Module 1

SELF UNDERSTANDING The Five factor model of Personality

• UNDERSTANDING WHAT YOUR
MOTIVES ARE.
• ALSO KNOWN AS SELF
CONCEPT- UNDERSTANDING
WHO YOU ARE AS A PERSON
• THESE ALL LEAD TO A
QUESTION, “WHO AM I?”

SELF CONCEPT
• PHYSICAL SELF- Who you are
physically is important to many
people. S
• SOCIAL SELF- how a person relates
to others.
• COMPETENT SELF-Competence is
the ability of a person to provide for
their basic needs.
• INNER SELF- The psychological
self, made up of the feelings and the
thoughts that a person has deep inside
them. Personality trait test results

PERSONALITY
CAN BE GROWN(LEARNED) OR GIVEN
(INNATE)

• Personality traits reflect people’s

characteristic patterns of thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors. Personality
traits imply consistency and stability—
someone who scores high on a specific
trait like Extraversion is expected to be
sociable in different situations and over
time.

Three criteria that characterize
personality trait.
• Consistency- To have
personality trait, individuals
must be somewhat consistent
across situations in their
behaviors related to the trait.
For example, if they are
talkative at home, they tend also
to be talkative at work.
• Stability- Individuals with a
trait are also somewhat stable
over time in behaviors related to
the trait. If they are talkative, for
example, at age 30, they will
also tend to be talkative at age
40.
• Individual differences-People
differ from one another on
behaviors related to the trait.
Using speech is not a
personality trait and neither is
walking on two feet—virtually
all individuals do these
activities, and there are almost
no individual differences. But
people differ on how frequently
they talk and how active they
are, and thus personality traits
such as Talkativeness and
Activity Level do exist.
Module 2
THE SELF ACCORDING TO
PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY DEFINED
• study of knowledge or wisdom
LATIN ROOTS: PHILO (wisdom).
AND SOPHIA (wisdom).
• THE QUEEN OF ALL SCIENCES
Philosophical foundations.
A. PHILOSOPHICAL
PERSPECTIVES ABOUT SELF
SOCRATES
• FROM: ATHENS, GREECE
• THE GREATEST INFLUENCE ON
EUROPEAN THOUGHT
• SOCRATIC METHOD
search for the correct/proper
definition of a thing.
• “KNOW THY SELF”
knowing or understanding oneself
should be more than the physical self,
or the body.
• SELF IS DICHOTOMOUS
composed of two things:
- physical realm or the one that is
changeable, temporal, and imperfect.
- The ideal realm is the one that is
imperfect and unchanging, eternal,
and immortal.
PLATO
• THREE PART SOUL/SELF:
REASON -human to think deeply, make wise
choices and achieve a true understanding of
eternal truths. Plato also called this as divine
essence.
PHYSICAL APPETITE - basic biological
needs of human
SPIRIT/PASSION- basic emotions of human
• THE VIEW OF THE SOUL
ST. AUGUSTINE • “IMPRESSION AND IDEAS “
• TWO REALMS OF THE BODY:
Impressions are the basic sensations of our
-God as the source of all reality and truth experience, the elemental data of our minds:
Through mystical experience, man is capable ideas are copies of impressions that include
of knowing eternal truths. thoughts and images that are built up from
our primary impressions through a variety of
-The sinfulness of man. relationships, once removed from reality.

The cause of sin or evil is an act of mans’ freewill. • “FICTIONAL SELF”

Moral goodness can only be achieved through
the grace of God. created to unify the mental events and
introduce order into an individual lives, but
RENE DESCARTES this “self” has no real existence.

• “COGITO ERGO SUM” SIGMUND FREUD

“I think, therefore I exist” • DUALISTIC VIEW OF SELF:
CONSCIOUS AND
UNCONSCIOUS
John Locke
The conscious self is governed by reality
• TABULA RASA-BLANK SLATE principle.
nurture side of human development. unconscious self is governed by pleasure
principle.
• SELF IS CONSCIOUSNESS. • THREE LEVELS OF THE MIND:
ID, EGO & SUPEREGO
• AN INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCES
THE SELF IN TWO WAYS:
Id. This is primarily based on the pleasure
1.FIND OUT WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A principle. It demands immediate satisfaction
PERSON. and is not hindered by societal expectations.

2.A person is a thinking, intelligent being Ego. The structure that is primarily based on
who has the abilities to reason and to reflect. the reality principle. This mediates between
the impulses of the id and restraints of the
DAVID HUME superego.
• HE ASSUMED THAT THERE IS
NO SELF! Superego. This is primarily dependent on
learning the difference between right and
there are only two distinct entities, wrong, thus it is called moral principle.
impressions and ideas Morality of actions is largely dependent on
childhood
upbringing particularly on rewards and Module 3
punishments.
THE SELF ACCORDING TO
SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
GILBERT RYLE
• SOCIOLOGY AND
• SELF AS A PATTERN BEHAVIOR ANTHROPOLOGY

tendency or disposition for a person to

behave in a certain way in certain BOTH DISCIPLINES CONTRIBUTE TO
circumstances. UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

• “CATEGORY OF MISTAKES” FOR Sociology, SELF IS THE PRODUCT

mistake happens when we speak about the
self as something independent of the physical
body: a purely mental entity existing in time
but not space
OF MODERN SOCIETY, SINCE IT IS
THE SCIENCE THAT STUDIES THE
DEVELOPMENT , STRUCTURE,
INTERACTION AND COLLECTIVE
BEHAVIOR OF HUMAN BEING.

WHILE ANTHROPOLOGY IS THE

IMMANUEL KANT
STUDY OF HUMANITY THAT LOOKS
• ” INDIVIDUAL SELF” AT BOTH PAST AND PRESENT OF
HUMAN CULTURE.
makes the experience of the world
• GEORGE HERBERT MEAD
comprehensible because it is responsible for
AND THE SOCIAL SELF
synthesizing the discreet data of sense
experience into a meaningful whole.
-AMERICAN PHILOSOPHER,
SOCIOLOGIST AND PSYCHOLOGIST
PAUL AND PATRICIA CHURCHLAND
-WELL KNOWN FOR HIS THEORY OF
• PEOPLE THINK ABOUT
SELF
THEMSELVES

self is a product of brain activity. -SELF IS THE SUM TOTAL OF

CONSCIOUS PERCEPTION OF
• THEY FOCUS ON NEURO
PHILOSOPHY THEIR IDENTITY AS DISTINCT FROM
OTHERS.
man’s brain is responsible for the identity
known as self. -SELF IS SOCIAL EMERGENT.
MEANING, SELF IS A PRODUCT OF
SOCIAL INTERACTION AND NOT
MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY, LOGICAL OR BIOLOGICAL IN NATURE.

• MIND AND BODY PROBLEM

division between the “mind” and the “body”

is a product of confused thinking.
SELF IS SOMETHING THAT GENERALIZED OTHER- THROUGH THE
UNDERGOES DEVELOPMENT REALIZATIONS OF THE
BECAUSE IT IS NOT PRESENT
INSTANLY AT BIRTH. PERSON THAT THE SOCIETY HAS
CULTURAL NORMS, BELIEFS AND
THE SELF ACTIVATES EVERY VALUES, HE/SHE HAS BASIS ON HOW
ENCOUNTER FROM OTHER SELVES TO EVALUATE OR ASSES
THAT RESULTS TO SOCIAL HIM/HERSELF.
EXPERIENCE AND ACTIVITY.
NOW, MEAD EMPHASIZED THAT
ONE HAS TO HAVE OTHERS TO SELF’S RESPONSE IS ACTIVE SINCE A
EXPERIENCE THEMSELVES. PERSON RESPONDS TO THE ATTITUDE
OF OTHERS RESPECTIVELY.
THUS, SELF EMERGENCE OF SELF
THAT WAS DEVELOPED THROUGH THEREFORE, HE IDENTIFIED TWO
THREE FORMS. PHASES OF SELF:

1. the phase which reflects the attitude of

MEAD’S STAGES OF SELF- the generalized other or the “me”; and
FORMATION 2. the phase that responds to the attitude
1. PREPARATORY STAGE- THE of generalized other or the “I”.
SELF DEVELOPS OVER TIME
THROUGH SOCIAL
INTERACTION AND The Self as a product of modern
EXPERIENCE. CHILDREN’S society among other
BASIS: IMITATION. SYMBOLS constructions by Georg Simmel
ARE USED FOR
COMMUNICATION.
GEORG SIMME
2. PLAY STAGE- SYMBOLS ARE
USED FOR COMMUNICATIONS, GERMAN SOCIOLOGIST,
CHILDREN TEND TO ROLE PHILOSOPHER AND CRITIC
PLAY AND PRETEND. THE SELF
HIS INTEREST IS ON HOW THE
BEGINS TO CREATE ROLES AT A
MODERN CULTURE IMPACTS TO
GIVEN SITUATION.
INDIVIDUAL’S SUBJECTIVE
3. GAME STAGE-THE CHILD DOES EXPERIENCE
THE ROLE-TAKE. HE/SHE
HE BELIEVES THAT THERE IS
RESPONDS TO A GIVEN TASK.
SOMETHING CALLED HUMAN
THE CHILD IS AWARE OF HIS
NATURE THAT IS INNATE TO THE
SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT.
INDIVIDUAL

MOST OF OUR INTERACTIONS ARE

INDIVIDUAL MOTIVATIONS
 The Self as a
product of/modern
society among
constructions
other
Simmel as a social thinker made a
distinction between subjective and
objective culture. The individual or
subjective culture refers to the ability to
embrace, use, and feel culture.
Objective culture is made up of elements
that become separated from the
individual or group’s control and
identified as separate objects.
Interrelated forces in Modern Society that
tend to Increase Objective Culture
Urbanization is the process that moves
people from country to city living.
This paved way to the organization of labor
or increased division of labor, which
demands specializations wherein this creates
more objective culture.
Consumption of products has an
individuating and trivializing effect
Products used in the modernity to express and
produced the self is also changing which are
separated from subjectivity (subjective
culture) due to division of labor and market
economy.
Money creates a universal value system
wherein every commodity can be
understood. Money also increases
individual freedom by pursuing diverse
activities and by increasing the options
for self expression. Money also makes
the individual to be less attached to the
commodities because the individual
tends to understand and experience their
possession less in terms of their intrinsic
qualities and more of their objective and
abstract worth. Additionally, money
also discouraged intimate ties with
people. Money comes to stand in the
place of almost everything – and this
includes relationship! Money further
discourages intimate ties by
encouraging a culture of calculation.
Simmel observed that social networks also
changed. Group affiliations in urban is
definitely different from rural settings
wherein the relationship are strongly
influenced by family. An individual tends to
seek membership to the same group which
makes the family as basic socialization
structure. This natural inclination to join
groups is called by Simmel as organic
motivation and the grouping is called primary
group. This group is based on ties of affection
and personal loyalty endure over long periods
of time, and involve multiple aspects of a
person’s life.
On the other hand, in the modern urban
settings, group membership is due to rational
motivation or membership due to freedom of
choice. This characterized the secondary
group which is goal and utilitarian oriented,
with a narrow range of activities, over limited
time spans. As a result, it is more likely that
an individual will develop unique
personalities. Moreover, Simmel said that a
complex web of group affiliations produces
role conflicts and blasé attitude. Role conflict
is a situation that demands a person of two or
more roles that clash with one another. Blasé
attitude is an attitude of absolute boredom
and lack of concern. This is the inability or
limited ability to provide emotional
investment to other people.
 The Self and Person in the
Contemporary Anthropology
The Four Subfields of Anthropology
Archeology. Focus on the study of the past
and how it may have contributed to the
present ways of how people conduct their
daily lives. Archeologists have so far
discovered the unique ways in which human
beings adapted to the changes in their
environment in order for them to survive.
Among their discoveries around the world is
the species, homo sapiens did not become
extinct because of their ability to think, use
tools and learn from experience. In relating to
the contemporary society, people still aim for
survival, for their basic needs to be fulfilled
and to live legacy to their society.
Biological Anthropology. Focus on how the
human body adapts to the different earth
environments. Among the activities of
Anthropologists are identification of
probable causes of diseases, physical
mutation, and death, evolution, and
comparison of dead and living primates.
They are interested in explaining how the
biological characteristics of human being
affects their way of living. Accordingly,
human beings at present still share the same
biological strengths and vulnerabilities. Like
eating balanced nutrients and minerals that
are beneficial to all human beings while
being exposed to a virus in a pandemic might
cause negative implications to many.
Linguistic Anthropology. Focused on using
language as means to discover a group’s
manner of social interaction and their
worldview. Anthropologists in this field want
to discover how language is used to create
and share meanings, to form ideas and
concepts and to promote social change.
Furthermore , they also study how language
and modes of communication changes over
time.
Cultural Anthropology. Focused in
knowing what makes one group’s manner of
living forms an essential part of the member’s
personal and societal identity. This
encompasses the principles of Theory of
Cultural Determinism which suggests that
the human nature is determined by the kind
of culture he is born and grew up in. Cultural
diversities are manifested in different ways
and different levels of dept.
The following are the ways in which culture
may manifest itself in people:
Symbols. These are the words, gestures,
pictures or objects that have recognized or
accepted meaning in a particular culture.
Example: colors have similar meaning across
all cultures.
Heroes. These are persons from the past or
present who have characteristics that are
important in culture. They may be real of
work of fictions. Example: Fiction – Thor,
Captain America; Real – Jose Rizal,
Apolinario Mabini.
Rituals. These are activities participated by a
group of people for the fulfilment of desired
objectives and are concerned to be socially
essential. Example: Wedding, fiesta,
Christmas celebration, graduation, etc.
Values. These are considered to be the core
of every culture. These are unconscious,
neither discuss or observed, and can only be
inferred from the way people act and react to
situations. Example: hospitality, respect for
elders etc.
The field of Anthropology offers another way
by which a person can view themselves. As
self is formed or determined by the past and
present condition, by biological
characteristics, the communication and
language use, and the lifestyle we choose to
live.
The Self Embedded in the
Culture Clifford Geertz
Clifford Geertz was an Anthropology
Professor at the University of Chicago. He
studied different cultures and explored on the
conception of the self in his writings entitled,
“The Impact of the Concept of Culture on the
Concept of Man” (1966) in his fieldwork at
Java, Bali and Morrocco.
The analysis of Geertz (1966) in his cultural
study about the description of self in Bali is
that the Balinese person is extremely
concerned not to present anything individual
(distinguishing him or her from others) in
social life but to enact exclusively a culturally
prescribed role or mask. In one instance,
Geertz (1973) gave an example of the stage
fright that pervades persons in Bali because
they must not be publicly recognizable as
individual selves and actors points precisely
to the fact that agency or an ability to act in
one’s own account is an integral ability of
human beings—an ability which continually
threatens the culturally established norm of
non individuality
Module 4
THE SELF ACCORDING TO
PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology is a scientific study of mental
processes and human behavior. It aims to
describe, analyze, predict, control human
behavior in general. Self is an essential
construct in psychology because it fulfills the
goals of the discipline in studying human and
the reason for their action. Many
psychologists tried to define the origin of
mental processes and behavior but they all
settle down with numerous theories and
assumptions. The following descriptions on
the formation of self were presented for you
to have a clear picture on the psychological
perspective of self.
THE SELF AS COGNITIVE
CONSTRUCTION
The cognitive aspect of the self is known as
self-concept. Self-concept is defined as
self-knowledge, a cognitive structure
that includes beliefs about personality
traits, physical characteristics, abilities,
values, goals, and roles, as well as the
knowledge that an individual exist as
individuals. As humans grow and
develop, self-concept becomes abstract
and more complex.
• According to the psychologist Dr. Bruce
A. Bracken in 1992, there are six
specific domains that are related to self-
concept these are:
1) the social domain or the ability of
the person to interact with others;
2) the competence domain or the
ability to meet the basic needs;
3) the affect domain or the awareness
of the emotional states;
 4) the physical domain or the feelings
about looks, health, physical
condition, and overall appearance;
5) academic domain or the success or
failure in the school; and
6) family domain or how well one
function within the family unit.
WILLIAM JAMES AND THE ME-
SELF AND I-SELF
William James is a well-known figure in
Psychology who is considered as the founder
of functionalism. He brought prominence to
U.S. psychology through the publication of
The Principles of Psychology (1890) that
made him more influential than his
contemporaries in the field.
James made a clear distinction between ways
of approaching the self – the knower (the pure
or the I – Self) and the known (the objective
or the Me – Self). The function of the knower
(I-Self) according to James must be the agent
of experience. While the known (Me-Self)
have three different but interrelated aspects of
empirical self (known today as self-concept):
the Me viewed as material, the Me viewed as
social, and the Me viewed as spiritual in
nature.
The material self is consists of everything an
individual call uniquely as their own, such as
the body, family, home or style of dress. On
the other hand, social self refers to the
recognition an individual get from other
people. Lastly, spiritual self refers to the
individual inner or subjective being.
REAL AND IDEAL SELF
• Carl Rogers is best known as the
founder of client-centered therapy and
considered as one of the prominent
humanistic or existential theorists in
personality. His therapy aimed to make the
person achieve balance between their self-
concept (real-self) and ideal self.
The real self includes all those aspects of
one's identity that are perceived in awareness.
These are the things that are known to oneself
like the attributes that an individual
possesses. The ideal self is defined as one’s
view of self as one wishes to be. This contains
all the aspirations or wishes of an individual
for themselves.
• A wide gap between the ideal self and
the self-concept indicates incongruence and
an unhealthy personality.
Psychologically healthy individuals perceive
little discrepancy between their self-concept
and what they ideally would like to be.
MULTIPLE VERSUS UNIFIED SELF
• According to Multiple Selves Theory,
there are different aspects of the self exist in
an individual. From here, we can say that self
is a whole consist of parts, and these parts
manifest themselves when need arise.
• Gregg Henriques proposed the Tripartite
Model of Human Consciousness, wherein
he described that self is consist of three
related, but also separable domains these
are the experimental self, private self, and
public self.
The experiential self or the theater of
consciousness is a domain of self that
defined as felt experience of being. This
includes the felt consistency of being
across periods of time. It is tightly
associated with the memory. This is a part
of self that disappears the moment that an
 individual enter deep sleep and comes back
when they wake up.
The private self consciousness system or the
narrator/interpreter is a portion of self that
verbally narrates what is happening and tries
to make sense of what is going on. The
moment that you read this part, there is
somewhat like a “voice” speaking in your
head trying to understand what this concept is
all about.
Lastly, the public self or Persona, the domain
of self that an individual shows to the public,
and this interacts on how others see an
individual.
Henriques’ Tripartite Model attempts to
capture the key domains of consciousness,
both within the self and between others.
• Unified being is essentially connected to
consciousness, awareness, and agency. A
well-adjusted person is able to accept and
understood the success and failure that they
experienced. They are those kinds of
person who continually adjust, adapt,
evolve and survive as an individual with
integrated, unified, multiple selves.
TRUE VS. FALSE SELF
Donald Winnicott
• Donald Winnicott was a pediatrician
in London who studied Psychoanalysis with
Melanie Klein, a renowned personality
theorist and one of the pioneers in object
relations and development of personality in
childhood.
• According to him, false self is an
alternative personality used to protect an
individual’s true identity or one’s ability to
“hide” the real self. The false self is activated
to maintain social relationship as anticipation
of the demands of others. Compliance with
the external rules or following societal norms
is a good example of this. false self can be a
healthy self if it is perceived as functional for
the person and for the society and being
compliant without the feeling of betrayal of
true self. On the other hand, unhealthy false
self happens when an individual
feels forced compliance in any situation.
• On the contrary, true self has a sense
of integrity and connected wholeness that is
rooted in early infancy. The baby creates
experiences of a sense of reality and sense of
life worth living. Winnicott claimed that true
self can be achieved by good parenting that is
not necessarily a perfect parenting.
THE SELF AS PRO ACTIVE AND
AGENTIC
• Albert Bandura is a psychologist and
Professor Emeritus of Social Science in
Psychology at Stanford University. He
is known for his theory of social
learning by means of modeling. He is
famous for his proposed concept of self-
efficacy.
• His personality theory, The Social
Cognitive Theory asserts that a person is
both proactive and agentic, which means
that we have the capacity to exercise
control over our life. This theory
emphasized that human beings are
proactive, self-regulating, self-
reflective, and self-organizing.
• Self as proactive means an individual
have control in any situation by making
things happen. They act as agent in doing or
making themselves as they are. Agency is a
defining feature of modern selfhood. Agents
assume some degree of ownership and
control over things, both internally (I control
my own thoughts) and externally (I make
things happen in the environment). The
ability of an individual to pursue their goals
in life is an example of agentic approach to
self.
 According to Bandura (1989), self-
efficacy beliefs determine how people feel,
think, motivate themselves and behave. Such
beliefs produce these diverse effects through
four major processes. They include cognitive,
motivational, affective and selection
processes. A strong sense of efficacy
enhances human accomplishment and
personal well-being in many ways.
• In contrast Bandura (1989) said that
people who doubt their capabilities shy away
from difficult tasks which they view as
personal threats. They have low aspirations
and weak commitment to the goals they
choose to pursue. When faced with difficult
tasks, they dwell on their personal
deficiencies, on the obstacles they will
encounter, and all kinds of adverse outcomes
rather than concentrate on how to perform
successfully. They fall easy victim to stress
and depression.
Module 5
SELF IN THE WESTERN AND
ORIENTAL/EASTERN
WESTERN AND ORIENTAL/EASTERN
THOUGHT
Cultural differences and environment creates
different perceptions of the self. The most
common distinction between people and
cultures is the Eastern-Western distinction.
Eastern are known as the Asian countries, and
Western represents the Europe and Northern
America. It must be noted that countries who
are geographically closer to each other my
share commonalities, but factors that may
create differences must be considered.
Individualistic VS. Collective Self
Understanding individualism and
collectivism could help in the understanding
of the cross-cultural values of a person. Not
every culture is at one end or the other of the
spectrum, but the majority tend to favor one
over the other in everyday life.
INDIVIDUALISTIC SELF
• Individualism is not the idea that individuals
should live like isolated entity, nor the idea
that they should never get or give help from
others, nor the idea that an individual never
owes anything to other people.
• Individualism is the idea that the
fundamental unit of the human species that
thinks, lives, and acts toward goals is the
individual. This means that we can form our
own independent judgments, act on our own
thoughts, and disagree with others.
Each adult individual can consider what is in
his own best interests. Each can act on his
own private motivations and values and can
judge other people as good people to form
relationships with, or as bad people to be
avoided. Each can decide whether to
cooperate with others to solve problems.
Each can choose to think for himself about
the conclusions that the majority of others in
a group come to, accepting or rejecting their
conclusions as indicated by his own thought.
Example of the description would include an
individual identifies primarily with self,
with the needs of the individual being
satisfied before those of the group. Looking
after and taking care of ourselves, being
self-sufficient, guarantees the well-being of
the group. Independence and self-reliance
are greatly stressed and valued.
• In general, people tend to distance
themselves psychologically and
emotionally from each other. One may
choose to join groups, but group
membership is not essential to one’s identity
 or success. Individualist characteristics are
often associated with men and people in
urban settings. Western cultures are known
to be individualistic.
COLLECTIVE SELF
• Collectivism is the idea that the
fundamental unit of the human species that
thinks, lives, and acts toward goals is not the
individual, but some group. In different
variants, this group may be the family, the
city, the economic class, the society, the
nation, the race, or the whole human species.
The group exists as a super-organism
separate from individuals: A group may make
its own decisions, acts apart from the actions
of individuals, and has its own interests apart
from those of the individuals that compose it.
• Under collectivism, individuals are
analogous to ants in the protection of their
queen ant. The individual ant doesn’t have
minds of their own, and generally cannot
disagree with the hive. Any ant that acts in a
way contrary to the interests of the group is
a malfunctioning ant. If an ant does not
follow the certain pattern of how they
protect their queen, it will be entirely unable
to support itself, find other ants that support
other queen ant and will surely die in short
order. If the malfunctioning ant stays within
the group, it will be a threat to the line
appropriate to protecting the queen ant.
• Examples of the collectivist thinking is
when our identity is in large part, a function
of our membership and role in a group, e.g.,
the family or work team. The survival and
success of the group ensures the well-being
of the individual, so that by considering the
needs and feelings of others, one protects
oneself. Harmony and the interdependence
of group members are stressed and valued.
Group members are relatively close
psychologically and emotionally, but distant
toward non-group members. Collectivist
characteristics are often associated with
women and people in rural settings.
• Asian countries are known to be collective
in nature.
THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF
THE SELF IN THE WESTERN LIFE
• Self has been an area of interest by
French and English philosophers, and
evident in the ideas of Greek
philosophers like Socrates and Plato.
• Descartes in 17th century emphasized
the self in his dictum “I think therefore I
am” which claims that cognitive basis of
the person’s thoughts is proof for the
existence of the self.
• Kant believed that the self is capable of
actions that entitles it to have rights as
an autonomous agent.
QUALITIES IMPARTED TO THE
SUBJECTIVE SELF
• Here are some qualities imparted to the
Western subjective self. It sketches
some features on subjectivity and ways
of thinking of western persons. This
provides an impressionistic profile
through the use of a few strokes
characterizing some ways of being and
thinking of many western persons.
Western self as analytic. Since analytic and
inductive modes of thinking were prominent
for person in western cultures, to see objects
as divisible combinations of yet smaller
objects. Real things are not only visualized
but immaterial things like thoughts, ideas
and memories would be given emphasis.
Western self as monotheistic. Monotheism
can be known as the rigid consequence of the
doctrine of normal human being. It is like
forcing the concentration of supernatural
capabilities.
 Western self as individualistic. The
emphasis on individualism has direct and
indirect effects on both the presentation of
self (in public ways) and the experience of the
self (in private awareness).
Western Self as materialistic and
rationalistic. The western accentuation of
rational, scientific approach to reality has
tended to define spiritual and immaterial
phenomena as potentially superstitious and
dangerous. In any society, belief system is
stratified and composed of a hierarchy of
interrelated, causal-explanatory models.
The Self as Embedded in Relationships
and through Spiritual Development in
Confucian Thought
• Confucius was born in the period of the
Zhou Dynasty in 551 BCE in the state of Lu.
He grew up poor although he was descended
from scholarly family.
• Confucius philosophy is known as
humanistic social philosophy which focusses
on human beings and the society in general.
Confucianism is centered on ren which can
be manifested through the li (propriety), xiao
(filiality), and yi (rightness). For Confucius,
ren reflects the person’s own understanding
of humanity. It is found within each person
and can be realized in one’s personal life and
relationship. Ren guides human actions that
makes life worth living which can be realized
through li, xiao, and yi.
CONFUCIANISM
Li the propriety. Rules of propriety should be
followed to guide human actions. These rules
are the customs, ceremonies, and traditions
that forms the basis of li. According to
Confucius, “to master oneself and return to
propriety is humanity” (Koller, 2007).
Self-mastery involves self-development.
Self-mastery is characterized by self-control
and the will to redirect impulses to change
these to socially accepted expression of
human nature. Li conforms to the norms of
humanity; thus, one must fulfill their duties
and responsibilities in these five (5)
relationships: father and son, ruler and
subject, older and younger brothers, husband
and wife, friend and friend.
Xiao the filiality. This is the virtue of
reverence and respect for the family. Parents
should be revered for the life they and given.
Children show respect to their parents by
exerting efforts to take care of themselves.
Reverence for parents and family is further
demonstrated by bringing honor to the
family, making something of himself and to
earn respect of other. If, however, the person
is having difficulty giving his family the
honor that they deserved, he should just do
this best to not disgrace the family.
Relationship that exist in the family reflect
hoe the person relates to others in the
community. The family is the reflection of
the person. How the person interacts socially
and the values they emulate can all be traced
back to their family environment.
This forms the bases of the person’s moral
and social virtues (Koller, 2007).
Yi the rightness. The right way of behaving
which is unconditional and absolute. Right is
right, and what is not right is wrong. Actions
must be performed and carried out because
they are right actions. Confucius emphasized
that actions should be performed because
they are right and not for selfish benefits that
they provide
 Module 6
THE CONCEPT OF PHYSICAL SELF
The understanding of the Physical self is shaped
by biological and environmental factors.
The Biological blueprint involves Heredity and
its important factors. Heredity is defined as the
transmission of traits from parents to offspring.
The traits are made up of specific information
embedded within one’s gene. Genotype refers to
the specific information embedded within one’s
genes; not all genotypes translate to an observed
physical characteristic. Phenotype is the physical
expression of a particular trait. Each individual
carries 23 pairs of chromosomes, which are
threadlike bodies in the nucleus of the cell and
the storage unit of genes. The 23rd pair, also
known as sex chromosomes, determines the sex
of an individual. Within each chromosome is the
deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which is a nucleic
acid that contains the genetic instructions
specifying the biological development of every
individual.
Maturation is known as the completion of growth
of a genetic character within an organism or the
unfolding of an individual’s inherent traits or
potential.
● As you grow up, you are exposed to
environmental influences that shape your
physical self, including those from your social
networks, societal expectations, and cultural
practices that will lead a person to understand
themselves.
● According to Santrock (2014), self-
understanding is the individual’s cognitive
representation of self which consists of
substance and the content of self-
conceptions. Self-understanding can be
described as simple to perplex and involve
a number of aspects of the self. It also
changes throughout the life span as the
person grows older.
As children advance in age, their interest hang
and with these come changes in their bodies.
The changes are rapid and before parents
notice it, they are no longer babies but
teenagers. An obvious change in teenagers
are the changes in Physical Self.
The Physical Self refers to the concrete
dimensions of the body, it is the tangible
aspect of the person which can be directly
observed and examined.
● Physical Characteristics are the defining
traits or features of a person’s body. This is
also the first thing people see when they look
at another person that could include facial
features, hairstyle, clothes, or figure. They
encompass everything that one can describe
about a person or group of people, by just
looking.
● Erik Erikson believed in the importance of
the body from early development because the
physical as well as intellectual skills will
somehow serve as a basis to whether a person
has achieved a sense of competence and be
able to manage and face the demands of life
complexities. William James, on the other
hand, considered the body as the initial
source of sensation and necessary for origin
and maintenance of personality.
● A period of rapid physical changes is in
Puberty. According to Santrock (2016),
puberty is not the same as adolescence
because puberty ends prior to the end of the
adolescent period. But the recognized
puberty as the most essential marker of the
beginning of adolescence. The changes
experienced during puberty are different
from girls and boys. Girls reach
puberty earlier than boys and experience
menarche which is her first menstrual flow.
 Boys, two or three years later, experience
spermarche or semenarche which is his first
ejaculation or nocturnal emission (wet
dreams).
● Puberty is a brain neuroendocrine process
occurring primarily in early adolescence that
triggers the rapid physical changes. The
Pituitary gland is the master endocrine gland
that controls growth and regulates functions
of all the other endocrine glands including
gonads. The chemical substances secreted by
the gonads promotes physical changes such
as height, widening of the hips and increase
in fatty tissues in the breast of girls and
responsible for boy’s growth of facial and
body hair, muscles, and changes in voice.
THE SELF AS IMPACTED BY THE
BODY
● Different levels of connectedness
characterize the relationship between
self and body. These connectedness may
be in a positive or negative
ways, or in helpful or destructive
ways. Nevertheless, it is between
individuals as well as across situations.
The potential of the physical body to be
regarded as an object introduces the
possibility of trait and state body as well
as the state of the self.
PERSPECTIVES IN
UNDERSTANDING PHYSICAL
SELF
Psychodynamic Perspective
Freud’s theory of the ego was primarily
known as body ego, that solidifies the
importance of body in understanding the self.
The body and its evolving mental
representations form the basis of a sense of
self (Krueger, 2002). The development of a
body self mainly has three stages: early
psychic experience of the body in which
sensations like tactile like in infants enable
babies to discriminate bodies from their
surroundings, which contribute to the sense
of self. Next is defining body surface
boundaries which is the stage of being
awareness of body image in contrast to
surface boundaries. Last stage is the
distinguishing of the body’s internal states
which is the stage of having cohesion of the
body. In these images and experiences of
the body and the body, surfaces can be
organized into holistic understanding of the
body.
Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective
Focuses on perceptual, cognitive, and
affective aspects which is a
multidimensional experience that can aid a
more precise understanding of the body
. The cognitive-behavioral
perspective makes multiple distinctions to
facilitate precise conceptual and operational
definitions of body-image related variables.
The cognitive behavioral model of body
image recognizes multiple determinants of
body image with a distinction between those
determinants that are historical versus those
determinants that are proximal or concurrent
that predispose or influence how people come
to think, feel, and act in relation to their body.
Theory suggests that Physical body both
has objective and subjective
components. Individual’s conception and
acknowledgment of their physical bodies
substantiate their assessment of the sense of
totality which is an integral to his/her
experience of the physical world. Moreover,
one’s experience of one’s physical body may
be a key predictor of a variety of behaviors.
FACTORS THAT AFFECT PHYSICAL
SELF
Personal Factors
Introspection and Self-reflection. Looking
inward is one of the simplest ways to
achieve self-knowledge. According to
Hewstone, et al., (2015) Introspection is the
process is by which one observes and
examines one’s internal state (mental and
emotional) after behaving in a certain way.
Self-Perception Theory. As stated by
Hewstone and Bem (2015) Selfperception
theory explains that since one’s internal state
is difficult to interpret, people can infer their
inner states by observing their own behavior
– as if they are an outside observer. Physical
perception includes all aspects of a person’s
perception of his physical self.
Self-concept. According to Hewstone, et al.,
(2015), self-concept is a cognitive
representation of self-knowledge which
includes the sum total of all beliefs that
people have about themselves. It is a
collection of all individual experience
involving one’s characteristics, social roles,
values, goals and fears. Physical concept is
the individual’s perception or description of
his physical self, including his physical
appearance.
Personal Identity. This is the concept a person
has about himself that develops over the
years. This includes aspects of his life that he
was born into like family, nationality, gender,
physical traits as well as the choices he
makes, such as what he does for living, who
his friends are and what he believes in.
SOCIAL FACTORS
Attachment Process and Social Appraisal.
According to Bowlby (1969), people learn
about their value and lovability when they
experience how their mothers or caregivers
care for them and respond to their needs.
Maintaining, Regulating and expanding the
self in interpersonal relationships
The Looking-glass Self Theory. Charles
Horton Cooley stated that a person’s self
grows out of society’s interpersonal
interactions and the perception of others. The
view of oneself comes from a compilation of
personal qualities and impressions of how
others perceive the individual. Therefore, in a
looking-glass self, the self-image is shaped
and reflected from the social world. Other
people’s reactions would serve as a
mirror in which people see themselves
particularly the way in which they are
perceived and judged by others..
Social Comparison. The work of Leon
Festinger in 1954 introduced another way of
understanding oneself by comparing one’s
traits, abilities, or opinions to that of others.
Social Comparison is a process of comparing
oneself with others in order to evaluate one’s
own abilities and opinions. There are two
types of social comparison:
● Upward social comparison happens
when an individual compares
themselves to others who are better than
them.
● Downward social comparison
happens when an individual compares
themselves to someone who is in a worse
situation than they are in especially when
they are feeling low.
Social Identity Theory (Collective Identity).
This was formulated by tajfel and Turner
1973 which provides a framework about how
people achieve understanding about
themselves by being a member of their group.
This idea assumes that as a member of the
group they will not be discriminated against
by an out-group. It will enhance their
self-esteem because they feel secured with
the shield of group membership where they
belong. Social groups include gender,
ethnicity, religion, profession, political
membership and business organizations.
Module 7
The Impact of Culture on Body Image
and Self-Esteem: The Importance of
Beauty
• After going through all the concepts
and theories that may affect the
person’s view of his physical self,
there’s another factor that strongly
impacts this perception, his cultural
milieu. Culture is defined as a social
system that is characterized by the
shared meanings that are attributed
to people and events by its
members.
• There are a lot of movies in the past
that are about the body. One of the
most successful horror movies of the
1950s entitled Invasion of the Body
Snatcher, wherein human beings
were replaced with new bodies and
devoid human emotions. The
Stepford Wives .Some other movies
about the body include Shallow Hal
(2001), Huge (2010), 200 pound
Beauty (2010) and Imperfect
(2019).
• The makeup of a body is a collection
of cells, combined into organs,
which themselves operate in
systems. In humans, that body
typically takes on a form with two
arms, two legs, a torso, and a head.
But the question is, is there such a
thing as a universal
decontextualized body? The answer
is no. bodies are shaped in countless
ways by culture, by society, and by
the experiences that are shared with
a social and cultural context. Since it
is also shaped by history, there are
always changing ideas about it. It
can be assumed that the body is
contingent – meaning molded by
factors outside the body, and
internalized into the physical being
itself.
• A significant aspect of culture that
strongly influences adolescents who
are in a face-to-face encounter with
their physical selves is how their
culture conceptualizes beauty.
Young adolescents are forced to
adhere to society’s definition of
beauty lest they be labelled ugly or
“pangit” in local dialect.
• This is what is called the social
constructionist approach to
understanding the physical self. This
suggests that beauty, weight,
sexuality, or race do not simply
result from the collection of genes
one inherited from one’s parents.
Instead, these bodily features only
take on the meaning that they have.
A person may have a certain set of
facial features, or weigh a certain
number of pounds and attractiveness
will come from the time and place in
which they live.

• These meanings occur within a set of
culturally constructed power
relations which suggest that, for
example, women must be attractive
in order to be valuable. But this
process does not just happen after
we enter culture. How those features
will be interpreted will then be
shaped by culture, but the features
themselves will already be present.
Meaning what occurs is that once
something comes to take on cultural
meaning, it becomes naturalized:
people think that things are the way
that they are because they have
always been that way. These
meanings have been created, and
that they can change, and that
there’s nothing natural at all. Even
something that seems to be rooted in
the body as disability is partially
socially constructed.
• This differs from what might be
called an essentialist view of the
body. Essentialism means that
bodies are defined entirely by their
biological make-up – bones,
muscles, hormones, and the like.
Much of human behavior can also be
reduced to many of those biological
functions, it is referred to by social
scientists call a reductionist idea that
complex human behaviors can be
reduced to something as simple as,
for example, hormones. This simply
means that we cannot understand the
biological organism without first
understanding social, cultural, and
historical context in which it exists.
• Another example of how norms of
masculinity and femininity shape
not just behavior, but public
perceptions are those people who
did activities of the other gender.
They were praised at the same time
and criticized just by doing what is
not expected to their gender. With
this, the idea that the body is marked
with culture and society is the term
social skin to refer to the ways in
which social categories become
inscribed onto physical body.
Through the social skin, the body
becomes the symbolic stage on
which dramas of society are
enacted. This idea is from the
anthropologist Terence Turner
(1980).
• Another anthropologist, Mary
Douglas (1973) said that the body is
the most natural symbol for and
medium of classification, and thus
rules associated with controlling the
body and its processes emerge as a
powerful means of social control.
She is the one who centralized the
analysis of the body focused on
traditional societies. Therefore, the
physical body is a threat to the social
body. Further, she finds that
societies with strict social limits
would regard boundaries with
caution including bodily
boundaries.
• In sociology, how the body operates
as a focus and symbol has been
understood as well. In the fourteenth
to the seventeenth centuries, the
civilization process includes the
beginning of Europeans to
internalize many of the external
forms of social control; however,
shame and embarrassment took
place, controlling their behaviors
from within. This control of
behavior from within was made as
theory by Erving Goffman (1982)
which is called the Dramaturgical
theory. The theory suggests that we
are all actors on a stage, and much
of what we do is engage in
impression management during
which we must monitor and adjust
our own behavior in accordance
with how people want others to
perceive them.
• A woman is what she wears – this
statement is from the work of Janes
Gaines on fashion (1990) which
implies that women are often
defined completely by their clothing
–. In this study, it suggests that
people have body images. Body
image can be described as a
representation of how individuals
think and feel about their own
physical attributes. Body image is
both internal (personal) and external
(society).
• This includes (1) how a person
perceives his body, (2) how a person
feels about their physical
appearance, (3) how a person thinks
and talks to themselves about their
bodies, and (4) a sense of how other
people view their bodies. Though
sometimes how a person looks has
possibly never held as much as
societal importance or reflected so
significantly on our perceived self-
worth.
• Body image is the mental
representation one creates, but it
may or may not bear close relation
to how others actually see you. Body
image is subject to all kinds of
distortion from internal elements
like our emotions, moods, early
experiences, attitudes of our parents,
and much more. The mass media has
increasingly become a platform that
reinforce cultural beliefs and
projects strong views on how we
should look, that we as individuals
often unknowingly validate. With
such strong societal scrutiny, it is
easy to see how the focus is on
negative body image. Nevertheless,
it strongly influences behavior.
Preoccupation with and distortions
of body image are widespread
among American women (and to a
lesser extent, among males), but
they are driving forces in eating
disorders, feeding severe anxiety
than can be assuaged only by
dieting.
• Having a sense of understanding that
healthy attractive bodies come in
many shapes and sizes, and that
physical appearance says very little
about the character or value of a
person, a person can have a positive
body image. How to get to this point
depends on the acceptance and
esteem that a person has for himself.
This can be related to the meaning
of self-esteem. In which, it is related
to how much a person likes himself,
how they recognize or appreciate
their individual character, qualities,
skills, and accomplishments. Like
 body image, self-esteem can also be previously rated as attractive by
based on how a person thinks other adults, suggesting that infants have
people look at them as a person. the cognitive ability to discriminate
attractiveness. These findings have
• Self-esteem is the overall evaluation been further supported, and it has
that a person has of himself which even been shown that young infants
can be positive or negative, high or show preferences for attractive
low. Self esteem is a measure of the faces, measured by looking time,
person’s self-worth based on some that transcends gender, race, and
personal or social standard. It is a age. Problems and other issues will
global evaluative dimension of the arise when a person’s definition of
self. body image is different from the
understanding of beauty.
• Self-esteem is how valuable to
himself and others he person • Young people put so much pressure
perceives himself to be. Needless to on themselves to attain unrealistic
say, people with positive or high ideals to the point of risking mental
self-esteem are happier, have a and physical health is unacceptable.
sense of accomplishment and The following are some aspects in
purpose and relate well with culture that may have led to some
others. misconceptions:
1. Society’s ideal for
• The impact of culture on body image the perfect physical
and self-esteem has been very form for men and
crucial for sometimes people women.
depend on this as when they define 2. Images of perfection
beautiful. It has been assumed that brought by all types
preferences for beauty are gradually of media i.e print,
learned through cultural television, film, and
transmission and exposure to internet.
contemporary media. 3. Since a standard has
been set by society
• Charles Darwin in 1871 became one and reinforced by the
of the first persons, if not the first, to media, any
think and write extensively about characteristic that
human beauty from a biological does not conform to
point of view, concluding that there the standard is
is no universal standard of beauty labelled as ugly.
with respect to the human body and Body diversity in
attempts to determine underlying size and structure
dimensions of beauty are futile. due to genetic
However, in 1985, contrary to heritability is not
Darwin’s beliefs, Samuels and Ewy tolerated.
showed that both 3-month-old and
6-month-old infants looked longer
at male and female faces
• These misconceptions strongly affect
how the young form their body
image and its influence on their self-
esteem. Knowing that adolescence
is the period where self-identity is
formed, it is important for adults in
the environment to listen to these
young people and provide proper
guidance and support.

• Yes, beauty is important. But being

beautiful still depends how a person
defines beauty and the standards he sets
to meet this definition. It is a big
mistake to base beauty on some else’s
standard. People are different and each
one is uniquely beautiful.