COURSE MATERIAL 3

Prepared by:
This course material has been designed for students to:
Rhodora C. Amora
• Develop profound insights in the understanding of
self and human behavior from the standpoint of
sociology
• Apply critical, reflective, and analytical thinking
through intellectually stimulating activities
• Apply concepts and theories in understanding social
realities and issues involving oneself in relation to
one’s socio-cultural environment and/ or community
• Apply acquired skills and knowledge in dealing
effectively with the demands and challenges of
everyday life
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• Enhance the use on-line resources through critical
evaluation of valid and credible resources that will
supplement classroom learning
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
3

PRETEST

4 LEARNING OUTCOMES

REQUIRED MATERIALS &

RESOURCES

PRE-ACTIVITY

CONTENT and DISCUSSION

5

9 ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES

11 POSTTEST

12 SUMMARY

KEY TERMS

13 REFERENCES
2

14 CHECK MY LEARNING
 SOCIOLOGICAL
MODULE 3
PERSPECTIVE OF SELF

There are many things that may come to your mind when you hear the word self. Do we
have a clear perception of “self” at birth? What contextual factors shape our self-concept? Does our
interaction with others have impact on our identity? This lesson is designed to guide you explore
how the self develops in the context of human interaction.

Let’s start by recalling our interaction with the significant others, like our families or friends.
The diagram below is an example of a sociogram template. A sociogram is a graphic representation
of social links that a person has. It is a graph drawing that plots the structure of interpersonal relations
in a group situation.

Pretest: Create your own that reflects the nature of relationships you have with your chosen
primary group (e.g. family or friends). Pair with a classmate and explain your sociogram to each
other.

Source: https://www.google.com/search?q=family+sociogram+

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 Learning Outcomes

At the end of this lesson, the students are expected to:

1. Analyze the nature of his/her interaction with the significant others;

2. Synthesize the findings of virtual interview;
3. Explain the dynamics of relationship in each type of groups; and
4. Reflect on how social interaction and perceptions affect the self.

Required Materials and Resources

❖ Laptop
❖ Online Resources

Pre-Activities

What do the following symbols personally mean to you? Write your answer on the blank.

1. __________________________________________________

2. __________________________________________________

3. __________________________________________________

4. ______________________________________________

5. ______________________________________________

Are you done? These symbols may have universal meanings, however, we can ascribed
multiple meanings to each based on our own unique experiences.

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 Content and Discussion

We will delve with sociological theories that explain the development of self. To facilitate your
understanding of this lesson, here are some key points that you need to review first:

1 Unlocking of Meanings

➢ Sociology the science of society, social institutions, and social relationships. Specifically, it
focuses on the systematic study of the development, structure, interaction, and collective
behavior of organized groups of human beings
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/society.)
➢ Society refers a community, nation, or broad grouping of people having common traditions,
institutions, and collective activities and interests
➢ Each one of us belong to a society. In each society, exists two basic types of groups, namely- the
primary and secondary group.
➢ Primary groups are the nuclear cells of social organization. It is from these groups that the
individual acquires basic attitudes towards people, social institutions and the world around him.
The attitudes of kindness, sympathy, love, tolerance, mutual help and sacrifice which provide the
cementing force to social structure are developed in the primary groups. Their disintegration soon
leads to social disintegration.
➢ In primary group, relationship is intimate, direct and personal. Members have sense of belonging,
shared identity and long-term relationship. Communication is direct and mostly face-to-face, and
there are no existing formal rules to be followed. We are born to our primary group which is our
family. Close friends and relatives are also examples of primary groups.
➢ In secondary groups, the relationship is impersonal, business-like, and short-term Members may
communicate with each other through indirect means and they are regulated by a set of formal
rules. Political party, corporation, labor union, university classes, and athletic teams are examples
of secondary groups.
2 Symbolic Interaction Theory

Herbert Blumer (1969) coined the term symbolic interactionism. He specified three of its basic
premises:

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• Humans act toward things on the basis of the meanings that things have for them;
• the meanings of things derive from social interaction; and
• these meanings are dependent on, and modified by, an interpretive process of the people
who interact with one another.

Hence, the focus here is on meaning, which is defined in terms of action and its consequences.

The meaning of a thing resides in the action that it elicits. For example, the meaning of
"grass" is food to a cow, shelter to a fox, and the like. In the case of symbols, meanings also
depend on a degree of consensual responses between two or more people.
(https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/sociology-and-social-reform/sociology-
general-terms-and-concepts/symbolic-interactionism).

Do you ever observe the changes in your stance, adjusting your look, or the way you speak
based on how you think other people are looking at you? You might want people to see you in a
certain way - friendly, attractive, or approachable, or even unapproachable or tough - whatever
is ideal in the moment. Those adjustments that you're making can be explained by symbolic
interaction theory, also called symbolic interactionism which posits the following key ideas:

• People navigate their interactions with others and assign meanings based on their
interpretation of those interactions;
• Every non-verbal cues and verbal messages that are interpreted based on mutual agreement
by all parties involved in an interaction is a symbolic form; and
• Someone's behavior is influenced by the symbols given by others, as well as that person's
behavior. Through symbols, human can express and receive feelings, thoughts, intentions, and
vice versa by reading the symbols displayed by others.
(https://study.com/academy/lesson/symbolic-interaction-theory-definition-examples.html)

3 Mead’s Concept of Self

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 George Herbert Mead laid the groundwork for symbolic interaction with his discussion
about the self, which he defines as a dynamic organism that is a being of its own. The self
breaks down into two processes or phases that take place in any human interaction:

• The I, subjective self, is described as the unorganized response of the self to the attitudes of
others - the spontaneous disposition or impulse to act.

How would you describe yourself when you interact with your close friend? There
are times when you are so bubbly, spontaneous, and would not be even mindful of your choice
of words as long as you enjoy the moment together. Also, there are instances that you just
want to engage in endless chatter or savor quiet moments together. That’s the “I” phase of
the self.

• The me, or objective element of self represents the internalized attitudes and demands of other
people and the individual awareness of those demands
(https://study.com/academy/lesson/symbolic-interaction-theory-definition-examples.html.)

As a freshman student, how would you describe yourself when you need to approach
your professor? As expected, you will be respectful to and tactful with your choice of words
while interacting with your professor. Indeed, you manifest a “presentable self” appropriate
in that given context.

4 Cooley’s “Looking Glass Self”

It's your first day in the university. You're at lunch, holding your food tray and
nervously scanning the crowd to find the best place to sit. As you find your seat, you
internalize the glances you get from the students you pass at the other tables, interpreting what
you think they're thinking of you based on their facial expressions, body language, and
verbiage. You are, in effect, redefining who you think you are based on your interpretation of
other people's reactions to you.

The above-mentioned scenario reflects the statement below:

I am not what I think I am and I am not what you think I am; I am what I think you
think I am.

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 Significant others' judgments and feedbacks are involved in the construction of self-
perceptions. These significant others would be like a looking glass self, a mirror into which
we can see how we are. In other words, we evaluate ourselves as we think others evaluate us.

For example, we might feel that we have a great sense of humor, because others have
told us, and often laugh (apparently sincerely) at our jokes.

Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/The_looking_glass_self.png/300px-The_looking_glass_self.png

The figure above depicts the looking-glass self. The person at the front of the image is looking
into four mirrors, each of which reflects someone else’s image of him back to him.

You may have a lot of questions in your mind concerning these concepts, it will be more
interesting if you can formulate at least three questions. We can use these for further deepening of
our discussion.

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 Assessment Activities

Self-Assessment Activity (SAA)1

You just learned the distinctions between primary and secondary groups. Now, think of an
exception to this in your own life. When has someone moved from your secondary group to your
primary group? How did this occur? Is this person still a member of your primary group? In one
paragraph, describe how you met someone in your secondary group who then became a member of
your secondary group.
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

Self-assessment Activity (SAA) 2

“Mirroring” -Our significant others, parents, teachers, and friends have different perceptions on us.
Recall how do they perceive you and how these perceptions affect the way you perceive yourself.
Write your answers on the blanks below.

1.1 Parent’s
Perception___________________________________________________________
1.2 Teacher’s
Perception__________________________________________________________

Friend’s Perception___________________________________________________________

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 Rubric for SAA 1 and 2
Key Excellent Meets Approaches Needs Score
Concept Expectation Expectations Improvement
(3) (2) (1)
(4)

Clarity Response is Response is Response is Ideas are not

clear and clear and ideas vague and focused to the
ideas are are almost ideas are given
well-focused always generally question.
or aligned to focused/aligne focused.
the question. d to the given
question.

Application Response Response Response Response

reflects reflects a clear reflects a lacks in-depth
(Connectio
general understanding
n to in-depth understanding
of the
Experience understanding of the concept. understanding
concepts.
) of the of the concept
concept. but needs
further
deepening.

Mechanics Response has Response has Response has Typographical

no 2-3 4 -5 , spelling and
typographical typographical, typographical grammatical
, spelling and spelling and , spelling and errors hinders
grammatical grammatical grammatical understanding
errors. errors. errors. of the
response.

Online Resources
You can now watch the video on Symbolic Interactionism Theory. Just open the link below.

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/society-and-culture/social-structures/v/symbolic-
interactionism

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POSTTEST
Have you ever thought of the reason/s why your friend smokes? Conduct an online or phone
interview with your friend regarding the meaning of smoking to him/her. Write your findings and support
these with at least one recent related literature. Use proper citation.

Rubric for Posttest

BELOW
OUTSTANDING PROFICIENT BASIC
INDICATOR EXPECTATION SCORE
4 3 2
1

KNOWLED
GE The student The student
The student The student
demonstrates demonstrates demonstrates demonstrates
high degree of considerable some limited
understanding understanding of the understanding of understanding
of the concept. concept the concept. of the concept.

Findings are Presentation of

Findings are findings need
organized and
generally organized several
CONTENT logically
and logically revisions. The answer
presented.
presented. needs revision.
Cited Cited literatures
Cited literatures have
literatures have little
connection to the
validate the connection to
findings.
response. the findings.
Response has 4
Response has
-5 Typographical,
no Response has 2-3
typographical, spelling and
typographical, typographical,
spelling and grammatical
MECHANIC spelling and spelling and
grammatical errors hinder
S grammatical grammatical errors.
errors. understanding
errors.
Proper citation is ofthe response.
Needs
Proper citation used.
improvement in No citation
is used
the citation

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 LESSON SUMMARY

• Sociology focuses on the collective behavior of organized groups of human beings.

• The two basic groups in the society are primary and secondary . We are born to a primary

group, our family.

• People assigned meaning on their interactions. They used symbols to express and receive

feelings, thoughts, intentions, and vice versa by reading the symbols displayed by others.

• There are two processes or phases that take place in any human interaction: the I, subjective

self and the Me of the objective element.

• Significant others would be like a looking glass self, a mirror into which we can see how we

are. In other words, we evaluate ourselves as we think others evaluate us.

• Object has no meaning. Its meaning is context dependent and mutually agreed by human

beings when they interact with each other.

KEY TERMS

Feedback Mirroring Objective Self

Significant Others Subjective Self Symbolic Interaction

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 REFERENCES

Journals

Nugroho, R. S., & Sutinah. (2020). Smoking as a Behavior Definitive of Adolescent’s Social
Identity. Talent Development & Excellence, 12(2), 481–488.

Nurra, C., & Pansu, P. (2009). The impact of significant others’ actual appraisals on children’s
self-perceptions: What about Cooley’s assumption for children? European Journal of
Psychology of Education - EJPE (Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada), 24(2), 247–
262. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173015

Websites

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/society. Retrieved July 28, 2020.

https://www.sociologydiscussion.com/primary-group/importance-of-primary-group-for-the-
society/2236. Retrieved July 28, 2020.

Mazur , E. (Jan 12, 2019)Through the Looking Glass

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/de-stressing-disability/201901/through-the-looking-
glass Retrieved July 27, 2020

https://study.com/academy/lesson/symbolic-interaction-theory-definition-examples.html.
Retrieved July 28, 2020.

https://positivepsychology.com/self-concept/.Retrieved July 30, 2020.

https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/sociology-and-social-reform/sociology-
general-terms-and-concepts/symbolic-interactionism. Retrieved August 9, 2020.

www.pexels.com

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 CHECK MY LEARNING

Pretest. The dynamics of our interpersonal relationship with the significant others is unique.
This activity enabled you to find the gap in your interpersonal relationship which could be a
point for personal reflection. Well done! Say something positive to your classmate with whom
you collaborated with in this activity.

Preactivity. Answer vary because we assigned meanings to symbols based on the outcome of
our interactions with others. Again, this is another leap in your journey to yourself. Tap your
shoulder for accomplishing this task.

Self-Assessment Activity 1. Your responses will be evaluated based on the given rubric.

Self -assessment Activity 2. Your responses will be evaluated based on the given rubric.

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