WEEK 1: UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

Introduction to Self Understanding

Understanding oneself is essential to understand behaviors and beliefs that

affects ourselves and others specifically in becoming effective and successful
person in life, work, and relationship. Moreover, self-understanding (1) provides
a sense of purpose; (2) leads to healthier relationships; (3) helps harness your
natural strength; and (4) promotes confidence.

This module will introduce you to the basic concepts of self and
personality, and how they are related with each other. Self and personality
characterized the way we define our existence, also these refers on how we organized
our experiences that are reflected to our behavior. On the other hand, people have different ideas about
themselves. These ideas represent the self of the person. Moreover, we behave in different ways in a given
situation, but people also behave fairly stable in different circumstances. The relatively permanent pattern
of behavior represents personality of the person. In details,

Personality

• The etymological derivative of personality comes from the word “persona”, the theatrical masks
worn by Romans in Greek and Latin drama. Personality also comes from the two Latin words “per”
and “sonare”, which literally means “to sound through”.
• Personality have no single definition since different personality theories have different views on
how to define it. However, the commonly accepted definition of personality is that it is a relatively
permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a
person’s behavior (Roberts & Mroczek, 2008).
• Personality plays a key role in affecting how people shape their lives. It involves the complex
relationship of people with their environment, how they cope and adjust through life, and how they
respond to demands of physical and social challenges.
• Personality is the overall pattern or integration of a person’s structure, modes of behavior, attitudes,
aptitudes, interests, intellectual abilities, and many other distinguishable personality traits.
Personality is the conglomeration of the following components: physical self, intelligence,
character traits, attitudes, habits, interest, personal discipline, moral values, principles and
philosophies of life.

Determinants of Personality
 Personality refers to the total person in his/her overt and covert behavior. The determinants of factors
of personality are as follows:

• Environmental Factors of Personality. The surroundings of an individual compose the

environmental factors of personality. This includes the neighborhood a person lives in, his school,
college, university and workplace. Moreover, it also counts the social circle the individual has.
Friends, parents, colleagues, co-workers and bosses, everybody plays a role as the determinants of
personality.

• Biological Factors of Personality. This further includes:

1) hereditary factors or genetic make-up of the person that inherited from their parents. This
describes the tendency of the person to appear and behave the way their parents are;
2) physical features include the overall physical structure of a person: height, weight, color,
sex, beauty and body language, etc. Most of the physical structures change from time to
time, and so does the personality. With exercises, cosmetics and surgeries, many physical
features are changed, and therefore, the personality of the individual also evolves; and
3) brain. The preliminary results from the electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB) research
gives indication that better understanding of human personality and behavior might come
from the study of the brain.

• Situational Factors of Personality. Although these factors do not literally create and shape up an
individual’s personality, situational factors do alter a person’s behavior and response from time to
time. The situational factors can be commonly observed when a person behaves contrastingly and
exhibits different traits and characteristics.

• Cultural Factors. Culture is traditionally considered as the major determinants of an individual’s

personality. The culture largely determinants what a person is and what a person will learn. The
culture within a person is brought up, is very important determinant of behavior of a person. Culture
is complex of these belief, values, and techniques for dealing with the environment which are
shared among contemporaries and transmitted by one generation to the next.

Personality Traits

Personality traits reflect people’s characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Personality traits imply consistency and stability—someone who scores high on a specific trait like
Extraversion is expected to be sociable in different situations and over time. Thus, trait psychology rests on
the idea that people differ from one another in terms of where they stand on a set of basic trait dimensions
that persist over time and across situations.

The most widely used system of traits is called the Five-Factor Model. This system includes five
broad traits that can be remembered with the acronym OCEAN: Openness, Conscientiousness,
Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Each of the major traits from the Big Five can be divided
into facets to give a more fine-grained analysis of someone's personality. In addition, some trait theorists
argue that there are other traits that cannot be completely captured by the Five-Factor Model. Critics of the
trait concept argue that people do not act consistently from one situation to the next and that people are
very influenced by situational forces. Thus, one major debate in the field concerns the relative power of
people’s traits versus the situations in which they find themselves as predictors of their behavior.

The Five-Factor Model of Personality

Research that used the lexical approach showed that many of the personality descriptors found in
the dictionary do indeed overlap. In other words, many of the words that we use to describe people are
synonyms. Thus, if we want to know what a person is like, we do not necessarily need to ask how sociable
they are, how friendly they are, and how gregarious they are. Instead, because sociable people tend to be
friendly and gregarious, we can summarize this personality dimension with a single term. Someone who is
sociable, friendly, and gregarious would typically be described as an “Extravert.” Once we know she is an
extravert, we can assume that she is sociable, friendly, and gregarious.

The most widely accepted system to emerge from this approach was “The Big Five” or “FiveFactor
Model” (Goldberg, 1990; McCrae & John, 1992; McCrae & Costa, 1987). The Big Five comprises five
major traits shown in the Figure 2 below. A way to remember these five is with the acronym OCEAN (O
is for Openness; C is for Conscientiousness; E is for Extraversion; A is for Agreeableness; N is for
Neuroticism). The table below provides descriptions of people who would score high and low on each of
these traits.

Table 1. Descriptions of Personality Traits

Big 5 Trait Definition
Openness The tendency to appreciate new art, ideas, values, feelings, and
behaviors.
Conscientiousness The tendency to be careful, on-time for appointments, to follow
rules, and to be hard working.
Extraversion The tendency to be talkative, sociable, and to enjoy others; the
tendency to have a dominant style.
Agreeableness The tendency to agree and go along with others rather than to assert
one owns opinions and choices.
Neurotism The tendency to be frequently experience negative emotions such as
anger, worry, and sadness, as well as being itnerpersonally sensitive.
Table 2. Example behaviors for those scoring low and high for the big 5 traits
Big 5 Trait Example Behavior for LOW Example Behavior for HIGH
Scorers Scorers
Openness Prefers not to be exposed to Enjoys seeing people with new
alternative moral systems; types of haircuts and body
narrow interest; inartistic; not piercing; curious; imaginative;
analystica; down-to-earth untraditional
Conscientiousness Prefers spur-of-the-moment Never late for a date; organized;
action to planning; unrealiable; hardworking; neat, persevering;
hedonistic; careless; lax punctual; self-disciplined
 Extraversion Preferring a quiet evening Being the life of the party’ active;
reading to a loud party; sober; optimistic; fun-loving; affectionate
aloof; unenthusiastic
Agreeableness Quickly and confidently asserts Agrees with other about political
own rights; irritable; opinions; good-natured; forgiving;
manipulative; uncooperative; gullible; helpful; forgiving
rude
Neurotism Not getting irritated by sall Constantly worrying about little
annoyances; calm, things; insecure; hypochondrical;
unemotional; hardy; secure; feeling inadequate
self-satisfied
Scores on the Big Five traits are mostly independent. That means that a person’s standing on one
trait tells very little about their standing on the other traits of the Big Five. For example, a person can be
extremely high in Extraversion and be either high or low on Neuroticism. Similarly, a person can be low in
Agreeableness and be either high or low in Conscientiousness. Thus, in the Five-Factor Model, you need
five scores to describe most of an individual’s personality. In the exercises part of this module there is a
short scale to assess the Five-Factor Model of personality (Donnellan, Oswald, Baird, & Lucas, 2006). You
can take this test to see where you stand in terms of your Big Five scores.

Traits are important and interesting because they describe stable patterns of behavior that persist
for long periods of time (Caspi, Roberts, & Shiner, 2005). Importantly, these stable patterns can have
broadranging consequences for many areas of our life (Roberts, Kuncel, Shiner, Caspi, & Goldberg, 2007).
For instance, think about the factors that determine success in college. If you were asked to guess what
factors predict good grades in college, you might guess something like intelligence. This guess would be
correct, but we know much more about who is likely to do well. Specifically, personality researchers have
also found the personality traits like Conscientiousness play an important role in college and beyond,
probably because highly conscientious individuals study hard, get their work done on time, and are less
distracted by nonessential activities that take time away from school work. In addition, highly conscientious
people are often healthier than people low in conscientiousness because they are more likely to maintain
healthy diets, to exercise, and to follow basic safety procedures like wearing seat belts or bicycle helmets.
Over the long term, this consistent pattern of behaviors can add up to meaningful differences in health and
longevity. Thus, personality traits are not just a useful way to describe people you know; they actually help
psychologists predict how good a worker someone will be, how long he or she will live, and the types of
jobs and activities the person will enjoy.

Who Am I?

Have you ever ask yourself the question, “Who am I?”? Answering the question 'Who am I?' can
lead to a solid self-concept and self-understanding. For many people, answering this question isn't very
easy. For others, a solid understanding of who they are is a big part of their lives. Understanding of who
you are as a person is called self-concept and understanding what your motives are when you act is called
self-understanding.
 In definition, self-concept is generally thought of as our individual perceptions of our behavior,
abilities, and unique characteristics—a mental picture of who you are as a person. For example, beliefs such
as "I am a good friend" or "I am a kind person" are part of an overall self-concept.

Self-concept tends to be more malleable when people are younger and still going through the
process of self-discovery and identity formation. As people age, self-perceptions become much more
detailed and organized as people form a better idea of who they are and what is important to them.

According to the book Essential Social Psychology by Richard Crisp and Rhiannon Turner:

• The individual self consists of attributes and personality traits that differentiate us from other
individuals. Examples include introversion or extroversion.
• The relational self is defined by our relationships with significant others. Examples include siblings,
friends, and spouses.
• The collective self reflects our membership in social groups. Examples include British, Republican,
African-American, or gay.

At its most basic, self-concept is a collection of beliefs one holds about oneself and the responses
of others. It embodies the answer to the question "Who am I?". The lesson to follow will facilitate learning
about the self, and self concept.
WEEK 2: THE SELF ACCORDING TO PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy

Philosophy is defined as the study of knowledge or wisdom from its Latin

roots, philo (love) and sophia (wisdom). This field is also considered as “The
Queen of All Sciences” because every scientific discipline has philosophical
foundations.

Various thinkers for centuries tried to explain the natural causes of everything
that exist specifically the inquiry on the self preoccupied these philosophers in the
history. The Greek philosophers were the ones who seriously questioned myths
and moved away from them in attempting to understand reality by exercising the art of questioning that
satisfies their curiosity, including the questions about self. The following lecture will present the different
philosophical perspectives and views about self.

Socrates

• A philosopher from Athens, Greece and said to have the greatest influence on European
thought.
• According to the history he was not able to write any of his teachings and life’s account
instead, he is known from the writings of his student Plato who became one of the greatest
philosophers of his time. Socrates had a unique style of asking questions called Socratic
Method.
• Socratic Method or dialectic method involves the search for the correct/proper definition of a
thing. In this method, Socrates did not lecture, he instead would ask questions and engage the
person in a discussion. He would begin by acting as if
he did not know anything and would get the other person to clarify their
Image Source: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/275648.Socrates

ideas and resolve logical inconsistencies (Price, 2000).

• The foundation of Socrates philosophy was the Delphic
Oracle’s that command to “Know Thyself”. Here, Socrates would like to emphasize that knowing
or understanding oneself should be more than the physical self, or the body.
• According to Socrates, self is dichotomous which means composed of two things: The
physical realm or the one that is changeable, temporal, and imperfect. The best example of
the physical realm is the physical world. The physical world is consisting of anything we
sense – see, smell, feel, hear, and taste. It is always changing and deteriorating. The ideal
realm is the one that is imperfect and unchanging, eternal, and immortal. This includes the
intellectual essences of the universe like the concept of beauty, truth, and goodness.
Moreover, the ideal realm is also present in the physical world. One may define someone as
beautiful or truthful, but their definition is limited and imperfect for it is always relative and
subjective. It is only the ideal forms themselves that are perfect, unchanging, and eternal.
• For Socrates, a human is composed of body and soul, the first belongs to the physical realm
because it changed, it is imperfect, and it dies, and the latter belongs to ideal realm for it
survives the death.
Socrates also used the term soul to identify self.
 • The self, according to Socrates is the immortal and unified entity that is consistent over time.
For example, a human being remains the same person during their childhood to adulthood
given the fact that they undergone developmental changes throughout their lifespan. Plato

• A student of Socrates, who introduced the idea of a

threepart soul/self that is composed of reason, physical appetite
and spirit or passion.
o The Reason enables human to think deeply, make wise
choices and achieve a true understanding of eternal truths.
Plato also called this as divine essence.
o The physical Appetite is the basic biological needs of
human being such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desire. o And
the spirit or passion is the basic emotions of human being such
as love, anger, ambition, aggressiveness and empathy.
• These three elements of the self works in every individual
inconsistently. According to Plato, it is always the responsibility
Image Source: https://www.alamy.com/plato

of the reason to organize, control, and reestablish harmonious

relationship between these three elements.
• Plato also illustrated his view of the soul/self in “Phaedrus” in his metaphor: the soul is like
a winged chariot drawn by two powerful horses: a white horse, representing Spirit, and a
black horse, embodying appetite. The charioteer is reason, whose task is to guide the chariot
to the eternal realm by controlling the two independent-minded horses. Those charioteers who
are successful in setting a true course and ensuring that the two steeds work together in
harmonious unity achieve true wisdom and banquet with the gods. However, those charioteers
who are unable to control their horses and keep their chariot on track are destined to
experience personal, intellectual, and spiritual failure.

St. Augustine
• He is considered as the last of the great ancient
philosophers whose ideas were greatly Platonic. In melding
philosophy and religious beliefs together, Augustine has been
characterized as Christianity’s first theologian.
• Like Plato, Augustine believed that the physical body is
different from the immortal soul. Early in his philosophical
development he described body as “snare” or “cage” of the soul
and said that the body is a “slave” of the soul he even
characterized that “the soul makes war with the body”. Later on
he came to view the body as “spouse” of the soul, with both
attached to one another by a “natural appetite.” He concluded,
“That the body is united with the soul, so that man may be entire
and complete, is a fact we recognize on the evidence of our own
nature.”
Image Source: http://lexchristianorum.blogspot.com/ According to St. Augustine, the human nature is
composed of two realms:
 1. God as the source of all reality and truth. Through mystical experience, man is capable
of knowing eternal truths. This is made possible through the existence of the one eternal
truth which is God. He further added that without God as the source of all truth, man
could never understand eternal truth. This relationship with God means that those who
know most about God will come closest to understanding the true nature of the world.
2. The sinfulness of man. The cause of sin or evil is an act of mans’ freewill. Moral goodness
can only be achieved through the grace of God.
He also stated that real happiness can only be found in God. For God is love and he created humans
for them to also love. Problems arise because of the objects humans choose to love. Disordered
love results when man loves the wrong things which he believes will give him happiness.
Furthermore, he said that if man loves God first and everything else to a lesser degree, then all
will fall into its rightful place.
Rene Descartes
• A French philosopher, mathematician, and considered the founder of modern
philosophy.
• Descartes, famous principle the “cogito, ergo sum—“I think, therefore I exist”
established his philosophical views on “true knowledge” and concept of self.
• He explained that in order to gain true knowledge, one must doubt everything
even own existence. Doubting makes someone aware that they are thinking
being thus, they exist. The essence of existing as a human identity is the
possibility of being aware of our selves: being self-conscious in this way is
integral to having a personal identity. Conversely, it would be impossible to
be self-conscious if we did not have a personal
Image Source: https://www.sapaviva.com/identity of which to be conscious. In other words, the essence of self is being
a thinking thing.
• The self is a dynamic entity that engages in metal operations – thinking,
reasoning, and perceiving processes. In addition to this, self-identity is
dependent on the awareness in engaging with those mental operations.
• He declared that the essential self or the self as the thinking entity is radically
different from the physical body. The thinking self or soul is a non-material,
immortal, conscious being, independent of the physical laws of the universe
while the physical body is a material, mortal, non-thinking entity, fully
governed by the physical laws of nature.
• He also maintained that the soul and the body are independent of one another
and each can exist and function without the other. In cases in which people
are sleeping or comatose, their bodies continue to function even though their
minds are not thinking, much like the mechanisms of a clock. He identified
the physical self as part of nature, governed by the physical laws of the
universe, and available to scientific analysis and experimentation, and the
conscious self (mind, soul) is a part of the spiritual realm, independent of the
physical laws of the universe, governed only by the laws of reason and God’s
will. And because it exists outside of the natural world of cause-and-effect,
the conscious self is able to exercise free will in the choices it makes.
John Locke
• An English philosopher and physician and famous in his
concept of “Tabula Rasa” or Blank Slate that assumes the
nurture side of human development.

• The self, according to Locke is consciousness. In his

essay entitled On Personal Identity (from his most famous
work, Essay Concerning Human Understanding) he discussed
the reflective analysis of how an individual may experience the
self in everyday living. He provided the following key points:
1. To discover the nature of personal identity, it is important
to find out what it means to be a person.
2. A person is a thinking, intelligent being who has the
abilities to reason and to reflect.
3. A person is also someone who considers themself to be the same thing in
Image Source: https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/

different times and different places.

4. Consciousness as being aware that we are thinking—
always accompanies thinking and is an essential part of the thinking process.
5. Consciousness makes possible our belief that we are the same identity in
different times and different places.
Although Locke and Descartes believed that a person or the self is a thinking intelligent being who
has the abilities to reflect and to reason, Locke was not convinced with the assumptions of Plato,
St. Augustine and Descartes that the individual self necessarily exists in a single soul or substance.
For Locke, personal identity and the soul or substance in which the personal identity is situated
are two very different things. The bottom line of his theory on self is that self is not tied to any
particular body or substance. It only exists in other times and places because of the memory of
those experiences.

David Hume
• He was a Scottish philosopher and also an empiricist.
• His claim about self is quite controversial because he assumed that there is no self! In
his essay entitled, “On Personal Identity” (1739) he said that, if we carefully examine
the contents of [our] experience, we find that there are only two distinct entities,
"impressions" and "ideas".
• Impressions are the basic sensations of our experience, the elemental data of our minds:
pain, pleasure, heat, cold, happiness, grief, fear, exhilaration, and so on.
• On the other hand, ideas are copies of impressions that include thoughts and images
that are built up from our primary impressions through a variety of relationships, but
because they are derivative copies of impressions, they are once removed from reality.
Image Source: https://www.britannica.com/

•
Hume considered that the self does not exist because all of the experiences that a person
may have are just perceptions
and this includes the perception of self. None of these perceptions resemble a unified and
permanent self-identity that exists over time.
• He further added that there are instances that an individual is limited in experiencing
their perception like in sleeping. Similarly, when someone died all empirical senses
end and according to him, it makes no sense to believe that self exists in other forms.
 As an empiricist, Hume provide an honest description and analysis of his own
experience, within which there is no self to be found.
• Hume explained that the self that is being experienced by an individual is nothing but
a kind of fictional self. Human created an imaginary creature which is not real.
“Fictional self” is created to unify the mental events and introduce order into an
individual lives, but this “self” has no real existence.

Sigmund Freud
• A well-known Australian psychologist and considered
as the Father and Founder of Psychoanalysis. His
influence in Psychology and therapy is dominant and
popular in the 20th to 21st century.
• The dualistic view of self by Freud involves the
conscious self and unconscious self.
• The conscious self is governed by reality principle.
Here, the self is rational, practical, and appropriate to the
social environment. The conscious self has the task of
controlling the constant pressures of the unconscious
self, as its primitive impulses continually seek for
immediate discharge.
• The unconscious self is governed by pleasure principle.
It
Image Source: https://www.researchgate.net/

is the self that is aggressive, destructive, unrealistic and

instinctual. Both of Freud’s self needs immediate gratification
and reduction of tensions to optimal levels and the goal of every individual is to make unconscious
conscious.
• Freud proposed how mind works, he called this as
provinces or structures of the mind. By illustrating the
tip of the iceberg which according to him represents
conscious
awareness which
characterizes the
person in dealing
with the external
world. The
observable
behavior,
however, is
further controlled
by the workings
of the

Image Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/

subconscious/unconscious mind.
 •
Subconscious serves as the repository of past
experiences, repressed memories, fantasies, and urges.
The three levels of the mind are:
1. Id. This is primarily based on the pleasure principle. It demands immediate satisfaction and
is not hindered by societal expectations.
2. Ego. The structure that is primarily based on the reality principle. This mediates between the
impulses of the id and restraints of the superego.
3. Superego. This is primarily dependent on learning the difference between right and wrong,
thus it is called moral principle. Morality of actions is largely dependent on childhood
upbringing particularly on rewards and punishments.
According to Freud, there are two kinds of instinct that drive individual behavior – the eros or the life
instinct and the thanatos of the death instinct. The energy of eros is called libido and includes urges
necessary for individual and species survival like thrist, hunger, and sex.in cases that human behaior
is directed towards destruction in the form of aggression and violence, such are the manifestations of
thanatos.

Gilbert Ryle
• A British analytical philosopher. He was an important
figure in the field of Linguistic Analysis which focused on the
solving of philosophical puzzles through an analysis of
language.
• According to Ryle, the self is best understood as a pattern
of behavior, the tendency or disposition for a person to behave
in a certain way in certain circumstances.
• He opposed the notable ideas of the previous philosophers
and even claimed that those were results of confused
conceptual thinking he termed, category mistake. The
category mistake happens when we speak about the self as
something independent of the physical body: a purely
Image Source: https://www.jstor.org/ mental entity existing in time but not space

Immanuel Kant
• A German Philosopher who made great contribution to the fields of metaphysics, epistemology,
and ethics. Kant is widely regarded as the greatest philosopher of the modern period.
• Kant maintained that an individual self makes the experience of the world comprehensible
because it is responsible for synthesizing the discreet data of sense experience into a meaningful
whole.
• It is the self that makes consciousness for the person to make sense of everything. It is the one
that help every individual gain insight and knowledge. If the self failed to do this synthesizing
function, there would be a chaotic and insignificant collection of sensations.
Image Source: https://mediaethicsmorning.wordpress.com/ Additionally, the self is the product of reason, a regulative principle
because the self regulates experience by making
 unified experience possible and unlike Hume, Kant’s self is not the object of consciousness, but
it makes the consciousness understandable and unique.
• Transcendental apperception happens when people do not experience self directly, instead as a
unity of all impressions that are organized by the mind through perceptions. Kant concluded that
all objects of knowledge, which includes the self, are phenomenal. That the true nature of things
is altogether unknown and unknowable (Price, 2000).
• For Kant, the kingdom of God is within man. God is manifested in people’s lives therefore it is
man’s duty to move towards perfection. Kant emphasized that people should always see duty as
a divine command (Price, 2000).

Paul and Patricia Churchland

An American
philosopher interested in the
fields of philosophy of mind,
philosophy of science, cognitive
neurobiology, epistemology, and
perception.
Churchlands’ central
argument is that the concepts and
theoretical vocabulary that people
use to think about the selves —
using such terms as belief, desire,
fear, sensation, pain, joy—
actually misrepresent the reality
Image Source: http://thesciencenetwork.org/
of minds and selves. He claims
that the self is a product of brain
activity.
• The behavior of the self can be attributed to the neuropharmacological states, the neural activity
in specialized anatomical areas.
• Neurophilosopy was coined by Patricia Churchland, the modern scientific inquiry looks into the
application of neurology to age-old problems in philosophy. The philosophy of neuroscience is
the study of the philosophy of science, neuroscience, and psychology. It aims to explore the
relevance of neurolinguistic experiments/studies to the philosophy of the mind.
• Patricia Churchland claimed that man’s brain is responsible for the identity known as self. The
biochemical properties of the brain according to this philosophy of neuroscience is really
responsible for man’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
• Paul Churchland is one of the many philosophers and psychologists that viewed the self from a
materialistic point of view, contending that in the final analysis mental states are identical with,
reducible to, or explainable in terms of physical brain states. This assumption was made due to
the physiological processes of the body that directly affecting the mental state of the person. The
advent of sophisticated technology and scientific research gives hope to understand the
connection between the physical body and the mind/brain relationship that integrated in the self.
• Being an eliminative materialist, he believes that there is a need to develop a new vocabulary and
conceptual framework that is grounded in neuroscience. This new framework will be a more
accurate reflection of the human mind and self.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
• A French philosopher and phenomenologist. He took a very different
approach to the self and the mind/body “problem.” According to him, the
division between the “mind” and the “body” is a product of confused
thinking. The self is experienced as a unity in which the mental and
physical are seamlessly woven together. This unity is the primary
experience of selves and begin to doubt it when an individual use their
minds to concoct abstract notions of a separate mind and body.
Developed the concept of self-subject and contended that perceptions
occur existentially. Thus, the consciousness, the world, and the human
body are all interconnected as they mutually perceive the world.
According to him, the world and the sense of self
are emergent phenomena in the ongoing process of man’s becoming.
Image Source: http://all-to-human.blogspot.com/

Phenomenology provides a direct description of the human experience which serves to guide man’s
conscious actions. He further added that, the world is a field of perception, and human consciousness
assigns meaning to the world. Thus man cannot separate himself from his perceptions of the world.
• Perception is not purely the result of sensations nor it is purely
interpretations. Rather consciousness is a process that includes sensing as
well as interpreting/reasoning.
WEEK 3: THE SELF ACCORDING TO SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

Sociology and Anthropology

Sociology and Anthropology are two interrelated disciplines that

contributes to the understanding of self. Sociology presents the self as a
product of modern society. It is the science that studies the development,
structure, interaction, and collective behavior of human being. On the other
hand, Anthropology is 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.

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.
• He postulated that, the self represents the sum total of
people’s conscious perception of their identity as distinct
from others. Mead argued that the self like the mind is
social emergent. This means that 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
activity as a result of their relations to the said process as a
whole and to other individuals within that process. In other
words, one cannot
Image Source: https://wannabeinsociology.wordpress.com/ experience their self alone, they need other people to experience their self.
•
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. Mead believed that the self did not exist at birth. Instead, the self
develops over time. Its development is dependent on social interaction and social
experience. At this stage, children’s behaviors are primarily based on imitation. It was
observed 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 Stage. Skills at knowing and understanding the symbols of communication is
important for this constitutes the basis of socialization. Through communication, social
relationship are formed. Now children begin to role play and pretend to be other people.
Role-taking in the play stage is the process of mentally assuming the process of another
 person to see how this person might behave or respond in a given situation (Schefer,
2012). The play stage is significant in the development of the self. 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. Here, the child is about eight or nine years of age and now does more
than just role-take. The child begins to consider several tasks and various types of
relationships simultaneously. 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.
• Generalized other 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.
• 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 identified the two phases of self:
1. the phase which reflects the attitude of the generalized other or the “me”; and
2. 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 the individual
to the generalized other.
• Generally, Meads theory sees the self as a perspective that comes out of interactions, and he sees
the meanings of symbols, social objects, and the self as emerging from negotiated interactions.

The Self as a product of modern society among other constructions Georg

Simmel

• Simmel 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. This human nature is intrinsic to the individual
like the natural inclination to religious impulse or the gender
differences. 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
Image Source: https://www.imdb.com/

separated from the individual or group’s control and

identified as separate objects.
• 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. This paved way to
 the organization of labor or increased division of labor, which demands specializations wherein
this creates more objective culture.
• Simmel also stressed that the consumption of products has an individuating and trivializing effect
because this enables the person to create self out of things. By consumption, an individual able
to purchase things that can easily personalized or express the self. People used commodities to
create self-concept and self-image. Simmel also said that products used in the modernity to
express and produced the self is also changing. It becomes more and more separated from
subjectivity (subjective culture) due to division of labor and market economy. Many products are
easily replaced, subjected to the dynamics of fashion and diversification of markets which leads
to inappropriate sign use.
• 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
selfexpression. Money also makes the individual to be less attached to the commodities because
the individual tends to understand and experience their possession less in terms of their intrinsic
qualities and more of their objective and abstract worth. Additionally, money also discouraged
intimate ties with people. Money comes to stand in the place of almost everything – and this
includes relationship! Money further discourages intimate ties by encouraging a culture of
calculation.
• Because of urbanization, Simmel observed that social networks also changed. Group affiliations
in urban is definitely different from rural settings wherein the relationship are strongly influenced
by family. An 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. This group is based on ties of affection and
personal loyalty endure over long periods of time, and involve multiple aspects of a person’s life.
• On the other hand, in the modern urban settings, group membership is due to rational motivation
or membership due to freedom of choice. This characterized the secondary group which is goal
and utilitarian oriented, with a narrow range of activities, over limited time spans. As a result, it
is more likely that an individual will develop unique personalities. 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.

The Self and Person in the Contemporary Anthropology

• The four subfields of anthropology – Archeology, Biological Anthropology, Linguistics, and

Cultural Anthropology, suggest that human beings are similar and different in varying ways and
tendencies. For example, people have the same need for food and water, but they have different
means on how to satisfy them. These similarities and differences make life so interesting. As one
learn facts/information that make them similar to the other, they will also discover that they have
different characteristics the define them. This knowledge aims to highlight the uniqueness of each
person and making them value life and existence even more. The subfields of Anthropology are
as follows:
o 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. In relating to the contemporary society, people
still aim for survival, for their basic needs to be fulfilled and to live legacy to their
society. o 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 being affects their way of living. Accordingly,
human beings at present still share the same biological strengths and vulnerabilities.
Like eating balanced nutrients and minerals that are beneficial to all human beings
while being exposed to a virus in a pandemic might cause negative implications to
many.
o 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, they also study how language
and modes of communication changes over time.
o 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 the kind of culture he is born and grew up in. Cultural
diversities are manifested in different ways and different levels of dept. 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. Example: colors have similar
meaning across all cultures.
▪ Heroes. These are persons from the past or present who have characteristics that
are important in culture. They may be real of work of fictions. Example: Fiction
– Thor, Captain America; Real – Jose Rizal, Apolinario Mabini.
▪ Rituals. These are activities participated by a group of people for the fulfilment
of desired objectives and are concerned to be socially essential. Example:
Wedding, fiesta, Christmas celebration, graduation, etc.
▪ Values. These are considered to be the core of every culture. These are
unconscious, neither discuss or observed, and can only be inferred from the way
people act and react to situations. Example: hospitality, respect for elders etc.
• 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 condition, by biological characteristics, the
communication and language use, and the lifestyle we choose to live.

The Self Embedded in the Culture 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 entitled,
 “The Impact of the Concept of Culture on the Concept of Man”
(1966) in his fieldwork at Java, Bali and Morrocco.
• The analysis of Geertz (1966) in his cultural study 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
Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_Geertz

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
WEEK 4: THE SELF ACCORDING PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology

Psychology is a scientific study of mental processes and

human behavior. It aims to describe, analyze, predict, control human
behavior in general. Self is an essential construct in psychology
because it fulfills the goals of the discipline in studying human and
the reason for their action. Many psychologists tried to define the
origin of mental processes and behavior but they all settle down with
numerous theories and assumptions. The following descriptions on
the formation of self were presented for you to have a clear picture
on the psychological perspective of self.

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 the knowledge that an individual exist
as individuals. As humans grow and develop, self-concept becomes abstract and more complex.
• 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 or the ability of the person to interact with others;
2) the competence domain or the ability to meet the basic needs;
3) the affect domain or the awareness of the emotional states;
4) the physical domain or the feelings about looks, health, physical condition, and overall
appearance;
5) academic domain or the success or failure in the school; and 6) family domain or how well
one function within the family unit.

William James and the Me-Self and I-Self

 • William James is a well-known figure in Psychology who
is considered as the founder of functionalism. He brought
prominence to U.S. psychology through the publication of
The Principles of Psychology (1890) 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 selfconcept): the Me viewed as material, the Me
viewed as social, and the Me viewed as spiritual in nature.
• The material self is consists of everything an individual
Image Source: https://the-mouse-trap.com/
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 and Ideal Self

Image Source: https://socialworkpodcast.blogspot.com/
Carl Rogers
• Carl Rogers is best known as the founder of clientcentered
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 selfconcept (real-self)
and ideal self.
• 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 ideally would like to be.

Multiple versus Unified Self

• According to Multiple Selves Theory, there are different aspects of the self exist in an individual.
From here, we can say that self is a whole consist of parts, and these parts manifest themselves when
need arise.
• Gregg Henriques proposed the Tripartite Model of Human Consciousness, wherein he described that
self is consist of three related, but also separable domains these are the experimental self, private
self, and public self.
 o The experiential self or the theater of consciousness is a domain of self that defined as felt
experience of being. This includes the felt consistency of being across periods of time. It is tightly
associated with the memory. This is a part of self that disappears the moment that an individual
enter deep sleep and comes back when they wake up.
o The private self consciousness system or the narrator/interpreter is a portion of self that verbally
narrates what is happening and tries to make sense of what is going on. The moment that you read
this part, there is somewhat like a “voice” speaking in your head trying to understand what this
concept is all about.
o Lastly, 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. Henriques’ Tripartite Model attempts to capture
the key domains of consciousness, both within the self and between others.
• 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 experienced. They are those
kinds of person who continually adjust, adapt, evolve and survive as an individual with integrated,
unified, multiple selves.

True versus False Self

Donald Winnicott

• 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.
Compliance with the external rules or following societal norms
is a good example of this. 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
Image Source: http://freudquotes.blogspot.com/ feels forced 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 perfect parenting.

The Self as Proactive and Agentic Albert Bandura

 • Albert Bandura is a psychologist 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 selfefficacy.
• 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
selforganizing.
• Self as proactive means an individual have
control in any situation by making things happen. They act
as agent in doing or making themselves as they are.
Agency is a defining feature of modern selfhood. Agents
assume some degree of ownership and control over things,
both internally (I control my own thoughts) and externally
Image Source: https://www.uky.edu/ (I make things happen in the environment). The ability of
an individual to pursue their goals in life is an example of
agentic approach to self.
• According to Bandura (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. A strong sense of efficacy enhances human
accomplishment and personal well-being in many ways.
• 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.
WEEK 5: THE SELF IN THE WESTERN AND ORIENTAL/EASTERN
THOUGHT
Western and Oriental/Eastern Thought

Cultural differences and environment creates different perceptions

of the self. The most common distinction between people and cultures is
the Eastern-Western distinction. Eastern are known as the Asian countries,
and Western represents the Europe and Northen America. It must be noted
that countries who are geographically closer to each other my share
commonalities, but factors that may create diffrences must be considered.

Individualistic versus Collective Self

Understanding individualism and collectivism could help in the 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 not the idea that individuals should live like isolated entity, nor the idea that they
should never get or give help from others, nor the idea that an individual never owes anything to other
people.
• 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.
• Each adult individual can consider what is in his own best interests. Each can act on his own private
motivations and values and can judge other people as good people to form relationships with, or as
bad people to be avoided. Each can decide whether to cooperate with others to solve problems. Each
can choose to think for himself about the conclusions that the majority of others in a group come to,
accepting or rejecting their conclusions as indicated by his own thought.
• 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-being 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. Western
cultures are known to be individualistic.

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. In different variants, this group may be the family,
the city, the economic class, the society, the nation, the race, or the whole human species. The group
exists as a super-organism separate from individuals: A group may make its own decisions, acts apart
from the actions of individuals, and has its own interests apart from those of the individuals that
compose it.
• Under collectivism, individuals are analogous to ants in the protection of their queen ant. The
individual ant doesn’t have minds of their own, and generally cannot disagree with the hive. Any ant
that acts in a way contrary to the interests of the group is a malfunctioning ant. If an ant does not
follow the certain pattern of how they protect their queen, it will be entirely unable to support itself,
find other ants that support other queen ant and will surely die in short order. If the malfunctioning
ant stays within the group, it will be a threat to the line appropriate to protecting the queen ant.
• Examples of the collectivist thinking is when our identity is in large part, a function of our membership
and role in a group, e.g., the family or work team. The survival and success of the group ensures the
well-being of the individual, so that by considering the needs and feelings of others, one protects
oneself. Harmony and the interdependence of group members are stressed and valued. Group
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.

The Social Construction of the Self in Western Thought

• Self has been an area of interest by French and English philosophers, and evident in the ideas of
Greek philosophers like Socrates and Plato.
• Descartes in 17th century emphasized the self in his dictum “I think therefore I am” which claims
that cognitive basis of the person’s thoughts is proof for the existence of the self.
• Kant believed that the self is capable of actions that entitles it to have rights as an autonomous
agent.
• Here are some qualities imparted to the Western subjective self. It sketches some features on
subjectivity and ways of thinking of western persons. This provides an impressionistic profile
through the use of a few strokes characterizing some ways of being and thinking of many western
persons.
o Western self as analytic. Since analytic and inductive modes of thinking were
prominent for person in western cultures, to see objects as divisible combinations of
yet smaller objects. Real things are not only visualized but immaterial things like
thoughts, ideas and memories would be given emphasis.
o Western self as monotheistic. Monotheism can be known as the rigid consequence of
the doctrine of normal human being. It is like forcing the concentration of
supernatural capabilities.
o 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).
o 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 in Confucian Thought
• Confucius was born in the period of the Zhou Dynasty in
551 BCE in the state of Lu. He grew up poor although he was
descended from scholarly family.
• Confucius philosophy is known as humanistic social
philosophy which focusses on human beings and the society in
general.
• Confucianism is centered on 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 found within each person and can be realized in
one’s personal life and relationship. Ren guides human actions that
makes life worth living which can be realized through li, xiao, and
yi:

o Li the propriety. Rules of propriety should be followed to guide Image Source:

https://www.oshonews.com/ 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.
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.
o Xiao the filiality. This is the virtue of reverence and respect for the family. Parents
should be revered for the life they and given. Children show respect to their parents
by exerting efforts to take care of themselves. Reverence for parents and family is
further demonstrated by bringing honor to the family, making something of himself
and to earn respect of other. If, however, the person is having difficulty giving his
family the honor that they deserved, he should just do this best to not disgrace the
family. Relationship that exist in the family reflect hoe 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. Actions must be performed and carried out because they are right actions. Confucius
emphasized that actions should be performed
WEEK 6: PHYSICAL SELF
THE PHYSICAL SELF: BODY IMAGE AND SELF ESTEEM

Understanding the self of in different classification of physical aspects is one way to

discover a person’s real self.

The concept of Physical Self

● The understanding of the Physical self is shaped by biological and environmental factors.

● The Biological blueprint involves Heredity and its important factors. Heredity is defined 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 genes;
not all genotypes translate to an observed physical characteristic. 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. 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.

● 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.

● As you grow up, you are exposed to environmental influences that shape your physical self, including
those from your social networks, societal expectations, and cultural practices that will lead a person to
understand themselves.

● According to Santrock (2014), self-understanding is the individual’s cognitive representation of self

which consists of substance and the content of self-conceptions. Self-understanding can be described
as simple to perplex and involve a number of aspects of the self. It also changes throughout the life
span as the person grows older.

● As children advance in age, their interests change and with these come changes in their bodies. The
changes are rapid and before parents notice it, they are no longer babies but teenagers. An obvious
change in teenagers are the changes in Physical Self. 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. This is also the first thing
people see when they look at another person that could include facial features, hairstyle, clothes, or
figure. They encompass everything that one can describe about a person or group of people, by just
looking.

● Erik Erikson believed in the importance of the body from early development because the physical as
well as intellectual skills will somehow serve as a basis to whether a person has achieved a sense of
 competence and be able to manage and face the demands of life complexities. William James, on the
other hand, considered the body as the initial source of sensation and necessary for origin and
maintenance of personality.

● A period of rapid physical changes is in Puberty. According to Santrock (2016), puberty is not the same
as adolescence because puberty ends prior to the end of the adolescent period. But the recognized
puberty as the most essential marker of the beginning of adolescence. The changes experienced
during puberty are different from girls and boys. Girls reach puberty earlier than boys and experience
menarche which is her first menstrual flow. Boys, two or three years later, experience spermarche or
semenarche which is his first ejaculation or nocturnal emission (wet dreams).

● Puberty is a brain neuroendocrine process occurring primarily in early adolescence that triggers the
rapid physical changes. The Pituitary gland is the master endocrine gland that controls growth and
regulates functions of all the other endocrine glands including gonads. The chemical substances
secreted by the gonads promotes physical changes such as height, widening of the hips and increase in
fatty tissues in the breast of girls and responsible for boy’s growth of facial and body hair, muscles, and
changes in voice.

The self as impacted by the body

● Different levels of connectedness characterize the relationship between self and body. These
connectedness may be in a positive or negative ways, or in helpful or destructive ways.
Nevertheless, it is between individuals as well as across situations. The potential of the physical
body to be regarded as an object introduces the possibility of trait and state body as well as the
state of the self.

● Perspectives in Understanding Physical Self:

1. Psychodynamic Perspective
Freud’s theory of the ego was primarily known as body ego, that solidifies the
importance of body in understanding the self. The body and its evolving mental
representations form the basis of a sense of self (Krueger, 2002). 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 stage 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.

Theory suggests that Physical body both has objective and subjective components.
Individual’s conception and acknowledgment of their physical bodies substantiate their
assessment of the sense of totality which is an integral to his/her experience of the physical
world. Moreover, one’s experience of one’s physical body may be a key predictor of a variety
of behaviors.

2. Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective
Focuses on perceptual, cognitive, and affective aspects which is a multidimensional
experience that can aid a more precise understanding of the body . The cognitive-
 behavioral perspective makes multiple distinctions to facilitate precise conceptual and
operational definitions of body-image related variables.

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 the 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).

Specifically, the duality established between the mind and body in Western societies
and the pairing of men with the “mind” and women with the “body” contribute to women
experiencing their bodies differently than men.

● Factors that affect perception of the Physical Self:

1. Personal Factors
a. Introspection and Self-reflection. Looking inward is one of the simplest
ways to achieve self-knowledge. According to Hewstone, et al., (2015)
Introspection is the process is the process by which one observes and
examines one’s internal state (mental and emotional) after behaving in a
certain way.

b. Self-Perception Theory. As stated by Hewstone and Bem (2015)

Selfperception 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.

c. 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
or description of his physical self, including his physical appearance.

d. 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
 a. Attachment Process and Social Appraisal. According to Bowlby (1969),
people learn about their value and lovability when they experience how
their mothers or caregivers care for them and respond to their needs.

b. Maintaining, Regulating and expanding the self in interpersonal

relationships .

c. The Looking-glass Self Theory. Charles Horton Cooley stated that a

person’s self grows out of society’s interpersonal interactions and the
perception of others. The view of oneself comes from a compilation of
personal qualities and impressions of how others 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 a mirror in which people see themselves particularly the way in which
they are perceived and judged by others.

d. 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 social comparison happens when an individual compares themselves to others who are
better than them.
● Downward social comparison happens when an individual compares themselves to someone who
is in a worse situation than they are in especially when they are feeling low.

e. Social Identity Theory (Collective Identity). This was formulated by tajfel

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 by an out-group. It will enhance their self-esteem because they
feel secured with the shield of group membership where they belong.
Social groups include gender, ethnicity, religion, profession, political
membership and business organizations.

References:

Arcega, A M., Cullar, D. S., Evangelista, L. D. & Falculan, L. M. (2018). Understanding the Self. Malabon
City: Mutya Publishing House Inc.

Gazzingan, L. B. et al. (2019). Understanding the Self. Muntinlupa City: Panday-Lahi Publishing House,
Inc.

Hewstone, et.al. (2015). An Introduction to Social Psychology. UK: British Psychological Society and
John Wiley and Sons Ltd.

Krueger, D.W. 2002 Integrating body self and psychological self: Creating a new story in psychoanalysis
and psychotherapy. Accessed date: July 24, 2020. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2003-06051-000
McKinley, N. M. (2012). Continuity and change in self-objectification: Taking a life-span approach to
women’s experiences of objectified body consciousness. Accessed date: July 24, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1037/12304-005

Santrock, J (2014) Adolescence. New York, USA: McGraw Hill International edition

Santrock, M (2016) Essentials of Life Span Development 4th ed. New York, USA: McGraw Hill
International Edition
WEEK 7: PHYSICAL SELF: The Physical Self: Body Image and Self Esteem

Understanding the self includes understanding the surroundings and what influences
our outlook in our beauty. Culture may seem to have an effect also on how people
view themselves and how they construct their images and boost their self-esteem.
Physical aspect of the self may also provide understanding and the importance of
beauty.

The Impact of Culture on Body Image and Self-Esteem: The Importance of Beauty

● After going through all the concepts and theories that may affect the person’s view of his physical
self, there’s another factor that strongly impacts this perception, his cultural milieu. Culture is
defined as a social system that is characterized by the shared meanings that are attributed to people
and events by its members.

● There are a lot of movies in the past that are about the body. One of the most successful horror
movies of the 1950s entitled Invasion of the Body Snatcher, wherein human beings were replaced
with new bodies and devoid human emotions. Another is the The Stepford Wives that took the
idea of body replacement. In this movie husbands were killing their wives and replacing them
with robots who look exactly like them, but perfectly submissive. Some other movies about the
body include Shallow Hal (2001), Huge (2010), 200 pound Beauty (2010) and Imperfect (2019).

● The makeup of a body is a collection of cells, combined into organs, which themselves operate in
systems. In humans, that body typically takes on a form with two arms, two legs, a torso, and a
head. But the question is, is there such a thing as a universal decontextualized body? The answer
is no. bodies are shaped in countless ways by culture, by society, and by the experiences that are
shared with a social and cultural context. Since it is also shaped by history, there are always
changing ideas about it. It can be assumed that the body is contingent – meaning molded by factors
outside the body, and internalized into the physical being itself.
● A significant aspect of culture that strongly influences adolescents who are in a face-to-face
encounter with their physical selves is how their culture conceptualizes beauty. Young
adolescents are forced to adhere to society’s definition of beauty lest they be labelled ugly or
“pangit” in local dialect.
● This is what is called the social constructionist approach to understanding the physical self.
This suggests that beauty, weight, sexuality, or race do not simply result from the collection of
genes one inherited from one’s parents. Instead, these bodily features only take on the meaning
that they have. A person may have a certain set of facial features, or weigh a certain number of
pounds and attractiveness will come from the time and place in which they live.

● These meanings occur within a set of culturally constructed power relations which suggest that,
for example, women must be attractive in order to be valuable. But this process does not just
happen after we enter culture. How those features will be interpreted will then be shaped by
culture, but the features themselves will already be present. Meaning what occurs is that once
something comes to take on cultural meaning, it becomes naturalized: people think that things are
the way that they are because they have always been that way. These meanings have been created,
and that they can change, and that there’s nothing natural at all. Even something that seems to be
rooted in the body as disability is partially socially constructed.

● This differs from what might be called an essentialist view of the body. Essentialism means that
bodies are defined entirely by their biological make-up – bones, muscles, hormones, and the like.
Much of human behavior can also be reduced to many of those biological functions, it is referred
to by social scientists call a reductionist idea that complex human behaviors can be reduced to
something as simple as, for example, hormones. This simply means that we cannot understand
the biological organism without first understanding social, cultural, and historical context in
which it exists.

● Another example of how norms of masculinity and femininity shape not just behavior, but public
perceptions are those people who did activities of the other gender. They were praised at the same
time and criticized just by doing what is not expected to their gender. With this, the idea that the
body is marked with culture and society is the term social skin to refer to the ways in which social
categories become inscribed onto physical body. Through the social skin, the body becomes the
symbolic stage on which dramas of society are enacted. This idea is from the anthropologist
Terence Turner (1980).
● Another anthropologist, Mary Douglas (1973) said that the body is the most natural symbol for
and medium of classification, and thus rules associated with controlling the body and its processes
emerge as a powerful means of social control. She is the one who centralized the analysis of the
body focused on traditional societies. Therefore, the physical body is a threat to the social body.
Further, she finds that societies with strict social limits would regard boundaries with caution
including bodily boundaries.

● In sociology, how the body operates as a

focus and symbol has been understood as
well. In the fourteenth to the seventeenth
centuries, the civilization process includes
the beginning of Europeans to internalize
many of the external forms of social
control; however, shame and
embarrassment took place, controlling
their behaviors from within. This control of
behavior from within was made as theory
by Erving Goffman (1982) which is called
the Dramaturgical theory. The theory
suggests that we are all actors on a stage,
and much of what we do is engage in
impression management during which we
must monitor and adjust our own behavior in accordance with how people want others to perceive
them.

● A woman is what she wears – this statement is from the work of Janes Gaines on fashion (1990)
which implies that women are often defined completely by their clothing –. In this study, it
suggests that people have body images. Body image can be described as a representation of how
individuals think and feel about their own physical attributes. Body image is both internal
(personal) and external (society).

● This includes (1) how a person perceives his body, (2) how a person feels about their physical
appearance, (3) how a person thinks and talks to themselves about their bodies, and (4) a sense of
 how other people view their bodies. Though sometimes how a person looks has possibly never
held as much as societal importance or reflected so significantly on our perceived self-worth.

● Body image is the mental representation one creates, but it may or may not bear close relation to
how others actually see you. Body image is subject to all kinds of distortion from internal elements
like our emotions, moods, early experiences, attitudes of our parents, and much more. The mass
media has increasingly become a platform that reinforce cultural beliefs and projects strong views
on how we should look, that we as individuals often unknowingly validate. With such strong
societal scrutiny, it is easy to see how the focus is on negative body image. Nevertheless, it
strongly influences behavior. Preoccupation with and distortions of body image are widespread
among American women (and to a lesser extent, among males), but they are driving forces in
eating disorders, feeding severe anxiety than can be assuaged only by dieting.

● Having a sense of understanding that healthy attractive bodies come in many shapes and sizes,
and that physical appearance says very little about the character or value of a person, a person can
have a positive body image. How to get to this point depends on the acceptance and esteem that
a person has for himself. This can be related to the meaning of self-esteem. In which, it is related
to how much a person likes himself, how they recognize or appreciate their individual character,
qualities, skills, and accomplishments. Like body image, self-esteem can also be based on how a
person thinks other people look at them as a person.

● Self-esteem is the overall evaluation that a person has of himself which can be positive or
negative, high or low. Self esteem is a measure of the person’s self-worth based on some personal
or social standard. It is a global evaluative dimension of the self.

● Self-esteem is how valuable to himself and others he person perceives himself to be. Needless to
say, people with positive or high self-esteem are happier, have a sense of accomplishment and
purpose and relate well with others.

● The impact of culture on body image and self-esteem has

been very crucial for sometimes people depend on this as
when they define beautiful. It has been assumed that
preferences for beauty are gradually learned through
cultural transmission and exposure to contemporary media.

● Charles Darwin in 1871 became one of the first persons,

if not the first, to think and write extensively about human
beauty from a biological point of view, concluding that
there is no universal standard of beauty with respect to the
human body and attempts to determine underlying
dimensions of beauty are futile. However, in 1985, contrary
to Darwin’s beliefs, Samuels and Ewy showed that both 3-
month-old and
6-month-old infants looked longer at male and female faces
previously rated as attractive by adults, suggesting that infants have the cognitive ability to
discriminate attractiveness. These findings have been further supported, and it has even been
shown that young infants show preferences for attractive faces, measured by looking time, that
transcends gender, race, and age. Problems and other issues will arise when a person’s definition
of body image is different from the understanding of beauty.
 ● Young people put so much pressure on themselves to attain unrealistic ideals to the point of
risking mental and physical health is unacceptable. The following are some aspects in culture that
may have led to some misconceptions:
1. Society’s ideal for the perfect physical form for men and women.
2. Images of perfection brought by all types of media i.e print, television, film, and
internet.
3. Since a standard has been set by society and reinforced by the media, any
characteristic that does not conform to the standard is labelled as ugly. Body
diversity in size and structure due to genetic heritability is not tolerated.

● These misconceptions strongly affect

how the young form their body image
and its influence on their self-esteem.
Knowing that adolescence is the period
where self-identity is formed, it is
important for adults in the environment
to listen to these young people and
provide proper guidance and support.

● Yes, beauty is important. But being

beautiful still depends how a person
defines beauty and the standards he sets
to meet this definition. It is a big mistake
to base beauty on some else’s standard.
People are different and each one is
uniquely beautiful.

References:

Arcega, A M., Cullar, D. S., Evangelista, L. D. & Falculan, L. M. (2018). Understanding the Self.
Malabon City: Mutya Publishing House Inc.

Douglas, M (1973) Self-Evidence. Accessed July 24, 2020.

https://us.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-assets/66916_book_item_66916.pdf

Gaines, J (1980). Material Possession. Accessed July 24, 2020.

https://faculty.washington.edu/jdb/452/452_chapter_02.pdf

Gazzingan, L. B. et al. (2019). Understanding the Self. Muntinlupa City: Panday-Lahi Publishing House,
Inc.