GESOCSCI 1 – UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

MODULE 1 – CONCEPT AND NATURE OF SELF: WHO AM I?

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

At the end of this module, the students will be able to:

1. explain the nature, concept, and meaning of the self;

2. describe the nature of the self from their own point of view;
3. discuss the conceptualization and representation of the self from various disciplines and
perspectives; and
4. develop a pleasant and wholesome attitude towards oneself.

MODULE OUTLINE:

What is the Self?

The Philosophical View of Self
The Christian or Biblical View of the Self
The Psychological View of Self

What is the Self?

The self, in contemporary literature and even common sense, is commonly defined by the
following characteristics: “separate, self-contained, independent. Consistent, unitary, and
private.” By separate, it is meant that the self is distinct from other selves. The self is always
unique and has its own identity. One cannot be another person. Even identical twins are distinct
from one another. Second, self is also self-contained and independent because in itself it can
exist. Its distinctness allows it to be self-contained with its own thoughts, characteristics, and
volition. It does not require any other self for it to exist. It is consistent because it has a
personality that is enduring and therefore can be expected to persist for quite some time. Its
consistency, therefore, allows it to be studied, described, and measured. Consistency also means
that a particular self’s traits, characteristics, tendencies, and potentialities are more or less the
same. Self is unitary in that it is the center of all experiences and thought that run through a
certain person. It is like the chief command post in an individual where all processes, emotions,
and thoughts converge. Finally, the self is private. Each person sorts out information, feelings
and emotions, and thought processes within the self. This whole process is never accessible to
anyone but the self.

This last characteristic of the self, its being private, suggests that the self is isolated from
the external world. It lives within its own world. However, we also see that this potential clash
between the self and the external reality is what spells for the self what it might be, what it can
be, and what it will be. From this perspective then, one can see that the self is always at the
mercy of external circumstances that bump and collide with it. It is ever changing and dynamic,
allowing external influences to take part in its shaping. The concern then of this lesson is in
understanding this vibrant relationship between the self and external reality. This perspective is
known as the social constructionist perspective. “Social constructionists argue for a merged view
of ‘the person’ and ‘their social context’ where the boundaries of one cannot easily be separated
from the boundaries of the other.”
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 Social constructivists argue that the self should not be seen as a static entity that stays
constant through and through. Rather, the self has to be seen as something that is in unceasing
flux, in constant struggle with external reality, and is malleable in its dealings with society. The
self is always on participation with social life and its identity subjected to influences here and
there. Having these perspectives considered should draw one into concluding that the self is truly
multifaceted.

Concepts similar to self is identity and self-concept. Identity is composed of one’s

personal characteristics, social roles and responsibilities, as well as affiliations that defines who
one is. Self-concept is basically what comes to your mind when you are asked about who you
are.

The Philosophical View of Self

Socrates: Know Yourself or Know Thyself

• An ancient Greek philosopher

• He is principally concerned with man.
• He considers man from the point of view of his inner life.
• His famous line, “Know yourself,” tells each man to bring his inner self to light. A bad
man is not virtuous through ignorance’; the man who does not follow the good fails to do
so because he does not recognize it. Socrates posited that if a person knows who he or she
is, all basic issues and difficulties in life will vanish and everything will be clearer and
simpler. One could now act according to his or her own definition of the self without any
doubt and contradiction.
• His technique of asking basic questions such as “Who am I?,” “What is the purpose of
my life?,” or What am I doing here?” are all predicated on the fact that humans must be
able to define these simple things so as to move forward and act accordingly based on
their definition of the self.
• Self-knowledge, for Socrates, means knowing one’s degree of understanding about the
world and knowing one’s capabilities and potentials. It is only through self-knowledge
that one’s self emerges. Therefore, self is achieved and not just discovered, something to
work on and not a product of a mere realization.
• For Socrates, possession of knowledge is virtue and ignorance is vice.
• The core of Socratic ethics is the concept of virtue and knowledge.
• Virtue is the deepest and most basic propensity of man. Knowing one’s own virtue is
necessary and can be learned.
• Since virtue is innate in the mind and self-knowledge is the source of all wisdom, an
individual may gain possession of oneself and be one’s own master through knowledge.

Plato: The Ideal Self, the Perfect Self

• An ancient Greek philosopher who was a student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle,
Plato produced a substantial body of work that became the basis for western thought.
• According to him, man was omniscient or all-knowing before he came to be born into
this world.

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 • With his separation from the paradise of truth and knowledge and his long exile on earth,
he forgot most of the knowledge he had. However, by constant remembering through
contemplation and doing good, he can regain his former perfections.
• Man who is now an exile on earth has a guiding star, a model, or a divine exemplar which
he must follow to reach and attain his destiny.
• In practical terms, this means that man in this life should imitate his former self; more
specifically, he should live a life of virtue in which true human perfection exists.
• Happiness, which is the fruit of virtue, is attained by the constant imitation of the divine
exemplar of virtue, embodied in man’s former perfect self.
• In terms of the concept of the self, Plato was one of the first philosophers who believed in
an enduring self that is represented by the soul. He argued that the soul is eternal and
constitutes the enduring self, because even after death, the soul continues to exist.

St. Augustine: Self in the past, present, and future time

• Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354 - 430) was an Algerian-Roman philosopher and theologian
of the late Roman/early medieval period. He is one of the most important early figures in
the development of Western Christianity, and was a major figure in bringing Christianity
to dominance in the previously pagan Roman Empire.
• St. Augustine’s reflections on the relations between time and memory greatly influenced
many fundamental doctrines of psychology.
• He believed that the time present of things past, present, and future coexist in the soul;
the time present of things past is memory; the time present of things present is direct
experience; and the time present of things future is expectation. He emphasized that the
memory of the past is significant in anticipation of the future and presence of the present.
In St. Augustine’s method of introspection (awareness of one’s own mental processes),
memory is the entity through which one can think meaningfully about temporal
continuity. This continuity is possible only by and through memory.
• The existence of past and future for St. Augustine is only possible through memory and
expectation.
• St. Augustine introduced the concept of the self in the past, present, and future time. He
wrote, “From this it appears to me that time is nothing other than extendedness; but
extendedness of what I do not know. This is a marvel to me – the extendedness may be of
the mind itself.” He argued that as far as consciousness can be extended backward to any
past action or forward to actions to come, it determines the identity of the person.

Immanuel Kant: Respect for Self

• German philosopher Immanuel Kant theorized that consciousness is formed by one’s

inner and outer sense. The inner sense is comprised of one’s psychological state and
intellect. The outer sense consists of one’s senses and the physical world.
• Consciousness of oneself and of one’s psychological state (or inner state) was referred to
by Kant as empirical self-consciousness while consciousness of oneself and of one’s state
via acts of apperception is called transcendental apperception.
• The source of empirical self-consciousness is the inner sense. All representational states
are in the inner sense such as moods, feelings, and sensations including pleasure and
pain. One must be phenomenally conscious to be aware of something in the inner sense.
Apperception is the faculty that allows for application of concepts. The act of
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 apperceiving allows one to synthesize or make sense of a unified object. Transcendental
apperception makes experience possible and allows the self and the world to come
together.
• Consciousness being unified, Kant argued, is the central feature of the mind. Mind should
perform both the unity of consciousness and the unity of apperception. Consciousness
makes the world intelligible. It is the self that organizes sensations and thoughts into a
picture that makes sense to a person. This picture constitutes the “you” at the center of
the universe, looking at the universe from one’s point of view. For example, think about a
moment when you shared memorable experiences with someone but each of you had
radically different experiences. Reflect on the way each person instinctively describes the
situation from his or her perspective. This is the unity of consciousness that Kant
described. The self is able to perform this synthesizing and unifying function because it
transcends sense experience. The self is not an object located in one’s consciousness with
other subjects. The self, your own self, is a subject. It is an organizing principle that
makes a coherent experience possible by using the faculties of the mind to synthesize
sensations into a unified whole. The ability of the mind to regulate those experiences into
one experience makes the self a product of reason. It is for this reason that Kant gives the
self transcendental status for it exists independently of experience. The self is therefore a
transcendental unifying subject, an organizing consciousness that makes an intelligible
experience possible.
• As opposed to Hume, Kant stressed that self is something real, yet it is neither an
appearance nor a thing in itself since it belongs to a different metaphysical class. He
believed in the existence of God and soul. He emphasized that it is only through
experience that humans can acquire knowledge.
• According to Kant, man is the only creature who governs and directs himself and his
actions, who sets up ends for himself and his purpose, and who freely orders means for
the attainment of his aims.
• Every man is thus an end in himself and should never be treated merely as a means – as
per the order of the Creator and the natural order of things. This rule is a plain dictum of
reason and justice: Respect others as you would respect yourself.
• A person should not be used as a tool, instrument, or device to accomplish another’s
private ends.
• Thus, all men are persons gifted with the same basic rights and should treat each other as
equals.

René Descartes: “I think, therefore I am.”

• Rene Descartes was a French philosopher and mathematician.

• He states that the self is a thinking entity distinct from the body. His first famous
principle was “Cogito, ergo sum,” which means “I think, therefore I am.”
• For Descartes, the existence of anything that you register from your senses can be
doubted. For example, if you are staring at a burning building, you are not certain if that
building is really burning or it is something you are only reconstructing from your dream.
One can always doubt about the certainty of things but the very fact that one doubts is
something that cannot be doubted. This is what “I think, therefore I am” means.
• Descartes believed that the self is “a thinking thing or a substance whose whole essence
or nature is merely thinking.” The self is real and not just an illusion. He also reassured
that the self is different from the body. Hence, self and body exist but differ in existence
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 and reality. The self is a feature not of the body but of the mind and thus a mental
substance rather than a physical substance.
• Although the mind and the body are independent from each other and serve their own
function, man must use his own mind and thinking abilities to investigate, analyze,
experiment, and develop himself.
• The self, for Descartes, is nothing else but a mind-body dichotomy. Thought (mind)
always precedes action (body). Everything starts with a thought. Humans think first about
doing something and then do it. It is the thought that sets direction to human actions but
humans are always free to choose.
• Western philosophy is largely based on the writings of Descartes. In the saying, man is a
rational animal, one is actually positing the ideas of Rene Descartes.

John Locke: Personal Identity

• John Locke was an English philosopher, political theorist and physician, widely regarded
as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the
"Father of Liberalism."
• John Locke holds that personal identity (the self) is a matter of psychological continuity.
For him, personal identity is founded on consciousness (memory), and not on the
substance of either the soul or the body.
• Personal identity is the concept about oneself that evolves over the course of an
individual’s life. It may include aspects of life that man has no control over, such as
where he grew up or the color of his skin, as well as the choices he makes, like how he
spends his time and what he believes.
• For Locke, consciousness is the perception of what passes in a man’s own mind. He
rejected that brain has something to do with consciousness as the brain, as well, as the
body may change, while consciousness remains the same. He concluded that personal
identity is not in the brain but in one’s consciousness.

David Hume: The Self is the Bundle Theory of Mind

• He is skeptical about the existence of the self, specifically, on whether there is a simple,
unified self that exists over time.
• For the Scottish philosopher David Hume, there is no self as a mental entity for “what we
call a mind is nothing but a heap or collection of different perceptions …” The self is a
bundle of perceptions (objects of the mind) of interrelated events. The assumption of a
self as mental entity and thus as mental substance does not exist. Hume’s materialism
views the soul as a product of the imagination. There is no primordial substance that
houses the self. Any concept of the self is simply memory and imagination.
• For him, man has no “clear and intelligible” idea of the self.
• Hume stressed that there is no stable thing called self, for the self is nothing but a
complex set of successive impressions or perceptions. If you are looking for a self, you
cannot find it; the only thing that you can discover is a set of individual impressions.
What you think and what you feel constitute what you are at this very moment.
• He posits that no single impression of the self exists; rather, the self is just the thing to
which all perceptions of a man is ascribed. Moreover, even if there were such an
impression of the self, it would have to remain constant over time to constitute identity.
However, man’s impressions vary and always change.
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 • Even attempts to have impressions of the self must fail for all these attempts are really
just occasions for one to notice perceptions.
• A person can never observe oneself without some other perceptions.
• Hume asserts that what we call the “self” is really just “a bundle or collection of different
perceptions which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity.”
• He rejected the idea that personal identity is reflected by the association of the self with
an enduring body.

Gilbert Ryle: I act, therefore I am.”

• Gilbert Ryle, a British philosopher, opposed Rene Descartes that the self is a “thinking
thing.” He maintained that the mind is not separate from the body. Mind consists of
dispositions of people based on what they know, what they feel, what they want, and so
on. People learn that they have their own minds because they behave in certain ways.
• Ryle supported the basic notions of behavioristic psychology. His theory is called logical
behaviorism or analytical behaviorism – a theory of mind which states that mental
concepts can be understood through observable events.
• As for Ryle’s concept of the self, the self is a combination of the mind and the body.
While the focus of other philosophers is towards the separation of mind and body (a
dualist view), for Ryle, self is taken as a whole with the combination of the body and the
mind. Ryle also posited the maxim, “I act, therefore I am.” For him, the mind is not the
seat of self but the behavior, opposing Descartes’ immaterial mind in a material body.
The self is the way people behave.

Maurice Merleau-Ponty: Self as Embodied Subjectivity

• A French phenomenological philosopher, Maurice Merleau-Ponty distinguished the body

into two types: the subjective body, as lived and experienced, and the objective body, as
observed and scientifically investigated. For him, these two are not different bodies. The
former is the body as-it-is-lived. He wrote, “But I am not in front of my body, I am in my
body, or rather I am my body.” He regarded self as embodied subjectivity. It sees human
beings neither as disembodied minds (existing without body) nor as complex machines,
but as living creatures whose subjectivity (consciousness) is actualized in the forms of
their physical involvement with the world. The body is the general medium for having a
world and we know not through our intellect but through our experience. The latter is the
body as observed and scientifically investigated. It is the body that is known to others.
These are bodies that people see, admire, imitate, criticize, or even dissect.
• Merleau-Ponty’s, “I am my body” cannot simply be interpreted as advocating a
materialist, behaviorist type position. He accepts the idea of mental states but he also
suggests that the use of the mind is inseparable from out bodily, situated, physical nature.
The body cannot be viewed solely as an object, or material entity of the world.

The Christian or Biblical View of Self

The Holy Bible

“God created man in His own image; in the divine image He created him; male and
female He created them. God blessed them, saying, “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and
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subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds in the air, and all the living things
that move on the earth.”
Genesis 1:24-28

• According to the Holy Writ, man, following his redemption by the Savior from eternal
bondage, now shares in the infinite merits of his Redeemer and has become not only the
inheritor of the new earth but also the heir of heavenly kingdom.
• Thus, it is appropriate to think of the “self” as the multi-bejewelled crown of creation –
the many gems thereof representing and radiating the glorious facets of man’s self that
include the physical, intellectual, moral, religious, social, political, spiritual, rational,
economic, emotional, sentient, aesthetic, sensual, and sexual aspects.

Religious
Emotional Aesthetic

Physical Moral

The self
Rational as a crown of creation Sentient

Sensual
Spiritual and
Sexual

Economic
Political
Intellectual Social

St. Augustine: Love and Justice as the Foundation of the Individual Self

• St. Augustine believes that a virtuous life is a dynamism of love. It is a constant

following of and turning towards love while a wicked life is a constant turning away from
love.
• Loving God means loving one’s fellowmen; and loving one’s fellowmen denotes never
doing any harm to another or, as the golden principle of justice states, doing unto others
as you would have them do unto you.

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The Psychological View of Self

William James’s Self Theory

William James (1890) was one of the earliest psychologists to study the self and he
conceptualized the self as having two aspects – the “I” and the “me.” The “I” is the thinking,
acting, and feeling self. As a thinking subject, the individual is both conscious of his or her
environment and conscious of his or her existence. The “me” on the other hand is the physical
characteristics as well as psychological capabilities that makes who you are. An individual turns
himself or herself into a Me when he or she makes himself or herself the object of his or her own
thinking.

James claims that in understanding the self, the self can be contextualized in three
categories: the constituents of the self; the feelings and emotions they arouse (self-feelings); and
the actions they prompt (self-seeking). Constituents of the self refer to the further sub-categories
of the self including the material self, social self, spiritual self, and pure ego. The second
category of the self refers to the feelings and emotions aroused in the individual because of his or
her knowledge and appraisal of his or her empirical existence in the world. The third category
refers to the actions the self prompts – the effort of every individual to preserve and improve
oneself based on one’s self-knowledge and resulting self-feelings. Simply put, the self is an
object to be reflected upon, an object that is capable of arousing emotions and prompting actions.

In the constituents of the self, the material self consists of one’s body, clothes, family,
home, and other material possessions that he or she values and regards as his or her own. The
social self connotes the image of an individual in the eyes of the people around him or her which
determines his or her reputation in society. The spiritual self includes one’s thoughts, beliefs, and
feelings. The pure ego is the “most puzzling aspect of the self” according to James. It is
conceived by understanding that it can recognize its own thoughts and that these thoughts
possess a particular warmth that separate the ego. According to James, these sub-categories are
related in a hierarchical way, with material self at the bottom, the spiritual self at the top, and the
social self in between. Together, they constitute what James calls the empirical self.

Carl Rogers’s Self Theory

Carl Rogers believes that the self does not exist at birth; it is developed gradually during
childhood wherein one differentiates the self from non-self. He proposed that by means of free
choice and action, one can shape himself or herself based on what he or she wants to be. Rogers
considered the self as the center of experience. According to him, the self is one’s ongoing sense
of who and what he or she is and how and why he or she responds to the environment. The
choices an individual makes are based on his or her set of values. Roger’s theory focuses on the
nature of the self and the conditions that allow the self to freely develop (Rathus, 2014).

Real Self and Ideal Self

The real self is who an individual actually is, intrinsically. It is the self that feels closest
to how one identifies with. It is how one thinks, feels, looks, and acts. It is the self that feels most
natural, comfortable, and true to what and who one really is. It is the self that one continuously
needs to accept, takes care of, and improves. Despite the difficulty of an individual to truly know

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how others see him or her, his or her real self can still be possibly seen. One’s significant other
may tell almost exactly his or her rea; self. The real is one’s self-image.

The ideal self, on the other hand, is the perception of what a person would like to be or
thinks he or she would be. It is an idealized image that has developed over time based on the
influence of the environment and the people one interacts with. It is the self that one thinks he or
she should be, and that one feels others think he or she should be. This self is a product of
expectations and pressures from other people, and arises from the need to be loved and accepted
by others. It is dynamic and forever changing.

For instance, someone who is not a good singer (real self) desires to be someone who can
sing well (ideal self0. The greater the discrepancy between the real self and ideal self, the greater
the frustration and distress one will experience. Hence, one should strive to reduce the
discrepancy by either addressing the issue or accepting the issue if it cannot be resolved. For
example, you want o be a professional basketball player but you lack the ideal height. As much
as possible, there has to be congruence – an agreement between the selves, which happens when
the ideal self is closer to the real self. People with congruent selves are more likely to attain self-
actualization compared to those with incongruent selves. Self-worth is high when the real self
and ideal self re close to each other.

Self-concept

Self-concept is defined as the totality of complex, organized, and dynamic system of

learned beliefs, attitudes, and opinions that each person holds to be true about his or her personal
existence. It is a social product, developing out of interpersonal relationships and striving for
consistency (Rogers, 1959). It is also the individual’s belief about himself or herself, including
his or her attributes (Baumeister, 19990. Self-concept is also defined as the organized structure
of cognitions or thoughts that an individual has about himself or herself (Michener, DeLamater,
& Myers, 2004). It includes the perceptions one has about his or her social identity and personal
qualities, as well as his or her generalizations about the self based on his or her experiences.

Aspects of Self-concept

There are two aspects of self-concept – the existential self and the categorical self.

The existential self begins when an individual recognizes his or her existence as a
separate entity from others and realizes that he or she will continue to exist over a period of time
and space. The existential self usually starts from infancy up to early childhood. This is evident
when a child can relate to the outside world. This is manifested, for instance, when he or she
responds to the clapping of hands or when he or she touches an object and the object moves.

The categorical self starts after a child recognizes his or her existence as a separate entity
and becomes aware that he or she is an object in the world. Like objects with physical properties,
one begins to categorize himself or herself in terms of age, sex, height, and weight. Afterwards,
an individual engages in self-description and other’s perceptions about him or her.

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Three Components of Self-concept

Rogers (1951) believed that the self is composed of concepts unique to every individual.
Self-concept includes three components:

1. Self-worth o self-esteem – is what one thinks about oneself. This develops in early
childhood stage resulting from the interaction of the child with his or her mother
and father.

2. Self-image – is how one sees himself or herself, which is important for good
psychological health. Self-image includes the influence of body image on inner
personality. At a simple level, one might look at oneself as either good or bad,
beautiful or ugly, self-image has an effect on how a person thinks, feels, and
behaves in the world.

3. Ideal self – is the person that one wants to be. It consists of one’s dreams and
goals in life, and it is continuously changing. To illustrate, the ideal self during
childhood is not the same ideal self during adulthood.

Sigmund Freud: The Psychoanalytic Theory of Self

• Freud asserts that the human psyche (personality) is structured into three parts (tripartite).
These structures – the id, ego, and superego – all develop at different stages in a person’s
life.
• These three structures are systems and not physical parts of the brain. Although each part
comprises unique features and contributes to an individual’s behavior, they interact to
form a whole.

Parts of Personality

1. Id (internal desires). Also called internal drives or instinctive drives, it consists of the
body’s primitive biological drives and urges which are concerned only with achieving
pleasure and self-satisfaction. Id lives completely in the unconscious.

2. Ego (reality). It is the “I” part of the individual that gives him/her the sense of his/her
own identity. The ego is the rational part of the personality.

3. Superego (conscience). It is the part of the personality concerned with morals, precepts,
standards, and ideas. The superego is also the critical faculty of the personality.

Freudian Stages of Psychosexual Development

Freud also argues that the development of an individual can be divided into distinct
stages characterized by sexual drives. As a person grows, certain areas become sources of
pleasure, frustration or both.

1. Oral. From birth to the end of the first year, the mouth becomes the part of the body
through which gratification is secured.
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2. Anal (expulsive phase). From the age of 2 to 3 years, the child derives the feelings of
pleasure or pain from defecating. It covers the toilet-training period.

3. Phallic. From the age of 3 to 6 years, the child gets curious about his/her genitals and
becomes attached to the parent of the opposite sex. The attraction of a boy to his mother
called Oedipus complex, while that of a girl to her father is called Electra complex.

4. Latency. From the age of 10 to 12 years, sexual motivations presumably recede in

importance as the child becomes preoccupied with developing skills and other activities.

5. Genital. After puberty, the deepest feelings of pleasure presumably come from
heterosexual relations.

Erik Erikson: The Psychosocial Stages of Self-development

Erikson was primarily concerned with how both psychological and social factors affect
the development of individuals. He has formulated eight major stages of development, each
posing a unique developmental task and simultaneously presenting the individual with a crisis
that he/she must overcome. As defined by Erikson, a crisis is not “a threat of catastrophe but a
turning point, a crucial period of increased vulnerability and heightened potential.” Accordingly,
individuals develop a healthy personality by mastering “life’s outer and inner dangers.”

Psychosocial Stages of Self-development

Basic Period of Important Relationship Choices/ Outcome

Conflicts/ Life Life Events With Decisions
Crisis
Trust vs. Infancy Feeding Maternal To give in The individual
Mistrust (birth to 18 return develops a sense of
months) trust towards the
To get caregiver,
especially with the
mother’s genuine
affection and care.
A lack of this leads
to mistrust.

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 Basic Period of Important Relationship Choices/ Outcome
Conflicts/ Life Life Events With Decisions
Crisis
Autonomy vs Early Toilet Paternal To hold The individual needs
Shame and childhood training on to develop a sense of
Doubt (18 months personal control over
to 3 years) To let go physical skills and a
sense of
independence.
Success leads to
feelings of
autonomy, failure
results in feelings of
shame and doubt.
Initiative vs. Preschool (3 Exploration Family To make The individual needs
Guilt to 5 years) to begin asserting
To make
control and power
like
over the
environment. Parents
who give their
children freedom in
running, sliding,
bike-riding, and
skating are allowing
them to develop
initiative. Success in
this stage leads to a
sense of purpose.
Children who try to
exert too much
power experience
disapproval resulting
in a sense of guilt.

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 Basic Period of Important Relationship Choices/ Outcome
Conflicts/ Life Life Events With Decisions
Crisis
Industry vs. Elementary School School To make As an individual
Inferiority school age (6 things moves into the
Neighborhood
to 11 years) world of schooling,
To make
he/she needs to
together
cope with new
social and academic
demands. Parents
and teachers who
support, reward, and
praise children are
encouraging
industry. Success
leads to a sense of
competence while
failure results in
feelings of
inferiority. Those
who reject, ridicule,
or ignore children’s
efforts are
strengthening
feelings of
inferiority.

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 Basic Period of Important Relationship Choices/ Outcome
Conflicts/ Life Life Events With Decisions
Crisis
Identity vs. Adolescence Social Peer group To be As an individual
Role confusion (12 to 18 relationships oneself enters adolescence or
years) teen years, he/she
To share
needs to develop a
being
sense of self and
oneself
personal identity. An
adolescent tries on
many new roles as
he/she feels romantic
involvement,
vocational choice, and
adult statuses. When
the adolescent fails to
develop a “centered”
identity, he/she
becomes trapped in
either role confusion
or negative identity.
Success leads to an
ability to stay true to
oneself while failure
leads to a weak sense
of self.
Intimacy vs. Young Relationships Partners in To lose As an individual
Isolation adulthood (19 friendship/se grows as a young
To bind
to 40 years) x/competition adult, he/she needs to
oneself to
form intimate, loving
others
relationships with
other people. Success
leads to strong
relationships while
failure results in
loneliness and
isolation.

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 Basic Period of Important Relationship Choices/ Outcome
Conflicts/ Life Life Events With Decisions
Crisis
Generativity Middle Work and Partner To make be Generativity
vs. Stagnation adulthood parenthood means reaching
To take care
(40 to 65 out beyond one’s
of
years) own immediate
concerns to
embrace the
welfare of society
and of future
generations. It
entails
selflessness. The
adult needs to
create or nurture
things that will
outlast him/her,
often by having
children or
creating a
positive change
that benefits other
people. Success
leads to feelings
of usefulness and
accomplishment
while failure
results in shallow
involvement in
the world.
Integrity vs. Old Reflection Mankind To be, The older adult
Despair age/maturity on life through needs to look
(65 to death) having been back on life and
feel a sense of
To face not
fulfilment.
being
Success at this
stage leads to
feelings of
wisdom while
failure results in
regret, bitterness,
and despair.

15
Donald W. Winnicott’s True Self and False Self

The true self is also known as the real self, authentic self, original self, and vulnerable
self. It is the core of who you are, the original you, unshaped by the upbringing of society. It is
one’s spontaneous and natural self-expression, a sense of being alive in mind and body that
allows him or her to be genuinely close to others (Hershey, 2016). This is the state one is born in.
The false self, on the other hand, is also known as the fake self, ideal self, perfect self, and
pseudo self. This is composed of the parts of the self wherein behaviors are altered, feelings are
repressed, and one’s needs are set aside in order to fit in with others. When a person has to
comply with mores, norms, fads, crazes, and fashions, a false self is activated. The false self
constantly seeks to anticipate the demands and expectations of others in order to preserve and
improve relationships. This may happen during childhood when one is restricted by the rules of
his or her parents or guardians, or when one is not allowed to explore, be too adventurous, or be
aggressive. When a child’s demands are denied or rejected, he or she could not insist thinking
that he or she has no right to argue and might be called disrespectful. When one reaches
adolescence, he or she begins to wear a social mask. This social mask helps one to interact
properly in a larger variety of interpersonal contexts. The false self is also called the adapted self.

Albert Bandura’s Agentic Theory of the Self

The social cognitive theory makes use of the agentic theory of the self to make sense of
the self. To be an agent means to be capable of intentionally influencing one’s own functionality
and life circumstances. An agent recognizes his or her own ability to make life decisions. Albert
Bandura, who advanced the agentic theory of the self, asserted that people are not merely passive
entities molded by environmental forces or driven by inner influences. The agentic theory of the
self rejects the notion that selfhood is culturally influenced or controlled by urges, rather, it looks
upon every human being as capable of thinking, deciding, foreseeing, and controlling his or her
actions, free to decide for himself or herself. This capability is termed by Bandura as human
agency. It is the capability of an individual to exert influence over the course of his or her
actions.

For Bandura, there are four core properties of human agency – intentionality,
forethought, self-reactiveness, and self-reflection. Intentionality is manifested in how an
individual forms intentions with action plans and strategies to realize them. The second property,
forethought, refers to how an individual positions his or her plans in the future. This is how he or
she visualizes himself or herself in a future state of existing, therefore ensuring that plans made
can anticipate possible opportunities or roadblocks. The third, self-reactiveness shows that agents
are not only planners and forethinkers but also self-regulators. In order for one’s intentions and
foresight to produce successful actions, an individual needs to self-regulate his or her efforts for
his or her vison to become reality. This includes adopting personal standards, constructing
appropriate courses of action, monitoring activities, and regulating them by making use of self-
reactions. The fourth and last property, self-reflection, signifies that people are capable of self-
examining their own functioning. They reflect on their life pursuits, the meaning of the actions
they take in order to accomplish these pursuits, their thoughts, and personal efficacy. An
individual with agency is expected to be able to manifest these properties in how he or she
functions in his or her environment.

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 Bandura’s theory views the self as a person and not as a distinct entity responsible for
bearing information and regulating behavior. As agents, individuals exercise control over their
own functioning. Since the self is situated in an environment where the interplay of interpersonal
and intrapersonal activities occur, the self functions as a product of these influences making the
individual responsible for how he or she lets these various influences affect how he or she
functions.

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