GEC 3 LESSON 3
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE SELF
The Constitution of the Self
 The freedom to exercise a self-conscious
creative control over one’s life.
 The freedom to author one’s life, within the
bounds of one’s circumstances.
Sense of Self-Importance
 This often breeds confidence and
decisiveness, but a weak sense of self can
cause self-doubt, self-criticism, and difficulty
making decisions.
Immanuel Kant
 A German philosopher and one of the
foremost thinkers of the Enlightenment.
Why is there a need to examine oneself?
 By knowing the self, we can examine what
type of object the self is and how it is
created.
Thorin Klosowski
 According to Thorin, by knowing the self we
can develop self-awareness and
introspection (self-analysis) which is the
starting point of improvement.
 The improvement can be related to your
own needs, desires, failings, and habits.
Since, the more you know yourself, the
better you can be at adapting to change.
 If a person collects data of himself, he can
make improvements based on the data he
collects, Self-movement. It is also a very
important basis of quantified or measured
self-movement.
10 Simple Habits That Will Change Your Life
1. Keep things tidy.
2. Mindfully manage your money
3. Choose gratitude.
4. Stay hydrated.
5. Plan your days.
6. Put your family first.
7. Get up early!
8. Prepare for success the night before.
9. Get moving.
10. Rest
 Creating a healthy daily routine is simple
but effective way to build consistency when
it comes to your health.
 Not only does your daily routine impact your
overall health, but it has a direct impact on
your stress levels, sleep habits and eating
patterns.
 Reading has benefits to both your physical
and mental health and can also last a
lifetime.
 Reading stimulates growth, reduce stress,
prevent age related cognitive decline and
gives you a good night’s sleep.
 Reading is like working out or exercising
your brain.
The Constitution of The Self, Main Parts:
 Self-knowledge – is a desire for most
human beings. It is knowing how to be
socially acceptable and desirable. We seek
out self-knowledge because of appraisal
motive (truth about oneself), Self-
enhancement motive (one’s good qualities),
and consistency motive (feedback or
reinforcement of those preconceived).
Self-Knowledge
 Also refers to Self-Concept.
 Allows for people to gather information and
beliefs about themselves, which involves
self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-
deception.
Self-Awareness
 is divided into 2 groups.
 Private self-awareness is the self-looking
inward at oneself. All of these cannot be
discovered by anyone else.
 Public self-awareness is gathering
information about yourself through other
people, via asking. Through the perception
of others.
Self-Esteem
 Examines how a person evaluates himself
positively or negatively.
 Four factors that contribute to self-esteem;
are the reactions we get from people, how
we compare to ourselves, social roles, and
our identification.
 Our social roles can be stigmatized (marked
out) as being negative, such as a criminal
or homeless person.
 People with high self–esteem tend to be
confident, gain self-acceptance, do not
worry as much about what others think
about them, and think optimistically.
 In contrast, people with self-esteem view
their selves as containing negative traits.
Self-Deception
 Are mental tricks of a person’s mind that - For St. Thomas Aquinas the Self is by
hide the truth and constitute false beliefs. nature a finite embodied spirit in search of
 Self-deception is seeing the world the way the Infinite.
we wish it to be rather than the way it is.
 We’re deceiving ourselves when we: keep Aristotle
making excuses for ourselves or others,  The self is an embodied spirit – one in
can’t accept responsibility, kept blaming which it is expressed fully shining for all the
others, kept avoiding unpleasant realities world to see.
and feeling defensive or threatened when  It is the right and responsibility of the self to
people challenge us. give the spirit its fullest expression in this
How can we learn about ourselves? body.
a) Looking glass self of Charles Cooley  The opportunity to become embodied and
(theory that people learn about themselves whole begins at birth and continues
through other people) throughout life.
b) Introspection (gathers information about
himself using mental functions and
emotions, a reflective looking inward)
c) Social Comparisons (by looking at other
people we can rate our work if it’s good or
bad, to evaluate a person through
comparisons)
d) Self-perception (Aspect of self –knowledge
is a process of which a person infers
(assumes) about himself through his
behaviour.)
Intrapersonal Self
 Is apparent in situations of self-
presentations, being a group member or
partner in relationship, person’s social roles
and his reputations.
 The behaviours and tactics a person use to
interact with others effectively.
Social Rules
 A person plays in different situations and
with other people.
 Our roles change to fit the “expected”
behaviours in various scenarios.
Agent Self
 is known as the executive function that
allows for actions.
 This is how we, as individuals, make
choices and utilize our control in situations
and actions.
 The agent self-resides over everything that
involves decisions making, self-control,
taking charge in situations and actively
responding.

- The self is an embodied spirit