PSYCHOLOGY

PSYCHOLOGY
What is Psychology?
 Psychology is the specific study of how people behave, think, and
feel.
 It includes topics, such as how the brain works, how our memory is
organized, how people interacts in groups, how children learn about
the world.
 Everything that concerns the human being is a concern of
psychology.

J E A N P I A G E T
 Psychologist Jean Piaget was a Swiss clinical
psychologist known for his pioneering work in
child development.
 He pioneered the “theory of cognitive
development” a comprehensive theory about
the development of human gradually come to
acquire, construct, and use it (Torres & Ash,
2007).

THE SELF AS A COGNITIVE

CONSTRUCTIONS
Online dictionaries define the term cognitive as “of, relating to,
being, or involving conscious intellectual activity, such as thinking,
reasoning, or remembering” (WEB). Self-theorists argue that it is natural for
humans to form theories about themselves, both as a single entity and as
a group, to make meaning of one’s existence and experience.

According to Piaget, cognitive development is progressive

reorganization of mental processes resulting from biological maturation

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and environmental (McLead, 2009). Moreover, Piaget claims that cognitive

development is the center of the human organism (Baldwin, 2005).

Piaget (1952) observed how children processed & made sense of the
world around them and eventually developed a four-stage model of how
the mind processes new information encountered.

Three Basic Components to Piaget’s Cognitive

Theory
1. Schemas/Schemes
o Schemes are mental organizations that individuals use to
understand their environments and designated action.
2. Adaptation
o It involves the child’s learning processes to meet situational
demands.
3. Stages of Cognitive Development
o They reflect the increasing sophistication of the child’s
thought process.

According to Piaget, the knowledge children acquire is organized

into schemes or groupings are similar actions or thoughts.

Two Process used by the Individual in his or her

Attempt to Adapt
1. Assimilation is the application of previous concepts to new
concepts.
2. Accommodation happens when people encounter completely new
information or when existing ideas are challenge.

“The self thus becomes aware of itself, at least in this practical

action, and discovers itself as a cause among other causes and
as an object subject to the same laws as other objects.”
– Jean Piaget

In the “Stages of Cognitive Development”, Piaget theorize that children

progress through 4 stages in that they all do so in the same order.

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S U S A N H A R T E R
 Psychologist, author, and professor, Dr. Susan
Harter (1999) detailed the emergence of self-
concept and asserted that the abroad
developmental changes observed across early
childhood, later childhood, and adolescence could
be within a Piagetian framework.

HARTER’S SELF DEVELOPMENT

CONCEPT

The development of self-concept according to Harter is as follows:

1. Early Childhood
o The child describes the “self” in terms of concrete, observable
characteristics, such as physical attributes, material
possessions, behaviors, and preferences.
2. Middle to Later Childhood

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o The self is described in terms of trait like constructs that would

require the type of hierarchical organizational skills
characteristic of logical thought development.
3. Adolescence
o According to Harter, this is the emergence of more abstract
self-definitions, such as inner thoughts, emotions, attitudes,
and motives (Harter, 1990b, p352). The use of the abstract
words sensitive, outgoing, cheerful, and anxious as self-portrait
is consistent with Piaget’s findings on the adolescence’s ability
to construct higher order abstractions indie capacity of
introspection (Harter, 1999)
4. Emerging Adults
o The marked characteristic of “self” for emerging adults is
having a vision of a “possible self”. It is the “age of possibilities”
(Amett, 2004a). In one Australian study (Whitty, 2002), early
emerging adulthood (ages 17-22) was found to be a time of
“grand dreams”, but beyond emerging adulthood (ages 28-33)
the vision of a possible-self became more realistic, if still
optimistic.

W I L L I A M J A M E S
 A figure commonly known as “the father of
American psychology”, philosopher,
psychologist, and university professor.
 “The art of being wise is knowing what to
overlook”, wrote William James in his
groundbreaking masterpiece, The Principles of
Psychology, written in 1890.
 According to James (1950), the “self” has two
elements: I-self and the Me-self.

WILLIAM JAMES AND

THE ME-SELF; I-SELF

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1. I-self is the pure ego. It is the subjective self. It is the “self” that is
aware of its own actions.

Four Features of I-Self

 A sense of being the agent or initiator of behavior. I believe my
actions have an impact; that I cause an effect in my environment.
 A sense of being unique. This is how I am different from
everything in my environment; I perceive there is only one Me.
 A sense of continuity. I am the same person from day to day.
 A sense of awareness about being aware. I understand what is
going on in me and around me; and I know I understand it.

2. The Me-self is the self that is the object. James called it the empirical
self. Empirical is defined as “based on, concerned with, or verifiable
by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic”(WEB)

The Dimensions of the Me-self

 Material- physical appearance and extensions of it such as clothing,
immediate family, and home.
 Social- social skills and significant interpersonal relationships
 Spiritual- personality, character, defining values.

C A R L R O G E R S
 Carl Ransom Rogers is an American
Psychologist.
 One of the founders of Humanistic Approach
to Psychology.
 Humanistic Psychology is a psychological
perspective that prominence in the mid-20th
century. It highlighted the individual’s innate
drive toward self-actualization and the
process of realizing and expressing one’s own
capabilities and creativity.
 It emphasized the active role of the individual
in shaping their internal and external worlds.

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REAL SELF AND IDEAL SELF

Personality Development and the Self-Concept

Rogers based his theories of personality
Self- actualization
development on humanistic psychology and
is a complete
theories of subjective experience. According to
realization of one’s
potential, and the Rogers, all behavior is motivated by self-
full development of actualizing tendencies and these tendencies
one’s abilities and drive you to reach your full potential.
appreciation for life.

Ideal Self Vs. Real Self

The ideal self is the person that you would like yourself to be; it’s
your concept of the “best me” who is worthy of admiration.

The Ideal self could include:

 Notions influenced by your parents

 What you admire in others
 What the society sees as acceptable
 What you think is in your best interests

The real self is the person you actually are. It is how you behave right
at the moment of a situation. It is who you are in reality- how you think,
feel, or act at present.

The Importance of Alignment

Rogers accentuated the need to achieve consistency between the
ideal self and the real self. According to Rogers, when your real self and
ideal self are very similar you experience congruence. High congruence
leads to a greater sense of self-worth and a healthy, productive life.

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He also added incongruence that could lead to maladjustment.

Maladjustment is defined as the ability to react successfully and
satisfactorily to the demands of one’s environment (Rogers, C. 1950, 2000)

“If the way that I am (the real self) is aligned with the way that I
want to be (the ideal self), then I will feel sense of mental well-
being or peace of mind.” – Carl Rogers

MULTIPLE VS UNIFIED SELVES

William James (1890) said, “Properly speaking, a man has as many

social selves as there are individuals who recognize him and carry an image
of him in their head.”

On the other hand, Social Psychologist Roy Baumeister (2010) said,

“but the concept of the self loses its meaning if a person has multiple
selves…the essence of self involves integration of diverse experiences into
a unity…In short, unity is one of the defining features of selfhood and
identity”.

THE UNITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS

According to Rene Descartes, the mind is not made up of parts; thus,

it cannot be a physical substance because anything material has parts
(Skirry, 2005). Descartes claimed that this “being” is of unified
consciousness and not composed of merged fragments (Brook %
Raymont, 2017)

There is also Immanuel Kant’s “unity of consciousness” that can be

described as “I am conscious not only of single experiences but of a great
many experiences at the same time. The same is true of actions; I can do
and be conscious of doing a number of actions at the same time” (Brook,
2016)

ONE SELF OR MANY SELVES

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Contemporary psychological studies challenged the notion of self.

Several major personality theorists proposed that the mind is made up of
several sub-selves.

G O R D O N A L L P O R T
 Psychologist Gordon Allport (1961) proposed his
“personality trait” theory asserting that every
person possess “traits” is your essential
characteristic that never, ever changes and
sticks with you all your life (Hall, & Lindzey, 1957;
Morris, et al., 2002).
 A trait is a stable characteristics that causes
individuals to behave in certain ways.
 Trait approach to personality is focused on
differences between individuals. The
combination and interaction of traits form a personality that is
unique to each individual.

ALLPORT’S PERSONALITY THEORY

The Ego States

In 1960 psychiatrists Eric Berne began to develop his transactional
analysis model as basis for understanding behavior. Transactional analysis
is anchored on two notions:

 Every person has three parts called “ego states” in his or her
personality.
 People communicate with one another assuming roles of any of
these ego states.

1. Parent
o The parent ego state is the “voice of authority”
o Can be comforting, “nurturing parent”
o Can be a “critical/controlling parent” that tells you what to do
and not to do.

2. Adult

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o The adult ego state is the rational person that speak

reasonably.

3. Child
o There are three child ego states. First is the natural child who
loves to play but is sensitive and vulnerable. The little
professor is the curious child who wants to try everything.
The adaptive child is the one who reacts to the world that
could be trying to fit in or rebelling against authority (Berne,
2016)

Domains of the Self

University professor and author Gregg Henriques proposed that the
human self has three related, but separable, domains.

1. Experiential self
o Theater of consciousness of “raw feels”
o The first to experience its beingness (that state or fact of
existing)
2. Private self-conscious
o The narrator/interpreter
o Center of self-reflective awareness
o Internal dialogue to yourself that weaves a narrative of what is
happening and why
3. Public self/persona
o The image you want to project to the public
o There is a possibility of filtering, deceit between actions and
words.

DONALDS WOODS WINNICOTT

 English Pediatrician and Psychologist.
 Introduce the concept of True Self and False Self

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TRUE SELF VS FALSE SELF

Proposed that the healthy core of a healthy person’s self is hidden
from the outside world, uninfluenced by external (harsh) realities. The
false self is put up to defend the core from these realities and prevent it
from any changes.

True Self
 True self flourishes in infancy if the mother is positively responsive
to the child’s spontaneous expressions (Winnicott, 1960; Jones-Smith,
2011). Winnicott described true self as a sense of “self” based in
“spontaneous authentic experience”.
 Winnicott believed that people unconsciously repeat early
relationship (particularly the mother-infant relationship) in one form
or another. A child whose mother is positively responsive and
supports the child’s natural process of individuation will grow up as
an adult with a stable self-image; views other people realistically; and
accepts both the positive and negative side of every person
including himself/herself (Jones-Smith, 2011).

False Self
 Winnicott expressed that the false self is the product of early
experience. It is a defensive organization formed by the infant
because of inadequate mothering or failures in empathy (Daehnert,
1998). The false self is a mask or a persona.
 However, when a person has false self but can still function both as
an individual and in the society, then he/she has a healthy false self.
On the other hand, there is also the unhealthy false self. An
individual who may seem happy and comfortable in his/her
environment but actually feels forced to fit in and constantly needs
to adjust.

“Self is simply the person who is me.” – D.W. Winnicott

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