feces
3. Phallic Stage (3 to 6 years)
- Focus on pleasure shifts to the genital stage
- Oedipus complex – male child unconsciously begins to develop a sexual interest in his mother, sees his father as a
rival and develops the desire to eliminate the father
• Castration anxiety – fear of losing one’s penis; the boy’s hostile fantasies and impulses about his father will create
a feat of retaliation
• this fear causes the boy’s desire for the mother which are then repressed into the subconscious
- Electra complex – the female child unconsciously begins to develop a sexual interest in her father, sees her mother
as a rival and develops the desire to eliminate the mother
• Penis Envy – the girls wish that they have the anatomical part missing on them
4. Latency Stage (6 to 11 years)
- Sexual impulses lie dormant during this time
- The child channels his energies toward developing social, intellectual, and moral skills instead
- Peer relationships and the school are the child’s primary preoccupations

5. Genital Stage (11 years to adulthood)

- focus is on mature, adult sexuality
- sexual drive returns and is once again focused on the genitals
- the object of desire is the person of the opposite sex

• Eric Ericson
Ø Eight stages of Psychological Development
1. Trust vs. Mistrust (birth to 12-18 moths)
- Th developmental of trust
- If needs are adequately met: the child develops trust and security; a feeling of comfort and minimal fear.
- If care is inadequate & inconsistent, if the child is treated too negatively or is ignored: the child develops a sense of
mistrust
• Thus, infants learn whether or not people are reliable
2. Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt (early childhood between 12-18 moths to 3 years)
- There is an increasing sense of separateness from the caregiver
- Children begin to assert their independence
- They can be extremely headstrong
- They want to be in control
UNDERSTANDING THEY SELF – Midterms

- If the child is given the opportunities to explore and dot things on his own: he develops a sense of accomplishment,
self-control and self-esteem
- If the child is overly protected
3. Initiative vs Guilt (preschool age between 3-6 years)
- Young children experience a widening of their social world
- They are expected to assume greater responsibilities for themselves
- There is also a growing sense of purpose and direction; they want to try more grown up behaviors
- Adults should encourage and support such imitative and responsibility
- Children may feel guilty and inadequate about initiation activities for fear that they may be met with disapproval
4. Industry vs Inferiority (middle childhood between 6-11 years old)
- Children direct their energy toward mastering knowledge and intellectual skills
- They begin to engage more seriously in hobbies and other lessons
- If the child develops his skills and discovers where he can be good at, e develops a sense of competence and
motivation to earn and improve himself further
- If the child’s efforts are frequently met with criticism and failure, then he becomes vulnerable to feelings or
inadequacy and inferiority
5. Identity vs Role Confusion (adolescence between 11-20 years old)
- The central task is to stablish an identity or a sense of self in which his past, present and future are integrated
- Who am I?
- Identity Crisis is inevitable at this stage, that is characterized by their own uniqueness, to be different from his
parents, to cultivate a sense of belonging with his peers
6. Intimacy vs. Isolation (young adulthood or from 20s to 40s)
- This is the time when the person seeks intimacy in a mature heterosexual relationship
- The positive outcome is the development of loving and committed relationships
- A person who cannot commit to or find such a relationship is at risk to be lonely, isolated or withdrawn
7. Generosity vs. Stagnation (middle childhood, or the 40s to the 60s)
- Most adults are pre-occupied with raising a family, and/or establishing themselves in their career
8. Integrity vs. Despair (late adulthood or those in their 60s and beyond)
- This is marked by a gradual decline in physical and cognitive abilities
- The elderly is now confronted with their mortality

UNPACKING THE SELF – Physical Self

• Physical self
o Refers to the body, this marvelous container and complex, finely tuned machine, with which we interface with our
environment and fellow beings
o It is the concrete dimension, the tangible aspect of the person that can be directly observed and examined (Singh 2018)
o The body is one of the objects that most people would want to change one’s appearance… seemingly, to appear beautiful
• Influence of Culture to beauty
o De Mello (2014) noted that for the evolutionary psychologists, beauty is universal if all cultures appear to have the same
notion of what is beautiful and that it is helpful for people to survive
o Evolutionary perspective explains that both men and women have to develop physical features
o Swami and Harris (2012) added hat for the evolutionary psychological approach a person’s inclination for physical
attractiveness and choice of a mate is dependent on the latter’s capability of reproduction
o The indicators of fitness (health and good genes) are clean, unblemished skin, thick shiny hair, and symmetrical face
o More so individuals with unusual facial features are seen as more beautiful since they are more noticeable that those with
average facial features
o Female bathy is also defined by youth and fertility aside from health and good genes
§ Features such as high cheekbones, full lips, narrow jaws, and large eyes imply
o Male beauty on the other hand is said to be associated with physical traits that are predominantly determined by their hormone
(testosterone) and good genes such as strong jaws, big muscles, heavy brows, thin lips, tall structure, and broad cheekbones
o However, for a woman who considers to have a long-term or short-term relationship with a man, her preference may vary
§ it is mentioned that for women who intend to have a long-term relationship, men with capabilities to raise their family on
the basis of financial means are said to be more attractive than those who possesses physical masculinity and fertility
• Beauty is cultural as well
o Africans in the past – only a woman with a face or body scarification is considered beautiful; a woman with large plates
o Long nose for European imply beauty
o Few Asian countries like Malaysia, Philippines, and Indonesia have flat noses are considered beautiful before colonization
UNDERSTANDING THEY SELF – Midterms

o In Japan, beauty is said to be symbolized by the geisha

o In South Korean standards of beauty are said to include round eyes, pale skin, sharp noes, long legs, although in reality, these
features are unusual among them
o In the Philippines, our preference for beauty is highly influenced by our much love for movie and television actors and
actresses we idolized. Thus, standards of beauty are characterized by fair skin, long straight black hair, tall nose, and slanted
eyes
o For scientists, face is attractive when ideal measurement is achieved for the space between the eyes, the length of the chin,
the height of the eyes, the length ad width of the nose, and the width and the shape of the mouth

• Importance of Beauty
o Its importance is derived in the premise that it is the face that we become aware of when we encounter people
§ What we observe makes a difference in the way we perceive them, both men and women, although women appear to be
more conscious of their beauty, take effort, time and money to engage in activities that enhance their appearance just to
meet the beauty standards that modern society seem to promote
o Why do some people adapt to the seemingly unrealistic and unattainable standards of beauty?
§ The harsh treatment from various media (e.g. magazine and advertisements) received by women who don not meet the
society’s standards of beauty
• This kind of treatment that has psychological implication as it affects women at its core. This leads to the development
of low self-esteem, negative body image, earing disorders, stress, and anxiety
o Britton (2012) mentioned that by putting photo-shopped and computer-enhanced models in advertisements, society has built
up impossible standards of beauty, which has led to feelings of inadequacy among women
§ Despite the costs (financial ad psychological), some still risk undergoing procedures to compensate for the negative
feelings they have about their image.

• Why is it that women and men alike feel bad when their physical appearance is put in the bad light?
o Good looks seem to be one of the sources of esteem. But this is not a good source of esteem since beauty fades as one gets
older, still a lot of women and men conform to the society’s standards of beauty to maintain their youthful look
o Ultimately, looking young despite old age, increases one’s self-esteem

• De Mello (2014) also noted the significant role that beauty plays in possible success – career and relationship wise push women
to conform to beauty standards
o Accordingly, the overwhelming emphasis on beauty as psychologist say results to difficulty in obtaining a gratification in their
relationship for both men and women, as well as, women being forced to subscribe to costly beauty products and risky
cosmetic surgeries
o Others go to extreme measures as body modification to meet the society’s standard of beauty
§ Body modification refers to the physical alteration of the body through the use of surgery, tattooing, piercing, scarification,
branding, genital mutilation, implants, and others (De Mello 2014)
o In contrast to their health-risky procedures men and women unsatisfied with their physical appearances go through in most
societies

• In conclusion
o Beauty or beautiful is a concept automatically attached to the body. The society’s standards of beauty sometimes contribute to
the development of a person’s unhealthy body image or incapacitating beliefs
o Therefore, beauty should not be used as a measure of a person’s worth.

UNPACKING THE SELF – Sexual Self

• One aspect of a person’s humanity is the experience of oneself as a sexual being, thus, the notion of sexual self.
o Sexuality – refers to the ways in which human beings experience and express themselves as sexual beings
o Senses of being male and female is our capacity to experienve sexual pleasure, our identification of ourselves in the view of
our biological sexual characteristics – these are only among the basic components of sexuality.
• Sex is from the Latin origin which denotes “to cut or divide” (Nevid, et.al 1995), which is expressed in the binary of male &
female due to having external genitalia of penis and vagine, respectively.
• Gender is sometimes usued interchangeably with sex which signifies the state or experience of being male or female.
o Difference between SEX and GENDER:
§ SEX results from a biological structyral differneves between make & female (sex organs – penis & vagina)
§ GENDER resultd from socialization with one’s culture
• The structure and development of or sexual body
UNDERSTANDING THEY SELF – Midterms

o Whether an individual becomes biologically female or male depends upon what happens to the 23rd pair of chromosome
during fertilization.
o The female is made up to two X chromosomes, each of which comes from the mother and father, while a male gets an X from
the mother and a Y from the father.
SEX CHARACTERISTICS

1. Primary Sex Characteristics

- Are the human body’s structures for reproduction such as the testes, ovaries, and external genetalia.
2. Secondary Sex Characteristics
- Begins to develop during puberty of the start of teen years. They are not fundamental to reproduction but as they
develop, they set for the more visible differentiation between male and female sexes.

• With the appearance of secondary sex characteristics comes the maturation of the reproductive system for both the sexes
o Upon the onset of menstruation for girls through the advent of menstruation called menarche and initial seminal emission in
males usually through nocturnal emissions wet dreams, the female and male bodies are ready to fulfill reproductive functions
or to produce an offspring. (Pertains to pregnancy)

The Biology of Sexual Behavior

• It is in your brain that you feel inlove, it is in your hypothalamus that releases chemicals and secretes hormones that aquires
maturity and growth of their reporductive organs – the possibility of creating offspring
• Human sexuality is not just sexual anatomy. It it also characterized by expression (or suppression of in some cases) of sexual
feelings and thoughts into certain actions either individually or with another sexual being. What we actually do to experience the
fullness of our sexually body constitutes our so-called sexual behavior.
• Erogenous Zones
o Human beings experience sexual pleasures because the human body has been constituted to be sensitive to sexual
excitation.
o Specific parts of the body that are sensitive to sexual stimulation are called erogenous zones (Nevid, et. al, 1993).
o Since physical sexual contact often entails the use of touch, it is logical to think that our skin is the largest zone of
pleasure in the body.
• Primary erogenous zones like the genitals, inner thighs, lips and mouth, tongue, earlobes, and breasts, neck and
navels are endowed with more nerve endings, thus their extreme sensitivity to stimulation. (Nevid, et. al, 1993).
• Secondary erogenous zones are body parts that are not naturally sensitive to sexual stimulation but they have
become sexually excitable due to repeated experience.
Biological bases of lust, love, attachment

• As sexual beings, humans normally experience the need to be physically intimate, to feel desire for somebody, or to long for deep
and constant affiliation with another person. These subjecting feelings are oftentimes referred to as lust, love, and attachment,
respectively.
• Sexdrive or lust
o Is characterized by the urge to experience pleasure through sexual intimacy with someone and is influenced by
neurophysiological mechanisms such as certain areas in the brain and the production of hormones like estrogens and
androgens.
o Our experience of lust is thought to be mediated by both the cerebral cortex or the thinking part of the brain and the
subcortical regions, consisting of the limbic system, which regulate sexual processes specifically through the
hypothalamus, which subsequently oversees the body’s hormonal system through the pituitary gland.
• Pituitary Glands
o Directs the sex glands in both males and females to secrete sex hormones like estrogen and like progesterone in females, and
androgens like testosterone in males.
• Romantic love
o The beginning of most long-term relationships or the reason why people decide to commit or marry in due time.
o Characterized by strong feelings of attraction and passionate desire for the other person. Starts as an infatuation or
often called “being in love” or “falling in love.”
o Our experience of such kind of “love” seems to be governed by the attraction system in our brain characterized by an
increased production of the neurotransmitters dopamine and norepinephrine and low level of serotonin.
• Attachment is a phenomenon regulated by emotion system in the brain through the neuropeptides oxytocin and vasopressin
which are released by the hypothalamus.
UNDERSTANDING THEY SELF – Midterms

o In humans, these are usually released after partners experienced fullness of sexual union (vasopressin), during
childbirth and nursing a baby (oxytocin), cuddling and other emotionally intimate activities.
• These brain chemicals have been found to facilitate pair bonding, group bonding and mother-infant bonding in mammals.
• These three emotion systems in the brain may be considered as the different components we are interchangeably or
simultaneously, referring to every time we use the word love.
• These emotion circuits in the brain are intertwined with one another, yet they could function differently and independently.
That explains why some people may have sexual relations with another, while being deeply attracted to another person, and
is in a committed relationship with yet, another individual.

Filipino Teenage Sexuality Issues

• Despite the commonly professed belief in the importance of chastity, or the general adherence to teachings of different
faith and religious groups pertaining to sexuality, more and more teenagers engage in sexual activities that do not lie within
the boundaries of the church-defined acceptable sexual behaviors-those that should just be happening within a marital
relationship.
o Examples include “premarital sex (PMS), multiple sex, casual sex, pornography, cohabitation” (De Jose, 2013).
• An overwhelming majority of teenagers who engage in PMS and other sexual acts seen oblivious to the risks of sexually
transmitted infections (STIs) or HIV or unplanned pregnancy, thus the lack of concern as well about unprotected sex.
• Latest data reveal that at greater risks are males having sex with males who remain indifferent to the idea of protection during
sexual encounters.
• This could be regarded with deep concern given the fact that instead of an increase, there is a noted lack of awareness of
HIV and other STIs through the recent years (95% in 1994 vs. 83.33% & in 2013 (YAFS,2013).
• Teenage pregnancy
o Remains as a pressing public health issue in South Asia, more particularly in the Philippines.
o Based on a 2012 data, pregnancy cases among 10-19 years ballooned by 70% in the last ten years compromising the
country’s development targets.
o In addition, 14% of teens in the 15-19 age group are found to be either first time mothers or already mothers of more
than on child (YAFS, 2013, Salvador, et.al,2016).