DON HONORIO VENTURA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

AND PHILOSOPHY
Cabambangan, Villa de Bacolor 2001, Pampanga, Philippines DHVSU Main Campus, Villa de Bacolor, Pampanga
ISO 9001: 2015
Tel. No. (6345) 458 0021; Fax (6345) 458 0021 Local 211 E-Mail Address: cssp1861@gmail.com
URL: http://dhvsu.edu.ph QMS-Certified

UNIT 1: The Self on the Different Perspectives

Lesson 4: The Psychological Perspective of the Self
Learning Contents:

This lesson presents the psychological theories that influence the way people
understand the self and the growth process to live life to the full. Understanding of the self is
highest when the different part of the self becomes integrative. An important aspect of
understanding the self is self-awareness.
William James’s Concept of Self: The Me-Self and the I-Self
William James, a Philosopher and Psychologist, developed a theory of self-
consciousness in his work, Principles of Psychology, which was published in 1890. James
discusses the composition of what makes the Self, and breaks it down into "I" and "Me" and
explaining the differences and importance of each.
The "Me-Self" is the empirical self. It refers to describing the person’s personal
experiences (for example, the gifts were sent to ME. The person is smiling at ME). It is further
divided into sub-categories: material self, social self, and spiritual self.
Material self. The material aspect encompasses every material thing that a person
values and desires. The attainment of these materials can help someone build up their self-
image. An example is the person’s body, his house, clothes, and his money.
Social self. The social self refers to whom and how a person acts on social situations.
Changes in behavior usually result from the different social situations the person finds himself
in.
Spiritual Self. The spiritual self refers to the most intimate and important part of the
self that includes the person’s purpose, motives, emotions, values, conscience, and moral
behaviour. James believed that the path to understanding the spiritual self is through
introspection. He also believed that spiritual self is the hardest to fully understand.
The "I-Self" refers to the self that knows who he or she is. James believed that the "I-
Self" is the thinking self. The “I-Self” reflects the soul of a person or what is now thought of
as the mind and is called the pure ego.

Carl Roger’s Self Theory: Real and Ideal Self

Carl Rogers, an American Psychologist, defined the self as a flexible and changing
perception of personal identity. The self develops from interactions with significant people
and self-awareness. According to Rogers, human beings are always striving for self-
fulfilment, or self-actualization.
The two types of self-concept are:
a) The real self-concept - consist s of all the ideas, including the awareness of ‘what I
am’ and ‘what I can do’.
b) The ideal self-concept - is the person’s conception of what one should be or wanted
to be that includes one’s goals and ambitions in life.
The closer (congruent) the ideal self is to the real self, the more fulfilled and happy the
individual becomes. The farther (incongruent) the ideal self is to the real self leads to unhappy
and dissatisfied person
 DON HONORIO VENTURA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
AND PHILOSOPHY
Cabambangan, Villa de Bacolor 2001, Pampanga, Philippines DHVSU Main Campus, Villa de Bacolor, Pampanga
ISO 9001: 2015
Tel. No. (6345) 458 0021; Fax (6345) 458 0021 Local 211 E-Mail Address: cssp1861@gmail.com
URL: http://dhvsu.edu.ph QMS-Certified

MULTIPLE VERSUS UNIFIED SELF

David Lester, a British-American psychologist, defined that the mind is composed
of multiple such subselves that are autonomous sets of psychological processes such as
dreams, desires, emotions and memories. Unified self is the integration of the subselves
into one; however, integration is a task for the later part of life.
The construction of multiple selves varies across different roles and relationships. The
first is that many psychologists believe that human behaviour is determined in part, and some
believe completely, by stimuli in the environment. Textbooks usually present the ideas of
Walter Mischel (1968) who argued that people behaved differently because of the different
situations in which they found themselves and because of their different histories of learning.
TRUE VERSUS FALSE SELF
Donald Woods Winnicott, FRCP was an English paediatrician and psychoanalyst
suggests that the self is composed of the true self and the false self. While the true self is
represented by our real feelings and desires, while the false self is a side of us that has
changed its behaviour, repressed feelings and pushed needs aside in order to survive. We
introduced the idea of the onion – the true self at the centre protected by outer layers of false
self.
The true self – the child’s real feelings, needs, desires and thoughts – is pushed
further and further inside the onion. Of course, we still have all of these feelings, needs,
desires and thoughts; it’s just that the adapted false self dominates: it has to.
Although this striving is necessary in our younger years, it changes us. The false-self
thought and behaviour patterns develop during childhood stay with us as adults. While they
used to be helpful, they often become a hindrance as we get older and gain more
independence.
THE SELF AS PROACTIVE AND AGENTIC
Albert Bandura suggests that humans have the ability to act and make things happen.
In his theory of the self, people are viewed as proactive agents of experiences. Agency
embodies the endowments, belief systems, self-regulatory capabilities, and structures and
functions through which personal influence is exercised, rather than residing as a distinct
entity.
The main agentic features of human agency are: intentionality, forethought, self-
reactiveness, and self-reflectiveness. Intentionality refers to actions performed by the person
with full awareness of his behavior or acts done intentionally. Forethought enables the person
to anticipate the likely consequences of prospective actions. Self-reactiveness enables the
person to make choices and choose appropriate courses of action, as well as motivate and
regulate their execution. Self-reflectiveness gives the person the ability to reflect upon
oneself and the adequacy of one's thoughts and actions. People are not only agents of action
but self-examiners of their own functioning.
Efficacy beliefs are the foundation of human agency. Self-efficacy refers to the
individual’s belief that he or she is capable to perform a task. It influences whether people
think pessimistically or optimistically and in ways that are self-enhancing or self-hindering.
Efficacy beliefs play a central role in self-regulation. A person reactively attempts to minimize
the discrepancies between what he has already accomplished and what he still wants to
achieve.
 DON HONORIO VENTURA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
AND PHILOSOPHY
Cabambangan, Villa de Bacolor 2001, Pampanga, Philippines DHVSU Main Campus, Villa de Bacolor, Pampanga
ISO 9001: 2015
Tel. No. (6345) 458 0021; Fax (6345) 458 0021 Local 211 E-Mail Address: cssp1861@gmail.com
URL: http://dhvsu.edu.ph QMS-Certified

THE SELF AS THE CENTRAL ARCHETYPE

Carl Gustav Jung conceived the structure of personality (psyche) as a complex
network of interacting systems that strive toward harmony. The main systems are: ego,
personal unconscious, and collective unconscious. The ego is one's conscious mind, the part
of the psyche that includes perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and memories that may enter
consciousness. It is through the ego that we establish sense of stability. Personal
unconscious includes the repressed and forgotten experiences. The collective unconscious
consists of the fundamental elements of the human psyche that includes experiences all
humans share or in common.
Central to Jung’s theory of the self is the concept of archetype. For Jung, there are
four major archetypes: persona, shadow, animus/anima, and self. The persona refers to
social roles that individuals present to others. The shadow refers to the repressed thoughts
that are unacceptable. This archetype is often considered as the dark side of the psyche.
The anima is the feminine side of the male psyche while the animus is the masculine side of
the female psyche. The self is the central archetype that unites all parts of the psyche. The
ego is the individual’s conscious perception of the self.
SIGMUND FREUD’S CONSTRUCTION OF SELF AND PERSONALITY
According to Sigmund Freud, there are three structures of personality: id, ego, and
superego. Id (governed by the “pleasure principle”) is immature, impulsive, child-like and
cannot delay gratification. The ego refers to the “I” and works on the reality principle, controls
the id, and can delay pleasure. The superego refers to the “conscience” and “moral judge” of
conduct.
It appears that the id is the devil within the self, the superego is the angel, and ego is
the person in the middle. These three are often in conflict with each other and if these conflicts
are not resolved, personality problems may arise.
In Freud’s view, the id, ego, and superego develop in a series of stages. Freud called
these the psychosexual stages of development that progresses through five stages: oral,
anal, phallic, latency, and genital. Each of the stage is associated with conflicts that the
individual must resolved so that he or she can successfully forward to the next stage.
First stage is the oral stage, which lasts from birth up to the first year of life. During
this stage, babies derive pleasure from oral activities like sucking and biting. Overindulgence
of the oral needs may lead to oral incorporative personality such as overeating, smoking, and
alcoholism while dissatisfaction may lead to oral aggressive personality such as sarcasm
and tactlessness.
The next stage is anal stage, which occurs around the second year of life. During this
stage, the child derives pleasure from the elimination of body wastes. Through toilet training,
the child learns the basic rules of society. Anal fixations can lead to anal retentive personality
such as obsession with cleanliness, stinginess and obsessive-compulsive personality
disorder. Meanwhile, it may also result to anal expulsion personality such as clumsiness,
disorganized and others.
Phallic stage, as the third stage, usually occurs around the ages of 3 and 6. Children
during this stage derive pleasure from examining, touching, fondling, or displaying their
genitals, or others. These behaviors are likely motivated by curiosity on the differences
between the anatomy of man and woman. It is said that on this stage, homosexuality tend to
develop.
 DON HONORIO VENTURA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
AND PHILOSOPHY
Cabambangan, Villa de Bacolor 2001, Pampanga, Philippines DHVSU Main Campus, Villa de Bacolor, Pampanga
ISO 9001: 2015
Tel. No. (6345) 458 0021; Fax (6345) 458 0021 Local 211 E-Mail Address: cssp1861@gmail.com
URL: http://dhvsu.edu.ph QMS-Certified

The fourth stage is the latency stage, which lasts between 7 to 12 years old. At this
stage, sexual energy is repressed because children become busy with school.
Finally, the genital stage which starts from adolescence to adulthood. During this
stage, pleasure is derived from the genital area and individuals seek to satisfy their sexual
drives from sexual relationships. Everything that has been taught from the previous stages
are now utilized by the person on this stage. Sexual problems may result as a consequence
of inappropriate sex behaviours.
THE ROLE OF ERIK ERIKSON’S THEORY IN UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

Another important aspect of self-understanding involves views of identity development

of the self. To achieve an individual identity, one must create a vision of the self that is
authentic and having hold of one’s destiny in an effort to reach goals that are personally
meaningful. Erikson’s theory proposes that individuals go through eight psychosocial stages
of development. Each stage consists of developmental tasks that one needs to accomplish
in order to develop successfully.
For Erikson, identity formation is usually viewed as a process that requires
adolescents to distance themselves from the strong expectations and definitions imposed by
parents and other family members. While Erikson believed that each stage is important, he
gave a particular emphasis on the development of the ego. The ego is the positive force that
contributes to identity formation and lays the foundation for certain strengths and virtues in
life.
For Erikson’s Psychosocial Development, the first stage is the Infancy – Trust versus
Mistrust. Once accomplished, the basic strength will be Hope. Failure to accomplish this
stage will lead to Withdrawal or retreat from the world.
Next is early childhood, parallel with Freud’s Anal Stage – Autonomy versus shame
and doubt. According to Erikson, children not only gain pleasure from mastering bladder
control but, also by mastering other body functions such as walking, throwing, and holding.
The basic strength is Will, core pathology is Compulsion.
Play Age (3-5 years) is initiative versus Guilt. Parallel with Freud’s Phallic Stage. In
this stage, children are asked to assume responsibility for their bodies, behaviors, toys, and
pets. Developing a sense of responsibility enables them to be initiative and taking an action
with a purpose. Basic strength is Purpose, core pathology is Inhibition (too much guilt).
 DON HONORIO VENTURA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
AND PHILOSOPHY
Cabambangan, Villa de Bacolor 2001, Pampanga, Philippines DHVSU Main Campus, Villa de Bacolor, Pampanga
ISO 9001: 2015
Tel. No. (6345) 458 0021; Fax (6345) 458 0021 Local 211 E-Mail Address: cssp1861@gmail.com
URL: http://dhvsu.edu.ph QMS-Certified

School Age (6-11 years), the industry versus inferiority stage. Parallel with Freud’s
Latency Stage. Children may acquire industry, means willingness to remain busy with
something and to finish a job. Basic strength is competency, core pathology is Inertia (non-
productive, fantasies, regression like).
Adolescence (12-20 years), the identity versus identity confusion, is the fifth
developmental stage and the most crucial. Adolescence is the time of trial and error, faced
with finding out who they are, what they are all about, and where they are going in life. Basic
strength is Fidelity (faith in one’s ideology. E.g. political, spiritual, and social), core pathology
is Role Repudiation: non-workable identity by a.) Difference – extreme lack of self-trust; b.)
Defiance – rebelling against authority.
Young Adulthood (20’s – 30’s) is the intimacy versus isolation stage. Face the
developmental task of forming intimate relationship with others. Intimacy is the ability to fuse
one’s identity with that of another person without fear of losing it or without losing one’s
individuality. Isolation means inability to take chances with one’s identity by sharing true
intimacy. Basic strength is Love (commitment, cooperation, and friendship), core pathology
is Exclusivity (blocks one’s ability to cooperate, complete, or compromise.
Adulthood (40’s – 50’s), is the generativity versus stagnation. A chief concern is to
assist the younger generation in developing and leading useful lives – this is what Erikson
means by generativity. The feeling of done nothing for the next generation is self-absorption
or Stagnation. Basic strength is Care, core pathology is Rejection.
Old Age (60 and onwards) is the last or integrity versus despair stage. During this
stage, a person reflects on the past and either piece together a positive review or concludes
that life has not been spent well. Basic strength is Wisdom, core pathology is disdain.