Notes from Understanding the Self

Community A group sharing a common understanding and often the same

language, manners, tradition and law.
Differentiation This means being able to have different opinions and values than
your family members but being able to stay emotionally
connected to them.
Etymology It is the origin of a word and the historical development of
its meaning.
Monomyth This term means that all myth is carrying one single message.
Deviant Behavior These are the behaviors that violate the social norms of specific
culture or country.
Anthropos- man/mankind What is the etymology of the word “Anthropology”?
Logia/Logy- study
Undifferentiated These are the people that have difficulty separating their own
Person/People from others’ feelings; they look to family to define how they
think about issues, feel about people, and interpret their
experiences.
Capitalism This meant that some individuals became rulers and owners,
while the rest became the proletariat, workers without the
freedom to choose in any useful way.
Physical Body According to Csordas, any anthropological study of the self
needs to recognise the ( ).
Micros These are the building blocks of personalities—individual
responses, thoughts, ideas, habit.
Sociological Theories These theories of the self-attempt to explain how social
processes such as socialization influence the development of the
self.
Individualistic People from ( ) cultures are more likely to have
an independent view of themselves
True self/selves We protect our ( ), because we avoid being rejected or
hurt
‘What does it mean to be This is the big question that has informed in the studies of
human?’ Anthropology ever since.
Confucius He stated that the self can never be static. If one stops to
develop the virtues in one’s living, one has already lost them all.
Interdependent people from collectivistic cultures are more likely to have an
( ) view of themselves.
Emile Durkheim He developed the “Anomie Theory”.
Claude Levi-Strauss He stated the individual was almost entirely the product of their
social environment, and any selfhood was therefore imposed on
the individual by the local culture.
Organizational It is the process whereby an employee learns the knowledge and
Socialization skills necessary to assume his or her organizational role.
Secondary Socialization This type of socialization occurs during the school years and
adolescent years and happens through non-family influence.
1. What are the three domain-specific self-evaluations?
 Cognitive competence
 Social acceptance
 Physical appearance
2. In what ways we can exercise human agency?
 Intentionality
 Forethought
 Reactiveness
 Self-Reflectiveness
3. What are the functions of a myth?
 To explain nature

1. What is the difference between the “I Self and Me Self” of George Herbert Mead and the “I Self
and Me Self” concept of William James? And considering the perspectives of the self they came
from, what is the difference among these two?

Answer: The “I self and Me self” of George Herbert Mead is in the disciplinal perspective of
Sociology which means the I self is the unsocialized self while the Me self is the socialized self.
On the other hand, the “I self and Me self” of William James is in the disciplinal perspective of
Psychology which means the I self is the thinking self and the Me self is the experienced self.
Their big difference is they are both on a different disciplinal perspective.

2. In your own understanding by what we have discussed in the previous lessons, what is “Self-
Differentiation”? Give one example of a scenario where the concept of “Self-Differentiation” by
Dr. Bowen is applied. You may give a personal experience or any example that you would like.

Answer: In my own understanding self-differentiation is the ability to separate the mind and the
heart or simply the thoughts and the feelings. One personal example for that is when I was
asked to choose whether to stay in Bicol or to move in Bulacan. Deep in my heart, I really don’t
want to leave because there are those people that I love will be left but, in my mind, it is the
only way to make our family stable and to avoid family concerns and issues that I know will
trigger my emotions and trauma.