Southwestern College of Maritime, Business and Technology, Inc.

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SUBJECT: Understanding The Self MODULE #: 4

DATE & TIME: TEACHER: Ms. Princes Jhoy G. Batanes

I. TOPIC: Psychological Perspective of the Self

II. TARGET OUTCOMES:

The learner shall be able to:
1. Explain the psychological concepts about the Self from various theories.
2. Develop an understanding about the different psychological orientation about the self.
3. Conduct a reflective thought in interpreting the development of one’s self.

I. MATERIALS NEEDED:
To accomplish exercises and activities, you need the following: black pen, pencil and/or other writing
materials and other available references.

III. GEAR UP YOUR MIND

Knowing oneself is critical to being an effective member of society as well as being successful in
life, work, and relationships. A person’s personal identity influences everything he does and it changes and
evolves over time.

This chapter presents some psychological perspectives to help a person deepen his understanding
and appreciation for who he is as an individual. In order to interpret and engage with the social world,
individuals must understand how they relate to others. Self-other understanding forms the backbone of
social cognition and is a central concept one must look into. By studying perspectives/theories from a
diverse range of discipline, one’s understanding of how he relates to others in a social word is expanded.

Current views of the self in psychology position the self as playing an important part in human
motivation, cognition, and social identity. The self has many facets that help make up integral parts of it
such as self-awareness, self-esteem, self-knowledge, and self-perception. All parts of the self-help people
to alter, change, add, and modify aspects of their selves in order to gain social acceptance in society.

In psychology, the notion of the self refers to a person’s experience as a simple, unitary,
autonomous being that is separate from others. The experience of the self includes consciousness

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physicality, as well as one’s inner character and emotional life. Everyone has an experience of self. People
also differ in their experience of self as they age and develop. Evidence indicates that people are not born
with a sense of self, but that the notion that one is a separate and autonomous being is one that children
must develop. The senses of self which people children develop may also differ from the mature one they
will attain when they are older. At this point, it is imperative to investigate several psychological perspective
of the self in order to understand “WHO AM I?”

LEWIS MICHAEL: THE EXISTENTIAL SELF

Michael suggests that development of a concept of self has two aspects, the existential self and
the categorical self. The existential self is the most basic part of the self-scheme or the self-concept, the
sense of being separate and distinct from others and the awareness of the constancy of the self. The child
realized that he exists separately from others and that he continues to exist over time and space. According
to Michael, awareness of the existential self begins as young as two to three months old and arises in part
due to the relation the child has with the world.

The categorical self. Having realized that he exists as a separate experience being, the child
becomes aware that he is also an object in the world. Just as other objects, including people, have
properties that can be experienced like big, small, red, or smooth, so the child is becoming aware of himself
as an object which can be experiences and which has properties.

CARL ROGERS’ SELF THEORY

Carl Rogers believes that the self-concept has three different components. These are 1) self-
image-the view you have of yourself, 2) self-steem or self-worth – how much value you place on yourself,
and 3) ideal self- what you wish you were really like.

Self-image is the real self- how you see yourself. A person’s self-image is affected by many factors,
such as parental influences, friends, the media and the like. Typically, young people describe themselves
more in terms of personal traits, whereas older people feel defined to greater extent by their social roles.

Self-esteem - the extent to which you value yourself, also known as self-worth, refers to the extent
to which you accept or approve of yourself or how much you value yourself. Self-esteem always involves a
degree of evaluation and you may have either a positive or negative view of yourself.

High self-esteem is when you have a positive view of yourself. This tends to lead to confidence in
your own abilities, self-acceptance, not worrying about what other think of you, and optimism. Low self-

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esteem, on the other hand, is when you have a negative view of yourself. This tends to lead to lack of self-
confidence, want to be or like someone else, always worrying what others might think, and pessimism.

Even though self-esteem might fluctuate, there are times when you continue to believe good things
about yourself even when evidence to the contrary exists. This is known as the perseverance effect.

Ideal self is what you would like to be. If there is a mismatch between how you see yourself (your
self-image) and what you would like to be (your ideal self), then this is likely to affect how much you value
yourself. Your ideal self may not be consistent with what actually happens in your life and experiences.
Hence, a difference may exist between your ideal self and actual experience. This is called incongruence.
When your ideal self and self-image are consistent or very similar, a state of congruence exists.

Rogers believed that for a person to achieve self-actualization, he must be in a state of

congruence. Michael Argyle gives four (4) major factors which influence the development of self-
actualization. These are: 1) the ways in which others reach to us, 2) how we think we compare to others, 3)
our social roles, and 4) the extent to which we identify with other people.

WILLIAM JAMES’ CONCEPT OF SELF: THE ME –SELF AND THE I-SELF

William James, an American philosopher and psychologist, has been labeled as the “Father of
American Psychology.” James’ theory of the SELF divided a person’s mental picture of self into two (2)
categories – the “ME” and the “I”. The “ME” can be thought of as a separate individual a person refers to
when describing his personal experiences; while the “I” is the self that knows who he is and what he has
done in his life. Both concepts are depicted in the statement: “I know it was me who read the book.” He
called the “ME: as part of the self – the empirical self- and the “I” part as the pure EGO. For James, the “I”
part of the self is the thinking self which cannot be further divided. He links this part of the self to the soul of
a person, or what is now thought of as the mind.

James further divided the “ME” part of self into the three (3) selves, the material self, the social self,
and the spiritual self.

Material Self. The material self consists of things that belong to a person or entities to which a
person belongs. Thus, the things like the body, family, clothes, money, and such make up the material self.
For James, the core of the material self is the body. Second to the body, James felt a person’s clothes are
one way he expresses who he feels he is. Clothes are a way to show status, thus contributing to the
formation and maintenance of one’s self-image. Likewise, money and family are critical parts of the material
self. The loss of family are critical parts of the material self. The loss of a family member or money can
change one’s self-image as well.

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 Social Self. The social self is what a person is in a given social situation. For James, people
change how they act depending on the social situation that they are in. He believes that people have as
many social selves as the social situations they participate in. For example, a person may act in a different
way in school when compared to how that same person may act when he is with a group of friends. James
also believes that in a given social group, a person’s social self may be divided even further.

Spiritual Self. The spiritual self is who a person is at his core. The spiritual self is more concrete or
permanent than the other two selves. The spiritual self is the subjective and most intimate self. Aspects of
the person’s spiritual self includes things like his personality, core values, and conscience that do not
typically change throughout his lifetime. The spiritual self involves introspection or looking inward to deeper
spiritual, moral, or intellectual questions without the influence of objective thoughts. For James, achieving a
high level of understanding one’s spiritual self is more rewarding than satisfying the needs of the social and
material selves.

CARL JUNG: THE SELF AS THE CENTRAL ARCHETYPE

Archetypes are a concept introduces by the Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung. He believed that
archetypes are models of people, behaviors, or personalities. Archetypes are inborn tendencies that play a
role in influencing human behavior. Jung believed that the human psyche is made up of three (3)
components- the ego, the personal unconscious, and the collective unconscious.

According to Jung, the ego represents the conscious mind while the personal unconscious
contains memories including those that have been suppressed. The collective unconscious is a unique
component which serves as a form of psychological inheritance. It contains all the knowledge and
experiences shared as a species. Jung believed that these archetypes are inherited in much the same way
as the way instinctive patterns are inherited.

Archetypes can be unlearned. They function to organize how certain things are experienced. Jung
identified four (4) major archetypes. These are the persona, the shadow, the anima or animus, and the self.
The Persona is how a person presents himself to the world. The word “persona” is derived from a Latin
word which means “mask”. The persona represents all of the different social masks that a person wears
among various groups and situations. It acts to shield the ego from negative images. The Shadow is an
archetype that consists of the self and life instincts. The shadow is composed of repressed ideas,
weaknesses, desires, instincts and shortcomings. The shadow forms out of a person’s attempts to adapt to
cultural norms and expectations. It also contains all of the things that are unacceptable not only to society
but also to one’s own personal morals and values. It might include things such as envy, greed, prejudice,
hate, and aggression. It is often described as the darker side of the psyche. The Anima or Animus

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represents the “true self” rather than the image one presents to others. According to Jung, the animus
represents the masculine aspect in women, while the anima represents the feminine aspect in men. The
Self represents the unified unconsciousness and consciousness of a person. The self-archetype represents
the unified psyche as a whole. To Jung, the self is the most important and difficult archetype to understand.
It is the product of individuation which is defined as the process of integrating one’s personality.

Jung mentioned two (2) centers of personality – the “Ego” and the “Self”. The Ego is the center of
conscious identity while the Self is the center of the total personality. The Self is both the whole and the
center. Jung also called the Self an “image dei” – image of God. The ultimate aim, for Jung, is for a person
to achieve a sense of cohesive self that would eventually lead to self-actualization.

SIGMUND FREUD: ID, EGO, AND SUPEREGO

The Austrian physician, Sigmund Freud, is best known for his theory that the human psyche
(personality) is structured into three (3) aspects- the ID, EGO, and SUPEREGO- all developing at different
stages of the personality comprises unique features, they interact to form a whole, and each part makes a
relative contribution to a person’s behavior.

THE ID. The ID is the primitive and instinctive component of personality. It consists of all the
inherited (biological) components of personality present at birth, including the sex (life) instinct. The ID is
the impulsive and unconscious part of the psyche which responds directly and immediately to the instincts.
The personality of the newborn child is all ID and only later does it develop an EGO and SUPEREGO. The
ID remains infantile in its function throughout a person’s life and does not change with time or experience.
The ID operates on the pleasure principle which is the idea that every wishful impulse should be satisfied
immediately regardless of consequences. The ID engages in primary process thinking, illogical, irrational,
and fantasy oriented.

THE EGO. The EGO is the part of the ID which has been modified by the direct influence of the
external world. The EGO develops to mediate between the unrealistic ID and the external real world. It is
the decision-making component of personality. Ideally, EGO works by reason, whereas the ID is chaotic
and unreasonable. The EGO operates according to the reality principle, working out realistic ways of
satisfying the ID’s demands often compromising or postponing satisfaction to avoid negative
consequences. The EGO considers social realities and norms, etiquette and rules in deciding how to
behave. Like the ID, the EGO seeks pleasure and avoids pain by devising a realistic strategy to obtain it.
The EGO has no concept of right or wrong. Something is goof simply if it achieves its end of satisfying
without causing harm to itself or the ID. The EGO engages in secondary process thinking which is rational,
realistic, and oriented towards problem solving.

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 THE SUPEREGO. The SUPEREGO incorporates the values and morals of society which are
learned from one’s parents and others. It develops around the age of 304 during the psychosexual
development stage. The SUPEREGO’s function is to control the ID’s impulses, especially those which
society forbids such as sex and aggression. It also has the function of persuading the EGO to turn to
moralistic goals rather than simply realistic ones and to strive for perfection. The SUPEREGO consists of
two (2) systems – the conscience and the ideal self. The conscience can punish the EGO ideal is an
imaginary picture of how one ought to be, how to treat other people and how to behave as a member of
society. The ideal self and conscience are largely determined in childhood from parental values and how
one is brought up.

Freud’s theory provides a person conceptualization of how personality is structured and how these
three different elements of personality function. In Freud’s view, a healthy personality results from a
balance in the dynamic interaction of the ID, EGO, and SUPEREGO. While the EGO has a tough job to do,
it does not have to act alone.

ERIK ERIKSON: THEORY OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Erikson’s (1959) theory of psychosocial development has eight (8) distinct stages, with five (5)
stages up to the age of eighteen (18) years, and three (3) further stages beyond adulthood. Like Freud and
other psychologists, Erikson maintained that personality develops in a predetermined order, and builds
upon each previous stage. This is called the epigenetic principle. During each stage, the person
experiences a psychosocial crisis which could have a positive or negative outcome for personality
development.

According to the theory, successful completion of each stage results in a healthy personality and
the acquisition of basic virtues. Basic virtues are characteristic strengths which the Ego can use to resolve
subsequent crises. Below is Erikson’s Stages of Psychological Development.

Stage Psychological Crisis Basic Virtue Age

1 Trust vs. Mistrust Hope 0–1½

2 Autonomy vs. Shame Will 1½-3

3 Initiative vs. Guilt Purpose 3 -5

4 Industry vs. Inferiority Competency 5 -12

5 Identity vs. Role Confusion Fidelity 12 – 18

6 Intimacy vs. Isolation Love 18 – 40

7 Generativity vs. Stagnation Care 40 – 65

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 8 Ego Integrity vs. Despair Wisdom 65 +

Trust vs. Mistrust. From experience with nurturers, the infant develops a sense of basic trust or
mistrusts. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of hope. Failure to acquire the virtue of hope will lead
to the development of fear.

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt. In the first three years of life, the child learns and practices all
kinds of new skills, emerging with a feeling of autonomy (self-regulation) or of doubt and shame, over his
abilities to cope with events. If children in this stage are encouraged and supported in their increased
independence, they become more confident and secure in their own ability to survive in the world. If
children are criticized, overly controlled, not given the opportunity to assert themselves, they begin to feel
inadequate in their ability to survive. This may lead to lack of self-esteem and feel a sense of shame or
doubt in their abilities. The aim, therefore, should be “self-control without a loss of self-esteem. Success in
this stage will lead to the virtue of will.

Initiative vs. Guilt. The 4 – to – 5- year old’s success in exploring the environment and in dealing
with peers can lead to a sense of initiative and self-confidence. Failure can produce feelings of guilt.
Central to this stage is play, as it provides children with the opportunity to explore their interpersonal skills.
A healthy balance between initiative and guilt is important. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of
purpose.

Industry vs. Inferiority. Between the ages of 6 and 13, the focus shifts from family to school where
the child can develop the self-concept either of industriousness or of inferiority. Teachers begin to take an
important role in the child’s life as they teach the child specific skills. It is at this stage that the child’s peer
group will gain greater significance and will become a major source of the child’s self-esteem. If children
are encouraged and reinforced for their initiative, they begin to fell industrious (competent) and feel
confident in their ability to achieve goals. If restricted by parents or teachers, then the child begins to fear
inferior, doubting his own abilities and therefore may not reach his/her potential. At times, some failure may
be necessary so that the child can develop some sense of humility and modesty. Success in this stage will
lead to the virtue of competence.

Identity vs. Role Confusion. In adolescence, the developmental task is identity formation. Failure to
create a firm sense of self leads to confusion about one’s identity. At this stage, adolescents search for a
sense of self and personal identity, through an intense exploration of personal values, beliefs, and goals.
This is a major stage of development where the child has to learn the roles he will occupy as an adult. It is
during this stage that the adolescent will re-examine his identity to find out exactly who he/she is. At the
end of this stage, “a reintegrated sense of self of what one wants to do or be, and of one’s appropriate sex

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role” should happen. Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of fidelity. Fidelity involves being able to
commit one’s self to others, even when there may be ideological differences. Failure to establish a sense of
identity within society can lead to role confusion or identity crisis.

Intimacy vs. Isolation. The great challenge of young adulthood is to establish stable love
relationships, and the outcome is intimacy or isolation and loneliness. At this period, the major conflict
centers on forming intimate, loving relationships with other people. The young adult now explores
relationships that lead to longer-term commitments with someone other than a family member. Successful
completion of this stage can result in happy relationships and a sense of commitment., safety and care
within a relationships. Avoiding intimacy, fearing commitment and relationships can lead to isolation,
loneliness and at times depression. Success will lead to the virtue of love.

Generativity vs. Stagnation. (ages 40 to 65). Citizenship, work, and family formation are the
primary tasks of mature adulthood. They lead to generativity, in contrast to the self-absorption and
stagnation of those who do not contribute to the well-being of others. Generativity refers to “making your
mark” on the world by creating or nurturing things that will outlast an individual. Man gives back to society
through raising his children, being productive at work, and becoming involved in community activities and
organizations. Success leads to feelings of usefulness and accomplishments, while failure results in
shallow involvement in the world. By failing to find a way to contribute, one becomes stagnant and feels
unproductive. Success in this phase will lead to the virtue of care.

Ego Integrity vs. Despair. (65 to death). Even the end of life poses a developmental challenge. As
a person grows older and becomes a senior citizen, he tends to slow down in productivity and explores life
as a retired individual. It is during this time he contemplates his accomplishments and develops integrity if
he sees himself as leading a successful life. Erikson described “ego integrity” as the acceptance of one’s
one and only life cycle as something that had to be and later as a sense of coherence and wholeness.
Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of wisdom. Wisdom enables a person to look back on his life
with a sense of closure and completeness, at the same time accepts death without fear.

ALBERT BANDURA: SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY- AN AGENTIC PERSPECTIVE

Psychologist Albert Bandura proposed a theory of human functioning that emphasizes the role of
self-beliefs which is known as the social cognition perspective. In this perspective, individuals are viewed
as self-organizing, proactive, self-reflecting, and self-regulating rather than as reactive organisms shaped
by environmental forces or driven by concealed inner impulses. Human thought and human action are
viewed as the product of a dynamic interplay of personal, behavioral, and environmental influences.

Agentic is the capacity for human beings to make choices in the world and see the world as agents
of change. To be agentic, one has choices over his actions and he strives to enable others to make

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informed, responsible decisions online. Human online connect people not machines. Individuals are
dedicated to their work because of the others they get to interact with throughout their creative processes.

The capacity to exercise control over the nature and quality of one’s life is the essence if
humanness. Bandura believes that to be an agent is to intentionally makes things happen y one’s actions.
Agency embodies the endowments, belief systems, self-regulatory capabilities and functions through which
personal influence is exercised. The core features of agency enable people to play a part in their self-
development, adaptation and self-renewal with changing times.

According to Bandura, people are sentient, purposive beings. Faced with prescribed tasks
demands, they act mindfully to make desired things happen rather than undergo happenings in which
situational forces active their sub-personal structures, to generate solutions. The core features of personal
agency address the issue of what it means to be human. An agent has to be not only a planner and fore-
thinker but a motivator and self-regulator as well. Having adopted an intention and an action plan, one
cannot simply sit back and wait for the appropriate performances to appear. Agency thus involves not only
the deliberative ability to make choices and actions plans, but the ability to give shape to appropriate
courses of action and to motivate and regulate their execution.

Moral agency forms an important part of self-directedness. A complete theory of moral agency
must link moral knowledge and reasoning to moral conduct. This requires an agentic theory of morality
rather than one confined mainly to knowledge about morality. Moral reasoning is translated into actions
through self-regulatory mechanisms which include moral judgment of the rightness or wrongness of
conduct evaluated against personal standards and situational circumstances.

Among the mechanisms of personal agency, none is more central or pervasive than people’s
beliefs in their capability to exercise some measures of control over their own actions and beliefs. Unless
people believe they can produce desired results and prevent detrimental ones by their actions, they have
little incentive to act or to persevere in the face of difficulties.

DONALD WINNICOTT: TRUE SELF vs. FALSE SELF

True self and false self are psychological concepts often used in connection with narcissism. The
concepts were introduced in 1960 by Donald Winnicott. True self is also known as real self, authentic self,
original self, and vulnerable self. On the other hand, false self is also known as fake self, idealized self, and
pseudo self. Winnicott used true self to describe a sense of self based on spontaneous and authentic
experience, and a feeling of being alive, having a real self. The false self, in contrast, Winnicott saw as a
defensive façade – one which in extreme cases could leave its holders lacking spontaneity nad feelings
dead and empty, behind a mere appearance of being real. The true self is represented by real feelings and

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desires while the false self is the side of the self that has change its behavior, repressed feelings, and
pushed needs aside in order to survive. According to Winnicott, children are very much attuned to their
parent’s feelings and needs. As the true self – the child’s real feelings, need, desire, and thoughts – are
pushed inside, the false self, thought and behavior patterns develop and stay with the adults. While the
adults used to be helpful, they often become a hindrance as the children get older and gain more
independence. While some psychologists view the true self as black and white, true self is good, false self
is bad. Others maintain there are two types of false self – a healthy false self and an unhealthy false self.

The healthy false self is described as one which allows someone to be functional in society. It
enables politeness and social courtesy even when may not feel like it. Put simply, a major component of
the healthy false self is an awareness of personal boundaries. A healthy false self is one that stays
committed to the true self, a useful self-production and a great shield.

The unhealthy false self is the one behind many dysfunctional behaviors including narcissism and
addiction. Winnicott defines the unhealthy false self as one that fits into society through forced compliance
rather than a desire to adapt. Real feelings and desires matter. They are what they are, and they are part of
who a person is.

ONE SELF OR MANY SELF

William James quotes: “A man has as many social selves as there are individuals who recognize
him and carry an image of him in their heads.” Roy Baumister adds: “The concept of the self loses its
meaning if a person has multiple selves.” The essence of self involves integration of diverse experiences
into a unity. In short, unity is one of the defining features of selfhood and identity.

Greg Henriques, in his blog on “One Self of Many Selves,” poses the questions: “What is the self?”
“Is there just one self in each person or does the person have many different selves?” When faced with
these questions most people respond initially: “There is just one self and that is the “ME”. A basic common-
sense response would be that there is single self which can initially be justified by the basic observation
that a person inhabits one body. Deeper analysis reveals that it is not just the physical body that is referred
to when talking about the self.

The self consists of three (3) related but separate domains. These are the experiential self, the
private self, and the public self.

The Experiential Self. This is the “theater of consciousness” which is very closely tied to memory.
It is the part of the self that disappears when one is in a deep sleep, flickers on and off when in a dream
and then comes back as one wakes up.

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 The Private Self. Consciousness system commonly called the “narrator” or interpreter. This is the
portion of a person’s being that verbally narrates what is happening and why. It is also the part that includes
the person’s self-concept, explicit beliefs, and values about the way the world functions. This is the
“autobiographical self.”

The Public Self or Persona . This refers to the public image that a person attempts to project to
others, which in turn interacts with how others actually see him.

Although the self is often thought of as a thing, the self is seen as a pattern of behavior over time.
In this view, the “I” is synonymous with what “I feel, I think, and I do across time.” When examined in this
light, then the idea that there are multiple self-states becomes clear in the sense that different things can be
done across time. Thinking of the self as a pattern of behavior blends into another key point, that there is a
multiplicity of self-states. It is also the case that the self is defined by roles which society has constructed.
How one experiences himself is largely influenced by how other see him because the sense of self is
shaped greatly by others.

In sum, there are many forces that influence and shape the sense of self. It is no surprise that
everyone experiences a multiplicity of self. Many people, however, struggle to form a stable healthy self
that serves as a coherent central system for the multiple self that emerge as a function of shifting moods,
biorhythms, roles situations, and relationships. The idea of a self is a chimera and that beneath the
apparent manifoldness of names and forms. It is ultimately ONE that has become the MANY.

REFERENCES Gl oria D. Ancheta, Ed.D, Understanding the Self (Who Am I?), 2019,
Wiseman’s Books Trading, Inc. pp. 54-69

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