UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
GEED_001
BSMA 1-7
P.V. SALVADOR
DEFINING THE SELF: PERSONAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVES ON SELF AND IDENTITY
The Self from Various Philosophical Perspectives
Self-understanding is Essential
1. Provides a Sense of Purpose
○ We are the only ones responsible for determining our purpose in life.
2. Leads to Healthier Relationships
○ Understand who we are and what we truly want from a relationship so that we can be more
intentional with our words and actions.
3. Helps harness your natural strength
○ We come up with a realistic and meaningful action plan to pick a playing field that is better suited
to our strengths. We stop punishing ourselves
4. Promotes Confidence
○ Do what our heart desires and stay resilient in the face of adversity, for we very well know that what
we do is not about us, it is about the vision that we believe in, that vision that things can be done
Philosophy of the Self
Philosophy
● “mother of all disciplines” encompassing the entire breath of inquiry about humans and the universe they
inhabit.
SELF
● “a unified being, essentially connected to consciousness, awareness and agency (or at least, with the
faculty of rational choice).”
SOCRATES (Father of Western philosophy)
● first philosopher who ever engaged in a systematic questioning about the self; the true task of the
philosopher is to “know oneself”.
● Every man/woman in composed of body and soul
● BODY: imperfect & impermanent aspect of an individual
● SOUL: perfect and permanent aspect
● “Knowledge is the personification of good while ignorance is that of evil.”
● Self knowledge is the ultimate virtue which will lead to ultimate happiness.
● “An unexamined life is not worth living.”
PLATO
● Moral Virtue is rooted in the intellect and leads to happiness.
● Wisdom and knowledge lead to virtue which will lead to Happiness.
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UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
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● “Justice in the human person can only be attained if the three parts of the soul are working harmoniously
with one another.”
Plato added that there are three components of the soul:
1. Rational
● Reason and intellect that has governed the affairs of the human person.
2. Spirited
● Which is in charge of emotions.
3. Appetitive
● Desires like eating, drinking, sleeping, and having sexual intercourse
ST. AUGUSTINE
● Christian philosopher and bishop of Hippo in Northern Africa.
● identified the two fold process of Self- presentation leading to Self- realization.
● Understanding the self and formation of identity is achieved through the process of “Introspection or self-
analysis.”
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS (matter & form)
● Man is composed of two parts: matter and form.
● combine to create formed matter or substance- that is all familiar things we see in the universe.
○ Matter (hyle Greek): “common stuff that makes up everything in the universe.”
○ Form (morphe Greek): “essence of a substance or thing.”
RENE DESCARTES (french philosopher & founder of modern philosophy)
● this is the essence of yourself – you are a “thinking thing”, a dynamic identity that engages in all of those
mental operations we associate with being a human self.
● Declares that the essential self.
○ thinking self/soul: nonmaterial, immortal and conscious being, independent of the physical laws of
the universe.
○ physical body: material, mortal, and non thinking entity, fully governed by the physical laws of
nature.
● “Cogito Ergo Sum” (i think, therefore i am)
○ first principle of Descartes’s theory of knowledge because he is confident that no rational person
will doubt his or her own existence as a conscious, thinking entity – while we are aware of thinking
about ourselves.
DAVID HUME
● Scottish philosopher whose skeptical examinations of religion, ethics, and history.
● Men can only attain knowledge by experiencing.
● If we carefully examine the contents of our experience, there are two distinct entities:
○ Impressions: are the basic sensations of the mind : pain, pleasure, heat, cold, happiness, grief, fear
and so on. These impressions are lively and vivid.
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UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
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○ Ideas: are copies of impressions, and as a result they are less lively and vivid. Include thoughts and
images that are built up from our primary impressions through a variety of relationships.
● Self: “a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable
rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and movement.”
● “It's like a theater, where several perceptions successively make their appearance, pass, repass, glide away,
and mingle in an infinite variety of postures and situations.”
IMMANUEL KANT
● German philosopher considered by many to be the greatest thinker of the 18th century.
● He asserted that it is the human mind which creates experiences.
● “Reason is the final authority of Morality.”
● INNER SELF: Includes rational reasoning and psychological state
● OUTER SELF: Includes the body and physical aspect where representation occurs.
GILBERT RYLE
● British philosopher whose book , The Concept of Mind, has a dramatic impact on Western thought.
● “The Self is How You Behave”
○ He thought of his approach as a logical behaviorism, focused on creating conceptual clarity, not
on developing techniques to condition and manipulate human behavior.
● Person therefore lives through two collateral histories:
1. Public – consisting of what happens in and his body.
2. Private – consisting of what happens in and to his mind.
PATRICIA CHURCHLAND
● “A fully matured neuroscience will eliminate the need for the beliefs since they are not real.”
● “The physical brain gives us a sense of self.”
JOHN LOCKE (Father of Liberalism)
● posited the “theory of mind” which is a breakthrough in the origin of modern understanding of the concept
of identity and self.
● “The Self is found in the consciousness. He identified the brain as comprising the consciousness which has
one’s identity.”
MERLEAU-PONTY
● Primacy of Perception – where he said that “ there is harmony between what we aim at and what is given ,
between intention and performance.
● Consciousness is primarily not a matter of “I think that” but “I can”.
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UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
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LESSON 2: THE SELF, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE
What is the Self?
SICUPS
1. Separate
○ Self is distinct from other selves
○ Uniques and have its own identity
○ One cannot be like another person
2. Independent
○ It does not require any other self for it to exist
3. Consistent
○ A particular self’s traits, characteristics, tendencies, and potentialities are more or less the same
4. Unitary
○ Center of all experiences and thoughts that run through a certain person
○ Like the chief command post in an individual where all processes, emotions, and thought converge
5. Private
○ Each person sorts out information, self is isolated from the external world, and lives within its own
world
6. Self-contained
○ Because in itself it can exist
○ Its distinctness allows it to be self-contained with its own thoughts, characteristics and volition
MARCEL MAUSS
● French anthropologist and sociologist
● 2 faces of the self: Personne & Moi
● Personne: what it means to live in a particular institution, family, religion, and nationality
● Moi: refers to a person’s sense of who he is, his body, and his biological givenness
The Theory of the Social Self
➔ Based on the perspective that the self emerges from social interactions, such as observing and interacting
with others, responding to other’s opinions about oneself, and internalizing external opinions and internal
feelings about oneself
➔ Proponent: George Herbert Mead &
HARRY STACK SULLIVAN
Self System
➔ Consistent pattern of behavior that maintains people’s interpersonal security by protecting them from
anxiety.
➔ As children develop intelligence and foresight, they become able to learn which behaviors are related to an
increase or decrease in anxiety
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UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
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➔ The ability to detect slight increases or decreases in anxiety provides the self-system with a built-in warning
device.
Acquiring a Self, the Process of Self-Constitution
★ George Herbert Mead (Father of Sociological Tradition: Symbolic Interactionism)
○ American sociologist
○ “Self is a product of socialization. Our concept of the self is acquired through the use of symbolic
gestures”
Development of the Self
Language
● Allowing individuals to respond to each other through symbols, gestures, words, and sounds
● Conveys others’ attitudes and opinions toward a subject or the person
Play
● Allowing individuals to take on different roles, pretend, and express expectation of others
● Develops self consciousness through role-playing
Games
● Allowing individuals to understand and adhere to the rules of the activity
● Self is developed by understanding that there are rules in which one must abide by in order to wij the game
or be successful at an activity
Personification: people acquire certain images of themselves and others
Good Me: Experiences that are rewarded, which a child would sense a noticeable decrease of anxiety
Bad Me: Experiences that are punished and cause greater anxiety to a child
Significant Others
➢ Individuals to whom a person is intimate with immediate family members, relatives, peer group, and friends
Generalized Others
➢ The attitude of the generalized other is the attitude of the whole community (Mead 1934, p.154)
Two Sides of Self (George H. Mead)
“ME” (socialized self) (past)
● Represents the learned behaviors, attitudes, and expectations of others of society
“I” (unsocialized self) (present & future)
● Responds on an ongoing moment to moment basis to the “me” as well as those constantly emergent
circumstances within which particular social, interactive conduct unfolds.
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UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
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P.V. SALVADOR
Culture
Edward Taylor (1871)
● Culture is the complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, law, art, moral, custom, and other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society
The Self and the Development of the Social World
Schwartz, White and Lutz (1993, p.83)
● Language as both a publicly shared and privately utilized system in the site where the individual and the
social make and remake each other
Development of Social World
Mead and Vygotsky
● Human persona develop with the use of language acquisition and interaction with others
Self in Families
1. Human persons learn the ways of living and therefore selfhood by being in a family
2. Initiates what a person to become that serve as the basis of a person’s progress
Gender and the Self
1. One of those loci of the self that is subject to alteration, change, and development
2. Gender has to be personally discovered and asserted and not dictated by culture and society
Socio-Cultural View of Knowing Oneself
Karen Horney
● Attributed social and cultural conditions, mst especially early childhood experiences, to be largely
responsible for the formations of one’s personality
3 Interaction Styles that Individuals Use to Cope
1. Moving towards people (compliance)
● Become very dependent on others, and seek affection, acceptance, and approval
2. Moving against people (hostility and aggression)
● They have a tendency to bully others, take advantage of others, or push people around
3. Moving away from people (isolation)
● People that desires privacy, independence, and self sufficiency
Two Views of the Self
1. The real self: person’s actual and current being, the mix of a person’s strategies, strivings, strengths, and
weaknesses
2. The ideal self: is an imagined fantasy that promises a sense of positivity identity (impossible self)
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UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
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P.V. SALVADOR
Identity Formation
Identity
● Something that moves and grows throughout life as people confront new challenges and tackle different
experiences in the family, circle of friends, community and society
Famous Theories of Identity Formation
1. Eric Erickson: Identity versus role confusion
2. James Marcia: Four statuses of identity
3. Charles H. Cooley: “Looking-glass self”
4. George H. Mead: Taking the role of the other
5. Erich S. Fromm: Identity as one of the psychological needs
6. Rom Harre and Langenhove: Positioning theory
Eric Erikson: Psychological Stages of Development
Identity vs. Role Confusion
● During this stage, adolescents search for a sense of self and personal identity through an intense
exploration of personal values, beliefs and goals
James Marcia’s Four Statuses of Identity
Identity Foreclosure: Identity Achievement:
● Adolescents have blindly accepted and ● After a process of active exploration,
committed to values and beliefs taught to adolescents have made a strong commitment
them by their family, community, or significant to a highly developed set of beliefs and
others without exploring alternatives. values
● They do not question the values that were
taught to them
Identity Diffusion: Identity Moratorium:
● Adolescents have not yet attempted to find ● Adolescents are actively experiencing a crisis
their identity, nor do they have a clear picture which has led them to explore their identity
of what their identity may be. and values.
● They have not set any goals for themselves ● They have not yet committed to any values or
beliefs and are instead experimenting
Charles H. Cooley: “Looking-glass self”
● Social psychological concept stating that a person’s self grows out of society’s interpersonal interactions
and the perceptions of others
● HumanNature (1902)
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UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
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Steps of Looking-glass Self
1. You imagine how you appear to the other person
2. You imagine the judgment of the other person
3. You feel some sense of pride, happiness guilt, of shame
George H. Mead: “Taking the Roles of Other People”
● This is seeing the world through another’s eyes
● Walking in someone else’s shoes
● Growing up version of having imaginary friends and talking to yourself
Erich S. Fromm: “Identity as one of the psychological needs”
● Refers to a need to develop one’s uniqueness
● The human need is for a sense of identity, or the capacity to be aware of ourselves as a separate entity
● Experience in which permits a person to say legitimately “I”
Rom Harre and Langenove: “Positioning Theory”
● Positioning: discursive process whereby people located in conversation as observable and subjectively
coherent participants in jointly produced storylines
● Identity: product of positioning within a discourse
● The act of positioning: assignment of fluid parts/roles to speakers in the discursive construction of personal
stories that make a person’s actions intelligible and relatively determinate as social acts
LESSON 3: THE PHYSICAL SELF
PHYSICAL SELF
● the concrete dimension, tangible aspect of the person that can be directly observed and examined
● Initial source of sensation and necessary for the origin and maintenance of personality (William James)
● Physical body is the core of human experience (Sigmund Freud)
Bodily Organs (Erik Erikson)
● Important in early developmental life stages
● Physical and intellectual skills determine whether the individual will:
a. Achieve sense of competence
b. Choose demanding roles in a complex society
3 Ways on How Physical Appearance Impact Self Worth
● How we view ourselves
● How we view others
● How we think others view us
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UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
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The Sociology of the Body (1990) “Somatic society”
➔ New found importance of the body in contemporary society (Bryan Turner)
Obsession to have a beautiful face & body
● Bulimia Nervosa
○ Recurrent binge eating with or without eating
● Anorexia Nervosa
○ Loss of body wait and refusal to eat
● High demand for cosmetic surgery and skin whitening products
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
● People with BDD wil not believe the compliments they receive instead they try convince others of their
ugliness
● Many people especially women spend tremendous expenditure of time, effort & money to alter their
appearances to resemble an ideal image
LESSON 4: THE MATERIAL SELF
BELK (1988)
● “We regard our possessions as parts of ourselves. We are what we have and what we possess.”
➔ There is a direct link between self-identity with what we have and possess. Our wanting to have and possess
has a connection with another aspect of the self, the material self.
WILLIAM JAMES (1890)
● Harvard psychologist in the late 1900s century
● The Principles of Psychology in 1890: “understanding the self can be examined through its different
components.”
○ Its constituents - self are composed of the material self, the social self, the spiritual self and the
pure ego. (Trentmann 2016; Green 1997.)
○ The feelings and emotions they arouse – self-feelings;
○ The actions to which they prompt – self-seeking and self-preservation.
○ “A man's self is the sum total of all what he can call his possessions then become a part or an
extension of self. “
○ Having self investment in things, made us attached to those things.
Material Self
● About our bodies, clothes, immediate family, and home.
● The more investment of self-given to the particular thing, the more we identify ourselves with it.
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UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
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● Collect and possess properties in different degrees of investment of self, becomes part of the self.
A. Body (innermost part of our material self) B. Clothing (form of self-expression)
● We are directly attached to this commodity ● We choose and wear clothes that are a
that we cannot live without. reflection of ourselves. (Watson 2014).
● We strive hard to make sure that this body ● The fabric and style of the clothes we wear
functions well. brings sensations to the body, which directly
● We do have certain preferential affect our attitudes and behavior.
attachment/intimate closeness to certain
body parts because of its value to us.
● Any ailment or disorder directly affects us.
○ Ex. Mariah Carey who was reported to
have placed a huge amount for the
insurance of her vocal cords and legs
(sukman, 2016).
C. Family (parents and siblings) D. Home (where our heart is, and is the earliest
● When their lives are in success, we feel their nest of our selfhood)
victories as if we are the one holding the ● Our experiences inside the home were
trophy, when an immediate family member recorded and marked on particular parts and
dies, part of ourselves dies too. things in our home.
ROLAND BARTHES
● French critic, literary theorist, essayist, philosopher, & semiotician.
● Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of many schools of
theory, including structuralism, semiotics, social theory, design theory, anthropology and post-structuralism.
● First to observe the relationships that people have with objects, looked at objects as signs/things which
could be decoded to convey messages beyond their practical value.
Material Self Presentation and Identity
★ Semiology – the study of objects as signs.
★ Sign – anything that conveys meaning.
○ Everyday objects are not just things but a complex system of signs which allows one to read
meaning into people and places.
★ Semiotics – (semeion Gk.): the study of signs and texts.
○ Examine how words, photographs, images and objects can work as a language to communicate a
range of ideas, associations and feelings.
Elements of Signs
● Signifier - physical form, function of objects in semiotic analysis (Ex. diamond ring)
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UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
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● Signified – a mental concept it refers to. (Ex. engaged to be married)
Theory of the Meaning of Material Possessions (Ditmar, 1992, 2004)
1. Instrumental functions - relate to the functional properties of a product.
● Ex. A person bought a pick - up style of car for family and business functions.
2. Social symbolic functions – signify personal qualities, social standing, group affiliation and gender role.
● Ex. Buying an iPhone instead of other mobile phones.
3. Categorical functions – the extent to which material possessions may be used to communicate group
membership and status.
● Ex. Buying or renting a condo unit in Makati City
4. Self-expressive functions – reflect a person's unique qualities, values or attitudes.
● Ex. There are people who may represent themselves by collecting objects with a Hello Kitty brand.
Others, their favorite color through the color of their accessories.
The Role of Mass Media in Shaping Behaviors
1. Advertising Media
● Media is a part of our daily lives (small or big), it elicits a change in consumer action, belief and perception.
2. Entertainment Media
● Media can shape who we are as both public and private people, celebrity wearing a product can make its
sale skyrocket (bring brand awareness & receptivity)
3. Online Media
● The internet has added significantly to the media's ability to influence consumers, websites selling products.
Material Self – Spiritual verse
Body Family
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Exodus 20:12 ESV / 544 helpful votes
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the “Honor your father and your mother, that your days
Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving
are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So you.
glorify God in your body.
Clothing Home
Luke 16:19-31 Proverbs 24:3-4 ESV / 82 helpful votes
“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is
fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all
at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, precious and pleasant riches.
covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell
from the rich man's table.
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