Reviewer for Psychology (Prelim)

Personality
 The summation of oneself.
 It is the sum of such characteristics.
 It refers to the characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting.
 It usually refers to the totality of the person.

Personality Development
An act of enhancing the different aspects of personality, namely: physical, intellectual,
character, temperamental or emotional, social and spiritual aspects.

Some Concepts Related to Personality Development

 Personality development and social relations always go hand-in-hand with one another.
 Goals of Personality Development
o Social Acceptance- is one’s wish to be treated in accordance with who he is at
present to gain more friends and to feel love and belongingness.
o Self-Satisfaction – is one’s desire to feel contented and pleased with himself
whenever he’s in the company of other people.
o Self- Confidence – is the ability of a person to deal with anybody on different
situations without hesitations.
 Agents in Developing Personality (FSCPM)
 Family
 School
 Church
 Peer Group
 Mass Media

 Myths about Personality

1. Personality is nothing but physical appearance – type of myth where the opinion of
one person is based on another one’s physical appearance.
2. Personality is nothing but intellectual prowess – type of myth where the false
opinion of one person is limited to another one’s intellectual abilities.
3. Personality is nothing but pseudo-science- type of myth where the unproven belief
of one person is attributed to a lot of pseudo sciences.
a. Phrenology- explains that the shape of one’s skull reveals one’s personality
b. Graphology- explains how the lines criss-crossing one’s hands reflect one’s
personality.
c. Astrology- explains how the location and pattern of heavenly bodies shape
one’s personality.
 d. Physiognomy- explains how the structure and expression of one’s physique
reveals his personality
e. Numerology – explains that the numbers pertaining to one’s birth date have a
bearing on one’s personality. (PhrAGPhyNu)

Importance or Significance of Personality Development

 For social acceptance. - desire to be treated in accordance with one’s status.

 For self-satisfaction - When people reject us because we are careless with our
personality, we become dysphoric and the condition hinders our growth.
 For self-confidence - elicits positive feelings which are necessary for mental health.
 To keep ourselves on the job - salesman has to deal with people and influence them
favorably toward the product that he is selling. The salesman should have a good
appearance and he should show his motives, his ideals, and his good ways of
approaching and motivating the people to buy his products.

Factors in Personality Development

 Heredity - direction and pattern given by the genes to growth and development.
 Environment - conditions inside and outside the organism.
2 Types of Environment

 Internal environment – is the immediate environment within which the genes exist and
function in the nucleus of a cell.
 External environment
 Physical environment- is made up of all the things in the world that affect us
directly and all the things that stimulate our sense organs.
 Social environment- includes all the human beings who in any way influence us.

Phases of Personality Development

Aspects of an Individual’s Personality (Mental, Emotional, Social)

 The Mental Aspect – refers to the intellectual capacity of a person. The mental aspects
depend upon the intelligence. Also, the better the education, the better the personality.
 The Emotional Aspect – A person’s emotional makeup is shown in his likes and dislikes,
whether he is aggressive or docile, how he responds when things become difficult, how
quickly he is given to anger, or whether he can take a job or not. Emotional behaviour is
interrelated with other aspects of a child’s growth. As he grows older, his emotions
become differentiated. As the range of his experiences widen, there are changes in his
susceptibility to stimuli that cause emotional responses. His emotions are bounded to
 his hopes and aspirations. His inner state, his ideals, his scruples, the standards he has
set for himself, and the values he holds will have an important bearing on his tendencies
to react with joy or self-reproach or anger or fear.
 The Social Aspect – This is seen how well a person conducts himself with other people
and how well he observes the rules of etiquette that govern society.

Factors Affecting Social Development

 The Physical Aspect – Heredity and environment determine the entire physiological
system of an individual.
1. The Autonomic Nervous System. This controls the gastrointestinal tract,
respiratory apparatus, urinary bladder, rectum, and glands.
2. The Brain. At birth the weight of the brain is greater in proportion to the total
weight than it will be at any later time. By the fifth year, the weight of the child’s
brain is eighty percent (80%) of the maximum weight. In the ninth year, the brain
is 90% of its total weight at its maximum development. Maximum brain weight is
attained at twelve years old.
3. The Heart and the Circulatory System. At the age of six, the heart weighs four to
five times as much as compared to heart’s birth weight. Between the age of four
and ten years, the heart grows slowly. Chest size continues to increase through
adolescence. Its shape remains the same after the age of thirteen.
4. The Lungs. The increase in the volume and weight of lungs is great during the
early years of adolescence and continues at a lesser rate until adulthood.
Physical and Sexual Development.
For girls:
growth spurts between 8-11 years,
reaches its peak at 12 ½ years,
completed at 15-18 years.
For boys:
growth spurts between the ages of 11-14 years,
reaches its peak rates at 15 years, and is
completed at 21 years.

 The Moral Aspect of Personality – This aspect of personality has to do with a person’s
awareness of the difference between what is wrong or right.
  The Spiritual Aspect of Personality - People are generally religious but they differ in
what they worship and how they worship. From the moral lectures they hear from their
respective leaders, priests, or pastors, they acquire knowledge of the teachings of their
Creator that guide the lives of men. The spiritual aspect is the consciousness of the
higher values in life. Religion expresses spiritual values.

Topic: Theories of Personality Development

Objective: Apply theories of personality development in understanding one’s and other
people’s behaviour.

Psychosexual Stages of Development under Psychoanalysis Theory of Sigmund Freud

Although Freud had little firsthand experience with children (including his own), his
development theory is almost exclusively a discussion of early childhood.

Infantile Period
Freud’s most important assumptions - infants possess a sexual life and go through a period of
pregenital sexual development during the first 4 or 5 years after birth.

1. Oral Phase
- The mouth is the first organ to provide an infant with pleasure (gain pleasure through the
act of sucking).
- Infants’ defense against the environment is greatly aided by the emergence of teeth.
During the oral-sadistic phase, infants respond to others through biting, cooing, closing
their mouth, smiling, and crying. Their first autoerotic experience is thumb sucking, a
defense against anxiety that satisfies their sexual but not their nutritional needs.

2. Anal Phase- the aggressive drive, which during the first year of life takes the form of oral
sadism, reaches fuller development during the second year when the anus emerges as a
sexually pleasurable zone.
 Early anal period- children receive satisfaction by destroying or losing objects.
 Late anal period- they sometimes take a friendly interest toward their feces, an interest
that stems from the erotic pleasure of defecating. Frequently, children will present their
feces to the parents as a valued prize.
*Anal character – people who continue to receive erotic satisfaction by keeping
and possessing objects and by arranging them in an excessively neat and orderly
fashion.
 *Anal triad of orderliness, stinginess, and obstinacy that typifies the adult anal
character.
3. Phallic Phase (approximately 3 or 4 years of age)
- Genital area becomes the leading erogenous zone.
- Marked for the first time by a dichotomy between male and female development, a
distinction that Freud believed to be due to the anatomic differences between the sexes.
*Masturbation, which originated during the oral stage, now enters a second name, more
crucial phase. It is very universal, but because parents generally suppress these activities, children
usually repress their conscious desire to masturbate by the time their phallic period comes to an
end (suppression of masturbation).
*Male Oedipus Complex. - infant boy forms an identification with his father; that is, he wants
to be his father. Later he develops a sexual desire for his mother; that is, he wants to have his
mother.
*Female Oedipus Complex. - the desire for sexual intercourse with the father and
accompanying feelings of hostility for the mother
Like boys, pre-Oedipal girls assume that all other children have genitals similar to their own.
Soon they discover that boys not only possess different genital equipment, but apparently
something extra. Girls then become envious of this appendage, feel cheated, and desire to have
a penis (Penis Envy)

Latency Period
- (4th or 5th year until puberty)
- both boys and girls usually, but not always, go through a period of dormant psychosexual
development.
- brought about partly by parents’ attempts to punish or discourage sexual activity in their
young children.
Genital Period
- Puberty signals a reawakening of the sexual aim. During puberty, the diphasic sexual life of
a person enters a second stage, which has basic differences from the infantile period.
1. Adolescents give up autoeroticism and direct their sexual energy toward another
person instead of toward themselves.
2. Reproduction is now possible.
3. Although penis envy may continue to linger in girls, the vagina finally obtains the same
status for them that the penis had for them during infancy. Boys now see the female
organ as sought-after object rather than a source of trauma.
4. The entire sexual drive takes on a more complete organization, and the component
drives that had operated somewhat independently during the early infantile period
gain a kind of synthesis during adolescence; thus, the mouth, anus, and other
 pleasure-producing areas take an auxiliary position to the genitals, which now attain
supremacy as an erogenous zone.

Maturity
*The genital period begins at puberty and continues throughout the individual’s lifetime. It is
a stage attained by everyone who reaches physical maturity
*Psychological maturity, a stage attained after a person has passed through the earlier
developmental periods in an ideal manner. It seldom happens, because people have too many
opportunities to develop pathological disorders or neurotic predispositions.

Psychosocial Stages of Development under Post-Freudian Theory of Erik Erickson

Basic Points for understanding of Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development:
 Growth takes place according to the epigenetic principle.
 In every stage of life there is an interaction of opposites – that is, conflict between a
syntonic (harmonious) element and a dystonic (disruptive) element.
 At each stage, the conflict between the dystonic and syntonic elements produces an ego
quality or ego strength, which Erikson referred to as a basic strength.
 Too little basic strength at any one stage results in a core pathology for that stage.
 Although Erikson referred to his eight stages as psychosocial stages, he never lost sight
of the biological aspect of human development.
 Events in earlier stages do not cause later personality development. Ego identity is
shaped by a multiplicity of conflicts and events – past, present, and anticipated.
 During each stage, but especially from adolescence forward, personality development is
characterized by an identity crisis, which Erikson called “a turning point, a crucial period
of increased vulnerability and heightened potential”.

Infancy
- Period encompassing approximately the first year of life and paralleling Freud’s oral phase
of development.
- Time of incorporation, with infants “taking in” not only through their mouth but through
their various sense organs as well.
- BASIC STRENGTH: HOPE

Oral-Sensory Mode
- Includes infants’ principal psychosexual mode of adapting.
 - Characterized by two modes of incorporation – receiving and accepting what is given.
Infants can receive even in the absence of other people; that is, they can take in air
through the lungs and can receive sensory data without have to manipulate others. The
second mode of incorporation implies a social context. Infants not only must get, but they
also must get someone else to give.

*Basic Trust - If the infants’ pattern of accepting things corresponds with culture’s way of
giving things.
*Basic mistrust if they find no correspondence between their oral-sensory and their
environment.

Early Childhood
- approximately the 2nd and 3rd years of life, paralleling Freud’s anal stage
- Young children receive pleasure not only from mastering the sphincter muscle but also
from mastering other body functions such as urinating, walking, throwing, holding and so
on.
- BASIC STRENGTH: WILL

Anal-Urethral-Muscular Mode
- At this time, children learn to control their body, especially in relation to cleanliness and
mobility.
- It is also a time of learning to walk, run, hug parents, and hold on to toys and other objects.

Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt

- If it is a time for self-expression and autonomy, then it is also a time for shame and doubt.
- Parents may shame their children for soiling their pants or for making a mess with their
food. They may also instill doubt by questioning their children’s ability to meet their
standards.

Play Age
- 3 to 5 years, Freud’s phallic phase
Erikson believed that the Oedipus complex is but one of several important developments
during the play age. Erikson contended that, in addition to identifying their parents, preschool-
age children are developing locomotion, language skills, curiosity, imagination, and the ability to
set goals.

School Age
- age 6 to approximately age 12 or 13 and matches the latency years of Freud’s theory.
 - At this age, the social world of children is expanding beyond family to include peers,
teachers, and other adult models.
- Erikson agreed with Freud that school age is a period of psychosexual latency. Sexual
latency is important because it allows children to divert their energies to learning the
technology of their culture and the strategies of their social interactions.
Basic Strength: Competence

Adolescence
- The period from puberty to young adulthood
- One of the most crucial development stages because, by the end of this period, a person
must gain a firm sense of ego identity. Although ego identity neither begins nor ends
during adolescence, the crisis between identity and identity confusion reaches its
ascendance during this stage.
BASIC STRENGTH: FIDELITY
*Puberty, defined as genital maturation.

Young Adulthood
- A time from about 19 to 30 ---
- is circumscribed not so much by time as by the acquisition of intimacy at the beginning of
the stages and the development of generativity at the end.
- For some people, this stage is a relatively short time, lasting perhaps only a few years.
- Young adults should develop mature genitality, experience the conflict between intimacy
and isolation, and acquire the basic strength of love.
- BASIC STRENGTH: LOVE

*Genitality can develop only during young adulthood when it is distinguished by mutual trust
and a stable sharing of sexual satisfactions with a loved person. It is the chief psychosexual
accomplishments of young adulthood and exists only in an intimate relationship.

*Intimacy is the ability to fuse one’s identity with that of another person without fear of
losing it.
*Mature intimacy means an ability and willingness to share mutual trust. It involves sacrifices,
compromise, and commitment within a relationship of two equals.
*Isolation “the incapacity to take changes with one’s identity by sharing true intimacy”.

Adulthood
- age 31 to 60.
- People begin to take their places in society and assume responsibility for whatever society
produces.
- BASIC STRENGTH: CARE.
 *Procreativity refers to more than genital contact with an intimate partner. It includes
assuming responsibility for the care of offspring that result from that sexual contact.

Old Age
- About age 60 to the end of life.
- It can be the time of joy, playfulness, and wonder; but it is also a time of senility,
depression, and despair.
- BASIC STRENGTH: WISDOM.

*Generalized sensuality may include a greater appreciation for the traditional lifestyle of the
opposite sex. Men become more nurturant and more acceptable of the pleasures of nonsexual
relationships, including those with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Adlerian Theory by Alfred Adler

*Inferior bodies - a condition that leads to feelings of inferiority and a consequent
dependence on other people.

List that represents the final statements of individual psychology:

1. The one dynamic force behind people’s behaviour is the striving for success or superiority.
2. People’s subjective perceptions shape their behaviour and personality.
3. Personality is unified and self-consistent.
4. The value of all human activity must be seen from the viewpoint of social interest.
5. The self-consistent personality structure develops into a person’s style of life.
6. Style of life is molded by people’s creative power.
Striving for Success or Superiority
- Individual psychology holds that everyone begins life with physical deficiencies that
activates feelings of inferiority.
*Psychologically unhealthy individuals strive for personal superiority
*Psychologically healthy people seek success for all humanity.
*Masculine protest - implied will to power or a domination of others.

The Final Goal

- People strive toward a final goal of either personal superiority or the goal of success for
all humankind. In either case, the final goal is fictional and has no objective existence.
Nevertheless, the final goal has great significance because it unifies personality and
renders all behaviour comprehensive.
  Each person has the power to create a personalized fictional goal, one constructed out
of the raw materials provided by heredity and environment. It is the product of the
creative power, that is, people’s ability to freely shape their behaviour and create their
own personality.
 Adler hypothesized that children will compensate for feelings of inferiority in devious
ways that have no apparent relationship to their fictional goal.
 People strive for superiority or success as a means of compensation for feelings of
inferiority or weakness.
Two general avenues of striving:
1. Striving for personal superiority
 Some people strive for superiority with little or no concern for others.
 Motivated largely by exaggerated feelings of personal inferiority, or the presence of an
inferiority complex.

2. Striving for success

 These individuals are concerned with goals beyond themselves, are capable of helping
others without demanding or expecting a personal payoff, and are able to see others not
as opponents but as people with whom they can cooperate for social benefit.
 Their own success is not gained at the expense of others but is a natural tendency to move
toward completion or perfection.

Subjective Perceptions
- People subjective shape their behavior and personality.
- People strive for superiority or success to compensate for feelings of inferiority, but the
manner in which they strive is not shaped by reality but by their subjective perceptions
of reality, that is, by their fictions, or expectations of the future.

INFERIORITY MEANS LITTLE OR LESS IMPORTANT.

Fictionalism
- Are ideas that have no real existence, yet they influence people as if they really existed
(Vaihinger).
*Teleology is an explanation of behavior in terms of its final purpose or aim. It is usually
concerned with future goals or ends.
*Causality considers bahavior as springing from a specific cause. It ordinarily deals with past
experiences that produce some present effect.

Adler emphasized that physical deficiencies alone do not cause a particular style of life; they
simply provide present motivation for reaching future goals. Such motivation, like all aspects of
personality, is unified and self-consistent.

Unity and Self-Consistency of Personality

The third tenet of Adlerian theory is: Personality is unified and self-consistent
 - In choosing the term individual psychology, Adler wished to stress his beliefs that each
person is unique and indivisible. Thus, individual psychology insists on the fundamental
unity of personality and the notion that inconsistent behavior does not exist.
Several ways in which the entire person operates with unity and self-consistency.
 Organ Dialect or Organ Jargon
- A condition that deficient organ expresses the direction of the individual’s goal.
- Through organ dialect, the body’s organs “speak a language which is usually more
expressive and discloses the individual’s opinion more clearly than words are able to do”.

 Conscious and Unconscious

- Conscious thoughts are those that are understood and regarded by the individual as
helpful in striving for success, whereas unconscious thoughts are that are not helpful.

Social Interest
The fourth of Adler’s tenet is: The value of all human activity must be seen from the viewpoint
of social interest.

- “social feeling” or “community feeling,”

- It can be defined as an attitude of relatedness with humanity in general as well as
empathy for each member of the human community. It manifests itself as cooperation
with others for social advancements rather than for personal gain.
- Social Interest is Adler’s somewhat misleading translation of his original German term,
Gemeinschaftsgefὕhl. Roughly, it means a feeling of oneness with the humanity; it implies
membership in the social community of all people.
- A person with well-developed Gemeinschaftsgefὕhl strives not for personal superiority
but for perfection for all people in an ideal community.

Final goal dimly perceived Final goal clearly perceived

Personal superiority Success

Personal gain Social Interest

Exaggerated feelings Normal feelings of incompletion

 Feelings of inferiority

Physical deficiencies

Innate striving force

Style of Life
Adler’s fifth tenet is: The Self-consistent personality structure develops into a person’s style of
life.
- It is the term Adler used to refer to the flavour of a person’s life.
- It includes a person’s goal, self-concept, feelings for others, and attitude toward the
world.
- It is the product of the interaction of heredity, environment, and a person’s creative
power.
- Fairly well established by age 4 or 5.
Psychologically unhealthy individuals often lead rather inflexible lives that are marked by an
inability to choose new ways of reacting to their environment. In contrast, healthy people behave
in diverse and flexible ways with styles of life that are complex, enriched, and changing.
People with healthy, socially useful life express their social interest through action. They
actively struggle to solve what Adler regarded as the three major problems of life --- neighbourly
love, sexual love, and occupation --- and they do so through cooperation, personal courage, and
a willingness to make a contribution to the welfare of another. Adler (1956) believed that people
with a socially useful style of life represent the highest form of humanity in the evolutionary
process and are likely to populate the world of the future.

Creative Power
The final tenet of Adlerian Theory is: Style of life molded by people’s creative power.
Each person is empowered with the freedom to create her or his own style of life. Their
creative power places them in control of their own lives, is responsible for their final goal,
determines their method of striving for that goal, and contributes to the development of social
interest
Creative power makes each person a free individual. Creative power is a dynamic concept
implying movement, and this movement is the most salient characteristics of life. All psychic life
involves movement toward a goal, movement with a direction (Adler, 1964).
 Cognitive Development Theory by Jean Piaget
John Locke- first introduce the idea that the mind of a newborn individual is similar to
“tabularasa”, which means a blank slate.
*Blank Slate- is described as a clean sheet of paper where people can draw, write, and doodle
anything to make a beautiful or ugly project.

Jean Piaget- introduced knowledge development who gave emphasis on the Cognitive Stages of
Development.
Cognitive Stages of Development (Sensorimotor, preoperational, concerete operational,
formal operational)
1. Sensorimotor Stage
- Starts form birth to second year of an individual’s life.
- An infant’s medium of learning is through senses ( as what the baby sees, hears, feels,
smells, and tastes)
- The muscle coordination of the babies are develop.
- Infants acquire more meanings in the things that they perceived by touching.
- Infants feel that they are the center of attention of people around them thus they
experience egocentrism.

2. Preoperational Stage
- Covers second to seventh year of one’s lifespan.
- The children get increased intellectual abilities and motor coordination.
- They acquire the capacity to reason out and see the relationship of the things around
them.
- The children exhibit an increased ability to ask question about the things and events
they are trying to explore.
- Their thinking ability is still egocentric and they believe that the opinions of other people
are difficult to understand.
- Children show rapid level of learning new things.

3. Concrete Operational Stage

- The child reaches the age of seven to eleven.
- The time where learning widens, children start to enter school and ambiguous or
tenuous concepts during childhood become specific and concrete.
- The children’s interest change.
- The children become capable to understand people and things which have little or no
meaning to them before.
 4. Formal Operational Stage
- The individual reaches the age ranging from eleven to the time before death.
- People have reached the stage of intellectual development where they are fully
capable to solve certain problem and can reason on the basis of hypothesis or
propositions.
- People have the ability to look at their problems from the different angles laid unto
them and take into account many factors as they solve them.

Moral Development Theory by Lawrence Kohlberg

People are not born with a sense of what is right and wrong. They go through a series of
stages that develop their sense of morality.
Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Reasoning
1. Pre-conventional Morality
- Moral development is very low since children at this phase are not yet fully developed
when it comes to their intellectual abilities.
- Their limited intellectual ability leads them to confusion in grasping abstract principle
of right and wrong.
- Children do not adhere rules and regulations.
2 Stages of Pre-conventional Morality
a. Punishment Stage- the child is bound by obedience and punishment orientation
where they judge actions as right or wrong in terms of the punishment they will
get if they don’t obey.
b. Reward Orientation- The children obey rules to get rewards.
2. Conventional Morality
- Also known as the morality of conventional rules and conformity.

2 Stages of Conventional Morality

a. Good boy/Good girl Orientation- children conform to rules just to win the approval
of others and maintain harmonious relationship.
b. Authority Orientation- children conform to laws set by the authorities because they
are the socially accepted and followed to avoid social disapproval and censure.

3. Post-Conventional Morality
- An individual establishes self-imposed principles.
2 Stages of Post-Conventional Morality
 a. Social Control Orientation- the individual believes that there should be flexible
moral beliefs which one can modify to work harmoniously with other group
members whose sense of morality opposite his/hers.
b. Ethical Principle Orientation- individuals try to internalize ideals in order to avoid
self-condemnation rather than social censure by conforming to socially accepted
standards. This is known as the stage of respect for others over personal desires.

Topic: Image Management and Image in the Workplace

Objective: Apply image management in preparation for their future employment.

Image Management

 It is the ongoing, pro-active process of evaluating and controlling the impact of your
appearance on you, on others, and the achievement of your goals.
 creating an authentic, appropriate, attractive, and affordable personal and/or
professional Image which increases your confidence, credibility, capability, and
productivity while contributing to continuing success.
 It is all about respect—respect for self and respect for others, respect for occasions,
roles, and goals. It is smart to practice Image Management daily—in the home,
school, community, and in the workplace.
 are self-presentation, self-promotion, and professional presence.
 It is an effective way to attract others—to encourage others to regard you favorably
and with continued interest.

Five Tips for Creating a Positive Professional Image (Attire and clothing, body
language, att. And behavior, conversation and language)
A positive professional image is essential to a successful career, no matter your age or field.
Whether you are looking for a job, starting a new job, or a seasoned workplace veteran, it’s a
good idea to learn (or review) the basics of creating a positive professional persona. A
professional persona includes four elements:

 Attire and clothing: How you look.

 Body Language: How you hold and present yourself.
 Attitude and behavior: How you think and act.
 Conversation and language: How you communicate and engage others.
Your professional image speaks volumes about you and will help you develop and establish a
positive reputation. Here are some tips:

1. First impressions are critical. This is especially important for those entering the
workforce, interviewing, or starting a new position. People form their first impressions
in three seconds. In a flash, they are forming judgments about your competence, your
personality, and your values. And once that impression is formed, it is very difficult to
change. So be sure your first impression says what you want it to say—namely, that you
belong.

2. Look the part. Dress for success by dressing like you belong at that company. Your
professional attire should say, I belong here, not look at my cleavage. You want people
to imagine you not just in the position you are in or interviewing for but running the
show someday.

Of course, much depends on the profession and field. What is appropriate and professional
for a television station may be different from an investment bank. So look around the
organization. Who is really successful? How do they dress? What do their clothes say about
them? Follow their lead. And remember: never out-status the person interviewing you or
managing you.

3. Act the part. You need to exhibit a positive, respectful attitude. You want to be
confident but not cocky, polite but not obsequious, friendly but not annoying. Are you
someone they will want to hire or work with? Can you fit in and get along? Are you a
team player? Be authentic, polite, and positive. Be your best self.

4. Use positive body language. Your body language is a crucial element of your image. It
has to inspire trust, because business is a financial venture, and approachability,
because business is conducted through social networks. Creating a professional persona
through body language means:

 Carrying yourself confidently.

 Making eye contact when speaking.
 Offering a firm handshake.
 Sitting and standing up straight.
 Using open body language—facing the person speaking, squaring your body directly
toward others, without folded arms.
 Smiling and saying hello to people.
  Putting away the iPod. When you listen to your iPod, others may view this as
disengagement, and that is not the message you want to send.

5. Make sure your e-life matches your professional image. Say you’ve created this terrific
professional image at work but your on-line image is that of a weekend boozehound, or
you are notorious for sending annoying chain e-mails. That’s a bad move professionally.
Everything you post and send on-line—and everything posted about you by your
friends—can and will be seen by your employers and colleagues.

Topic: Proper Wardrobe for work and daily use

Objective: Identify appropriate look in a specific occasion.

Fashion Finesse
Clothing
 Is for protection, comfort, modesty, and enhancement of your beauty.
 Anything that is inappropriate, gaudy, vulgar, or otherwise offensive to others detracts
from your appearance.
 A statement of individuality, status, creativity.
Some guidelines to avoid expensive or embarrassing mistakes while developing your personal
style are:
 Appropriateness above all – always dress within the bounds of classic good taste. Good
materials and lines embellished with elegance rather than flamboyance or modish
extremes
Factor’s affecting one’s mode of dress:
- Outside or indoors
- Mixed ages or peers
- Geography
- Building
- Event
- Weather
 Fashion – fashion is serious, what you wear reveals a significant message about you and
your world. They communicate much about your attitudes toward the occasion, your
company, and yourself.
 Dress with consideration – one dress out for others as well as for one’s own self-image.
Your goal is a wardrobe of clothes that are right for your body, your personality, your
environment, and the specific occasion.

Making Choices
 The most exciting thing about fashion is the artistic expression it permits. If you have a
sense of fashion’s past, you can indulge in appropriate whimsy mix and match and feel
comfortable and at ease.

First Impression
 This is on a visual level and it crystallizes even before you open your mouth.
 90% of the first impression is an impression of your clothing and 10% is from after you
utter your first sentence.

Factors concerning first impression:

- Economic level (is he rich or poor? Working or unemployed?)
- Educational level (is he a highschool or college graduate? An attorney or doctor?)
- Social position (does he lives in a village? Belongs to the upper socio-economic level or
lower level?)
- Level of sophistication (is he the party-hopping type, social register type? “Provinciano”
type?)
- Family background (what is his social, educational, and economic heritage? Position of
the family in the community? Known by their family names or not?)
- Successfulness (is he successful? Has a car, a house and lot? Is he important in his
company? Known by his business associates and peers?)
- Moral character (does he look honest? Is he the type to will put one over others? Will he
cheat me?)

Assembling a Basic Wardrobe

The Basics
Basics are the mainstays of your wardrobe, the treasures upon which to sprinkle the
sugar and spice of the season’s trends. A good basic wardrobe is money in the bank, a
wonderful resource for unexpected invitations.
Step-by-step advice on how to assemble a basic wardrobe on a limited budget:
1. Clean up your closet
- Go through your clothes in your closet and cabinets. Pile the “if only” items like
items that are too small or large for you, has missing buttons. Next, discard clothes
that you don’t want to wear or you haven’t worn in a year or so. Then arrange what
is left of your clothing.
2. Know your figure
- Look yourself over in front of a full-length mirror and observe the features of your
figure. Young Filipinas are on the thinner side, so there is not much problem, except
to gain a little weight, to have more “figure”.
 3. Shop wisely and well
- Consider budgeting when shopping for clothing. For students, buying clothes fit for
office use can prepare you early enough for the first interview and first job.

Your Closet
Think of your closet as a resource for your lifestyle. Your closet should be set up exactly
like a fine specialty shop. It must be scrupulously clean and free of junk. The time spent on
keeping your clothes in order will be repaid when you do not have to hunt things while dressing
for occasions and such and your clothes will last longer and look better.

Your Search for Style:

To achieve true style your clothing and accessories must complement and compliment
your body and be an expression of your individuality.
Style vs Fashion
Style Fashion
- Timeliness - Changing, current,
- Lasting and durable even trendy
- Best of all past fashion - Fickle and commercial
- Cultivate yourself - Purchase seasonal
through knowledge of “look”
what is really beautiful - It takes honesty and
and lasting. discipline to evaluate
- Priceless quality and one yourself in relation to
animates the lifeless trends.
garments you wear.
- Natural rather than
affected, and usually
takes time to acquire.

Dressing for the Occasion

In dressing to present yourself properly to others, and to pass the test of the first
impression, try to:
 Dress properly to befit the occasion
 Interpret the season’s fashion based upon the timeless qualities of past traditions
 Incorporate individuall flair and style
 Keep a keen sense of appropriateness not only to the occasion but also to your figure,
lifestyle, and age.
Note: It is more important to adhere to the rules of appropriateness than to the dictates of
fashion.
Shopping Rules
 Go shopping alone, or with your mother or a single friend whose taste you trust.
 Properly and attractively dressed and groomed for the kinds of clothes to try on.
 Find a salesperson and tell them what you are looking for.
 Listen to suggestions.
 Return the items on its original form if you won’t buy it and let the salesperson know your
decision.
 Choose items that are your wardrobe style.
Shopping Strategies
 Preshopping or window shopping avoids mistakes in choosing clothes.
 Sale is not always a good idea, some stores or boutiques sell the same clothes for an
affordable price.
 Dress comfortably and appropriately.
 Study your shopping route to avoid circling around and time consumption.
 Do not blindly follow advices or help from salesperson.
 Never buy clothes under pressure if you can possibly avoid it.

Shopping Traps to Avoid

1. Think twice before shopping with a friend. They may distract you from focusing on what
you came for.
2. A friend’s taste and aims may be different from yours.
3. A friend may choose clothes that are not appropriate for you.
4. Avoid shopping out of loneliness. Shopping for the wrong reasons brings out wrong
results.
5. Don’t shop for bargains. Don’t judge merchandise by its price tag.

Lines in Clothes
Vertical lines – creates an illusion of height and makes a person look taller. It is ideal for
plump persons.
Horizontal lines – cuts height and adds width.

Color: The link in the total look

Attributes of colors:
 Light – light colors transmit more light.
 Brightness – is judges to emit more or less light. It varies from invisible to dazzling.
 Advancing colors/Warm colors (red, yellow, orange) – make an object appear larger.
  Retreating colors (blue, green, violet) – make a person appear smaller and far away.
 Shade – shades of red are brick red, fire red, and rose red.
 Clarity – refers to the clearness or purity of a color.

Your Color Spectrum

 Primary colors – red, blue, and yellow.
 Secondary and tertiary colors are combinations of :
red + blue = violet
red + yellow = orange
blue + yellow = green
*refer to color wheel

Skirts
 Skirts are a working woman’s chief means of multiplying her wardrobe.
 Have at least one straight style, with a split or pleat, A line skirts (basic and figure-
flattering).
 Pleated styles require a taller, thinner figure to look most attractive.

Blouses
 Man-tailored blouse with sports collar and front buttons is the most popular blouse.
 Popularly called “trubenized” shirt, only a few basic colors for a variety of uses (beige,
cream, and white).
 Blouse with pleats and tucks or shirring add a touch of softness and femininity to skirts.
 For patterns, you can have stripes, plaid, or floral blouses to provide color and interest.
 Can be long sleeved or short sleeved.

Suits
 A must for junior executives to the executive level.
 The basic linen or light wool suit is an invaluable fashion must for the working woman.
 Look for simple lines, a perfect fit and little detail.
 Skirts should be A-lined, or moderately flared.
 Dress with jacket is an attractive alternative to a suit.
 Accessories can keep your suit looking different each time.

Blazers
 Blazers and jackets are very much a part of today’s look.
 Pairing A-lined or slim skirt with a black or gray blazer or worn over dresses.
Dresses
  You should have at least one dress in a solid color preferably in a neutral shade and a
lightweight fabric.
 Avoid printed dresses for the office, because they are easily recognized and dated.
 A street-length, just above the knee or on the knee is most practical.
Evening wear
Formal – usually a long evening dress. This should be as simple and elegant if it is meant
to be worn for many occasions.
Informal – could be a two-piece outfit like a long skirt or wide-leg pants, blouses,
scarves, and probably velvet blazers.

Men Fashions
 For office, polo barong or barong shirts for formal meetings.
 Polo shirts with sports collar for clerks and messengers.
 For evening wear, barong in jusi or the suit or “coat and tie,” and tuxedo in most formal
occasions.

Care of Clothing
 Observe proper laundering or cleaning of clothing.

Combinations of colors
1. Monochromatic – use of the same color, but different shades (brown, light brown, and
beige).
2. Complementary – use of two colors, opposite each other in the color wheel (red and
green, blue and yellow, etc.).
3. Analogous – uses two colors beside each other in the color wheel (blue and green,
yellow and orange, red and purple, etc.).
4. Triadic – made up of three colors that form and equidistant triangle on the color wheel
(purple, green, and yellow; red, blue, and green; etc.).

Best Complement Colors:

1. Beige – your best beige is the color of your skin. Match it exactly.
2. Brown – your best brown is your hair color.
3. Gray – for gray-hair stage of life, best gray is the color of your gray hair. Avoid gray
that looks muddy or dull when placed next to your skin.
4. White or off-whites – your best white should not be whiter or brighter than your
teeth.
5. Red – your best shade of red is your body’s natural blood.
6. Blue – if your eyes are blue, match it. If not, it is a complementary color for you.
 7. Green – just like blue, if your eyes are green, match it. The best green is one with clear
tone or closest to a jade or emerald green. Yellow-green are harder to wear.
8. Yellow – most people have yellow in their eyes. The best yellow is one that is not too
bright for your coloring. The hardest to use are lemon yellow and mustard gold.
9. Black – black is a very effective color for black hair people.
10. Navy – best navy color is determined by noting what it does to your skin tone. If it
dulls it, avoid it.

Factors affecting Choice of Colors

1. Color of skin, eyes, and hair – the Filipina’s “kayumanggi” complexion looks best in
shades of coral, orange-reds, browns, greenish blues. For rosy complexion, shades of
red and orange tones. Beige with touches of brown is flattering for you.
2. Personality – it is an important factor. The color should make you feel right. Bright red
dress may disturb you if you are shy and retiring. If you are a dynamic person, a delicate
pastel may not look right on you.
3. Occasion – office clothes should not be as bright as sports clothes. Evening clothes
should be more dramatic than daytime clothes.

The Terms of Dress

 Casual – denotes sports or relaxed attire and is appropriate casual occasions and
sporting events.
 Informal – an afternoon dress for women and “coat and tie” for men or a dark or light
business suit. Maybe paired with blazer or jacket.
 Semiformal – connotes that women wear short or long cocktail, party, dinner dress;
evening dress with jacket and for men, dark suit or dinner jacket with black silk bow tie
commonly known as tuxedo.
 Formal – women wear a late afternoon dress and men a dark suit before 6 o’clock in the
evening. After 6 o’clock, formal dress falls into two categories : “Black tie” and “White
tie”.
 “Black tie” – for men, tuxedo, for women, evening gown.
 “White tie” – denotes full dress.

Topic: Proper Grooming for Specific Occasions

Objective: Identify appropriate look in a specific occasion.

Proper Grooming
Good Grooming means appropriate clothes on the appropriate occasion, besides being neat
and clean in every detail when it comes to clothing and the self.

Dresses
The following are essentials in buying dresses:

1. Good fit- The dress should hang on the body easily. There should be enough room for
movement. Anything too tight or too lose will make you feel ill at ease and will reflect
on your appearance.
2. Good workmanship- Neat sewing, straight seams, smooth placement of the zipper,
collar, and sleeves- all these make good-quality sewing. Stripes or checkers should be
matched in the seam connection.
3. Good materials- For the working girl, good fabrics are essential because of the wear and
tear on the clothes. Those with rosy complexion will look well in shades of red. The
Filipina looks well in orange tones. Beige dresses with touches of accents will enhance
her beauty.

Accessories are a must for women. They are regarded as indispensable in the life of a woman
to complement her appearance. They include:
1. Jewelry- whether fake or real, provides variety and makes other people notice a woman.
It completes one’s get-up and accentuates the color of the dress as well as manicured
fingers and nicely shaped ears and legs. It is also a good investment. Money invested in
jewelry can be an important resource in time of need.
2. Shoes- one can be more productive by wearing comfortable shoes. High-heeled shoes
are appropriate at important social occasions but not for school and the office.
3. Bags- are used for practical reasons more than to complete the attire. However, its size,
shape, and color can accentuate the personality of the person. It should never be
abused by overstuffing it with things, since it will lose its shape and may be destroyed in
no time at all.

Good posture is a state which enables the body to function to the best advantage. Work that
gives satisfaction helps improve posture. Success helps posture. Good posture makes one more
attractive and graceful. It gives a feeling of confidence. Bad posture accelerates fatigue.
Rounded shoulders and a slumped position may interfere with the lungs in breathing and may
do harm in crowding other organs out of their natural places. Good posture may also aid
regular bowel movement. The functioning of the body system is kept normally operational at all
times with good posture.
Psychology of Colors
Dark Dingy Colors harm our spirits, morale, and physical health. They also instigate crime,
induce inhibitions, inferiority complex and suicide, and thwart development.
Yellow makes one feel happy and carefree.
Red makes a person strong, dynamic and courageous and is an invigorating color. It is
associated with blood, rosy cheeks, or the “stop” traffic sign; it signifies anger and provokes
fear. It impels people to action.
Orange helps a person to be assertive.
Green, the color of nature, promotes the feeling of well-being. It encourages stability. Green
implies happy and restful associations and natural abundance.
Black has negative connotation. It depresses because of its association with death. At present,
black is becoming fashionable especially on formal occasions, on television, concerts, debuts,
even at weddings. It signifies formality and conservativeness.
Blue is soothing. It connotes royalty and regalness.
Neutral colors like beige and gray are for people who feel secure.
Brighter colors and very light shades are for girls who are less confident.

Make up
Foundation- provides the base for all your glamour cosmetics. It protects your skin from air
pollutants and reduces the effects of sun and wind. Foundation makes you look better. It evens
out skin tone, veils imperfections, and can actually do your skin a service.
How to apply
Cardinal Rule in application: there should never be a noticeable line between you and your
make up. Blending is the answer to a natural looking foundation finish.
Liquid Foundation. Shake the bottle before use. Place a small amount on 5 facial points. Gently
spread with fingertips or dry sponge with easy light strokes in an outward direction extending
to the outer corners of your face and over the jawline.
Cake Foundation is applied by using a moist sponge. It is essential to make the foundation last
for hours and to even out the skin texture. It blots away excess oil and freshens one’s
appearance.
Facial Loose Powder. Translucent loose powder seals/sets in the foundation. Pat lightly over the
foundation. Buff off excess powder to project that velvety smooth, shine-free matte finish.
Pressed Powder. This is used alone or over foundation especially for retouching make-up. Blot
excess oil before retouching face. Puff lightly on face.
Cheek Color. The color and intensity of your make up scheme is based on your cheek color. It
brings out the character in your face by giving bone structure more definition. Color-key your
blusher to your lipstick for harmonizing effect.
Proper Application for Duos. Use the lighter shade to give the top of your cheekbone a glowing
blush color, and the darker one to contour the area under your cheekbone.

Corrective Eye Make-up

1. Close-set Eyes. Widen space between the eyes by using light shadow near the nose.
Apply the most intense color near the outer corners of your eyes. Use liner on the outer
half of the eyelid only; extend it, with shadow, beyond the eye.
2. Wide-set Eyes. Reduce the space between eyes that are too wide apart by concentrating
all make up close to the nose., stop it at mid lid and leave the outer half of the eye bare
of makeup.
3. Hooved Eyes(Bulging). Light shadow under the brow teamed with dark shadow on the
eyelid will flatten protruding eyes. Keep lines subtle; avoid all bright colors and shiny or
glossy pearlized finish.
4. Small Eyes. Light shadow on your eyelids opens up small eyes and gives the, greater
dimension; more intense shades in the creases help make the eyes look round and
enlarge them. Adding lift to the outer corners also opens and widens small eyes.

Eye Colors. Your eyes are the most expressive feature of your face, and eye makeup should
enhance the feature that gives your face energy, excitement, and individuality. Use at least 2
tones a medium or deep color to shade, a lighter tone to highlight.
Eye Definers. Contour and enhancement, lining and defining your eyes emphasize their natural
setting and contours and make your lashes look thicker.
Mascara. Your eyelashes softly frame your eyes, and adding mascara darkens and thickens your
lashes to give your eye make up the finishing touch.
Eyebrow Shaper. Eyebrows frame your eyes and add expression to your entire face. An
eyebrow pencil or eye color can help shape your eyebrows. The color should never be darker
than that of your brows or hair color.
Lip color. A soft glimmer of lip color harmonizes your whole beautiful look. Consider colors
complementary to your cheek, eye colors, and clothing.
Topic: Personal Leadership
Objective: Develop a sense of self direction

Personal leadership
- It is the leadership of the self.
- It is the ability to define a direction for your leadership and life, and to move in that
direction with consistency and clarity.
- It is the ability to develop and utilize your positive leadership traits to guide the
direction of your life instead of letting time and chance determine your course
- It is the ability and desire to crystallize your thinking and to establish a specific direction
and destination for your own life. It includes the courage, choice, and commitment to
move in that direction by taking committed and determined action to acquire,
accomplish, or become whatever you visualize for your future.

Why Does Personal Leadership Matter?

While personal leadership develops from the inside out, its effects are felt not only by you and
your family, but also by others in your community and workplace.

Must-Have Personal Leadership Qualities:

Here are some personal leadership qualities we can cultivate within ourselves to use our
positive strengths and talents for our success and the benefit of those we live and work with:

 Vision—Having an overall game plan, or mission statement, including a clear vision of

your goals and the leadership qualities you wish to possess, is essential to good personal
leadership.

 Self-discipline—a raw skill or talent that is channeled for positive use can greatly
improve your life and your leadership abilities. Having the self-discipline to use your
strengths only for good will enhance your personal growth and strengthen your ability
to lead others positively.

 Spirituality—“Spirituality is the process of living out a set of deeply held personal

values, of honoring forces or a presence greater than ourselves. It expresses our desire
to find meaning in, and to treat as an offering what we do.”-Peter Block. While we may
not completely understand it, that spiritual component drives us to live life for more
than just our own personal fulfillment.

 Integrity— having firm and unwavering principles is the hallmark of a good and trusted
leader (and friend). With integrity, you earn the respect and trust of those around you.
  Honesty—being truthful isn’t always easy, but it is always the correct path. This is a
cornerstone of personal leadership.

 Open communication—the ability to communicate with others in an open, honest,

tactful way is a skill that must be continually honed.

 Kindness— “Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt,
kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.”- Albert
Schweitzer

 Legacy building— “A good character is the best tombstone. Those who loved you and
were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered. Carve your
name on hearts, not on marble.”- Charles Spurgeon

Characteristics of Personal Leadership

What makes personal leadership different from other forms of leadership? Personal leadership
is distinguished by its focus on the individual and an appreciation for who you are.

 Respectful. Personal leadership respects the extraordinary value of each human

being. It does not, as many models do, tell you to be like someone else.

 Reflective. Personal leadership means thinking about what you’re doing, in a spirit of
wholeheartedness, openness, and responsibility.

 Renewing. A way for leaders to slow down and advance in a powerful yet sustainable
way. When you are overworked, overtaxed, and overtired, you burn out. When you are
rested, rewarded, and renewed, you excel.

 Rewarding. No matter what you do for a living, your work can be rewarding. Personal
leadership offers you the chance to create true prosperity — the kind of happiness that
comes not just from financial gain but also from the richness of life.

 Raising the Bar. Those who practice personal leadership don’t just meet expectations:
they exceed them.

Benefits of Personal Leadership

Personal leadership gives you a host of ways to do more, faster, and better.
You Are More Efficient and Productive. You learn to do things the way they come naturally so
you can be productive without being so busy. You learn to use your mind well. You manage
your focus instead of your time, and your energy instead of your effort. The result? You achieve
more with less. You experience quality work and quality time at once.

You Feel Motivated and Inspired. Practicing personal leadership means you not only know
what you do well, you know why you’re doing it in the first place. Work isn’t just work
anymore. It’s your chance to contribute your talents to people and ideas in which you believe.

You Experience a Life of Joy and Fulfillment. One important aspect of personal leadership is
the ability to connect, not separate, the different parts of your life. You can still be committed
to your work, but your commitment supports your personal life. You can still devote yourself to
your personal interests, but your devotion is integrated with your work. You don’t have to trade
one for the other, and so you move from distress to de-stress.

You Get Your Life Back. When you learn to lead yourself, you find more free time, choice, and
control. Practice personal leadership, you learn that you can have it all without doing it all. You
learn to put first things first and to let things happen instead of making them happen. Then at
last you can achieve your ambitions while still saving something for yourself.

You Get Better Results. It may seem that personal leadership has an awful lot to do with
you. Indeed it does. But your success as a leader also produces better results for your
business. As you focus on your inner edge, you become more effective on your outer edge. As
you improve yourself, you improve your team, your organization, your company, and your
results.
Topic: Self- Concept, Self- Image, Self- Confidence and Self- Esteem
Objective: Apply concept in everyday experience.

The term self-concept is a general term used to refer to how someone thinks about,
evaluates or perceives themselves.

Baumeister (1999) provides the following self-concept definition: "The individual's belief
about himself or herself, including the person's attributes and who and what the self is".

Lewis (1990) suggests that development of a concept of self has two aspects:

(1) The Existential Self

This is 'the most basic part of the self-scheme or self-concept; the sense of being separate and
distinct from others and the awareness of the constancy of the self' (Bee, 1992).

According to Lewis, awareness of the existential self begins as young as two to three months old
and arises in part due to the relation the child has with the world.

(2) The Categorical Self

Having realized that he or she exists as a separate experiencing being, the child next becomes
aware that he or she is also an object in the world.

Just as other objects including people have properties that can be experienced (big, small, red,
smooth and so on) so the child is becoming aware of him or herself as an object which can be
experienced and which has properties. The self too can be put into categories such as age,
gender, size or skill.

In early childhood, the categories children apply to themselves are very concrete (e.g., hair color,
height and favorite things). Later, self-description also begins to include reference to internal
psychological traits, comparative evaluations and to how others see them.

Carl Rogers (1959) believes that the self-concept has three different components:

• The view you have of yourself (self-image)

• How much value you place on yourself (self-esteem or self-worth)
• What you wish you were really like (ideal-self)

1. Self-image (how you see yourself)

This does not necessarily have to reflect reality. A person's self-image is affected by many factors,
such as parental influences, friends, the media etc.
Kuhn (1960) investigated the self-image by using The Twenty Statements Test. He asked people
to answer the question 'Who am I?' in 20 different ways. He found that the responses could be
divided into two major groups. These were social roles (external or objective aspects of oneself
such as son, teacher, friend) and personality traits (internal or affective aspects of oneself such
as gregarious, impatient, humorous).

The list of answers to the question “Who Am I?” probably include examples of each of the
following four types of responses:

1) Physical Description: I’m tall, have blue eyes...etc.

2) Social Roles: We are all social beings whose behavior is shaped to some extent by the roles we
play. Such roles as student, housewife, or member of the football team not only help others to
recognize us but also help us to know what is expected of us in various situations.

3) Personal Traits: These are the third dimension of our self-descriptions. “I’m impulsive...I’m
generous...I tend to worry a lot”...etc.

4) Existential Statements (abstract ones): These can range from "I’m a child of the universe" to
"I’m a human being" to "I’m a spiritual being"...etc.

Typically young people describe themselves more in terms of personal traits, whereas older
people feel defined to a greater extent by their social roles.

2. Self-Confidence

Competence in the job and self-confidence go hand in hand. One cannot assert one’s
personality without self-confidence.

Confidence in one’s work can be achieved by doing the following:

1. Dare try to succeed. Erase shyness by deciding that you can succeed. One will commit
errors at the beginning but there is training anyway.

2. Transform self-consciousness to self-confidence. Concentrate on the other person

rather than worry about what others think of you. Shifting of attention from oneself to
the other will precipitate self-confidence.

3. Strive toward mental relaxation. One can accomplish more when one is relaxed. More
space is needed between periods of grueling work and pressures.
 4. Respond to the needs of others. Self-confidence calls d=for being responsible, showing
interest in others and feeling at home with them. Sensitivity to the needs and feelings of
others are signs of humaneness.

5. Have confidence in your values. Self-respect, self-worth, and self-liking go a long way in
building self-confidence. Like yourself and consider yourself of value to other people.

6. Learn to listen. A conversationalist knows how to listen. When someone is talking, the
other person is usually thinking what to say next instead of listening. The other person is
not heard at all. Hence, there .is no exchange of ideas.

7. Be a doer instead of a sitter. Participate actively rather than just sitting back and
waiting for something to come to you.

8. Be quick to compliment and be slow to criticize. Give well-deserved compliments.

3. Self-esteem (the extent to which you value yourself)

Self-esteem (also known as self-worth) refers to the extent to which we like accept or approve of
ourselves, or how much we value ourselves. Self-esteem always involves a degree of evaluation
and we may have either a positive or a negative view of ourselves.

High self-esteem means we have a positive view of ourselves. This tends to lead to:

 Confidence in our own abilities

 Self-acceptance
 Not worrying about what others think
 Optimism

While, low self-esteem means we have a negative view of ourselves. This tends to lead to
 Lack of confidence
 Want to be/look like someone else
 Always worrying what others might think
 Pessimism

There are several ways of measuring self-esteem. For example, Harrill Self Esteem Inventory is a
questionnaire comprising 15 statements about a range of interest. Another example is the
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), which is a neutral cartoon given to the participant who then
has to devise a story about what's going on.
Morse and Gergen (1970) showed that in uncertain or anxiety-arousing situations our self-
esteem may change rapidly. Participants were waiting for a job interview in a waiting room. They
were sat with another candidate (a confederate of the experimenter) in one of two conditions:

A) Mr. Clean - dressed in a smart suit, carrying a briefcase opened to reveal a slide rule and books.

B) Mr. Dirty - dressed in an old T-shirt and jeans, slouched over a cheap sex novel.

Self-esteem of participants with Mr. Dirty increased whilst those with Mr. Clean decreased! No
mention made of how this affected subjects’ performance in interview. Level of self-esteem
affects performance at numerous tasks though (Coopersmith, 1967) so could expect Mr. Dirty
subjects to perform better than Mr. Clean.

Even though self-esteem might fluctuate, there are times when we continue to believe good
things about ourselves even when evidence to the contrary exists. This is known as the
perseverance effect.

Argyle (2008) believes there are 4 major factors that influence self-esteem.

1. The Reaction of Others

If people admire us, flatter us, seek out our company, listen attentively and agree with us we
tend to develop a positive self-image. If they avoid us, neglect us, tell us things about ourselves
that we don’t want to hear we develop a negative self-image.
2. Comparison with of Others
If the people we compare ourselves with (our reference group) appear to be more successful,
happier, richer, better looking than ourselves we tend to develop a negative self-image BUT if
they are less successful than us our image will be positive.
3. Social Roles
Some social roles carry prestige e.g., doctor, airline pilot, TV. presenter, premiership footballer
and this promotes self-esteem. Other roles carry stigma. E.g., a prisoner, mental hospital patient,
refuse collector or unemployed person.

4. Identification
Roles aren’t just “out there.” They also become part of our personality i.e. we identity with the
positions we occupy, the roles we play and the groups we belong to.
But just as important as all these factors, are the influence of our parents.

4. Ideal Self (what you'd like to be)

If there is a mismatch between how you see yourself (e.g., your self-image) and what you’d like
to be (e.g., your ideal-self ) then this is likely to affect how much you value yourself.

Therefore, there is an intimate relationship between self-image, ego-ideal and self-esteem.

Humanistic psychologists study this using the Q-Sort Method.

A person’s ideal self may not be consistent with what actually happens in life and experiences of
the person. Hence, a difference may exist between a person’s ideal self and actual experience.
This is called incongruence.

Where a person’s ideal self and actual experience are consistent or very similar, a state of
congruence exists. Rarely, if ever does a total state of congruence exist; all people experience a
certain amount of incongruence. The development of congruence is dependent on unconditional
positive regard. Roger’s believed that for a person to achieve self-actualization they must be in a
state of congruence.

Michael Argyle (2008) says there are four major factors which influence its development:

 The ways in which others (particularly significant others) react to us.

 How we think we compare to others
 Our social roles
 The extent to which we identify with other people