LEARNING OBJECTIVES

ICAL
G
O
P OL At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
H RO TIVE
T
AN SPEC
PER
appreciate the science of anthropology and recognize its
relevance on elucidating the development of self and
identity;

understand how the sense of self is shaped and influenced

by culture;

elevate awareness and pride on the Filipino culture.

 Social scientists and
anthropologists have long
recognized the idea that
people in different parts of the
world view themselves in
different ways. These different
ways of viewing one’s self
may be attributed to biological
or genetic variants and partly
to social or cultural variation.
 Your racial category, family
structure, ethnic affiliation,
religious customs, language,
social beliefs and values,
cultural expression and
identification indubitably
contribute on your formation
as a person, and accordingly,
on your self-construal.
 -stemmed from two
Greek words, anthropos
GY
OLO meaning man and logus
OP
THR meaning study or science.
AN Thus, anthropology is the
science of man

- It is concerned about
the various aspects of the
human species,
irrespective of time and
place, from ancient to
the contemporary
CULTURE
-is considered a way of
life – it encompasses the
values, behaviors, beliefs,
customs, languages and
traditions of a particular
social or ethnic group.
 ND  In their book, Personality
F A
E S EL IN
TH
P E RS O N
A RY in Nature, Society and
TH E P O R
CO N T E M
PO L O G Y Culture, psychologist
H R O
AN T Henry Murray and
anthropologist Clyde
Kluckhohn (1953) claimed
that “Every man is in
certain respects like all
other men, like some other
men, and like no other
man.”
 Anthropology Professor Katherine
Ewing asserted an integrative stance
on the self by defining it as one that
which “encompasses the physical
organism, possessing all aspects of
psychological functioning, and
social attributes”, (1990:254). Even
the neurobiologist Joseph LeDoux
described the self as the totality of
what an organism is physically,
biologically, psychologically,
socially, and culturally. He further
claimed that though the self is a unit,
it is not unitary” (2002: 31).
  Culture is a broad construct
which covers a wide range of
TH E O F elements – from your clothing
C E P T
C O N TU R E designs to your food
CU L
preferences, the dialect you use
for communicating, the festivals
you enjoy, the religious beliefs
and customs you observe, the set
of values you conform to, or
even the kinds of books you
read, or the jokes you crack – all
these illuminate your way of life
and all these elements form part
of the culture you were raised to.
  Your bodies and what you
do with it is a reflection of
the life you live and the
OUR culture you were
accustomed to. Body
BODIES modifications and
AND embellishments for instance
CULTURE are regarded as part of the
norms and representations
of some cultures.
A woman from the Karen Tribe A member of the Bagobo
(also known as Padaung People) people from coastal Mindanao
of Thailand with heavy brass in the Philippines with filed
rings on the neck. and blackened teeth.
  The figure illustrates a hypothetical
E L F
E S D
self-concept of Mr. Juan Dela Cruz.
T H D D E Given the different roles he assumes,
B E he may be viewed in different ways by
EM people around him. This demonstrates
Mead’s idea that the meaning or the
IN U R E characterization that we ascribe to the
U LT self depends on our roles in the
C society. The self as a basic
psychological concept which is
commonly assumed to be static and
have a universal nature is therefore
susceptible to changes depending on
social situations and cultural contexts.
The self is malleable and can act in
different ways depending on
circumstances; it is multi-faceted yet
unified
Harry Triandis (2019), a psychology
professor at the University of Illinois,
furthered the discourse about the self
being culturally shaped.

In his research, The Self and Social Behavior in

Differing Cultural Contexts (1989), he
introduced and distinguished three aspects of
the self: private, public, and collective self.
The private self are cognitions that involve
traits, states, or behaviors of the person; it is an
assessment of the self by the self. Statements
like “I am amiable”; “I am outspoken”; “I will
buy X” are examples of our self-assessments
about ourselves.
 The public self on the other hand
refers to cognitions concerning the
generalized other’s view of the self,
such as statements like “People think I
am shy” or “People think I will buy X”.
The public self is an assessment of the
self by the generalized others. The
collective self are cognitions
concerning a view of the self that is
found in some collective (e.g., family,
co-workers, tribe, scientific society),
such as, “My family thinks I am
introverted” or “My co-workers
believe I shop too much.” The
collective self corresponds to an
assessment of the self by a specific
reference or groups. These aspects of
the self are heavily influenced by
culture.