1 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
MALAGUENO
LESSON 2 - 5
CONTENT:
LESSON 2:
Sociology …………………………………………… 1
LESSON 3:
Anthropology …………………………………….… 3
LESSON 4:
Psychology …………………………………………. 4
LESSON 5:
SELF IN WESTERN &EASTERN THOUGHT …………. 6
LESSON 2: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology is one of the disciplines in the social
sciences which aims to discover the ways by which the
social surrounding/environment influences people’s
thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
GEORGE HERBERT MEAD
• Born on February 27, 1863 in
Massachusetts, USA
• Graduated and taught Grade
School at Oberlin College.
• Enrolled in Harvard University in
1887 where his interests were
Philosophy and Psychology
• He wrote and published articles
and book reviews but did not publish his own
book.
• His students put together number of his articles
and edited them for publication.
• He died in 1931 due to heart failure
MEAD’S SOCIAL SELF
➢ SOCIAL BEHAVIORISM: the approach Mead used
to describe the power of environment in shaping
human behavior. At the center of his theorizing is
the concept of self.
He described the self as “dimension of personality
that is made up of the individual’s self-awareness and
self-image” (Macionis, 2012)
According to Mead, the self cannot be separated
from the society.
He explained through A SET OF STAGES which the person
undergoes in the course of his development.
STAGES OF SELF FORMATION (George Mead)
A. THE PREPARATORY STAGE:
Mead believed that a self did not exist at birth
but develops over time. It depends on social interaction
and social experience.
At this stage..
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• Children’s behavior are primarily based on
Imitation. They become familiar with symbols
(verbal and non-verbal) as they interact and
these symbols are the bases of Communication
• Knowing and understanding the symbols are
important to constitute their way of
communicating with others throughout their lives
(Schaefer, 2012)
B. THE PLAY STAGE:
This stage is where the child widens his
perspective and realizes that he is not alone and there
are others around him which he has to consider.
At this stage..
• Skills at knowing and understanding the symbols
of communication is important for this constitutes
the basis for communication. Through
communication, social relationships are formed.
• Role-taking is the process of assuming the
perspective of another person to see how this
person might behave or respond in a given
situation (Schaefer, 2012)
C. THE GAME STAGE:
The child now has the ability to respond not just
to one but several members of his social environment
At this stage..
• Begins to consider several tasks and various types
of relationships simultaneously.
• Generalized other was used to explain the
behavior when a person considers other people
in the course of his action. Through this, the
person realizes the cultural norms, beliefs, &
values incorporated to each self. With this, it
forms the basis of self-evaluation
The Preparatory The Play Stage The Game
Stage
•Existence of the Stage
• Existence of the Self:
NONE Self: DEVELOPING •Existence of the
Self: PRESENT
• Characteristic: •Characteristics:
Imitates another Role-Taking •Characteristics:
Generalized
another
MEADS THEORY OF THE SELF
➢ Theory of the Self: The self is not present at birth
but begins as a central character in a child’s
world.
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2 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
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➢ Children see themselves as “universe” and is
having difficulty understanding people around
them.
➢ As they grow and mature, they begin to see
other people and is concerned about their
reactions.
➢ Family play a major role in the formation of the
self. They are the Significant others – strongly
influence his development. (Schaefer, 2012)
THE “I” AND “ME” SELF
Mead explained that the person’s capacity to
see the self through others implies that the self has 2 parts:
THE "I" SELF
•When the person initiates, the self functions as
subject. This subjective element of the self is the I.
THE "ME" SELF
•When the person takes the role of the other, the
self function as object. The objective element of
the self is the Me.
OTHER SOCIOLOGICAL APPROCHES TO UNDERSTANDING
THE SELF
CHARLES HORTON COOLEY (1864-1929)
• American sociologist who made
use the Sociopsychological
approach to understand how
societies work.
• Earned his Doctorate at the
University of Michigan and taught as
a Sociology Professor until the end
of his life.
• He discussed the formation of
the self through interaction in his written
work, Human Nature and the Social Order (1902)
LOOKING GLASS SELF
The self that is a product of social interaction.
Seeing oneself is based on contemplating one’s personal
qualities and the view of the self is also influenced by the
impression of other people.
Cooley believed that developing a self has 3 phases:
(Schaefer, 2012)
➢ People imagine how they present themselves to
others
o Ex: You dress-up elegantly at the prom
➢ People imagine how others evaluate them
o Ex: Others will see you as pretty by the
way you fix yourself
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➢ People develop some sort of feeling about
themselves as a result of those impressions.
o Ex: You may see yourself as confident.
It is noticed that Cooley used the word Imagine. This may
mean that there is a possibility that people develop self-
identities based on the wrong perception of how others
see them. Wrong perceptions, however, can still change
based on positive social experiences
“I am not what I think I am
I am not what YOU think I am
I am what I think YOU think I am.”
ERVING GOFFMAN (1922-1982)
• Canadian-American sociologist
known for his role in the
development of Modern
American Sociology.
• The Presentation of the
Self in Everyday Life – people
early in their social interactions
learned to slant their
presentation of themselves in order
to create preferred appearances
and satisfy particular people or altering how the
person presents himself to others which he called
Impression Management.
- He sees similarities of real social interaction to a
theatrical presentation. This is the reason for the
label dramaturgical approach to his view.
- He used the phrase face-work to describe
another aspect of the self. This was observed in
situations where face-saving measures are
resorted to in the maintenance of a proper
image of self in frustrating or embarrassing
situations (Schaefer, 2012)
“Choose your self-presentations carefully, for what starts
out as a mask may become your face”
- Erving Goffman
SUMMARY: From the Perspective of Sociology:
The discussions and observations of the
sociologists represented a progression on how the self has
developed through the process of socialization to how
the person manages self-presentation in order for him to
be accepted by others.
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LESSON 3: ANTHROPOLOGY
- Anthropology is a field of the social sciences that
focuses on the study of man. Not just on one
aspect of man, but the totality of what it means
to be human.
- The field looks into man’s physical/biological
characteristics, social relationships, and the
influence of his culture from the dawn of
civilization up to the present.
- Everything in anthropology is interconnected and
a complete understanding is necessary to
achieve better understanding of oneself.
FOUR SUBFIELDS OF ANTHROPOLOGY
➢ Archeology
➢ Biological Anthropology
➢ Linguistic Anthropology
➢ Cultural Anthropology
ARCHEOLOGY
- Archeologist is a scientist who studies artifacts in
order to discover how people lived their lives. As
a result, archaeologists have discovered humans
adapted to changes in their environment in order
for them to survive.
- They believe that homo sapiens did not become
extinct because of their ability to think, use tools,
and learn from experience.
- These discoveries made people realize that the
most important aspect of human life is survival.
Human Behavior according to School of
Functionalism, continues to adapt, in order to
survive.
- Men are similar, but the manner they use to
survive differs. This is the dilemma that
archaeology continuously searching for answers.
BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY
- Biological Anthropologists focus primarily on how
the human body adapts to the different earth
environments.
- They look at the probable cause of diseases,
mutation and death. They are interested in
explaining how biological characteristics of
human beings affect how they lived their lives.
- They study people in different places and
discovered that while human beings vary in their
biological make-up and behavior, there are a lot
more similarities among them than there is
difference
- Biological characteristics of human beings share
may earn for them complete dominion over all
earth creatures and at the same time be the
cause of their extinction.
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LINGUISTIC ANTHTOPOLOGY
- Human survival is primarily linked to their ability to
communicate and an essential part of human
communication is language.
- LANGUAGE – identifies group of people; words,
sounds, symbols, writings and signs that are used
are reflections of a group’s culture.
- Linguistic Anthropologists used language to
discover a group’s manner of social interaction,
to create and share meanings to form ideas,
concepts, and to promote social change, and
how language change over time.
- Language is reflective of the time and mode of
thinking of the people using it. As societies
change and technologies develop, so do the
symbols and meaning people use through
language as their way of communicating.
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
- Culture – group of people’s way of life. Including
their behavior, beliefs, values, and symbols that
they accept, socially transmitted through
communication and imitation from generation to
generation.
- Cultural Anthropologists focus in knowing what
makes one group’s manner of living particularly
to that group and forms an essential part of the
member’s personal and social identity.
THEORY OF CULTURAL DETERNISM
➢ Where culture has a strong impact on how
individual view himself.
➢ According to this theory, human nature is
determined by the ideas, meanings, beliefs, and
values learned as member of a society.
➢ Who or what a person is maybe determined by
the kind of culture he is born into and grew up in.
➢ Having different cultures, Cultural Anthropologists
suggests that there is no universal or right way of
being human. The right way is always based on
culture. Since culture vary, there is no one way of
understanding human nature.
THIS THEORY HAS A POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE
IMPLICATIONS:
POSITIVE: NEGATIVE:
Human beings can be
shaped to have the kind People have no control
of life they prefer. There is over what they learn.
no limit placed on the They blindly accept the
human ability to be or to learning their culture
do whatever they set their expose them to. They are
minds and hearts into. seen as helpless and do
only what their culture
instructs them to do.
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4 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF WEEK 2 -5 // M.A. MALAGUENO
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generations, have provided their own
explanations of the self for want of a clearer;
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY better understanding of the individual in
particular and human behavior in general.
- Cultural diversities are manifested in different
ways and at different levels of depth. WILLIAM JAMES (1842-1910)
- Ways in which culture may manifest itself in
people: ➢ American Philosopher and Psychologist
o SYMBOLS: Considered the most ➢ Professor of Psychology and Philosophy at
superficial level of culture Harvard University
o HEROES ➢ One of the great pragmatists
o RITUALS ➢ Wrote a book entitled “The principles of
o VALUES: Deepest level or are considered Psychology”
as the core of culture
THE “ME” AND “I”
SYMBOLS
- words, gestures, symbols, that have recognized According to William James, there are five characteristics
meaning in a particular culture. of thoughts:
o Ex: Rings that signify commitment
HEROES ➢ All human thoughts are owned by some personal
- Person from the past or present who have self.
characteristics that are important in a culture. ➢ All thoughts are constantly changing or are never
They may be real or fictitious and are models of static.
behavior. ➢ There is a continuity of thoughts as its focus shifts
o Ex: Jose Rizal (Real) from one object to another.
: Darna (Fictitious) ➢ Thoughts deal with objects that are different from
RITUALS and independent of consciousness itself.
- activities, may be religious or social, participated ➢ Consciousness can focus on a particular object
in by a group of people for the fulfillment of and not others.
desired objectives and are considered to be
socially essential. SELF
o Ex: Baptism, Wedding I – Self ME – Self
VALUES Pure ego or Thinking Self Empirical Me
- are unconscious, and can neither be discussed Self that knows and It is considered as a
nor be directly observed but can only be inferred recognizes who they are separate object or
from the way people act and react to and what they have individual that the person
circumstances and situations. done. refers to when discussing
o Ex: Kissing of the hand of elders or describing their
personal experiences
SUMMARY: The Self from the Perspective of Anthropology EX: I borrowed the book EX: The gifts were sent to
from the library. ME.
Anthropology makes the person aware that what I won the game. The person is smiling at
he is maybe determined by his past, and present ME.
condition, his biological characteristics, the way he Divided into three
communicates, the language that he uses and the components:
manner in which he chooses to live his life. 1. The Material Self
2. The Social Self
3. The Spiritual Self
LESSON 4: WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?

- Psychology is a field of social sciences that deals MATERIAL SELF

with the description, explanation, prediction, and
control of human behavior (Ciccarelli and ➢ Consists of the things or objects that belong to
Meyer, 2006). the person or entities that a person belongs to.
- Psychology is scientific study of human behavior ➢ EX: The person’s body, his family, clothes, his
and mind. money
-
PSYCHOLOGY AND THE SELF SOCIAL SELF

➢ Connected to the study of human behavior is the ➢ Refers to the person is in a particular social
concept of the self. Psychologists, for many situation

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➢ Changes in behavior usually result from the
different social situations the person finds himself
in.
SPIRITUAL SELF
➢ Refers to the self that is more concrete or
permanent when compared to the material and
social selves.
➢ The most subjective and intimate part of the self.
➢ Always engaging in the process of introspection
(self-observation).
OTHER SELVES IN PSYCHOLOGY
GLOBAL AND DIFFERENTIATED SELF MODELS:
THE GLOBAL SELF
➢ Represents the overall value that a person places
upon himself.
➢ The groups of people that you interacts with
everyday strongly influences you.
➢ The global self is the product of all experiences
that he had in the society which accounts for the
kind of person he presently is.
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• By Edward Tory Higgins (1987)
• SELF-GUIDES - internalized standards to which
people use to compare themselves (ideal/ought
selves)
• Actual self vs. Ideal/Ought selves
- When the self is found to be deviating from these
guides, the result is self-discrepancy.
MULTIPLE AND UNIFIED SELFS
MULTIPLE SELVES THEORY:
- Suggests that there exists in the individual
different aspects of the self
- A unified being is essentially connected to
consciousness, awareness and agency.
- A psychologically healthy individual is a person
who is able to make sense of the sometimes
confusing and conflicting aspects of themselves
and integrate them into a single, unified self.
TRUE AND FALSE SELVES
• D.W. Winnicott (1896-1971)
The TRUE SELF The FALSE SELF

THE DIFFERENTIATED SELF ✓ Creative ✓ Lacks

✓ Spontaneously spontaneity
• Murray Bowen (1913-1990) experiencing ✓ Dead and empty
o came up with the concept of a each day of their ✓ The mask that
differentiated self lives hides the true
o observed that there are two forces ✓ Appreciate person for fear of
affecting the person: being alive pain of rejection
▪ togetherness and individuality ✓ High level of and failure
awareness in ✓ At times, enable
➢ Affected by the presence of others and has the the person of the person to
ability to separate feelings and thoughts who he is form superficial
➢ Enables the person to develop and sustain his ✓ Recognizes his but
unique identity, make his own choices, and strengths productive
accept responsibility for his behavior and still be ✓ Accepts his social
able to stay emotionally connected with his limitations relationships
family and friends. ✓ Enjoys winning
and success
REAL AND IDEAL SELF CONCEPTS ✓ Learns from
mistakes
PERSON-CENTERED THEORY

• It is a personality theory proposed by Carl Rogers
• According to Rogers, self-concept refers to how
a person thinks about or perceives himself.
• Two types of self-concept:
o The real-self concept
o The ideal-self concept
True and false selves are present in all individuals.
They should be functional for the advantage of both the
person himself and his society.
THE SELF AS PROACTIVE AND AGENTIC

THE REAL SELF CONCEPT
Refers to all information
and perception the
person has about himself.
THE SELF-DISCREPANCY THEORY
THE IDEAL SELF CONCEPT
Refers to what the person
aims for himself to be.
• Albert Bandura (1925-2021) is the proponent of
the personality theory known as the Social
Cognitive Theory
• The Person is seen as proactive and agentic
o PROACTIVE: Assertive

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o AGENTIC: Having the power to exert LESSON 5: THE SELF IN EASTERN & WESTERN THOUGHT
change
• Capacity to exercise control over his life INDIVIDUALISTIC SELF

WHAT IS SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY: ➢ Through the process of introspection and

- Learning through observation reflection, a man decides to search for his
- Suggests that human beings are proactive, self- purpose in life and the role he plays in this world.
regulating, self-reflective, and self-organizing ➢ A person who makes most of his life, going into
- The human agency is the essence of being the world with the life he chooses, making
human. decisions, acting upon these choices and taking
full responsibilities of the consequences is called
FEATURES OF HUMAN AGENCY an individualistic self.
➢
1. INTENIONALITY: AN INDIVIDUALISTIC SELF:
• Actions performed by the person with full
awareness of his behavior. Is aware that he is not Sees himself as capable
• Example: Kenneth went online to apply for a alone and exists with of living his own life, doing
passport because he wants to travel outside his others. things he loves, making
country. mistakes and learning
from it.
2. FORETHOUGHT
• Person’s anticipation of likely outcomes of his Is aware of his rights and Sets goals and works hard
behavior. limitations of his freedom. to achieve them.
• Example: Kenneth chose an interview date for
his passport application where most likely he will
be on-leave. ➢ The development of an individualistic self begins
after birth and is observed in the child-rearing
3. SELF-REACTIVENESS practices of parents in the West.
• Process in which the person is motivated and ➢ Independence and self-reliance form the
regulates his behavior as he observes his progress development of the self in Western cultures.
in achieving his goals. ➢ Individualist people are expected to have the
• Example: Kenneth saves a larger portion of his ability to stand alone.
salary in the bank so he can have enough cash
to travel to Japan. COLLECTIVE SELF

4. SELF-REFLECTIVENESS ➢ The cultures of the East are focuses with the

• The person looking inward and evaluating his collective self of individuals.
motivations, values, life goals, and other people’s ➢ It’s where the identity of the individual is lost and
effect on him. does not exist except as a part of the group.
• Example: Kenneth believes that he has to enjoy ➢ The family and society control how group
and experience life a little while still able and members should think, act and behave in
capable. society.
➢ Group members depend on each other.
SELF-REGULATION
COLLECTIVE SELVES
- A person reactively attempts to minimize the - Establish strong bonds with their families.
discrepancies between what he has already - Are bound by the customs, beliefs and tradition
accomplished and what he still wants to of the group
achieve.
Examples of issues decided by the group are gender
roles, marriage, practices and patriarchy

In society, collectivism fosters nationalistic attitude as

what the group believes.

In contemporary society, both individualistic and

collective self may exist in an individual resulting from
influences and intermarriages between people of the East
and the West.

THE SELF IN WESTERN THOUGHT

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➢ Self plays a central role in almost all perspectives

of intellectual inquiry
➢ It has been an area of interest by the French and
English philosophers.
➢ It is an entity whose proof of existence is most
challenging as is ascertained in the early Greek
philosophies of Socrates and Plato.
➢ Descartes ➢ Self exists
regardless of his
environment.
➢ The cognitive
basis of the
person’s thoughts
is proof for the
existence of the
self.
➢ Kant ➢ Self is capable of
actions that CONFUCIAN THOUGHT
entities it to have
rights as an
autonomous
agent.
➢ This then inspired
the recognition of
human rights as
important in the
expression of
individual
freedom.
• ECOLOGICAL SELF sees the self as a process that
is undergoing development.
• Self is seen as dynamic, different and unique and
constantly exposed to an ever-changing world
• Factors that influence self-development:
o Human and biological and
environmental characteristics such as
o Race
o Gender
o Social status
o Education
o Culture
THE SELF IN CONFUCIAN THOUGHT
➢ Confucius – the name
for which Kong Zhongi of
China was known in the
West.
➢ Confucius was born in
Zhou dynasty period in 551
BCE in small state of Lu.
➢ Grew up poor even
though he descended
from a scholarly family
➢ Zhou dynasty was
characterized by political,
social and moral
disintegration in China.
➢ Through scholarly study, Confucius came to be
known as ‘Master Kong’ and as ‘Great Sage and
Teacher’ (Koller, 2007).
- Confucius’ philosophy came to be known as
humanistic social philosophy.
- Humanistic social philosophy focuses on human
beings and the society he finds himself in.
- The society and communities serve as the main
source of values of both human beings and
society in general.
“REN”
➢ The philosophical concept of
Confucianism is centered on ren
which manifested through:
o Li (propriety)
o Xiao (filiality)
o Yi (rightness)
➢ Ren can be understood as human goodness
which makes human beings different from
beasts.
➢ It involves feelings and thinking which serves as
the foundation of human relationships.
➢ Ren signifies the Chinese culture’s emphasis on
feelings or the heart as the most important
instead of the head in human nature.

CONFUCIUS BELIEVED THAT

Ren is a reflection of the person’s own
understanding of humanity.
• It is found within each person
• Guides human actions
• Makes life worth living.

To abandon ren means abandoning what is truly human.

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“LI (PROPRIETY) “YI” (RIGHTNESS)

- It is the right way of behaving.

- Li (propriety)
o Rules of propriety should be
followed in order to guide human
actions
- Such rules involve adherence to
the rituals of the community:
o Customs
o Ceremonies
o Traditions
- The rules forms the basis for li
which persisted and strengthened by human
practice through generations.
- Li (propriety)
o Self-mastery involves self-development.
➢ Self-mastery is characterized by self-control and
the will to redirect impulses and change socially
accepted expressions of human nature.
➢ Li conforms to the norms of society.
➢ Confucius believes that everyone has duties and
responsibilities hence five relationships.
- Unconditional and absolute.
- Right is right and what is not right
is wrong.
- There are no gray areas.
- Actions must be done because
they are the right actions.
- For example: obedience
to parents which is expected
from children because it’s morally right and
obligated to do so.
REN THROUGH LI, XIAO, YI
➢ Li, Xiao and Yi are virtues observed in a person
whose humanity is developed, morally cultivated
and aware.
➢ According to Confucianism, virtuous people
result in a well-rounded, civilized, humane
society.

• 5 RELATIONSHIPS
o Father and son
o Ruler and subject
o Older and younger brothers
o Husband and wife
o Friend and friend

“XIAO” (FILIALITY)

- Xiao (filiality)
o Xiao is the virtue of
reverence and respect for
family.
- Parents should be
revered for the life they had 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 to earn the respect of others.
- If the person is having difficulty giving his family
honor, he should do his best not disgrace the
family.
- Relationship that exist in the family reflect how
the person relates to others.
- Family is the reflection of a person.
- How the person interacts socially and values
acted upon can be traced back to his family
environment which forms the bases of the
person’s moral and social virtue.

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