Chapter 1: Understanding the Self
Socrates
 Man is composed of body and soul
 Virtue – deepest and most basic
propensity of man
 Self-Knowledge – source of all
wisdom
Plato
 Man is also a double nature of body
and soul
 Three components of soul:
o Rational soul
o Spirit and soul
o Repetitive soul
 Man – omniscient or all-knowing
 Contemplation – allows man to
regain perfections
 Happiness – fruit of virtue
 Reason (logos) – rational part
 Spirit (thumos) – spirited or
emotional part
 Appetite (epithumia) – instinctual
or appetitive part
 Theory of forms
St. Augustine
 Man is of a bifurcated nature
 It is by the ‘divine light’ that we
can knowledge

Ideas – copies of impressions
Immanuel Kant
 Man is the only creature who
governs and directs himself and his
actions
 Epistemology – theory of knowledge
Gilbert Ryle
 Rejected the traditional mind-body
dualism and argued that mind is not
a separate entity, but rather a
collection of mental activities and
disposition
 Dualistic view of self
 Self is not an entity one can locate
and analyze
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
 Mind
and
the
body
are
so
intertwined that they could not be
separated from one another
 Division between mind and body is a
product of confused thinking
 rejected the traditional mind-body
dualism and argued that the body
and mind are inseparable
Lesson 2: The Self, Society and Culture
Rene Descartes
 Man is actually a thinking entity
distinct from the body
 Father of Modern Philosophy
What is Self?
 Characteristics:
o Separate – distinct, unique
o Self-Contained
and
Independent – distinctness
allows
it
to
be
selfcontained
o Consistent – characteristics
tendencies
and
potentialities; more or less
the same
o Unitary – center of all
experiences and thoughts
o Private – within the self
David Hume
 Man has no clear and intelligible
idea of the self
 Self – bundle or collection of
different perceptions which succeed
each other
 Impression – basic objects of our
experience or sensation
The Self and Culture
 Marcel Mauss – every self has two
faces:
o Moi – person’s sense of who
he is
o Personne – social concepts of
what it means to be who he is
 Language – salient part of culture
St. Thomas Aquinas
 Man is composed of matter and form
 Theory of self-knowledge – all our
self-knowledge is dependent on our
experiences of the world
 A saint; one of the most important
figures in history

Self will adjust according to its
exposure
The Self and the Development of
the Social World
 Men and women engage actively in
the shaping of the self
 Unending terrain of metamorphosis
of the self is mediated by language
 According to Mead and Vygotsky:
o Human develop with the use of
language
acquisition
and
interaction with others
o Human mind is something that
is made
Self in Families
o Human learns the ways of living,
i.e., selfhood, by being in a
family.
Gender and the Self
o Gender – loci of the self that is
subject to change
Lesson 3: The Self as Cognitive
Construct
William James
 Self = I + Me
 I – thinking, acting, feeling
 Me – physical characteristics and
psychological capabilities
Carl Rogers
 Theory of personality
 I – one who acts and decides
 Me – what you think or feel about
yourself as an object
 Self-Schema
–
interrelated
knowledge about the self
Sigmund Freud
 Id – instincts
 Ego – Reality
 Superego – Morality
George Herbert Mead
 Theory of Symbolic Interactionism
 Self is created and developed
through human interaction
Self-Awareness
 Concepts – When we are aware of our
self
 Two types of self that we can be
aware of:
1. Private
Self
–
internal
standards
and
private
thoughts and feelings
2. Public Self – public image
commonly geared toward having
a
good
presentation
of
yourself to others
 3 other self:
1. Actual Self – who we are at
the moment
2. Ideal Self – who you like to
be
3. Ought Self – who you think
you should be
 Can be generalize into:
1. Positive self-awareness
2. Negative self-awareness
Theories
 Social Comparison Theory – we learn
about
ourselves
by
comparing
aspects of ourselves with other
people
o 2 Types:
1. Downward Social Comparison
– comparing ourselves with
those who are worse off
than us
2. Upward Social Comparison –
comparing ourselves with
those who are better off
than us
 Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory
–
threatened
when
someone
outperforms
us,
especially
if
they’re close to us
Narcissism
 Trait characterized by overly high
self-esteem, self-admiration, and
self-centeredness
Lesson 4: The Self in Western and
Eastern Thoughts
4. Chi – Heart of Wisdom
Using Eastern Philosophy in Psychology
 Naikan Therapy – views selfcenteredness as problem that many
people need to overcome
Individualism vs Collectivism
Western Concept of the Self
 Ancient Greek Philosophers – see
humans as bearers of irreplaceable
values
 St.
Thomas
Aquinas
–
body
constitutes individuality
 Rene
Descartes
–
“I
think
therefore, I am”
Frank Johnson’s Four Categories
of the Self
 Analytical
 Monotheistic
 Individualistic
 Materialistic/Rationalistic
Eastern Concept of the Self
 Four pillars of Indian Psychology
1. Darma – rules that describe
goodness
and
appropriate
behavior
2. Karma – movement from past
incarnations that affect the
present and future
3. Maya – distorted perceptions
of reality and experience
4. Atman
–
concept
of
universality in which the
self
is
not
seen
as
individual but as a part of
the entire cosmos
 Buddhism - self is a dynamic
process and ever-changing
 Anatta – doctrine which is
often defined as no self or
no soul
 Confucianism – self is something
that is formed through upbringing
and environment. Personality is
achieved through moral excellence.
 Four beginnings of the self:
1. Jen
Heart
of
Compassion
2. Yi
–
Heart
of
Righteousness
3. Li – Heart of Propriety
The Filipino Self
 Kapwa – core value of Filipinos
according to Virgilio Enriquez
(Father of Sikolohiyang Pilipino)
 Pakikiramdam
–
shared
inner
perception
Culture and Happiness
 Japanese
–
positive
social
engagement with feeling close,
friendly and respectful.
 American – disengaged emotions with
feeling effective, superior and
proud.
Baumeister’s Three Aspects of
the Self Concept
 Private – mental processes that
perceive one’s own traits or
behaviors
 Public – generalized view of the
self; perceptions of how others
view you
 Collective – view of self in a
collective context
Lesson 5: The Physical Self: The Self as
Impacted by the Body
Self-Understanding
 Santrock
(2014)
–
selfunderstanding is the individual’s
cognitive representation of the
self
which
consists
of
the
substance and the content of selfconceptions.
Growing Up
 Erik Erikson – importance of body
from early development
 12 years old – puberty begins and
they are now in adolescent period
 Healthy children.org – adolescence
is divided into 3 periods:
 Early adolescence – 11-14
 Middle adolescence - 15-17
 Late adolescence – 18-21
 National Youth Commission – Youth
Nation-Building Act of 1994 that
states youth covers the ages
between 15-30
Puberty: A Period of Rapid
Physical Changes
 Santrock (2016) – puberty is not
the same as adolescence because
puberty ends prior to the end of
the
adolescent
period.
He
recognized it as the most essential
marker
of
the
beginning
of
adolescence.
 Girls reach puberty earlier than
boys and experience menarche which
is her first menstrual flow
 Boys,
2
to
3
years
later,
experience spermarche or semenarch
which is his first ejaculation or
nocturnal emission (wet dreams).
 Santrock explained that puberty is
a brain neuroendocrine process
occurring
primarily
in
early
adolescence that triggers rapid
physical changes
 Pituitary gland – master endocrine
gland that controls growth and
regulate functions of all other
endocrine glands
 Chemical
substance
(hormones)
secreted by the gonads (sex glands)


Oestrogen
or
estrogen
–
increase in height, widening
of hips and increase fatty
tissues in breast of girls
Androgen or testosterone –
boy’s growth of facial and
body
hair,
muscles
and
changes in voices
Body Image
 Body Image – the way one sees
himself/herself or the way he/she
imagine how he/she looks.
Factors that Affect Perception of the
Physical Self
 Personal Factors
a. Introspection
and
Selfreflection
–
(Hewstone)
introspection is the process
by which one observes and
examines one’s internal state
after behaving in a certain
way.
b. Self-Perception
Theory
–
since one’s internal state is
difficult
to
interpret,
people can infer their inner
states by observing their own
behavior.
c. Self Concept – (Hewstone)
self-concept is a cognitive
representation
of
selfknowledge which includes the
sum total of all beliefs that
people have about themselves
(experiences involving one’s
characteristics,
social
roles, etc.).
d. Personal Identity – concept a
person has about himself that
develops
over
the
years
(nationality, gender, etc.).
 Social Factors
a. Attachment Process and Social
Appraisal – (Bowlby) people
learn about their value and
lovability
when
they
experience how people care
for them and respond to their
needs when they are young.
b. Maintaining, Regulating, and
Expanding
the
Self
in
Interpersonal Relationship –
sense of self is continuously
shaped
through
ongoing
interaction
with
others
(private audiences).
c. The Looking-Glass Self Theory
– (Charles Horton Cooley)
person’s self grows out of
society’s
interpersonal
interactions
and
the
perception of others.
d. Social Comparison – (Hewstone
et. Al) understanding oneself
by comparing one’s traits,
abilities, and opinions to
that of others. There are two
types of social comparison:
 Upward
compares
himself with others who
are better
 Downward – compares
himself with other who
are worse off
e. Social
Identity
Theory
(Collective
Identity)
–
(Tajfel and Turner) provides
a framework about how people
achieve understanding about
themselves by being a member
of their group.
Identity is based on societal
or cultural level analysis.
Social Milieu is crucial in
developing the individual’s
self-knowledge either from
direct or indirect feedback
through interaction, etc.
The Filipino Concept of Beauty
 Eurocentrism
–
tendency
to
interpret the world in terms of
European or Anglo-American values
and experiences.
 Colorism – aspect of eurocentrism
that is defines as prejudicial or
preferential treatment of same-race
people based solely on the color of
their skin
Self-Esteem and Ideal Body Image
 Hewstone (2015) defines self-esteen
as the overall evaluation that a
person has of himself.
 Eating Disorders – Bulimia Nervosa
and Anorexia Nervosa