02

PSYCHOLOG
Y
The Self in different Psychological
Theories
Psychology is the scientific study of how people
behave, think, and feel. It includes topics such as
how the brain works, how your memory is
organized, how people interact in groups, and how
children learn about the world. In fact, everything
that concerns the human being is a concern of
psychology.

Psychology will scrutinize all of these processes so

that human beings will understand how it is to be
“YOU”.
The Self as a Cognitive Construction

Cognition - ALL the mental processes such as

thinking, reasoning, or remembering

Self-theorists argue that it is natural for humans to form

theories about themselves, both as a single entity and as a
group, to make meaning of one’s existence and experience.
 Jean Piaget’s 3 components of
Theory of Cognitive Piaget’s theory:
Development

1. SCHEMAS/SCHEMES – the building

● Cognitive development is a blocks of knowledge; mental organizations
progressive reorganization of that individuals use to understand their
mental processes resulting from environments
biological maturation and
environmental experience. 2. ADAPTATION – involves the child’s
● Children construct an understanding learning processes to meet situational
of the world around them. demands
● Cognitive development is at the
center of the human organism. 3. STAGES OF DEV’T – the increasing
sophistication of the child’s thought process.
Piaget’s stages of
Cognitive
Development
Stage Age Characteristics of Stage

The child learns by doing: looking, touching, sucking. The child

Sensorimotor 0-2 also has a primitive understanding of cause-and-effect
relationships. Object permanence appears around 9 months.

The child uses language and symbols, including letters and

Preoperational 2-7
numbers. Egocentrism is evident.

The child demonstrates conservation, reversibility, serial

Concrete Operations 7-11 ordering and a mature understanding of cause-effect
relationship.

Formal Operations 12+ The individual demonstrates abstract thinking

 Harter’s Self-
Development Concept
● MIDDLE TO LATER CHILDHOOD –
the self is described in terms of trait-like
constructs that would require the type of
hierarchical organizational skills
characteristic of logical though development

● ADOLESCENCE – the self is now

described more abstractly, such as inner
thoughts, emotions, attitudes and motives.

● EARLY CHILDHOOD- the child describes ● EMERGING ADULTS- the “age of

the “self” in terms of concrete, observable possibilities”
characteristics, such as physical attributes,
material possessions, behaviors, and
preferences
Harter’s Self-
Development Concept

● EMERGING ADULTS- the “age of

possibilities”
-Early emerging adulthood (17-22)
-Beyond emerging adulthood (28-33)
William James and
the Me-Self; I-Self

The I-Self is the pure ego. It is the subjective

self, and the self that is aware of its own actions.

The father of “American 4 features:

Psychology”. 1. A sense of being the agent of behavior
2. A sense of being unique
According to James, he 3. A sense of continuity
“Self” has 2 elements: the I- 4. A sense of awareness about being aware
Self, and the Me-Self.
 William James and
the Me-Self; I-Self

The dimensions of the Me-Self include:

1. Material- physical appearance, clothing,

The Me-Self is the self that you can describe, family, and home
such as your physical characteristics, 2. Social- social skills and significant
personalities, social role, or relationships interpersonal relationships
thoughts, & feelings 3. Spiritual- personality, character, defining
values
REAL & IDEAL self-
concepts

ANXIOUS ATTRACTIVE FUNNY SLOPPY

RELAXED CARELESS ORGANIZED HAPPY
OPTIMISTIC DISHONEST SAD LAZY
HONEST ENERGETIC STRONG PLAIN

DEPRESSED INTELLIGENT OUT-GOING SHY

WEAK SERIOUS KIND UNHELPFUL
 Carl Rogers’
Humanistic
Psychology
A person is an active, creative, experiencing
being who lives in the present and who thinks,
feels and responds to his/her environment.

All behavior is motivated by self-actualizing and

these tendencies drive us to reach our full
potential.

Humans have an innate drive toward self-

actualization and this drives us to reach our full
potential.
Carl Rogers’
Humanistic
Psychology
As a result of this constant interaction with the
environment and others, we form a structure of
the self (or self concept)- an organized fluid,
conceptual pattern of concepts and values related
to the self.

If we hold positive self-concept, we tend to feel

good about ourselves and see the world as safe
and positive place. If we have a negative self-
concept, we may feel unhappy with ourselves.
 Carl Rogers’
Humanistic Rogers emphasized the need to achieve
consistency between the ideal self and the real
Psychology self.

When real self and ideal self are very similar, we

experience congruence. High congruence leads
to a greater sense of self-worth and a healthy
Rogers further divided the self into 2 categories:
productive life.
IDEAL SELF – the person that you would like
When real self is not consistent with ideal self,
to be; “my best me”
we experience incongruence . Incongruence
leads to our inability to react successfully and
REAL SELF – the person you actually are
satisfactorily to the demands of ones’
environment
 have es?
MULTIPLE vs o we e selv
D tipl
l
mu
UNIFIED SELVES
William James said “Properly speaking, a man
has many social selves as there are individuals
who recognize him and carry an image of him in
their head”

Roy Baumeister said “but the concept of the self

loses its meaning if a person has multiple
selves.. Unity is one of the defining features of
selfhood”
 Gordon Allport’s Eric Berne’s
Personality Theory Ego States (Transactional Analysis)

Every person has three

ego states in our
personality and we
communicate with
people in any of these
ego states:

Every person possesses “traits”. A “trait” is your 1.Parent- the voice of authority
essential characteristic that never, ever changes 2.Adult- the rational person
and sticks with you all your life. It also shapes 3.Child- (natural child, the little professor,
who you are (how you think, feel, or behave). and the adaptive child)
 Gregg Henrique’s
Domains of the Self
1. Experiential self - the theater of
consciousness; the first to experience its
beingness
2. Private self-conscious – the narrator or
interpreter. The self that narrates the
unfolding of events and tries to make
sense of the experience
3. Public self/persona – the image that
you show to the public. This is the self
that interacts with others and will
influence how others see you.
The human self has three related, but separable
domains.
 D.W. Winnicott’s
TRUE vs FALSE
selves The “self” is simply “the person who is me”.
He said that the healthy core of a healthy
person’s self is hidden from the outside
world, uninfluenced by external harsh
realities. The false self is put up to defend the
core from these realities and prevent it from
any changes.

The FALSE SELF is a mask or persona that

seeks to anticipate people’s demands and
Imagine that people are like onions. The center of comply with them as a way of protecting the
the onion needs to be protected by layers, and at true self from the world that is unsafe.
the center lies our true self. These layers are our
false self.
 D.W. Winnicott’s TRUE SELF
TRUE vs FALSE
selves
The true self is part of the infant that feels
When a person has false self but can still function creative, spontaneous and real. This
both as an individual and in the society, then experience of aliveness is what allows people
he/she has a healthy false self. The healthy false to be genuinely close to others and to be
self makes sure that it is still connected with the creative. based on “spontaneous authentic
true self. experience”; it is an awareness that bodily
functions are working, such as heart
There’s also the unhealthy false self . An pumping, as well as simply breathing.
individual who may seem happy and comfortable
in his or her environment but actually feels forced
to fit in and constantly needs to adjust his/her
behavior.