UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

Module 1 : The Self from Various Perspectives

Lesson 1 : Philosophical Self

• Originally, the word “Philosophy” comes from the Greek roots Philo- which means love and Sophos means
wisdom.
• Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were considered great Greek philosophers in the Western during ancient times.
They contributed vast authentic ideas about life, love, beauty, nature, and many more over centuries along with
other philosophers

Socrates | The self can be understood through self-knowledge and self-examination

− “An unexamined life is not worth living”

− Classical Antiquity
− The first philosopher who engaged in a systematic questioning about the self.
− Invented the phrase “Know Thyself” and he believed that it is the true task of a philosopher.
− The knowledge of oneself can be achieved only through the Socratic Method, the dialogue between the soul and
itself
− He notes that everyone is composed of body and soul. Individuals have an imperfect, impermanent aspect, the
body; while maintaining that there is also a soul that is perfect and permanent.
− He claimed that without striving to know and understand ourselves, life is worthless.

Plato | The self centers around the theory of Forms (or Ideas) and the concept of the soul.

− “Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others”
− The famous student of Socrates. He took off when his teacher died and vastly elaborated on his philosophy.
− He is a dualist; the self has both immaterial mind (soul) and material body, and it is the soul that knows the forms
(ideas).
− He claimed that the soul (mind) itself is divided into 3 parts and that person differs as to which part of their nature
is predominant:

(1) Rational soul – reason; – seeks philosophical and knowledge

(2) Spirited soul – will, emotion, passion; – victory loving and seek reputation

(3) Appetitive soul – physical urges; – profit-loving and seeking material gain

− He emphasizes that “justice in the human person can only be attained if the three parts of the soul are working
harmoniously with one another.”

St. Augustine of Hippo | The self is a restless soul seeking its ultimate fulfillment and rest in God's love

− “Grant Lord, that I may know Myself that I may know Thee”
− Middle Ages
− One the most significant Christian thinkers
− He agreed with Plato that human being is dualistic, and he then combined his beliefs in the newfound doctrine of
Christianity
− Unsurprisingly, he also viewed the "self" as an immaterial (but rational) soul.
− To give the theory of forms a Christian perspective, he asserted that these forms were concepts existing within
the perfect and eternal God (The Catholic University of America Press, 1982).
− He believed that the body possessed senses, such as imagination, memory, reason, and mind through which the
soul experienced the world. And the senses can only grasp/feel the temporal objects in the material world, yet the
immaterial but intangible God can only be clear to the mind if one tune into his/her immaterial self/soul.

Thomas Aquinas | The self is a rational and immortal soul uniquely united with a physical body, created in the
image of God.

− “The greatest kindness one can render to any man consists in leading him from error to truth”
− The doctor of the church and the most eminent 13th century scholar and stalwart of the medieval philosophy
− He elucidates that man is composed of two parts:

(1) Matter – refers to the common stuff that makes up everything in the universe.

(2) Form – refers to the essence of a substance or thing, it is what makes it what it is.

− In humans, the body of the person is something that he/she shares including animals.
− The soul makes the human different from the animals as the soul is what animates the body, it is what makes us
humans.

Rene Descartes | The self is a thinking, conscious entity with an inherent existence, distinct from the body and
inseparable from the mind

− “I think therefore I am”

− Renaissance
− A French philosopher and considered as the father of modern Western philosophy. ▪ His is known in his famous
line “Cogito ergo sum” translated as “I think, therefore I am”. He stressed that everything that can be perceived by
 the senses through the body could NOT be used as proof of existence and there is only one thing that one could
be sure of in this world and that is doing the act of doubting (Otig, V. et.al., 2018).
− The body is nothing else but a machine that is attached to the mind. It is a thing that doubts, understands
(conceives), affirms, denies, wills, refuses; that imagines also and perceives (Descartes, 2008)

John Locke | The self is not an innate entity but rather a product of individual consciousness and the continuous
experiences that shape one's identity over time

− “No man’s knowledge can go beyond his experience.”

− He introduced the concept of the "tabula rasa" or "blank slate.
− He believed that the self is identified with consciousness and this self consists of sameness of consciousness. It
would mean that the self consists of memory; that the person existing now is the same person yesterday because
he/she remembers the thoughts, experiences, or actions of the earlier self
− According to Locke since you are the same “self” in the passing of time, you can be held accountable for past
behavior. However, Locke insisted that a person could only be held accountable for behaviors he/she can
remember.

David Hume | The self is a bundle of perceptions and experiences, lacking a unified and enduring substance.

− “A wise man proportion his belief to the evidence.”

− A Scottish Enlightenment philosopher, which highlights empiricism. Empiricism is the school of thought that
espouses the idea that knowledge can only be possible if it is sensed and experienced.
− As an empiricist, Hume believed that one can know only through one’s senses and experiences. Argued that the
self is nothing but what his/her predecessors thought of it. It is not an entity over and beyond the physical body.
− As an empiricist, Hume believed that one can know only through one’s senses and experiences. Argued that the
self is nothing but what his/her predecessors thought of it. It is not an entity over and beyond the physical body.

Immanuel Kant | The self is a transcendental unity of apperception, the necessary condition for organizing all
experiences and concepts.

− “Genius is the ability to independently arrive at and understand concepts that would normally have to be taught by
another person.”
− Thinking of the self as a mere combination of impressions was problematic to Kant.
− He thinks that the things that men perceive around them are not just randomly infused into the human person
without an organizing principle that regulates the relationship of all these impressions.
− He asserts that without the self, one cannot organize the different impressions that one gets in relation to his own
existence.
− He suggests that the self is an actively engaged intelligence in man that synthesizes all knowledge and
experience.

Gilbert Ryle | The self is the result of a "category mistake," an erroneous belief in a separate mental entity
distinct from observable behaviors and dispositions.

− “I act, therefore I am”

− Modern Time
− A philosopher and professor who wrote The Concept of Mind (1949), where he criticized Descartes' idea that the
mind is distinct from the body.
− He defended that the distinction between mind and matter is a "category mistake" because it attempts to analyze
the relation between mind and body as if the two were terms of the same categories (Nath, 2013).
− For him, what truly matters is the daily behavior that a person manifests.
− He believed that the actions and behaviors of a person define the sense of self. "I act, therefore I am."

Maurice Merleau-Ponty | The self is an embodied and inseparable entity, existing within the lived experiences and
interactions with the surrounding world

− “Physical body is an important part of the self”

− He was a philosopher and author who rejected the mind-body dualism view instead he insisted that the mind and
body are intertwined, that they cannot be separated.
− He argued that the body is part of the mind, and the mind is part of the body. The mind perceives what the body
senses experience from the external world, then the body acts out of what the mind perceives.

Lesson 2 : Sociological Self

• Sociology is one of those sciences that is concerned with studying society, human behavior, and its relationship.
• A human being is consisting of a unique yet complex self-concept, which developed through time ; A human being
is consisting of a unique yet complex self-concept, which developed through time.
• Others provide us with “social reality” that helps us determine what to think, feel, and do (Hardin & Higgins, 1996).

Looking Glass Self

− American sociologist Charley Horton Cooley, who was born in 1864, is well known for his substantial contributions
to the discipline, particularly in the analysis of interpersonal relationships and the idea of the self.
− The concepts of Cooley established the foundation for the comprehension of how society shapes individuals and
how individuals shape society through their social interactions and self-perceptions.
− The idea of the “looking-glass self,” a potent metaphor that highlights how people shape their sense of self
through interactions with others and how others perceive them, lies at the core of Cooley’s writing.
− Cooley claimed that our self-concept is founded on how we believe others see us, rather than just on
introspection or an individualistic understanding.
 − Our sense of self and identity are significantly impacted by this process of introspection and social comparison
− This would tell us that we shape our identity based on others’ perceptions and that we confirm such views in
ourselves. Thus, individuals and society seemed to be not separable instead of two aspects that complement the
same phenomena (Nickerson, 2021).
− According to Cooley, human beings have an inherent tendency to interact or socialize with people and objects
that surrounds them.

Theory of Social Self

− American philosopher and sociologist George Herbert Mead is regarded as a key figure in sociology and is best
known for his breakthrough research on the self and social interaction.
− The idea of “symbolic interactionism,” which investigates how people shape their sense of self via interaction and
conversation with others, is central to Mead’s body of work.
− Mead maintained that rather than being a static thing, the self is a byproduct of social processes that arises from
our capacity to see things from other people’s viewpoints and predict how others would respond (Abbott, 2020)
− “Theory of Social Self” proposed that the self consists of self-awareness and self-image is a product of social
interactions and experiences.

− “I” is the spontaneous unpredictable element of the self.

− It acts out of its own and inner motivation.
− “I” memory is a store of creativity, adaptability, and novelty in the social process.
− Where our most important values are located.

ME

− “ME” is the conformist aspect of the self, and the reflexive, organized aspect of the self.
− The part of the self that is aware of how others expect one to behave.
− “ME” is socialized, careful, and cautious of its actions since it is a product of social interaction experiences.

• Mead contends that people build their sense of who they are by social interactions, adopting other people’s
viewpoints, and foreseeing other people’s responses to their behavior.
• The term “social construction of the self” refers to the idea that the self is not an immovable object but rather the
result of social processes. Our capacity to adopt other people’s viewpoints and foresee how they will respond to
our actions is the basis for it.

Lesson 3 : Anthropological Self

• Cultural anthropology focuses also on peoples’ beliefs, practices, and the cognitive and social organization of
human groups.
• Language, religion, cuisine, social customs, music, the arts, and many other aspects of a particular group of
people or nation are all included in what is referred to as culture
• However, culture can be viewed in a more general sense, one that is influenced by socialization-related patterns
of behavior, interactions, and cognitive abilities

Cristina De Rossi

− an anthropologist at Barnet and Southgate College in London, "Culture encompasses religion, food, what we
wear, how we wear it, our language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong, how we sit at the table,
how we greet visitors, how we behave with loved ones, and a million other things" (Verma, 2021).
• Contrary to the portion of nature that people did not create or alter, culture broadly refers to everything that people
themselves produce. It is derived from the Latin cultura, colo, colere, meaning "to cultivate."
• The word "high culture" is used to refer to the entirety of a people's customs and traditions, or, in a more specific
sense, to the so-called "high culture." The intellectual life of society in the conventional sense (Papp, 2021).

The Self Embedded in Culture

• How we see ourselves and how we relate with others is deeply influenced by the culture we are born with.

Catherine Raeff (2010)

− a developmental psychologist believed that culture could influence how you view: relationships, personality traits,
achievement, and expressing emotions (DiBianca Fasoli & Raeff, 2021).

Relationships: Culture influences how you enter into and maintain relationships. For example, relationships may be seen
as voluntary or as duty based. In Western societies, it is essential for a person to choose whom to marry while some
Eastern Societies still practice arranged marriage.

Personality Traits: Culture influences whether (and how) you value traits, like humility, self-esteem, politeness,
assertiveness, and so on, as well as how you perceive hardship or how you feel about relying on others.
Achievement: Culture influences how you define success and whether you value certain types of individual and group
achievements.

Expressing emotions: Culture influences what will affect you emotionally, as well as how you express yourself, such as
showing your feeling in public or keeping it private
 • Construal in social psychology means how the individual perceives and interprets the behavior or actions of
others towards themselves
• Self-construal is rooted in culture and cultural psychologists proposed two ways of how the self is constructed
namely: independent and interdependent constructs.

Independent construct reflects an individualistic culture while interdependent construct depicts in collectivists culture.
Individualists tend to have independent views of themselves. They see themselves as separate from others and define or
describe themselves based on personality traits and characteristics, (for example I am funny, kind, or polite).

Collectivists are more likely to have an interdependent view of themselves, which means they see themselves as
connected to others and define or describe themselves through their relationships and roles (for example I am a sister,
friend, or son).

Lesson 4 : Psychological Self

• The concern of Psychology is everything that concerns human beings from consciousness, memory, reasoning,
motivation, personality, mental health, and other human experiences.
• The so-called Science of Self is rooted from various psychological theories and principles and the self has been
used as an object of several psychological constructs.

Psychoanalytic Perspective

• One of the famous and most influential thinkers of Psychology is Sigmund Freud (1856- 1939).
• The most important contribution of Freud was psychoanalysis, which was based on the theory that behavior is
determined by powerful inner forces where most of which are buried in the unconscious mind.
• Psyche means the totality of the human mind that includes conscious and unconscious in psychology
(Reshetnikov, 2023, Otig, 2018)

Levels of Mental Life

1. Conscious Mind. It consists of all the mental processes of which you are aware of, and this is seen in the tip of the
iceberg. For example, you may be feeling hungry at this moment, and you decide to get food to eat.

• Present ; Awareness ; Direct memory | PAD

2. Preconscious Mind. It contains thought and feelings that you are currently aware of but can easily be brought to
consciousness (1924). This would refer to our "memory". For example, you are not thinking about your mobile phone
number but when you are asked about it you can recall it easily.

• Can easily be made conscious ; Available memory ; Memories (requires retrieval) | CAM

3. Unconscious Mind. It comprises mental processes that are inaccessible to consciousness but influences your
judgments, feelings, or behavior (Wilson, 2002). For Freud, this level of the mind is the primary source of human behavior.

• Beyond awareness ; Includes drives, urges, or instincts ; Source of motivation | BIS

Provinces of the Mind

• Freud introduced a three-part structural model in the 1920s.

• The ego cuts across different topographic levels and has conscious, preconscious, and unconscious components,
whereas the superego is both preconscious and unconscious and the id is completely unconscious as a result of
their interaction with the three levels of mental life (Feist et al., 2018).
• EGO is always caught in the middle of the battles between superego’s desires for moral behavior and the ID’s
desires for immediate gratification. When EGO can barely control ID impulses, it creates neurotic anxiety. It can
be manifested through phobias, performance anxiety, obsessions and compulsion. On the other hand, when EGO
is threatened by SUPEREGO with punishment, it creates moral anxiety.

ID (das es)

• Most primitive, Chaotic, Inaccessible to consciousness, Unchangeable, Amoral, Illogical, Unorganized

• Filled with energy from basic drives Sex and Aggression
• Pleasure Principle

EGO (das ich)

• Aroused from the ID during infancy

• The only region in contact with reality
• Sole source of communication with the external world
• Balances the opposing demands of ID and SUPEREGO
• Reality Principle

SUPEREGO (das uber ich)

• Grows out of the EGO (5-7 years old)

• Represents moral and ideal aspects
• No contact with the outside world
• Unrealistic in its demands for perfection
• 2 aspects : Conscience (shouldn’t do but you did otherwise) ; Ego-ideal (should do but you did not otherwise)
• Moral Principle

Defense Mechanism
 • EGO use defense mechanisms to distort reality and protect a person from anxiety

1. Fixation “remain” – permanent attachment to earlier stage of life

2. Reaction Formation “disgust” – exaggerated opposite reaction

3. Repression “forget” – most basic defense mechanism

4. Regression “go back” – brief detachment to earlier stage of life to feel safe

5. Introjection “copy” – own others’ standards to reduce feeling of inferiority

6. Displacement “redirect” – put towards others

7. Projection “mirror out” – undesired-self project to others Paranoia – extreme type of projection

8. Sublimation “socially accepted” – produce rewarding things/ accomplishments

Psychosocial Perspective

• Known for his ground-breaking theory of psychosocial development, eminent psychologist and psychoanalyst Erik
Erikson (1902-1994) is revered today. Sigmund Freud's psychosexual stages were the foundation for Erikson's
theory, which builds on them.

1. Body ego. It refers to the experiences with our body, way of seeing physical self as different from other people.

2. Ego ideal. It represents the image we have of ourselves in comparison with an established ideal.

3. Ego identity: It is the image we have of ourselves in the variety of social roles we play.

• Erikson's theory places a strong emphasis on the lifelong process of human growth and development, which
includes a range of psychosocial challenges individuals encounter at various stages of their lives.

Epigenetic Principle

• the psychosocial stages of development occur in the correct order and at the appropriate times for each stage
• One stage develops from and builds on another, but it does not take the place of the earlier stage. Every stage is
characterized by an identity crisis, which needs to be successfully managed to encourage the development of a
positive personality. It's crucial to experience the interaction of opposites in each stage (Chen, 2021).
− Personality development does not occur as a result of earlier events. Therefore, it is a combination of connected
past, present, and events that a person has anticipated.

Theory of the Self

• William James (1842-1910) is known as the father of American Psychology and wrote the famous “The Principles
of Psychology”, a book that was considered as one of the most important and influential in the history of Psychology.
In his theory of the self, he proposed that the self has two elements: I-self and Meself (Halliwell, 2019).
• Now, what is the self of all the other selves? James stated “A man has as many social selves as there are individuals
who recognize him and carry an image of him in their mind. To hurt one of these images is to hurt him.”
• The I-self is what he called the subjective self or pure ego. This is part of the self that knows who you are and what
you have done in your life.
• The ME-self is the objective or empirical self, thus it can be thought of as a separate object or individual a person
refers to when describing their personal experiences. James conceptualized three different but interrelated aspects
of the Me self:

1. the material self (all those aspects of material existence in which we feel a strong sense of ownership, our bodies, our
families, our possessions),

2. the social self (our felt social relations), and

3. the spiritual self (our feelings of our own subjectivity).

Hierarchy of Needs

• Famous humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908-1970) is best known for the hierarchy of needs and his
theory of self-actualization.
• Maslow's theory of motivation is based on his conviction that every person has an innate desire for self-actualization,
fulfillment, and growth.
• Maslow's theory is based on the idea of self-actualization, which is the highest state of psychological development
and the realization of one's full potential.
• Maslow contends that self-actualization—the process of striving to become the best possible version of oneself
while maximizing one's skills and talents—is the ultimate aim of human life (Feist et al., 2018).

The Hierarchy of Needs is composed of (read from bottom to top):

5. Self-Actualization. At the top of the hierarchy, is the desire to realize one's potential, experience personal growth, and
improve oneself while pursuing meaningful and fulfilling experiences.

4. Esteem. People pursue self-esteem, recognition, and respect after their lowerlevel needs are met in an effort to improve
their self-image and win the respect of others.

3. Love and Belonging. As humans look for companionship and affection from others, this level encompasses the need
for social connections, relationships, and a sense of belonging.

2. Safety. To feel safe from harm and danger, people seek safety, security, and stability in their surroundings.

1.Physiological. The fundamental biological necessities for survival include things like food, water, shelter, and sleep.

Self-Actualization Framework

• Carl Rogers (1902-1987) is regarded as one of the pioneers of humanistic psychology. Rogers made a significant
impact on the fields of psychology, counseling, and education. He is renowned for his compassionate approach to
therapy and ground-breaking theories on human behavior. He consistently emphasized the value of appreciating
and fostering people's innate capacity for development and self-actualization throughout his career.
• Rogers' emphasis on the self-concept, which he saw as a crucial component of psychological health and personal
development, was at the heart of his humanistic perspective (Feist et al., 2018; Miller & Moyers, 2017).
• For a person to achieve self-actualization, the individual’s ideal and real self must be in a state of congruence. He
believed that human is motivated to fulfill one’s potential and achieve the highest level of being-ness, which he
coined “actualizing tendency.” Actualizing tendency is the basic force of life – we are always trying to better
ourselves in some way. Also, he further divided the self into two categories: the ideal self and the real self.

1. The IDEAL SELF is the person that you would like yourself to be; it is your concept of the” best me” who is worthy of
admiration.

2. The REAL SELF is the person you actually are. It is how you behave right at the moment of a situation. It is who you are
in reality-how you think, feel, or act at present.

• For Rogers (1959), how you want feel, experience and behave that is consistent with your self-image is also a
reflection of what you would like to be, your ideal self. The closer your self-image and ideal self, the more congruent
you are, and the higher your sense of self-worth. A person is said to be in a state of incongruence if some of the
totality of their experience is unacceptable to them and is denied or distorted in the self-image.
• As we prefer to see ourselves in ways that are consistent with our self-image, we may use defense mechanisms to
feel less threatened by some of what we consider to be our undesirable feelings. A person whose self-concept is
incongruent with her or his real feelings and experiences will defend because the truth hurts (Mcleod, 2014). The
two chief defenses are:

1. Distortion happens when a person misinterprets an experience in order to fit it into some aspect of his/her self-concept.
The person perceives the experience in awareness but fails to understand its true meaning.

2. Denial is when an individual refuse to perceive an experience in awareness, or at least keep some aspect of it from
reaching symbolization

True and False Self

• But what is true and authentic self? How can you connect to such self? Dr. Donald Winnicott (1896-1971) a British
psychoanalyst and prominent pediatrician proposed the theory of true and false self in his paper in 1960. He
asserted that a person has two selves the true self and false self (Parker & Davis, 2009).

1. The True Self refers to a sense of self; who you really are; and the one who experience/feeling the moment of being
alive.

2. The False Self is the protective shield the vulnerable true self. Its behaviors are leant and controlled by the
environment that surrounds you.

• According to Winnicott, developing false self starts when you are a baby and highlighting the importance of the
“mother” as your primary caretakers.
• The more you act according to your false self, the less authentic you become, resulting to feeling empty that at
times you have no idea why you feel this way.
• This theory would suggest that the sense of self fosters within your earliest relationships with parents or
caretakers and family. And you will continue to adapt based on your relationships as you grow and reach
adulthood.