Chapter 4: Psychological Perspective of the Self

1. Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of this chapter, the students are expected to have:

1.1 . Discussed the different representations and conceptualizations of the self from
the psychological perspective.
1.2 .Compared and contrasted how the self has been represented by the various
theories of Psychology
1.3 . Examined the different influences, factors and forces that shape the self.

2. Pre-assessment Activity

2.1 Structured Learning Activity

Title: WHO AM I?
Time Allotment: 20 minutes
Instructions: Complete the phrases “I am” and “I should”.

1. I am 1. I should

2. I am 2. I should

3. I am 3. I should

4. I am 4. I should

5. I am 5. I should

6. I am 6. I should

7. I am 7. I should

8. I am 8. I should

9. I am 9. I should

10. I am 10. I should

 2.2 Readings
Feist, Jess & Gregory Feist, .2005. Theories of Personality, Sixth ed., The McGraw
Hill Companies

3. Content

3.1 William James : The Self as Cognitive Construction

“Begin to be now what you will be hereafter”

William James

3.1.1 The Me-Self and I-Self

According to William James, consciousness is an ongoing stream, a property

of mind in continual interaction with the environment. He suggested that in order
to understand adolescence, one should focus on the concept of the “I-Self: and
“Me-Self” which comprised the Self.

2 Categories of the Self:

1. “I-Self” – refers to the self that knows who he or she is; it is the thinking self. It
reflects the soul of a person or what is thought of a mind that is called Pure
Ego.
2. “Me-Self” – this describes an individual’s personal experiences and is further
divided into the material self, social self, and spiritual self.
a. Material Self – consists of things that belong to a person. This includes the
body, family, clothes, money, house and others. This category of the “Me-Self”
contributes to a person’s self-image.
b. Social Self – refers to who and how a person acts in a social setting. An
example of this would be acting differently when one is with his/her friends as
compared to when one is in a class.
c. Spiritual Self – refers to a person’s moral behavior. This is an individual’s core
values, ones purpose, and conscience. To have a deeper understanding of
this category, William James suggested that it requires examination of one’s
own thoughts and feelings; it requires introspection.

3.2 Carl Rogers : Real and Ideal Self

Innate in all individuals is to enhance and maintain oneself, this how Rogers
believed humans to be. He perceived people to be always striving to be complete
and perfect.

The main feature of Carl Roger’s theory is his view of self-concept, which is
central in achieving self-actualization. While the drive for self-actualization at times
come into conflict with the person’s need for approval from the self and of others, it
is important to note that self-concept is our image of what we are, what we should
be, and what we would like to be (Schultz & Schultz, 2013; Gerrig & Zimbardo,
2005). Experiences that do not match with our self-concept results to anxiety.

Rogers believed that there are two components of the self:

a. Real Self – awareness of what I am and what I can do.
b. Ideal-Self – is an individual’s perception of what one should be or wanted to
be.

The closer the real and ideal selves are to each other, the more satisfied an
individual becomes.

3.3 Multiple versus Unified Self ; True versus False Self

 Self-understanding in adolescents also includes conceptualizing the self as

multiple or unified and true or false.
 The construction of multiple selves varies across different roles and
relationships.
 Given the enormous challenges of self-integration, it is important that
adolescents are supported in their effort to create a consistent, coherent, or
unified theory of the self.
 The function of the false self is to hide and protect the true self

3.4 Albert Bandura : Social Cognitive Theory

Bandura is the proponent of Social Cognitive Theory. This particular theory

has several basic assumptions. One of these assumptions takes an agentic
perspective. This means that human beings have the ability to exercise control over
the nature and quality of their lives. This so called human agency is the essence of
humanness. Bandura (2001) believes that people are self-regulating, proactive, self-
reflective and self-organizing and that they have the power to influence their own
actions to produce desired consequences.

Core Features of Human Agency:

1. Intentionality : this refers to acts done intentionally
2. Forethought : to anticipate possible outcomes of action
3. Self-Reactiveness : this involves making choices and choosing appropriate
courses of action
4. Self-Reflectiveness : this refers to the person’s ability to evaluate the
adequacy of his own thoughts and actions.

Self - Efficacy : most crucial self-reflective mechanism

 - This refers to a person’s belief that he is capable of performing tasks that
will produce a desired effect.
- People who believe that they can do something are more likely to be
successful than people with low self-efficacy.

Self – Regulation : this refers to people’s ability to control and monitor their own
behavior

- people with high levels of self-efficacy will have the capacity to regulate
their own behavior.

3.5 Carl Jung : Analytical Psychology

 Unconscious consists of two layers:

o Personal Unconscious: contains repressed memories.
o Collective Unconscious: level of unconscious shared with other members
of the human species comprising latent memories from our ancestral and
evolutionary past.
 These are elements that people have never experienced
individually but have come down to their ancestors.
 Responsible for people’s myths, legends and religious beliefs

 Archetypes: elements of the collective unconscious

o PERSONA
 Part of personality that people show to the world
 Also called the public face
 If we over identify with our persona, we lose touch with our inner
self and remain dependent on society’s expectations of us (Feist,
2005).
o SHADOW
 Archetype of darkness and repression
 This refers to the qualities that a person does not wish to
acknowledge but attempt to hide from himself and others.
o ANIMA
 The feminine side of men
 Produces feelings and moods in men
o ANIMUS
 The masculine archetype in women
 Responsible for thinking and opinion in women
o SELF
 The innate disposition to move toward growth, perfection, and
completion
 It unites the archetypes in the process of self-realization.
  To actualize or fully experience the self, people must overcome
their fear of the unconscious, prevent their persona from
dominating their personality, recognize the dark side of themselves
(their shadow) and then muster even greater courage to face their
anima or animus (Feist, 2005)

3.6 Sigmund Freud : Psychoanalysis

 Structures of Personality
o ID
 Completely unconscious
 Has no contact with reality but satisfies basic desires
 Serves the pleasure principle
o EGO
 The only region of the mind in contact with reality
 Governed by the reality principle
 The ego constantly tries to reconcile the blind, irrational claims of
the id and the superego with the realistic demands of the external
world (Feist, 2005).
 When the ego fails to deal with the conflicting demands, it becomes
anxious.
 When it becomes anxious, it uses defense mechanisms to defend
itself against the anxiety.
o SUPEREGO
 Guided by moralistic and idealistic principles
 Has no contact with the outside world, thus, it is unrealistic in its
demands for perfection
 Has two subsystems:
 Conscience : “what we should not do”
 Ego-ideal : “what we should do”

 Stages of Development
o Freud’s assumption: During the first 4 or 5 years after birth, infant possess
a sexual life and go through a period of pregenital sexual development.
o Childhood sexuality : not capable of reproduction and exclusively
autoerotic
o Sexual impulses can be satisfied through organs other than the genitals.
o Erogenous zone: area of the body capable of producing pleasure
o If overindulge or frustrated, the child becomes fixated.

 Oral Stage ( age 0 – 1 )

 The mouth provides infant with pleasure
  Infants obtain life-sustaining nourishment through the oral
cavity, but beyond that, they also gain pleasure through the
art of sucking (Feist, 2005).
 If the child is overfed or frustrated, oral traits will develop.
 Anal Stage ( ages 1 – 3 )
 Erogenous zone : Anus
 Attention turns to process of elimination.
 Child can gain approval or express aggression by letting go
or holding on.
 Harsh or lenient toilet training can make a child either:
o Anal Retentive: Stubborn, stingy, orderly, and
compulsively clean
o Anal Expulsive: Disorderly, messy, destructive, or
cruel
 Phallic Stage ( ages 3 – 6 )
 Erogenous zone : Genital Area
 Child now notices and is physically attracted to opposite sex
parent.
 Oedipus Conflict: For boys only. Boy feels rivalry with his
father for his mother’s affection. Boy may feel threatened by
father (castration anxiety). To resolve, boy must identify with
his father (i.e., become more like him and adopt his
heterosexual beliefs).
 Electra Conflict: Girl loves her father and competes with her
mother. Girl identifies with her mother more slowly because
she already feels castrated.
 Latency Stage ( ages 6 to puberty )
 Dormant psychosexual development
 This latency stage is brought about partly by parents’
attempts to punish or discourage sexual activity in their
young children (Feist, 2005).
 Children direct their energy toward school, friendships,
hobbies and other nonsexual activities
 Genital Stage ( Puberty onwards )
 Sexual urges reawaken
 Adolescents direct their sexual energy toward another
person instead of toward themselves.
 Realization of full adult sexuality

3.7 Erik Erikson

Every person must be able to successfully move along a series of psychosocial stages
presented with a particular psychological issue or crisis that one must be able to
resolve.
 Age Issue/Crisis Developmental Basic Inadequate
Task Strength Resolution
First Year Trust versus To feel secure Hope Insecurity,
mistrust anxiety
Second Year Autonomy versus To gain independence Will Feelings of
shame and doubt Perception of self as inadequacy of
capable of controlling own controlling
body and making things events.
happen.
Third to fifth year Initiative versus guilt Explore the environment Purpose Feelings of lack
Confidence in oneself as of self-worth
initiator and creator.
Sixth to puberty Industry versus Manipulate objects Competence Lack of self-
inferiority Enough basic social and confidence;
intellectual skills. feelings of failure
Adolescence Identity versus role Form positive self-
Fidelity Unclear sense of
confusion concept Comfortable self
sense of self
as a person
Early adulthood Intimacy versus Form social relationship Love Sense of
isolation Capacity for aloneness,
closeness and separation
commitment to
another
Middle age Generativity versus Development of concern Care Self indulgent
stagnation about the world Focus of concerns
concern to
family, society,
and future
generations
Old age Integrity versus Personal fulfillment Wisdom Feelings of
despair Sense of disappointment.
wholeness;
satisfaction
with life

4. Post-assessment Activity
4.1 Written Examination