Week 6

MODULE 6: The Self as Cognitive Construct

1. Identify the different ideas in psychology about the “self”.

2. Analyze the effects of various factors identified in psychology in the

formation of the self.

3. Explain the difference between Western and Eastern thoughts.

Content:

SELF

- it is the sense of personal identity and who we are as individuals(Jhangiani

and Tarry 2014).

WILLIAM JAMES(1890)

-one of the earliest psychologist to study the self. He conceptualize the self as
having two aspects, the “I” and the “ME”.

TWO ASPECTS OF SELF:

I -the thinking, acting and feeling self (Gleitman,Gross, and Reisberg

2011;hogg and Vaughan 2010).

ME `-the physical characteristics as well as psychological capabilities

that makes you who you are (Gleitman,Gross, and Reisberg 2011;hogg and
Vaughan 2010).

Personality Theory also used the same term, the I as the one who acts and
decides while the ME is what I think about myself as an object.

Other similar concepts to self :

IDENTITY- is composed of personal characteristics, social roles and

responsibilities, as well as affiliations that define who one is.

SELF-CONCEPT- is what basically comes to your mind when you are asked
about who you are (Oyserman, Elmore and Smith 2012).

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Self-Identity and Self-concept are not fixed in one time frame. They are
not also fixed for life nor are they ever-changing at every moment.

SCHEMA- a mental structures that an individual uses to organize knowledge

and guide cognitive processes and behavior.

COMPONENTS of SELF:

HOBBIES, RELIGION, NATIONALITY and FAMILY

-schema is not limited to the example above, this may also include your
interest, works, name, age and physical characters.

SELF-SCHEMA- refers to the impressions that you have of yourself and how
they influenced your behavior.

What is the function of Self-Schema?

- these categories of knowledge reflect how we expect ourselves to think, feel,

and act in particular settings or situations.

CARL ROGER- Captured an idea in his concept of SELF-SCHEMA, for him it is

our organized system or collection of knowledge about who we are.

Theories generally see the self and identity as mental constructs, created and
recreated in memory (Oyserman,Elmore and Smith 2012).

Several psychologist, especially during the field's earlier development,

followed this trend of thought, looking deeper into the mind of the person to
theorize about the self, identity and concept and in turn ,one’s personality.

The most influential of them is Sigmund Freud. Basically, Freud saw the self,
its mental processes, and one's behavior as the result of interaction between
the Id, Ego and Superego.

One cannot full discount the effects of society and culture on the formation of
self, identity and self-concept. Even Freud and other researcher and theories
try to understand the person by digging deeper into the mind.

Social interaction always has a part to play in who we think we are. This is not
NATURE VS. NURTURE but instead a NATURE-and-NURTURE Perspective.

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Under the Theory of Symbolic Interactionism, G.H. Mead (19340 argued that
the self is created and developed through human interaction (Hogg and
Vaughan 2010).

There are 3 Reasons why self and identity are Social Products:

❖ We do not create ourselves out of nothing.

❖ Whether we like to admit it or not, we actually need others to affirm ad
reinforce who we think we are.
❖ What we think is important to us may also have been influenced by what
is important in our social or historical context.
Social interaction and Group affiliations are vital factors in creating our
self-concepts, especially in the aspects of providing us with our social identity
or our perception of whom we are based on the membership in certain groups
(Jhangiani and Tarry 2014).

There are times that we are aware of our self and it is called Self-Awareness.

Carver and Scheier (1981) identify Two Types of Self that we can be aware
of:

The private self or your internal standards and private thoughts and feelings.

The public self or your public image is commonly generated toward having a
good presentation of yourself to others. (Hogg and Vaughan 2010).

SELF-AWARENESS also presents us with at least three other Self-Schema.

1. Actual- self is who we are at the moment.

2. Ideal- self is whom you like to be.

3. Ought- Self is whom you think you should be. (Higgins 1997 in Hogg and
Vaughan 2010).

SELF-AWARENESS can be POSITIVE and NEGATIVE depending on the

circumstances and our next course of action. SELF-AWARENESS can keep
you from doing something dangerous. In other instances, SELF-AWARENESS
can be too much that we are concerned about being observed and criticized
by others, it is also known as SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS.

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Our group identity and self-awareness also have greater impact on our self-
esteem. It is defined as our own positive or negative perception or evaluation
of ourselves.

One of the ways in which our Social Relationship affects our Self-Esteem is
through SOCIAL COMPARISON. According to Social Comparison Theory, we
learn about ourselves, the appropriateness of our behaviors, as well as our
social status by comparing aspects of ourselves with other people.

2 types of Social Comparison:

⚫ Downward Social Comparison- we create a positive self-concept by

comparing ourselves with those who are worse off than us, by having the
advantage we can raise our self-esteem.
⚫ Upward Social Comparison- we compare ourselves with those who are
better than us, it can form self-motivation for some, but a lot actually felt
lower self-esteem as they highlight their weakness or inequalities.
Social Comparison also entails what we called Self-Evaluation Maintenance
Theory, which states that we can feel threatened when someone out-performs
us, especially when that person is close to us (i.e. a family or a friend) (Tesser
1988 in Jhagiani and tarry 2014).

In this case, we usually React in 3 ways:

⚫ We distance ourselves from that person or redefine our relationship with

them (Jhagiani and tarry 2014).
⚫ We may also reconsider the importance of the aspect or skill in which we
out-performed (Jhagiani and tarry 2014).
⚫ We may also strengthen our resolve to improve that certain aspects of
ourselves (Jhagiani and tarry 2014).
In attempt to increase or maintenance of self-esteem, some people become
NARCISSISTIC.

Narcissism- is a “trait characterized by overly high self-esteem, self-

admiration, and self-centeredness”.

-they are often charismatic because of how they take care of their
image.

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 -taking care of that image includes their interpersonal relationships thus
they will look for better partners, better acquaintances as well as people who
will appreciate them a lot.

-This make them a bad romantic partner or friend since they engaged
in relationship only to serve themselves.

The Self in Eastern and Western Thoughts

Concepts of the self in Western philosophy

Confucianism

According to Confucianism, the concept of self is linked to the social

component of human existence. The self is envisioned as a "relational self" —
"one who is acutely aware of other people's social presence" (Ho, 1995: 117).
The individual self is thus interdependent on all other selves. As a result, the
self is an obedient self, responding to social demands rather than its own
needs and goals. According to this concept, the ideal self can be reached by
harmonizing one's everyday dialogue with other individuals in society (Ho,
1995: 118).

Taoism

Taoism emphasizes the falsity of words long before Jacques Derrida's

deconstruction and philosophy of linguistic analysis. Human language is
incapable of describing the so-called "Tao," the core of existence and the
world, or the Way. Paradoxes, contradictions, anecdotes, analogies, and
aphorisms are employed to do this. Tao is unfathomable. "The self is simply
one of the many expressions of the Tao," according to Taoist belief. It's a
continuation of the universe" (Ho, 1995: 120). "The perfect man has no self;
the spiritual man has no achievement; the true sage has no name," Taoism
says about the self in its peculiar method of presentation (Ibid.). As a result,
Taoism's goal is the achievement of a lack of self or "selfness".

Buddhism

Buddha advised that one should abstain from dealing with metaphysics
because this activity is futile. Buddhism argues that the self as such does not
exist, that it is an illusion. There is no god, nor matter, neither is there a

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phenomenal world. No-self is achieved through a self-negation in the state of
nirvana (Ho, 1995: 121).

Hinduism

Hinduism postulates an essence, which stands after the so-called

transcendental unity of consciousness (Kant) or the "Self-as-Knower". This
kind of self is the true self, which cannot be described but can be experienced.
Like Buddhism, Hinduism views the essence of human life as consisting of
suffering and asserts that this is caused by a fallacious conception of the self.

Concepts of the self in Western philosophy

René Descartes (Rationalism) - The “self” represents something, which

belongs to the thinking substance as an intuitive beginning of rational
cognition, emphasizing its independence.

Solipsism - Solipsism represents the viewpoint of the isolated individual and

contemplation (idealistic view).

Fichte - The “self” is a substance, the absolute creative beginning, which

implies not only itself, but also everything that exists as is “not-self”.

Hegel - The social essence of the human self-positioned as an estranged

force, standing above concrete individuals, thus representing a world reason
[absolute spirit].

Henri Bergson - This view represents the self-confidence of the individual

in the bourgeois society, which encounters the negation of the self.

Freud - Freud conceived of the self as a submersion of the ego in the id (the
kingdom of the blind instincts) and a distorted perception of the individual of
his societal essence as a result of the control exerted on it by the enraged
“super-ego”.

Dialectical materialism - The real battle of man for an accreditation is

conceived as a creator of societal relations and the societal norms of life.
- The biggest and freest expression in each individual as an active subject of
his human self becomes possible in the conditions of the all-encompassing
(total) development of the personality.

Patricia Churchland - The self is thought as a senses communis or a

product of folk psychology and, as such, it does not exist in reality.

Daniel Dennett - The self is conceived as a homunculus or “a little man”

that controls the performance on the theater of consciousness.

Marya Schechtman & Hilde Nelson - The self is constructed through an

incessant process of interpretation of the whole experiential richness of the

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individual, which is arranged in a chronological way. Some parts of this
experiential richness can be more constitutive for the self in comparison to
others.

Social Constructivism - A reductionist view, according to which the self is

constructed on the basis of the social interactions among people.

Alain Morin - The phenomenon of “inner speech” is conceived as

constitutive for the self due to the fact that it represents a delimiter of the
inner and the outer world of man.

Assessment:

1. Make a scrapbook about the Eastern and Western thoughts.

References:

Alisbo, R. R. (2019, October 8). The self as cognitive construct. Scribd.

https://www.scribd.com/document/429280700/The-self-as-cognitive-
construct

Dimkov, P., 2020. The Concept of Self in Eastern and Western Philosophy.
[ebook] BULGARIA: Centerprode, pp.199-201. Available at:
https://centerprode.com/conferences/5IeCSHSS/coas.e-conf.05.17197d.pdf