Lesson 4: The Self According to Psychology

• PYSCHOLOGY - scientific study of mental processes and human behavior

  aims to describe, analyze, predict, control human behavior in general
• self is an essential construct in psychology because it fulfills the goals of the discipline in studying human andthe reason for their action
• Self - concept - Defined as self-knowledge, physical characteristics, abilities, values, goals, and roles, as well as the knowledge that an individual exists as individuals.
• Notion about who we are – physically, emotionally, socially, spiritually, and in accordance with any other factors that mold our idea about ourselves (Neill, 2005)
• 6 SPECIFIC DOMAINS

  Social Domain

  Competence Domain

  Affect Domain

  Physical Domain

  Academic Domain

  Family Domain
• SOCIAL DOMAIN - ABILITY OF THE PERSON TO INTERACT WITH OTHERS
• Competence Domain - ABILITY TO MEET THE BASIC NEEDS
• Affect Domain - AWARENESS OF THE EMOTIONAL STATES
• PHYSICAL DOMAIN - FEELINGS ABOUT LOOKS, HEALTH, PHYSICAL CONDITION, AND OVERALL APPEARANCE
• Academic Domain - SUCCESS OR FAILURE IN THE SCHOOL
• FAMILY DOMAIN - HOW WELL ONE FUNCTION WITHIN THE FAMILY UNIT
• William James - well known figure in psychology founder of Functionalism brought prominence to U.S. psychology through the publication of The Principles of Psychology (1890) which made him more influencial than his contemporaries in his field.
• William James clear distinction between ways of approaching the self:

  Knower

  Known
• Knower - the pure or the I - SELF must be the agent experience
• Known - the objective or the ME - SELF has three different but interrelated aspects of empirical self (self Concept).
• 3 different but interrelated aspect of empirical self

  (1) Me viewed as material

  (2)Me viewed as social

  (3) Me viewed as spiritual in nature
• Carl Rogers - the founder of client-centered therapy and considered as one of the prominent humanistic or existential theorist in personality.
• Carl Rogers - His therapy aimed to make the person achieve balance between their self-concept (real-self) and ideal self.
• The real self includes all aspects of one’s identity that are perceived in awareness. These are the things that are known to oneself like the attributes that an individual possesses.
• The ideal self is defined as one’s view of self as one wishes to be. This contains all the aspirations or wishes of an individual for themselves
• Gregg Henriques' Tripartite Model of Human Consciousness:

  Experiential Self

  Private Self

  Public Self
• Experential Self - The felt experience of being, tied to memory. Present during wakefulness, disappears in deep sleep.
• Private Self - The proportion of self that narrates and interprets experiences. Tries to make sense of what’s going on
• Public Self - The aspect of self that an individual shows to the public and how it interacts with their perceptions.
• UNIFIED SELF - connected to consciousness, awareness, and agency
• DONALD WINNICOTT

  a pediatrician in London who studied Psychoanalysis with Melanie Klein.

  a renowned personality theorist

  one of the pioneers in object relations and development of personality in childhood.
• FALSE SELF

  -Alternative personality that is used to protect an individual’s true identity or one’s ability to hide the real self.

  -maintain social relationship as anticipation of the demands of others

  -false self can be a healthy self if it is perceived as functional for the person and for the society

  -unhealthy false self happens when an individual feels forced compliance
• True Self - has a sense of integrity and connected wholeness that is rooted in early infancy.
• Albert Bandura - psychologist and Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University. known for his theory of social learning by means of modeling. famous for his proposed concept of self efficacy.
• The Social Cognitive Theory - asserts that a person os both proactive and agentic, which mean that we have the capacity to exercise control over our life.
• Social Cognitive Theory - This theory emphasized that human beings are proactive, self-regulating, self-reflective, and self organizing.
• Self As Proactive - means an individual have control in any situation by making things happen. They act as agent in doing or making themselves as they are.
• Agency - defining feature of modern selfhood. Agents assume some degree of ownership and control over things, both internally (I control my own thoughts) and externally (I make things happen in the environment).
• example of agentic approach to self: The ability of an individual to pursue their goals in life
• According to Bandura (1989), self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major processes:
• Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major processes:

  Cognitive

  Motivational

  Affective

  Selection Processes
• Self-Efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate themselves and behave.