INITAO COLLEGE Course Code: GE1

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Jampason, Initao, Misamis Oriental Course Title: Understanding the Self
1st Semester, S.Y. 2024 - 2025 Unit: 3 (Lecture)

Instructor: LEIZIL G. SUMALPONG

Mobile Number: 0915-567-4115
e-mail address: leizilsumalpong8@gmail.com

Learning Materials/Handouts
Topic: Desired Learning Outcomes:

 The Self From a Psychological Perspective  Analyze the effects of various factors identified in psychology and in

Duration: 3 hrs the eastern and western perspective with regards to the formation of
the self.
THE SELF AS A COGNITIVE CONSTRUCT

INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE:

Focus on the individual and the cognitive functions, but does not discount the context and other possible factors that affect the individual.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT YOURSELF:
WHO ARE YOU THAT MAKES YOU WHO YOU ARE? WHAT IS THE SELF?
“The self is the sense of personal identity and of who we are as individuals”- Jhangiani and Tarry,2014

 WILLIAM JAMES (1980): STRUCTURALISM - He is one of the earliest psychologists to study the self and conceptualized the self as having
two aspects- the “I” and the “me”.
 The “I”- is the thinking, acting, and feeling self
 The “me”- is the physical characteristics as well as psychological capabilities that makes you who you are.

 CARL ROGERS (1959): HUMANISTIC APPROACH – he also used the terms “I” and “me” in his theory of personality
 The “I”- is the one who acts and decides
 The “me”- is what you think or feel about yourself as an object

 OTHER CONCEPTS SIMILAR TO “SELF” ARE: IDENTITY AND SELF-CONCEPT.

o Identity is composed of personal characteristics, social roles, and responsibilities, as well as affiliations that define who he is.
o Self-concept is what basically comes to your mind when you are asked about who you are.

SELF, IDENTITY, AND SELF-CONCEPT ARE NOT FIXED IN ONE FRAME.

o When asked about who you are:
 you may relate about your past, like “a varsity player in 5th grade”
 or to the present, like “a college student”
 or to the future, like “a future politician”

o They are not also fixed for life nor are they ever-changing at very moment. Ex. A malleable metal, that can be molded when heated, or hard
when it’s chilled, or a water, that can shape a container, but still the same element.

CARL ROGERS’ CONCEPT OF SELF-SCHEMA

Self-Schema is our organized system, or collection of knowledge about who we are. This may include your hobbies, family, religion, nationality,
interests, work, course, age, name and physical characteristics, and many more. These things actively shape and affect how you see, think, and
feel about things. Some see identity and self as mental constructs, created, and recreated in memory. Moreover, our Frontal lobe of the brain is
the specific area in the brain associated with processes concerning the self.
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SIGMUND FREUD; PSYCHODYNAMIC APPROACH

Sigmund Freud is the most influential psychologists who developed a theory about human personality. Freud saw the self, its mental processes,
and one’s behavior as the results of the interaction between the Id, Ego, and Superego. However, one cannot fully discount the effects of society
and culture on the formation of the self, identity, and self-concept. Social interaction always has a part to play in who we think we are. This is not
nature vs. nurture but instead a nature-and-nurture perspective.
 Id -- pleasure principle
The id operates at an unconscious level as the motor of our two main instinctual drives: Eros, or the survival instinct that drives us to
engage in life-sustaining activities, and Thanatos, or the death instinct that drives destructive, aggressive, and violent behavior.
 Ego -- reality principle
The ego acts as a filter for the id that works as both a conduit for and check on our unconscious drives. The ego ensures our needs are
met in a socially appropriate way. It is oriented to navigating reality and begins to develop in infancy.
 Superego -- morality priciple
The superego is the term Freud gives to “conscience” where morality and higher principles reside, encouraging us to act in socially and
morally acceptable ways (Pick, 2015).

Perhaps Freud’s greatest impact on the world was his model of the human mind, which divides the mind into three layers, or regions.
 Conscious
Housing our current thoughts, feelings, and perceptual focus
 Preconscious (sometimes called the subconscious)
The home of everything we can recall or retrieve from our memory
 Unconscious
At the deepest level of our minds resides a repository of the processes that drive our behavior, including biologically determined instinctual
desires (Pick, 2015).
DEFENSE MECHANISMS
Freud believed these three components of the mind are in constant conflict because each has a different goal. Sometimes, when psychological
conflict threatens psychological functioning, the ego mobilizes an array of defense mechanisms to prevent psychological disintegration (Burgo,
2012).

These defense mechanisms include:

 Repression
The ego prevents disturbing memories or threatening thoughts from entering consciousness altogether, pushing them into our
unconscious.
 Denial
The ego blocks upsetting or overwhelming experiences from awareness, leading us to refuse to acknowledge or believe what is
happening.
 Projection
The ego attempts to resolve discomfort by attributing our unacceptable thoughts, feelings, and motives to another person.
 Displacement
The ego satisfies an unconscious impulse by acting on a substitute object or person in a socially unacceptable way (e.g., expressing the
anger you feel toward your boss at work with your spouse at home instead).
 Regression
Ego functioning returns to a former stage of psychological development to cope with stress (e.g., an angry adult having a tantrum like a
young child).
 Sublimation
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Similar to displacement, the ego overcomes conflict by channelling surplus energy into a socially acceptable activity (e.g., channelling
anxiety into exercise, work, or other creative pursuits).
 Rationalization
People justify difficult or unacceptable feelings with seemingly logical reasons and explanations. For example, a student who is rejected
from her dream college may explain that she's happy to be attending a school that's less competitive and more welcoming.
 Reaction Formation
People express the opposite of their true feelings, sometimes to an exaggerated extent. For instance, a man who feels insecure about
his masculinity might act overly aggressive. Or a woman with substance use disorder may extol the virtues of abstinence.

Freud's psychosexual theory states five stages of human development: oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital. These psychosexual stages
capture the main growth points of a person from infancy to adulthood and focus on different facets of wants, needs, and desires.

CARL JUNG
Jung believed that archetypes come from the collective unconscious. He suggested that these models are innate (unlearned), hereditary, and
universal. Archetypes organize how we experience certain things throughout life.
"All the most powerful ideas in history go back to archetypes," Jung explained in his book, "The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche.
PERSONA
The persona is how we present ourselves to the world. The word "persona" is derived from a Latin word that literally means "mask." It is not a
literal mask, however.
The persona represents all of the different social masks that we wear among various groups and situations. It acts to shield the ego from
negative images. According to Jung, the persona may appear in dreams and take different forms.
SHADOW
The shadow is a Jungian archetype that consists of sex and life instincts. It is part of the unconscious mind and is composed of repressed
ideas, weaknesses, desires, instincts, and shortcomings.
The shadow forms out of our attempts to comply with cultural norms and expectations. It is this archetype that contains all of the things that are
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unacceptable not only to society but also to one's own personal morals and values. It might include things such as envy, greed, prejudice, hate,
and aggression.
ANIMA/ANIMUS
The anima is the feminine part of the male psyche, and the animus is the male part of the female psyche.

SELF
The self is an archetype that represents the unified consciousness and unconsciousness of an individual. Jung often represented the self as a
circle, square, or mandala.
Creating the self occurs through a process known as individuation, in which the various aspects of personality are integrate