LESSON 3

THE SELF ACCORDING TO SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

Sociology and Anthropology – two interrelated disciplines that contribute to the understanding of self
Sociology – presents the self as a product of modern society. It is science that studies the development,
structure (place in society), interaction, and collective behavior of human beings (social group).
Anthropology – the study of humanity. This broad field takes an interdisciplinary approach to looking at human
culture, both past and present. The following set of sociologists and anthropologist offered their views about
self.
“Theory of Evolution by Charles Darwin”
Differences between Anthropology and Sociology
 Anthropology – emphasis on culture and its physical and social characteristics (kinship: relationship to
the family, language, religion, gender, art).
 Sociology – emphasis on society and its origins and development (social classes, institutions, &
structures, social movements).
The Self and Person in the Contemporary Anthropology
The four subfields of anthropology – Archeology, Biological Anthropology, Linguistics, and Cultural
Anthropology, suggests that human beings are similar and different in varying ways and tendencies.
The subfields of Anthropology are as follows:
Archeology
 Focus on the study of the past and how it may have contributed to the present ways of how people
conduct their daily lives.
 Archeologists have so far discovered the unique ways in which human beings adapted to the changes in
their environment in order for them to survive.
 Among their discoveries around the world is the species, Homo sapiens did not become extinct because
of their ability to think, use tools and learn from experience.
Biological Anthropology
 Focus on how the human body adapts to the different earth environments
 Among the activities of anthropologists are identification of probable causes of diseases, physical
mutation, and death, evolution, and comparison of dead and living primates.
 They are interested in explaining how the biological characteristics of human beings affects their way of
living.
Linguistic Anthropology
 Focused on using language as means to discover a group’s manner of social interaction and their
worldview.
 Anthropologists in this field want to discover how language is used to create and share meanings, to
form ideas and concepts and to promote social change.
 Furthermore, the also study how language and modes of communications changes over time.
Cultural Anthropology
  Focused in knowing what makes one group’s manner of living forms an essential part of the member’s
personal and societal identity. This encompasses the principles of Theory of Cultural Determinism which
suggests that the human nature is determined by kinds of culture he is born and grew up in.
The following are the ways in which culture may manifest itself in people:
 Symbols – these are the words, gestures, pictures, or objects that have recognized or accepted meaning
in a particular culture
 Heroes – these are the person from the past or present who have characteristics that are important in
culture. They may be real or work or fiction.
 Rituals – these are activities participated by a group of people for the fulfillment of desired objectives
and are concerned to be socially essential.
 Values – these are considered to be the sore of every culture. These are unconscious, neither discuss or
observed, and can be inferred from the way people act and react to situations.
The field of anthropology offers another way by which a person can view themselves. As self is formed or
determined by the past and present conditions, by biological characteristics, the communication and language
use, and the lifestyle we choose to live.

THE SELF, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE

People put a halt on speculative debates on the relationship between the body and soul, eventually renamed
body and mind
Thinkers just eventually got tires of focusing on the long-standing debate since sixth century BC between the
relationships of these two components of the human person.
Thinkers just settled on the idea that there are two components of the human person and whatever relationship
these two have is less important than the fact that there is a self
The relationship between the self and the external world
Feral Children – no interaction to other people
Oxana – left alone with a dog for 5 years at a young age due to neglect, starts to act like a dog before being
found by someone.
Anti-Social Personality Disorder
We may be gifted with intellect and the capacity to rationalize things but at the end of the day, our growth and
development and consequentially, our selves are truly products of our interactions external reality.

THE SELF AND CULTURE

Remaining the same person and turning chameleon by adapting to one’s context seems paradoxical.
According to Marcel Mauss, every self has two faces: Personne and moi
 French Anthropologist
 Moi – a person’s sense of who he is, his body, and his basic identity, his biological givenness. It is a
person’s basic identity.
 Personne – composed of the social concept of what it means to be who he is. “Theatrical Mask”
Personne has much to do with what it means to live in a particular institution, a particular family, a particular
religion, a particular nationality and how to behave given expectations and influences from others.
This dynamics and capacity for different Personne can illustrated better cross-culturally
In the Philippines, Filipinos tend to consider their territory as part of who they are.
Language is another interesting aspect of social constructivism
Another interesting facet of our language is its being gender neutral
It is a salient part of culture and ultimately, has a tremendous effect in our crafting of the self
In one research, it was found that North Americans are more likely to attribute being unique to themselves and
claim that they are better than most people in doing what they love doing.
Japanese people, on the other hand, have been seen to display a degree of modesty
If a self is born into a particular society or culture, the self will have to adjust according to its exposure

SELF IN FAMILIES
The kind of family that we are born in, the resources available to us (human, spiritual, economic), and the kind
of development that we will have will certainly affect us.
Human beings are born virtually helpless and the dependency period of a human baby to its parent for nurturing
is relatively longer than most other animals.
In trying to achieve the goal of becoming a fully realized human, a child enters a system of relationships, most
important of which is family.
Human persons learn the ways of living and therefore their selfhood by being in a family. It is what a family
initiates a person to become that serves as the basis for this person’s progress.
Notice how kids reared in a respectful environment becomes respectful as well and the converse if raised in a
converse family.
Some behaviors and attitudes, on the other hand, may be indirectly taught through rewards and punishments.
Extrinsic Reinforcement: has a condition to do the action
Intrinsic Reinforcement: It is your passion to do the work
Without a family, biologically and sociologically, a person may not even survive or became a human person.

GENDER AND THE SELF

Gender is one of those loci of the self that is subject to alteration, change, and development.
In the Philippines, husbands for most part are expected to provide for the family. The eldest man in a family
is expected to head the family and hold it in.
Nancy, Chodorow, a feminist, argues that because mothers take the role of taking care of children, there is a
tendency for girls to imitate the same and reproduce the same kind of mentality of women as care providers in
the family.
Men on the other hand, in the periphery of their own family are taught early on how to behave like a man. This
is normally includes holding in one’s emotion, being tough, fatalistic, not to worry about danger, and admiration
for hard physical labor.
The sense of self that is being taught makes sure than an individual fits in a particular environment, is
dangerous and detrimental in the goal of truly finding one’s self, self-determination, and growth of the self.
Gender has to be personally discovered and asserted and not dictated by culture and the society.

IMPORTANT PERSONS IN UNDERSTANDING THE SELF THROUGH ANTHROPOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY

George Herbert Mead and the Social Self
Mead is an American philosopher, sociologist, and psychologist. He is regarded as one of the founders of social
psychology and the American sociological tradition in general. Mead is well-known for his theory of self.
Social Psychology – scientific study of how people’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors are influenced by an actual,
imagined or implied presence of others.
Sociology – focused on the society, in its entirety.
He postulated that, the self represents the sum of total of people’s conscious perception identity as distinct
from others.
Self-concept – what you believe of who you are.
Individual selves are the products of social interaction and not logical or biological in nature.
He claimed that the self is something which undergoes development because it is not present instantly at birth.
The self-arises in the process of social experience and activities as a result of their relation to the said process
as a whole and to other individuals within that process
Symbolic Interactionism – the self is created and developed through human interaction
The social emergence of self is developed due to the three forms of inter-subjective activity: the language, play,
and the game.
He proposed the stages of self-formation:
1. Preparatory Stage (Imitation)
As this stage, children’s behaviors are primarily based on imitation. It was observes that children imitate
the behaviors of those around them. At this stage, knowing and understanding the symbols are
important for this will constitute their way of communicating with others throughout their lives.
2. The Play State
Skills at knowing and understanding the symbols of communication is important for this constitutes the
basis of socialization.
Children begin to role play and pretend to be other people. Role-taking in the play stage is the process
of mentality assuming the process of another person to see how this person might behave or respond in
a given situation (Schefer, 2012).
It is at this stage where child widens his perspective and realizes that he is not alone and that there are
others around him whose presence he has to consider.
 3. The Game Stage
Through the learnings that were gained in stage two, the child now begins to see not only his own
perspective but at the same time the perspective of others. In this final stage of self-development, the
child now has the ability to respond not just to one but several members of his social environment.
The child is about 8-9 years old.
Generalized Others – the person realizes that people in society have cultural norms, beliefs and values which
are incorporated into each self. This realization forms basis of how the person evaluate themselves. An
individual internalize impression of societal norms and expectations.
The self, according to Mead, is not merely a passive reflection of the generalized other. The responses of the
individual to the social world are also active, it means that a person decides what they will do in reference to
the attitude of others but not mechanically determined by such attitudinal structures. Here, Mead identifies
the two phases of self.
 The phase which reflects the attitude of the generalized other or the “me”; and
 The phase that responds to the attitude of generalized other or the “I”.
In Mead’s words, the “me” is the social self, and the “I” is a response to the “me”. Mead defines the “me” as
“a conventional, habitual individual” and the “I” as the “novel reply” of then individual to the generalized other
(unpredictable and authentic).
Generally, Meads theory sees the self as a perspective that comes out of interactions, and he sees the meaning
of symbols, social objects, and the self as emerging from negotiated interactions.

The Self Embedded in the Culture by Clifford Geertz

Clifford Geertz was an Anthropology Professor at the University of Chicago, He studied different cultures and
explored on the conception of the self in his writings entitles, “The impact of the Concept of Culture on the
Concept of Man” (1966) in his fieldwork at Java, Bali, and Morocco.
The analysis of Geerts (1966) in his cultural study at about the description of self in Bali is that the Balinese
person is extremely concerned not to present anything individual (distinguishing him or her from others) in
social life but to enact exclusively a culturally prescribed role or mask. In one instance, Geertz (1973) gave an
example of the stage fright that pervades persons in Bali because they must not be publicly recognizable as
individual selves and actors points precisely to the fact that agency or an ability to act in one’s own account is
an integral ability of human beings – an ability which continually threatens the culturally established norm of
nonindividuality.
Thick description – provide enough context so that a person outside the culture can make meaning of the
behavior.
Thin description – stating facts without such meaning or significance.

Self as a Product of Modern Society among Other Constructions by Georg Simmel

He was a German sociologist, philosopher, and critic. He was intensely interested in the ways in which modern,
objective culture impacts the individual’s subjective experiences.
In contrast to Mead, Simmel proposed that there is something called human nature that is innate to the
individual. He also added that most of our social interactions are individual motivations.
Simmel as a social thinker made a distinction between subjective and objective culture.
The individual or subjective culture refers to the ability to embrace, use, and feel culture.
Objective culture is made up of elements that become separate from the individual or group’s control and
identified as separate object.
There are interrelated forces in modern society that tend to increase objective culture according to Simmel,
these are urbanizations, money, and the configuration of one’s social network.
Urbanization is the process that moves people from country to city living. This result to the concentration of
population in one place brought about by industrialization.
People uses accommodations to provide a self-concept.
Money creates a universal value system wherein every commodity can be understood. Money also increases
individual freedom by pursuing diverse activities and by increasing the options for self-expression.
Additionally, money also discouraged intimate ties with people. Money comes to stand in the place of almost
everything – and this includes relationships! Money further discourages intimate ties by encouraging a culture
of calculations.
Group affiliations in urban is definitely different from rural settings wherein the relationship are strongly
influenced by family. And individual tends to seek membership to the same group which makes the family as
basic socialization structure. This natural inclination to join groups is called by Simmel as organic motivation
and the grouping is called primary group.
On the other hand, in the modern urban settings, group membership is due to rational motivation or
membership due to freedom of choice.
Moreover, Simmel said that a complex web of group affiliations produces role conflicts and blasé attitude. Role
conflict is a situation that demands a person of two or more roles that clash with one another. Blasé attitude
is an attitude of absolute boredom and lack of concern. This is the inability or limited ability to provide
emotional investment to other people.
 LESSON 4
SELF-ACCORDING TO PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology – a scientific study of mental processes and human behavior. It aims to describe, analyze, predict,
control human behavior in general.
The Self as Cognitive Construction
The cognitive aspect of the self is known as self-concept. Self-concept is defined as self-knowledge, a cognitive
structure that includes beliefs about personality traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values, goals, and roles,
as well as knowledge that an individual exist as individuals.
According to the Psychologist Dr. Bruce A. Bracken in 1992, there are six specific domains that are related to
self-concept, these are:
1. The social domain - the ability to interact to others
2. The competence domain - the ability to meet the basic needs
3. The affect domain - awareness of emotional state
4. The physical domain - about looks, health, physical condition and physical appearance
5. The academic domain - about being successful in school
6. The family domain - how well one function within a family unit
When we are aware of our self-concepts, this is called self-awareness.
Carver and Scheier identified two types of self that we can be aware of:
1. The private self of your internal standards and private thoughts and feelings; and
2. The public self of your public image commonly geared toward having a good presentation of yourself to
others.
Self-Schema – our organized system or collection of knowledge
about who you are.
Self-awareness also presents us with at least three other self-
schema:
 The “Actual” self is who you are at the moment.
 The “Ideal” self is who you like to be.
 The “Ought” self is who you think you should be.
Self-awareness may be positive or negative depending on the
circumstances and our next course of action.
In other instances, self-awareness can be too much that we are
concerned about being observed and criticized by others, also known as Self-Consciousness.
At other times, especially with large crowds, we may experience deindividuation or the “loss of individual self-
awareness and individual accountability in groups.”
Our group identity and self-awareness also has a great impact on our self-esteem.
One of the ways in which our social relationship affects our self-esteem is through social comparison. According
to the social comparison theory, we learn about ourselves, the appropriateness of our behaviors as well as our
social status by comparing aspects of ourselves with other people.
The downward social comparison is the more common type of comparing ourselves with others, by comparing
ourselves with those who are worse off than us.
The upward social comparison which is comparing ourselves with those who are better off than us.
Social comparison also entails what is called Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory, which states than we can
feel threatened when someone out-performs us, especially when that person is close to us.
*Self-Defeating Thoughts
In this case, we can usually react in three ways:
 First, we distance ourselves from that person or redefine our relationship with them.
 Second, we may also reconsider the importance of the aspect or skill which you were outperformed.
 Lastly, we may also strengthen our resolve to improve our certain aspect of ourselves.
In the attempt to increase or maintain self-esteem, some people become narcissistic. Narcissism is a “trait
characterized by overly high self-esteem, self-admiration, and self-centeredness.”
Rosenberg scale is the instrument most commonly used to measure self-esteem.

Me-Self and I-Self

William James is a well-known figure in Psychology who considered as the founder of functionalism. He brought
prominence to U.S. psychology through the publication of The Principles of Psychology (101) that made him
more influential than his contemporaries in the field.
James made a clear distinction between ways of approaching the self- the knower (the pure or the I – self) and
the Known (the objective or the Me – self). The function of the knower (I-self) according to James must be the
agent of experience. While the known (Me-Self) have three different but interrelated aspects of empirical self
(known today as self-concept): the Me viewed as material, the Me viewed as social, and the Me viewed as
spiritual in nature.
The material-self consist of everything an individual call uniquely as their own, such as the body, family, home
or style of dress. On the other hand, social-self refers to the recognition an individual get from other people.
Lastly, spiritual self refers to the individual inner or subjective being.

Real Self and Ideal Self

Carl Rogers is best known as the founder of client-centered therapy and considered as one of the prominent
humanistic or existential theorists in personality. His therapy aimed to make the person achieve balance
between their self-concept (real self) and ideal self.
Three principles in client-centered therapy:
 Congruent – genuineness to the client
 Unconditional Positive Regard
 Empathy
The real self includes all those aspects of one’s identity that are perceived in awareness. These are the things
that are known to oneself like the attributes that an individual possesses.
The ideal self is defined as one’s view of self as one wishes to be. This contains all the aspirations or wishes of
an individual for themselves.
A wide gap between the ideal self and the self-concept indicates incongruence and an unhealthy personality.
Psychologically healthy individuals perceive little discrepancy between their self-concept and what they would
like to be.

Multiple versus Unified Self

According to Multiple Selves Theory, there are different aspects of the self exists in an individual. From here, we
can say that self is a whole consists of parts, and these parts manifest themselves when need arise.
Gregg Henriques proposed the Tripartite Model of Human Consciousness, wherein he describe that self is
consists of three related, but also separable domains these are experiential self, private self, and public self.
The Experiential Self or the theater of consciousness is a domain of self that defined as felt experience of being.
Also known as the Conscious Self.
The Private Self(Private Self Consciousness System) or the Narrator Interpreter is a portion of self that verbally
narrates that is happening and tries to make sense of what is going on. Introduces the Language.
The Public Self or Persona, the domain of self that an individual shows to the public, and this interacts on how
others see an individual.
Unified being is essentially connected to consciousness, awareness, and agency. A well-adjusted person is able
to accept and understood the success and failure that they experience. They are those kinds of person who
continually adjust, adapt, evolve and survive as an individual with integrated, unified, multiple self.

True versus False Self

Donald Winnicott was a pediatrician in London who studied Psychoanalysis with Melanie Klein, a renowned
personality theorist and one of the pioneers in object relations and development of personality in childhood.
According to him, False Self is an alternative personality used to protect an individual’s true identity or one’s
ability to “hide” the real self. The false self is activated to maintain social relationship as anticipation of the
demands of others.
False Self can be a healthy self if it is perceived as functional for the person and for the society and being
compliant without the feeling of betrayal of true self. On the other hand, unhealthy false self happens when an
individual feels forces compliance in any situation.
On the contrary, True Self has a sense of integrity and connected wholeness that is rooted in early infancy. The
baby creates experiences of a sense of reality and sense of life worth living. Winnicott claimed that true self can
be achieved by good parenting that is not necessarily a prefect parenting.
The Self as Proactive and Agentic
Albert Bandura is a psychological and Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University.
He is known for his theory of social learning by means of modeling. He is famous for his proposed concept of
self-efficacy.
His personality theory, The Social Cognitive Theory asserts that a person is both proactive and agentic, which
means that we have the capacity to exercise control over our life. This theory emphasized that human beings
are proactive, self-regulating, self-reflective, and self-organizing.
Self as proactive means an individual have control in any situation by making thing happen. They act as agent in
doing or making themselves as they are. Agency is a defining feature of modern selfhood.
In the 1950’s, Dr. Bandura had a study known as the Bobo Doll Experiment. In this experiment, the sample
children were presented with new social models of violent and nonviolent behavior toward an inflatable
rebounding Bobo Doll.
The result were: the group of children who saw the violent behavior model became violent to the doll, while
the control group who was presented with the nonviolent behavior model was rarely violent to the doll. This
experiment has proven right the hypothesis that social modeling is a very effective way of learning.
Dr. Bandura introduces the social learning theory that focuses on what people learn from observing and
interacting with other people.
Dr. Bandura’s social cognitive theory states that people are active participants in their environment and are
not simply shaped by their environment.
According to Badura (1989), self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and
behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major processes. They include cognitive,
motivational, affective and selection processes.
Self-efficacy theory distinguishes between expectations of efficacy and response-outcome expectancies.
According to Weibell (2011), Outcome Expectancy is “a person’s estimate that a given behavior will lead to
certain outcomes.”
An Efficacy Expectation is “the conviction that one can successfully execute the behavior required to produce
the outcomes.”
Outcome and Efficacy Expectations are differentiated because individuals can believe that a particular course
of action will produce certain outcomes.
In contrast, Bandura (1989) said that people who doubt their capabilities shy away from difficult tasks which
they view as personal threats. They have low aspirations and weak commitment to the goals they choose to
pursue. When faced with difficult tasks, they dwell on their personal deficiencies, on the obstacles they will
encounter, and all kinds of adverse outcomes rather than concentrate on how to perform successfully. They fall
easy victim to stress and depression
 LESSON 5
THE SELF IN WESTERN AND EASTERN THOUGHTS

Different cultures and varying environment tend to create different perceptions of the “Self” and one of the
most common distinctions between cultures and people in Eastern-vs-Western dichotomy wherein Eastern
represents Asia and Western represents Europe and Northern America.
Individualistic versus Collective Self
Understanding individualism and collectivism could help in understanding of the cross-cultural values of a
person. Not every culture is at one end or the other of the spectrum, but the majority tend to favor one over
the other in everyday life.

Individualistic Self
Individualism is the idea that the fundamental unit of the human species that thinks, lives, and acts toward goals
is the individual. This means that we can form our own independent judgments, act on our own thoughts, and
disagree with others.
Example of the description would include an individual identifies primarily with self, with the needs of the
individual being satisfied before those of the group. Looking after and taking care of ourselves, being self-
sufficient, guarantees the well-beings of the group. Independence and self-reliance are greatly stressed and
valued.
In general, people tend to distance themselves psychologically and emotionally from each other. One may
choose to join groups, but group membership is not essential to one’s identity or success.
Individualist characteristics are often associated with men and people in urban settings.
The Western Culture is what we would call an individualistic culture since their focus is on the person.
Western People at 18 years of year tend to leave their family to be self-sufficient.

Collective Self
Collectivism is the idea that the fundamental unit of the human species that thinks, lives, and acts toward goals
is not the individual, but some group.
A group may make its own decisions, act apart from the actions of individuals, and has its own interests apart
from those of the individuals that compose it.
Analogous to Ants.
Groups members are relatively close psychologically and emotionally, but distant toward non-group members.
Collectivist characteristics are often associated with women and people in rural settings.
Asian Countries are known to be collective in nature.
Asians tend to keep a low profile than western culture. Eastern perspective see the other person as part of
yourself as well as the things you may create. A drama which everyone is interconnected with their specific role.
Asian Culture is called a Collective Culture as the group and social relations that is given more importance than
individual needs and wants.
Difference in culture due to geographical differences.

The Social Construction of the Self in Western Thought

Western Self as Analytic - Real things are not only visualized but immaterial things like thoughts, ideas, and
memories would be given emphasis.
Western Self as Monotheistic – Monotheistic can be known as the rigid consequence of the doctrine of normal
human being. It is like forcing the concentration of supernatural capabilities.
Western Self as Individualistic – The emphasis on individualism has direct and indirect effects on both the
presentation of self (in public ways) and the experience of the self (in private awareness).
Western Self as Materialistic and Rationalistic – The western accentuation of rational, scientific approach to
reality has tended to define spiritual and immaterial phenomena as potentially superstitious and dangerous. In
any society, belief system is stratified and composed of a hierarchy of interrelated, causal-explanatory models.

The Self as Embedded in Relationships and through Spiritual Development

Confucianism
A code of ethical conduct, of how one should properly act according to his/her relationship with other people.
Confucianism is centered in Ren which can be manifested through the Li (propriety), Xiao (filiality), and Yi
(rightness).
For Confucius, Ren reflects the person’s own understanding of humanity. It is founded within each person and
can be realized in one’s personal life and relationship.
Ren guides human action that make life worth living which can be realized through li, xiao, and yi
Li the propriety. Rules of propriety should be followed to guide human actions. These rules are the customs,
ceremonies, and traditions that forms the basis of Li.
According to Confucius, “to master oneself and return to propriety is humanity” (Koller, 2007). Self-
mastery involves self-development.
Self-mastery is characterized by self-control and the will to redirect impulses to change these to socially
accepted expression of human nature.
Can be seen through Delayed Gratification.
Li conforms to the norms of humanity, thus one must fulfill their duties and responsibilities in this five
(5) relationships: father and son, ruler and subject, older and younger brothers, husband and wife, friend
and friend.
Xiao the Filiality. This is the virtue of reverence and respect for the family
Reverence for parents and family is further demonstrated by bringing honor to the family, making
something of himself and to earn respect of other.
Relationship that exist in the family reflect who the person relates to others in the community.
The family is the reflection of the person. How the person interacts socially and the values they emulate
can all be traced back to their family environment.
 This forms the bases of the person’s moral and social virtues (Koller, 2007).
Yi the rightness. The right way of behaving which is unconditional and absolute. Right is right, and what is not
right is wrong.
Confucius emphasized that actions should be performed because they are right and not for selfish
benefits that they provide.
Taoism
Taoism emphasizes harmony between humans and the natural worlds.
Rejects the hierarchy and strictness brought by Confucianism and would prefer a simple lifestyle and its
teachings thus aim to describe how to attain that life.
The ideal self is selflessness but this is not forgetting about the self. It is living a balanced life with society and
nature, being open and accepting to change, forgetting about prejudices and egocentric ideas and thinking
about equality as well as complementary among human as well as other beings
Buddhism
The self is seen as an illusion, born out of ignorance, of trying to hold and control things, or human-centered
needs; thus, the self is also the source of all these sufferings.
To forget about the self, forget the cravings of the self, break the attachments you have with the world, and to
renounce the self which is the cause of all suffering and in doing so, attain the state of Nirvana.
 LESSON 6
PHYSICAL SEL- BODY IMAGE AND SELF ESTEEM

The concept of physical self

Heredity is defines as the transmission of traits from parents to offspring.
The traits are made up of specific information embedded within one’s gene.
Genotype refers to the specific information embedded within one’s: not all genotypes translates to an observed
physical characteristics.
Phenotype is the physical expression of a particular trait.
Each individual carries 23 pairs of chromosomes, which are threadlike bodies in the nucleus of the cell and the
storage unit of genes. The 23rd pair, also known as sex chromosomes, determines the sex of an individual.
Homogametic sex – XX chromosome, or female
Heterogametic sex – XY chromosome, or male
Within each chromosome is the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), which is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic
instructions specifying the biological development of every individual.
Chimpanzee DNA is 96% similar to human DNA
Maturation is known as the completion of growth of a genetic character within an organism or the unfolding of
an individual’s inherent traits or potential.
The Physical Self refers to the concrete dimensions of the body, it is the tangible aspect of the person which can
be directly observed and examined. Physical Characteristics are the defining traits or features of a person’s
body.
A period of rapid physical changes is in Puberty.
The changes experience during puberty are different from boys and girls. Girl reach puberty earlier than boys
and experience menarche which is her first menstrual flow. Boys, two of three years later, experience
spermarche or semenarche which is his ejaculation or nocturnal emission (wet dreams).
Puberty, where the reproductive organs grow to their adult size and become a functional under the influence
of gonadal hormones, the testosterone in the male, and the estrogen and progesterone in the female. After this
time, reproductive capability continue until old age in male, and menopause in female.
Puberty is a brain neuroendocrine process occurring primarily in early adolescence that triggers the rapid
changes. The pituitary gland is the master endocrine gland that controls growth and regulates functions of all
the other endocrine glands including gonads.

The Self as Impacted by the Body

Perspectives in Understanding Physical Self:
1. Psychodynamic Perspective
The development of a body self mainly has three stages: early psychic experience of the body in which
sensations like tactile like in infants enable babies to discriminate bodies from their surroundings, which
contribute to the sense of self.
 Next is defining body surface boundaries which is the stage of being awareness of body image in contrast
to surface boundaries.
Last stage is the distinguishing of the body’s internal states which is the state of having cohesion of the
body. In these images and experiences of the body and the body, surfaces can be organized into holistic
understanding of the body.

2. Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective
The cognitive behavioral model of body image recognizes multiple determinants of body image with a
distinction between those determinants that are historical versus those determinants that are proximal or
concurrent that predispose or influence how people come to think, feel, and act in relation to their body.

3. Feminist Perspective
Relies on social construction in which there is a possibility of individuals to experience their bodies in
distorted ways (especially women). Women’s dissatisfaction with their bodies as a systematic social
phenomenon rather than a result of individual pathology (McKinley, 2002).

Factors that Affect Perception of the Physical Self:

1. Personal Factors
Introspection and Self-Reflection
According to Hewstone, et al., (2015). Introspection is the process by which one observes and examines
one’s internal state (mental and emotional) after behaving in a certain way.
Self-Perception Theory
As stated by Hewstone and Bem (2015). Self-Perception Theory explains that since one’s internal state
is difficult to interpret, people can infer their inner states by observing their own behavior – as if they
are an outside observer. Physical perception includes all aspects of a person’s perception of his physical
self.
Self-Concept
According to Hewstone, et al., (2015). Self-Concept is a cognitive representation of self-knowledge which
includes the sum total of all beliefs that people have about themselves. It is a collection of all individual
experience involving one’s characteristics, social roles, values, goals, and fears. Physical concept is the
individual’s perception of description of his physical self, including his physical appearance.
Personal Identity
This is the concept a person has about himself that develops over the years. This includes aspects of his
life that he was born into like family, nationality, gender, physical traits as well as the choices he makes,
such as what he does for living, who his friends are and what he believes in.
2. Social Factors
Attachment Process and Social Appraisal
According to Bowlby (1969), people learn about their value and lovability when they experience how
their mothers or caregivers car for them and respond to their needs.
Maintaining, Regulating and Expanding the Self in Interpersonal Relationships

The Looking-Glass Self Theory

Charles Horton Cooley stated that a person’s self grows out of society’s interpersonal interactions and
the perceptions of other.
The view of oneself comes from a compilation of personal qualities and impressions of how other
perceive the individual.
Therefore, in a looking-glass self, the self-image is shaped and reflected from the social world. Other
people’s reactions would serve as mirror in which people see themselves particularly the way in which
they are perceived and judges by others.
Social Comparison
The work of Leon Festinger in 1954 introduced another way of understanding oneself by comparing one’s
traits, abilities, or opinions to that of others. Social Comparison is a process of comparing oneself with
others in order to evaluate one’s own abilities and opinions
There are two types of Social Comparison: Upward SC and Downward SC.
Social Identity Theory (Collective Identity)
This was formulated by Taijel and Turner (1973) which provides a framework about how people achieve
understanding about themselves by being a member of their group.
This idea assumes that as a member of the group they will not be discriminated against where they
belong.
Social groups include gender, ethnicity, religion, profession, political membership and business
organizations.