KNOWING ONESELF – STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS

(December 10 – Tuesday)
SELF DEVELOPMENT

You may find it odd that you are starting to ask yourself questions, but you’ve got to understand that you
are not the only person who experienced it. In other words, what you are experiencing is just normal. Now that
you are in your middle or late adolescence, we can say that you may have discovered changes in your life, or in
your behavior or attitude that compel you to discover more.

Self-development is a process of discovering oneself by realizing one's potentials and capabilities that
are shaped over time either by studying in a formal school or through environmental factors. Along this
realization, an individual encounters gradual changes deep within him/her that may help him/her overcome
unacceptable practices or traits which lead him towards positive change for his growth or self-fulfillment. It is
also called personal development.

On the other hand, examining yourself, most specifically how you react on things, your belief, traits, and
values is one of the most complicated things to do in the world. You must understand, though, that it is not that
simple. In fact, it follows a process.

Know Thyself

According to the philosophical point of view, “An unexamined life is not worth living”, this is one of
the famous lines once uttered by one of the greatest philosophers of Ancient Greek, Socrates.

Know Thyself is an old maxim or aphorism which in time has been used in varied literature and
consequently gained different meanings. One of its meanings is recorded in the Greek encyclopedia of
knowledge called “The Suda”.

Thomas Hobbes also discussed his own views about the maxim from which he used the phrase “read
thyself” in his famous work The Leviathan. He stressed that an individual could learn more by studying others
and that he/she can do this by engaging himself/herself to reading books. However, Hobbes emphasized that a
person learns more by studying oneself.

He further elaborated his views about know thyself from which he stated that a man who investigates
himself/herself and considers contemplating on what he/she did or what he/she thinks, reasons, hopes and/or
fears and to what grounds he/she feels all these can consequently learn how to read and learn others’ thoughts
and passions in similar occasions.

Thus, this statement leads us to the realization that knowing oneself is the open door that leads us to
knowing others better.

Self-Concept

Self-concept is one’s abstract and general idea about him/herself particularly toward his/her
unique personality and his/her own perception about his/her set of values, point of views and behavior.

This theory began as Rene Descartes, the Father of Modern Philosophy, proposed his theory that a
person’s existence depends on his/her perception. Rene Descartes stated that mind is the seat of consciousness.
 This means that it is in the mind that we know everything about ourselves like our identity, passion,
interest, feelings, and/or intellect, thus everything that we are comes from the mind.

Self-concept theory has a lot of suppositions regarding how people learn to judge themselves. Among
these, Sincero named three aspects such as:

Self-concept is learned. This explains that no individual is born with self-concept. A person will soon
develop this as he/she grows old. This means that self-concept can only be acquired as soon as the person learns
how to mingle with others and so this indicates that self-concept is influenced by the person’s environment and
can be a product of the person’s socialization.

Self-concept is organized. This stresses out that one’s perception towards him/her is firm. This means that
a person may hear other people’s point of view regarding him/her but will keep on believing that what he/she
thinks of himself/herself is always the right one. Change on one’s perceptions towards him/her, however, may also
be possible but it takes time.

Self-concept is dynamic. As an individual grows older, he/she continues to encounter problems or

challenges that may reveal his/her self-concept in that particular time or situation. A person will definitely respond
to the scenario based on his/her own insights and how he/she perceives himself/herself in the situation. Thus, self-
concept undergoes development as the person goes through different experiences.

Aside from the philosophers above, Sigmund Freud who is a well-known psychologist, neurologist and
the creator of Psychoanalysis Theory and the father of psychoanalysis, proposed that there are three components
of personality within us: the Id, Ego and Superego that certainly play a vital role of how we think of ourselves.
Let’s tackle them one by one

The Id. Freud explained that man's personality is driven by pleasure principle. This means that the nature
of Id is to satisfy man's desire without thinking much of the situation. This nature is being developed at a young
age or present from birth. To illustrate this idea let us take this as an example. An infant will cry if he/she wants to
be fed to satisfy his/her hunger. Definitely, an infant cannot exactly explain what he/she really wants. Also, infants
do grab things and would want to get things on their hands not minding if they hurt or if they are important or not.
All they want is to get them for they want them. This is the nature of Id, when the Id wants it, the rest are no
longer important. However, this instinct is controlled by the ego and superego as these aspects are developed in
man’s life later on.

The Ego. This is the second component of the personality that is developed at approximately the age of
three. This operates according to reality which makes it possible for the Id to work in a more proper and
satisfactory ways. The ego will give a more socially accepted means of getting the desires and wants of a person
without getting to hurt others feelings. In other words, it is the job of the ego to provide a man some guidelines on
how to behave accordingly while he fulfilled his pleasure. This component of our personality is manifested
whenever we try to satisfy our cravings without compromising our self-image to others.

The Superego. Freud believed that this aspect of man begins to manifest as a child turns 5. This is the last
component of personality which holds our moral judgments or concept of right and wrong that are believed to be
acquired from the family and the environment. This personality is developed as man learns the culture of
distinguishing right from wrong based on the set of guidelines and standards that are known to people which
might have been probably imposed by the people in the community like parents, teachers, elders or the community
as a whole. Therefore, superego directs a man’s life in order for him to avoid hurting others.
 KNOWING ONESELF – CHARACTERISTICS, HABITS, AND EXPERIENCES
(December 11 – Wednesday)

Adolescence is the period when a young individual develops from a child into an adult. There are many changes
that can happen to an adolescent like you and some of those are: how you look, how you take your role in the
community, how other people expect you in making decisions on your own, and how you perceive yourself.
Although the "Self" is one of the factors of what we thought about ourselves, it is also the result of what we think
and/or do.
Many people believe that we are the product of our own experiences. Those experiences shape our unique
qualities and habits that define who we as a person and differ from others. Your features or own qualities that
made you a unique are characteristics; when you do something repeatedly and regularly it is a habit; and
experiences are the skills or knowledge you have gained because you have done it already from the past.
Now let us focus on when and how our characteristics, habits, and experiences develop and manifest by
identifying some of the factors that may affect a person’s “Self”:
Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is your evaluation of your own worth. It may be positive or negative. Positive self-esteem is
the valuation that is pleasing and acceptable according to your standard and that of others, while negative self-
esteem is the opposite which is feeling distraught or down and unaccepted by others. Our self-concept will contain
many positive thoughts and we will have high self-esteem if we have completed an important task, done
something that we believe is valuable or important, or if we feel accepted and respected by others. Thus, self-
esteem does not imply that one believes that he or she is better than others, only that he or she is a person of worth
(Diener & Lucas 2017).
Our self-esteem may change from time to time depending on the situation we encounter in our daily life.
Since it can be partly a trait that someone can possess, it depends on how you perceive the things coming your
way.
Self-esteem can be tested in two ways: explicitly and implicitly, and both methods reveal that most people
have a favorable image of themselves. The Rosenberg SelfEsteem Scale is a popular explicit self-report measure
of self-esteem (Stangor et al.). Higher scores on the scale indicate higher self-esteem.
Self-Efficacy
Efficacy has a specific impact on behavior and emotions, allowing people to effectively manage problems
and achieve desired outcomes. It is your desire to influence something specific. It's a self-confidence in your
ability to attain your most significant goal. The greater the likelihood of achieving a positive outcome, the stronger
the belief. For example, if you want to get a better grade and are secure in your belief, it will happen.
Self-efficacy may sound like a term you're already familiar with—self-esteem— but they're not the same
thing. Self-esteem is the measure of how much you like or "esteem" yourself, or how much you believe you are a
decent and worthwhile person. Self-efficacy, on the other hand, refers to your belief in your ability to succeed and
perform well in various areas of life, such as education, work, and relationships (Syrett 2020).
You can perform a certain job or achieving a specific goal by means of these five (5) different ways that
influenced self-efficacy, from the ideas of Albert Badura, a professor, and a psychologist.
 Performance Experiences – if you are good at achieving your specific goal, then you probably
think that you will achieve it again. When the opposite happens, if you fail, you will often think that
you will fail again.
  Vicarious Performances – if others achieved their goal or specific task, then you'll come to believe
that you will also achieve your goal.
 Verbal Persuasion – it is when people tell you whether they believe or not on what you can do or
cannot do. The effect of your self-efficacy will depend on how that person matters to you.
 Imaginal Performances – When you imagine yourself doing well, then it will happen.
 The Affective States & Physical Sensations – if your mood or emotion (e.g. shame) and physical
state (e.g. shaking) come together, it will affect your self efficacy. If negative mood connects with
negative physical sensation, the result will be negative. And if it is positive, most likely the result
will be positive.
Self and Identity
Have you tried to talk with yourself in front of the mirror? What did you see? According to
William James, a psychologist, “the self is what happens when I reflect upon ME". Taylor described the
self as a Reflective Project. How we see ourselves is geared toward improving ourselves depending on a
lot of factors.
Dan McAdam, a psychologist, reiterated that even there are many ways on how we reflect to
improve ourselves, it brings us back to these three (3) categories:
1. Self as Social Actor - We are portraying different roles and behaving for every type/set of
people in front of us since we all care about what people think about us. It is practically for social
acceptance.
2. Self as Motivated Agent - People act based on their purpose. They do things based on their own
dreams, desires, and planned goals for the future. This, though, is not easily identifiable since it is self-
conceptualized, unless it was shared with us.
3. Self as Autobiographical Author - He/she as the creator of his/her own entire life story. It is
about how oneself is developed from his/her past, up to the present, and what he/she will become in the
future.
Judgment and Decision Making
As an individual, you are expected to act and decide on your own. Most people tend to decide
based on the intuitions and available information that could be a hindrance in making a wise decision and
that could be a habit.
It is recommended that people think through critical judgement or decision. Unfortunately, we
don't always do so. (Jhangiani 2020) Many of us place far more trust in our instincts than we should.
And, even when we try to think logically, the way we enter data into formal decision-making procedures
is frequently biased.
For instance, you applied for different courses in six (6) different universities, and you were able
to qualify in all. Now, how will you decide? To help you, the idea of Bazerman and Moore in 2013
reiterated by Jhangiani that suggests the Six Steps on How to Make a Rational Decision:
 Define the Problem (select your most desired course);
 Identify the criteria necessary to judge the multiple options (list things to be considered like
location, facilities, prestige, etc.);
 Weight the criteria (rank the criteria based on its importance to you);
 Generate alternatives (the schools that accepted you);
 Rate each alternative on each criterion (rate each school on the criteria you have identified); and
 Compute the optimal decision
 Even the most significant judgments are frequently based on limited information and intuition. A
totally reasonable judgment or decision requires a careful, systematic process.