PRE-FINALS: UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

UNPACKING SELF: LESSON 2

MATERIAL SELF
"We regard our possessions as parts of our selves. We are what we have and what we possess" - Belk (1988) There
is a direct link between self- identity with what we have and possess.

WILLIAM JAMES COMPONENTS OF SELF

• Material Self
• Social Self
• Spiritual Self
• Super Ego

MATERIAL SELF
BODY
 Innermost part of our material self
 Commodity that we cannot live (ex. Food, water)
 Has attachments/sentimental values
CLOTHES
 Form of self-expression, we choose clothes that reflect our self
IMMEDIATE FAMILY
 What they do or become affects us.
 We place huge investment on our immediate family when we see them as the nearest replica of our self
HOME
 Experiences at home.
 Considered as extension of the self

A man' s self is the sum total of all what he CAN call his (James, 1890)
As we grow older, putting importance to material possession decreases. Material possession becomes our
identification of a fruitful life we lived by.

SPIRITUAL SELF: SUPERNATURALS:BELIEVE IT OR NOT!

The most intimate version of the self

RELIGION
Set of cultural and practices:
 Belief in anthropomorphic supernatural being
 Sacred supernatural Presence of supernatural power
 Performance in rituals Articulation of worldview and moral codes control
 Provide creation and maintenance of social bonds and mechanism of social

RITUAL
Performance Observable of ceremonial acts prescribed by a tradition or sacred law.
Three fundamental characteristics:
 Feeling or emotion of respect, awe, fascination or dread in relation to the sacred
 Dependence upon a belief system that is usually expressed in the language of myth
 Symbolic in relation to its reference

RELIGION: BUDDHISM
Beliefs
 Believes that life is not a bed of roses. Instead, there are suffering, pain and frustration,
 When people suffer, they want to experience the goodness of life and avoid disappointments.
 Break through reactive cycle by practicing meditation, acquiring more wisdom and deeper understanding,
and acceptance of things they are.
Custom Practices
 Samatha- mindfulness of breathing and development of loving kindness
 Vipassana- aim at developing insight into reality.
 Dharma- Buddha;s teaching
Festival/Celebration
 Parinirvana Day- February
 Buddha (Wesak) Day- May
 Dharma Day- July
 Padmasambhava Day - October
 Sangha Day- November

RELIGION: CHRISTIANITY
Beliefs
 Belief of Trinitarian God
 Jesus
 Holy Bible
Custom Practices
 Sacrament of Baptism - birth in Christian World
 Sacrament of Communion- act of remembrance of Jesus Christ' s sacrificial love
 Sacrament of Confirmation
 Anointing of the Sick
Festival/Celebration
 Christmas - December 25th, birth of Jesus Christ
 Easter- celebrates resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

RELIGION: ISLAM
Beliefs
 Allah - One God
 Unity and universality of God
 Mohammed- last prophet
 Quran - holy book
Custom Practices
 Shahadah- statement of faith Salat prayer practiced 5/day
  Zakat- monetary offering (2.5%) of Assets
 Hajj- yearly pilgrimage to Mecca
 Sawm- fasting (food, drink, and sexual act. Dawn to sunset
Festival/Celebration
 Eidul-Fitr- end of Ramadan
 Eidul-Adha- celebrated withing the completion of the Pilgrimage

FINDING MEANING AND CREATING MEANING OF LIFE

VICTOR E. FRANKL
 Born on March 26, 1905, Vienna Austria
 Survivor of Holocaust
 Founder of Logotherapy

LOGOTHERAPY
 Man's primary motivational force is search for meaning.

BASIC CONCEPTS OF FRANKLIAN PSYCHOLOGY

 Life has meaning under all circumstances
 Main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life
 Freedom to find meaning
AIMS TO:
1. Become aware of spiritual resources
2. Make conscious spiritual resources
3. Use of defiant power of the human spirit and stand up against adversity

LOGOTHERAPY ASSUMPTIONS
 The human being is an entity consisting of body, mind and spirit.
 Life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most miserable.
 People have a will to meaning.
 People have freedom under all circumstances to activate the will to find meaning.
 Life has demand quality to which people respond if decisions are to be meaningful
 The individual is unique

FRANKL SOURCES OF MEANING

 Purposeful Works
 Courage in the Face of Difficulty
 Love

POLITICAL SELF AND BEING FILIPINO

Physical Characteristics? Language? Birthplace? Ethnicity?
WHO IS FILIPINO?

PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION 1987

Filipino citizens are those whose father or mothers are citizens of the Philippines,

FILIPINO VALUES AND TRAITS

1. FILIPINO HOSPITALITY
 In our homes
 Local shops
 Festivals and fiestas
2. RESPECT FOR ELDERS
 Mano po; po and opo
 References to older people: Kuya-Ate: Tito-Tita: Lolo-Lola; Manong-Aling
3. CLOSE FAMILY TIES
 Family reunion
 Big houses
 Nursing homes are usually not an option
4. CHEERFUL PERSONALITY
 Happy or sad or angry
 Coping strategy
 Positive outlook in life
5. SELF SACRIFICE
 Extend help to their friends, familied and loved ones
 Overseas Filipino Worker
 Eldest children give up school
6. BAYANIHAN
 Spirit of communal unity and cooperation
 Ready to share and help
 Calamities
7. "BAHALA NA" ATTITUDE
 Bathala na
 Leaving everything to God
 Allowing situations to take care of themselves
8. COLONIAL MENTALITY
 Lack of patriotism
 Favor foreign products
 Desire to look more foreign
9. "Mañana" Habit
 Filipino procrastination
 "Mamaya na"
 Poor habit of laziness

10. PRIDE
 Pride > good relationship
  Hard to apologize
11. CRAB MENTALITY
 One resents the achievement of another
 Pull each other down
12. FILIPINO TIME
 Arriving late at commitments

FILIPINO MARKERS
Hallmarks of our being a Filipino?

PROVERBS OR SALAWIKAIN
Convery lessons reflections n Filipino practices
 Expressing general attitude toward life and laws that govern life
 Ethical proverbs recommending certain virtues and condemning certain vices
 Expressing system of values
 Expressing general truths and observation
 Humorous provers
 Miscellaneous proverbs

SUPERSTITIONS
Passed down from generation to generation Retold according to their own experience
 Avoid taking pictures in threes
 Huwag matutulog ng basa ang buhok, nakakabulag/ nakakabaliw
 Huwag magwawalis sa gabi, lalabas ang swerte
 Pag may nalaglag na. kutsara, may dadating na babae

MYTHS AND LEGENDS

Aimed to explain origins of things.Teach valuable lesson
 Alamat ng Pinya
 Si Malakas at si Maganda
 Ang pagong at ang matsing

HEROES AND ICONS

Heroes - reminder of true patriotism and nationalism
Icons- made Filipino name more pronounced worldwide
 Andres Bonifacio Lapu-lapu
 Jose Rizal
 Manny Pacquiao
 Lea Salonga

 Be an active Filipino citizen

 Study the Philippine history
  Support local products
 Speak the Filipino language
 Do not spread lake news and be democratic in engaging with discount.

DIGITAL SELF
TIM BERNERS-LEE-Made the World Wide Web (25yrs)

SELF ≠ PERSONA

SELECTIVE SELF-PRESENTATION AND IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT

Self Presentation
 Process of controlling how one is perceived by other people
 To construct positive images select what information we prove.
Personal identity
 Interpersonal level of self which diffirentiates the Individual as unique from others

TYPES OF SELF PRESENTATION

 SELF PROMOTION- showing that we are better than others so they will admire us Ingratiation want people
to like you
 EXEMPLIFICATION - make other feel that others are not as worthy as
 INTIMIDATION- you want other people to be afraid of you
 SUPPLICATION- you want to appear handicap

FACEBOOK
Social media friends are more updated about their daily activities, connections, and thoughts.
INSTAGRAM
Arm's length self- photography
OVERSHARING
Unaware of the extent of information they share online

In the cyberspace...
 People are more willing to speak out and misbehave.
 Authority is minimized.
 Online Disinhibition lack of restraint one feels when communicating online

TYPES OF ONLINE DISINHIBITION

Benign Disinhibition
 Speaking about emotions, fears, and wishers
 Showing kindness and helping others
 Combating loneliness through online interaction
 Finding emotional support

Toxic Disinhibition
 Rude language, harsh criticism, anger, hatred, and threats. Pornography and violence
  Cyberbullying
 Threatening, humiliating, spreading rumors, making fun of others
 Cyber harassment or exploitation

Managing Toxic Disinhibition

 Be careful about sharing
 Do not hang with the wrong crowd online ㅁ
 Consider your emotional state before posting
 Consider other' s possible reaction

GENDER AND SEXUALITY ONLINE

SEX
 Biological state that corresponds to what we call man or woman
 Fixed, and immutable
GENDER
 Social understanding of how sex should be experienced and how sex manifests in behavior, personality,
preferences, capability, and so forth.
SEXUALITY
 Individual expression and understanding of desire.
 Homosexual or heterosexual
 Experienced as fluid

PERFORMING GENDER ONLINE

Gender is performative - produced through millions of individual actions
Performances that adhere to normative understanding of gender and sexuality are allowed.
DISEMBODIMENT HYPOTHESIS:
- Internet users are free to actively choose which gender or sexuality to portray.
- Self consciously adapt and play with different gender identities

GENDER ONLINE
Male
Digg, 4chan, Reddit
More likely to create, edit, and distribute digital video over Youtube or facebook Blogs: technology, politics

Female
Facebook, Flickr, Live
Journal, Tumblr, Twitter and Blogs: food, fashion, and parenting
Youtube

EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA CONSUMPTION

Social Media is a tool, it is up to us whether it will positively or negatively affect us.