UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

LECTURE \ Prof. Leanza Marzi Ebba

LESSON 1: THE PHILOSOPHICAL SELF

Learning Objectives: SOCRATES

1. Compare and contrast the philosophical KNOW THYSELF
perspectives on the self; ● Left no known writings, but his highly regarded
2. Examine yourself against the different philosophical student, Plato, wrote extensively about him
views on the self; and ● Posited that if a person knows who he/she is, all
3. Distinguish how the philosophical perspectives on basic issues and difficulties in life will vanish and
the self are applied everything will be clearer and simpler
● Argued that the ruler of the body is the soul; soul
COURSE OUTLINE: pre-existed the body, and it is what makes the body
1. Self alive
2. Socrates ● UNIVERSE → OUR EXISTENCE IN THE
a. Dialectic Method/Socratic Method UNIVERSE
b. Self-knowledge ● “An unexamined life is not worth living”
3. Plato o For him, there was soul first before man’s
a. Ideal World/World of Forms body. Man’s existence was first in the
b. Material World realm of ideas and exists as a soul or pure
4. Augustine mind. This soul has knowledge by direct
5. Rene Descartes intuition and all these are stored in his
6. John Locke mind
7. David Hume o However, once he came to the material
8. Immanuel Kant world or the world of senses, he forgot
9. Sigmund Freud most of what he knew. This results in a
10. Gilbert Ryle lack of knowledge or ignorance which
11. Paul Churchland causes problems for man
12. Maurice Merleau-Ponty
DIALECTIC METHOD/SOCRATIC METHOD
● Exchange of question and answer that aims to
SELF make the person remember all the knowledge that
● A unified being, essentially connected to he has forgotten, including his former omniscient
consciousness, awareness, and agency self
● Different philosophers introduced specific ● Answers will always be subjective and there is no
characteristics and meanings of the self, which, right or wrong answer to the questions; The quality
over time, transformed from pure abstractions to and quantity of answers are dependent on the
explanations that hold scientific proofs person answering
● In an age where the pursuit of one’s happiness
and celebrating one’s identify seem to be at the SELF-KNOWLEDGE
forefront, that question still has no easy answer ● Means knowing one’s degree of understanding
○ What exactly are we? about the world and knowing one’s capabilities and
○ What do we even mean by the “SELF”? potentials
○ Are we souls, organic bodies, or merely a ● It is only through self-knowledge that one’s self
figment of another’s imagination? emerges. Therefore, the self emerges and is not
○ Are we just minds or a combination of just discovered, something to work on and not a
body and mind? product of a mere realization
○ Will I survive bodily death because I am
more than a body or when my body is PLATO
dead, that’s really the end?
If we are ever to have pure knowledge of anything,
○ Am I a robot controlled by some entity?
● Philosophically, discussion of the self is a basic
we must get rid of the body and contemplate
search for meaning and purpose of life things by ourselves with the soul by itself
○ Determination, rationalization, and ● One of the first philosophers who believed in an
identification of the self set the direction enduring self that is represented by the soul
from which an individual travels to fulfill his ● Argued that the soul is eternal and constitutes the
or her purpose in life enduring self because even after death, the soul
○ The inability to define oneself leads to a lot continues to exist
of contradictions within the self later on;
hence, it is one of the many imperatives in IDEAL WORLD/WORLD OF FORMS
life to know oneself and to go on with the ● Permanent, unchanging reality as opposed to the
business of leading a life charted by world of Materials which keeps on changing
oneself ● Soul

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 LESSON 1: THE PHILOSOPHICAL SELF
MATERIAL WORLD
● What we see around us; replica of the real world
found in the world of forms
● Body
○ The body is seen as some sort of prison.
We can free ourselves from the
imprisonment of our bodily senses through
contemplation
○ We continue to exist even in the absence
of our bodies because we are Souls only
AUGUSTINE
But my sin was this, that I looked for pleasure,
beauty, and truth not in Him but in myself and His
other creatures, and the search led me instead to
pain, confusion, and error
● According to him, our world (world of materials) is
not our final home but just a temporary home where
we are just passing through
● Our real world is where there is permanence and
infinity – that’s the world where God is
● Time is something that people measure within their
own memory. Time is not a feature or property of
the world, but a property of the mind
● He believed that the times present of things past,
present, and future coexist in the soul:
○ The time present of things past is memory
○ The time present of things present
experiences
○ The time present of things future in
expectation
● He emphasized that the memory of the past is
significant in anticipation of the future and presence
if the present. However, time past and time future
are not real in themselves but they are only real as
long as they exist in the mind or consciousness
● The existence of past and future is only possible
through memory and expectation. He argued that
as far as consciousness can be extended backward
to any past action or forward to actions to come, it
determines the identity of the person
RENE DESCARTES
I think, therefore; I am
● The mind and the body are separate and very
distinct from one another but he believes that the
mind is conjoined with the body in such an intimate
way that they casually act upon each other
● The body can be described in a precise, structured
manner, but the mind is not contained like that, and
it’s allowed to pursue its own thoughts
● One can always doubt the certainty of things but the
very fact that one doubts are something that cannot
be doubted. This is what “I think, therefore I am”
means. Whichever thought a person chooses is the
one that is carried over his/her “I am”
● Descartes believed that the self is a “thinking thing
or a substance whose whole essence or nature is
merely thinking”. It is nothing else but a mind-body
dichotomy. Thought (mind) always precedes
action(body). Humans think first about doing
something and then do it
MIOLATA, ELEN SHANE R. | BS PHARM - 1A
JOHN LOCKE
What worries you, masters you
● Believed that consciousness is the perception of
what passes in a man’s mind
● Rejected that brain has something to do with
consciousness as the brain, as well as the body
may change, while consciousness remains the
same
● Concluded that personal identity is not in the brain
but in one’s consciousness
● He subscribes to the memory theory that holds we
are the same person as we were in the past for as
long as we can remember something from the past.
The memory renders us self-conscious that we are
than one and the same person
● Tabula Rasa
○ Posists that everyone started as a blank
slate, and the content is provided one’s
experiences over time
DAVID HUME
Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the
passions, and can never pretend to any other
office than to serve and obey them
● Stressed that there is no stable thing called self, for
the self is nothing but a complex set of successive
impressions or perceptions
● Views the soul as a product of imagination; there is
no primordial substance that houses the self; any
concept of the self is simply memory and
imagination
● Rejected the idea that personal identity is reflected
by the association of the self with an enduring body
THE MIND IS DIVIDED INTO TWO:
IMPRESSIONS ● Things we perceive through our
senses as we experience them
IDEAS ● Things that we create in our minds
even though we are no longer
experiencing them
● Whenever we think of simple ideas, it must have, as
a basis, a simple impression. Complex ideas
happen when we combine simple ideas by
arranging and rearranging them
● He argues that when he looks into his mind, he
finds a stream of impressions and ideas, but no
impression corresponding to a self that endures
through time. The self keeps on changing, like how
one looks, feels, one thinks – they constantly
change
● An “enduring self” is just a fiction produced by our
imagination. A person is a bundle of perceptions. “I”
will be constantly changing because the different
experiences one has for constant change will affect
and re-shape the person
IMMANUEL KANT
All our knowledge begins with senses, proceeds
then to the understanding, and ends with reason.
There is nothing higher than reason
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 LESSON 1: THE PHILOSOPHICAL SELF
● Believes that man is a free agent, capable of
making a decision for himself; man is gifted with
reason and free will but the necessity of his being
free is tested in his decision to be moral
● Argues that for us to know our duty, we have to
rationally deliberate on it and not expect a higher
authority will hand it automatically to us, and
certainly we cannot let the arbitrariness of emotion
guide us
CONSCIOUSNESS IS FORMED BY
THE FOLLOWING SENSES:
INNER ● Comprised of one’s psychological state and
SENSE intellect
● Moods, feelings, sensations, etc.
● Empirical self-consciousness
OUTER ● Consists of one’s senses and the physical
SENSE world
● Transcendental apperception (allows the
self and the world to come together)
● It is also because we acknowledge that each
individual is capable of thinking that we must give
them respect by treating every individual as ends in
themselves and never as means. This means that
every person should not be exploited and used
● In refuting Hume’s idea that there is no self, he said
that since man is gifted with reason and free will,
man can organize the data gathered by the senses.
From these data, we can now have a good idea of
man
SIGMUND FREUD
The ego is not the master in its own house
● Devised a structure that defines man according to
his biological structure and the influence of his
socio-cultural environment
TRIPARTITE DIVISION OF MAN’S MIND:
ID ● pleasure principle; represents man’s
biological nature, the impulses, and
bodily desires
EGO ● reality principle; its role is to maintain
equilibrium between the demands of id
and superego in accordance with what
is best and practical in reality
SUPEREGO ● morality principle; represents the
ethical component of the personality
and provided moral standards by which
the ego operates
● The id and superego will find themselves clashing
against each other, with the superego trying to
control the impulses of id and the id trying to satisfy
its urges. The winner of this battle will be
manifested in the ego
MIOLATA, ELEN SHANE R. | BS PHARM - 1A
● Things are not in control of the ego, but the ego
only manifests the winner between the two. This
battle is all taking place in the subconscious
● If id is dominant, an egoistic, boorish, and barbaric
brute emerges
● If superego is dominant, a law-abiding, morally
upright, god-fearing, and socially acceptable
individual appears
● If ego is successful, it turns out a brilliant, creative,
and emotionally-balanced individual
GILBERT RYLE
I act, therefore I am
● Maintained that the mind is not separated from the
body; it consists of dispositions of people based on
what they know, what they feel, what they want, etc.
● Supported the basic notions of behavioristic
psychology; states that mental concepts can be
understood through observable events
● The mind is not like a specific, separate entity but is
certainly a part of our body. Ideally, the separation
of mind/soul and body could be possible, but in
practice, this is hardly the case. The only way we
can only know a person is through how a man
behaves, their tendencies, and reactions in certain
circumstances
GILBERT RYLE
I act, therefore I am
● Maintained that the mind is not separated from the
body; it consists of dispositions of people based on
what they know, what they feel, what they want, etc.
● Supported the basic notions of behavioristic
psychology; states that mental concepts can be
understood through observable events
● The mind is not like a specific, separate entity but is
certainly a part of our body. Ideally, the separation
of mind/soul and body could be possible, but in
practice, this is hardly the case. The only way we
can only know a person is through how a man
behaves, their tendencies, and reactions in certain
circumstances
PAUL CHURCHLAND
We do have an organ for understanding and
recognizing moral facts. It is called a brain
● Stressed that it is false to claim that folk psychology,
or common sense psychology, is the capacity to
explain the mental states of people
● Argues that talk of mental states would eventually
be abandoned in favor of a radically different view
of how the brain works not identified with mental
states
● Eliminative Materialism
○ A radical claim that ordinary, common
sense understanding of the mind is deeply
wrong and that some or all the mental
states posited by common sense do not
actually exist
● With the advent of science and learning more about
the nuances of the brain, it becomes clear to
Churchland that the term “mind”, our moods,
emotions, actions, consciousness are deeply
affected by the state of our brain. That by
manipulating certain parts of our brain, our feelings,
actions, and physical state is successfully altered
3
 LESSON 1: THE PHILOSOPHICAL SELF

● Therefore, the self is contained entirely in the

physical brain

MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY
I am my body
● Approached the idea of self as a continuous flow of
movement and expression from infancy to
adulthood. Our perception of who we are is strictly
tied to our own bodily development
● Believed that mind and body are essentially
correlated and it is not possible to understand
subjectivity without taking into account this essential
correlation
● Accepts the idea of mental states, but he also
suggests that the use of the mind is inseparable
from our bodily situated, physical nature

THE BODY IS DISTINGUISHED

INTO TWO TYPES:

SUBJECTIVE ● as lived and experienced

BODY ● regarded Self as embodied
subjectively; sees human beings as
neither existing without the body nor as
complex machines, but as living
creatures whose subjectivity is
actualized in the forms of their
involvement with the world

OBJECTIVE ● as observed and scientifically

BODY investigated
● body that is known to others; that
people see, admire, imitate, criticize, or
even dissect

● To be a self is to be more than one’s body. I am the

sum of all that I make my body do. This includes the
interpretation of the past and how I actually make
decisions in the present
● The self is a product of our conscious human
experience. The definition of self is all about one’s
perception of one’s experience and interpretation of
those experiences
● The self is grounded on the experiences of the past,
the possibilities of the future, and the cognition in
the present

** END OF LESSON 1 **

REFERENCE

The Philosophical Self – PPT

MIOLATA, ELEN SHANE R. | BS PHARM - 1A 4

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
LECTURE \ Prof. Leanza Marzi Ebba

LESSON 3: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SELF

Learning Objectives: ● individual’s perception about himself or herself

1. differentiate the different psychological self theories; anchored on race, gender, nationality, region,
2. compare and contrast the real self and ideal self; ethnicity, and language
and
3. assess yourself based on the global and HUMANISTIC THEORY
differentiated models of self ● by Carl Rogers
● believes that the self does not exist at birth; it is
COURSE OUTLINE: developed gradually during childhood wherein one
differentiates the self from the non-self
1. Self Theory ● proposed that by means of free choice and action,
a. Contextualization of Understanding the one can shape himself/herself based on what
Self he/she wants to be
2. Humanistic Theory ● sees the self as one’s ongoing sense of who and
a. Real and Ideal Selves what he or she is and how and why he/she
3. Self-Concept responds to the environment
a. Components of Self-Concept
4. True Self & False Self
REAL AND IDEAL SELVES
5. Agentic Theory of the Self a. Core Properties of
Human Agency REAL SELF
● who we actually are, intrinsically
● how one thinks, feels, looks, and acts
Questioning who we are or engaging in self-reflection to ● self that feels most natural, comfortable, and true to
figure out and understand why we behave in a certain way what and who one actually is
is normal and is actually beneficial in increasing
self-awareness. IDEAL SELF
● person we want to be or think should be
● idealized image that has developed over time based
SELF THEORY on the influence of the environment
● by William James ● dynamic and forever changing
● human being has the capacity to be a thinking ● in achieving the ideal self or any goal, numerous
subject and the object of his/her thinking at the studies emphasize the importance of visual
same time imagining exercise
● it is best that we know as accurate as possible who
we want to become or achieve. Being as specific as
INDIVIDUAL’S PERCEPTION OF SELF:
possible is beneficial in visual imagining so we may
vividly see our ideal self taking shape
ME ● when he/she makes ● the congruence or incongruence between the ideal
himself/herself the object of her and real self has effects on our self-esteem
own thinking ● experiencing incongruence may happen from time
to time, most especially in cases or contexts that
I ● continuous stream of are new or extreme. In circumstances like these, we
consciousness; makes awareness need to reflect, evaluate our behavior, and be
possible reminded of our ideal self to put us back on track
● changing our way of thinking may take a bit of
getting used to since most of us may have been
CONTEXTUALIZATION OF exposed to people who might have given us
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF negative labels
CONSTITUENTS OF THE SELF
● when he/she makes himself/herself the object of her SELF-CONCEPT
own thinking ● the totality of complex, organized, and dynamic
● material self, social self, spiritual self, and pure ego system of learned beliefs, attitudes, and opinions
that each person holds to be true about his/her
SELF-FEELINGS personal existence
● refers to the feelings and emotions aroused in the ● social product, developing out of interpersonal
individual because of his/her knowledge and relationships and striving for consistency
appraisal of his/her empirical existance in the world ● includes the perceptions one has about his/her
social identity and personal qualities, as well as
SELF-SEEKING his/her generalizations about the self based on past
● refers to the actions the self prompts; the effort of experiences
every individual to preserve and improve oneself
based on one’s self-knowledge and resulting
self-feelings

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 LESSON 3: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SELF

SELF-SCHEMA looks upon every human being as capable of

● self-concept thinking, deciding, foreseeing, and controlling
○ past experiences his/her actions
○ personality traits ● this capability is termed human agency; the
○ abilities capability of an individual to exert influence over the
○ physical features course of his/her actions
○ values
○ goals REAL AND IDEAL SELVES
○ social roles 1. INTENTIONALITY
○ own observations ● manifested in how an individual forms intentions
○ feedback from others with actions plans and strategies to realize them
● all factors are dynamic, every-changing in a way
that it grows, improves, or lessens as we go through 2. FORETHOUGHT
life everyday and expose ourselves to various ● how an individual position himself/herself in a future
interactions and media content state of existence, therefore ensuring the plans
made can anticipate possible opportunities or
CONTEXTUALIZATION OF roadblocks
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
SELF-WORTH/SELF-ESTEEM 3. SELF-REACTIVENESS
● what one thinks about oneself ● in order for one’s interactions and foresight to
● refers to how we value ourselves and perceive our produce successful actions, an individual needs to
worth as a person self-regulate his/her efforts for the vision to become
a reality
SELF-IMAGE
● how one sees himself/herself 4. SELF-REFLECTION
● includes the influence of body image on inner ● agents reflect on their life pursuits, the meaning of
personality actions they take in order to accomplish these
pursuits their thoughts, and personal efficacy
IDEAL SELF ● an individual with an agency is expected to be to
● person that one wants to be manifest these properties in how he/she functions in
● consists of one’s dreams and goals in life; his/her environment
continuously changing ● since the self is situated in an environment where
the interplay of interpersonal and intrapersonal
TRUE SELF & FALSE SELF activities occur, the self functions as a product of
● by Donalds Woods Winnicott these influences making the individual responsible
for how he/she lets the various influences affect
TRUE SELF how he/she functions
● real self, authentic self, original self, vulnerable self
● core of who you are “you are very powerful provided you know how
● unshaped by the upbringing of society powerful you are.”

FALSE SELF - Yogi Bhajan

● fake self, ideal self, perfect self, pseudo self
● composed of parts of the self wherein behaviors are
altered, feeling is repressed, and one’s needs are
set aside in order to fit in with others
● constantly seeks to anticipate the demands and
expectations of others in order to preserve and
improve relationships
● most people do not easily present different sides of
themselves for others to see. They may possibly
reveal particular sides of themselves depending on
the situation
past experiences + current behavior + future experiences
= possible selves
“our mind is hard to change once we become convinced.
So it might be very natural to feel demoralized and
defeated after you all but you cannot allow yourself to
become convinced you can’t succeed you have to fight
feelings of helplessness you have to gain control over the
situation, and you have to break this kind of negative cycle
before it begins”

AGENTIC THEORY OF THE SELF ** END OF LESSON 3 **

● by Albert Bandura
● asserted that people are not merely passive entities
molded by environmental forces or driven by inner REFERENCE
influences
● to be an agent means to be capable of intentionally The Psychological Self – PPT
influencing one’s own functionality and life
circumstances; it recognizes his/her own ability to
make life decisions
● this theory rejects the notion that selfhood is
culturally influenced or controlled by urges, rather, it

MIOLATA, ELEN SHANE R. | BS PHARM - 1A 2

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
LECTURE \ Prof. Leanza Marzi Ebba

LESSON 2: THE SOCIOLOGICAL SELF

Learning Objectives: SOCIAL SELF

1. Explain how culture affects or shapes one’s identity
2. Identify the sociological perspectives about the self
3. Demonstrate critical and reflective thinking in
showing different aspects of the self
COURSE OUTLINE:
1. The Self as Embedded in Culture
2. Social Self a. Role Playing b. Generalized Others
3. Looking-glass Self
4. Social Identity Theory
5. Anthropology of the Self
6. Dialogical Self
7. Identity Struggles
8. Western vs Oriental
9. The Self as a Product of the Modern World
TERM
THE SELF AS EMBEDDED IN CULTURE
● culture has influenced us so much that a very big
part of who we are is a product of how culture was
instilled in the very depths of our selfhood
● consequently, the significance of culture in our
self-understanding and awareness is vital since we
have been brought up with it – the traditions and
customs of our family, the laws we need to obey,
and even the different art forms that our society
regards so dearly
● the more we get to know our culture, the more we
become aware of how we were influenced by it
● similarly, the more we get to know people from
other cultures, the more that we are surprised at
how different they are, not only in their looks and
language, but also in how they view themselves as IMITATION/
individuals and members of the social group PREPARATORY
● when our culture changes, we are challenged to STAGE
uphold our values or alter our worldview and
behavior as well
PLAY STAGE
CULTURE
● derived from Latin word “cultura” or “cultus”,
GAME STAGE
meaning care or cultivation
● analogous to caring for an infant
CULTURAL IDENTITY
● refers to the identity or feeling of belongingness to
a certain culture group
● individual’s perception about himself or herself
anchored on race, gender, nationality, region, I ● subjective; unsocialized the spontaneous
ethnicity, and language
NORM
● are what dictates our behavior in the society
● the acceptability of an act; the approval and the ME
disapproval of which, is dependent on social
standards which are a product of our people’s
commitment to uphold the very essence of our
cultural values
● by George Herbert Mead
● argued thar self is not biological, but social; it is
developed as one grows and ages through social
interaction
● explains that self has two parts:
o self-awareness
o self-image
● proposed the idea that:
o the self develops through social interaction
o social interaction involves the exchange of
symbols
o understanding of symbols involving being
able to take the role of another
ROLE PLAYING
● process in which one takes on the role of the other
by putting oneself in the position of the person with
whom he/she interacts
● through this, the individual develops a concept of
self since one is able to reflect upon oneself
● the idea of self can be developed if the individual
can get outside in such a way that he or she can
become an object to oneself. To accomplish this,
one must be conscious of oneself from the
standpoint of others. Therefore, the development of
“self” lies in the ability to “wear other people’s
shoes”
STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
● child imitate the behavior of
his/her parents
● involves the child playing the role
of others
● child comes to see
himself/herself in their roles from
the perspective of other people
PHASES OF THE SELF
● acting part of the self, an immediate response
to other people
● represents the self that is free and unique
● objective; conventional
● self that results from the progressive stages of
role playing and role-talking and the perspective
one assumes to view and analyze one’s own
behaviors
● organization of the internalized attitude of
others

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 LESSON 2: THE SOCIOLOGICAL SELF
GENERALIZED OTHERS
TERM
● an organized community or social group which
gives the individual his/her identit
● the attitude of the generalized other is the attitude of
the entire community
● a certain group becomes the generalized other as
long as it enters as an organized process or social
activity into the experiences of any other members
of the group
LOOKING-GLASS SELF
● by Charles Horton Cooley
● is a social psychological concept that views the self
as something develops by one’s perceptions of
other people’s opinions
● people are the way they are at least partly because
of other people’s reactions to them and what they
do; constantly picking up feedback and
incorporating it into their sense of self
● tthe self, which is essentially an individual’s
awareness of one’s social or personal identity is a
social development
● three steps of socials interaction:
1. people imagine how they must appear to
others
2. they imagine the judgement on that
appearance
3. they develop themselves through the
jedgement of others
● people imagine not only how others see them and
their action, but also how others judge what they
see, whether with approval, doubt, or hostility. As a
result, the looking-glass self is made up of feelings
about other people’s judgments of one’s behavior
● “the imaginations which people have of one another
are the solid fats of society”
SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY
● by Henri Tajfel
o defined as the person’s sense of who
he/she is according to his/her membership
to a certain group
o group membership is an important source
of pride and self-esteem; gives a sense of
social identity – a sense of belongingness
to the social world
o the world is divided into “us” and “them”
through the process of social
categorization forming the social grouping
up feedback and incorporating it into their
sense of self
3 MENTAL PROCESSES
SOCIAL ● similar to how people
CATEGORIZATION categorize things in order to
understand their social
environment
● with this, people learn things
about themselves by knowing
what category they belong to
SOCIAL ● people adopt the identify of
MIOLATA, ELEN SHANE R. | BS PHARM - 1A
IDENTIFICATION the group to which they have
categorized themselves
SOCIAL ● comparing their group with
COMPARISON other groups
● here they might discriminate
and criticize other groups
● further emphasized by William Graham Sumner
2 TYPES OF SOCIAL GROUP
IN-GROUP ● an esteemed social group
commanding a member’s loyalty
● group to which a person belongs
OUT-GROUP ● a scorned social group to which one
feels competition or opposition
● group to which a person does not
belong
○ Social Identity Theory states that the
in-group will discriminate against the
out-group to enhance its self-image
ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE SELF
● by Brian Morris
● self is not an entity but a process that orchestrates
an individual’s personal experience
● as a result of this, a person becomes self-aware
and self-reflective about his/her place in the
surrounding world
● the concept of “self” is defined as an individual’s
mental representation of his/her person, as kind of
self-representation. The concept of “other”, on the
other hand, refers to how one perceives the mental
representations of others
● a clear separation between the self and others
seems to be universal, but the meaning of this
distinction varies from person to person
● the most crucial form of interaction and exchange
takes place neither between the individual and
society nor between the psyche and culture, but
instead between the self and his/her cultural
environment as meditated by social practices
DIALOGICAL SELF
● by Hubert Hermans
● an individual’s sense of self is established through
how one identifies himself/herself with the different
positions he/she holds, internally or externally, to
himself/herself
● the dialogical self is a relational concept of self;
one’s moments of insights about himself/herself and
his/her actions are relational to others, nurtured, or
discouraged by them
● Internal I-position
o refers to how one functions in
himself/herself
o I as empathic, I as diligent
● External I-position
○ refers to how one identifies himself/herself
based on particular external factors
○ I as brother, I as student
2
 LESSON 2: THE SOCIOLOGICAL SELF

● all these constitute the functionality of the self Individualistic cultures do not promote isolation. It is
● the dialogic self approach calls for the need for the grounded on the idea that an individual makes
I-positions to come in contact with each other – to judgments, acts based on his/her own thoughts,
be in a dialogue with one another in order for an and disagrees with others
individual to become fully aware of the different ● Collectivism is an orientation characterized by
dimensions that constitute his/her self belongingness to larger groups. They give more
importance to loyalty to the in-group, which in turn
IDENTITY STRUGGLES takes care of the individual’s welfare. Collectivistic
cultures believe in the idea that man should think,
live, and act toward certain goals that benefit the
In a world of many observant eyes, no action is almost group and decides according to the interest of the
unguarded. People are quick to judge who others are. group
Regardless of the truthfulness of how people may THE SELF AS A PRODUCT OF
perceive you, it provides an opportunity for self-reflection.
THE MODERN WORLD
Your response to how people describe you will depend on
● since the self has to keep up with the
your own perception of the self.
ever-changing world, he needs to adjust, re-adjust,
and re-align his actions with the seismic
● by Anthony Wallace and Raymond Fogelson transformation and evolution of the society
● characterized the discrepancy between the identity ● the values of society changes over time, and if in
a person claims to possess and the identity case, they do not, the society is trapped in the
attributed to that person by others challenges of the modern world. The self then, as a
social construct, becomes a product of modern
WESTERN VS ORIENTAL society among other constructions
● cultures are divided into two: western (individualist) ● the internet brought an understanding of the self, as
and oriental (collectivist) part of the global world, and not just of the
micro-society
● with this, the values, beliefs, and traditions that the
INDIVIDUALIST COLLECTIVIST self holds dear, are met with challenges, criticism,
ad its authenticity is likewise questioned
● everyone grows ● people are born to ● the transformation of the social world resulted
up to look after extended families further in the fragmentation of the self, as our
him/herself and or in other groups cultural values become fragmented as well
his/her immediate that continue
family only protecting them in ** END OF LESSON 2 **
● children learn to exchange for
think in terms of loyalty
“I” ● children learn to REFERENCE
● individual think in terms of
ownership “we” The Sociological Self – PPT
resources ● resources should
● low-context be shared with
communication relatives
prevails ● high context
● media is the communication
primary source of prevails
information ● social networks
● self-actualization are the primary
by every individual source of
is an ultimate goal information
● occupation ● harmony and
mobility is higher consensus in
● task prevails over society are
relationship ultimate goal
● individual interest ● occupation
prevail over mobility is lower
collective ● relationship
prevails over task
● collective interests
prevail over
individual

● these views of the self are right in their own context

● Individualism is an orientation concerned with the
independence and self-reliance of the individual.
They put more emphasis on promoting the
individual and the immediate family’s welfare.

MIOLATA, ELEN SHANE R. | BS PHARM - 1A 3