THE SELF IN WESTERN AND EASTERN
THOUGHT
WESTERN CONCEPT OF THE SELF
Self- concept: collection of beliefs you
have about yourself.
In order for you to be aware about
yourself, you need to have a certain
collective belief because sometimes we are
not aware about our self.
Eastern: Aside from Filipino’s, there are
others Asian’s, they are more likely to
describe themselves by talking about their
relations, their relationships with other
people around them: family oriented;
respect comes with honor.
Westerners: They are more likely to talk
about personal characteristics because
they highlights have separate they are
from other people, They highlight the
concept of being unique because for them
it invalidates more important than being
connected to each other. For westerners,
they are more likely to say think that “ I
am smart”, “ I am intelligent”, “ I am
responsible”.
Perspective of the West in
Conceptualizing the self:
What makes you separate being is the fact
that you have your own body. Westerners
are more likely to emphasis separateness
that even though you’re connected with
other people you should maintain
individuality, maintain responsibility,
choices and freedom.
So basically, in a western understanding
of the self, There’s heavy emphasis on the
recognition that you are separate entity,
even though you belong in a certain group
of people. For them what’s important is for
you to realize that you have your own
identity even though you come from a
certain family and certain culture.
You have the capacity to make choices
therefore what is important to you is to
become a unique person but that thought
may not be the case in the eastern
concept of the self.
Ancient Greek philosophers see humans
as bearers of irreplaceable values.
St. Thomas Aquinas believed that the
body constitutes individuality
Rene Descartes is famous for his quote “I
think, therefore, I am”
Frank Johnson’s Four
Categories of the Self:
1. Analytical- Johnson's believes that the
self-defined as an aggregate or a part or
combination of a part but at the same
time the self must be viewed as an entity,
or objects separate from other people. In
other words when we say analytical that is
about me versus the other people. So even
though you're a child who can't play with
your toys or parents the emphasis is that
you should know that you are a separate
being.
2. Monotheistic- One of our tendencies
in understanding the self is that we
believe that the self-model after a so-
called unitary omnipotent power. In other
words, we are created by God in his
image. We believe that the man was
created by God in his image.
3. Indivualistic- in western thinking
there is a higher impress on the self-
expression, self-actualization. These two
terms are important base of establishing
who one is. So, if you're from the west,
there's a heavy emphasis on the person
you want to be. What's important is for
you to pursue your goals, not really do
what your parents told you. or what other
people told you.
4. Materialistic/Rationalistic- They
believe that people have reasons or
rational, meaning to say we are all
capable of legalizing this analytical
thinking skills using deductive modes of
thinking. Meaning to say, an individual is
rational, he or she can decide for himself.
No one is dictating you of what you should
do because you have the power of your
own then you have to take responsibility
over your own behavior.
EASTERN CONCEPT OF THE SELF:
 FOUR PILLARS OF INDIAN
PSYCHOLOGY
o Dharma refers to rules that describe
goodness and appropriate behavior.
o Karma refers to the movement from
past incarnations that affect the
present and the future.
o Maya refers to distorted perceptions of
reality and experience that can be
identified as such only with direct
attention to our own processes of
awareness that come about through
internal concentration or meditation.
o Atman refers to a concept of
universality in which the self is seen
not as individual but as part of the
entire cosmos.
BUDDHISM
o In Buddhist traditions, the self is not an
entity, a substance or an essence.
o The self is a dynamic process and ever
changing.
o Anatta – a doctrine which is often
defined as no-self or no-soul.
Buddhist relation where is the view the
self not as an entity but rather as an ever-
changing process. According to the
Buddhist relation if you emphasize that
the self is an entity or a substance but
rather it is something that changes from
time to time. Emphasize the person must
be able to let go of his materialistic needs
and he embarking is spiritual, journey,
worlds in life. Being connected to the
world.
If you were a follower of Buddhism or a
believer there is a heavy emphasis when it
comes in understanding your values in
your morals, basically is a journey. Here
they are emphasizing that the self is not
eternal, not something that is fixed. The
south is ever-changing and more involved
in a continually changing process.
CONFUCIANISM
o The self is something that is formed
through upbringing and the environment.
Personality is achieved through moral
excellence.
The self is not something that is formed
you up bringing and the environment.
They are more focused on personality that
is achieved through moral excellence. In
order for you to achieve moral excellence
you need to be familiarize with the
teachings of Confucius or Confucianism.
But they do believe that at the beginning
of your journey you will be able to be
equipped with this for a beginnings.
o FOUR Beginnings of the self:
o Jen – heart of compassion
o Yi – heart of righteousness
o Li – heart of propriety
o Chih – heart of wisdom
USING EASTERN PHILOSOPHY IN
PSYCHOLOGY
Naikan Therapy
• Views self-centeredness as a problem
that many people need to overcome.
They view self-centeredness is the source
of all the problem; and this problem is
something that many people should learn
to overcome. There is a heavy emphasis in
being aware of your thoughts and being
able to connect with your self to the
environment. So basically, did they give
importance at the mindfulness or having a
meditation.
The purpose of this therapy aims to teach
people how to relate better to others and
how to be more grateful to others. The
teacher or the sensei will be the one to
teach the trainees by using the three
guide questions.\
Three guide questions:
1. What did I receive from this person?
2. What did I return to this person?
3. What troubles and worries did I cause
this person?
 Interdependent country: we don't want
egotism; we don't like people who don't
pay attention to others feelings; do you
want them to use the word "we" instead of
using "1".
CULTURE AND HAPPINESS
Japanese Students: happiness comes
with positive social engagement – with
feelingclose, friendly, and respectful.
American Students : happiness comes
with disengaged emotions – with feeling
effective, superior, and proud
MORE ABOUT CULTURE
Conflict in collectivist cultures often takes
place between groups; individualist
cultures breed more conflict between
individuals.
BAUMEISTER’S THREE ASPECT OF
THE SELF-CONCEPT

Individualism- The self is independent. 1. Private – mental processes that

Independent view of self- not in perceive one’s won traits or
connection with other people; Who are behaviors. For example: I think I
you truly want to be; uniqueness am responsible
2. Public – generalized view of the self;
Collectivism- The self is interdependent perceptions of how others view you.
Describing yourself from another
Interdependent view of self- define
perspective of specific person. For
yourself based on the relation on the
example: He or she thinks that I’m
people around you; The similar
kind
characteristics between me and other
3. Collective – view of self in the
people.
collective context. My parents think
Danger: if we are so close with each other that I am responsible daughter.
or the overlapping become big, we forget The core foundation of the understanding
our individuality, we forget our own of the self is the word ‘balance’
identity. Meaning to say we forget to be We can be collectivist, individualist, inter-
who we really want to be. dependent, independent depending of the
Group think- Group of people are very people or situation or the culture we have.
close to each other that is why it will lead
them to fail to see the loop holes of their
schema.
Devils advocate- will present the other
side of the equation.
Independent country: they don't want
others to change this fit to the group.
They want you to express yourself or who
you truly are.
PHYSICAL SELF
What Philosophers think about beauty?
 Beauty, traditionally, was among
the ultimate values along with
goodness, truth and justice.
Beauty- if something is nice then we will
say what we have done is beautiful; if
someone has a beautiful character, we say
he/she has a beautiful character; other
word for perfect, pretty
-something that is being emphasized or
we try to preserve or enhanced; talking
about the beauty of the being or character
of the person;
 St. Augustine asked whether things
were beautiful because it gave
delight, or whether it gave delight
because it was beautiful.
St. Augustine-he means that things are
not inherently delightful but rather things
are inherently beautiful because of this
beauty, things became desirable
*we perceived the beauty of the character
first before we say that it is delightful
 Plato connected beauty to love and
desire.
Plato beginning of the thinking that
something is beautiful than its worth of
love and also desirable hence, we don't do
things that are not desirable, that are not
lovable because they are not beautiful.
 Aristotle asserted that the chief
forms of beauty are order, symmetry,
and definiteness.
Beauty - can be characteristics of an
object, person, situation; can be
perspective, opinion hence it is subjective
What Philosophers think about beauty?
 David Hume – beauty is no quality
in things themselves; it exists
merely in the mind which
contemplates them.
- beauty is perceived by perceiver
where the definitions of beauty lies
in the eyes of the beholder
 Francis Hutcheson – the perception
of beauty does depend on the
external sense of sight.
- beauty is something beyond what
we see sometimes; beauty is what
we feel, sense; can be describe as a
situation, feelings, emotions
- "there are different ways to define
beauty as a virtue
What did psychology discover about
beauty?
• A person who is perceived as attractive
makes more money than a person of
below average looks.
- correlational research; it is not
their looks that costs their high
income, not direct relationship but
rather if things are related to each
other then there are other factors
that we should consider; more
attractive looking, have more
opportunities;
• In politics, voters who are not actively
engaged in social and political issues
choose candidates based on “looks”.
- when they don't know anything
about political issue, they're going
to vote someone who's physical
attractive, drawn to someone who
has good charisma, communicates
well; being easily who's
presentable, have good skills, be
confident because of you're like this
people will pay attention, more
opportunities especially in career so
this happens because of
psychological phenomenon called
halo effect
HALO EFFECT
• The tendency of people to rate attractive
individuals more favorably for their
personality traits or characteristics
compared to those who are less
attractive.
Halo Effect - happens when we try to
evaluate individuals; sample: if someone
is physically attractive, you jump to
conclusion that he is smart, capable,
perfect candidate; not all people are
conscious about this, we should always
look presentable coz this will help you in
preparing yourself because not all people
are conscious about halo effect
Horn Effect - devil effect; vice versa of
halo effect; if someone is not presentable,
he can't present himself with people; we
give low ratings compared to halo effect,
we give negative feedback just because we
observed this negative attributes; if
someone doesn't know how to speak
English, you would think that his dumb,
not capable, confident; we should be
aware of both concept because it teaches
us not to be judgmental just because he's
smart or not good at English; we should
try to be more objective
Culture and Perception of Beauty
Cultural traditions can either be a positive
or negative influence on body image and
self-esteem.
- what we label as desirable, good is
not desirable to other people and
culture but it affect what we label
as beautiful;
- in various cultures, we have
different ideas to promote different
images, we try to certain
characteristics because we think
that the present of the
characteristics define what
characteristics beauty; this culture
may promote certain ideal
standards of body sizes and this
maybe culturally specific.
Ideal standards of body sizes are
culturally specific.
 Americans have emphasized
thinness.
 Filipinos emphasize dieting and
body appearance.
 People experience body
dissatisfaction due to cultural standards.
example: a certain culture may pay
attention to shape of the nose, lips and
that is the standard of beauty to them or
the amount of the body fat, differs from
every culture regardless our culture,
tradition may influence us to have
negative or positive outlook in being a
beautiful; beautiful person might not be
beautiful for us but beautiful to them;
example: having small foot in china is
being beautiful so they do foot-binding
-we have different definitions of beauty
based in our culture and sometimes we
want to think what we label as beautiful is
congruent with our culture that's why
people experience Body Dissatisfaction -
we're not satisfied with our body due to
the cultural standards, what we label as
norms but in the end, we end up being
unhappy because there's an imbalance
coz we're trying to achieved the ideal
perception of beauty in comparison to the
real self/beauty
-people don't stop even if it's already
unhealthy coz they are not yet satisfied
Imagined Ugliness:
A preoccupation with some imagined
defect in appearance by someone who
actually looks reasonably normal.
BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORDER
- in his perception, his ugly hence he's
going to do something about the
imagined ugliness (it's not an
objective but subjective) caused by
past experienced or trauma such as
bullying
- they may do whatever they may
resort to any method just to
achieved that idealistic thinking, to
eliminate the perceived ugliness
but they end up looking worst
because of their misguided method;
their method is not healthy, they do
these in order for them to make
themselves better
- Example: when someone is
disturbed by his many pimples, he
grabs the nail cutter to cut and
remove all his pimples because he
thinks that the pimples is making
him ugly
 - Example: someone has a fat on his example: depression is occurring, this
body, he used a knife to remove person is prone to anxiety and depression,
those excess body fats -because the those disorders may have comorbidity
disturbance is not on physical but (they have this co- occurring disorder,
rather on psychological Eating there's an Overlapping, the disorders are
Disorders: connected to his anxiety being anxious on
weight gain)
Bulimia Nervosa:
Social influences- encountered bullying
Out-of-control eating episodes, or binges,
experiences; desired to be perfect, thin
are followed by self-induced vomiting,
excessive use of laxatives, or other *these three influences predict restrictions
attempts to purge (get rid of) the food. in eating, and if it continues , you will
develop eating disorders.
- even if they a lot of food, they stay
on their desired shape but it is not Continued restrictions type in anorexia:
healthy; doesn't have enough lower than 500 calories in a day: their way
nutrients because he's purging his of reducing their way which is very
foods out of his stomach; the unhealthy
situation is getting worst: can have
EATING DISORDERS
a normal weight
Anorexia Nervosa:
The person eats only minimal amounts of
food or exercises vigorously to offset food
intake so body weight sometimes drops
dangerously.
- people are underweight, body
weights drop dangerously in an
unhealthy manner, because to him
that's the perfect way of having a
perfect body.
Binge-eating disorder:
Individuals may binge repeatedly and find
it distressing, but they do not attempt to
purge the food.
- they always intake a lot food, they
feel distress if they can’t eat food,
that's why they continue eating a
lot; accompanied with stress-
related disorder
Biological Influences - their parents
may also suffer from psychological stress,
psychological disturbance and if u have
these parents, then you are also most
likely to be vulnerable; the patter was also
passed on you

Psychological influences - the person 1s

also suffering from another disorders;