The Physical Self: The self as
stream throughout the body
impacted by the body
Physical Self – the concrete dimensions of
the body which can be directly observed
and examined
Physical Characteristics – The defining traits
or feature of the person’s body
Erik Erikson
- The physical as well as intellectual skills
will somehow serve as a basis of person’s
competency
- You are lampa kasi di mo naranasan nung
bata at protective parents mo
William James
- Considered the body as the initial source
of sensation and necessary for the origin
and maintenance of personality
- What our physical environment affect our
personality
According to healthy children.org
adolescence is divided into 3 periods
1. Early adolescence (11-14 years old)
2. Middle adolescence (15-17 years old)
3. Late adolescence (18-21 years old)
WHO – Adolescence are people who age
ranges from 10-19 years old
Youth in Nation 0 Building Act (1994) –
Youth are people between 15 – 30 years old
Puberty: A period of rapid physical changes
- Brain-neuroendocrine process
- Pituitary Glan – master endocrine gland
that controls growth and regulates all
endocrine glands, including gonads.
- Gonads – Ovaries for girls and testes for
boys
- Hormones – chemical substance secreted
by gonads that are distributed by the blood
- Estrogen (girls) – increase in height,
widening of hips, and increase in fatty
tissues in the breast
- Androgen and testosterone (boys) –
growth of facial and body hair, muscles and
changes in voice
- Secondary sexual changes – physical
changes that distinguish boys from girls
- Primary sexual changes – changes in the
reproductive organs that prepare both boys
and girls from procreation
Body image
- refers to the way one sees their self or the
way they imagine how they look
- Adolescents with most positive body
image is engaged in health enhancing
behavior
- Generally, girls are less happy with their
body image than boys.
- A healthy body image is made up of
positive thoughts, feelings and acceptance
of one’s overall physical appearance.
- Imaginary audience – an egocentric state
where the individual imagines that many
people are watching them
- Spotlight effect – the belief that others are
paying more attention to person’s
appearance and behavior than they really
are
Factors that affect the perception of
physical self
Personal Factors
- Introspection and self-reflection – the
process by which one observes and
examines internal state after behaving in a
certain way (evaluating/reflecting self
objectively)
- Self-Perception Theory (Bern,1972) –
people can infer their inner states by
observing their own behavior, as if they are
an outside observer (detach and evaluate
objectively as the other person)
- Self-concept – the sum total of all belief
that people have about themselves
- Physical self-concept – perception of their
physical self
- Personal identity – the concept a person
has about himself that develops over the
years (includes family info, nationality,
gender, job.
Social Factors
- Attachment process and social appraisal
-- according to Bowlby, we value ourselves
based on how our parents responded to our
needs when we were children
-Positive self-concept: Nurtured
-Negative self-concept: Neglected
- Maintaining, regulating and expanding
the self in interpersonal relationships
-- self is continuously shaped through social
interactions
- they act as “private audiences” with whom
people carry an internal dialogue
- Looking glass self-theory
-- self grows out of society’s interpersonal
interactions and perception of others
- (we imagine how they look to us)
- Reflected appraisal – inferences about
others appraisal of a person
- gained by observing how people react
towards the individual
- (We react based on the body language and
what a person say)
- Social Comparison
-- Process of comparing oneself with others
in order to evaluate own abilities and
opinions
- Upward social comparison – individual
compares himself to others who are better
than him
- Downward Social Comparison – individual
compares himself to other who are in worse
situation especially done when feeling low
- Social identity theory (collective identity)
- provides a framework about how people
understand themselves by being a member
or a group.
- People have a need for positive social
identity
- Assumes that as a member of the group
they will not be discriminated by an out-
group
Self vs. Identity
Self
- An individual level analysis which includes
self-esteem, self-states, self-efficacy, and
the like.
- The total characteristics of a person both
known and unknown to others but known
to oneself
Identity
- Based on societal or cultural level of
analysis, such as cultural make up that
affected the person.
- Who a person believes he/she is:
integration of self-understanding
- Not stable markers but dynamically
created in the moments
The impact of culture on body image
and self-esteem: The importance of
beauty
Culture
- Significant aspect of culture that strongly
influences adolescents with their physical
selves is how their culture conceptualizes
beauty
- Beauty – the quality of being physically
attractive or the qualities in a person or a
thing that give pleasure to the senses of the
mind.
- In every culture and in every individual,
the standards of beauty vary a lot
The Filipino Concept of Beauty
- Eurocentrism – “a tendency to interpret
the world in terms of European or Anglo-
American values experiences”
- Colorism – “the prejudicial or preferential
treatment of same race people based solely
on the color of their skin
Self-esteem and the ideal Body image
- Self-esteem – the overall evaluation that a
person has of himself which can be positive
or negative, high or low.
-- measure of self-worth based on some
personal social standard
-- is how valuable to himself and others the
person perceives himself to be
- Adolescent’s body image includes the
following:
-- Perception of their physical self when
they loo in the mirror
-- Feelings of like or dislike about the
physical self that they see
-- Their thoughts and how they relate to
their physical self
-- Perception of how people view them
physically
The Sexual Self
Historical
Ancient Greece
- Male assumes the dominant role
- Penis – viewed as a symbol of fertility
- Wives – considered as objects to be
possessed
- Women – had no legal and political rights;
not allowed to read and write
- Gyne – Greek word for woman; it means
bearer of child
Middle Ages
- Strongly influence of the church,
particularly on the matters of sexuality
- The church decreed that all sexual acts
that do not lead to procreation were
considered evil.
- Women are labeled either as temptress
(like evil) or a woman of virtue (like mary)
Protestant reformation of the 16th century
- Protestantism believed that sexuality is a
natural part of life and that priests should
be able to marry and have families
- Martin Luther and John Calvin – sexual
intimacy is not only for procreation but also
helps to strengthen physical and emotional
bond
17th and 18th Century
- Puritans – disconnected with the church
of England; rallied for religious, moral, and
societal reformation
-- Had positive views on marital sex and did
not condone sex outside of marriage
- Premarital Sex – Considered immoral
Victoria Era
- Homosexuality and prostitution were
rampant
- Psychoanalytic theory of freud become
popular
- People were not comfortable in discussing
breast or buttocks
- Sex for women was just a marital duty
- Women were told that they should not
enjoy having sex
- Ejaculating more than once a month
would weaken a man
- Masturbation leads to blindness, insanity
and death.
20th Century