UNDERSTANDING THE

SELF
PREPARED BY :
MARY ANN PALOMAR
LESSON 4: THE SELF FROM THE PERSPECTIVE
OF PSYCHOLOGY
• Psychology is the scientific study of the
mind and behaviour. Psychologists are
actively involved in studying and
understanding mental processes, brain
functions, and behaviour.

• The study of human AFFECT,

COGNITION and BEHAVIOR
• Psychology is one of the field in the social
sciences that deals with the description,
explanation, prediction and control of behaviour.

GOALS OF PSYCHOLOGY
• To describe
• To explain
• To predict
• To control
• Both causes of human behaviour are both
Nature and Nurture which is one of the
famous controversy in the field of
Psychology

NATURE- biologically
NURTURE- environment
• Connected to the study of human
behaviour is the concept of the SELF.
WILLIAM JAMES (1842-1910)
• American Philosopher and Psychologist.

• Professor at Harvard University, known for being

one of the great pragmatists.

• Known for his Theory of the Self

• The Principles of Psychology in 1890

 The “Me” and The “I”
Human Thoughts have FIVE characteristics:

1. All human thoughts are owned by some

personal self

2. All thoughts are constantly changing are

never static.
3. There is a continuity of thoughts as its focus
shifts from one object to another

4. Thoughts deal with objects that are different

from and independent of consciousness self

5. Consciousness can focus on a particular

objects and not others
• James believed that the self is made up of two
parts the ME self and the I self.

• The Me self can be considered as a separate

object or individual that the person refers when
discussing or describing their personal
experiences.

Examples: The gifts were sent to ME.

The person is smiling at ME.
• The I self is the self that knows and recognizes
who they are and what they have done.

Examples: I borrowed the book from the library

I won the game.

James called the ME self as the empirical ME and

the I self the pure ego or the thinking self.
THREE COMPONENTS OF THE ME SELF
1. The Material Self – consists of the things or
objects that belong to the person or entities that
a person belongs to.

Examples: Person’s body, his family, clothes,

books and even his money.

.
• The body is the core of the material self
and everything that is attached or associated
to it identifies the person

• We can identify the person by the style of

clothes he wears , the type of books he
reads, the culture of his family and the
amount of money he has.
• The more that a person attached and
identified to his material things the more
he will be affected if any of them
changes
2. The Social Self- refers to who the person
is in a particular social situation. Changes
in behaviour usually result from the
different social situations the person
finds himself.

Examples: the person changes how he

represents himself when he is at home, in
school or with his friends.
• James believed that people have many
social selves because of many social
situations they find themselves in.

• The person chooses the self that would

smoothly adapt to the social situation in
order for him to fit in
3. The Spiritual Self- refers to the self that
is more concrete or permanent when
compared to the material and social selves.

This self is the most subjective and intimate

part of the self. It includes aspects like
individual’s personality, values, and morals
that are usually stable and constant.
• Spiritual self is always engaging in the process of
introspection (self- observation)

• Method that includes reflecting or looking inward

to study and understand the how and why of the
self.

• Looking inward is more important than satisfying

the needs of either the material or the social self.
• The I self is called the Pure Ego. It is
similar to the person’s soul or mind.

• The PURE EGO comprises the totality of

the person’s identity

• It takes into account the past, present and

future selves.
OTHER SELVES IN PSYCHOLOGY
Theory of Psychosexual Stages of Human
Development
• Sigmund Freud, father of Psychoanalysis, believed that all human
beings pass through a series of psychosexual stages.
• Fixation is the tendency to stay at a particular stage. The individual is
troubled by the conflict that characterizes the stage and seeks to reduce
it by means of the behavior characteristics of that stage.
• Oral stage – the first year of life; mark’s the infant’s need for
gratification from mother.
• Anal stage – reflects the toddler’s need for gratification along the rectal
area. Children must endure the demands of toilet training.
• Phallic stage – It concentrates on the preschooler’s gratifications
involving the genitals. Children at this stage gratify their sex instinct by
fondling their genitals and developing incestuous desire to opposite sex
parent.
• Latency stage – sexual desires are repressed and all the child’s
available libido is channeled into socially accepted outlets.
• Genital stage –is characterized by the maturation of the reproductive
system, production of sex hormones, and a reactivation of the genital
zone as an area sensual pleasure.
Development of Personality – Jung’s
Analytical Theory
• Carl Gustav Jung was an early supporter of
Freud because of their shared interest in the
unconscious.
• ➢ Childhood
➢ Youth
➢ Middle Life
➢ Old Age
Carl Jung divided childhood into three
substages:
• a) the anarchic- Limited “Island of
Consciousness”
• b) the monarchic- beginning of logical and verbal
thinking

• c) the dualistic- ego divided into objective and

subjective
Theory of Psychosocial Development
• Syntonic and Dystonic
• psychosocial crisis
• Failure to successfully complete a stage can
result in a reduced ability to complete further
stages and therefore an unhealthier personality
and sense of self.
• Trust vs. Mistrust (birth to 1 year)
• Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt (2 to 3 years)
• Initiative vs. Guilt (4 to 5 years)
• Industry vs. Inferiority (6 to 11 years)
• Identity vs. Role Confusion (12 to 18 years)
• Intimacy vs. Isolation (Young Adulthood)
• Generativity vs. Stagnation (Middle Adulthood)
• Integrity vs. Despair (Old age)
Horney’s Psychoanalytic Social Theory
• built on the assumption that social and cultural
conditions, especially childhood experiences,
are largely responsible for shaping personality.
Horney theorized that people combat basic
anxiety by adopting one of three
fundamental styles of relating to others:
1. moving toward people,
2. moving against people, or
3. moving away from people.
GLOBAL AND DIFFERENTIATED SELF MODELS

• The global self represents the overall value

that a person places upon himself.

• The groups of people that he interacts with

every day of his life strongly influence him.

• His global self is the product of all

experiences that he had in the society
which accounts for the kind of person he
presently is.
MURRAY BOWEN (1913-1990)

• American Psychiatrist and Professor of

Psychiatry.

• Developed family Therapy and systematic

Therapy.
• In his observations of the family (particularly his
own) he came up with the concept of a
differentiated self.

• There are two forces affecting the person,

togetherness and individuality
• A balance should maintained between
these two forces for too much
togetherness creates friction and
conflict and prevents the development
of the person’s self, too much
individuality on the other hand results in
distant and strange feelings towards
family and other.
• A differentiated self, still affected by the
presence of others but it has the ability to
separate feelings and thoughts.

• The person recognizes that he has his own

personality and therefore endowed with the
unique characteristics not found in the
members of the group.
• A person realizes that for him to attain self-
fulfilment, he should have the will to
separate himself from the group and live
his own life and fulfil his destiny. It allows a
person to define himself.
• He can be who he truly is rather than take
on the identity that is prescribed by a family
or society.

• It enables the person to develop and

sustain his unique identity, make his own
choices and accept responsibility for his
behaviour and still be able to stay
emotionally connected with his family and
friends.
REAL AND IDEAL SELF-CONCEPTS

• Carl Rogers (1902-1987)

• American Psychologist who proposed the

personality theory as the Person-Centered
Theory.

• He stated that the term self-concept is

used to refer to how a person thinks about
or perceives himself.
TWO TYPES OF SELF CONCEPT

• REAL SELF-CONCEPT- refers to all

information perception has about himself .
This is who he actually is and answers the
question “who am I?”

• IDEAL SELF-CONCEPT-is the model

version the person has of himself. It is what
the person aims for himself to be. It
answers the question of who he wants to
become or “who do I want to be?”
• Rogers stated that there should be
congruence or sameness between the real
self and the ideal self in order for the person
to be happy and satisfied with his life.

• If the real self is very different from the ideal

self then the person will experience
dissatisfaction and may see himself as a
failure or loser.
 SELF- DISCREPANCY THEORY

Higgins (1987) stated that people use

internalized standards to which they
compare themselves. These are called
self –guides which provide directions for
how the person should present himself.
When the self is found to be deviating/diverting
from these guides, the result is self-
discrepancy.

Self-discrepancy may cause emotional discomfort

to the individual and can be manifested as guilt
or worst as indifference.
MULTIPLE AND UNIFIED SELVES

• The Multiple Selves Theory suggests

that there exists in the individual different
aspects of the self.

• Self is a whole made up of parts. These

parts of the self may manifest themselves
when situations calls for it .
• A psychologically healthy individual is a
person who is able make sense of the
sometimes confusing and conflicting
aspects of themselves and integrate them
into single, UNIFIED SELF.
• A UNIFIED BEING is essentially connected to
consciousness, awareness and agency. To be
considered a well- adjusted person, success and failures
should be accepted and understood.

• This a person who is able to deal with and accept the

complexities and the perceived unfairness that exist in
life.
TRUE AND FALSE SELVES

• D.W. Winnicott (1896-1971)

• Donald Woods Winnicott

• English Paediatrician and Psychoanalyst

who studied child development.
• He looked into the significance of play in
child development.

• It is also through play where he observed

children/people as having true and false
selves
• The true self in individuals is one in which
the self is seen as creative, spontaneously
experiencing each day of their lives ,
appreciating being alive, real, integrated
and connected to the whole of existence.
• The true self is the individual who
recognizes his strengths and accepts his
limitations, enjoys winning and success and
learns from mistakes and failures

• Having a high level of awareness in the

person of he is and what he is capable of
and is not afraid to let others know his
weakness and imperfections
• A false self may be manifested as a form
of defense.

• It is the mask that hides the true person

for fear of the pain of rejection and
failure.
• False selves usually surface when the
person is forced to comply with existing
social norms and standards.

• False selves enable the person to form

superficial but productive social
relationships
• False and True selves are present in all
individuals.

• For the two to exist in healthy individual,

they should be functional for the
advantage of the both person himself
and his society.
• A person that struggle to fit in but still
experiences the feeling of being forced to
comply rather than adapting gracefully to
the situation is a person whose self is
maladjusted and unhealthy.
 THE SELF AS PROACTIVE AND AGENTIC

• Albert bandura (1925-present)

• Proponent of the personality theory known

as the Social Cognitive Theory.
• In his theory the person is seen proactive
and agentic which means that he has the
capacity to exercise control over his life.

• Human agency is the essence of being a

human.
• In his Triadic Reciprocal Causation
Paradigm he explains how human beings
are affected by the interaction among
environmental events, behavior and
personal factors.

• The basic principle involved in human

learning is learning through observation.
• A large portion of human behaviour
resulted from modelling in which the
behaviour of the model is consciously
acquired for in the mind of the person. This
will help him to achieve his goal. Bandura
describe Human nature is plastic and
flexible.
• Social Cognitive Theory suggested that
human beings are proactive, self-
regulating, self reflective and self-
organizing.

• People have the ability to influence their

own behaviour which may lead to desired
outcomes.
• This human agency involves the active process
of exploration and manipulation in order to
influence the environment and achieve desired
consequences.
FEATURES OF HUMAN AGENCY

1. Intentionality – refers to the actions

performed by the person intentionally or
with full of awareness of his behaviour.
This feature involves planning with the
awareness of the possible consequences
of actions.
• Forethought- refers to the person’s
anticipation of likely outcomes of his
behavior. This allows him to select from a
repertoire of behaviors and determine
which one will most likely lead to a positive
outcome.
3. Self- reactiveness – refers to the process
in which the person is motivated and
regulates his behaviour as he observes
his progress in achieving his goals.
The goals that the person wants to reach
should be clear and specific.

The person should be realistic, aware of his

potentials and capabilities to fulfill the
goals.
4. Self- reflectiveness- refers to the person
looking inward and evaluating his
motivations, values, life goals and other
people’s effect on him.
• An important aspect of self reflectiveness
is self efficacy which is the person’s belief
that he is capable of the behaviour that
will produce the desired positive results.
 SELF- REGULATION

• The person engages in self –regulated

when he reactively attempts to minimize
discrepancies between what he has
already accomplish and he still wants to
achieve.
`
• Self-regulation allows the person to set
goals that are better and higher than the
former, challenging his capabilities and
naming him wiser and self actualized
individual