LESSON 3 – ANTHROPOLOGICAL

PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

“Me and My Culture”
 Introduction
An individual’s journey to better understand the self needs to
recognize the influence of one’s culture. Its complexity imbibed
a person’s self-concept or self-construal and affects how
individual views: relationships, personality traits, goals and
achievements, and even in the way we express emotions.
Cultural variations help everyone to accept the reality that we
differ from one another.
I. WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?
According to Eriksen (2004) Anthropology represents
certainfundamental insights concerning the human
condition,applicable in many everyday situations.

Anthropology is the comparative study of culture and society, with a

focus on local life.

At the deepest level, anthropology raises philosophical questions

which it tries to respond to by exploring human lives under different
conditions.

Anthropology is the study of man and its culture.

 Anthropology primarily offers
two kinds of insight.
First, the discipline produces knowledge about the actual cultural variation in the world; studies may deal with:
>the role of caste and wealth in Indian village life;

1.
>technology among highland people in New Guinea;
>religion in southern Africa;
>food habits in northern Norway;
>the political importance of kinship in the Middle East; or
>notions about gender in the Amazon basin.

Second, anthropology offers methods and theoretical

2.
perspectives enabling the practitioner to explore, compare and
understand these varied expressions of the human condition.
(professional skills)
 Two (2) concepts important
in the field of Anthropology:
1. Cultural relativism is the view that every society, or every culture, has to be
understood on its own terms, from within, and that it is neither possible nor
particularly interesting to rank societies on an evolutionary ladder.

2. Historical particularism, which is closely related to cultural relativism,

consists of the view that every society has its own, unique history, which
is to say that there are no ‘necessary stages’ that societies pass through.
 II. THE SELF AND PERSON IN
CONTEMPORARY ANTHROPOLOGY

Who am I
You have probably asked yourself this question
before. What answers did you give?
Your answer to the question "Who am I: reveal your SELF-CONCEPT (Markus & Surf,
1987).The self is shaped by the world we live in and we in turn shape the world.

One aspect of the social context that influences our self-concept is Culture.
Culture is like a set of lenses for seeing the world.

Edward Tylor (1873) defined Culture as a complex whole which include the
knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, morals, and other capabilities acquired by man as a
member of society.
III. THE SELF EMBEDDED IN CULTURE

How the individuals see themselves, how they relate to

other people, and how they relate to the environment are
deeply defined by culture. If one’s view the self as the
product of their culture, then it is believable that the ways
of how the self is developed are bound to cultural
differences as well.
 The Self-Concept
The set or collection of ideas, images, beliefs or schemas a
person has about the self comprises the multidimensional and
multifaceted self-concept (Markus & Surf, 1987).As such, we can
have many ways of viewing ourselves. At any given moment,
we are only looking at a specific part of our self-concept. This
working self-concept, or the self-concept of the moment, is
best understood as self-knowledge that is active and changing.
This means that our self-concept is not fixed or static.
 The Self-Concept
How we see ourselves may change through time. It depends on:

⦁ what we are thinking of at a particular moment.

⦁ the current situation we are in.
⦁ our social experiences.

This view of the self-concept reminds us that the self is constantly

embedded in a historical and social context.
 Determinants of the Self
Some of the social influences that develop our self-concept are the roles we play in everyday
life, the social identities we form as members of the groups, and the social comparisons we
make when we compare ourselves with others.

⦁ In playing our roles as students or teachers, children or parents, our roles become part of
who we are.
⦁ As members of different groups, we develop social identities like that of being Catholic, or
being Taguigeno.
⦁ We also compare ourselves with others to decide if we are really smart, if we are really
good in sports, or if we can really sing.
 Determinants of the Self
Aside from these social roles, social identities, and social comparisons, other
people’s perception of who we are, the culture that surrounds us also shape our self-concept
(Matsumoto &Juang, 2004).

How others perceive us influence how we see ourselves. Charles H. Cooley described this phenomenon
as the looking-glass self, our tendency to use others as a mirror for perceiving ourselves (Cooley, 1902).

Example:
> If your teacher says you are a good writer, being a writer may become a part of
your self-concept.
> If your father criticizes you most of the time, you may think you are never good
enough.
> If your friend says someone likes you, you may come to believe that you are an
attractive person.
 Culture defines the self
In cultural psychology, the self and culture are seen as mutually constitutive. That is cultural meanings and
practices construct psychological processes, which in turn transform these cultural meanings and practices.
In a sense, culture and the self construct each other. The individual self develops within a particularculture
that structures how the self is to think, feel, act. In turn, the interaction of many individual selves
transforms the cultural system.

Our sense of self, referred to as our self-concept or our self-construal, is shaped by our cultural context
(Matsumoto &Juang, 2004). Different produce different self-concepts in their members. This means that
even through the self is a basic psychological concept that is commonly assumed to have a universal
nature, the meaning of the self varies across different cultural contexts. Moreover, the meaning of the self
differs from one culture to another.

Example:
How do we define the self in Filipino culture?
Is the meaning of the self for Filipinos the same as the meaning of the self for Americans? For the
Japanese? For Europeans? For Asians?
 Culture’s influences an individual in terms of:
Relationships
Culture influences how you enter into and
maintain relationships. Some culture seen
relationship as voluntary or duty-based. In
Western societies, it is essential to choose
whom to marry while some Eastern societies
still practice arranged marriage.
Achievement
Culture influences how you
define success, and whether you
value certain types of individual
and group achievements
Personality traits
Culture influences whether and how you
value traits like: humility, self-esteem,
politeness, assertiveness, and so on. As
well, how you perceive friendships or
how you feel about relying on others
Expressing emotions
Culture influences what will affect
you emotionally as well as how you
express yourself, such as showing
your feelings in public or keeping it
private
 Individualist and Collectivist Culture

According to Kashima (2001), the cultural differences can be

examined in terms of two contrasting worldviews began with the
work of Hofstede as well as Shweder and Bourne in the 1980s.
Accordingly, there are cultures that emphasize individuality (e.g.,
individualist, independent); and cultures that emphasize sociality
(e.g., collectivist, interdependent). Triandis is widely
acknowledged as the leading proponent of the individualism and
collectivism construct.
 References:

Eriksen, T. H. (2004). What is Anthropology?,Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 839 Greene Street, Ann Arbor MI
48106, USA. Retrieved from www.plutobooks.com

Macapacal, E. J., Ofreneo, M. A. P., Montiel, C. J., & Nolasco, J.M., (2013). Social Psychology in the Philippine Context: Ateneo De
Manila University Press.

Bech, J. (2016). Japan expression of emotions. Retrieved fromhttps://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/01/emotional-

complexity-study/426672/