The Physical Self

THE SELF AS IMPACTED BY THE BODY

 ANG GANDA AT ANG POGI
NAMAN NG CLASSMATES KO

YIEE MAKIKINIG NA YAN SA

Growing Up
 As children advance in age, their interests change and with these, come changes
in their bodies.

It is at this stage that parents should respect their teenagers’ privacy and let them
know that their parents are always there ready to LISTEN and provide SUPPORT.
 The physical self refers to the concrete dimensions of the body
- tangible aspect of the person which can be directly observed and
examined.

Physical characteristics are the defining traits or features of the person’s body.
 Erik Erikson believed in the importance of the body from early development
because the physical as well as intellectual skills will somehow serve as basis to
whether a person has achieved a sense of competence and be able to face the
demands of life’s complexities.

William James considered the body as the initial source of sensation and
necessary for the origin and maintenance of personality.
 The World Health Organization describes adolescents as young people whose
age ranges from 10-19 years.

According to healthy children.org, adolescence is divided into three periods:

 Early Adolescence (from 11-14 years old)

 Middle Adolescence (from 15-17 years old)
 Late Adolescence (from 18-21 years old)
Body Image
One psychological aspect of physical change in
puberty is that “adolescents become preoccupied with
their bodies and develop images of what their bodies
are like.:
Body image- refers to the way one sees
himself/herself or the way he/she looks
Spotlight effects- refers to the belief that others are
paying more attention to the person’s appearance and
 Self- Esteem and Ideal Body Image
Self Esteem as the overall evaluation that a person
has of himself which can be positive or negative,
high low (Hewstone et al.,2015)
Self Esteem is how valuable to himself and the
others the person perceives himself to be.
The level of self-esteem fluctuates across the life
span and may not always match with reality
(Santrock, 2014)
Adolescent’s body image includes:

Perception of their physical self when they look

in the mirror.
Feelings of like or dislike about the physical self
that they see.
Their thoughts and how they relate to their
physical self.
Perception of how other people view them
 Aspects in culture that may have led to the
aforementioned misconceptions:
 Society’s ideals of the perfect physical form which are: for
women: white perfect skin, small waistline, big breast and
behind, long straight hair, long manicured nails, slender and tall
and for men: tall, tanned perfect skin, muscled physique, with
6- pack abs
 Images of perfection adolescents see in all types of media i.e.
print, television, film and internet. Mass media is powerful tool
that reinforces cultural beliefs and values. Though young
people may initially disagree with the set ideals of beauty,
repeated exposure via media lead them to believe in the
Since a standard has been set by society and reinforced
by media, any characteristic that does not conform to
the standard is labelled as ugly. Body diversity in size
and structure due to genetic heritability is not tolerated.
Being pretty and white skinned or tanned and muscular
had become associated with the intelligent, successful,
popular with the dull, lazy, ugly and weak.
 Being beautiful still depends how a
person defines beauty and the
standards he set to meet this
definition.