UNDERSTANDING THE SELF Sir Francis Galton, FRS, (Financial Reporting Standard)
was an English Victorian-era statistician, polymath,
LESSON 1: Social, Environmental, and other
Life Factors
According to the International Encyclopedia of the
Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2001
Environmental factors set ‘boundary conditions’ to
human behavior at a particular technological and
organizational level only in so far as they pose a socially
unacceptable risk.
According to Advances in the Study of Behavior, 2013
Social factors are likely to be particularly important for
the evolution of immune function and anti-parasite
strategies in insects, which have evolved a broad range
of social systems including eusociality.
Lifestyle factors are the adaptable behaviors and ways of
life that influence an individual's health and well-being.
Examples of lifestyle factors include diet, exercise,
smoking, and alcohol. Poor lifestyle choices can result in
poor health conditions that can, in turn, affect a person's
self-esteem.
Nature vs. Nurture
Nature differs from Nurture, since in Nature, a person
develops his/her characteristics biologically (something
that has developed starting from the birth of the child),
while in Nurture, a person develops his/her
characteristics through external factors, such as
environment and the society (family, friends, relatives,
etc.).
NATURE is what we think of as pre-wiring and is
influenced by genetic inheritance and other biological
factors. NURTURE is generally taken as the influence
of external factors after conception, examples of which
are the product of exposure, life experiences, and
learning on an individual.
Do inherited traits or life experiences play a greater role
in shaping your personality? 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.
WHAT IS NATURE VS. NURTURE? WHO
CREATED THE THEORY?
The initial use of the Nature vs. Nurture Theory was
credited to psychologist Sir Francis Galton in 1869
(Bynum, 2002). However, it is unclear who initially
described the impact of genes and biology versus
environmental influences. Scientists, doctors,
researchers, psychologists, behaviorists, and many others
have debated these theories since Hippocrates was
alive.
sociologist, psychologist, anthropologist, eugenicist,
tropical explorer, geographer, inventor, meteorologist,
proto-geneticist, and psychometrician. He was knighted
in 1909. Galton produced over 340 papers and books.
one of the famous is Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry into
Its Laws and Consequences a book by Francis Galton
about the supposed genetic inheritance of intelligence. It
was first published in 1869 by Macmillan Publishers.
The first American edition was published by D.
Appleton & Company in 1870.
Around 400 B.C.E., Hippocrates described human
behaviors as being biological, the result of four different
body fluid types called humor.
B.C.E. means Before Common Era
East Sussex's 2017 RE syllabus states: “BCE (before
the Common Era) and CE (the Common Era) was
first brought into use in the sixth century and are now
used in order to show sensitivity to those who are not
Christians. “Many Christians perceive BCE and CE to be
an affront to Christianity.
HUMOR - Humour, also spelled Humor, (from Latin
“liquid,” or “fluid”), in early Western physiological
theory, is one of the four fluids of the body that were
thought to determine a person's temperament and
features. In the ancient physiological theory still current
in the European Middle Ages and later, the four cardinal
senses of humor were blood, phlegm, choler (yellow
bile), and melancholy (black bile); the variant mixtures
of these humor in different persons determined their
“complexions,” or “temperaments,” their physical and
mental qualities, and their dispositions.
The Four Humors and the elements they serve are as
follows:
BLOOD - AIR
PHLEGM – WATER
YELLOW BILE - FIRE
BLACK BILE – EARTH
ALL FOUR OF THESE HUMORS, OR VITAL
FLUIDS, ARE PRESENT IN THE
BLOODSTREAM IN VARYING QUANTITIES:
Blood, or the Sanguine humor, is the red, hemoglobin-
rich portion.
Phlegm, or Phlegmatic humor, is present as the clear
plasma portion.
Yellow Bile, or the Choleric humor, is present as a
slight residue or bilirubin, imparting a slight yellowish
tint.
Black Bile, or the Melancholic humor, is present as
brownish-grey sediment with platelets and clotting
factors.
When we say PLASMA-PINAKATUBIG - the
colorless fluid part of the blood
Remember that blood is often separated into its three
main components: Red Blood Cells, Plasma, and
Platelets.
SANGUINE means - reddish; ruddy: a sanguine
complexion. (In old physiology) having blood as the
predominating humor and consequently being ruddy-
faced, cheerful, etc. bloody; sanguinary.
The theory of the four humors (temperaments) is likely
the oldest personality theory in the world. It can be
traced back to the 4th century BC Greek physician
Hippocrates, who believed that human moods were
affected by an excess of four bodily fluids (called
humor: blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm. In the
2nd century AD, another Greek physician, named Galen,
took this idea and made it into a personality theory. He
believed that the fluid you had most in excess made you
either sanguine, choleric, melancholy, or phlegmatic.
Although temperament is not actually based on bodily
fluids, it is probably genetic. In the 20th century, Hans
Eysenck found that the four humors matched roughly to
the four ways in which the traits Extraversion and
Neuroticism can be combined.
There are however some differences in how people
distinguish the Cholerics and Melancholics from the
Saguines and Phlegmatics. Some see the distinction
mostly in terms of reactions (long & intense vs short &
mild) and others see it primarily in terms of task-
orientation vs relationship-orientation.
In fact, some of those in the latter camp actually replace
the phlegmatic quadrant with a new, fifth temperament
called the Supine, and move the Phlegmatic to the center
as a neutral, ambiverted temperament.
In contrast, many centuries later, philosophers Jean-
Jacques Rousseau and John Locke independently
thought that people are born as blank slates (i.e.
"tabula rasa"), and that their eventual individual
differences develop solely due to the result of
environmental influences (Psychology Encyclopedia,
2017; Duschinsky, 2012; Nesterak, 2015).
Twentieth-century behavioral psychologist John
Watson shared a similar perspective, believing that the
events that take place during early childhood have far
more influence on what kind of adults we become
compared to the effects of our genes (Haggbloom et al,
2002).
In Locke's philosophy, tabula rasa was the theory that
at birth the (human) mind is a "blank slate" without
rules for processing data, and that data is added and rules
for processing are formed solely by one's sensory
experiences.
Tabula rasa is the theory that individuals are born
without built-in mental content, and, therefore all
knowledge comes from experience or perception.
According to Jose Ortega y Gassett, man has no
nature.
According to Ashley Montagu, man has no instinct.
According to Stephen Jay Gould, the brain is capable
of a full range of behaviors and predisposed to none.
i will give you an example...sa pamilya natin“Children
that are beaten by violent parents become violent
adults”. There usually is no test for the alternative
hypothesis that this has nothing to do with genetics, but
that these children could have genetically inherited
violent traits from their parents.
According to behaviorists, learning occurs as a result of
the consequences of a behavior.
Examples of
Nature vs. Nurture
1. High blood pressure and obesity
An example of this debate is whether high blood
pressure and obesity is a health risk that is passed
genetically from parent to child. Does a person acquire
the risk of high blood pressure or become obese merely
because the parent developed the same risk? Nature
advocates argue that genetics have a high impact on
obesity and high blood pressure. Nurture proponents
point to the poor eating habits that cause obesity and the
limited ability to regulate personal habits that lead to
high blood pressure.
2. Homosexuality
Another example and one of the most debated topics on
nature versus nurture today relates to homosexuality.
Nature proponents believe that homosexuality is genetic
or outside of a person's control. Nurture proponents
believe that homosexuality is a choice or a behavior
influenced by environmental factors.
3. Occupation
A person's ability to perform in a certain occupation also
leads to a nature versus nurture debate. If a child follows
in a parent's footsteps in a given career, someone might
suggest a natural inclination toward the craft. Others
might point to the nurturing that took place in the home
as the child was being raised by that particular parent.
This easily could have been then product of a learned
behavior. For example, when a professional athlete has a
child that also becomes a professional athlete, is that
nature or nurture. Was the athletic ability passed
genetically through birth or was it a behavior learned
through countless hours of repetition and practice.
4. Personality
The development of personality is often part of the
nature versus nurture debate. People want to know how
children develop their personalities. Is personality an
influence of the parent through genetics or learned traits
from their environment. Because a child acts like a
mother suggest that they were predisposed to the
hereditary influence of the mother. However, nurture
advocates would suggest that growing up under the
direct presence of the mother it was a learned
personality, not genetically passed.
IDENTITY VS. SELF
Identity, also, differs from Self, as what the readings say,
Identities are “qualities, characteristics, beliefs, opinions,
etc., that make a person unique from others.” These is
what is distinguishable by others, or what they perceive
to us through our actions.
IDENTITY is largely concerned with the question:
“Who are you?” What does it mean to be who you are?
Identity relates to our basic values that dictate the
choices we make (e.g., relationships, career). These
choices reflect who we are and what we value. For
example, we can assume that the investment banker
values money, while the college professor values
education and helping students.
However, few people choose their identities. Instead,
they simply internalize the values of their parents or the
dominant cultures (e.g., the pursuit of materialism,
power, and appearance). Sadly, these values may not be
aligned with one’s authentic self and create an
unfulfilling life. In contrast, fulfilled people are able to
live a life true to their values and pursue meaningful
goals. Lack of a coherent sense of identity will lead to
uncertainty about what one wants to do in life.
A person may hold multiple identities such as a teacher,
father, or friend. Each position has its own meanings and
expectations that are internalized as identity.
Self, on the other hand, is the “person of
himself/herself,” meaning, it is what the others didn’t see
in you, because this is personal character; this is what
makes up a person.
Philosophers, psychologists, and ordinary people are all
interested in one pressing question: Who are you?
The traditional philosophical answer, found in the
writings of Plato, Kant, and many religious thinkers, is
that the self is an immortal soul that transcends the
physical being. However, some philosophers who don't
subscribe to this metaphysical view have swung in the
other direction and rejected the idea of the self
altogether.
As Hazel Rose Marcus says, "You can’t be a self by
yourself." Ang sarili natin ay hindi magiging ikaw ng
ikaw lang mag-isa...we can be a self by others.
Self and identity are complementary terms with much
in common. They are nevertheless distinct. Their
complementarity sometimes comes at the cost of
imprecision and confusion.
Self
all characteristics of a person like self-understanding,
self-concept, and self-esteem.
Identity
who a person is, representing a synthesis of self-
understanding.
There are 4 different DIMENSIONALITIES OF
SELF, namely:
Social Factor
Social factors are the factors in the development of a
person which includes all the person around us, like our
family members, relatives, friends, teachers or
professors, and even strangers, that might create an
impression to you or affects your actions and thoughts in
life.Remember that SOCIETY, FAMILY, and even
FASHION are SOCIAL FACTORS...for our
development as a person.

Environmental Factor
are the factors in the development of a person that
includes the environmental structure, events, and such,
which might give an impact on how a person could grow
in all aspects of his/her life.
The environment has a great impact on our personality
development...the place we lived in, the group, the
events, the activities we attend, and many others.
These factors in the environment may include
psychological factors and social factors but also a broad
range of physical factors including:

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
Altitude effects
Atmospheric conditions
Gravitational effects
Noise effects
Seasonal variations
Temperature effects
ENVIRONMENTAL STRESS,
Crowding
Deprivation
Overpopulation
Physiological stress
Pollution
Poverty

Hereditary Factor
are the factors in the development of the person that
includes biological changes and events, such as growth
in height, puberty (growing of pubic hair, deeper voices
for male, broadening of hips and start of menstruation
for female, etc.) that usually affects the physical
characteristics of a person.
According to an article by Krishna...Hereditary factors
are based on the genetic makeup of the individual
influences growth and development throughout life. The
offspring inherits genetic characteristics from his
parents. The environmental factors of the influence of
parents, family, friends, schooling, society, culture, and
all other experiences to which the child is exposed right
from the moment of conception.

Person-Volition Factor
is the most controversial factor of the Self or Identity.
This refers to the inclination of a person to form and
construct a specific identity, which will set him apart or
unique compared with others.
There is a possibilities that everyone form and construct
a specific identity that makes them
unique...noticeable...different...