Knowing Oneself and Developing the
• Contains the concepts of stress, cognition,
Whole Person
“Knowing oneself is the beginning of wisdom
- Aristotle”
DIMENSIONS OF THE SELF
Ø To know oneself, one must distinguish the three apart
Physical Dimension
- the physical body of a human being; its processes,
functions, mechanisms, and chemistry.
- Responsible for
: giving us the ability to move our
muscles,
: to perceive our surroundings, and
: to think of the ideas and opinions that
bring wonders to our lives and of others.
Ex : Facial Features ▪ Body Built ▪ Organ Systems
▪ Muscles and Movements
SPIRITUAL DIMENSION
▪ Allows us to view ourselves in a spiritual level – as
spiritual beings.
▪cannot be observed but can be subjectively altered
and perceived by the person.
▪Holds a relevance to a perceived existence of
God, of a greater good, or a Superior Being relating
to the humble individual.
Psychological Dimension
behavior, attitude, emotion and ultimately,
personality.
• Has both internal and external factors that can or
cannot be measured, observed, and calculated.
“To know oneself, one must be aware of his/her
interests, values, beliefs, and attitude”
BELIEFS
▪ A belief is an internal feeling that something is
true, even though that belief may be unproven or
irrational.
▪ Example: “I believe that walking under a
ladder brings bad luck” or “I believe I am a
competent person”
VALUES
▪ A value is a measure of the worth or
importance a person attaches to something; our
values are often reflected in the way we live our
lives.
▪ Example: “I value freedom of speech” or “I
value my family”
Attitude
§ the way a person expresses or applies his/her
beliefs and values, and is expressed through
behaviour.
§ A settled way of thinking and feeling about
someone or something, typically reflecting in a
person’s behavior.
PERSONALITY (Larsen & buss, 2005)
▪ Set of psychological traits and mechanisms within the
individual
▪ Organized and relatively enduring
▪ Influences an individual’s interactions with, and
adaptations to the intrapsychic, physical, and social
environments
The Big 5 Personality Traits/ Five- Factor Model
(Goldberg, 1993)
1. Openness to Experience (O)
- the personality trait of seeking new
experiences and intellectual pursuits.
- Include traits like having wide interests,
and being imaginative and insightful.
- High scores may day dream a lot.
- Low scorers may be very down to earth.
2. Conscientiousness (C)
- the personality trait of being honest and
hardworking.
- Includes traits like organized, thorough,
and planful.
- High scorers tend to follow rules and
prefer clean homes
- Low scorers may be messy and cheat
others.
3. Extroversion (E)
- the personality trait of seeking fulfillment
from sources outside the self or in
community.
- Includes traits like being talkative,
energetic, and assertive.
- High scorers tend to be very social
- Low scorers prefer to work on their
projects alone.
4. Agreeableness (A)
- reflects how much individuals adjust their
behavior to suit others.
- Includes traits like sympathetic, kind, and
affectionate.
- High scorers are typically polite and like
people.
- Low scorers tend to 'tell it like it is’.
5. Neuroticism (N)
- the personality trait of being emotional.
- Includes traits like tense, moody, and
anxious.
- High scorers are prone to stress and be
emotionally worry
- Low scorers tend to stable but can take
unnecessary risks
SELF-CONCEPT AND SELF-ESTEEM
Self-Concept
▪our cognition to ourselves, what we think and
know about our identity, personality, and
individuality.
▪A person’s subjective description of who the
person thinks he or she is; filtered by his/ her own
perceptions.
▪Is purely or mostly informational Self- esteem
▪Ideal self and actual self are two broad categories ▪Our attitude to ourselves
of self-concept.
▪ situational approach in terms of attitude

§ how we value ourselves, given the negative or

positive feedback we receive.

▪Emotionally inclined

Mismatch between ACTUAL SELF and IDEAL SELF is

likely to affect how much you value yourself.

Incongruence

- A person’s ideal self may not be consistent

with what actually happens in life and the
experiences of the person.
- all people experience a certain amount of
incongruence.
Must we aim for high self esteem?
Congruence
1. Experimental findings show that:
- Where a person’s ideal self and actual
experience are consistent or very similar, - people with high self-esteem led to setting of
- Rare inappropriate, risky goals that were beyond
their performanc capabilities
 - they end up having smaller rewards than
people with low self-esteem.
- The results indicate the danger of letting
egotistical illusions interfere with self-regulation
processes.
- Inflated, unstable, or tentative beliefs in the
self's superiority may be most prone to
encountering threats and hence to causing
violence.
- fosters experimentation, which may increase
early sexual activity or drinking, but in general
effects of self- esteem are negligible.
THOUGHTS INFLUENCE FEELINGS
• After studying hard, but doing poorly on a test,
SELF-CONCEPT SELF-ESTEEM you think, “I’ll never succeed at anything,” which
▪ Self-concept is informative in ▪ Self-Esteem is evaluative leads to feeling bad about your abilities as a student
nature ▪ There are positive or and feeling hopeless about the future.
▪ Self-concept is knowledge negative feelings in the case
about self of self-esteem
• FEELINGS INFLUENCE THOUGHTS
▪ Self-concept is more of ▪ Self-esteem is more of an
cognitive aspect about self evaluation of self and is A friend has to cancel his plans with you because
emotional in nature they have a family obligation. You feel disappointed,
which prompts you to think, “Maybe they just made
up that excuse because they don’t want to hang out
with me.”
Self - perception is a personal choice - a crucial one.
• FEELINGS INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR
WAYS OF BECOMING SELF AWARE You feel hopeless about studying for the next exam,
and dwell on your sad feelings. You then
procrastinate studying and don’t study hard, because
you still feel so discouraged about your last exam.

• THOUGHTS INFLUENCE BEHAVIOR

Awareness
- should be a continuous means for keeping up to
date with one’s self because self-construct also
changes as a person develops.
- A person’s holistic development involves: Thoughts
(Cognition), Feelings (Affect), and Behaviors
You begin to think badly of your friend and recall
times in the past when you haven’t gotten along.
When your friend calls to make plans, you get even
by telling them that you have other plans (when you
really don’t).
• BEHAVIOR INFLUENCES THOUGHTS
Your lack of studying for the next exam results in
another poor grade. You think, “Here we go again. I
don’t know why I even keep trying. It’s useless. I’m a
failure.”
• BEHAVIOR INFLUENCES FEELINGS COMMON ANTS
Your friend accepts your excuse and doesn’t appear
to feel bad. You spend the day alone and convince
yourself that your friend is probably having more fun
without you. You feel lonely, sad, and disappointed.

ABC MODEL

A – Antecedent/ Trigger

B- Belief/Thought

C- Consequence

The Fight of two wolves within You

- the one you feed will winn in a fight of evil

and goodness

AUTOMATIC NEGATIVE THOUGHTS (ANTS)

- stream of thoughts that we can notice if we

payed attention
- negatively frames interpretations of what
we think is happening to us
- can lead to self-doubt, depressiom,
anxiety, anger,irritability, and low

Characteristics of ANTS
1. they are always negative
2. they make u feel bad about yourself
3. they are self-sabotaging
4. they are uninvited
5. they are biased