DEFINING THE SELF:

PERSONAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVES ON SELF AND

IDENTITY

Unit 1: MEET AND GREET: MY HOME, MY SCHOOL

The most challenging and exciting phase is your college life. It is a new
adventure that everyone looks forward to. It is a world different from your elementary as
well as junior and senior high schools. Since you are in your freshman year in SC,
everything – including this subject is new to you.

At the end of this unit, you will be able to:

1. Memorize the vision and mission, and core values of the school
2. Explain the program and the SC’s vision-mission statements and objectives
3. Demonstrate self-understanding and self-acceptance

In college, you are expected to do something for the whole community and even
at home. You are now a freshman student. Can you identify the things that you expect
to do for the community and for the school?

UNIT 2: CONCEPT AND NATURE OF SELF: WHO AM I?

Our names represent who we are. Our names signify us. However, the name is
not the person itself no matter how intimately bound it is with the bearer. It is only a
signifier. Self is thought to be more than the name. Self is something that a person
perennially molds, shapes, and develops. The self is not static.

At the end of this unit, you will be able to:

1. Define the nature, concept, and meaning of the self

2. Discuss the nature of the self from your own point of view;
3. Use the conceptualization and representation of the self from various
disciplines and perspectives

LESSON PROPER

The Philosophical view of Self: Various Philosophers

Socrates: Know Yourself

He is principally concerned with man. He was the first philosopher who engages
in systematic questioning about the self. “Every man is composed of body and soul.” – i.
e. dualism [Man is composed of two important aspects of his personhood]

Therefore, all individuals have an imperfect, impermanent aspect to him, and the
body, while maintaining that there is also a soul that is perfect and permanent.
[Platonic]

He considers man from the point of view of his inner life. The famous life of Socrates
tells each man to bring his inner self to light. A bad man is not virtuous through
ignorance. The core of Socratic ethics is the concept of virtue and knowledge. Virtue is
the deepest and most basic propensity [strong natural tendency to do something] 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.

“An Buhay na dai pinaghurop-huropan mayo nin pakinabang.” - Socrates

Plato: The Ideal Self, Perfect Self

 Plato claimed in his dialogues that Socrates affirmed that the unexamined life is
not worth living. With this, he basically took off from his master and supported the idea
that man is dual in nature. He added that there are components of the soul: a] rational
soul; b] spiritual soul; and c] appetitive soul.

The republic – he emphasizes that justice in the human person can only be
attained if the three parts of the soul are working harmoniously with one another. The
rational soul forged/ copied by reason and intellect that govern the affairs of the human
person; the spiritual soul which in charge of emotions; and appetitive soul in charge of
base desires.

Therefore, when this ideal state is attained, the human person’s soul becomes just and
virtues. To make it simple, a man was omniscient before he came to be born into this
world. In practical terms, this means that man in this life should imitate his former self;
he should live a life of virtue in which true human perfection exists.
“Love in fact is one of the links between the sensible and the eternal world.” - Plato
Rene Descartes: Cogito, ergo sum/ I think, therefore I am

He conceived of the human person as having a body and a mind. He claims that
there is so much that we should doubt since much of what we think and believe is not
infallible, they may turn out to be false.

Rene thought that the only thing that one cannot doubt is the existence of the
self, for even if one doubts oneself, that only proves that there is a doubting self, a thing
that thinks and therefore, that cannot be doubted.

The self then for Rene is also a combination of two distinct entities, the COGITO,
the thing that thinks, which is the mind, and the EXTENZA of the mind, which is the
body, ie. like a machine that is attached to the mind.

The human person has the body but it is not what makes a man a man. If at all,
that is the mind. Descartes: says: “What then am I? A thinking thing, that doubts,
understands, affirms, denies, wills, refuses; that imagines also and perceives.

To sum, although the mind and the body are independent of each other and
serve their own function, man must use his own mind and thinking abilities to
investigate, analyze, experiment, and develop himself.
David Hume: the self is the bundle theory of mind

He is an empiricist who believes that one can know only through the senses and
experiences. Example: Ana knows that Lenard is a man not because she has seen his
soul. Ana knows Lenard just like her because she sees him, hears him, and touches
him.

Hume posits that self is nothing else but a bundle of impressions. What are
impressions? For Hume, they can all be categorized into two: impressions and ideas.
The first one is the basic objects of our experience or sensation. So, it forms the core of
our thoughts. Example: when one touches fire, the hotness sensation is an impression
which is the direct experience.

On the contrary, Ideas are copies of our impressions. Because of this, they are
not as lively and clear as our impressions. Example: the feeling of being in love for the
first time that is an idea. According to Hume, the self is a bundle or collection of various
perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a
perpetual flux and movement. Thus, the self is simply a collection of all experiences
with a particular being.

Immanuel Kant: respect for self

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.

To Kant, there is necessarily a mind that organizes the impressions that men get
from the external world. Time and Space are ideas that one cannot find in the world but
built-in our human mind. Kant calls these the apparatuses of the mind.

Along with the different apparatuses of the mind goes the self. Without the self,
one cannot organize the different impressions that one gets in relation to his own
existence. Thus, the self is not just what gives one his personality. It is also the seat of
knowledge acquisition for all human persons.

Gilbert Ryle: The mind-Body dichotomy

For Ryle, what truly matters is the behavior that a person manifests in his day-to-
day life. For him, looking for and trying to understand the self as it really exists is like
visiting your friends’ university and looking for the “university.”
 Ryle says that self is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply the
convenient name that people use to refer to all the behaviors that people make.
Merleau Ponty: Phenomenologist

He insisted that body and mind are so intertwined from one another. One cannot
find any experience that is not an embodied experience. All experience is embodied.
One’s body is his opening toward his existence to the world. Because men are in the
world. For him, the Cartesian problem is nothing but plain misunderstanding. The living
body, his thoughts, emotions, and experiences are all one.

The Christian or Biblical view of Self The

Holy Bible

“God created man in His 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 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.” Gen. 1:24-28

Thus, it is appropriate to think of the self as the “multi-bejeweled 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, economic,
emotional, sentient, aesthetic, sensual, and sexual aspects.
Augustine: Love and justice as the foundation of the individual self

Augustine’s view of the human person reflects the entire spirit of the medieval
world when it comes to man. He combined the platonic ideas into Christianity
perspective.

Augustine agreed that man is of a bifurcated/ dual nature. An aspect of man

dwells in the world and is imperfect and continuously years to be with the Divine and
the other is capable of reaching immortality.

The body is bound to die on earth and the soul is to anticipate living eternally in
communion with God.

He believes that a virtuous life is the dynamism of love. Loving God means
loving one’s fellowmen; and loving one’s fellowmen denotes never doing any harm to
another.

“An sakong puso dai matutuninong sagkod na Ika mapasapuso ko.” – Augustine

Thomas Aquinas: Angelic doctor

Adapting some ideas from Aristotle, Aquinas said that indeed, man is composed
of two parts: matter and form. Matter/ hyle refers to the common stuff that makes up
everything in the universe. Forms/ morphe refers to the essence of the substance of
things. It is what makes it what it is.

In the case of the human person, the body of the human person is something
that he shares even with animals. What makes a human person a human person is his
essence. Like Aristotle, the soul is what animates the body; it is what makes us
humans.
 The Psychological View of Self

Sigmund Freud: Psychoanalytic theory of self

He asserts that the human psyche [personality] is structured into 3 parts. These
structures – ID [internal desires], EGO [reality], and SUPEREGO [conscience] – all
develop at different stages in a persons’ life.

Freud also argues that the development of an individual can be divided into
distinct stages characterized by sexual drives. As the person grows, certain areas
become sources of pleasure, frustration, or both. Freudian stages of psychosexual
development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.
Erik Erikson: Psychosocial stages of self-development

He primarily concerned with how both psychological and social factors affect the
development of individuals. He formulated 8 major stages of development, each posing
a unique developmental task and simultaneously presenting the individual with a crisis
that s/he must overcome [see chart]

UNIT 3: SELF, SOCIETY AND CULTURE

Across time and history, self has been debated, discussed and fruitfully or
otherwise conceptualized by different thinkers in philosophy. With the advent of social
sciences, it became possible for new ways and paradigms to reexamine the true nature
of the self.

Thinkers settled on the idea that there are two components of the human person
and whatever relationship these two have is less important than the fact that there is a
self. One of the loci, if not the most important axis of analysis is the relationship
between the self and the external world. What is the relationship between external
reality and the self?

At the end of this unit, you will be able to:

1. State the relationship between the self, society, and culture

2. Describe and discuss the different ways by which society and culture shape
the self
3. Interpret how the self can be influenced by the different institutions in
 the society; and
4. Examine one’s self against the different views of self that were discussed

Lesson proper

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.”
*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 twins are distinct
from each other

*SELF-CONTAINED & INDEPENDENT*-because in itself it can exist its distinctness

allow it to be self-contained with its own thoughts, characteristics, and volition. It does
not require any other self for it to exist.

*CONSISTENT*- because it has a personality that is enduring and therefore can be

expected to persist for quite some time its consistency allows to be studied , described,
and measured, consistency also means that a particular self traits , characteristics,
tendencies, and potentialities are more or less the same.

*UNITARY*- in that it is the center of all experiences and thoughts that run through a
certain person it is like the chief command post in an individual where all processes ,
emotion, and thoughts converge.

*PRIVATE*- Each person sorts out information, feelings and emotions, and though
processes within the self. This whole process is never accessible to anyone but the self.
This last characteristic of the self being private suggest that the self is isolated from the
external world

From this perspective: the concern of this lesson is in understanding the vibrant
relationship between the self and the external reality. This reality is called social
constructionist perspective - that argues 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.

Social constructionists argue that self should not be seen as a static entity that
says constant through and through. Rather, the self has to be seen as something that is
in unceasing flux, in a constant struggle with external reality and is malleable in its
dealings with society.

As a man of different roles [as a father, friend, teacher, husband] one can expect
a person to change and adjust his behaviors, ways and even language depending on
his social; situation. We ourselves play different roles, act in various ways depending on
our circumstances. This is not only normal but it is also acceptable and expected. The
self is capable of morphing and fitting itself into any circumstances it finds itself in.
THE SELF AND CULTURE

Remaining the same person and turning chameleon by adapting to one's context
seems paradoxical. A French Anthropologist MARCEL MAUSS has an explanation for
this phenomenon. According to Mauss, every self has two faces: personne and moi.

Moi - refers to a person's sense of who he is, his body, and his basic identity, his
biological governess. Moi is a person's basic identity personne on the other hand, is
composed of the social concepts of what it means to be who he is.

Personne - has much to do with what it means to live in a particular institution, a

particular family, a particular religion, a particular nationality and how to behave given
expectations and influences from others.

THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL WORLD

The unending terrain of metamorphosis of the self is mediated by language.

Language as both a publicly shared and privately utilized symbol system is the site
where the individual and the social make and remake each other.

MEAD AND VYGOTSKY

For Mead & Vygotsky the way that the human persons develop is with the use of
language acquisition and interactions with others - without a family biologically and
sociologically a person may not even survive or became a human person.

GENDER AND THE SELF

Here is another important aspects of the self and gender. GENDER is one of
those loci of the self that is subject to alteration, change, and development. We have
seen in the past years how people fought hard for the right to express, validate, and
assert their gender expression.

However, from the point of view of the social sciences and the self, it is important
to give one the leeway to find, express, and live his identity. This account illustrates that
our gender partly determines how we see ourselves in the world. Often times society
forces a particular identity unto us depending on our sex and /or gender .

Both Vygotsky and Mead treat the human mind as something that is made
constituted through language as experienced in the external world and as encountered
in dialogs with other. A young child internalized values, norms, practices, and social
beliefs and more through exposure to these dialogs that will eventually become part of
his individual world. VYGOTSKY, for this part a child internalizes real life dialogs that he
has had with others, with his family, his primary caregiver, or his play mates.

Self in Families

Apart from the anthropological and psychological basis for the relationship
between the self and the social world, the sociological likewise struggled to understand
the real connection between the two concepts. In doing so, sociologists focus on the
different institutions in powers at play in the society. Among these the most prominent is
the family. GENDER has to be personally discovered and asserted and not dictated by
culture and the society.

Unit 4: SELF AS COGNITIVE CONSTRUCT

As discussed in the previous unit, every field of study, at least in the social
sciences, have their own research, definition, and conceptualization of self and identity.
Some are similar while some specific only their field. Each field also has thousands of
research on self and identity as well as related or synonymous terms. The trend of the
lessons also seems to define the concept of the "self" from a larger context (i. e; culture
and society) down to the individual. However, it must be pointed out the modern
researches acknowledge the contributions of each field and this is not some sort of a
Nurture vs. Nature, society/culture versus Individual/brain, and other social sciences vs.
Psychology debate, psychology may focus on the individual and cognitive functions, but
it does not discount the context and other possible factors that affect the individual.

For students who take up psychology, discussions on theories, and development,

among others actually take at least one semester and there are still more to be learned
about the concept of "self".

This lesson provides an overview of the themes of psychology regarding the said
concept.
 At the end of this unit, you will be able to:

1. Analyze the effects of various factors identified in psychology in the formation

of the "self".
2. Create your own definition of the "self" based on the definitions from
psychology; and
3. Evaluate the different ideas in psychology about the "self".
LESSON PROPER
Self as cognitive construct

In confidence or in an attempt to avoid further analytical discussions, a lot of

people say, "I am who I am" yet, this statement still begs the question, "if you are who
you are, then who are you that makes you who you are?"

As mentioned earlier, there are various definitions of the "self" and other similar
or interchangeable concepts in psychology simply put, "self" is "the sense of personal
identity and of who we are as individuals (Jhangiani and Tarry 2014)."

William James (1890) was one of the earliest psychologists to study the self and
conceptualized the self as having two aspects the "I" and the "me".

The "I" is the thinking, acting, and feeling self (Gleitman, Gross, and Reisburg
2011; Hogg, and Vaughan 2010). The "me" on the other hand, is the physical
characteristics as well as psychological capabilities that makes who you are (Gleitman,
Gross, and Reisburg 2011; Hogg and Vaughan 2010). Carl Rogers's (1959) theory of
personality also used the same terms, the "I" as the one who acts and decides while tha
"me" is what you think or feel about yourself as an object (Gleitman,Gross and Reisburg
2011).

Other concept similar to self are IDENTITY is composed of personal

characteristics, social roles, and responsibilities, as well as affiliations that define who
one is (Oyserman, Elmore, and Smith 2012).

Self-concept is what basically comes to your mind when you are asked about
who you are (Oyserman, Elmore, and Smith 2012). Self-identity and self-concept are
not fixed in on-e time frame, and they are not fixed for life nor are they ever-changing at
every moment.

Carl Rogers captured this idea in his concept of self-schema or our organized
system or collection of knowledge about who we are (Gleitman, Gross, and Reisberg
2011; jhangaini and Tarry 2014). Imagine an organized list or diagram similar to the one
below.
 Hobbies

SELF
Family Religion

Nationality

It may also include your interest, work, course, age, name, and physical
characteristics, among others. As you grow and adapt to the changes around you, they
also change, but they are not passive receivers, they actively shape and affect how you
see, think and feel about things.

Theories generally see the self and identity as mental construct created and
recreated in memory (Oyserman, Elmore, and Smith 2012). Current researches point to
the frontal lobe of the brain as the specific area in the brain associated with the
processes concerning the self.

Several psychologist, especially during the fields earlier development, followed

this trend of thought, looking deeper into the mind of the person to theorize about the
self, identity, self-concept, and in turn, one's personality.

The most influential of them is SIGMUND FREUD. Basically, Freud saw the self
its mental processes and ones behavior as the result of the interaction between the I.D,
EGO and the SUPEREGO.

As in the above mentioned definitions of the self, social interaction always has a
part to play in who we think we are. This is not nature vs. Nurture but instead a nature--
and--nurture perspective.

Three reasons why self and identity are social products:

1. We do not create ourselves out of nothing.

2. Whether you like to admit it or not, we actually needs others to affirm and
reinforce who we think we are, we also need them as reference points about our
identity.
3. What we think is important in our social or historical context.

Two types of self that we can be aware: the private self or your internal
standards and private thoughts and feelings. The public self or your public image
commonly geared toward having a good presentation of yourself to others (Hogg and
Vaughan 2010)

Self-awareness there are times, however, when we are aware of our self-
concepts also present us with at least three other self-schema the:

ACTUAL, IDEAL, and OUGHT SELF.

ACTUAL SELF is who you are at the
moment IDEAL SELF is who you like to be.
OUGHT SELF is who you think you should be.

SELF- AWARENESS may be positive or negative depending on the circumstances

and our next course of action. It can keep you doing something dangerous. It can be too
much that we are concerned about being observed and criticized by others. It is also
known as self-consciousness (Jhangiani and Tarry 2014).

At other times, especially with large crowds, we may experience de individuation or

"the loss of individual self-awareness and individual accountability in groups. A lot of
people will attune themselves with the emotions of their group and because the large
crowd also provides some kind of anonymity. We may lessen our self-control and act in
ways that we will not do when we are alone.

Our group identity and self-awareness also has a great impact on our self-esteem,
one of the common concepts associated with the "self". It is define our own positive or
negative perception or evaluation of ourselves (jhangiani, And Tarry 2014; Gleitman,
Gross, and Reisberg 2011).

One of the ways in which our social relationship affects our self-esteem is through
social comparison. According to the social comparison theory, we learn about
ourselves, the appropriateness of our behaviors, as well as our social status by
comparing aspects of ourselves with other people (Jhangiani, and Tarry 2014; Hogg
and Vaughan 2010).
 The DOWNWARD SOCIAL COMPARISON is the more common type of comparing
ourselves with others. As the name implies, we create a positive self-concept by
comparing ourselves with those who are worse off than us. (Jhangiani and Tarry 2014).
By having the advantage, we can raise our self-esteem.

The UPWARD SOCIAL COMPARISON which is comparing ourselves with those

who are better off than us (jhangiani, and Tarry 2014). While it can be a form of
motivation for some, a lot of those who do this actually felt lower self-esteem as they
highlight more of their weakness or inequities.

SOCIAL COMPARISON also entails what is called self-evaluation maintenance

theory, which states that we can feel threatened when someone out-performs us,
especially when that person is close to us (i.e., a friend or family).

Take note that this occurs not only between individuals but also among groups.
Thus, if a person’s group is performing better and is acknowledged more than the
group, then his self-esteem may also be heightened.

Such social comparison also entails what is called self-evaluation maintenance

theory, which states that we can feel threatened when someone out-performs us,
especially when that person is close to us. In this case, we usually react in three ways:

FIRST, we distance ourselves from that person or redefine our relationship with
them. Some will resort to the silent treatment, change of friends, while some may also
redefine by being closer to that person, hoping that some association may give him a
certain kind of acknowledgement also.

SECOND, we may also reconsider the importance of the aspect or skill in which
you were out performed.

LASTLY, we may also strengthen our resolve to improve that certain aspect of
ourselves.

However, in the attempt to increase or maintain self-esteem, some people become

narcissistic. NARCISSISM is a "trait characterized by overly high self-esteem, self-
admiration, and self-centeredness.
 Sometimes, there is a thin line between high self-esteem and
narcissism and there are a lot of test and measurements for self-esteem like
the Rosenberg scale but the issue is that the result can be affected by the
desire of the person to portray herself in a positive or advantageous way.