CHAPTER 4: PSYCHOLOGY

Understanding the Self

 DISCUSSIONS
• THE SELF AS A COGNITIVE CONSTRUCTION
1.1 William James and Me-Self; I-Self
1.2 Global vs Differentiated Models
1.3 Real and Ideal Self-concepts
1.4 Multiple vs Unified Selves
1.5 True vs False Selves
 PSYCHOLOGY

❖ It is the scientific study of the mind and

behaviour, according to the American
Psychological Association.
❖Psychology is a multifaceted discipline.
❖ Cognitive Construction is a
cognitive approach that focuses on
the mental processes rather than
the observable behavior.
❖ William James
- one of the earliest psychologist to study the self and
conceptualization the self having to aspects – the “I” and
“ME”.
I-The one who acts and decides
ME-What you think or feel about yourself as an object

-suggested that “the total self of ‘ME’, being as it were

Duplex”.
• IDENTITY is composed of personal characteristics,
social roles, and responsibilities, as well as affiliations
that define who one is.
• SELF-CONCEPT is what basically comes to your mind
when you are asked about who you are.
SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM
❖The self is created and developed through human
interaction
❖The three reasons why self and identity are social
products
Three reasons why self and identity are social
products
1. We do not create ourselves out of nothing.
2. Whether we like to admit or not, we actually 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.
 IMPORTANT TO US
Self-awareness
❖ Is having a clear perception of your personality,
including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs,
motivation, and emotions.
❖ Allows you to understand other people, how they
perceive you, your attitude and your responses to
them in the moment.
❖ Also presents to us with at least three other self –
schema: Actual, Ideal, and ought Self.
❖ According to the social comparison theory, we learn
about ourselves, the appropriateness of our
behaviour, as well as our social status.
❖ Is the more common type of comparing ourselves
with others

❖Comparing ourselves with those who are better off

than us.
• States that we can feel threatened when someone out
performs us so we react in three ways.
1. We distance ourselves from that person or redefine our
relationship with them.
2. We may also reconsider the importance of the aspect or
skill in which you were outperformed.
3. We may also strengthen our resolve to improve that certain
aspect of ourselves.
❖It is a trait characterized by overly high self-esteem, self-
admiration, and self-centeredness.
❖They are often charismatic because of how they take
care of their image.
❖the extent to which individuals have many different and
relatively independent ways of thinking about
themselves
❖Some selves are more complex than others, and these
individual differences can be important in determining
psychological outcomes. Having a complex self means
that we have a lot of different ways of thinking about
ourselves.
Why is it important to
know yourself?
• Happiness.
• Less inner conflict.
• Better decision-making.
• Self-control.
• Resistance to social pressure.
• Tolerance and understanding of others.
• Vitality and pleasure.
Murray Bowen
• Supports the conception that anxiety and stress can disrupt the
quality of one's relationship
• Differentiation and fusion refers to the extent in which an
individual can separate their emotional and intellectual selves the
solid self the differentiated self is characterized as pseudo self.
• Fused self is characterized as total self-concept views the self as
multiple cognitive structure and is integrated into one single view
of the self-total self-concept.
• From the theory shave son, Huber, Stanton , Said that
the global self refers to the extent to which one's
perception of the self is clearly and consistently defined.
• Global self-esteem is a decision people make their worth
as a person.
Real vs. Ideal Self
❖ In psychology, the real self and the ideal self are terms
used to describe personality domains.
❖The real self is who we actually are. It is how we think,
how we feel, look, and act. The real self can be seen by
others, but because we have no way of truly knowing
how others view us, the real self is our self-image.
❖ David Leste he said that the mind is composed of multiple such
subselves that are autonomous sets of psychological processes
such as dreams, desires, emotions and memories
Unified self
❖ is the integration of of the subselves into one, however, integration
is a task for the later part of life
❖ true self is inherently moral, good, and transcends situations and
circumstances and culturally stable; governed by the moral code
❖ refers to all the dimensions of the self that are not essentially to
the true self
Multiple self
❖ according to K. Gergen are capacities we
carry within us from multiple relationships. These
are not ‘discovered’ but created in our
relationships with other people.
True self
❖ There is true self that has a sense of integrity, of connected
wholeness that harks to the early stage.
False self
❖ When the person has to comply with external rules, such as
being polite or otherwise following social codes, then a false
self is used. The false self constantly seeks to anticipate
demands of others in order to maintain the relationship.
True self
❖ There is true self that has a sense of integrity, of connected
wholeness that harks to the early stage.
False self
❖ When the person has to comply with external rules, such as
being polite or otherwise following social codes, then a false
self is used. The false self constantly seeks to anticipate
demands of others in order to maintain the relationship.
Healthy false self
❖ When the false self is functional both for the person and for
society then it is considered healthy. The healthy false self
feels that that it is still being true to the true self. It can be
compliant but without feeling that it has betrayed its true
self.
Unhealthy false self
❖ A self that fits in but through a feeling of forced compliance
rather than loving adaptation is unhealthy.
Agent Self
❖is defined as the aspect of human personality that is
determined by future assessments of one's goals,
objectives, and actions.
Proactive Self
❖