UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

CHAPTER 4.1: PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

What is Psychology?
 Mental processes, which are comprised of our thoughts (cognitive), senses (perceptions), and
feelings (emotion), help us understand and make sense of the world and who we are within it.
(Corcini & Wedding,2000)

William James’s Self Theory

 American philosopher and psychologist.
 Father of American Psychology
 Divide self into two categories: Me and I
o I is responsible for thinking and make awareness
and self-awareness possible.
o Me he or she makes himself or herself the object of
his or her thinking.

Three Categories
1) Constituents of the self refers to the further sub-categories of the self including the material self,
social self, spiritual self, and pure ego.
a. Material Self- one’s body, family, home, clothes and other material possessions that he or
she values.
b. Social Self – connotes the image of an individual in the eyes of the people around him or
her which determines his or her reputation in society.
c. Spiritual Self –one’s thoughts, beliefs and feelings
d. Pure ego – “most puzzling aspect of the self”
2) Self – Feeling, the feelings and emotions aroused in the individual because of his or her
knowledge and appraisal of his or her empirical existence in the world.
3) Self-seeking, the actions the self – the efforts of every individual to preserve and improve oneself
based on one’s self knowledge and resulting self-feeling.

Carl Roger’s Self Theory

  Self does not exist at birth; it is developed gradually during childhood.
 Self as the center of experience
 Self is one’s ongoing sense of who and what he or she is and how and why he or she responds to
the environment.
 Roger’s theory focuses on the nature of the self and the condition that allow the self to freely
develop.

Real Self and Ideal Self

 Real self is who an individual actually is, intrinsically. It is how one thinks, feels, look, and acts.
It is the self that feels most natural, comfortable, and true to what and who one really is. Despite
the difficulty an individual to truly know how others see him or her, his or her real self can still be
possibly seen. The real self is one’s self-image.
 Ideal Self is a perception of what a person would like to be or thinks he o she would be. It is an
idealized image that has developed over time based on the influence of environment and the
people one interacts with. This is a product of expectation and pressures from other people. It is
dynamic and forever changing.
 Congruence – an agreement between the selves, which happens when the ideal self is closer to
the real self.

Self-Concept
 The totality of the complex, organized and dynamic system of learned beliefs, attitudes and
opinions that each person holds to be true about his or her personal existence.
 It is a social product, developing out of interpersonal relationships and striving for consistency.
 It includes the perceptions one has about his or her social identity and personal qualities, as well
as his or her generalizations about the self based on his or her experiences.
Aspects of Self- Concepts
 There are two aspect of self-concepts: existential self and categorical self
o Existential Self – begins when an individual recognizes his or her existence as a separate
entity from others and realizes that he or she will continue to exist over a period of time
and space. The existential self usually starts from infancy up to early childhood.
o Categorical Self - starts after a child recognizes his or her existence as a separate entity
and becomes aware that he or she is an object in the world.
Three Components of Self-Concept
A. Self-worth or self-esteem – what one thinks about oneself. This develop in early childhood stage
resulting from the interaction of the child with his or her mother and father.
B. Self-image – how one’s see himself or herself, which is important for good psychological health.
It includes the influence of body image on inner personality.
C. Ideal Self – the person that one wants to be. It consist of one’s dream and goal in life, and it is
continuously changing.

Donald W. Winnicott’s True and False Self

 True Self – also known as real self, authentic self, original self, and vulnerable self. It is one’s
spontaneous and natural self-expression, a sense of being alive in mind and body that allows him
or her genuinely close to others. This is the state one is born in.
 False Self – also known as fake self, ideal self, perfect self, and pseudo self. This is composed of
the part of the self wherein behaviors are altered, feelings are repressed and one’s need are set
aside in order to fit in with others. The false self is also called adaptive self.
o Social mask helps one to interact properly in a larger variety of interpersonal contexts.

Common True self Behavioral Traits Common False self Behavioral Traits
Optimistic Pessimistic
Proactive Blaming
Confident Insecure
Focused Confused
Patient Impatient
Honest Dishonest
Active Timid
Responsible Irresponsible
Loving Jealous
Calm Worried

Global vs. Differentiated Models

 Global Models look into a human being in his or her totality. As an indivisible entity that cannot
be broken down into parts. There are two prominent schools of thought supporting this ideas:
 o Gestalt Psychology –is guided by the principle that “the whole is greater than the sum of
all its parts.” it was asserted by Max Wertheimer as a response to Wilhelm Wundt’s
structuralist view of the self. He rejected that the self is “structured” composed of the id,
ego, and superego.
o Humanistic Psychology – is guided by the principle that “human beings, as humans,
supersede the sum of their parts.” it posited the idea that personality should be studied
from the point of view of an individual’s subjective experience.
 Differentiated Models look into a human being through examining its parts for it is divisible or
can be broken into. Psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung studied the human psyche and
its structure that is essential in understanding personality and identity.
 For Freud, the psyche is composed of three parts – id, ego and superego.
 For Jung, the psyche is divided into three parts:
o Ego is center of consciousness; it’s the person’s sense of identity and existence. It
organized thoughts, feelings, senses and intuition.
o Personal Unconscious refers to all information stored in a person’s mind that are readily
accessible to consciously recall.
o Collective Unconscious refers to the unconscious mind shared by all human beings such
as instincts and archetypes.

Albert Bandura’s Agentic Theory of the Self

 Agentic Theory of the Self rejects the notion that selfhood is culturally influenced or controlled
by urges, rather it looks upon every human being as capable of thinking, deciding, foreseeing, and
controlling his or her actions, free to decide for himself or herself. This capability is termed by
Bandura as human agency. It is the capability of individual to exert influence over the course of
his or her actions.

Four Core Properties of human agency

 Intentionality is manifested in how an individual forms intention with action plans and strategies
to realize them.
 Forethought refers to how an individual positions his or her plans in the future.
 Self-reactiveness shows that agents are not only planners and fore thinkers but also self-
regulators.
 Self-reflection signifies that people are capable of self-examining their own functioning.
 CHAPTER 4.2: THE SELF FROM THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

In the context of Psychology,

 Self can be defined as a reflexive psychological process that starts when one identifies
himself/herself as an object,
 followed by describing oneself as a self-concept or self-feeling,
 and ends with saying that the self is manifested in how one acts and presents himself to
others. (Zhao,2014).
 In this process, the self is perceive through how one sees and understands himself or herself.
William James’ Self Theory
• For James, a human being has the capacity to be a thinking
subject and the object of his thinking at the same time.
• As a thinking subject, one is both conscious of his environment
and existence.
• He divided an individual’s perception of the self into categories:
1) I – which is responsible for the thinking and makes
awareness and self-awareness possible.
2) Me – when one makes himself the object of his thinking.
Three Categories for understanding the self:
1) The Constituents of the Self – refer to the further sub-categories of the self:
• Material Self – consists of body, clothes, family, home and other materials that one’s
values.
• Social Self – connotes the image of an individual in the eyes of people which determines
his reputation to the society.
• Spiritual Self – includes one’s thoughts, beliefs and feelings.
• Pure Ego – “the most puzzling aspect of the self”.
2) Self-feelings – refer to the feelings and emotion an individual arouses because of his knowledge
and appraisal of his empirical existence in the world.
3) 3. Self-seeking – the effort and actions of every individual to preserve and improve oneself based
on one’s knowledge and resulting self-feelings.

Carl Rogers’ Self Theory

 • Self does not exist at birth; gradually developed during childhood wherein one differentiates the
self from non-self.
• center of experience and on-going sense of what and who he want to be and how and why he
responds to the environment.
• The choices individual makes are based on his set of values.
• Focuses on the nature on the self and the conditions that allow the self to freely develop (Rathus,
2004).
Real Self and Ideal Self
Real Self
 the most natural, comfortable and true to what and who one really is.
 that feels the closest to how one identifies with.
 one continuously accept, takes care of, and improves.
 is one’s self-image.
Ideal Self
 is the perception of what a person thinks and would like to be.
 has developed over time based on the influence of the environment and the people interacts with.
 product of others’ expectation and pressures in order to be accepted.
 dynamic and forever changing.

 The greater discrepancy between the real self and ideal self, the greater the frustration and distress
one will experience.
 One should strive to reduce the discrepancy by either addressing the issue or accepting the issue.
 (e.g. You want to be a professional player but you lack the ideal height.)
 There has to be congruence – an agreement between the selves, which happens when the ideal self is
closer to the real self.
 People with congruent selves are likely to attain self-actualization compared to those with
incongruent selves.

Self-concept
• is defined as the totality of complex, organized and
dynamic system of learned beliefs attitudes and opinions
that each person holds to be true about his personal
existence.
 • social product, developing of interpersonal relationships and striving for consistency (Rogers,
1959).
• individual’s beliefs about their selves, including their attributes (Baumeister, 1999).
• Organized structure of cognitions or thoughts that an individual has about himself (Michener, et.
al. 2004).
• Includes the perceptions one has about his social identity and personal qualities, as well as his
generalizations about the self based on his experiences.

Aspects of Self-concept
1) Existential Self
 begins when an individual recognizes their existence as a separate entity from others and
realizes he will continue to exist over a period of time and space.
 usually starts from infancy up to early childhood.
 (e.g. child responds to the clapping of hands.)
2) Categorical Self
 starts after a child recognizes his or her existence as a separate entity and becomes
aware that he is an object in the world.
 like objects with physical attributes, one begins to categorize himself in terms of age,
height, etc.
 engages in self-description and other’s perceptions about him.

Donald W. Winnicotts’s True Self and False Self

True Self
 also known as the real, authentic, original and vulnerable self.
 one’s spontaneous and natural self-expression, a sense of being
alive in mind and body that allows him to genuinely close to
others (Hershey, 2016).
False Self
 also known as the fake, ideal, perfect, pseudo self and “adapted
self”.
 composed of the parts of self wherein behaviors are altered,
feelings are repressed and one’s needs to are set aside in order to fit in with others.
 Social Mask – helps one to interact properly in a larger variety of interpersonal contexts.
Global versus Differentiated Models
Global Models
 look into human beings in his totality, as an individual entity that cannot be broken down into
parts.
Two prominent schools of thought supporting this idea are:
 Gestalt Psychology
o guided by the principle that “the whole is greater than the sum of all its parts.”
o asserted by Max Wertheimer as a response Wilhelm Wundt’s structuralist view of the
self.
o reject the view that the self is a structure of composed id, ego and superego. Instead,
interested in looking at the entity of the self – the body, mind, physical attributes, etc.
 Humanistic Psychology
o guided by the principle that “human beings, as humans, supersede the sum of their
parts.”
o personality should be studied be studied from the point of view of an individual's
subjective experience.
o better to understand one’s emotions in order to know more about one's identity.
o puts more emphasis on the influence of the environment on one’s experiences rather than
internal thoughts and desires that define one’s personality.
Differentiated Models
 look into human beings through examining its parts for it is divisible or can be broken into
components.
 Psychoanalysts Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung studied the human the human psyche and its
structure that is essential in understanding personality and identity.
 self is the sum total of the psyche.

 For Freud, the psyche is composed of three parts; id, ego and superego.
 For Jung, the human psyche is divided of three parts;
1) Ego
 the center of consciousness
 person’s sense of identity and existence.
2) Personal Consciousness
  refers to all information stored in a person’s mind that are readily accessible to
consciously mind.

3) Collective Consciousness
 refers to the unconsciousness mind shared by all human beings such as instincts and
archetypes.

Albert Bandura’s Agentic Theory on the Self

 Social cognitive theory makes use of the agentic theory of the self
to make sense to the self.
o To be an agent, means to be capable of intentionally
influencing one’s own functionality and life circumstances.
 asserted that people are not merely passive entities molded by
environmental forces or driven by inner influences.
o recognizes his own ability to make life decisions.
 rejects the notion that selfhood is culturally influenced or controlled by urges, rather it looks upon
every human being as capable of thinking, deciding, foreseeing and controlling his actions, free
to decide himself.
 This capability is termed as human agency – capability of an individual to exert influence over
the course of his actions.
 Four core properties of human agency:
1) Intentionality
 manifested how an individual forms interactions with action plans and strategies to
realize them.
2) Forethought
 refers t how an individual positions himself in a future state of existing.
 ensuring the plans made can anticipate possible opportunities or roadblocks.
3) Self-reactiveness
 shows that agents are not only planners and fore thinkers to produce successful
actions but also self-regulators.
 needs to self-regulate his efforts or version to become reality.
4) Self-reflection
 signifies that people are capable of self-examining their own functioning.
  reflect on their life pursuits, the meaning of their actions, thoughts, and personal
efficacy.

Definition of Terms
William James’ Self Theory
 The Constituents of the Self –
o Material Self - consists of material things.
o Social Self - reputation to the society
o Spiritual Self - one’s thoughts, beliefs and feelings.
o Pure Ego – “the most puzzling aspect of the self”.
 Self-feelings - feelings and emotion an individual arouses
 Self-seeking - the effort and actions to improve oneself
Carl Rogers’ Self Theory
 Self – center of experience
o Real Self - one’s self-image
o Ideal Self - product of others’ expectation and pressures
 Self-concept - generalizations about the self based on his experiences
o Existential Self - individual recognizes their existence
o Categorical Self - becomes aware that he is an object
Donald W. Winnicotts’s True Self and False Self
 True Self - one’s spontaneous and natural self-expression
 False Self - “adapted self”

Global Models - individual entity that cannot be broken down into parts
 Gestalt Psychology - “the whole is greater than the sum of all its parts.”
 Humanistic Psychology - “human beings, as humans, supersede the sum of their parts.”
Differentiated Models - can be broken into components
 Freud - id, ego and superego
 Jung –
 Ego – the center of consciousness
 Personal Consciousness – refers to all information stored in a person’s mind
 Collective Consciousness – refers to the unconsciousness mind
Albert Bandura’s Agentic Theory on the Self
 Human agency – capability of an individual to exert influence
o Intentionality - forms interactions with action plans
o Forethought - positions himself in a future state
o Self-reactiveness - self-regulate his efforts or version to become reality
o Self-reflection- capable of self-examining

CHAPTER 5: EASTERN AND WESTERN THOUGHTS

 Do we exist for ourselves or for others?

 Do we live for self-realization and self-actualization or do we live for the common good?

Individualism Vs. Collectivism

Individualism
 Individualism is an orientation concerned with the independence and self-reliance of the
individual.

Collectivism
 Collectivism is an orientation characterized by belongingness to larger group or collectives.

Western Conception of the Self

 The western conception of the self is individualistic; it gives more emphasis on freedom and
choice, an independent self that is free from the influence of culture and environment and from
the expectations and welfare of society.
 It emphasizes the uniqueness of every individual and is predicated on egoism or self-
orientedness. It describes the self as existing and distinct from others. Individualism foregrounds
that a human being has a self, is an individual, and is a person.
 It gives more emphasis on individual goals and his or her journey towards self-realization or
self-actualization. The self is free to express itself.

Eastern Conception of the Self

  The eastern concept of the self is collectivistic; it gives more importance on relationships, roles,
duties, obligations, and the preservation of culture and tradition. It prioritizes the needs and the
goals of society over the needs and desires of every individual.
 It is founded on the belief that people are socially connected. It puts more importance on
belongingness to a larger group and emphasizes social obligations.
 It is others-oriented because it encourages people to be kind , benevolent, charitable, dependable,
and sensitive to the needs of others.
 Collectivism stresses that an individual has “many selves” instead of having a one knowable self.
Self is viewed as a part of a “We” instead of only a “Me”.

Eastern and Western Comparison

Western
 People in an individualistic culture might
describe themselves as: “I am brave,
generous, loyal, and honest”.
 Individualism does not promote isolation
rather he makes judgment based in his
own acts and thoughts and he may
disagree with others.
 However, he can freely participate in a
societal problem if he wants to.
Eastern
 People in collectivism culture might
describe themselves as: “I am a law-
abiding citizen” “I am a loyal husband”
 Collectivism main idea is to benefit the
goals of a group through the way a person
live, act and think. The group may be a
family, clan, community, nation or even
the whole human race.
 An individual decides according to the
interest of the group.

Individualism Collectivism
New Zealand Denmark
Germany Sweden
Austria Norway
Greece Iceland
Poland Indonesia
Italy Philippines
Belgium Argentina
 Ireland Brazil
Spain Mexico
Finland Portugal

The concept of self in Buddhism

Buddhism
 In Buddhism there no such thing as the atman(self). The atman is impossible to perceive by one’s
senses for it does not actually exist.
 According to Buddhism the Human don’t have real knowledge about self, but only have
imaginary concept of self. Human don’t have clear proof of real self and everything is an illusion,
a flux of momentary perceptions, thoughts. What is perceived becomes one’s reality.
 Buddhism philosopher supports the theory of David Hume in which the self is not a stable self.
They believe that the self is not permanent. Instead, a human is product of five changing
processes – the processes of physical body, feelings, perceptions, responses and the flow of
consciousness.
 One can Identify their identity with his body, feeling and thoughts, but they are not one’s true
identity. In Buddhist term, the annata(no-self) is not a denial of existence, rather it is only a
conviction that no words can define the essence his existence.
 From a Buddhist perspective, entities should be seen more as processes rather than static,
substantive things. Nothing is ever permanent or unchanging.

The concept of self in Confucianism

Confucianism
 Confucianism concept is more likely a collectivism. The ethical teaching of Confucius are based
on human relationships as reflected in his concept of Five Cardinal Relationships or Five bonds.
 There relationship exist between:
o The King(ruler) and his subject(ruled)
o Father and son
o Husband and wife
o Brothers and brothers
o Friends and friends
*If individuals perform there respective roles, there will be harmony.
  Individual identity is defined by membership in the reference group to which one belongs. This
identity called the relational self. Each member posses the same qualities and shares the pride
that the group claims and is united in every success or failure.
 Confucianism: Five Bonds concept was based on the government system during the time of Qin
Dynasty which is the first dynasty of the Imperial China. The King govern the land and under it
are the families and people in the community.
 Another concept of Confucianism was the subdued-self. It is conditioned to response to
perceptions, not of its own needs and aspirations but of a social requirements and obligation.
 To subdue oneself he must pratice ren (huma-heartedness) – the hallmark of Confucian Ethics.
Ren is a Confucian virtue characterized by altruistic behavior that must be nurtured in every
person. It can be understood as Love, Benevolence, or Charity. A subdued self, therefore, is
being a “person for others”.

The concept of self in Taoism

Taoism
 Taoism focus on its main concept, “tao”. This means the unity of the universe and the path
humans must take to preserve the unity.
 Tao is the core concept of Taoism. It is refered as the life force that sorrounds us and flows
through all living things, and the balances, orders, unifies, and connect them.
 Tao is the ultimate creative principle of the universe.
 Taoist regard the human body as the miniature universe, as an extension of cosmos. Going
against the will of nature or universe disrupts the cosmic order (symbolizes by the Ying and
Yang). The self is one of the countless manifestation of Tao.
 Taoism does not support the philosophical teaching of Confucianism.

The concept of the self in Hinduism

Hinduism
 The concept of the self in Hinduism is found in the written text of Upanishads which is their
“story of creation”.
Hinduism: Upanishads
 “In the beginning this was Self alone, in a shape of a person (Purusha). He looked around and
saw nothing but his Self. -
  He first said, ‘This is I’; therefore, he became ‘I’ by name. Therefore, even man asked, he first
says, ‘This is I’ and then pronounces the name which he may have”
 From this story of creation, the Self called Purusha created wife out of himself. The wife bore
Man and then transformed herself into a cow, which promoted Purusha to transform into a bull.
 Then the wife transformed into a mare, while Purusha transformed into stallion. These continuous
transformations imply the belief that all creation is made up of the same self as everything
originated from Purusha.
 This implies that the creator is the same as the creation.
Hinduism
 In Hinduism, atman referred as the self, soul or spirit. It is the same self described in the creation.
 The atman is one with Brahman, which is the absolute, transcendental power.
 By being indentified by the Brahman, the atman indicates the true self which underlies one’s
existence.
 Thus, as a spiritual being, the atman will be detached from the material world and worldly
possessions.

CHAPTER 6: PHYSICAL ASPECT OF THE SELF

 Our face represents most of our physical self. It provides other people an initial impression about
who we are and what we are.
 We maintain a face value because we consider our face as our initial asset. Before other can
discover our true attitude and capabilities, they first rely on what they can physically see.

The Self as the Body

 The Physical Self
o refers to the body.
o it is the tangible aspect of the person that can be directly observed and examined.
o defined by physical characteristics that are visible.
o does not include characteristics that are internal.

Impact of Culture on Beauty and Body Image

 Physical Features
 o considered as bases for beauty, such as the face and the body.
 Physical Qualities that Society prescribes as Standards of Beauty: light and glowing skin,
kissable red lips, rosy cheeks, sharp and pointed nose, white and healthy teeth, tantalizing eyes.

Appearance can be an asset or liability

 Asset: a person can receive gifts, opportunities and be associated as ‘angelic’ or ‘good’. You have
privileges as you gain more attention and praises from people
 Bullying- those who are deemed unattractive are bullied which affects self-esteem.
 Liability? Beauty becomes an unfair judgement and inequality exists because of this.
 Presence of stalkers, breach of privacy, prone to catcalling and molestation, verbal harassment,
rape, and jealousy with or without basis of beauty.

Will there be beauty if there is no sight?

 Total blindness incapacitates a person to see. Beauty can be described as purity of heart,
something that is within a person and cannot be judged based on one’s physical appearance.
 with these, beauty is contextualized into 2 categories — one that is seen by the eye and one that
is felt by the heart.

Achieving physical well-being

1) Eat healthy foods.
2) Maintain a healthy lifestyle.
3) Follow proper hygiene.
4) Engage in daily exercise.
5) Take vitamins and drink fruit juices.
6) Avoid stress.
7) Spend less time in front of computers and gadgets.

 Mind – plays an important role in one’s sexuality and sexual behaviors.

 Humans - have the ability to control their sexual urges.