Unit 4: PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES OF THE SELF

This unit aims to discuss how the self is defined and understood in the psychological
perspective. The action and make-up of man is heavily influenced by numerous factors -
heredity, environment and their psychological makeup.

In this unit, we are going to discuss five people: William James, Karen Horney, Carl
Rogers, and Albert Bandura.

ENGAGE and EXPLORE

By now, you probably have a more comprehensive answer to the question “Who
am I?”. This time, reflect on your answer to these questions:

ARE YOU FOR REAL? ARE YOU TRUE TO YOURSELF?

What can you do to either maintain or ensure this? How would being real and
true to yourself affect your future as a professional? As a husband/wife? As a
father or mother?

EXPLAIN

To enable further understanding about yourself, let’s take a look at several

psychological perspectives. Try and see which is most relevant to how you
understand and know yourself.

WILLIAM JAMES
According to William James, the self is both the “knower”
and the “known”. It is partly object and partly subject. It is
divided into the me-self and the I-self.

ME-SELF
- this is the empirical self
- the object of a thought

3 Dimensions of Me-self:
1. Material Self - pertains to the things you own
2. Social Self - significant interpersonal relations
3. Spiritual Self - one’s personality, character and defining values

I-SELF
- “pure ego” - provides the thread of continuity between our past, present,
and future selves
- this component of the self is consciousness itself
- self-awareness (the act of thinking about ourselves)
- referred to as the soul (or mind)

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 - involves subjective experiential features such as life history and experience

3 Dimensions of I-self:
1. Individual Self
2. Relational Self
3. Collective Self

KAREN HORNEY
“To search for truth about the self is as valuable as to
search for truth in other areas of life”
According to Horney, the foundation of a healthy
development stems from our childhood experiences. People
need to meet certain conditions to grow. Parents need to
provide feelings of safety and security to the child in order for
them to become psychologically healthy individuals.

Unfortunately, parents may fail to provide such conditions

at some point. Parents are not perfect, after all. Parents’ inability, unwillingness or
indifference may interfere with their capacity to provide safety and security to the
child. As a result, the child will develop basic hostility - anger/aggression - towards
the parents. However, such feelings are unacceptable and are repressed. These
feelings of unexpressed hostility would result in the child developing basic anxiety -
a feeling of inadequacy and helplessness in a perceived hostile world.

The presence of basic anxiety can lead to the development of what Horney
calls the Idealized Self - an overly positive, and perfect image of the self. Idealized
self contains numerous beliefs including: (1) they are better than others, (2) the world
owes them, and (3) they should be perfect, should be the best, etc.

HORNEY’S THEORY OF THE SELF

IDEALIZED SELF
- an imaginary picture of the self as the possessor of unlimited powers and
superlative qualities
- developed when people feel inferior and have the need to be loved
- one’s view of perfection

ACTUALIZED SELF
- the person one is in everyday life
- the person one actually is regardless of other people’s perceptions

- often despised because it fails to fulfill the requirement of the idealized image
DESPISED SELF
- negative view of the self
- based on the lack of love and acceptance by others
- consists of feelings of inferiority and shortcomings

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 - the feeling that one is hated; it is assumed that it is one’s true self is the one hated

REAL SELF
- revealed only as a person begins to shed the various techniques developed to
deal with basic anxiety
- a “force” that impels growth and self-realization
- the inner core of personality, one’s potential - the need to be who one truly is

***REFLECTION: Is having an idealized self - good or bad? Why?

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be perfect. However, we have to
accept that we cannot be perfect. We can be better, but NOT perfect.
Basic hostility, basic anxiety and the idealized self are said to be normal since
the precipitating factor (parents’ failure to provide safety and security) is a reality.
Again, parents are not perfect. They will always have their shortcomings.
However, one’s Idealized self becomes unhealthy if it is already incongruent
with one’s Real self - who you really are, including your strengths, weaknesses and
imperfections. If there is a huge gap between your idealized self and real self, this
leads to neurotic behaviors.

CARL ROGERS
According to Carl Rogers, there are two types of tendencies:
Formative and Actualizing.

1. FORMATIVE TENDENCY: The ability to grow from simple to

complex organisms
2. ACTUALIZING TENDENCY: The ability to reach one’s fullest
potential

Experiences can help us grow and develop. That is why Carl Rogers gave
emphasis on the subjective experience of a person. As the individual goes through
life experiences, he/she becomes a separate individual from others. This is the SELF
or SELF-CONCEPT defined by the words I, my, myself and me.

Similar to Horney, the self is also divided into two: Real self and Ideal self.

REAL SELF (Self-concept): Refers to the aspects of one’s being and experiences
that are perceived in awareness.
IDEAL SELF: This pertains to who you want to become in the future.

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 According to Rogers, everyone has an ideal self and it is perfectly “healthy” to
have one - unlike for Horney’s concept of Idealized Self-image. The Real self and
Ideal self should overlap and co-occur in order for us to become “psychologically
healthy individuals”. Problems and difficulties may arise once there is little to no
overlap between the two.

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE IDEAL SELF AND REAL SELF TO OVERLAP:

1. Congruence/Genuineness - being real; accepting the self

2. Empathy -ability to recognize and understand others’ feelings

3. Unconditional Positive Regard -no conditions of worth; unconditional

acceptance

ELABORATE
Before we continue with more psychological perspectives, take a break and do this
activity:

JOURNAL ENTRY # 5: Real Self VS Ideal Self

Reflect using the idea of the Real VS Ideal Self by Carl Rogers
In a one short bond paper, identify the similarities and/or difference
between your Real self and Ideal self through a venn diagram.
For example, in terms of physical characteristics: real - short, dark, thin; ideal
- tall, fair, with curves.
Look into your real and ideal selves for the following: physical
characteristics, talent/skill, career goal, social life, and achievements.

You have the freedom to use words or pictures to depict your real vs ideal
self.

Ready for more? Let’s continue.

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 THE SELF AS PROACTIVE AND AGENTIC

PROACTIVE
- acting in advance of a future situation, rather than just reacting
- taking control and making things happen rather than just adjusting to a
situation or waiting for something to happen

AGENTIC
- self-organizing, proactive, self-reflective and self-regulating as times change -
agentic perspective states that we are NOT merely reactive organisms shaped
by environmental forces or driven by inner impulses

ALBERT BANDURA
HUMAN AGENCY: Essence of humanness; People are self-
regulating, proactive, self-organizing and self-reflective. In
addition, people have the power to influence their own
actions and produce the desired consequences.

CORE FEATURES OF HUMAN AGENCY:

1. Intentionality
- This pertains to the idea that people are continually
changing their plans and are aware of the
consequences of their actions.

2. Forethought
- This pertains to the idea that people are able to anticipate the possible
outcomes of their actions and select behaviors that will produce the desired
outcome.

3. Self-reactiveness
- This pertains to the ability to motivate themselves and regulate their actions.

4. Self-reflectiveness
- This pertains to the idea that people have the ability to examine themselves.

SELF-EFFICACY: Feelings of adequacy, efficiency and competence in coping with

life.

HIGH LEVELS: Belief that they can deal effectively with events and situations

LOW LEVELS: Belief that they are unable to exercise control over events and
situations

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 Sources of Self-efficacy:

1. Performance Attainment ü Previous successful attempts and experiences

provide clear indications of one’s level of mastery and competence.
ü Prior achievements demonstrate our capabilities and may increase
one’s level of self-efficacy.

2. Vicarious Experience ü Observing and witnessing others perform successfully

strengthen self-efficacy, particularly if the people being observed are similar in
abilities.

3. Verbal Persuasions ü Verbal feedback and encouraging words may help

strengthen levels of selfefficacy. ü The “WHO” is also an important factor.

4. Physiological and Emotional Arousal ü The more composed we are, the

greater one’s self-efficacy is.

EVALUATE

1. Summative Assessment: Try to think about an activity or goal that you

want to achieve for this semester, and design a plan by applying Albert
Bandura’s 4 Core Features of Human Agency.

Assignment #1: Integrative Output of the SELF

I. Output : A compilation of Journal Entries 1 to 5, and a short but
meaningful reflection of these entries.
II. Rationale : The rationale behind the assignment is for you
demonstrate how you are able to apply the different
disciplinal
perspectives in understanding and appreciating YOUR self.
III. Specific Guidelines:
• Go over your journal entries and reflect on how much you have
discovered about the SELF since you started this course.
• Explain in not more than 200 words, how the different disciplinal
perspectives have contributed to your understanding of your self.
• This integrative assignment should not exceed 1 short bond
paper. If encoded, you must use Century Gothic font size 12,
single space, 1 inch margin on all sides. Handwritten output is
also acceptable as long as your penmanship is clear and legible.
• The evaluation rubrics for this assignment is found in the
assignment guide.

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means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise of any part of this document, without the prior written permission of SLU, is strictly prohibited. 6
 References:
Bandura, A. (1999). Social Cognitive Theory of Personality. In Pervin and John (eds) Handbook of
Personality Theory and Research. 2™ ed. Guilford Press 134 — 194. (For the topic, The Self
from Various Perspectives - The Self in Western and Oriental/Eastern Thought)
Chafee, J. (2013) Who are you? Consciousness, Identity and the Self. In the Philosopher's Way:
Thinking Critically about Profound Ideas. Pearson. 106 — 169.
Villafuerte, S. Quillope, A. Tunac, R. Borja, E. Understanding the Self, NIEME Publishing House
Inc., Quezon City 2018

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