The Self as

Cognitive
Construct
Lesson 3
 Let’s focus
“ I am who I am.”
 It is the sense of personal identity and of
who we are as individuals. (Jhangiani and
Tarry 2014)

It has two aspects- the “I” and the “me”. “I”

What is is the thinking, acting, and feeling self
(Gleitman, Gross, and Reinsberg 2011: Hogg
self? and Vaughan 2010)
“Me” is the physical characteristics as well
as the psychological capabilities that makes
who you are
 Identity – composed of personal
characteristics, social roles, and
responsibilities as well as
Other similar affiliations that define who one is.
concepts similar
to self Self-concept – is what basically
comes to your mind when you are
asked about who you are
Carl Rogers concept of self-schema

Hobbies

Family
Self Religion

Nationality
• Theories generally see the self and identity as
mental constructs, created and recreated in
memory.
• Sigmund Freud saw the self, its mental
processes, and one’s behavior as the results
of the interaction between the Id, the Ego,
and super ego.
• According to Freud's psychoanalytic theory,
the id is the primitive and instinctual part of
the mind that contains sexual and
aggressive drives and hidden memories, the
super-ego operates as a moral conscience,
and the ego is the realistic part that
mediates between the desires of the id and
the super-ego.
 Theory of symbolic
interactionism (G. H. Mead 1934)
• Self is created and developed through human interaction.
• It has 3 reasons why self and identity are social products
• 1. We do not create ourselves out of nothing. Society
helped in creating the foundations of who we are and even
if we make our choices.
• 2. Whether we like to admit it or not, we need others to
affirm and reinforce who we think we are.
• 3. What we think is important to us may also have been
influenced by what is important in our social or historical
context.
2 types of self (Carver and
Scheier 1961)

1. The private self or your internal

standards and private thoughts and
feelings.

2. The public self or your public image

commonly geared toward having good
presentation of yourself to others.
Self-awareness also presents us with
at least three other self-schema

1. The 2. The
actual self ideal self

3. The
ought self
The actual self – is who you
are now

The ideal self – is who you

like to be

The ought to be self – is who

you think should be.
Self-awareness
• It may be positive or negative depending on
the circumstances and our next course of
action.
• It can keep you doing something dangerous.
• It can help remind you that there is exam
tomorrow in one of your subjects when you
are about to spend time playing computer
games
Social comparison
theory
• We learn about ourselves, the
appropriateness of our
behaviors, as well as our
social status by comparing
ourselves with other people.
(Jhangiani and Tarry 2014;
Hogg and Vaughan 2010)
Social comparison
• Entails what is called self-
evaluation maintenance theory
– which states that we can feel
threatened when someone out-
performs us, especially when
that person is close to us.
• 1. We distance ourselves from
that person or redefine our
relationship with them.
 Social comparison
• 2. We may also reconsider
the importance of the aspect
or skill in which you were
performed.
• 3. We may also strengthen
our resolve to improve that
certain aspect of ourselves.
Thank you!