Understanding the Self

 self awareness
 self discovery
Chapter 1: The Self from Various Perspectives
Who am I?
What is Philosophy?
It is a way of thinking about anything in the world, the universe.
It works by asking very basic questions about the nature of human thought, the nature of
the universe , and the connections between them.
The Soul is Immortal (Socrates)
 First thinker to focus on the full power of reason on the human self.
 For him, the self exists in two parts: the physical body and the soul.
“The unexamined life is not worth living” – Socrates
The Soul is Immortal (Plato)
 He is a dualist.
 He believed that the soul exists before birth and after death.
 For him, one should care about his soul rather than his body.
“The first and the best victory is to conquer self.” – Plato
The Soul (Mind) is divided into Three Parts:
1. Reason – our divine essence
2. Physical Appetite – our basic biological needs
3. Will or Spirit – our basic emotion
Christianity (St. Augustine)
 Augustine believes that man is created in the image and likeness of God.
 His sense of self is his relation to God.
 He believes that God is transcendent.
“Accepting God is the path to know thyself” – St. Augustine
A Modern Perspective on the Self (Rene Descartes)
 The “Founder of Modern Philosophy.”
 He believes that our physical body is secondary to our personal identity.
 He declares that the essential self, or the self as a thinking entity, is radically different
from the self as a physical body.
“Cogito ergo sum.” – Rene Descartes
The Self is Consciousness (John Locke)
 John Locke is known for his theory that the mind is a tabula rasa.
 He believed that we are born without thoughts, or our mind was empty.
 According to him, our memory plays a key role in our definition of the self.
There is No Self (David Hume)
 David Hume believed that the source of all genuine knowledge is our direct sense
experience.
 He believes in the existence of the mind, and what’s inside the mind is divided into two:
impressions and ideas.
 For Hume, the self keeps on changing.
We Construct the Self (Immanuel Kant)
 Immanuel Kant refutes Hume’s theory that there is no “self” and argues that it is possible
to find the essence of the self.
 For Kant, man is a free agent.
There are Two Selves, One Conscious, One Unconscious (Sigmund Freud)
 Freud believes that there are two levels of human functioning: the conscious and the
unconscious.
 Freud believes that even if the conscious self plays an important role in our lives, it is the
unconscious self that has the dominant influence on our personalities.
Freud developed the Structural model of the mind that is divided into three:
1. Id – represents man’s biological nature, impulses, and bodily desires.
2. Ego – component of personality that is responsible for dealing with reality.
3. Superego – represents the ethical component and provides the moral standards by which
the ego operates.
The Self is How you Behave (Gilbert Ryle)
 Gilbert Ryle focused on observable behavior in defining the self.
 From his point of view, the self is best understood as a pattern of behavior.
The Self is the Brain (Paul Churchland)
 Paul Churchland disagrees with the concept of dualism.
 He focused on the brain states rather than the mental states.
The Self is Embodied Subjectivity (Maurice Merleau-Ponty)
 Maurice Merleau-Ponty takes a very different approach to the self.
 To Merleau-Ponty, the self is embodied subjectivity
Summary (Who Am I?)
1. Socrates – man is essentially a soul, seconded by Plato, Augustine, extending their idea
that man is an image in the likeness of God.
 2. Rene Descartes – emphasized the non-physical form of man.
3. John Locke – claimed that the self is consciousness.
4. David Hume – declaring that there is no permanent self
5. Immanuel Kant – said that it is possible for us to construct our self.
6. Sigmund Freud – asserts that man is made up of two things.
7. Gilbert Ryle – how one behaves is a big factor in showing who a man is.
8. Paul Churchland – declared that it’s the brain that is the essence of the self.
9. Maurice Merleau-Ponty – man is all about how he sees himself through his experiences.

What is Sociology?
 Sociology is the study of the role of society in shaping behavior.
 It focuses on how different aspects of society contribute to an individual’s relationship
with his world.
 It tends to look outward to understand human behavior.
The self as a product of modern society among other constructions
 Socialization is the process of learning one’s culture and how to live within it.
 The person can also be an agent of socialization.
The Agents of Socialization
 School
 Family
 Peer Groups
 Clubs and Teams
 Religious Groups
 Ethnic or Cultural Background
 Political Groups
 Workplace
 Mass Media
Looking-Glass Self Theory (Charles H. Cooley)
 He asserted that people’s self-understanding is constructed.
 For Cooley, we gradually figure out who we are as we grow up.
The process of discovering and experiencing the looking-glass self occurs in three steps:
1. We imagine how we appear to others.
2. We imagine the judgment of that appearance.
3. We develop our self (identity) through the judgments of others.
The Social Self (George Herbert Mead)
 George Herbert Mead is a well-known sociologist for his theory of the social self.
 For Mead, our self is not there at birth.
  He believed that as we grow up, our beliefs about how other people perceive us start to
become more important.
 Three stages:
1. Preparatory stage
2. Play stage
3. Game stage
 Mead believed that this understanding led to the development of his concept of the “I”
and the “me.”
Summary
1. Sociology is the study of the role of society in shaping behavior.
2. The self is shaped through interaction with other people.
3. Socialization takes place through the interaction with various agents of socialization.
4. Charles Horton Cooley coined the concept “the looking glass self.”
5. George Herbert Mead, developed his theory of social self.

What is Anthropology?
 Anthropology is the study of people and cultures in the past and today.
 There are four branches of Anthropology:
1. Archeology
2. Physical Anthropology
3. Linguistic anthropology
4. Cultural anthropology
The self and person in Contemporary Anthropology
 In anthropology, the self refers to a set of implicit cultural values that we try to adhere to
and use them to guide our lives.
 The self is one interpretation of being human, among others.
Self as embedded in culture
 Culture, as defined by Sir Edward B. Taylor, founder of cultural anthropology, is the
complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, morals, law, customs, arts, and any
other capabilities and habits acquired by a human as a member of society.
 Culture is everything that makes up the way a group of people lives.
Two components of culture:
1. Material culture
2. Non-material culture
According to Catherine Raeff (2010), a developmental psychologist, culture can influence how
you, your peers, and families’ view:
1. Relationships
2. Personality traits
 3. Achievement
4. Expressing emotions
Summary
1. Anthropology is the study of people and cultures across time.
2. There are four branches of Anthropology: Archeology, Physical Anthropology,
Linguistic Anthropology, and Cultural Anthropology.
3. Culture plays an immense role in the development of the self.
4. There are two components of culture: the material culture and the non-material culture.
5. Culture helps us define how we see ourselves and how we relate to others.

The Self as a Cognitive Construction

It is almost a sin for a young person, or at least a danger, to be too preoccupied with himself,
but for the aging person, it is a duty and a necessity to devote serious attention to himself.
-Carl Jung
The ME-self; The I-self (William James)
 William James suggests that the self is divided into two categories: the I-Self and the Me-
Self.
 I-Self refers to the self that knows who he or she is
 Me-Self refers to the person’s personal experiences and is further divided into
subcategories:
1. Material self
2. Social self
3. Spiritual self
 James believes that the path to understanding the spiritual self requires introspection.
Real and Ideal Self (Carl Rogers)
 Self-concept is the individual’s tendency to act in ways which actualize himself, the
belief about himself, how he evaluates himself, and a mental picture of who he is.
 Rogers suggests two components of self-concept: the real self and the ideal self.
 Real self consists of all the ideas, how we see ourselves, how a person feels and thinks.
 Ideal self is the person’s conception of what one should be or what one aspires to be,
striving for the attainment of what he wants to be.
Incongruent
 The self image is different to the ideal self
 There is only a little overlap
 Here self actualisation will be difficult
Congruent
 The self image is similar to the ideal self
 There is a more overlap
  This person can self actualise
Multiple versus Unified Self, True versus False Self (Donald Winnicot)
 Dr. Donald Winnicot explains his theory about the true self and the false self. He
expounded the idea that the function of the false self is to hide and protect the true self.
 Winnicott highlighted the importance of the mother as the caregiver and the child as
spontaneous.
 People decided to take out his false self to protect his true self from pain.
The Self as Proactive and Agentic (Albert Bandura)
Four Core Properties of Human Agencies
1. Intentional
2. Fore Thought
3. Self Reactiveness
4. Self Reflection
Summary
1. William James posited that the self is divided into two categories: the I-SELF and the
ME-SELF.
2. Rogers suggests two components of self-concept: the real self and the ideal self.
3. Dr. Donald Winnicott explains his theory about the true self and the false self.
4. Albert Bandura drew that people are viewed as proactive agents of society wherein
humans can decide intentionally and eventually evaluate their decision.

Chapter 2: Unpacking the Self

Physical Self
“To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise, we shall not be able to keep our mind
strong and clear.” - Buddha
The Self as Impacted by the Body
 The physical self refers to the body.
 The body’s ability to perform its functions gradually changes through an individual’s
aging.
 Adolescence begins with the onset of puberty.
Life Span
  Infancy 
 Early Childhood
 Middle Childhood
 Late Childhood
 Adolescence
 Early Adulthood
 Mature Adulthood
 Old age
Factors Affecting Physical Growth and Development
 Heredity
 Environment
 Chromosomes
 Genes
The Impact of Culture on Body Image and Self-esteem
 Body image – refers to how individuals perceive, think and feel about their body and
physical appearance.
 Appearance – refers to everything about a person that others can observe.
Body image is both internal (personal) and external (society). This includes:
1. How we perceive our bodies visually
2. How we feel about our physical appearance
3. How we think and talk to ourselves about our bodies
4. Our sense of how other people view our bodies
The greater the risk for extreme weight or body control behaviors occurs. We’re talking about:
1. Extreme dieting
2. Extreme exercise compulsion
3. Eating disorders
4. Extreme or unnecessary plastic surgery
5. Using steroids for muscle building
So how can we build a healthy and positive body image?
1. Talkback to the media
2. De-emphasize numbers
3. Realize that we cannot change our body type
4. Stop comparing ourselves to others
5. We need to move and enjoy our bodies not because we have to, but because it makes us
feel good
6. Spend time with people who have a healthy relationship
7. Question the degree to which self-esteem depends on our appearance
8. Broaden our perspective about health and beauty by reading about body image, cultural
variances, or media influence
9. Recognize that size prejudice is a form of discrimination similar to other forms of
discrimination