KNOWING ONESELF

Who am I?
 “It
seems ridiculous to
investigate other
unimportant things when
you do not known
yourself yet”
[SOCRATES]
“The most important thing to pursue was
self knowledge, and admitting one’s
ignorance is the beginning of true
knowledge”.
[SOCRATES]
“Self” In philosophical terms,
• It is the being
• Source of person’s
personal consciousness
• The agent responsible
for an individual’s
thoughts and actions.

Self is an intangible entity that directs a person’s

thoughts and actions.
In sociology or religion,

• The “self” is the essence of a

person: his thoughts, feelings
and actions, experiences, beliefs,
values, principles and
relationships.

• The “self” includes a person’s

life purpose, meaning and
But we will focus and give
more emphasis on its
psychological definition:

• The “self” is defined as the

cognitive and affective
representation of one’s
identity.

• It is the defined in terms of

human characteristics such
In Psychology
• The term personality is referred to as
a set of behaviors, feelings, thoughts
and motives that identifies an
individual.
• Personality is the essence of who we
are and is the embodiment of one’s
physical, psychological, cognitive,
affective, and spiritual self.
Therefore, when we speak of the
“self”, we will describe it in
personality terms.
 (Feist and Rosenberg)
• “personality refers to the unique and relatively
enduring set of behaviors, feelings, thoughts
and motives that characterize an individual”

• Two key components:

 The uniqueness of an individual’s thoughts,
feelings, and behavior;

 Their being relatively enduring, or being consistent,

over different situations and over time.
 (Gordon Allport)

“personality is a pattern habits,

attitudes, and traits”

This definition does not emphasize uniqueness

and consistency, but nevertheless still captures
aspects of personality.
Nature,
Nurture
and
Personality
 Personality is influenced by both nature
(heredity or genetic make-up) and nurture
(environment).

There is no single gene that creates a trait. It is always a

complex combination of genes, environmental exposure
and experiences, and cultural backgrounds.

One general point of view explains that personality

deals with traits, and the trait or disposition is a major
factor in personality.