Personal Development
Quarter 1 – Module 1:
Knowing Oneself –
Strengths and Limitations
Knowing Oneself – Strengths and Limitations
Self-Development
The stages of man have many broad aspects covering different
developmental tasks and adjustments. As an adolescent, it is undeniable
that during this year, you find it most important to know yourselves
deeper. You had experienced most of the time you find yourself asking
‘what do you really want’ or ‘why do you really like doing these things or
being with these people’. You may find it odd that you are starting to ask
yourself questions, but you’ve got to understand that you are not the only
person who experienced it. In other words, what you are experiencing is
just normal. Now that you are in your middle or late adolescence, we can
say that you may have discovered changes in your life, or in your behavior
or attitude that compel you to discover more. Self-development is a
process of discovering oneself by realizing one's potentials and
capabilities that are shaped over time either by studying in a formal
school or through environmental factors. Along this realization, an
individual encounters gradual changes deep within him/her that may help
him/her overcome unacceptable practices or traits which lead him towards
positive change for his growth or self-fulfillment. It is also called personal
development. On the other hand, examining yourself, most specifically
how you react on things, your belief, traits, and values is one of the most
complicated things to do in
the world. You must understand, though, that it is not that simple. In fact,
it follows a process. This lesson will be of great help for you to rediscover
yourself better. Let us start by knowing some concepts of understanding
oneself.
Know Thyself
According to the philosophical point of view, “An unexamined life is not worth
living”, this is one of the famous lines once uttered by one of the greatest
philosophers of Ancient Greek, Socrates. Know Thyself is an old maxim or aphorism
which in time has been used in varied literature and consequently gained different
meanings. One of its meanings is recorded in the Greek encyclopaedia of knowledge
called “The Suda”. Thomas Hobbes also discussed his own views about the maxim
from which he used the phrase “read thyself” in his famous work The Leviathan. He
stressed that an individual could learn more by studying others and that he/she can
do this by engaging himself/herself to reading books. However, Hobbes emphasized
that a person learns more by studying oneself. He further elaborated his views about
know thyself from which he stated that a man who investigates himself/herself and
considers contemplating on what he/she did or what he/she thinks, reasons, hopes
and/or fears and to what grounds he/she feels all these can consequently learn how
to read and learn others’ thoughts and passions in similar occasions. Thus, this
statement leads us to the realization that knowing oneself is the open door that leads
us to knowing others better. Authors of other materials related to this idea believe
that ‘know thyself’ is a moral epistemological injunction. This suggests that the
philosophy is acquiring the skills of way of questioning or challenging the person to
gain careful understanding of oneself. It is a form of self-concern.
Self-Concept
Self-concept is one’s abstract and general idea about him/herself particularly
toward his/her unique personality and his/her own perception about his/her set of
values, point of views and behavior. This theory began as Rene Descartes, the
Father of Modern Philosophy, proposed his theory that a person’s existence depends
on his/her perception. Rene Descartes stated that mind is the seat of consciousness.
This means that it is in the mind that we know everything about ourselves like
our identity, passion, interest, feelings, and/or intellect, thus everything that we are
comes from the mind. Self-concept theory has a lot of suppositions regarding how
people learn to judge themselves. Among these, Sincero named three aspects such
as:
Self-concept is learned. This explains that no individual is born with self
concept. A person will soon develop this as he/she grows old. This means that self
concept can only be acquired as soon as the person learns how to mingle with others
and so this indicates that self-concept is influenced by the person’s environment and
can be a product of the person’s socialization.
Self-concept is organized. This stresses out that one’s perception towards
him/her is firm. This means that a person may hear other people’s point of view
regarding him/her but will keep on believing that what he/she thinks of
himself/herself is always the right one. Change on one’s perceptions towards
him/her, however, may also be possible but it takes time.
Self-concept is dynamic. As an individual grows older, he/she continues
to encounter problems or challenges that may reveal his/her self-concept in that
particular time or situation. A person will definitely respond to the scenario based
on his/her own insights and how he/she perceives himself/herself in the situation.
Thus, self-concept undergoes development as the person goes through different
experiences. Aside from the philosophers above, Sigmund Freud who is a well-
known psychologist, neurologist and the creator of Psychoanalysis Theory and the
father of psychoanalysis, proposed that there are three components of personality
within us:
the Id, Ego and Superego that certainly play a vital role of how we think of
ourselves. Let’s tackle them one by one.
The Id. Freud explained that man's personality is driven by pleasure principle.
This means that the nature of Id is to satisfy man's desire without thinking much of
the situation. This nature is being developed at a young age or present from birth.
To illustrate this idea let us take this as an example. An infant will cry if he/she
wants to be fed to satisfy his/her hunger. Definitely, an infant cannot exactly explain
what he/she really wants. Also, infants do grab things and would want to get things
on their hands not minding if they hurt or if they are important or not. All they want
is to get them for they want them. This is the nature of Id, when the Id wants it, the
rest are no longer important. However, this instinct is controlled by the ego and
superego as these aspects are developed in man’s life later on.
The Ego. This is the second component of the personality that is developed at
approximately the age of three. This operates according to reality which makes it
possible for the Id to work in a more proper and satisfactory ways. The ego will give
a more socially accepted means of getting the desires and wants of a person without
getting to hurt others feelings. In other words, it is the job of the ego to provide a
man some guidelines on how to behave accordingly while he fulfilled his pleasure.
This component of our personality is manifested whenever we try to satisfy
our cravings without compromising our self-image to others.
The Superego. Freud believed that this aspect of man begins to manifest as
a child turns 5. This is the last component of personality which holds our moral
judgments or concept of right and wrong that are believed to be acquired from the
family and the environment. This personality is developed as man learns the culture
of distinguishing right from wrong based on the set of guidelines and standards that
are known to 10 people which might have been probably imposed by the people in
the community like parents, teachers, elders or the community as a whole. Therefore,
superego directs a man’s life in order for him to avoid hurting others.
