iology

Modules for Understanding the Self (Version 1: 1-8)

Overview of the Course

This course deals with the nature of identity, as well as the factors and forces that affect the
development and maiintenance of personal identity. It is intended to help students understand thyself
and to facilitate the exploration of the issues and concerns regarding self and identity to arrive at a
better understanding of one’s self.
The course is divided into three major parts. First part is to provide students understanding the
construct of the self from various disciplinal perspectives: Philosophy, Sociology, Anthropology,
Psychology and the Western and Eastern concept. Second part explores the different aspects that make
up the self, its biological and material up to including the digital self. The final part identifies the three
areas of concerns for young students: learning, goal setting and managing stress. This provides a more
application of the concepts tackled to enable them to get hands-on experience in developing self-help
plans for self-regulated learning, goal setting and self-care.

WEEK 1

Topic: Introduction: What is Self?

Learning Objectives:
1. Know the various aspects of “self”.
2. Understand why “self” as the focus in the study of Psychology.
3. Discover one’s self against the different views of the self based on various philosophers.
4. Explain why it is essential to understand the self.

Abstaction:
Before we even received formal education by sending us to school, we are first taught at home
how to write our names. Our names are usually considered as logo of our self. Everyone has a name and
in this name is attached your description as a person. It represents who we are, to denote our being.
Even death can not cut the bond between the name and the person.
What is Self? The self has many aspects. This is composed of self-awareness, self-esteem, self-
knowledge and self-perception. With these aspects, a person is able to change, alter or modify himself in
order to become acceptable in the society.
Have you ever thought not to take care of yourself? Do you believe that loving others must
come first than loving yourself? What should be done first, love yourself or love others? The self is the
focus in the study of Psychology. It is either the cognitive or the affective representation of the
individual. Cognitive refers to the intellectual activity, while the affective refers to the feelings
influenced by emotions. To study the self is so important, not only for you but more importantly for the
sake of creating a harmonious and productive society.

To do List:
1. Readings on self-awareness, self-esteem, self-knowledge and self-perception.
2. Readings on students beliefs and concerns regarding the self
3. Journal writing on self-development.

Activities:
1. Am I Who I Am? Look for 10 persons to describe yourself before and today. Be sure that the
chosen persons to describe you are those who have known you since birth. Let them write their
description on a paper. Gather them all and read what they had written about you.

2. Self-collage. Do the following.

Time. Think of something that you believe represent this. Explain why you choose that
something to represent time.
Childhood revisitation. Revisit your childhood by asking what you were during your 5- 10 yr
old, your likes and dislikes. Re-assess whether your likes and dislikes today are still the same
 Personal Collection. Name five most important things to you. Arrange them according to
their importance to you. Explain why they are important to you and their degrees of
importance.
3. Essay. Give your own definition on the following based on what you understand its meanings.
a. Self-awareness
b. Self-esteem
c. Self- knowledge
d. Self- perception
WEEK 2

Topic: Continuation of the activities of What is Self?

Learning Objectives:
1. Set and clarify the goals they want to accomplish.
2. Describe oneself according what they really are.
3. Understand fully and develop their personalities.

Abstraction:
According to Norman Vincent Peale, “ Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a
humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.” This is a
very inspiring statement of a famous personality, an author and a minister, who strongly believes about
positive thinking about yourself.
How well do you know yourself? Do you know your talents and skills? Have you assessed your
strenghts and weaknesses? According to the point of views of different psychologists, inorder for a man
to become a productive member of the society, one should know well who he is. And how one can know
himself well? Knowing oneself is through discovering your own qualities. When you can describe your
qualities well, that would only say that you really understand yourself. To understand who you are is
also very important in developing yourself too.

To Do List:

1. Readings on self-actualization.
2. Read about individual differences.

Assessment Activities:

1. Reflective Learnings.
A. Bucket List. Write 5 things that you wish to do and accomplished before you die.
Explain why you want to achieve them.

B. How Do You View Yourself. Select 10 positive adjectives which you believe well
describe yourself, and 10 negative adjectives which you think exactly describe yourself.

C. Video. Reflective Assessment.

2. Esssay. Answer the following questions.

1. How will you describe your individual differences with your siblings?
2. What makes you a unique individual from others? Cite your distinct characteristics.
3. When do you consider that you are already a self-actualized person?
WEEK 3

Topic: The Self From Various Disciplinal Perspective

Learning Objectives:
1. Discuss the different representations and conceptualizations of the self from various disciplinal
perspective.
2. Compare and contrast how the self has been represented across different disciplines and
perspectives.
3. Examine the different influences, factors and forces that shape the self.
4. Demonstrate critical and reflective thought in analyzing the development of one’s self and
identity by developing a theory of the self.

Abstraction:
In man’s pursuit of knowledge and truth, thinkers for centuries have searched for explanations and
reasons for everything that exists around him. In Athens of ancient Greece, approximately 600 BCE,
marked birth of Philosophy (literally, “love of wisdom”) as it influenced Western thought and still has
until today. Questions centered on the universe and what possible role man may play in it. The Greeks in
search for knowledge came up with answers that are both cognitive and scientific in nature. (Price,
2000).

Like the Greek philosohers in Miletus, they chose to look for natural explanations to events and
phenomena around them instead of seeking for supernatural explanations from the gods as what was
passed down through the generations. These philosophers observed changes in the world and wanted
to explain these changes by understanding the laws of nature. Their study of change led them to the
idea of permanence. (Price, 2000).
These early philosophers exerted efforts to seek for explanations into how the world works through
unnderstanding the elements, mathematics, heavenly bodies and even atoms. While another group of
philosophers shifted their search and focused on man. They sought to understand the nature of human
beings, problems of morality and life philosophies. From trying to understand nature and the universe,
questions now center on the inner world of man, such as: Who am I? Why am I here? What do I want
out of life? (Price, 2000).

To Do List:
1. Readings on the “ big three” ancient Greek philosophers’ (Socrates, Plato and Aristotle), St.
Augustines, Rene Descartes, John Locke, David Hume, I. Kant, Sigmund Freud, G. Ryle, P.
Churchland andM. Merleau-Ponty perspectives on the self or human nature.

Assessment Activities:

1. Reflective Learnings.
A. Philosopher’s Gallery Collection. Cite the different familiar quotes of different philosopers
and explain your understanding about their quotes in relation to human nature.
B. Challenge your ability. Choose one philosophical perspective of the SELF from among those
discussed that made a strong impression on your concept of yourself. Draw a whole body of
man and make a graphic representation on how this philosophy describes the SELF.

2. Essay. Answer the following.

1. Why do philosophers differ in their explanations of the self?
2. How has the concept of the so called “self” changed over the centuries when human
nature remained basically the same?
3. Choose whose philosophical perspective help you rediscover yourself, and explain why
and how his perspective gave you the best understanding of yourself.
WEEK 4

Topic: Sociology’s Perspectives of the Self

Learning Objectives:

1. Discover ways by which the social surroundings influence people’s thoughts, feelings and
behaviours.
2. Explain and understand how human societies and their culture shape the self.
3. Describe one’s self in comparison to the different views of self from various sociologists.

Abstraction:

Sociology is one of the disciplines in the social sciences which aims to discover the ways by
which the social environment influences people’s behavior. It focuses on the understanding of human
societies, the need to know and be aware of social processes to make people see themselves better by
learning how the social works impacts on their existence. With the different thoughts and observations
of some sociologists, people will understand the significant role of other people to play in the
development of the self.

Eventually with the advent of new knowledge, different sociologists had come up with new
approaches of how to define and explain the self. One of the perspectives that most sociologists was
focusing, is the relationship between the self and the external world. This is apt to answers questions
such as: how much of you are essential? How much of who you are now a product of your society,
community and family? Has your choice of school affected yourself now? Had you been born into a
different family and schooled in a different college, how much of you are now would change?

To Do List:

1. Readings on Sociology and the various thoughts and observations of some sociologists
about the self.
2. Readings on the famous quotes of popular sociologists.
3. Readings on the Self influenced by society, culture and other aspects.

Assessment Activities:

1. Reflective Learnings.

A. Insight- Building. Search pictures of yourself at different ages. Describe each picture at
different ages. Answer all the questions at different age levels.

Ages 3-6 years old. What event/ happening can you recall clearly at this age?
Briefly relate the memory. Who was the person you remember the most at this age? Why?

Ages 7- 10 years old. What was most important to you at this age? Why? What
event/happening can you recall clearly at this age? Briefly relate the memory. Who was the
person you remember the most at this age? Why? What significant changes happened to you at
this age?

Ages 11-14 years old. What event/happening can you recall clearly at this age?
Briefly relate the memory. Who was the person you remember the most at this age? Why?
What significant changes happened to you at this stage?
 And 15 years to the present. What now is most important to you and why? Have
all of your past experiences made you a better person and how? If you were to change anything
in your past, what would it be and why? Are you happy with yourself now and why?

B. Video Analysis. Watch a video on the Life of Vincent Van Gogh. After watching, make an
insight paper by integrating the sociological concepts of your discussion. What social
influences made Van Gogh the great painter?

2. Essay. Answer the following questions.

A. In what way can the social environment influence the development of the self?

B. Is the person’s sense of self a permanent construct or can it still change? Support
your claims.
WEEK 5

Topic: Anthropology’s Perspectives of the Self

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand better man’s self by interconnecting his culture and his environment.

2. Realize that the similarities and diversities among them are what makes life so interesting.

3. Adopt and adapt his culture as vital for a harmonious environment to live with.

Abstraction:

What is anthropology? Anthropology is a field of the social sciences that focuses on the study
of man, past and present. It focuses on understanding the human condition in its cultural aspect. Culture
is a strong part of people’s lives. It influences their views, their values, the humor, their hopes, their
loyalties and their worries and fears. This does not pertain only to one aspect of man but rather on the
totality of what it means to be human. It answers the question about the importance to know the
similarities that exist among individuals. In general sense, anthropology is concerned with the
understanding how humans evolved and how they differ from one another. It is a very dynamic field,
and anthropological literature offers several definitions of “self”.

There are various descriptions of “self” coming from different modern anthropologists such as
Katherine Erwing, Joseph LeDoux, Sigmund Freud and Catherine Raeff. Most of them have common
beliefs about the self as a unit but unitary, and that it is embedded in society and culture.

To Do List:

1. Readings on Anthropology about the human culture to define the self, and its relation on
understanding the self.
2. Readings on the different fields of Anthropology.

Assessment Activities:

1. Reflective Learnings.

A. Profiling. Make your personal data composed of Family Data, Health Data and Cultural
data.
B. Me and My Culture. Observe your culture at home and your community. Identify the
beauty of your culture at home and in your community. What are your practices and traditions that you
like and you dislike. Write them in a paper and discuss them to your class zoom conference.

2. Essay. Answer the following

A. Why is it important to know the similarities that exist among individuals?

B. After scientists learn what made people similar, why is it also important to know what
sets them apart?
WEEK 6

Topic: Psychology’s Perspective on the Self

Learning Objectives:

1. Distinguish the different explanations of the various Psychologists about the self.

2. Come up with his own definition of the “self” based on the different definitions from
Psychology.

3. Discover the role of individual differences in the determination of the self.

Abstraction:

Psychology is the field of the social sciences that deals with the description, explanation,
prediction and control of behavior. It focuses in the observation of mental processes. In relation to the
study of human behavior is the concept of the self. Psychologists from different generations have given
their own explanations of the self for a clearer, better understanding of the individual in particular and
human behavior in general.

Through the different assessments of the self by various Psychologists, it will be certain that
self is composed of the cognitive and affective construct. In Piaget’s Cognitive Theory, the stages of
one’s cognitive development is well defined and explained giving us a clearer view on the concept of
cognitive development. Moreover, Susan Harter had also given her detailed assessment of self-concept.
Other psychologists had as well given their assumptions how the self is influenced by nature and
nurture.

To Do List:

1. Readings on the various theories of Psychologists : William James, George Mead, Carl Rogers,
Susan Harter, Erik Erickson, Albert Bandura, Jean Piaget, Gordon Allport and D.W. Winnicott.

2. Click the link below.

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/teachereducationx92x1/chapter/eriksons-stages-of-
psychosocial-development/

Assessment Activities:

1. Reflective Learnings.

A. Selfie- Me. Using your mobile phone cameras or digital camera take a
picture of you. From the picture of yourself, label it with what particular part
represent your material self, social self, true self, false self, multiple selves
and unified self.

B. Reflection Paper. Make a reflection paper by making a short composition

of the guide questions below.

a. Which of the selves discussed in the perspective of Psychology

is true for you? (at least 150 words)
 b. Give life experiences that have created changes in your outlook
and eventually influenced your behavior. Explain how it changes your outlook
and influenced your behavior. (minimum of 150 words).

2. Essay. Answer the following the questions.

1. Why are there many versions about the self in Psychology?

2. What role do individual differences play in the determination of the self?

WEEK 7

Topic: The Self in Western and Eastern Thought

Learning Objectives:

1. Differentiate the concept of the “self” according to Western and Eastern’s

Perspectives.
2. Describe the concept of the “self” in the Asian perspective.

3. Present and justify a Filipino self.

Abstraction:

Different and varying environment tend to create different perceptions of the self and one of
the most common distinctions between cultures and people is the Eastern-vs-Western dichotomy
wherein Eastern represents Asia and Western represents Europe and Northern America. It must be
understood that these distinctions and the countries included were politically colored at the time that
aforementioned concepts were accepted and used in the social sciences. Furthermore, it must be
reiterated that while countries who are geographically closer to each other may share commonalities,
but there are also a lot of factors that create the differences. In the Philippines alone, each region may
have a similar or varying perceptions regarding the “self”.

To Do List:

1. Readings on Western and Eastern Thoughts of the self.

2. Readings on Confuciu’s Perspective of the self.

Assessment Activities:

1. Reflective Learnings.

A. Illustration. Create a representation, diagram, or concept map of the self

according to your culture. Explain your representation and describe
your culture.
B. Mini-survey. Survey on Individualistic and Collective Self

Process:

a. Make a survey-checklist for a number of respondents.

b. Respondents must be 10 males and 10 females with ages 10-12 yrs old;

10 males and 10 females, singles, 18 to 20 yrs old

10 males with girlfriends and 10 females with boyfriends

10 homosexual males and 10 homosexual females

 c. You are going to retrieve the checklist and tally the responses.
Consolidate and interpret the results based on the demography of the
respondents.

d. Your output must be guided by the following questions in their

interpretation:

1. Are the respondents in the group manifesting individualistic or

collective selves?

2. What probable factors affected their development of such selves?

Support your answer.

3. Are Filipinos generally a collective culture? Support your answer

with examples.

e. Submit the consolidated report together with the answered checklist in

an envelope.

f. Reflect and write down three (3) important things you learned about the
self.

C. Two Sides of the Same Planet

Write five primary differences between Western and Eastern society, culture and
individuals in the table. Cite your sources.

WESTERN EASTERN

2. Essay. Answer the following.

a. Do you believe that the teachings of Confucio are still applicable at

present? Support your answer.

b. What are the Filipino traits that you like and dislike? Name at least 5 each.

c. After the person is born, does he have the option to decide what kind of
self he wants to have?
WEEK 8

Topic: Unpacking the Self: The Physical and Sexual Self

Learning Objectives:

1. Know the developmental aspect of the reproductive system.

2. Understand the whole human physical aspects.

3. Explain human sexual behavior.

Abstraction:

We are living in a world where the material and immaterial self are both represented most
especially by the aid of modern technology. Today, we do not only live to the physical world but also
with the virtual reality. Our society may have shaped us in many ways but whether we like it or not, we
need to understand the basic which makes up our self, the physical and sexual aspects.

To have a positive view of self involves understanding that healthy, attractive bodies come in
various shapes and sizes, and that physical appearance may influence our value as a person. That
according to some experts, physical beauty can be a determinant for self -value. What philosophers
think about beauty? What did Psychologists discover about beauty? How cultural traditions shape body
image? How important is physical beauty? Does your body image have an impact on your self-esteem?
These few questions can guide us in understanding how the physical aspect may influence the self.

However, gender of the individual can also influence the self. Understanding the human sexual
responses may help us to have a better self. Gender may explain well man’s psychological aspect of
sexual desire giving one a broader assessment of the self.

To Do List:

1. Readings on Stages of Physical and Sexual Development.

2. Watch a video on Stages of Human Development

Assessment Activities:

1. Reflective.

A. Body Mapping. Draw a human body and identify the part of your body
which you believe the most beautiful and describe why it is beautiful to
you. Point out also what part of your body you want to be changed and
explain why. Create a slogan that makes a good title to your drawing.

B. Ramp Modelling. Make a video of yourself as a ramp model. Make a

make- over of yourself. Create a ramp model by your own choice of what
do you like to represent.

2. Essay. Answer the following questions.

a. How do you perceive their physical self in comparison to others

perception?
 b. What is the significance of beauty to you?

c. How does gender influence the self?

Criteria for Essay Assessment:

A. Content ------- 10

B. Grammar -------- 10

C. Organization ------ 10