UNDERSTANDING

THE SELF
Gabrielle Chynna A. Vale, RPm, CHRA
“What Is Your Name?”
vs.
“Who Are You?”
• Our names are an incredibly important part of
our identity

• It is used to signify us

• Humans attach meaningful names to their

offspring or descendants because names are
supposed to designate us in the world
Is knowing your name enough to
understand who you truly are?
• A name is not the person itself no matter how
intimately bound it is with the bearer

• The Self is thought to be something else than the

name

• The Self is something that a person constantly

molds, shapes, and develops over time; it is not a
static thing that one is simply born with
Everyone is tasked to discover
oneself
Have you truly discovered yours?
Reflective Questions
1. How would you characterize yourself?
2. What makes you stand out from the rest? What makes
your Self special?
3. How has your Self transformed itself?
4. How is yourself connected to your body?
5. How is yourself related to other selves?
6. What will happen to yourself after you die?
The Self can be explained by these
characteristics:
◦ Separate
: the self is distinct from other selves, as no two persons are
exactly alike
◦ Self-Contained
: it has its own unique thoughts, characteristics, and volition
◦ Independent
: in itself, it can exist
The Self can be explained by these
characteristics:
◦ Consistent
: it has a personality that is enduring and can persist for some
time
◦ Unitary
: it is the center of all experiences and thoughts of a person
◦ Private
: each person sorts out information, feelings, emotions, and
thought processes within self
THE SELF FROM THE
PHILOSOPHICAL
POINT OF VIEW
Socrates
◦ Dualistic view of the Self:
◦ Physical Body – material component
◦ Soul – immaterial/immortal component
◦ Death is the final separation of the physical body and the
soul
Plato
◦ Three components of the soul:
◦ Rational Soul – our divine essence that enables us to think deeply, make wise
choices, and achieve a true understanding of eternal truths
◦ Spirited Soul – expresses emotional drive such as love, anger, empathy
◦ Appetitive Soul – refers to our basic bodily appetites such as hunger, thirst,
and sexual desires
◦ In a given time, each of the three elements is dominant in an individual
◦ The primary goal is attaining a sense of well-being
◦ The Rational Soul must take charge to oversee the Spirit and Appetite
St. Augustine
◦ There exist two worlds:
◦ The Temporary – a world where there is pain and evil
◦ The Real – a world that is eternal, where there is permanence and infinity;
where God is
◦ The Self is a Tripartite Being:
◦ Body – the outer part of the self through which the self can come in
contact with the world
◦ Soul – the internal part of the self which is composed of the mind, the
emotions, and the will
◦ Spirit – how the self can communicate with God
St. Thomas Aquinas
◦ Man is composed of two parts:
◦ Matter (Hyle) – “common stuff that makes up
everything in the universe”
◦ Form (Morphe) – “essence of a substance or
thing”
◦ What makes a human person a human person and
not a dog, or a tiger, or anything else, is his Essence
Rene Descartes
◦ Two distinct entities of the self:
◦ Cogito – the thing that thinks (mind)
◦ Extenza – the extension of the mind (body)
◦ Cogito ergo sum – “I think therefore I am”
◦ The act of thinking about the self is in itself proof that there is a
self
◦ The essence of a human being lies in his capacity to think as
thinking cannot be doubted
John Locke
◦ Tabula rasa – “blank slate”
◦ The Self is primarily constructed from experience
David Hume
◦ Humans acquire knowledge through sensory perception
◦ The contents of the mind are divided into two:
◦ Impressions – things that the senses perceive and experience in the
real world
◦ Ideas – things that are created in the mind about the things
experienced through the senses
◦ The Self is “a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which
succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual
flux and movement.”
Immanuel Kant
◦ The self is free and has the capacity to make a decision for himself
◦ Man is not only free but is also rational
◦ We have an inner and outer self that form our consciousness
◦ Inner self – comprised of our psychological state and our rational intellect
◦ Outer self – our sense and the physical world
◦ Two kinds of the self:
◦ Empirical self – particular aspects of the self that make self unique; it is known through
experiences
◦ Transcendental self – the self is an activity or organizing principle that actively interprets,
constructs, and gives meaning to collections of sensory data
◦ The Self is the product of the mind.
Sigmund Freud
◦ Three Structures of Personality:
◦ Id – pleasure principle; includes instinctive and primitive behaviors
◦ Ego – reality principle; mediates between the impulses of the id and the real external world
◦ Superego – morality principle; holds the internalized moral standards and ideals; it is our sense of right
and wrong
◦ Three Levels of the Mind:
◦ Conscious – thoughts that we are aware of at any given moment; information that we have immediate
access to
◦ Preconscious – things that can be brought into consciousness anytime; information that we need to
exert effort to recall
◦ Unconscious – thoughts and feelings that exist outside of one’s conscious awareness; contain basic
instinctual drives that seek immediate gratification
Gilbert Ryle
◦ A discussion of the mind is a discussion of
behaviors, because it is through these observable
behaviors that the workings of the mind are being
manifested
◦ The self is the way people behave
Paul Churchland
◦ The mental state of the mind can impact the physical condition of the self
◦ The brain affects the moods, emotions, and consciousness of the human person
◦ An analysis of the workings of the brain would lead to the awareness of the
contents of the mind
◦ Materialism – since the mind cannot be experienced by our senses, then the
mind doesn’t really exist
◦ Eliminative Materialism – it is the physical brain and not the imaginary mind
that gives us our sense of self
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
◦ The perceiving mind and the acting body are interconnected; they
are both our seat of knowledge and they both give us a sense of self
◦ The living body, his thoughts, emotions, and experiences are all one
◦ He believed the physical body to be an important part of what
makes up the subjective self.
◦ The self is the body and the body is the self itself
◦ The self lives in a body; hence, without the body the self cannot
exist
 THE SELF FROM A
SOCIO-ANTHROPOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE
Activity: My Self Through the Years
My Elementary Self My High School Self My College Self

Your picture Your picture Your picture

here here here
Activity: My Self Through the Years
1. What are the similarities in all stages of my “self”?
2. What are the differences in my “self” across the three
stages of my life?
3. What are the possible reasons for the differences in me?
Nature vs. Nurture
Nature Nurture
➢ Inherited ➢ Acquired
➢ Genetic ➢ Learned
➢ Biological ➢ Environment
Nature Nurture
➢ Inherited ➢ Acquired
➢ Genetic ➢ Learned
➢ Biological ➢ Environment
The Social Constructivist Perspective
➢ Merged view of the person and their social context
➢ The Self is always in participation with social life
➢ The Self is multi-faceted
Marcel Mauss
The Self has two faces:
◦ Moi – a person’s sense of who he is, his body, his basic
identity, and his biological givenness
◦ Personne – composed of the social concepts of what it
means to be who a person is
The Self and Culture
➢ Culture is an integral and inescapable part of our humanity
➢ It plays a vital role in the development of the Self
➢ How we see ourselves shapes our lives and this is shaped by
our cultural context
Culture can influence how we view:

◦ Relationships
◦ Personality traits
◦ Achievement
◦ Expressing emotions
Material Culture Non-Material
Culture
➢ Physical objects, resources,
and spaces that people use to
➢ Nonphysical ideas that people
define their culture
have about their culture
➢ More dynamic
➢ Can hardly be changed
The Self and Family
◦ Instilled in us the ideas of “ought and ought nots”
◦ The kind of family one is born and raised into as well as the
resources available have an impact on one’s understanding
of the self
◦ A person will internalize the ways and styles they view from
their family
The Self and Gender
◦ Gender is one of those loci of the self that is subject to
alteration, change, and development
◦ Gender as well as gender roles are social constructions but
affect the development of the self
The Self and the Development of the Social World

George Herbert Mead

◦ The individual bases his sense of self through the
lens of the society
◦ People develop self-images through interactions with
other people
◦ Social Experience = Self (Self-Awareness + Self-
Image)
Mead’s Development Stages of the Self
1. Imitation – “no one”; no ability to take on the role of the other
2. Play – “one” other in “one” situation; taking on the role that one
other person might have
3. Games – “many” others in “one” situation; understanding
interactions involving different people in a variety of purposes
4. Generalized Other – “many” others in “many” situations; imagines
how s/he is viewed by one or many others and thus, to have a “self ”
Lev Vygotsky
◦ Sociocultural Theory
◦ Socialization influences human learning processes
◦ Emphasizes development, social interaction, language and culture

◦ Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

◦ An imaginary space between what a person can do or know by themselves and
what they could do or know with assistance from a More Knowledgeable
Other (MKO)
◦ Scaffolding – temporary support to help a person master a task
Lev Vygotsky
◦ Social Speech – external communication used to talk to others
◦ Private Speech – speech addressed to the self for the purpose of self-
regulation
◦ Inner Speech – silent internal monologue
 THE SELF FROM
EASTERN AND WESTERN
THOUGHTS
Cultural Relativism
: refers to not judging a culture to our own standards of what
is right and wrong, strange or normal
 Western Eastern
◦ Individualism ◦ Collectivism
◦ “I” ◦ “We”
◦ Tries to find the meaning ◦ Participation of the
of life here and now with members of the society
self at the center ◦ Unity, Selflessness,
◦ Independence, Personal Altruism
Identity
 Individualism vs. Collectivism
INDIVIDUALISM COLLECTIVISM

Individual goals, human Group solidarity and success;

Priority
independence, and freedom Harmony
“I” as the orientation is “We” as the orientation is
Self-Image
inwards towards others
Immediate family and close
Kinship Extended family and others
friends
Speaking one’s mind is healthy; Harmony should always be
Communication
Low-context maintained; High-context
More dependent and loyal to
Decision-Making More autonomous and rational
in-group
Confucius
◦ Highlighted the importance of indulging the self with other
members of the society

◦ "The identity and self-concept of an individual is

interwoven with the identity and status of his/her
community or culture, sharing its prides as well as its
failures." -Confucius
Confucianism
◦ Can be seen as a code of ethical conduct, of how one
should properly act according to their relationship with
other people
◦ Its focus is on having a harmonious social life
The Five Great Relationships of
Confucianism

1. Between ruler and the subject;

2. Between father and the son;
3. Between husband and the wife;
4. Between older brother and younger brother; and
5. Between an older friend and a younger friend.
THE SELF FROM THE
PSYCHOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE
The Psychological Perspective
◦ The Self and identity are mental constructs, created
and recreated in memory
◦ Social, emotional, sexual, and cognitive growth
◦ What motivates human thought and behavior
Sigmund Freud
◦ Psychosexual Stages
◦ The first 4 or 5 years of life are most crucial for
personality formation
Stages of Psychosexual Development
◦ Oral Stage (birth to 2 y.o.)
◦ Mouth, lips, tongue
◦ Sucking, biting, chewing

◦ Anal Stage (2-3 y.o.)

◦ Anus
◦ Excretion, bowel movements
◦ Phallic Stage (3-6 y.o.)
◦ Genitals
◦ Attraction to and imitation of opposite-sex parents
◦ Oedipus complex

◦ Latency Stage (6-12 y.o.)

◦ None
◦ Cognitive and social development

◦ Genital Stage (12 y.o. and above)

◦ Genitals
◦ Sexual and intimate adult relationships
Ego Defense Mechanisms
◦ Repression
◦ most common
◦ forces threatening feelings into the unconscious
◦ don't just disappear; they continue to influence our behavior
◦ Reaction Formation
◦ taking up the opposite feeling, impulse, or behavior
◦ hide their true feelings by behaving in the exact opposite
manner
◦ limited to a single object
◦ Displacement
◦ redirecting unacceptable urges onto a variety of people or
objects
◦ taking feelings out on others
◦ Fixation
◦ remaining at the present, more comfortable psychological
stage
◦ Regression
◦ revert to earlier, safer, more secure patterns of behavior
◦ usually temporary
◦ Projection
◦ assigning your own unacceptable feelings or qualities to
others
◦ Introjection
◦ internalizing ideas or voices of other people
◦ taking in an external object or quality and incorporating it into
the self
◦ Sublimation
◦ converting unacceptable impulses into more acceptable outlets
◦ Rationalization
◦ justifying an unacceptable feeling or behavior with logic
Erik Erikson
◦ Psychosocial Stages
◦ In every stage of life there is an interaction of opposites
◦ People must have both harmonious (syntonic) and
disruptive (dystonic) experiences
◦ Successful development was all about striking a balance
between the two opposing sides
Stage 1: Trust vs. Mistrust
◦ Hope
◦ feel safe and secure in the world
◦ fear; belief that the world is inconsistent and
unpredictable
Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame & Doubt
◦ Will
◦ secure and confident
◦ inadequacy; no sense of personal control
Stage 3: Initiative vs. Guilt
◦ Purpose
◦ ability to lead others
◦ sense of guilt, self-doubt, and lack of initiative
Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority
◦ Competence
◦ belief in their skills
◦ doubt their abilities to be successful
Stage 5: Identity vs. Role Confusion
◦ Fidelity
◦ ability to stay true to oneself
◦ confusion; weak sense of self
What is Identity?
◦ All of the beliefs, ideals, and values that help shape
and guide a person's behavior

◦ Ego Identity – the conscious sense of self that we

develop through social interaction
- constantly changes due to new experiences and
information
Stage 6: Intimacy vs. Isolation
◦ Love
◦ strong and enduring relationships
◦ loneliness and isolation
Stage 7: Generativity vs. Stagnation
◦ Care
◦ feelings of usefulness or accomplishment
◦ unproductive; shallow involvement in the world
Stage 8: Ego Integrity vs. Despair
◦ Wisdom
◦ sense of fulfillment and satisfaction
◦ regret, bitterness
Carl Rogers
◦ We behave as we do because of the way we perceive our
situation
◦ "As no one else can know how we perceive, we are the best
experts on ourselves"
◦ Self-Concept – the organized, consistent set of perceptions
and beliefs about oneself
Carl Rogers
◦ Two primary sources that influence self-concept:
◦ Childhood experiences
◦ Evaluation by others

◦ Self-Schema – the perceptions and beliefs that comprise our

self-concept (e.g., past experiences, personality traits, physical
features, values, social roles, observations)
– “influence not only current behavior but also future behavior”
Carl Rogers
◦ Self-Worth – self-esteem; what we think about ourselves
◦ Self-Image – how we see ourselves; affects how we think,
feel, and behave
◦ Real Self – actual self; who we really are;
◦ Ideal Self – who we would like to be; our goals and
ambitions in life; forever changing
 Incongruent Congruent

Self-Image Ideal Self Self-Image Ideal Self

Self-Efficacy Theory
◦ Self-Efficacy – the belief we have of our own abilities,
specifically our ability to meet the challenges ahead of us
and complete a task successfully
Albert Bandura
◦ Locus of Control – refers to where you believe the power
to alter your life resides
◦ Internal Locus of Control – within you
◦ External Locus of Control – outside of you
◦ Self-efficacy and Internal locus of control go hand-in-hand,
but too far in either direction can be problematic
William James
◦ “I” Self – cognitive; thinking self; how we interpret the
world
– subjective self
◦ “Me” Self – empirical; based on personal experiences of a
person
– objective self
William James
◦ “Me” Self:
◦ Material Self – what belongs to the person; basic needs
◦ Social Self – how a person interacts or portrays himself
within different groups, situations, and people
◦ Spiritual Self – includes personality, values, and conscience;
internal disposition