MODULE 2: THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES

PHILOSOPHY
WHAT IS IN A NAME?
Very often the first piece of information we have
about a person is their name. It’s often the first thing you learn about someone. Sometimes it
convey their personalities

TRIGGER QUESTIONS
1. Does your name represent who you are as a person? In what way does it represent you?
2. If you change your name, does it change also your SELF? Will you still remain YOU despite
the changing of your name?

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet
- Shakespeare

Note: A name, no matter how intimately bound it is with the bearer, however, is not the person.
It is only a signifier. A person who was named after a saint most probably will not become an
actual saint. The SELF is thought to be something else than the name. The SELF is something
that a person perennially molds, shapes, and develops. Everyone is tasked to discover one’s
self

The history of philosophy is replete with men and women who inquired into the fundamental
nature of the self. The different perspectives and views on the SELF can be best seen and
understood then by revisiting the important conjectures made by philosophers.

SUBJECT MATTER
Philosophy
PHILOSOPHY is man’s attempt to think most speculatively, reflectively, and systematically
about the universe in which he lives and his relationship to that universe.
…such questions will be “Who am I?”, “What is the
meaning of life?”, “Where do we come from?”, Why is there something instead of nothing?”

Why use epochal in understanding the different

philosophical perspectives of the SELF?
• In the history of the philosophy, philosophers are classified and organized based on their
epoch.
• Their philosophy is somehow identified based on the influences of the prevailing
characteristics of the era
• the evolutionary phase or development of the human mind in the history

EPOCHS OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY

● Pre-Socratic
● Ancient
● Medieval
 ● Early Modern
● Modern
● Contemporary

PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY
• is characterized by the rejection of the mythological explanation on the nature and
phenomena in the universe.
• search for the “true essence of things” through looking on the basic stuff that composed
everything.

Thales (624-546 BC)

He became known for positing that water is the single element that comprised all things in the
universe.
He also made famous the aphorism, “The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.”

Anaximenes
• He designated air as the primary substance from which all things come from.
• “Although air is invisible, we live only as long as we can breathe, and just as our soul, being
air, holds us together, so do breath and air encompass the whole world.”

Heraclitus
• THE PROBLEM OF CHANGE (All things are in flux)
• You cannot step twice into the same river. (SOUL)
• FLUX AND FIRE: To describe change as unity in diversity, Heraclitus assumed that there
must be something which changes, and he argued that this something is FIRE.

Democritus (460—370 B.C.E.)

• He is known as “the laughing philosopher” – that he never appeared in public with out
expressing his contempt of human follies while laughing;
• expanded the atomic theory of Leucippus. He maintained the impossibility of dividing
things, ad infinitum.

ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
Ancient Greek philosophy opened the doors to a particular way of thinking that provided the
roots for the Western intellectual tradition.

Great Greek Triumvirate

Socrates (469-399 BC)
• Unlike the Pre-Socratics, Socrates was more concerned with another subject, the problem of
the SELF.
• He was more concerned with understanding one SELF rather than how the world works.
Socrates affirms that the unexamined life is not worth living.
“All I know is that I know nothing”
• He is challenging everyone to question their presuppositions about themselves and about the
world, particularly who they are. He challenges everyone to KNOW THYSELF
• For Socrates, every man is composed of body and soul.
•It means that every human person is dualistic, that is, he is composed of two important
aspects of personhood.
• This means all individuals have an imperfect, impermanent aspect, the body, while maintaining
that there is also a soul that is perfect and permanent.

Plato (428-348BC)
• was a student of Socrates who became known through his dialogues which contained the
presentation of his ideologies and theories in conversational form.
“Man is the soul enclosed in a body.”
In addition to what Socrates earlier espoused, Plato added that there are parts or three
components to the soul: the rational soul, the spirited soul, and the appetitive soul
“Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say
something.”

Plato’s Concept of the Soul

In the Republic, Plato describes the soul as having three parts.
REASON (awareness of a goal or a value)
SPIRIT (drive toward action)
APPETITE (desire for the things of the body)

Virtue as Fulfillment of Function

• The GOOD LIFE is the life of inner harmony , of well-being, of happiness.
• Each part of the soul has a special FUNCTION. If one will use reason to control the spirit and
appetite, one can cultivate the virtues of wisdom (reason), spirit (courage), and appetite
(temperance)

Justice comes from the ability to keep spirit and appetite under reason's control

Aristotle (384-322BC)
was a student of Plato and became known as the first thinker to create a comprehensive
system of philosophy, encompassing Ethics, Aesthetics, Politics, Metaphysics, Logic and
Science.
The human soul combines in itself all the lower forms of soul, the vegetative, nutritive, and
sensitive, having in addition to these the rational soul.
Man is a rational animal
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” - Aristotle
Function of man
• Two composition of soul: Rational and Irrational.
• The conflict between the two elements in man is what raises the problems and subject matter
of morality.
• Morality involves action. Human action should aim for proper end (the ultimate end or the final
end).
• Happiness is a working of the soul in the way of excellence or virtue.

VIRTUE as the GOLDEN MEAN

• Virtue is formed through performing good habits

Excess Mean Deficit

Rashness Courage Cowardice

Injustice Justice Injustice

Licentiousness Temperance Insensibility

Corrupted by Prudence Corrupted by

pleasure pain

MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
This period was predominantly composed of philosophers who were concerned with proving
the existence of God and with reconciling Christianity/Islam with the classical philosophy of
Greece particularly that of Aristotle.

St. Augustine
• Following the ancient view of Plato and infusing it with the newfound doctrine of Christianity,
he agreed that man is of bifurcated nature.
• There is an aspect of man, which dwells in the world, that is imperfect and continuously yearns
to be with the divine while the other is capable of reaching immortality.
Bifurcated – divided into two branches or parts

Philosophy of Man
• God created man as his beloved creation with rationality and free will.
• God has given as the option to freely return to him through moral actions prescribed by the
Church.
• Man has the responsibility to be with God

The Problem of Evil

• Evil is the absence of good. Thus, God, who is the creator of all that is good did not create evil.

• There are two types of evil: (1) physical evil and (2) moral evil. The latter serves to be our
daily decisions to do what is good and avoid what is evil

The Higher Good

Man must attain the higher Good who is God and avoid focusing on temporary pleasures.
One must concentrate his reason and faith to God because God can only give us perfect
happiness

St. Thomas of Aquinas (1225 - 1274)

• was an Italian philosopher and theologian who became a great influence on subsequent
Christian philosophies, particularly that of the Roman Catholic Church.
“To one has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”
He is the most eminent 13th century scholar and
stalwart of the medieval philosophy, appended
something to this Christian view.
Adopting some ideas from Aristotle, he said that
man is composed of two parts: matter and form.
Matter, or hyle in Greek, refers to the common
stuff that makes up everything in the universe.
Form, or morphe in Greek, refers to the essence
of a substance or thing. Essence is what makes a
thing what it is.
• In the case of the human person, the body is something that he shares even with animals.
• However, what makes a human person is his SOUL, his essence.
• To Aquinas, just as for Aristotle, the SOUL is what animates the body, it is what makes us
humans

A. Idea About Man

“God created man according to his image and likeness.”
1. There is a God who is the creator.
2. There is a man who is created by God.
3. The creation bears the characteristics of his creator who is God

EARLY MODERN PHILOSOPHY

David Hume (1711—1776)
• Scottish philosopher and empiricist who argues that the SELF is not an entity over and beyond
the physical body.
• The SELF is nothing but bundle of impressions. If one tries to examine his/her experiences, he
finds
that they can all be categorized into two: impressions and ideas.
1. Impressions are the basic object of our experience or sensation. They form the core of our
thoughts. They are vivid because they are products of our direct experience with the world.
2. Ideas are copies of impressions. They are not as lively and vivid as our impressions. When
one imagines the feeling of being in love for the fist time, that still is an idea.
The SELF is simply “a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other
with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in perpetual flux and movement”
Men don’t have a unified, coherent SELF. In reality, what one thinks as unified SELF is simply a
combination of all experiences with a particular person
Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650)
• French philosopher, mathematician, scientist and writer of the Age of Reason. He has been
called the "Father of Modern Philosophy"
“We do not describe the world we see, we see the world we can describe…”
- a great mathematician and the father of Modern Philosophy
- On Meditations, he was not able to distinguish what is real between the DREAMING STATE
AND his WAKING LIFE.
He doubted the existence of EVERYTHING and the FOUNDATION OF KNOWLEDGE.
“I really don’t know anymore what is real. I don’t know if a devil is manipulating my mind to see
external objects or myself as real and true.”
However, the only thing that I can be sure of is that I am DOUBTING right now. One can not
DOUBT if you are not THINKING. If I am THINKING, then there must be a person who is
considered to be the THINKER. I am sure that I am the thinker.
“I think therefore, I exist. (Cogito ergo sum)”
I think therefore, I am. (cogito ergo sum)

MODERN PHILOSOPHY
The rise of Modern Philosophy can be attributed to certain historical and cultural changes that
happened between the Age of Reason during the 17th century and the Age of Enlightenment
during the 18th century.

Karl Marx (1818–1883)

• best known not as a philosopher but as a revolutionary, whose works inspired the foundation
of many communist regimes in the twentieth century; known for his criticism of the capitalist
society
• “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, the point is to change it”
• Communism is a society in which each person should contribute according to their ability and
receive according to their need.

Human Nature and Alienation

• Human labor is what makes and gives dignity and worth.
• It claims that man’s work, place of work, time of work, and nature of work determine his
humanity.
• Marx is suspicious of capitalism because it alienates man from his work
• Alienation - the state or experience of being isolated from a group or an activity to which one
should belong or in which one should be involved.
• loss or lack of sympathy; estrangement.
• (in Marxist theory) a condition of workers in a capitalist economy, resulting from a lack of
identity with the products of their labor and a sense of being controlled or exploited.

1. Alienation to self
• The workers are not called by name, but by numbers.
• Man is reduced to a mere number (numerical value).
• Success is determined by numbers.

2. Alienation to nature
• Man is a social being.
to
Man is a working animal.

3. Alienation to others
In a capitalist economy, workers must compete with each other for jobs and raises.

4. Alienation to products of their labor

• The commodities that workers produce through their labor is not their own but ultimately
belongs to another and is produced for another

What is a good man?

• If labor or work gives the essence of being a man, it is therefore a necessary condition to make
everything related to work desirable.
• Elimination of the factors of alienation
• “WORKERS of all nation unite, you have nothing to lose except your chains.”

CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY
The present period in the history of Western philosophy beginning at the end of the 19th
century with the professionalization of the discipline. Major school of thoughts: rise of analytic
and continental philosophy, postmodernism, structuralism, etc.

Jean Paul-Sartre (1905-1980)

• He is commonly considered the father of Existentialist philosophy, whose writings set the
tone for intellectual life in the decade immediately following the Second World War.
• Characterized by a development of classic phenomenology, but his reflection diverges from
Husserl’s on methodology, the conception of the self, and an interest in ethics.
• Known for his dictum: “Hell is other people.”
“Existence precedes essence.” -Sartre
“Man is challenged to create his meaning with the choice he is going to make.”

Martin Heidegger (1889— 1976)

In being involved with the things in the world, a person is either being involved with or along
these things or entities.
1. being with = subjects
2. being along = equipment
Gazing towards death opens up new possibilities for imagining our being. -Heidegger
• Death is the end of dasein (man). We are born without meaning. It is up to us to create our
definition before we die. Knowing that all of us are going to die, it creates a sense of urgency to
create our own definition.
SOCIOLOGY
Self
Body + soul
Body + mind

• Thinkers just settled with the idea that there are two components of the human person and
whatever relationship these two have is LESS important than the FACT that there is a SELF.
• The most important axis of analysis is the relationship between the self and the external
world.

WHAT IS SELF?
Separate – self is distinct from other selves. It is always unique and has its own identity.
Self-contained and independent – self in itself can exist. It does not require any other self for
it to exist.
Consistent – it has a personality that is enduring and therefore can be expected to persist for
quite some time.
Unitary – it is the center of all experiences and thoughts that run through a certain person.
Private – Each person sorts out information, feelings and emotions, and thought processes
within the self. This whole process is never accessible to anyone but the self.

SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONIST PERSPECTIVE

“Social constructionists argue for a merged view of the person and their social context where
the boundaries of one cannot easily be separated from the boundaries of the other”(Stevens,
1996)
Self is always in participation with social life and its identity subjected to influences here and
there.

THE SELF AND CULTURE

Marcel Mauss (French anthropologist)
• Every self has two faces
1. Personne – social concepts of what it means to be who he is.
2. Moi – person’s sense of who he is; body, identity & biological givenness.

The Self and the Development of the Social World

George Herbert Mead
Lev Vygotsky
Language Acquisition and interaction with others; the way we process information is
normally a form of an internal dialogue in our head.

Self in Families
The kind of family that we are born in and the resources available to us (human, spiritual,
economic) will certainly affect us and the kind of development that we will have as we go
through life.
Gender and the Self
Gender is one of those loci of the self that is subject to alteration, change, and development.
Gender partly determines how we see ourselves in the world.

THE EMERGENCE OF SELF AS A PRODUCT OF ENVIRONMENT

BORN or MADE?
Nature vs. nurture
(Behavioral Genetics)
The nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest issues in psychology. The debate
centers on the relative contributions of genetic inheritance and environmental factors to human
development. ... genetic traits handed down from parents influence the individual differences
that make each person unique.

NATURE - The influence of our inherited characteristics on our personality, physical growth,
intellectual growth and social interactions
Twin Study
Scientists have conducted studies on twins who were separated at birth.
Twins who met when they were adults had many personality traits in common.
When separately interviewed, the twins’ answers were nearly identical.
This is a result of their identical DNA.
Separated identical twins share mannerisms. - Posture
- Liam Moore and Riley De Waters

NURTURE - The influence of the environment on personality, physical growth, intellectual

growth and social interactions
“Why can’t you take responsibility for your own actions?”
“I blame my upbringing.”

THEORIES OF SOCIALIZATION & THE EMERGENCE OF A SOCIAL SELF

EXTREME CASE OF ISOLATION
Case of Isabelle
• Isabelle was discovered living in a darkened room with her deaf-mute mother as her only
contact.
• When Isabelle was discovered she was almost seven years old and had no sense of
language.
• She had been deprived of learning how to speak because of her mother being both deaf and
mute.
• As a result, when authorities found her they believed that she was also deaf and mute like her
mother, because she could only make noises.
• This was proven wrong when she started to speak after receiving intense training.
• When Isabelle was initially tested, at almost seven years old, her mental age concluded to be
at about 19 months old.
• Within two months of being trained, Isabelle was putting together logical sentences.
• Within a year she was already learning how to read.
• While her IQ score was extremely low when she was found; at almost nine years old she was
completely caught up with her peers and had a normal IQ.
• Isabelle's case was far more successful because she was discovered before the time of when
puberty occurs. Therefore, she still had time in her critical period to make up for lost learning

NATURE VS NURTURE (THEORIES)

John Watson (Behaviorism)
“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in
and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I
might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief,
regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.
(1930)”

IVAN PAVLOV (Classical Conditioning)

• Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was a Russian physiologist known primarily for his work in classical
conditioning.

• Classical Conditioning in Humans. The influence of classical conditioning can be seen in

responses such as phobias, disgust, nausea, anger, and sexual arousal. A familiar example is
conditioned nausea, in which the sight or smell of a particular food causes nausea because it
caused stomach upset in the past.

B.F. Skinner (Operant Conditioning )

Burrhus Frederic Skinner, commonly known as B. F. Skinner, was an American psychologist,
behaviorist, author, inventor, and social philosopher.

Operant conditioning is learning that occurs based on the consequences of behaviour and can
involve the learning of new actions. Operant conditioning occurs when a dog rolls over on
command because it has been praised for doing so in the past, when a schoolroom bully
threatens his classmates because doing so allows him to get his way, and when a child gets
good grades because her parents threaten to punish her if she doesn’t. In operant conditioning
the organism learns from the consequences of its own actions.

Operant conditioning (also called “instrumental conditioning”) is a learning process through

which the strength of a behavior is modified by reward or punishment.
Positive presence of a stimulus
Negative absence of a stimulus
Reinforcement increases behavior; can be divided into positive or negative
Positive - Add appetitive stimulus following correct behavior; Giving a treat when the dog sits
Negative - can be divided into escape or active avoidance
● Escape - Remove noxious stimuli following correct behavior/removes a stimulus; Turning
off an alarm clock by pressing the snooze button
● Active avoidance - Behavior avoids noxious stimulus; Studying to avoid getting a bad
grade
Punishment decreases behavior; can be divided into positive or negative
Positive - Add noxious stimuli following behavior; Spanking a child for cursing
Negative - Remove appetitive stimulus following behavior; Telling the child to go to his room for
cursing
Avoidance prevents a stimulus

Positive Reinforcement
Behavior: You turn in homework on time
Rewarding Stimulus Provided: Teacher praises your performance
Future Behavior: You increasingly turn in homework on time.
Behavior: You wax your skis
Rewarding Stimulus Provided: The skis go faster.
Future Behavior: You wax your skis the next time you go skiing.

Behavior: You randomly press a button on the dashboard of a friend’s car.

Rewarding Stimulus Provided: Great music begins to play.
Future Behavior: You deliberately press the button again the next time you get into the car.

Negative Reinforcement
Behavior: You turn in homework on time
Rewarding Stimulus Provided: Teacher stops criticizing late homework.
Future Behavior: You increasingly turn in homework on time.

Behavior: You wax your skis

Rewarding Stimulus Provided: People stop zooming by you on the slope.
Future Behavior: You wax your skis the next time you go skiing.

Behavior: You randomly press a button on the dashboard of a friend’s car.

Rewarding Stimulus Provided: An annoying song shuts off.
Future Behavior: You deliberately press the button again the next time you get into the car.

Erikson’s Psychosocial Development

Age State Psychoso Psychos Environ

(Years) cial Crisis ocial mental
Strength Influence

1 Infancy Trust vs. Hope Maternal

Mistrust

2-3 Early Autonomy Willpower Both

childhood vs. Shame parents or
and Doubt adult
substitute
s
 4-5 Preschool Initiative Purpose Parents,
vs. Guilt family
and
friends

6-11 Middle Industry Compete School

Childhood vs. nce
inferiority

12-18 Adolescen Identity vs. Fidelity Peers

ce Role
confusion

18-35 Young Intimacy Love Spouse,

adulthood vs. lover,
Isolation friends

35-65 Middle Generativi Care Family,

age ty vs. society
stagnation

Over 65 Old age Integrity Wisdom All

vs. humans
despair

1. First Year
• Trust vs. Mistrust (0-2)
Infants learn to trust or mistrust that their needs will be met by the world, especially by the
mother.
(Most important other) An infant is helpless. He is totally dependent on others for his needs.
What is more important is the consistency of meeting his needs

2. Second Year
Autonomy vs. shame and doubt (2-3)
Children learn to exercise will, to make choices, and to control themselves, or they become
uncertain and doubt that they can do things by themselves.
(Virtue developing) Erikson believe that learning to control one's bodily functions leads to a
feeling of control and a sense of independence. Other important events include gaining more
control over food choices, toy preferences, and clothing selection

3. Fourth to Fifth year

• Initiative vs. Guilt (4-5)
Children learn to initiate activities and enjoy their accomplishments, acquiring direction and
purpose. If they are not allowed initiative, they feel guilty for their attempts at independence.
(Virtue developing) Children begin to plan activities, make up games, and initiate activities with
others. If given this opportunity, children develop a sense of initiative, and feel secure in their
ability to lead others and make decisions

4. Sixth year through puberty

• Industry vs. inferiority (6-12)
Children develop sense of industry and curiosity and are eager to learn, or they feel inferior and
lose interest in the task before them.
• (Most important other) Children are at the stage (aged 5 to 12 years) where they will be
learning to read and write, to do sums, to make things on their own. Teachers begin to take an
important role in the child's life as they teach the child specific skills

5. Adolescence
• Identity vs. role confusion (12-19)
Adolescents come to see themselves as unique and integrated persons with an ideology, or
they become confused about what they want in life.
• (Virtue developing) This is a major stage in 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
and try to find out exactly who he or she is. Erikson suggests that the two identities are involved:
the sexual and the occupational.

6. Early adulthood
• Intimacy vs. isolation (20-40)
Young people become able to commit themselves to another person, or they develop a sense of
isolation and feel they have no one in the world but themselves.
• (Most important other) Occurring in young adulthood (ages 18 to 40 yrs), we begin to share
ourselves more intimately with others. We explore relationships leading toward longer term
commitments with someone other than a family member.

7. Middle age
• Generativity vs. Stagnation (40-60)
Adults are willing to have and care for children and to devote themselves to their work and the
common good, or they become self-centered and inactive. (Most important other) During middle
adulthood (ages 40 to 65 yrs), we establish our careers, settle down within a relationship, begin
our own families and develop a sense of being a part of the bigger picture.

8. Old age
• Integrity versus despair (65-death)
Older people enter a period of reflection, becoming assured that their lives have been
meaningful and ready to face death with acceptance and dignity. Or they are in despair for their
unaccomplished goals failure, and ill-spent lives.
(Most important other) As we grow older (65 + yrs) and become senior citizens, we tend to slow
down our productivity, and explore life as a retired person.

COGNITIVE CONSTRUCTION
COGNITIVE - relating to, being, or involving conscious intellectual activity (such as thinking,
reasoning, or remembering).

WHO AM I?
Who I know I am; What do you think about me?

Self is defined as “the sense of personal identity and of who we are as individuals. (Jhangiani
and Tarry 2014,106)

William James
“I” vs. “me”
- One of the earliest psychologists to study the self.
- Conceptualized the self as having two aspects, the “I” and the “me”.
- “I” is the thinking, acting, and feeling self.
- “me” is the physical characteristics as well as psychological capabilities that makes who you
are.
- The Empirical Self or Me
- It is clear that between what a man calls me and what he simply calls mine, the line is
difficult to draw. We feel and act about certain things that are ours very much as we feel and act
about ourselves. Our fame, our children, the work of our hands, may be as dear to us as our
bodies are, and arouse the same feelings and the same acts of reprisal if attacked. And our
bodies themselves, are they simply ours, or are they us?
- In its widest possible sense, a man's Self is the sum total of all that he CAN call his, not
only his body and his psychic powers, but his clothes and his house, his wife and children, his
ancestors and friends, his reputation and works, his lands and horses, and yacht and bank-
account. All these things give him the same emotions.
- The constituents of the Self may be divided into classes, those which make up respectively -
“Me” Self
- (a) The material Self;
- (b) The social Self;
- (c) The spiritual Self; and
“I” Self
- (d) The pure Ego.
- Self-esteem is the subjective measure of a person's value — the worth that one believes one
has as an individual.
- self esteem as the ratio of an individual's actual behavior in contrast to their pretensions.
Self-esteem = actual behavior / pretensions

Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was a humanistic psychologist who agreed with the main
assumptions of Abraham Maslow, but added that for a person to "grow", they need an
environment that provides them with genuineness (openness and self-disclosure), acceptance
(being seen with unconditional positive regard), and empathy (being listened to and
understood).

Abraham Maslow
“Self-actualization” represents a concept derived from Humanistic psychological theory and,
specifically, from the theory created by Abraham Maslow. Self-actualization represents growth
of an individual toward fulfillment of the highest needs; those for meaning in life, in particular.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
By Abraham Maslow

Abraham Harold Maslow (April 1, 1908 - June 8, 1970) was a psychologist who studied
positive human qualities and the lives of exemplary people. In 1954, Maslow created the
Hierarchy of Human Needs and expressed his theories in his book, Motivation and
Personality.

Self-actualization - a person’s motivation to reach his or her full potential. As shown in

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a person’s basic needs must be met before self-actualization can
be achieved.

Physiological - breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis, excretion

Safety - security of body, of employment, of resources, of morality, of the family, of health, of

property

Love/belonging - friendship, family, sexual intimacy

Esteem - self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, respect by others

Self-actualization - morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice,

acceptance of facts

GOING BACK TO CARL ROGERS

“I” vs. “me”
- “I” is the one that acts and decides
- “me” is what you think or feel about yourself as an object

Incongruent self-image and ideal-self

The self-image is different to the ideal self
There is only a little overlap
Here self-actualization will be difficult.

Congruent self-image and ideal-self

The self-image is similar to the ideal self.
There is a more overlap.
This person can self-actualize.

IDENTITY AND SELF-CONCEPT

Identity is composed of one’s personal characteristics, social roles and responsibilities as well
as affiliations that defines who one is. (Elmore, Oyserman and Smith 2012, 69)
Self-concept is basically what comes to your mind when you are asked about who you are.
(Elmore, Oyserman and Smith 2012,69)

Self, identity, and self concept are not fixed in one time frame. For example, when asked who
you are, you may say something that was part of your past, something that you do in the
present, or something that is about your future

Self-schema according to Carl Rogers:

* self-schema is our own organized system or collection of knowledge about who we are.

These schema changes as you grow and adapt to the changes around you. These are not
passive and it actively shape and affect how you see, think, and feel about things.

When someone states your name, your attention is drawn to him

If you hear your provincial dialect being used by someone, it catches your attention.
If you consider yourself a book-lover, a bookstore may always entice you every time you go to a
mall.

Theories generally see the self and identity as mental constructs, created and re-created in
memory.
Current researches point to the frontal lobe of the brain as the specific area in the brain
associated with processes concerning the self.

Sigmund Freud is considered to be the father of psychiatry. Among his many accomplishments
is, arguably, the most far-reaching personality schema in psychology: the Freudian theory of
personality.
Freud used the term 'Das Ich' (the 'I').
They are:
the ego - one's person as subject, who desires, thinks, feels, acts.
the self - the person one believes, wishes, or hopes oneself to be, as distinct from the actual
object, one's (or another's) actual person.
the character - a stable syndrome of interrelated traits of behaviour or thought.

Ego + superego + id = Self

Ego (reality) - It is the decision-making component of personality. Ideally, the ego works by
reason, whereas the id is chaotic and unreasonable.
Superego (morality) - The superego incorporates the values and morals of society which are
learned from one's parents and others.
Id (instincts) - The id is the impulsive (and unconscious) part of our psyche which responds
directly and immediately to the instincts.

Self awareness
Private self
Public self

SELF-AWARENESS SCHEMA
Actual - basic self-concept
Ideal - concerned with hopes and wishes
Ought - concerned with safety and responsibility

According to Socrates, the body is perfect and permanent - False (soul)

Became known for positing that water is the single element that comprised all things in the
universe. - Thales

Appetite is the part of the soul that desire for the things of the body - True

Physical evil serves to be our daily decisions to do what is good and avoid what is evil - False
(moral evil)

Anaximenes assumed that there must be something which changes, and he argued that this
something is fire. - False (Heraclitus)

For Hume, men don’t have a unified coherent self - True

In Socratic philosophy, there was a search for the “true essence of things” through looking on
the basic stuff that composed everything - False (Pre-socratic philosophy)

Refers to the common stuff that makes up everything in the universe - Matter

Refers to the essence of a substance or thing - Form

When a man is reduced to a mere number, he is alienated to others - False (self)

What characteristic of the self is being described by the following statement?

Self in itself can exist. It does not require any other self for it to exist - Self-Contained and
Independent

Negative reinforcement can increase the behavior - True

The way we process information is normally a form of an internal dialogue in our head. - True

B.F. Skinner is the proponent of classical conditioning. - False (Ivan Pavlov)

Nurture pertains to the inherited characteristics on our personality, physical growth, intellectual
growth and social interactions. - False (nature)

Punishment decreases the behavior - True

Psychosocial Stages of Development: He is totally dependent on others for his needs. What is
more important is the consistency of meeting his needs. - Trust vs. Mistrust

Gender fully determines how we see ourselves in the world. - False (partly)

What characteristic of the self is being described by the following statement? Each person sorts
out information, feelings and emotions, and thought processes within the self. This whole
process is never accessible to anyone but the self. - Private

Classical conditioning can be seen in responses such as phobias, disgust, and nausea - True

The ego is the impulsive (and unconscious) part of our psyche which responds directly and
immediately to the instincts. - False (id)

Self, identity, and self-concept are fixed in one time frame - False (not fixed)

The self-image and the ideal self must be congruent - True

Identity is composed of one’s personal characteristics, social roles and responsibilities as well
as affiliations that defines who one is. - True

Self-concept is basically what comes to your mind when you are asked about who you are. -
True

“I” is the physical characteristics as well as psychological capabilities that makes who you are. -
False (me)

Self-esteem is the product of an individual’s actual behavior and pretensions - False (ratio)

Cognition involves intellectual activity such as thinking, reasoning, and remembering. - True

Self-actualization represents growth of an individual toward fulfillment of the highest needs. -

True
The social self is part of the “me” self - True

Very often the first piece of information we have

about a person is their relationship status - False (name)

Democritus was known as “the laughing philosopher” - True

Best known not as a philosopher but as a revolutionary; known for his criticism of the capitalist
society - Marx

Thales made famous the aphorism, “The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.” - True

He said this famous quote: ”I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think” -
Socrates

In being involved with the things in the world, a person is either being involved with or along
these things or entities - Heidegger

Had this famous quote: “I think therefore, I am.” - Descartes

Self is always in participation with social life and its identity subjected to influences here and
there. - True

In an extreme case of isolation, a person can have no sense of the language - True

Psychosocial Stages of Development: This is a major stage in development where the child has
to learn the roles he will occupy as an adult. - Identity vs. Confusion

Self can be considered to be a product of environment - True

B.F. Skinner was a behaviorist - True

Reinforcement increases behavior - True

Children are at the stage (aged 5 to 12 years) where they will be learning to read and write, to
do sums, to make things on their own. Teachers begin to take an important role in the child's life
- Industry vs. Inferiority
According to Marcel Mauss, every self has three faces - False (two)

Identity is composed of one’s personal characteristics, social roles and responsibilities as well
as affiliations that defines who one is - True
Self-actualization is a concept by Carl Rogers - False

According to William James, self has three aspects - False (two)

A man's Self is the sum total of all that he CAN call his - True

Self is defined as “the sense of personal identity and of who we are as individuals. - True

Self-schema is our own organized system or collection of knowledge about who we are - True

William James is one of the earliest psychologists to study the self. - True

Acceptance is being seen with conditional positive regard - False (unconditional)

Carl Rogers was a humanistic psychologist - True

Gender is permanent thus it doesn’t change. - False (Soul)

Is characterized by the rejection of the mythological explanation on the nature and phenomena
in the universe. - Pre-Socratic Philosophy

He argued that virtue is formed through performing good habits - Aristotle