THE SELF IN

PSYCHOLOGY
Gordon Gallup’s Experiment (1970)
The Sense of Self and Human Cognition- SCHEMA
 SELF CONCEPT
•This is a general term used to refer to how
someone thinks about, evaluates or
perceives themselves.
 Lewis (1990)
• Existential Self
- the basic part of the self which reinforces the
sense of being separate and distinct from others.
Accordingly, the awareness of the existential self
begins as young as two or three months old and
arises partly due the child’s relation with the world.
• Categorical Self
- developed as the child begins to be aware that
he or she is an object in the world which also has
properties. This leads to the child forming
descriptions of those properties that he or she
might have such as age and gender. Early in
childhood, the categories children apply to
themselves are very concrete which later leads to
the development of the reference to internal
psychological traits.
Carl Rogers
Argyle (2008) believed that there are 4 major
factors that influence self-esteem:
1. Reaction of others
2. Comparison with others
3. Social roles
4.Identification
 Different Psychological
Perspectives of the Self
•Psychodyamic Perspective
•Behaviorist Perspective
•Cognitive Perspective
•Humanistic Perspective
•Biological Perspective
•Evolutionary Perspective
Psychodynamic Perspective
Behaviorist Perspective
 Cognitive Perspective

• Mental functions
Biological Perspective
Humanistic Perspectives
Evolutionary Perspective
 3 Aspects of Selfhood

• Material Self- body,

clothes, family,
home…
• Social Self- how we
think other people
think about us
• Spiritual Self-
psychological
faculties
Psychosexual Development
Self Efficacy- Self as Proactive and Agentic
Albert Bandura