Bio-Ecological Perspective

(Understanding The Self)

Bronfenbrenner’s ecological theory

- American Psychologist – Urie
Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005) formulated
the Ecological System Theory
- His theory focuses on the quality and
context of the child’s environment.
- The model suggests the interactions
between the individual and their
environment, categorized into various
systems, shape their development over
time. Mesosystem
- Organizes contexts of development into - The mesosystem encompasses the
five levels of external influence. interaction of the different microsystem
- Levels are categorized from the most which children find themselves in.
intimate level to the broadest. - (Between home and school, between
peer group and family, and between
family and community.)
- Connection

For a Child

- Do the parents get-along with the

teacher?
- Do they trust the teacher?
- Do they feel comfortable going to the
teacher if there is a problem?
- Or it might be relationships between
where the kid lives and their family.
- If they live in an unsafe area, how does
this maybe affect the rules that their
parents are setting for them?

Exosystem
- The exosystem pertains to the linkages
Individual
that may exist between two or more
- Age
settings, one of which may not contain
- Sex
the developing children but affect
- Special Needs
them indirectly, nonetheless.
- Based on the findings of Bronfenbrenner,
Microsystem
people and places that children may not
- The smallest and immediate
directly interact with may still have an
environment in which children live.
impact on their lives.
- (Family members, classmates, teachers
- Such places and people may include the
and caregivers.)
parents’ workplaces, extended family
members, and the neighborhood the
For Children
children live in
- Who do they live with or interact with, and
what is their relationship with those
people?
- Do they have supportive teachers?
- Is the parent feeling stressed out by
money?
- Are the parents fighting?
- Is the child being bullied?

For Adults
- Job
- Class
- Place where they live.
 Socio-Anthropological Perspectives of
Macrosystem the Self
- The largest and most distant
collection of people and places to the Socialization
children that significant influences on - Interactive process through which people
them learn
- (Children’s cultural patterns and • Basic skills
values, specifically their dominant • Values
beliefs and ideas, as well as political • Beliefs
and economic system.) • Behavior
- Within socialization, a person develops a
- So this can be Filipino culture, but of sense of self
course that’s not one monolithic culture. - Socialization is the means by which
- So we can also talk about the culture of a human infants begin to acquire the skills
religious group, or military culture, or the necessary to perform as a functioning
culture of very urban vs. rural areas. member of their society
- We can also look at broad social - The most influential learning process
contexts, such as the country’s political one can experience
climate.
Self-Concept
Chronosystem - Is the sum total of beliefs we each have
- Made up of the environmental events about ourselves
and transitions that occur throughout a
child’s life Recognizing Oneself
- (Family structure, address, parents’ - Human infants begin to recognize
employment status, as well as immense themselves in the mirror when they are
society changes such as economic about two years old
cycles and wars.) - Being able to recognize yourself as a
- Part of this relates to when events occur distant entity is a necessary first step in
in a person’s life. the evolution and development of a
- For example, we can talk about how SELF-CONCEPT
people are typically affected by becoming
parents, but the effects are very different Charles Horton Cooley (1902)
if someone becomes a parent for the first
time at age 16 or 26 or 36. Primary Groups – parents, siblings, play
- The other element of the chronosystem groups, elders --- are the foremost force in
is the larger historical context. developing a person’s character.
- So, for example, somebody who is in
their 40s today might have different views The Looking Glass Self
about money, and different spending
habits, compared to what today’s 20- - our self-image comes from our own self-
year-olds will do when reflection and from what others think of
us
- people develop a sense of WHO THEY
ARE AND WHAT TO THINK OF
THEMSELVES by
watching the reactions of the people in
their "primary group" as well as those
they meet throughout their lives.

This notion is especially applicable to the way

children form their SELF-ESTEEM

Using social interaction as a type of “mirror,”

people use the judgments they receive from
others to MEASURE THEIR OWN WORTH,
VALUES, AND BEHAVIOR.

the OPINIONS OF FAMILY AND CLOSE

RELATIONSHIPS seem to be more relevant to
our self-concept THAN THOSE OF
STRANGERS
 Stage 2: The Play Stage (from about age 2 to
The process of the formation of our SELF six)
CONCEPT
- During this stage, children play pretend
1. We Imagine how others SEE US as the specific other.
- They do not adhere to the rules in
(An individual in a social situation imagines how organized games.
they appear to others.)
Stage 3: The Game Stage (from about age
2. We Imagine how others ASSESS US seven onwards.)

(That individual imagines others’ judgment of - In this stage, children begin to

that appearance.) understand and adhere to the rules of
games.
3. WE DEVELOP OUR SELF-VIEWS - They start to understand the attitudes,
THROUGH THESE JUDGEMENTS. beliefs and behaviors of generalized
others.
(The individual develops feelings about and - They start to be concerned about the
responds to those perceived judgments.) opinions of others that is why they start to
act based on the expectations of society.

GEORGE MEAD (1863–1931) - An American Two Phases of Self: Me & I

philosopher, sociologist, and psychologist
Me Self
Mead’s central concept is the self: • The social self
• Object of experience
- the part of an individual’s personality • Can be objectified in the present
composed of self-awareness and self- moment.
image. • Conventional, habitual self

- Mead claimed that the self is not there I Self

at birth, rather, it is developed with social • Our response to the “Me”
experience. • Subject of experience
• Cannot be objectified in the
- Sense of self stems from the human present moment
ability to be self-conscious, to take
• Novel or creative response to the
ourselves as objects of experience
Me

Mead made several assumptions in The “I” and the “Me” has a dynamic
proposing this idea: relationship that actually forms what we call the
self.
1. that the self develops only through social
interaction;
2. that social interaction involves the
exchange of symbols;
3. that understanding symbols involves
being able to take the role of another

3 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF

(George Herbert Mead suggested that the self

develops through a three-stage role-taking
process. These stages include the preparatory
stage, play stage, and game stage.)

Stage 1: The Preparatory Stage (birth-about

age 2)

- Children mimic or imitate those around

them.
- They start to learn language
- Incapable of taking in the perspective of
others.
The Self of Thoughts, Feelings and Behaviors Examples
• Brace for the starter gun in a race.
The Self of… • Focus attention on the clowns in the
circus.
- Thoughts • Focus on the voice of a particular
- Feelings person in a crowded and noisy room.
- Sensations and Behaviors • Look for a woman with white hair.
• Search memory to identify a surprising
To understand the self as a holistic being with sound.
interconnected thoughts, feelings, sensations • Maintain a faster walking speed than is
and behaviors natural for you.
• Monitor the appropriateness of your
behavior in a social situation.
• Count the occurrences of the letter a in
a page of text.
• Tell someone your phone number.
• Park in a narrow space (for most people
except garage attendants).
• Compare two washing machines for
overall value.
• Fill out a tax form.
• Check the validity of a complex logical
argument.

Both systems have respective functions and

that one is not necessarily better than the
other
System 1
- Fast, Intuitive, Emotional, Automatic, COGNITIVE BIASES
Less cognitive effort (due to practice)
- Think fast, Uncontrolled, Unconscious, Implications:
Regulates automatic behavior, Relies on - Thinking may be prone to systematic
stereotypes. errors.
- is capable of making quick decisions, - Some beliefs might not be based on
based on very little information evidence, but we continue to consider
them as “truths.”
Examples - Even though you know what the objective
• Detect that one object is more distant reality is, it does not change the way you
than another. see the lines.
• Orient to the source of a sudden sound.
• Complete the phrase “bread and . . .” 1. PEAK END RULE
• Make a “disgust face” when shown a
horrible picture. EXPERIENCING SELF
• Detect hostility in a voice.
• Answer to 2 + 2 = ? -Lives through the moment
• Read words on large billboards.
• Drive a car on an empty road. REMEMBERING SELF
• Find a strong move in chess (if you are
a chess master). -writes, reads, and replays your
• Understand simple sentences. autobiographical history
• Recognize that a “meek and tidy soul
with a passion for detail” resembles an - People judge an experience largely
occupational stereotype. based on how they felt at its PEAK and
its END...
System 2 - Total sum of pleasantness or
- Slow, Deliberate, Reflective, Analytical, unpleasantness is entirely disregarded!
Complex, Effortful, Reflective
- Think slow, Controlled, Self-aware,
Regulates effective behavior, Solve
problems through calculation and
deliberation.
- is usually engage in types of decisions 2. REPRESENTATIVENESS
that require attention and slow, effortful,
considered responses. - when people are asked to judge the
- is usually engage in types of decisions probability that an object or event
that require attention and slow, effortful, belongs to a category
considered responses.
 - assumption that any object (or person) Physiological: biological reactions - role of the
sharing characteristics with the members nervous system (brain & neurotransmitters) in
of a particular category is also a member emotions
of that category. Behavioral: expressions & response - Display
Rule: variations of emotional expression across
culture
3. ANCHORING AND ADJUSTMENT
Antecedent Condition
“How old is person A?” / “What is person A’s - Events, contexts, or situations that trigger
weight?” “Was Mahatma Gandhi more or less an emotion
144 years old when he died?” - Universality of antecedent events elicit
same emotions across cultures
Decision is based on: - Cultural differences
- ANCHOR based on the given reference Cognitive Appraisal
point - Thoughts and beliefs can impact how you
feel and how you behave.
- ADJUST the anchor (either higher or
lower) Physiological
- distinctive patterns of biological activities
- In making judgments under uncertainty, for each basic emotion
people start with a certain reference point - the role of:
(anchor), then adjust it insufficiently to • Autonomic Nervous System
reach a final conclusion.
• Central Nervous System
• Neurotransmitters & Hormones
GUARDING AGAINST COGNITIVE BIASES
Adrenaline – Fight or flight
Gaba – Calming
- Recognize the signs that you are in a
Noradrenaline – Concentration
cognitive minefield, slow down, and ask
Acetylcholine – Learning
for help from System 2
Dopamine – Pleasure
- Identify practices and tasks that you do
Glutamate – Memory
and the kind of thinking they demand
Serotonin – Mood
- “Listen to understand it, rather than listen
Endorphins – Euphoria
to answer it.”
Emotional Expressions
Summary:
Display Rule
System 1 & 2
Interactions between system 1 & 2
- cultural rules that dictate how emotions
Cognitive Biases
should be expressed; when and where
Guarding against biases
expression is appropriate
- may require people:
The Feeling Self
• to overtly show evidence of
certain emotions even if they do
WHO IS PAUL EKMAN?
not feel it
Clinical Practice: • to disguise their true feelings
- Depression
Research:
- Papua New Guinea: Facial expressions
are universal.
- Studied patients who claimed they were
not depressed and later committed
suicide: MICROEXPRESSIONS
Current Research:
- How to respond to others’ emotions
- Working with Dalai Lama

EMOTIONS and its FEATURES

Theories of Emotion
Antecedent: cause, trigger
Cognitive: thought processes - interpretation of
an event
EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE AS A PROCESS

Activating Event
- Actual event
- client’s immediate interpretation of
events
Beliefs
- Evaluations
- Rational
- irrational
Consequences
- Emotions
- Behaviors
- Other thoughts

Interconnectedness Among The Three

Components Of The Self

Situation – sometimes happens.

Thought – the situation interpreted.
Emotion – a feeling occurs as a result of the
thought.
Behavior – an action in response to the emotion

Dr. Aaron T. Beck

Negative Thoughts

Unhelpful Behavior CBT

Upset Feelings