THE SELF AS A

COGNITIVE
CONSRUCTION
What is psychology?

 Psychology is the scientific study of how people behave, think, and

feel.
 Psychology will scrutinize it so that you as a human being will
understand how it is to be “you”.
 Online dictionaries define the term cognitive as “of relating,to,
being, or involving conscious intellectual activity, such as thinking,
reasoning, or remembering”.
 Psychologist Jean Piaget was a Swiss clinical psychologist known for
his pioneering work in child development. He pioneered the “ theory
of cognitive development”,
 According to Piaget, cognitive development is a progressive
reorganization of mental processes resulting from biological
maturation and environmental experience.
 Piaget claim that cognitive development is at the center of the
human organism. For example: Language.
 He describes two processes used by the individual in his/ her attempt
to adapt – Assimilation and accommodation.
 Assimilation- is the application of previous concepts to new concepts.
 Accommodation- when people encounter completely new
information.
There are three (3) basic components
to “Piaget’s cognitive theory.
1. Schemas/ schemes- Schemes are mental organization that
individual use to understand their environment and
designate action.
2. Adaptation- it involves the child’s learning processes to
meet situational demands.
3. Stage of cognitive development- they reflect the
increasing sophistication of the child’s thought process.
Piaget theorize the Four (4)
stages of cognitive development.

STAGE AGE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STAGE

Child learns by doing; looking, touching, sucking.

Sensorimotor 0-2 Object permanence appears around 9 months.

Child uses language and symbols, including

Preoperational 2-7
letters and number.

Child demonstrates conservation, reversibility,

Concrete Operations 7-11
serial ordering.

Abstract thinking at this stage is still concrete.

Formal Operation 12+
HARTER’S SELF- DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT
 Dr. Susan Harter (1999) detailed the emergence of self-concept and
asserted that the broad development change observed across early
childhood.
• Early childhood. The child describes the “self” in term of concrete,
observable characteristics, such as physical attributes ( I’m
pretty/ugly/ strong”), material possessions ( “I have lots toys”),
behavior (“I love playing with my toys”), and preferences (“ I like
candies).
• Middle to later childhood. The self is described in terms of trait like
constructs ( smart, honest, friendly, shy).
• Adolescence. According to Harter, this is the emergency of move
abstract self-definitions, such as inner thoughts, emotions , attitudes,
and motives.
• Emerging adults. The marker characteristic of “self” for emerging adults
is having a vision of a “possible self”. It is the “ age of possibilities”
(Amett,2004a). Australian study (Whitty,2002), early emerging adulthood
(age 12-22) was found to be a time of “grand dream” of being wealthy.

 William James and the Me-Self; I-Self

• William James in his groundbreaking masterpiece, “The Principles of
Psychology”, written in 1890.A figure commonly known as “the father of
American psychology”.
• William James gave one of the earliest self-theory psychological analyses.
According to James (1950), the “self” has two elements: The I-self and the
Me-self.
• I-self. It is the “self” that is aware of its own actions.

The I-self characteristically has four features. There are:

1. A sense of being the agent or initiator of behavior. I believe my actions
have an impact; that I cause an effect in my environment.
2. A sense of being unique. This is how I am different from everything in my
environment; I perceive there is only one Me.
3. A sense of continuity. I am the same person from the day to day.
4. A sense of awareness about being aware. I understand what is going on me
and around me; and I understand it.
The me-self is “self” that you can describe, such as your physical
characteristics , personalities, social role, or relationship, thoughts ,
feelings. James called it the empirical self. Empirical is defined as
“based on, concerned.

The dimensions of the me-self include:

1. Material- physical appearance and extensions of it such as clothing,
immediate family, and home.
2. Social- social skills and significant interpersonal relationship.
3. Spiritual- personality, character, defining value.
 Carl Ransom Rogers was an American psychologist. The founders of the
humanistic approach to psychology ( Capuzzi, 2016). Humanistic psychology is
a psychological perspective that rose to prominence in the mid-20 th century.
 Humanistic psychology emphasized the active role of the individual in shaping
their internal and external worlds.

 Personality development and the self-concept

Roger based his theories of personality development on humanistic
psychology and theories of subjective experience.
 If the person holds a positive self- concept, he or she would tend to feel
good about himself on herself.
 If the person hold a negative self-concept, then he or she may feel
unhappy with who he/she.
 IDEAL SELF VS. REAL SELF
 Ideal self -person that you would like yourself to be;
 Real self – person you actually are.

The importance of alignment

 Real self and ideal self are very similar you experience congruence.
 Not aligned with what you want to be incongruence.
 Maladjustment – is defined as the inability to react successfully and
satisfactorily to the demand of one’s environment.
 Multiple vs. unified selves
 Roy Baumeister “the concept of the self loses its meaning if a
person has multiple selves. Unity is one of the defining features of
selfhood and identify.
 The Unity of Consciousness
 Human experience is always that unity. Not made up of parts.
 Immanuel Kant’s “I am conscious not only of single experience but of
agreat many experiences at the same time.

 Allport’s personality theory

 Gordon allport (1961), “personality trait”
 Trait characteristic that never, ever change and stick with you all
your life.
 Trait shape who you are.
The ego states
 Eric Berne- transactional analysis
 Parent ego state – voice of authority. Parent voice or a “controlling/ critical
parent”.
 Adult ego states – the rational person it is the voice that speaks reasonable
and knows how to assert himself or herself.
 Three child ego- natural child who loves to play but sensitive and vulnerable.
The little professor curious child who wants to try everything. A adaptive
child one who reacts to the world.
Domains of the self
Gregg Henriques
1. Experiential self:
2. Private self- conscious
3. Public self/persona.
 True vs. False selves
Center od the onion layers. Layers are our false self
D.W Winnicott “self” person who is me”.

False self product of early experience defensive organization formed by the

infant in empathy. That the false self is a mask or a persona.
Unhealthy false self, Happy and comfortable in his or her environment.

True self
True self “spontaneous authentic experience”. Sense of being alive and real in
one mind and body.