Polytechnic University of the Philippines

Open University System - Manila

Institute of Open and Distance Education
GEED 001 – Understanding the Self

REFLECTIONS ABOUT ASPECT OF SELF

by: Mark Lester Passion

Before I watch the four videos about the aspect of self, I expect that I will be interested
in it. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to read a book and watch a video for a long time that
I'm not interested in. However, once I watched the self-image videos, it was as if my eyes were
opened to who I am as a person. It awakened what I am when it comes to the material, political,
physical and digital.

What I liked about this lesson about the aspect of self is that I learned the impact each
aspect of self has on our lives. Like the Digital Self aspect that 2/3 of the world's population now
has a mobile phone and more than half of the world's web traffic now comes from mobile phones
so others are using it to make their lives easier such as ordering things they need like clothes or
appliances can be ordered online. Because of technology now we can see our relatives who are
far away or we haven't seen them for a long time because of the social media that was invented
compared to before when other people communicate through courier mail. But social media also
has bad effects because we have to put our other personal information to be recognized which
can be prone to having an "online identity" or using other people's information for their bad
plans. Did you know that we can also be recognized by what is posted on social media, such as
liking to post funny things, meaning that people know you as a funny person. If they are obscene,
you are a rude person. It also has an effect on other people when we post something on social
media that is not pleasant to someone. I also learned that I have a "Partial Identity", this is that
our identity changes according to the group we are with.

According to Aristotle who is a Greek Philosopher and Polymath that "Man is by nature a
political animal" so others say that having bad followers is because of the bad leaders they follow.
Politics in the Philippines is usually ruled by elitists. What we call the government by those who
seek chiefly status and personal gain at the expenses of the governed is "Kleptocracy". There are
 Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Open University System - Manila
Institute of Open and Distance Education
GEED 001 – Understanding the Self

many factors that shape the political self, first here is the individual where it is our attitudes and
values. Second, institutional where there are 6 subgroups and these are the family, school,
church, media, government, and non-government and people's organizations. We need to take
to heart our social responsibilities such as being loyal to the republic, love and defend the
country. Our role as citizenship in developing political self gives young people a sense that they
have a stake in society and democracy and need to explore, understand, negotiate their
identities.

According to William James, the self is conceptualized in two aspects, "I" and the "me".
The material self is the total of all of the tangible things you own such as property, our home and
body. It means that the total of all of the tangible things you own is yours and no one can claim
it. Because of our self-esteem, we have an investment like in our body that they repair and
enhance their body like retouching, buying clothes. It can also be in the immediate family because
what we know about our ancestor is also known to us. Our home serves as an extension of
ourselves.

Another aspect of ourselves is the physical self because other people sometimes base a
person's physical appearance. Many aspects contribute to body image, including the
environment in which we are immersed in as well as our biological make up and genetic
predisposition. Cultural tradition can help and hurt us. Our self-esteem defined the evaluative or
affective, consequence of one's self-concept, extent to which one feels positive or negative about
one's self-concept and how I feel about who I am. Not all countries feel the same way about the
concept of beauty. In fact, cultures around the world have different ideas of what is beautiful.
Physical appearance is not a barrier to inspire others.

I never thought I'd say those topics changed my perception about myself, but in this case,
it's true. The aspect about material, political, physical and digital is an open-eye to me so that I
can increase what I know about the self that I can't imagine that this is the aspect of ourselves.