PSYCHOLOGICAL

PERSPECTIVE OF
THE SELF
WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?

Psychology is the study of mind and behavior. It

encompasses the biological influences, social
pressures and environmental factors that affect how
people think, act and feel.
WILLIAM JAMES’CONCEPT OF
SELF: THE ME-SELF AND THE I -
SELF
• he theorized the components of the self, which he divided into
categories: “Me” and “I”
• the “Me” is the separate individual, a person refers to when
talking about their personal experience.
• the “I” is the part of the self that knows who they are and what
they have accomplished in life
 “ I know it was me who ate the cookie.”

The “Me” is the empirical self, the one who does the
acting, whereas the “I” is the self that is capable of
thinking and reflecting
3 sub- categories of ME: a material, social, and spiritual self

 the material self consist of what belongs to a person, such as the body, family, clothes,
or money.

 the spiritual self is who we are at our core, including our personality, values and
conscience

 the social self marks who you are in a specific social situation
CARL ROGERS’ SELF THEORY:
REAL AND IDEAL SELF

• The real self who we actually are. It is how we think, how we

feel, look and act.
• The ideal self is how we want to be. It is an idealized image
that we have developed over time, based on what we have
learned and experienced.
DAVID LESTER-MULTIPLE VERSUS UNIFIED
SELVES
What does the self consist of? The human self consists of three related, but also separable
domains.
1. The first domain is the experiential self. This is the “theater of consciousness” and the
first person felt experience of being. This is tied very closed to memory
2. A second portion of the human self is called the private self-consciousness system. We
can call this the “narrator” because it’s the portion of your being that verbally narrates what is
happening and tries to make sense of what is going on. This portion of yourself is called
“autographical self.”