ANTHROPOLOGICAL

PERSPECTIVES OF THE SELF

anthropology
 -study all aspects of human conditions-human
history, the present human condition, future
possibilities, biology, interactions in the society,
language and culture.
 The self is both a biological and a cultural entity.
 Self is an animal specie which underwent the
process of biological evolution.
 The self is a living animal but superior to other
animals.
I. The self and person in
contemporary anthropology
According to Marcel Mauss, every self has two faces:
 Moi - refers to a person's basic identity; it is a
person's sense of who he is, his body, and his basic
identity, his biological givenness
 Personne - composed of the social concepts of what
it means to be who he is; it has much to do with
what it means to live in a particular institution, a
particular family, a particular religion, a particular
nationality, and how to behave given expectations
and influences from others
II. The self embedded in culture
CULTURE – way of life
- Systems of human behavior and thought

- Symbolic “a historically transmitted pattern of

meanings embodied in symbols” (-Geertz)

- Learned, adaptive or maladaptive

SUBCULTURE – a cultural group within a larger

culture, often having beliefs and interests at
variance with those of the larger culture
 ENCULTURATION- transmission of culture
from one generation to the next
 - done through observation, use of

language, adaptation to environment,

rituals, formal and informal education.
SELF AWARENESS
 -permits one to assume responsibility for one’s won
conduct, to learn how to react to others, and to
assume a variety of roles.
Half the bond paper into two
One side: REAL SELF
Other side: IDEAL SELF

Rubric
Neatness and organization- 10
Creativity- 10
PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
OF THE SELF
I. The self as a cognitive construction

 William James and the Me-Self, I-Self

 Self is the essence of a person: his thoughts, feelings
and actions, experiences, beliefs, values, principles and
relationships
  William James's Theory of Self is divided into two
main categories:
 "Me" Self refers to the aspects of someone that
come from that person's experiences; it has
three sections:
 Material Self - consists of things that belong to us or
that we belong to (e.g., family, clothes, our body,
money)
 Social Self - who we are in a given social situation

 Spiritual Self - who we are at the core

 "I" Self is classified as the thinking self

 Global self esteem (aka TRAIT self esteem)
- The way people generally feel about
themselves
 State self esteem (aka feelings of self worth)

-temporary feelings / reactions to positive or

negative events
 Domain specific self esteem (aka self

evaluations)
- How people evaluate their attributes and
abilities
Real and ideal self concepts
 Karen Horney
 Idealized self image- an imaginary picture of the
self as the possessor of unlimited powers and
superlative qualities
 Actual self- it fails to fulfill the requirement of
idealized image
 Real self- impels growth and self realization
 Carl Rogers
 Real self- aspect of one’s being and

one’s experiences that are perceived

in awareness
 Ideal self- revolves around goals

and ambitions in life

Multiple vs. unified selves
 Multiple selves- the capacities we carry within us
from multiple relationships
 Unified selves- when our personality dynamics are
congruent, cohesive and consistent
True vs. false selves
 Donald Winnicott
 True vs False selves
 A person is in her/his true self if s/he has a sense of
integrity and of connected wholeness.
 When the person has to comply with external rules, such as
being polite or otherwise following social codes, then a false
self is used. .
 Healthy false self
 When the false self is functional both for the person and for society
then it is considered healthy. The healthy false self feels that it is still
being true to the true self.
 Unhealthy false self
 A self that fits in but through a feeling of forced compliance rather
than loving adaptation is unhealthy.
II. The self as proactive and
agentic
 Self as Proactive
 controlling
a situation by making things happen or by
preparing for possible future problems
 Agentic
 asocial cognition theory of Albert Bandura that views
people as self-organizing, proactive, self-reflective and
self-regulating as times change
 the capacity for human beings to make choices in the
world
 Agentic Perspective
 states that we are not merely reactive organisms
shaped by environmental forces or driven by
inner impulses
 Agentic Self
 isseeing the world as agents of change
 we have a choice over our actions and we strive
to enable others to make informed, responsible
decisions