and the self as known (or the empirical self) provides a
useful scheme within which to view the multitudinous
Lesson 4. PSYCHOLOGY aspects of self-functioning
(oxfordbibliographies.com,2013).
Most people would say that they do not want to talk
W. James suggested that “the self of “Me”, being as it
about themselves. But in actuality, most people like
were duplex” is composed of “partly object and partly
hearing life stories of another person as a chance to
subject.” As a consequence, he differentiated between
talk about themselves or to relate self to others. The
the self as knower, or the “I” and the self as known, or
famous line of “Me, Myself and I” is often used in
“Me”. He referred to the “I” as pure ego and suggested
movies, animations and even in social media- as
that this component of self is consciousness itself. The
caption to picture or as shout-outs.
“Me”, on the other hand, is one of the many things that
The Psychology of self focuses on the representation
the I may be conscious of , and it consists of three
of an individual based on his/her experiences. These
components, one physical or material, one social, and
experiences are either from the home, school and
one spiritual (Pajares & Schunck, 2002).
other groups, organization or affiliations he/she
Material Self- consists of things that belong to us
engaged in. seemingly, the “self” is one of the most
or that we belong to. Things like family, clothes,
heavily researched areas in social and personality
our body, and money are some of what make up
psychology, where concepts are introduce that beyond
our material selves.
our physical attributes, lies our psychological identity.
Social Self – our social selves are who we are in
Questions of “Who am I?” or “what am I beyond my
given social situation. For James, people change
looks?” are thoughts of many that continuously search
how they act depending on the social situation that
for a deeper sense of self which can be traced back
they are in. James believed that people had as
from some time of human history. “Drawing on caves
many social selves as they had social situations
suggests that sometime during the dawn of history,
they participated in.
human beings began to give serious thought to their
Spiritual Self – is who we are out core. The
nonphysical selves. With the advent of written history,
spiritual self is more concrete or permanent than
writers would describe this awareness of self in terms
the other two selves. The spiritual self is our
of spirit, psyche, or soul.” (Pajares & Schunck, 2002)
subjective and most intimate self. Aspects of an
From ancient to current times, the concept of
individual’s spiritual self, include things like his/her
the self is always an interesting subject for many as it
personality, core values, and conscience that do
is very personal that it talks about interpersonal
not typically change throughout a lifetime.
properties. In oxfordbibliographies.com (2-13), it is
mentioned that whatever stance one adopts regarding
the self’s ontological status, there is little doubt that the Global versus Differentiated Models
many phenomena of which the self is a predicate-self-
knowledge, self-awareness, self-esteem, self- There had been postulation that one’s self may be
enhancement, self-regulations, self-deception, self- fragmented into different parts and different selves
presentation to name just a few, are indispensable which may be in conflict needs regulation from each
research areas. other. Although W. James gave a very interesting
perspective on the self, and was even among the first
THE SELF AS A COGNITIVE CONSTRUCTIONS writers to coin the ‘Self-Esteem’, other theories
emerged to study on the selfhood as an integrated part
Cognitive construction is a cognitive approach of one’s psyche. In the past 30 years, self-esteem has
that focuses on the mental processes rather than the become deeply embedded in popular culture (Brown &
observable behavior. This approach will assist Marchall, 2006). It is a person overall self evaluation or
individuals in assimilating new information to their sense of self-worth.
existing knowledge and will enable to make the Global self-esteem (a.k.a. Feelings of Self-
appropriate modification to their existing intellectual esteem), is a personality variable that represents the
framework to accommodate their new information. way people generally feel about themselves. It is
relatively enduring across time and situations.
William James and the Me-Self, I-Self According to researchers (e.g. Crocker & Park, 2004;
Crocker &Wolfe, 2001), Global self-esteem is a
With the initiative of Wilhelm Wundt, the father
decision people make about their worth as a person.
of Scientific, Psychology, Scientific methods in
State Self-esteem (a.k.a. Feelings of Self-worth),
studying what Aguirre et al. (2011) mentioned as
refers to temporary feelings or momentary emotional
“phenomenon of the consciousness”, urged interest in
reaction to positive and negative events where we feel
further studies of the self and its role in human
good or bad about ourselves during these situation or
behavior. It is in this time that “William James” classic
experiences.
distinction between the self as knower (or pure ego)
Domain Specific-self esteem (a.k.a. Self- what our society promoters, what we think are in our
evaluations), is focused on how people evaluate their best interest.
values abilities and attributes. This is making A wide gap between the ideal and the real self
distinctions or differentiation on how good or bad indicates incongruence and an unhealthy personality
people are in specific physical attributes, abilities and (Feist et al., 2013). If the way that I am (the real self) is
personal characteristics. aligned with the way that I want to be (the ideal self),
then I will feel a sense of mental well-being or peace of
Real and Ideal Self Concepts mind. If the way that I am is not aligned with how I
The self as the regulating center of an individual’s want to be, the incongruence, or lack of alignment, will
personality and self=processes under the guess of id, result in mental distress or anxiety. The greater the
and superego functioning (Pajares & Schunck, 2002), level of incongruence between the ideal self and self,
rocked psychology as the biggest breakthrough the greater is the level of resulting distress.
understanding the psychological self. From this
milestone, prominent psychologists followed with their
own perspective of the self to contest the roles and Multiple versus Unified Selves
function of ego as the self. These were the landmarks
Postmodern psychology contends that man has an
of Contemporary Psychology and the understanding of
identity that shifts and morphs in different social
the internal process of man. A group of psychologists
situation and in response to different stimuli, as
called for renewed attention to inner experience,
Kenneth Gergen argues that having a flexible sense of
internal processes, and self-constructs. This
self in different context is more socially adaptable than
perspective asserts the overall dignity and worth of
force oneself to stick one self-concept (ctsites.uga.edu,
human beings and their capacity for self-realization
2016, danielcw).
(Hall, Lindzey, & Manosevitz, 1997)
Theories believed that there is no one answer to
the question, “Who am I?” as one person can undergo
Karen Horney with her feminine psychology,
several transition in his life and create multiple
established that a person has an ‘ideal self’ ‘actual self’
versions of himself. However, there is still the
and the ‘real self’. She believed that everyone
contention of the importance of mental well-being,
experiences basic anxiety through which we
maintaining a unified, centralized, coherent self.
experience conflict and strive to cope and employ
Multiple Selves, according to K. Gergen, are the
tension reduction approaches. Hall, et al. (1997)
capacities we carry within us from multiple
mentioned that Horney believed people develop a
relationships. These are not ‘discovered’ but ‘created’
number of strategies to cope with basic anxiety.
in our relationships with other people.
Because people feel inferior, an idealized self-image
Unified Selves, as strongly pointed out in
– an imaginary picture of the self as the possessor of
Traditional Psychology emphasizes that well-being
unlimited powers and superlative qualities, is
when our personality dynamics are congruent,
developed. On the other hand, the actual self, the
cohesive and consistent. It is understood that a person
person one is in everyday life, is often despised
is essentially connected with selfhood and identity. In a
because it fails to fulfill the requirements of the
healthy person the ego remains at the helm of the
idealized image. Underlying both the idealized self and
mind, coherent and organized, staying at the center
actual self is the real self, which is revealed only as a
(ctlsites.uga.edu,2016,danielcw).
person begins to shed the various techniques develop
to deal with basic anxiety and to find ways of resolving
conflicts. The real self is not an entity but a ‘force’ that True versus False Selves
impels growth and self-realization.
Donald W. Winnicott distinguish what he called
Carl Rogers with his Person-Centered Theory, the ‘true self’ from the “false self” in the human
establish a concept of self, involving the Real Self personality, considering the true self as based on a
(a.k.a. Self-concept) and Ideal Self includes all those sense of being in the experiencing body and the false
aspects of one’s being and one’s experience that are as necessary defensive organization, a survival kit, a
perceived in awareness (through not always caretaker self, the means by which a threatened
accurately) by the individual (Feist, Feist& Roberts, person has managed to survive (Klein,1994).
2013). It is the part of ourselves where we feel, think, True Self has a sense of integrity, of connected
look and act involving our self-image. On the other wholeness that harks to the early stage. False Self is
hand, the Ideal Self revolves around goals and used when the person has to comply with external
ambitions in life, is dynamic, the idealized image that rules, such as being polite or otherwise following social
we have developed over time. This is what our parents codes. The false self constantly seeks to anticipate
have taught us considering: what we admire in others, demands of others in order to maintain the
relationship. The Healthy False Self is functional, can
be fits in but through a feeling that it has betrayed its
true self. The Unhealthy False Self fits in but through
a feeling of forced compliance rather than loving
adaptation (chancgingminds.org 2016). False Selves,
as in investigation by Heins Kohut (1971), can lead
towards narcissistic personality, which identify
external factors at the cost of one’s own autonomous
creativity.
The Self as Proactive and Agentic
Social Cognitive Theory takes an agentic view of
personality, meaning that humans have the capacity to
exercise control over their own lives. People are self-
regulating, proactive, self-reflective, and self-
organizing and that they have the power to influence
their own actions to produce desire consequences.
People consciously act on their environment in a
manner that permits growth toward psychological
health. An adequate theory of personality, according to
G. Allport must allow for proactive behavior (Feist et
al., 2013).
Agent Self – the agent self is known as the
executive function that allows for actions. This is how
we, as individuals, make choices and utilize our control
in situations and actions. The agent self, resides over
everything that involves decision making, self-control,
taking charge in situations, and actively responding. A
person might desire to eat unhealthy foods, however, it
his/her agent self that allows that person to choose to
avoid eating them and make a healthier food choice
(Baumeister, & Bushman 2011).
Human agency is not thing but an active process
of exploring, manipulating and influencing the
environment in order to attain outcomes. According to
Albert Bandura, the core features of human agency
are Intentionally (acts a person performs intentionally)
forethought (setting goals, anticipation of outcomes of
actions, selection of behavior to produce desired and
avoiding undesirable ones), self-reactiveness
(monitoring progress towards fulfilling choices), and
self-reflectiveness (examination of own functioning,
evaluation of the effect of other people’s action on
them). These lead to self-efficacy, the belief that they
are capable of performing actions that will produce a
desire effect (Feist, et al., 2013).
Self-Efficacy lies in the center Bandura’s Social
Cognitive Theory. It is the measure of one’s ability to
complete goals. People with high self-efficacy often
are eager to accept challenges because they believe
they can overcome them, while people with low self-
efficacy may avoid challenges, or believe experiences
are more challenging than they actually are
(appsychtextbk.wikispaces.com,2014).
Let us move further as we continue examining
other perspectives of the self.
