San Jose Community College

San Jose Malilipot Albay

General Education I
Understanding the Self
The Physical Self
Physical appearance is among the major concerns of
people today, in our world which is heavily influenced by
media. According to Erving Goffman(1971) “people are
concerned with the way others perceive them, and such
concern serve as a motivation to manage their behavior
their behavior in order to present favorable and
appropriate images to others. Such self-presentation
includes not only the individual’s social behaviors but also
his/her physical body.
At the end of the learning module , the student is
expected :

LO 1. The Self as Impacted by the Body

1.1 Identify and reflect on the different forces and
institutions that impact on the development of the
physical self.

LO 2. The Impact of Culture on Body Image and Self –

esteem: The Importance of Beauty
2.1 Discuss the role of media on the adolescents’
understanding of beauty and self-esteem and its influence
on their body image satisfaction.

INFORMATION SHEET
1. The Self as Impacted by the Body
Through the years, the concept of physical self has
gained a considerable attention in the fields od
psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, including religious
and biological or health studies. These desciples agree on
the premise that the physical self is an important
component in the study of the person’sself and identity.
AS what William James said, “the self is the sum total of
all that man call his, which includes his body, family and
reputation, also his clothes and his house… “ Such body ,
family, clothes, and the like are also described by Russell
W. Belk as part of our extended Self. What do we mean by
physical self? The concrete or tangible aspect or
dimension of the person which is primarily observed and
examined through the body is known as the physical self .
 William James, a renowned psychologist and a
pioneer of American Sociology, states that the body is the
initial source of sensation and necessary for the origin and
maintenance of personality. Erik Erickson also claims that
experience is anchored in the ground-plan of the body.
This is supported by Sigmund Freud who states that the
physical body is the core of human experience.
Furthermore, Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1945) placed the
body at the center of human existence, as a way of
experiencing the world.
Such ideas make clear to us the fact that the body is
the way through which we make sense of the world and
our environment. We experience life through our bodies
and senses (sight, smell, touch, etc.), allowing us to
interpret the world around us. However, the body is not
merely an object in the world but we are also our bodies in
that the body is the vehicle for our expression in the
world. The body is the sight for the articulation of all our
identifications of gender, class, sexuality, race, ethnicity
and religion.
The human body is endowed with varied forms of
social significance which Sociology has addressed by
asking questions like: To what extent do individuals have
control over their own bodies? How significant is the body
to the development and performance of the self in
everyday life? What images of the body influence
people’s expectations of themselves and others?”
From the late 1970s to 1980s, Humanities and
Sociology developed a new and broader interest in the
body. Sociologists, historians ,philosophers, and
anthropologists, including scholars from sport studies and
medical studies spoke about this interest on the body
which was then called “body culture”. The sociologists,
Ulrich Beck abd Anthony Giddens, agree in saying that
body is the fix-point of self-identity.”
Studies also show that one of the visible and deeper
changes in relation to the modern body concerns the dress
reform and the appearance of the naked body. The
changes from noble pale skin to suntanned skin as a
“sportive” distinction was not only linked to sport, but
had a strong impact on society as a whole. The change of
appreciated body color reversed the social-bodily
distinctions between people and classes, and nudism
became a radical expression of this body-cultural change.
A contrasting model within modern body culture is
delivered by mass sports. In gymnastics and fitness
training, the body is disciplined by subjecting it to certain
rules of “scientific”, social geometrical or aesthetic order.
In recent years, “body studies” has expanded rapidly,
becoming an increasingly popular field of study within
Anthropology, sociology, and cultural studies.

2. The Impact of Cultural on Body Image and Self-esteem:

The Importance of Beauty
Do you consider yourself beautiful? What is your concept
of beauty? Wat is the society’s concept of beauty?

“Standards of beauty and appearance are the product of a

diverse mix of cultureal and historical influences. Norms of
beauty and appearance are tied to ideals of appearance
and hard work.. Today, the norm or standard of beauty
includes wavy blond hair, light skin and eyes, and a tall
and slim form. Physical appearance is deal with great
importance as in the case presented at the beginning of
this topic. It was used as the basis in choosing the more
presentable girl as the bride’s maid of honor in her
wedding. Some people have the good fortune to possess
features that adhere to standardized ideals of beauty
though nature bestows less –than-perfect physical
attributes upon others such as slightly misshapen noses,
protuberant chins, breasts that appear too large or too
small. For the most part, people learn to live with these
imperfections. But in several cases, the individual is so
dissatisfied with his/her physical attributes that he/she
seeks to alter them through surgical means. The process
appears trouble-free, yet there are many unseen pitfalls.
Breast augmentation is the favorite while liposuction is
also prevalent. Extra breast padding is usually considered
desirable, whereas the same amount of flesh on the upper
arms is regarded as a detriment. So patient and doctor
seek to sculpt a more ideal physique such as large
breasts, slender but well-formed biceps tiny waist, a
round yet toned posterior. Plastic surgery remains most
popular among women, remaining beautiful bodies
through plastic surgery procedures.
The male ideal remains “muscular wash-board abs,
powerful legs, chiseled features.” Needless to say. This
pursuit of perfection puts a huge strain on both genders.
“Females in particular receive a massive amount of
societal pressure to conform to conventional beauty
standards. Little girls get the message early. They spend
hours staring at themselves in the mirror, wondering if
 they are good enough for the society. They do whatever
they can to make themselves appear more attractive to
others. Is beauty bound up with a dynamic, cultural
aesthetic honed in the ways that members of the group
community are “nurtured” to perceive attractiveness from
childhood?
Now, let’s talk about “body image” and “identity”.
Popular interest in body image issues has grown
dramatically in recent years, due to an emphasis on
individual years, due to an emphasis on individual
responsibility and self-determination in contemporary
society as well as the seemingly limitless capacities of
modern medicine; however, body image as a separate
field of academic inquiry is still relatively young.
Sukhanova and Thomashoff in “Body Image and identity in
contemporary societies” bring together contributions from
psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, psychiatrists and
scholars in the fields of social sciences and humanities to
explore representations of the body in literature and the
arts across different times and cultures. They gave an
analysis of the social construction of the ideal body in
terms of beauty, gender, sexuality, race ethnicity, class
and disability, from a broadly psychoanalytic perspective,
and traces the mechanisms which define the role of the
physical appearance in the formation of identity and the
assumption of social roles.
What do we exactly mean by body image? In this concept,
we think of how attractive our body is. It refers to the
person’s perception of the level of attractiveness of
his/her body or it can be somebody’s own impression of
how his or her body looks. It may also be our sense of
how other people view our bodies. In that sense, body
image can be our sense of how other people view our
bodies. In that sense, body image can be seen as both
internal (personal) and external (social) One’s perception
of his or her body elicits either pleasing /satisfying or
unpleasing /unsatisfying feelings. Body image lies at the
heart of adolescence and it is the mental representation
of one’s own body, which is a very important aspect of
identity.
Along with the concept of body image is the concept of
beauty. Beauty is of two types: the inner beauty which
refers to the inner qualities of the person and the external
beauty which refers to the physical characteristics of the
person. External beauty focuses on the physical features
of the body commonly defined as “a combination of
qualities which includes shape, color or form that pleases
the aesthetic senses, especially the sight.”
Much effort is exerted to reach the ideal body called
“ body beautiful “ by men which is the admired muscular
“Adonis” body built. The “coca-cola” contoured figure for
women is equally desired and each one, male or female,
strives to acquire the body of his/her dream. We are in a
culture in which beauty is judge by numbers. As
commonly observed, attraction to another person’s body
increases if that body is symmetrical and in proportion. If
the face is proportionate, we are more likely to notice it
and find it beautiful. We even perceive proportional
bodies to be healthier.
The presence aesthetically based cultural goods and their
ever-increasing influence in modern society poses a new
conceptual opportunity to Sociology. A new term
“aesthetic capital” , is introduced. Such concept covers
the privileges and wealth people receive from aesthetic
traits, such as their face , hair, body, clothes, grooming
habits and other markers of beauty.

THE ROLE OF CULTURE IN OUR UNDERSTANDING OF BODY

IMAGE AND SELF-ESTEEM
Culture is commonly defined as the shared patterns of
thoughts , beliefs, behaviors, and habits in both materials
and symbolic realms. “cCulture includes language,
technology, economic, political and educational systems,
religious and aesthetic patterns, social structures and so
on. It is widely recognized by social scientists that the
self is shaped , in part, through interaction with groups.
(Harry Triandis). Through culture, society shapes us in
many ways. As mentioned earlier, body image is both
internal(personal) and external (society). These include
how we perceive our bodies visually, how we feel about
our physical appearance, how we think and talk to
ourselves about our bodies , and our sense of how other
people view our bodies.
Furthermore, consideration of the body as a subject for
study has increased in recent years. Kenney and Nichols
explain that this is done with new technologies, forms of
modification, debates about obesity and issues of age
being brought into focus by the media. “Drawing on
contemporary culture, our bodies are not only biological
but also cultural in that we say, we all shape and
manipulate our bodies. We are all body-builders as we
build and style our bodies on a daily basis. We decide how
 to dress and style our bodies, we decide how much hair
we want on our bodies, and we shave, wax etc. We
manipulate our bodies’ weight through diet and exercise
and we even modify our bodies to extreme levels and
introduce mechanical agents into our bodies merging flesh
and technology. The body is enthralled to cultural
regimes, telling us how we should look – especially how
we should dress and what our bodies weight (fat levels)
should be.
All cultures everywhere have attempted to change their
body in an attempt to meet their cultural standards of
beauty, as well as their religious and/or social obligations.
In addition, people modify and adorn their bodies as part
of the complex process of creating and recreating their
personal and social identities. Body adornment refers to
the practice of physically enhancing the body by styling
and decorating the hair, painting and embellishing the
fingernails, wearing makeup, painting the body, wearing
jewelry, and the use of clothing. Body adornments are by
definition temporary. Body modification, on the other
hand, refers to the physical alteration of the body through
the use of surgery, tattooing , piercing, scarification,
branding genital mutilation, implants and other practices.
Body modifications can be permanent or temporary,
although most are permanent and alter the body forever”
Audrey Tramel mentions that the predominance of pop
culture
In today’s society definitely has some effects such as the
way teenagers think of themselves, how they associate
with others, and how they express characteristics of their
maturation. What is Popculture? Pop culture or popular
culture from a common understanding is a culture widely
accepted and patronized by the public as in pop music
which is very appealing to the youth, Pop culture
influences how teens define themselves as in the case of a
recent famaous K-pop boy band, named “Exo” which
gained the admiration of millions of Filipino teenagers. Its
influence on them goes to the point of imitating the way
they dress and style their bodies, the way they tlk and
express themselves. It influences the way they define
themselves. Indeed , an important characteristic of every
teenager’s maturation is his/her self-definition. Self-
definition refers to the way a person sees himself. For
teens, that image is influenced to a large extent by
personal choices, which are in turn, influenced by the
images and association teens glean from pop culture on a
daily basis.
Recent research agree the pop culture has some impact on
teenagers’ self definition. Pop culture can provide
benchmarks which become the teenagers’ base of their
self-definition. In this way, they see themselves adopting
certain characteristics from the various celebrates and
other models they see in pop culture. Lastly, self-
definition can be intricically tied into self-esteem and
confidence, two critical components of a healthy
disposition throughout maturation and into adulthood.

The Influence of Media on the Adolescent’s

Understanding of Beauty
Findings from further studies, showed that teenagers
imagine themselves being the actor/actress in a movie
they have watched. They copy an actor’s/ actress’ clothes
hairstyle, and or lines in the movie because it would make
them look or feel good. They like a movie because the
actor and /or actress/es in the movie look exceptionally
good. They immediately try any new product that they
saw in a commercial. They use the product endorsed by
their favorite actor/actress. They feel upset after seeing
handsome/beautiful personalities on TV or internet.

Self-esteem and Its Significance

Self-esteem, sometimes referred to as self-worth or self-
respect, is an important part of success. Too little self-
esteem can leave people feeling defeated or depressed. It
can also lead people to make bad choices, fall into
destructive relationships, or fail to live up to their full
potential. Too much self-esteem ,however, as exhibited in
narcissistic personality disorder, can certainly be irritating
to others and can even damage personal relationships.

The Concept of Self-esteem

Self-esteem levels at the extreme high and low ends of
the spectrum can be harmful, so ideally, it’s best to strike
a balance somewhere in the middle. A realistic yet
positive view of yourself is generally considered the ideal.
But what exactly is self-esteem? Where does it come from
and what influence does it really have on our lives? In
Psychology, the term self-esteem is used to describe a
person’s overall sense of self-worth or personal value. In
other words, it is how much you appreciate and like
yourself. Self-esteem is often seen as a personality trait
 which tends to be stable and enduring. Self-esteem can
involve a variety of beliefs about yourself, suc as the
appraisal of your own appearance, beliefs, emotions and
behaviors.
Self-esteem can play a significant role in one’s motivation
and success throughout life. Low self=esteem may hold
you back from succeeding at school or work because you
don’t believe yourself tobe capable of success. By
contrast, having a healthy self-esteem can help you
achieve because you navigate life with a positive ,
assertive attitude and believe you can accomplish your
goals. Maslow suggested that people need both esteem
from other people as well as inner self-respect. Both of
these needs must be fulfilled in order for an individual to
grow as a person and achieve self-actualization. Self-
esteem is one of the basic human motivations.
Those who consistently receive overly critical or negative
assessments from caregivers, family members, and
friends, for example , will likely experience problems with
low self-esteem. Additionally, your inner thinking, age
any potential illnesses, disabilities, or physical limitations,
and your job can affect your self-esteem. Possessing little
self-regard can lead people to become depressed, to fall
short of their potential, or to tolerate abusive situations
and relationships. too much self-love on the other hand,
results in an irritating sense of entitlement and an
inability to learn from failures. It can also be a sign of
clinical narcissism which is a personality disorder.

Developing Self-esteem
To overcome such adverse effects on the issues of self-
esteem, here are our best insight on how to strike a
balance between accurate self-knowledge and respect for
who you are. You need to develop a positive body image
which involves:
a. understanding that healthy, attractive bodies come in
many shapes and sizes;
b. physical appearance says very little about our
character or value as a person;
c. how we get to this point of acceptance often depends
on our individual development and sel-acceptance.
To get to that all important point of balance, there are a
few steps we can take:
a. Talk back to the media and speak our dissatisfaction
with the focus on appearance;
b. De-emphasize numbers as pounds, kilograms or inches,
feet and meters on the scale; they don’t tell us anything
meaningful about the body as a whole or our health;
c. Stop comparing ourselves with others and remember
that each one is unique;
d. We need to appreciate and enjoy our bodies in the
uniqueness of what we have;
e. Spend time with people who have a healthy
relationship with food, activity, and their bodies;
f. Question the degree to which self-esteem depends on
our appearance because basing our happiness on how we
look is likely to lead us to failure and frustration, and may
therefore prevent us from finding true happiness;
g. Broaden our perspective about health and beauty by
reading about body image cultural variances, or media
influence and check out a local art gallery payingparticular
attention to fine art collections that show a variety of
body types throughout the ages and in different cultures;
h. Recognize that size prejudice is a form of
discrimination, as shape and size are not indicators of
character, morality , intelligence, or success;
i. Approach health and well-being from a firm and socially
engaging perspective and put importance on a healthy
lifestyle and;
j. Keepin mind that the body, in whatever shape or size, is
good and sacred, having been created in the image and
likeness of god. Such body deserves love and respect.
Activity I

Draw yourself and answer the following questions:

1. Given the chance, which part of your body do you want

to change? Why?
2. Which part do you want to retain? Why?

Activity II
Look at yourself in front of a mirror and answer the
following questions:
1. Which part of your body are you most proud of? Why?
2. Which part of your body are you not happy about?
Why?
3. What is your ideal body? Describe the body you want
to have.
4. Do you really need another body to be happy? Why?
Why not?
Activity III
1. A very alarming issue among young people today is
depression. From your own point of view, what could be
the possible cause of depression?
2. What are the possible effects of depression to the
person and to the people around him/her?
3. As a youth, how could you concretely help to lessen or
overcome the impact of depression?

Note : Write your answers in a long size bond Paper.

________________________________________________________________

Pre-Final Exam

I. Multiple Choice. Write the letter of your chosen

answer.

1. According to William James, this I the sum total of all

that man can call his.
a. body image c. self
b. identity d. self-esteem
2. This is the way through which we make sense of the
world and our environment.
a. body c. identity
b. body image d. self
3. It refers to the person’s perception of the level of
attractiveness of hs/her body or it can be somebody’s own
impression of how his or her body looks.
a. beauty c. physical appearance
b. body image d. self-esteem
4. It is generally defined as the shared patterns of
thoughts, beliefs, behaviors, and habits in both material
and symbolic realms.
a. culture c. self-concept
b. language d. values
5. It is used to describe a person’s overall sense of self-
worth or personal value.
a. self-concept c. self-esteem
b. self-confidence d. self-identity
6-10 . Discuss your own concept of beauty.
11-15. How does media influence the teenager’s
understanding of beauty?
16-20. What are the effects of the teenager’s constant
exposure to media to the building/development of his/her
identity?
21-25. Along with the concept of body image is the
concept of beauty. Beauty is of two types : the inner
beauty and the external beauty. Compare them
according to your own understanding.
26-30. As a teenager, how can you develop a
healthy/positive self-esteem?

Note: Use yellow pad paper for your answer sheets.

Schedule for submission:

January 3, 2022 to the Leaders in every area
January 4, 2022 to the Class Mayor
January 5, 2022 to the Instructor

Class Mayor, please follow the same procedure in

preparing the Class Report and submitting them.