AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.

Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines

Telefax (085) 231-2150

GE 1 Understanding the Self

Instructor:
CHARITA A. RULIDA
Page 1
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

Understanding the self

LESSON OBJECTIVES:

1.Explain why it is essential to understand the self

2.Describe and discuss the different notions of the self from the points-of-view of the
various philosophers across time and place

3. Compare and contrast how the self has been represented in different philosophical
schools

4.Examine one’s self against the different views of self that were discussed in class.

ACTIVITY 1

Answer the following questions about yourself as fully and precisely as you can.

1.How would you characterize yourself?

2.What makes you stand out from the rest?

3. What makes yourself special?

4.How has your self-transformed itself?

5.How is your self-connected to your body?

6.How is your self-related to other selves?

7.What will happen to yourself after you die?

Page 2
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

INTRODUCTION
Knowing oneself is critical to being an effective team member as well as being
successful in life,

work, and relationships. Your personal identity influences everything you do, and it
changes

and evolves over time.

The purpose of this topic is to help you deepen your understanding and appreciation
for who

you are as a person. You will explore how you see yourself through the lenses of
personal

identity, your skills and talents, roles, values, personal core, and how you meet your

psychological needs. You will also examine how you respond to the pressures of
changes and

transitions in your life.

You will have an opportunity to examine how your personal identity has been shaped
by a

variety of people and experiences. You will also have opportunities to think about and
discuss

your values, interests, hopes for the future, as well as, your strengths and challenges. You
will

learn about how your psychological needs are the primary source that motivates and
drives

your behavior. You will also learn critical knowledge about change and how important
it is in

Page 3
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

today’s workplace to be adaptive and to embrace change as a personal and

professional growth

experience. You will be invited and encouraged to take risks, to step outside your
comfort zone, and to

challenge your thinking and the thinking of others. You will be engaged in reflection,
partner

activities, storytelling, discussion groups, self-assessment, and giving and receiving

feedback.

ABSTRACTION

What do psychologist say’s about self-awareness?

1. SOCRATES AND PLATO-SOCRATES was the first philosopher who ever engaged in
a systematic questioning about the self; the true task of the philosopher is to
know oneself.

a. For Socrates, every man is composed of body and soul; all individuals
have an imperfect, impermanent aspect to him, and the body, while
maintaining that there is also a soul that is perfect and permanent.
b. Plato supported the idea that man is a dual nature of body and soul.
c. Plato added that there are three components of the soul: the rational
soul, the spirited soul, and the appetitive soul.

2. AUGUSTINE AND THOMAS AQUINAS-AUGUSTINE agreed that man is of a

bifurcated nature; the body is bound to die on earth and the soul is to anticipate
living eternally in a realm of spiritual bliss in communion with God.

o The body can only thrive in the imperfect, physical reality that is the world,
whereas the soul can also stay after death in an eternal realm with the all-
transcendent God.
o Aquinas said that indeed, man is composed of two parts: matter and form.
Matter, or hylein Greek, refers to the “common stuff that makes up everything
in the universe.” Man’s body is part of this matter. Form, on the other hand, or
morphine Greek refers to the “essence of a substance or thing.”
o To Aquinas the soul is what animates the body; it is what makes us humans.

Page 4
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

3. RENE DESCARTES-Conceived of the human person as having a body and a mind

o The body is nothing else but a machine that is attached to the mind. The human
person has it but it is not what makes man a man. If at all, that is the mind.

4. DAVID HUME-The self is not an entity over and beyond the physical body.
o Men can only attain knowledge by experiencing.
o Self, according to Hume, is simply “a bundle or collection of different
perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity,
and are in a perpetual flux and movement.”

5. IMMANUEL KANT-Things that men perceive around them are not just randomly
infused into the human person without an organizing principle that regulates the
relationship of all these impressions.
o There is necessarily a mind that organizes the impressions that men get from
the external world.
o Time and space are ideas that one cannot find in the world, but is built in our
minds; he calls these the apparatuses of the mind.
o The self is not just what gives one his personality;

it is also the seat of knowledge acquisition for all human persons.

6. GILBERT RYLE -BLATANTLY denying the concept of an internal, non-physical self;

what truly matters is the behavior that a person manifests in his day-to-day life.

-“Self” is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply the convenient
name that people use to refer to all the behaviors that people make.

7. MERLEAU-PONTY-The mind and body are so intertwined that they cannot be

separated from one another.

-One cannot find any experience that is not an embodied experience. All experience is
embodied; one’s body is his opening toward his existence to the world.

-The living body, his thoughts, emotions, and experiences are all one.

Page 5
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

LESSON SUMMARY
 Philosophy is replete with men and women who inquired into the fundamental
nature of the self.
 Socrates was the first philosopher who ever engaged in a systematic questioning
about the self.
 Plato supported the idea that man is a dual nature of body and soul
 Augustine agreed that man is of a bifurcated nature
 Thomas Aquinas said that indeed, man is composed of two parts: matter and
form.
 Rene Descartes conceived of the human person as having a body and a mind.
 David Hume, the self is not an entity over and beyond the physical body
 Immanuel Kant, there is necessarily a mind that organizes the impressions that
men get from the external World-Gilbert Ryle, “self” is not an entity one can
locate and analyze
 Merleau-Ponty, the living body, his thoughts, emotions, and experiences are all
one

ACTIVITY 2. Direction:
I. Enumerate what is being ask:
1. _____________ the first philosopher who ever engaged in a systematic
questioning about the self; the true task of the philosopher is to know oneself.
2. ______________ The self is not an entity over and beyond the physical body.
3. ______________ Conceived of the human person as having a body and a
mind.
4. ______________ There is necessarily a mind that organizes the impressions that
men get from the external world.
5. ______________ Self” is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply
the convenient name that people use to refer to all the behaviors that
people make.

II. ESSAY
What is self-understanding the self essay? (300 words)

Page 6
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

LESSON No. 2

LESSON OBJECTIVES (lesson no. 2)

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. Explain the relationship between and among the self, society, and culture;
2. Describe and discuss the different ways by which society and culture shape
the self;
3. Compare and contrast how the self can be influenced by the different
institutions in the society; and
4. Examine one’s self against the different views of self that were discussed in
the class.

ACTIVITY

Picture out or state your behavior when you were in

Elementary, in High school, and now that you are in college.

list down your salient characteristics that you remember.

explained how would you describe your child’s behavior
and your development as you’re in a stages of adolescent
up to now.

Page 7
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

ABSTRACTION (lesson 2)

•What Is the Self?

o The self, in contemporary literature and even common sense, is commonly

defined by the following characteristics:
o Separate means that the self is distinct from other selves.
o The self is always unique and has its own identity.
o Self-contained and independent because in itself it can exist. Its distinctness
allows it to be self-contained with its own thoughts, characteristics, and volition.
o Consistency means that a particular self’s traits, characteristics, tendencies, and
potentialities are more or less the same.
o Unitary in that it is the center of all experiences and thoughts that run through a
certain person
o Private means that each person sorts out information, feelings and emotions,
and thought processes within the self. This whole process is never accessible to
anyone but the self.

The Self and Culture

o According to MARCEL MAUSS, a French psychologist every self has two faces:
o Moi refers to a person’s sense of who he is, his body, and his basic identity, his
biological givenness. Personnel is composed of the social concepts of what it
means to be who he is.

-Language is another interesting aspect of this social constructivism; it is a salient part of

culture and ultimately, has a tremendous effect in our crafting of the self.

-If a self is born into a particular society or culture, the self will have to adjust according
to its exposure.

The Self and the Development of the Social World

-More than his givenness(personality, tendencies, and propensities, among others), one
is believed to be in active participation in the shaping of the self.

Page 8
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

-Men and women in their growth and development engage actively in the shaping of
the self.

-The unending terrain of metamorphosis of the self is mediated by language.

Mead and Vygotsky

-For Mead and Vygotsky, the way that human persons develop is with the use of
language acquisition and interaction with others.

-Both Vygotskyand Mead treat the human mind as something that is made, constituted
through language as experienced in the external world and as encountered in dialogs
with others.

SELF IN FAMILIES
-The kind of family that we are born in, the resources available to us (human, spiritual,
economic), and the kind of development that we will have will certainly affect us.

-Human beings are born virtually helpless and the dependency period of a human
baby to its parents for nurturing is relatively longer than most other animals.

-In trying to achieve the goal of becoming a fully realized human, a child enters a
system of relationships, most important of which is the family.

-Human persons learn the ways of living and therefore their selfhood by being in a
family. It is what a family initiates a person to become that serves as the basis for this
person’s progress.

Page 9
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

GENDER AND THE SELF-GENDER

 is one of those loci of the self that is subject to alteration, change, and
development.
 The sense of self that is being taught makes sure that an individual fit in a
particular environment, is dangerous and detrimental in the goal of truly finding
one’s self, self-determination, and growth of the self.
 It is important to give one the leeway to find, express, and live his identity.
 Gender has to be personally discovered and asserted and not dictated by
culture and the society.

ACTIVITY

Answer the following questions cogently but honestly.

1.How would you describe yourself?

2.What are the influences of family in your development as an

individual?

3.Think of a time when you felt you were your “true self.” What made
you think you were truly who you are during this time of your life?

4.Following the question above, can you provide a time when you
felt you were not living your “true self”? Why did you have to live a
life like that? What did you do about it?

5.What social pressures help shape yourself? Would you have

wanted it otherwise?

6.What aspects of your self do you think may be changed or you

would like to change?

Page 10
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

SUMMARY
 The self is commonly defined by the following characteristics:
 Separate, is always unique and has its own identity
 Self-contained and independent because in itself it can exist
 Consistency, a particular self’s traits, characteristics, tendencies, and
potentialities are more or less the same
 Unitary in that it is the center of all experiences and thoughts that run through a
certain person
 Private. Each person sorts out information, feelings and emotions, and thought
processes within the self.

The Self and Culture

 Every self has two faces: Moi and Personne;
 Language is a salient part of culture and ultimately, has a tremendous effect in
our crafting of the self.

THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL WORLD

 Men and women in their growth and development engage actively in the
shaping of the self;
 The unending terrain of metamorphosis of the self is mediated by language.

MEAD AND VYGOTSKY

 The way that human persons develop is with the use of language acquisition and
interaction with others Self in Families
 The kind of family that we are born in, the resources available to us, and the kind
of development that we will have will certainly affect us.
 Human persons learn the ways of living and therefore their selfhood by being in a
family.

Page 11
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

Gender and the Self

 Gender is one of those loci of the self that is subject to alteration, change, and
development.
 It is important to give one the leeway to find, express, and live his identity.
 Gender has to be personally discovered and asserted and not dictated by
culture and the society.

Page 12
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

ACTIVITY

1. Write down Words That Describe Me (10-20words)

2. A Portrait of Yourself
The best thing(s) I ever did was (were) _______________________________________

• I wish I could lose my fear of _______________________________________________

• I know I have the talent to _________________________________________________

• I enjoy people who _______________________________________________________

• I admire ________________________________________________________________

• I feel most productive when ________________________________________________

• I am motivated by ________________________________________________________

• I almost never ___________________________________________________________

• My idea of fun is _________________________________________________________

• Work is exciting when _____________________________________________________

• The best advice I ever got was ______________________________________________

• The thing I value most is __________________________________________________

• If money were no object, I would ____________________________________________

Page 13
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

TRUE OR FALSE

1. The self is commonly defined by the following characteristics

2. Unitary in that it is the outer of all experiences and thoughts that run through a
certain person
3. Gender is one of those loci of the self that is subject to alteration, change, and
development.
4. Men and women in their growth and development engage actively in the
shaping of the self;
5. Mead and Vygotsky, the way that human persons develop is with the use of
language acquisition and interaction with others
6. Every self has two faces: Moi and Personne;
7. Socrates was the first philosopher who ever engaged in a systematic questioning
about the self.
8. Plato supported the idea that man is a dual nature of body and soul
9. Augustine agreed that man is of a bifurcated nature
10. Private. Each person sorts out information, no feelings and no emotions, and
thought processes within the self.

Page 14
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

Lesson 3: The Self as Cognitive Construct

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. Identify the different ideas in psychology about the “self”;

2. Create your own definition of the “self” based on the definitions from psychology; and

3. Analyze the effects of various factors identified in psychology in the formation of the “self.”

ABSTRACTION
 There are various definitions of the “self” and other similar or interchangeable concepts
in psychology.
 Other concepts similar to self are identity and self-concept:
 Identity is composed of personal characteristics, social roles, and responsibilities, as well
as affiliations that define who one is.
 Self-concept is what basically comes to your mind when you are asked about who you
are.
 Self, identity, and self-concept are not fixed in one-time frame.
 Carl Rogers captured this idea in his concept of self-schema or our organized system or
collection of knowledge about who we are.

Theories generally see the self and identity as mental constructs, created and recreated in
memory.

Freud saw the self, its mental processes, and one’s behavior as the results of the interaction
between the Id, the Ego, and the Superego.

There are (3) three Reasons why self and identity are social products:

1.We do not create ourselves out of nothing. Society helped in creating the foundations of who
we are.

2.Whether we like to admit it or not, we actually need others to affirm and reinforce who we
think we are.

Page 15
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

3.What we think is important to us may also have been influenced by what is important in our
social or historical context.

o Social interaction and group affiliation are vital factors in creating our self-
concept especially in the aspect of providing us with our social identity;
o There are times when we are aware of our self-concepts; this is also called self-
awareness;
o Carver and Scheier identified two types of self that we can be aware of:

1)the private self or your internal standards and private thoughts and feelings; and

2)the public self or your public image commonly geared toward having a good
presentation of yourself to others.

Self-awareness also presents us with at least (3) three other self-schema:

•The “actual” self is who you are at the moment

•The “ideal” self is who you like to be

•The “ought” self is who you think you should be

-Self-awareness may be positive or negative depending on the circumstances and our

next course of action.

-Our group identity and self-awareness also has a great impact on our self-esteem,
defined as our own positive or negative perception or evaluation of ourselves.

One of the ways in which our social relationship affects our self-esteem is through social
comparison:

•The downward social comparison is by comparing ourselves with those who are worse
off than us.

•The upward social comparison which is comparing ourselves with those who are better
off than us.

There is a thin line between high self-esteem and narcissism and there are a lot of tests
and measurements for self-esteem like the Rosenberg scale.

-Though self-esteem is a very important concept related to the self, studies have shown
that it only has a correlation, not causality, to positive outputs and outlook.

Page 16
 AGUSAN DEL SUR COLLEGE, INC.
Bayugan City, 8502 Caraga, Philippines
Telefax (085) 231-2150

-Programs, activities, and parenting styles to boost self-esteem should only be for
rewarding good behavior and other achievements and not for the purpose of merely
trying to make children feel better about themselves or to appease them when they
get angry or sad.

ACTIVITY:

Direction: Please correctly answer the following given question.

1. Choose 3 different ideas in psychology about the “self”; and explained (15 points
each)
2. Your own definition of the “self” (20 points)
3. Three Reasons why self and identity are social products (5 points each)
4. ___________saw the self, its mental processes, and one’s behavior as the results of the
interaction between the Id, the Ego, and the Superego
5. The ________self is who you like to be
6. The _________self is who you think you should be
7. The _________self is who you think you should be
8. _________________________ are vital factors in creating our self-concept
especially in the aspect of providing us with our social identity.
9. There are times when we are aware of our self-concepts; this is also
________________.
10. __________________identified two types of self that we can be aware of:

Page 17