Lesson 4.The Self according Psychology

• The Self as Cognitive Construction

  The cognitive aspect of the self is known as self-concept.
• Self-concept is defined as self-knowledge, a cognitive structure that includes beliefs about personality traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values, goals, and roles, as well as the knowledge that an individual exists as individuals.
• According to the psychologist Dr. Bruce A. Bracken in 1992, there are six specific domains that are related to self-concept these are:
• six specific domains that are related to self-concept

  1. Social Domain
  2. Competence Domain
  3. Affect Domain
  4. Physical Domain
  5. Academic Domain
  6. Family Domain
• Social Domain - the ability of the person to interact with others.
• Competence Domain - the ability to meet the basic needs
• Affect Domain - 1) the awareness of the emotional states;
• Physical Domain - the feelings about looks, health, physical condition, and overall appearance
• Academic domain or the success or failure in the school
• Family domain - how well one function within the family unit.
• l William James is a well-known figure in Psychology who is considered as the founder of functionalism.
• James made a clear distinction between ways of approaching the self – the knower (the pure or the I – Self) and the known (the objective or the Me – Self).

   
• Self- the knower (the pure or the I – Self)
• the known (the objective or the Me – Self).
• knower (I-Self) according to James must be the agent of experience
• known (Me-Self) have three different but interrelated aspects of empirical self (known today as self-concept
• Three different but interrelated aspects of empirical self 

  Ø The Me viewed as material,

  Ø The Me viewed as social, and

  Ø The Me viewed as spiritual in nature.

   
• Carl Rogers is best known as the founder of client-centered therapy and considered as one of the prominent humanistic or existential theorists in personality. His therapy aimed to make the person achieve balance between their self-concept (real-self) and ideal self.
• Real Self - includes all those aspects of one's identity that are perceived in awareness.
• Ideal Self - is defined as one’s view of self as one wishes to be.

   
• Ø A wide gap between the ideal self and the self-concept indicates in congruence and an unhealthy personality. Psychologically healthy individuals perceive little discrepancy between their self-concept and what they ideally would like to be.