25 LESSON 4 PSYCHOLOGY Motivational Activity: Group Dynamic Activity: “Personare” Processing Questions: 1. How did you find the activity? 2. What are your strategies to be able to remember the details of your partner? 3. Is it easy to know a person just by looking at his/her photo? 4, What did you learn from the activity? Psychology is a discipline in Behavioral science that seeks to measure, explain and sometimes change the behavior of man and animals. The word psychology is derived from 2 Greek words, “psyche” (mind/soul), logos (science/study). There are two determinants of human behavior (1) HEREDITY (NATURE) which comprises the totality of influences, biologically transmitted from the parents to the offspring that determines the ways in which an individual will make use of his environment. It covers all the factors that were present in the individual at the time of conception and (2) ENVIRONMENT (NURTURE) which is the sum total of all external conditions and factors potentially capable of influencing an organism. It covers all the external factors that have acted on him after conception. These determinants complimented each other toward the development of an individual. The self is understood in the psychological context as a Cognitive Construction and as a Proactive and Agentic. PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF SELF 1. Cognitive Construction 2. Proactive and Agentic ‘Module26 THE SELF AS A COGNITIVE CONSTRUCTION (1) WILLIAM JAMES (Me-Self, |-Self) + William James is a renowned American psychologist who developed a theory of self-consciousness. His theory of the self divides a person's mental picture of his/her self into two categories: a. "Me" can be thought of as a separate object or individual a person refers to when describing their personal experiences; b. ‘I’ is the self that knows who they are and what they have done in their life. Both concepts are depicted in the statement; “/ know it was me who ate the cookie.” He called the "Me" part of self the “empirical me” and the "I" part "the pure Ego”. For James, the 'I" part of self was the thinking self, which could not be further divided. He linked this part of the self to the soul of a person, or what is now thought of as the mind. Educational theorists have been inspired in various ways by James's theory of self, and have developed various applications to curricular and pedagogical theory and practice. James further divided the "Me" part of self into: a material, a social, and a spiritual self, as below. Material self The material self consists of things that belong to a person or entities that a person belongs to. Thus, things like the body, family, clothes, money, and such make up the material self. The core of the material self was the body. Second to the body, a person's clothes were important to the material self. A person's clothes were one way they expressed who they felt they were; or clothes were a way to show status, thus contributing to forming and maintaining one’s self-image. Money and family are critical parts of the material self. If one lost a family member, a part of who they are was lost also. Money figured in one's material self in a similar way. If a person had significant money then lost it, who they were as a person changed as well. Social self Our social selves are who we are in a given social situation. People change how they act depending on the social situation that they are in, People had as many social selves as they did social situations they participated in. For example, a person may act in a different way at work when compared to how that same person may act when they are out with a group of friends. In a given social group, an individual's social self may be divided even further. An example of this would be, in the social context of an individual's work environment, the difference in behavior when that individual is interacting with their boss versus their behavior when interacting with a co-worker. ‘Modul ‘GECC 108- Understanding the Self27 Spiritual self The spiritual self was who we are at our core. It is more concrete or permanent than the other two selves. The spiritual self is our subjective and most intimate self. Aspects of a spiritual self include things like personality core values, and conscience that do not typically change throughout an individual's lifetime. The spintual self involves introspection, or looking inward to deeper spiritual, moral, or intellectual questions without the influence of objective thoughts. Achieving a high level of understanding of who we are at our core, or understanding our spiritual selves is more rewarding than satisfying the needs of the social and material selves. Pure ego This refers to as the “I’ self. The pure ego is what provides the thread of continuity between our past, present, and future selves. The pure egos perception of consistent individual identity arises from a continual stream of consciousness. It is similar to what we think of as the soul, or the mind. The Pure ego is not a substance and therefore could not be examined by science. (2) KAREN HORNEY “Real Self and Ideal Self” + Karen was a German psychoanalyst who practiced in the United States during her later career. + Horney believed that if we have an accurate conception of our own self, then we are free to realize our potential and achieve what we wish, within reasonable boundaries. Thus, self-actualization is the healthy person's aim through life—as opposed to the neurotic’s clinging to a set of key needs * There are two views of our self: the “real self" and the “ideal self”. The real self is who and what we actually are. The ideal self is the type of person we feel that we should be. The real self has the potential for growth, happiness, will power, realization of gifts, etc., but it also has deficiencies. The ideal self is used as a model to assist the real self in developing its potential and achieving self-actualization. But it is important to know the differences between our ideal and real self. * The neurotic person's self is split between an idealized self and a real self. As a result, neurotic individuals feel that they somehow do not live up to the ideal self. They feel that there is a flaw somewhere in comparison to what they “should” be. The goals set out by the neurotic are not realistic, or indeed possible. The real self then degenerates into a “despised self", and the neurotic person assumes that this is the “true” self. Thus, the neurotic is like a clocks pendulum, oscillating between a fallacious “perfection” and a manifestation of self-hate. Horney referred to this phenomenon as the "tyranny of the shoulds” and the neurotic’s hopeless “search for glory’. She concluded that these ingrained traits of the psyche forever prevent an individual's potential GECC 108- Understanding the Self =Module28 from being actualized unless the cycle of neurosis is somehow broken, through treatment or, in less severe cases, life lessons. (3) CARL ROGERS “Self-actualization” “The organism has one basic tendency and striving - to actualize, maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism” C.R. * Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was a humanistic psychologist who believed that for a person to achieve self-actualization they must be in a state of congruence. This means that self-actualization occurs when a person's “ideal self” (i.e., who they would like to be) is congruent with their actual behavior (self-image). * Humans have one basic motive, that is the tendency to self-actualize that is, to fulfill one’s potential and achieve the highest level of ‘human-beingness’ we can. Like a flower that will grow to its full potential if the conditions are right, but which is constrained by its environment, so people will flourish and reach their potential if their environment is good enough. However, unlike a flower, the potential of the individual human is unique, and we are meant to develop in different ways according to our personality. People are inherently good and creative. They become destructive only when a poor self- concept or external constraints override the valuing process. For a person to achieve self-actualization, they must be in a state of congruence. This means that self-actualization occurs when a person’s: “ideal self” (i.e., who they would like to be) is congruent with their actual behavior (self-image). * Childhood experience is the main determinant of whether we will become self-actualized or not. (4) DONALD W. WINNICOTT “True Self and False Self” * Donald Woods Winnicott FRCP (7 April 1896 - 25 January 1971) was an English paediatrician and psychoanalyst who was especially influential in the field of object relations theory and developmental psychology. + The self is a very important part of mental and emotional well-being which plays a vital role in creativity. People were born without a clearly developed self and had to "search’ for an authentic sense of self as they grew. The sense of feeling real, feeling in touch with others and with one's own body and its processes was essential for living a tife. ‘TRUE SELF + “Only the true self can be creative and only the true self can feel real. The True Self is a sense of being alive and real in one’s mind and body, having feelings that are spontaneous and unforced. This experience of aliveness is what allows people to be genuinely close to others, and to ‘GEC 108- Understanding the Self “Module F29 be creative. “True Self" begins to develop in infancy, in the relationship between the baby and its primary caregiver (typically the mother). One of the ways the mother helps the baby develop an authentic self is by responding in a welcoming and reassuring way to the baby's spontaneous feelings, expressions, and initiatives. In this way the baby develops a confidence that nothing bad happens when she expresses what she feels, so her feelings don't seem dangerous or problematic to her, and she doesn't have to put undue attention into controlling or avoiding them. She also gains a sense that she is real, that she exists and her feelings and actions have meaning. FALSE SELF * A defense, a kind of mask of behavior that complies with others’ expectations. It is what allowed one to present a “polite and mannered attitude” in public. * This began to develop in infancy, as a defense against an environment that felt unsafe or overwhelming because of a lack of reasonably attuned caregiving. Parents did not need to be perfectly attuned, but just “ordinarily devoted" or "good enough” to protect the baby from often experiencing overwhelming extremes of discomfort and distress, emotional or physical. But babies who lack this kind of external protection had to do their best with their own crude defenses. + "Compliance", or behavior motivated by a desire to please others rather than spontaneously express one's own feelings and ideas. For example, if a baby’s caregiver was severely depressed, the baby would anxiously sense a lack of responsiveness, would not be able to enjoy an illusion of omnipotence, and might instead focus his energies and attentions ‘on finding ways to get a positive response from the distracted and unhappy caregiver by being a “good baby". The "False Self” is a defense of constantly seeking to anticipate others’ demands and complying with them, as a way of protecting the "True Self" from a world that is felt to be unsafe. (5) Albert Bandura, “THE SELF AS A PROACTIVE AND AGENTIC” “Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s ability to influence events that effect one’s life and control over the way these events are experienced. (Bandura, 1994)” * Aged 93, is one of the most renowned living psychologists in the field of psychology * Social Cognitive Theory takes an agentic view of the self. This means that individuals have the capacity to control their lives. They are proactive, self-reflective, self-regulating and self-organizing (Feist, et., 2013). People have the power to influence their own actions to produce desired results. Thus, the Agent Self is the executive function that allows for action. That is why; people make choices and utilize GECC 108- Understanding the Seif =Module I30 their sense of control in various life situations. This leads to self- efficacy. + Self-efficacy is, according to psychologist Albert Bandura who originally proposed the concept, a personal judgment of “how well one can execute courses. of action required to deal with prospective situations” * Psychologists have studied self-efficacy from several perspectives. Educator Kathy Kolbe adds, “Belief in innate abilities means valuing one’s particular set of cognitive strengths. It also involves determination and perseverance to overcome obstacles that would interfere with utilizing those innate abilities to achieve goals. + Self-efficacy affects every area of human endeavor. By determining the beliefs a person holds regarding their power to affect situations, it strongly influences both the power a person actually has to face challenges competently and the choices a person is most likely to make. These effects are particularly apparent, and compelling, with regard to behaviors affecting health. Factors affecting self-efficacy: 1. Experience, or “enactive attainment” - The experience of mastery is the most important factor determining a person's self-efficacy. Success raises self-efficacy, while failure lowers it. According to psychologist Erik Erikson: "Children cannot be fooled by empty praise and condescending encouragement”. They may have to accept artificial bolstering of their self-esteem in lieu of something better. Ego identity gains real strength only from wholehearted and consistent recognition of real accomplishment, that is, achievement that has meaning in their culture.” 2. Modeling, or “vicarious experience” - Modeling is experienced as, “If they can do it, | can do it as well”. When we see someone succeeding, our own self-efficacy increases; where we see people failing, our self- efficacy decreases. This process is most effectual when we see ourselves as similar to the model. Although not as influential as direct experience, modeling is particularly useful for people who are particularly unsure of themselves. 3. Social persuasion - Social persuasion generally manifests as direct encouragement or discouragement from another person. Discouragement is generally more effective at decreasing a person's self-efficacy than encouragement is at increasing it. 4. Physiological factors - In stressful situations, people commonly exhibit signs of distress: shakes, aches and pains, fatigue, fear, nausea, etc. Perceptions of these responses in oneself can markedly alter self- GECC 108- Understanding the Self -Moduleu efficacy. Getting ‘butterflies in the stomach’ before public speaking will be interpreted by someone with low self-efficacy as a sign of inability, thus decreasing self-efficacy further, where high self- efficacy would lead to interpreting such physiological signs as normal and unrelated to ability. It is one’s belief in the implications of physiological response that alters self-efficacy, rather than the physiological response itself. Ell SUMMARY Lesson 4 on Psychology presented the concept of the self from various personalities. The self is regarded as having components such as material, social, spiritual and pure ego. It consists of the real and ideal self, true and the fake self. Further, the self is also viewed as self-actualizing and self- regulating with a goal towards self-efficacy. Iv] OUTPUT PLAN © Analyze yourself. Come up with a Picture Collage of yourself. Cut out pictures or draw your Ideal and Real Self. Include your reflections. ————— ese GEC 108- Understanding the Self =Module I