Understanding the Self
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magulantang brain cells natin (kung may natitira pa ._.) GOOD LUCK!                         - Leggyyy
         NATURE                      NURTURE             THE SELF
 - “The self is               - “The self is an
 predominantly a              outcome of various         - unified being, essentially connected to
 product of natural           nurturing factors in       consciousness, awareness and agency
 processes of which           the context of one’s       - meanings have transformed from pure
 people are inherently        social life.”
                                                         abstractions to explanations that holds scientific
 predisposed”
                                                         evidences.
 - traits are transmitted     - group life affects       ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY OF SELF
 to the next generation,      individual’s behavior
 thereby predisposing         and attitude and social    Greek aphorism - was used by Socrates as his
 us to certain self-          institutions impact the    guiding principle that he passed on to his students
 expressions                  self-construal of the      not by writing but through untiring discussed
                              individual                 concepts and principles
        IDENTITY                        SELF
 - qualities, beliefs, etc.   - total characteristics    SOCRATES
 that make a particular       or qualities of a person
 person or group              both known and             - believe that the real self is NOT the physical body,
 different from others or     unknown to others          but rather psyche (or soul)
 the distinguishing           (but known to oneself)     - the appearance of body is inferior to its functions
 character or
 personality of an                                       1) Socratic Method – seeking clarity and truth
 individual                                              through questioning and analysis
                                                         2) Socrates’ Trial – uses legal defense to embody
                                                         his ethical values and principles as rational inquiry
DIMENTIONALITIES OF THE SELF/IDENTITY
                                                         3) Socrates’ Ethos – “know thyself” and improve
1. Social Factor - influences of significant people      souls through virtuous living
in a person’s life
                                                         4) Socrates’ Death – became a heroic martyr to
Ex. family, peer group                                   enlightened thinking and virtuous living by refusing
2. Environmental Factor - includes the physical          to compromise the values that defined his life
and communal elements present in our everyday            PLATO
surroundings, and are invariably dealt with by
individuals in a specific geographic region or area      - Socrates’ student
Ex. physical properties, expectations & norms            - introduced in his dialogue of Phaedrus (popular
                                                         text in philosophy)
3. Hereditary Factor - operates at the time of
conception                                               - TRUTH SEEKING: (1) metaphysical realm = mind
                                                         (2) physical world = body
4. Person-Volition Factor - the inclination of a
person to form and construct a specific identity,        - HUMAN SELF = an intellectual entity whose
which will set him apart or unique compared with         nature exists independent from physical world
others
                                                                   COMPONENTS OF THE SELF
PHILOSOPY                                                    Reason   Physical Appetite Spirit
- mother of all disciplines
- natural and social phenomena
- various concepts of what it means to be human
                       TRUTH                             - direct sense experience
- ontos (ideal) the ultimate reality which tends to be   DAVID HUME
permanent and spiritual.
                                                         - all knowledge passes through the senses
- phenomena refers to manifestation of the ideal
                                                         - there is no basis for the belief that there is any self
                                                         - there is no or immortal soul in the traditional
   MORAL VIRTUE                                          sense
                                                         - memories & experiences = impressions & ideas
                                                         IMMANUEL KANT
                                                         - categorical imperative: act as you will, it
                                                         becomes as the universal law
                                                         - empirical self or ego, which consists of those traits
                                                         that make us each a unique personality
                                                         - there is the inner self and outer self
                                                         - inner self = rational reasoning and psychological
                                                         state
INTELLECT
                                                         - outer self = body and physical mind, where
ARISTOTLE
                                                         representation occurs
- Plato’s student                                        - intelligence that constructs knowledge based on
- suggested that the ideal is subsumed in the            its experiences
phenomena.                                               SIGMUND FREUD
- ideal as essence and phenomena as matter               - conscious (contact with outside world),
- essence & matter co-exist and are co-dependent         preconscious (beneath the surface of awareness)
                                                         and unconscious (difficult to retrieve)
- essence provides meaning and purpose to the
matter and the matter provides substance and             - structural model of the mind: id (pleasure),
solidity to essence                                      ego (reality) and super ego (moral imperatives)
ST. AUGUSTINE
- all knowledge leads to God
- love & faith lead to happiness
RENE DESCARTES
- I think, therefore, I am
- the mind and soul can exist without the body
- distinction of soul from the body can make people
believe in the afterlife and the soul’s immortality
JOHN LOCKE                                               GILBERT RYLE
- consciousness alone that identity exists, not and      - I act therefore I am
the body and the soul
                                                         - mind is the seat of the self
- soul may change but consciousness remains intact
                                                         - it is not a separate, parallel thing to our physical
- man ≠ person                                           body
- solves the “mind/body problem” through focusing                        self-awareness, self-construal, self-
to our behavior                                                          esteem, self-efficacy, self-regulation
                                                                         etc.
PAUL CHURCHLAND                                                          Behaviorism - made from an
- materialism holds that the self is inseparable from                    observable and measurable
the substance of the brain and the physiology of the                     perspective
body
                                                                         Humanistic – draw its assumptions
PATRICIA CHURCHLAND                                                      from the observed criticisms of
- There isn’t a special thing called the mind. The                       psychoanalysis and behaviorism
mind is just the brain                                           2. Sociology
MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY                                                    - study of collective behavior of
- the living, physical body and its experiences are all                  people within society
one, a natural synthesis                                                 - human experience and how society
                                                                         shapes the person and vice versa
EMPIRICISM                                                       3. Anthropology
- knowledge is derived from experience                                   - the science of human beings
- we know things because we have experienced it                          - evolution of individuals and their
through our bodily senses                                                societies
RATIONALISM                                                      4. Political Science
- there is innate knowledge, they differ in that they                    - participation of individuals in
choose different objects of innate knowledge                             establishing a government and
                                                                         making political choices
- explain self from standpoint of what is “ideal” and
the “truth”, not rooted in what is felt by senses nor                    - how an individual participates in
our body                                                                 government, his/her ideologies and
                                                                         advocacies
                                                                 5. Economics
SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF
THE SELF                                                                 - concerned with description and
                                                                         analysis of the production,
a) Physical Science                                                      distribution, and consumption of
                                                                         goods
- biological factors that make up the human body
                                                          c) Biological/Physiological Science
- the underlying growth and maturational
mechanisms of people                                      - beginning with tenets of Aristotle and his
                                                          scientific approach to the study of human
- environmental influences that influence human
                                                          experience, to the Natural Selection within the
development
                                                          Evolutionary Theory of Charles Darwin, human
b) Social Science                                         development, individuality, and inevitably, the self,
                                                          have been defined, analyzed, and explained
- concerned with human functioning in the context         according to specific mechanism
of society and social institutions
                                                                 1. Genetics
       1. Psychology
                                                                         DNA – (deoxyribonucleic acid)
               - study of human behavior and
               mental processes                                          -     main the carrier genetic
                                                                               information
                -   unique identifying part of every   girls = electra complex
                    individual
                                                       (both attraction to the opposite sex parent)
                                                       d. Latent (6 – 11 years)
                Human Genome Project
                                                       - superego continues to develop while the id's
                -   mapping functions of genes from
                                                       energies are suppressed
                    physical & functional viewpoints
                                                       - they play with friends of the same sex and avoid
        2. Neurophilosophy
                                                       children of the opposite sex
                Paul and Patricia Churchland
                                                       e. Genital Stage (11 – 18 years)
                - concerned with association of the
                                                       - onset of puberty causes the libido to become
                brain and mind
                                                       active once again
                Merleau-Ponty
                                                       - people develop a strong interest in the opposite
                -   aimed to unite an idealism
                                                       - if development has been successful to this point,
                    standpoint with empirical
                                                       the individual will continue to develop into a well-
                    perspectives
                                                       balanced person
        3. Psychoneuroimmunology
                - study of the interaction between
                                                       DEFENSE MECHANISM
                psychological processes and the
                nervous and immune systems of the      - unconscious psychological strategies brought into
                human body                             play by various entities to cope with reality and to
                                                       maintain self-image
                - how our immune system function,
                similar to the shaping self            1. Narcissistic Defenses
        4. Other natural sciences                             a) Denial - avoiding the awareness of some
                                                              painful aspect of reality. Denial may be used
                Biology
                                                              in both normal and pathological states
                Medicine
                                                              b) Distortion - grossly reshaping external
                Cognitive Neuroscience                        reality to suit inner needs and using
                                                              sustained feelings of delusional superiority
                Chemistry                                     or entitlement
PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES                                           unrealistic megalomania beliefs,
a. Oral (birth – 1 year)                                      hallucinations, wish fulfilling delusions
- interaction through the mouth                               c) Projection - primitive form of paranoia.
                                                              Projection also reduces anxiety by allowing
thumb sucking, smoking, fingernail biting and                 the expression of the undesirable impulses
overeating                                                    or desires without becoming consciously
b. Anal (1 – 3 years)                                         aware of them
- controlling bladder and towel movements                      severe jealousy, hypervigilance to
                                                              external danger
Too much pressure = need for order/cleanliness
                                                       2. Immature Defenses
Little pressure = messy/destructive behavior
                                                              a) Hypochondriasis- exaggerating or
c. Phallic (3 – 6 years)                                      overemphasizing an illness for the purpose
                                                              of evasion and regression.
- id’s energy is on the genitals
boys = oedipal complex
       b) Passive Aggressive Behavior-                  -   Leggyyy
       expressing aggression towards others
       indirectly. Includes failure, procrastination.
              c) Regression-attempting to
              return to an earlier libidinal phase of
              functioning to avoid the tension and
              conflict.
              d) Somatization- converting
              psychic derivatives into bodily
              symptoms and tending to react with
              somatic manifestation rather than
              psychic manifestations.
3. Neurotic Defenses
              a) Displacement-Shifting
              attention from one target that is no
              longer available to a more acceptable
              or “safer” substitute.
              b) Rationalization- Person
              convinces him or herself that no
              wrong was done and that all is or
              was all right through faulty and false
              reasoning.
              c) Dissociation- Temporary
              drastic modification of one's
              personal identity or character to
              avoid emotional distress.
              d) Reaction-Formation-
              Transforming an unacceptable
              impulse into its opposite.
4. Mature Defenses
              a) Sublimation: Transformation of
              negative emotions or instincts into
              positive actions, behavior, or
              emotion.
              b) Thought Suppression-
              consciously postponing attention to
              a consciously impulse or conflict.
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