GEC 1: Understanding the Self

Joseph Cezar Murillo Galedo

LESSON 7: THE DIGITAL SELF

Lesson Objectives:
1. Discuss online identity and their self in cyber space and user ID;
2. Establish boundaries of the online self: private vs. public; personal vs. social identity online, gender and sexuality
online; and
3. Discuss the proper ways of demonstrating values and behaviors online.

Online identity and “self” in cyber space: I, me, myself,
and my user id online identity
Online identity is the sum of your characteristics and
interactions. Your behavior differs depending on the website
you are visiting. These different representations are referred
to as partial identities because none of them are your true
self.
How do you build your online identity?
The information you provide differs in every website
you interact with the information you share contributes to your
identity in that specific website.
Establish boundaries of the online self: private vs.
public; personal vs. social; gender and sexuality
Self-presentation is the process of controlling how
we are perceived by other people. In order to create a positive
image online, we select what type of information we present
to the public. Anything we post online should be considered
public no matter what our privacy settings are. Even if it is
posted on a private account, one screen capture can
immediately make that private post public.
Personal identity is how we differentiate ourselves
from other people.
Social identity is the identification of the self
according to the group where we belong in.
Sex is the biological state that corresponds to what
we might call a “man” or a “woman”.
Gender is the social understanding of how sex
should be experienced and how it is manifested in behavior,
personality, preferences, capabilities, and so forth.
Sexuality is the person’s expression and
understanding of desire which is more fluid than we think.
According to Judith Butler, gender is performative. People
have the freedom to choose which gender or sexuality to
portray on the internet making alternate identities. The
internet and social media have greatly helped in facilitating
the fluidity of gender. People have used these as platforms
for expressing their gender identity and sexuality. Setting
boundaries to yourself: Smart Shaming
Smart-shaming can be defined as shaming or giving
snide comments to people who provide factual or correct
information. This usually happens in argumentations or in
comment sections.
Proper ways of demonstrating values and behaviors
online
Before sharing or posting something, consider these
questions:
Is this post necessary?
Is there a real benefit to this post? Is it funny, warm-hearted,
teachable—or am I just making noise online without
purpose?
Have we (as a family or parent/child) resolved this issue? An
issue that is still being worked-out at home, or one that is
either vulnerable or highly emotional, should not be made
public. E.g. John Denver Trending
Is it appropriate? Does it stay within the boundaries of our
family values?
Will this seem funny in 5, 10, 15 years? Or is this post better
suited for sharing with a small group of family members? Or
maybe not at all.
Additional guidelines:
Stick to safer sites
Guard your passwords
Limit what you share
Remember that anything you put online or post on a site is
there forever, even if you try to delete it.
Do not be mean or embarrass other people online
Always tell if you see strange or bad behavior online. E.g.
report the posts
Be choosy about your online friends
Be patient.

LESSON 10: LEARNING TO BE A BETTER PERSON

Lesson Objectives:

1. Enumerate and practice various metacognition and studying techniques;

2. Articulate the theoretical underpinnings for how to manage and care for the different aspects of the self;
3. Acquire and manifest new skills and learning for managing of one’s self and behavior;
4. Differentiate growth and fixed mindset by Dweck; and
5. Design personal goals adapting Lock’s goal-setting theory.

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 GEC 1: Understanding the Self
Joseph Cezar Murillo Galedo
Techniques to practice metacognition Approach threating situations with confidence that they can
Knowing your limits: control them
You can study better if you know your limitations.
People who doubt their capabilities:
Modifying your approach: Shy away from tasks they see as personal threats
If it a strategy does not work, change the strategy. Low aspirations and weak commitment to their goals
Dwell on failures and personal deficiencies
Skimming: Exert not much effort and give-up quickly in the face of
Reading more effectively i.e. table of contents, introduction, difficulties
or summary. Tend to get discouraged after experiencing failure
Easily gets stressed or depressed
Rehearsing:
Practicing with a personal interpretation. Four major influences in a person’s self-efficacy:
1. Performance accomplishments or mastery
Self-test: experiences (feeling success)
Creating tests or assessments for yourself. It is like a second 2. Vicarious experiences (seeing other people
review. Focus on how you learned and not what you learned. succeed)
3. 3. Verbal or social persuasion (influence of
Other methods: encouragement or support versus discouragement)
Asking questions about your methods 4. 4. Physiological states (is the person feeling well or
Self-reflection not?)
Finding a mentor
Thinking out loud Carol S. Dweck wrote a book entitled: Mindset: The New
Welcoming errors Psychology of Success which discusses the two types of
mindset that people have.
Other Studying Techniques:
Outlining Fixed mindset refers to the belief that success is based on
Breaking-down big tasks their innate abilities.
Vary your schedule
Incubate your ideas (drafting) Growth mindset refers to the belief that success is based on
Revise, summarize, review hard work, learning, training, and perseverance.
Engage what you have learned
Fixed mindset:
Albert E. Bandura’s Self-efficacy theory Do not like failure because it is a negative statement about
The Bobo Doll Experiment their abilities
The experiment focused on social learning theory that states
that people learn from observing other people. Growth mindset:
Do not mind failure because they see failure as opportunity
Self-efficacy theory: for learning
Distinguishes between expectations of efficacy and
response-outcome expectancy. Dr. Edwin A. Locke conducted a study to look at the
effects of goal-setting in the performance of an
Outcome-expectancy is an estimate that a given behavior will individual. His research has 14 findings:
lead to certain outcomes. The more difficult the goal, the greater the achievement.
The more specific or explicit the goal, the more precisely
Efficacy expectation is the conviction that one can performance is regulated.
successfully execute the behavior required to produce Goals that are both difficult and specific lead to the highest
outcomes. performance.
Commitment to goals is most critical when goals are specific
Dr. Bandura defines self-efficacy as people’s beliefs about and difficult.
their capabilities to accomplish tasks. High commitment is attained when:
-the individual is convinced that the goal is important
People with high assurance in their capabilities: -the individual is convinced that the goal is attainable
Approach tasks as challenges to be mastered Having a direct affect on performance, self-efficacy
Set challenging goals and maintain strong commitment influences:
Sustain efforts in the face of failures or setbacks -the difficulty level of the goal chosen or accepted
Attribute failure to insufficient effort or deficient knowledge -commitment to goals
and skills which are acquirable -response to negative feedback or failure
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-choice of task strategies
*Feedback-means of checking to tracking progress
Goal-setting is most effective when there is feedback that
shows progress in relation to the goal.
Goal-setting (along with self-efficacy) mediates the effect of
knowledge of past performance on the following performance
Goals affect performance by affecting the direction of action,
the degree of effort exerted, and the persistence of action
over time.
Goals stimulate planning in general.
When people strive for goals on complex tasks, they are least
effective in discovering suitable task strategies if:
-they have no prior experience or training on the task
-there is high pressure to perform well
-there is high time pressure
LESSON 11: TAKING CHARGE OF ONE’S HEALTH
Lesson Objectives:
1. Explain the effects of stress to one’s health;
2. Examine the cultural dimensions of stress and coping; and
3. Design a self-care plan
Stress, according to Hans Selye, is the body’s nonspecific
response to any demand, whether it is caused by or results
in pleasant or unpleasant stimuli.
Two types of stress:
1. Distress
2. Eustress
Distress
Negative stress caused negative events such as
break-up, punishment, injury, and school problems.
Eustress
Positive stress caused by good events such as
entering a relationship, promotion, winning, perfecting the
exam.
After the body experiences stress, it will undergo stress
syndrome which has three components:
Alarm stage, stage of resistance, and exhaustion stage
Alarm stage
The body experiences increase in heart rate, blood
pressure, perspiration, and gets ready for “fight or flight”
response.
Resistance stage
The body becomes adaptive to the stressors and
starts to resist it. The length of resistance depends on the
body’s stored adaptation energy. However, just like a
machine, human beings are subject to “wear and tear”, and
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GEC 1: Understanding the Self
Joseph Cezar Murillo Galedo
Goals, (including goal commitment) in combination with self-
efficacy, mediate or partially mediate the effects of several
personality traits and incentives on performance.
Goal-setting and goal-oriented mechanisms can be trained
and/or adopted in the absence of training for the purpose of
self-regulation.
Goals serve as standards of self-satisfaction, with harder
goals demanding higher accomplishment in order to attain
self-satisfaction than easy goals.
Five Principles of Goal-setting:
Clarity
Challenge
Commitment
Feedback
Task Complexity
sooner or later, if the stress is still present and persistent, the
person could fall to the third stage.
Exhaustion stage
The body breaks down or “dies” because it has used-
up its resource adaptation energy.
Other signs of stress:
Heart-pounding, quicker breathing, muscle-tensing, and
beads of sweat appearing
Parts of the brain involved in stress:
Amygdala- area of the brain that contributes to emotional
processing. This interprets images and sounds.
Hypothalamus- receiver of the distress signals coming from
the amygdala. The hypothalamus serves as the command
center of the brain.
The hypothalamus communicates with the rest of the body
through the autonomic nervous system which has two
components: the sympathetic and the parasympathetic
nervous system
The sympathetic nervous system functions like a gas pedal
in a car. This triggers the “fight or flight” response.
The parasympathetic nervous system functions like a brake.
It promotes “rest and digest” response that calms down the
body after danger has passed.

After the amygdala sends a distress signal, the hypothalamus
activates the sympathetic nervous system that sends signals
to the adrenal glands.
The adrenal glands are responsible for the release of the
hormone epinephrine otherwise known as adrenaline.
When epinephrine circulates the body, this results to faster
heart beats, more blood pushing to organs, pulse rate and
blood pressure increase.
Techniques to counter chronic stress:
1. Relaxation response
Activities such as abdominal breathing, meditation, and
prayer.
2. Physical Activity
Exercise does not only regulate breathing but also relaxes
tense muscles.
3. Social Support
Having people around that support you helps you get through
stressful times.
Cultural Dimension of Stress Coping
Race, culture, and religion are just some of the factors that
affect our stress.
In Western countries, stress may come from racial
discrimination.
Gender can also be a source of stress if the culture you
belong to is not open to the diversity and fluidity of gender.
If you belong to a religious family, stress may come from
forcing yourself to be conservative and passive.
In the Philippines, social issues, traffic, corruption, and fake
news are examples of stressors.
In a typical Filipino setting, eldest children bear the burden of
being breadwinners.
In the Philippines, relatives and neighbors can be sources of
stress.
In terms of coping, forms may be faith or religion, family,
friends, personal, and surroundings.
Self-care Therapy
Stop, breathe, and tell yourself: “This is hard and I will get
through this one step at a time.
Take time to process the problem and solve it one step at a
time.
Acknowledge to yourself what you are feeling. All feelings are
normal so accept what ever you are feeling.
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GEC 1: Understanding the Self
Joseph Cezar Murillo Galedo
You can solve the problem if you know what is the problem.
Confront what you feel. Express.
Find someone who listens and is accepting. You do not need
advice. You need to be heard.
Find a good listener.
Maintain your normal routine as much as possible.
Take control of what is happening by doing what you usually
do. This will take you mind off the stress.
Allow plenty of time for a task.
Good quality things take time. You cannot focus and
concentrate if you have time pressure. Do not procrastinate.
Take good care of yourself:
1. Get enough rest and sleep. Sleep at least six hours but not
more that nine hours. Sleep helps the body heal and recover.
2. Eat regularly and make healthy choices. Do not skip
breakfast. Eat healthy and nutritious food that will maintain
the body’s energy level. Avoid cigarettes and alcoholic drinks.
3. Know your limits and when you need to let go. Some
problems are beyond your control, let them be. Stop fixing the
unfixable. “It is what it is, I just need to accept it.” Journaling
can help you move on.
4. Identify or create a nurturing place in your home. Twenty
minutes of in your “safe space” can greatly relieve your
stress. Music and nature sounds also help.
5. Practice relaxation or meditation. This will help your body
slow down and release stress. Take a mental vacation.
6. Escape for a while through meditation, reading a book,
watching a movie, or taking a short trip.
Self-compassion Therapy
Be good to yourself. Do not put down yourself because you
have failed. Recognize your imperfections.
We cannot always get what we want. We cannot always be
who we want to be. Suffering arises when we cannot face
reality.
Self-compassion recognizes that life challenges and failure a
part of being human, and we all share this reality. You are not
alone in this battle called LIFE.
Self-compassion phrases:
This is a moment of suffering
Suffering is a part of life
May I be kind to myself
May I give myself the compassion I need
This is a moment of suffering
 GEC 1: Understanding the Self
Joseph Cezar Murillo Galedo
This opens out mind to the pain of reality. Acceptance is the May I give myself the compassion I need
first step. You DESERVE self-love and self-compassion. Huwag
ipagkait sa sarili ang pagmamahal.
Suffering is a part of life
EVERYONE experiences this. Do not think that you are alone Self-compassion is not only looking at the brighter side of
in this battle. things, but it is the recognition of suffering but being kind to
yourself.
May I be kind to myself
Respond with self-kindness and not with self-criticism Less stress is more care. Self-love and self-compassion are
vital for a healthy lifestyle.

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