CIFRA, MIKHAIL S.

AUGUST 29, 2020

GED101 – OL102

MRR1- A handbook of Self and Identity

1. What are the three (3) things that you significantly learned from the reading?

 Before reading the article, I used to think that our identities are just our mere characteristics
and traits that do not change and are fixed within each individual. After reading the article,
I now think that our identities do not only represent our characteristics, traits, social
relations, roles, and social group memberships but it also helps us in making decisions and
it makes up one’s self concept. I also learned that identity may also be conceptualized as a
means to make sense of some element or portion of self-concept. Identities can be shaped
through many factors such as social, psychological, and sociological factors that shape
one’s characteristics, perception, and decision-making process. Identities can be classified
as personal and social identities. Personal identities are the characteristics, traits, values,
goals, and attributes of certain person. On the other hand, social identities are the group and
interpersonal relationships that a certain person have where they apply their personal
identities into a social field. Lastly, I also learned that identities are not fixed but is
dynamically constructed in the moment and it changes per scenario. Since humans are
sensitive to contextual cues and how these cues affect them and other people and they are
aware of their affordances and limitations in each scenario, they respond quickly and
change their identity which is appropriate for the scenario that they are in the moment.
 Before reading the article, I used to think that self-concept is just what solely comes up
when one thinks of one’s self and what one believes is true of one’s self. After reading the
article, I now think that self-concepts are cognitive structures or mental concepts (meaning;
developed in one’s mind) that are used to make sense of the world and one’s self and they
are developed through autobiographical memories or the experiences that people go
through in their everyday lives. The different factors inside and outside of the human mind
contributes to the formation of one’s self-concept and how one perceives himself/herself.
The feeling of knowing one’s self (self-awareness) is very important for people to make
decisions, motivate to do actions, perceive things, and regulate one’s feelings and actions.
Self-concepts are important pieces in developing one’s “self”. Self-concepts differ how
they are constructed individually regarding its structure and context in each individual’s
mind and perception. It is possible that a person has multiple self-concepts which together
form our general mental representation of ourselves. Self-concepts can be seen and
understood in different perspectives (which can be called self-concept structure). A person
can form self-concepts either individualistically or collectively, temporally near or distal, or
through the mind’s eye or the eye of others. Generally, self-concepts influence how people
think and how they think generally.
  Before reading the article, I used to think that the self is just a mere word that represents me
as a person. After reading the article, I now think that the self is a warm feeling that
something is “about me or us”. Self is about reflecting on one’s self mentally. It is
composed of two components; the “I” which is the actor who is thinking and the “me”
which is the object of thinking which is one’s own self. Self does not only mean the context
of you, but it is the state of one being aware about him/her thinking about one’s self. It is
made up and constructed by multiple self-concepts built by the own mind which are made
sense by one’s identity. There are three aspects required to consider in the self which is also
called reflexive capacity; one must be thinking, one must be aware that he/she is thinking,
and one must take the self as an object of thinking. The self is not only defined by the
capacity of a person to be aware about thinking and one’s self, but it is also constructed
through memory structures, The self has existence outside of particular contexts and social
structures, not only in the mind. The “me” aspect does not only give attention to concerning
the self, but through social factors and perspectives as well. Memories that make up one’s
self is composed of field memories which are the original perspective of the actor and the
observer memories which are the perspective of oneself from outside the mind. These
multiple perspectives that are products of social interactions form the self, help reflect on
oneself, regulate feelings and actions, and predict how social interactions will go. The self
is constructed through mental concepts and social products. Lastly, I learned that just like
identities, humans perceive the self as stable yet it is also dynamically constructed
depending on the scenario.

2. What three (3) things about the reading are unclear to you?

 The three things that are unclear to me after reading the text is, one, how people not realize
and become self-aware of how their identities and self dynamically changes in the moment.
In the self, it is important that one has a feeling of stability about their own knowledge of
their selves and the dynamic construction of who one is in a certain scenario. It is unclear
to me why do people tend to believe that his identity and self is stable without realizing that
it changes depending on the scenario that he/she is put onto. To be honest, I only realized
that my identity changes everytime without realizing it. Why is that so? Another thing that
is unclear to me about the reading is that how social factors affect the change of one’s
identity specifically. It is unclear to me what mental aspect of the human mind is being
triggered by social factors for it to change one’s identity in a certain scenario. Could it be
physiologically, emotionally, etc.? Lastly, it is unclear to me how identities help an
individual to make decisions. I understand that how a person thinks generally and decides
is very dependent on one’s identity, yet it is unclear to me how the identity of a person
shapes one’s decision making and perspective specifically. What is the process of thought,
understanding, comprehension, and motivation? What are the theories that explains such
mechanisms inside our mind?
3. What three (3) questions that you want to ask about the reading?

 The three questions that I want to ask about the reading are as follows;
1. How do people not realize and become self-aware of how their identities and self
dynamically changes in the moment and continuously assume that our identities are
stable and non-flexible.
2. How do social factors affect the change of one’s identity specifically? What mental
aspect of the human mind is being triggered by social factors for it to change one’s
identity in a certain scenario?
3. How do identities help an individual to make decisions? What is the process of
thought, understanding, comprehension, and motivation needed in order for someone
to make decisions based on identity?