Lesson 3: PSYCHOLOGY

Lesson Objectives

At the end of this learning module, the student is expected to:

a. demonstrate critical and reflective thought in analyzing the different

psychological theories in the study of the " self "
b. expound the self as a cognitive construction
C. examine the self as proactive and agentic

DISCUSSION/ READINGS

INTRODUCTION

Most people would say that they do not want to talk about themselves.
But actuality, most people like hearing life stories of another person as a
chance to talk about themselves or to relate self to others. The famous line
of
“ Me, Myself and I ” is often used in movies, animation and even in social
media as caption to pictures or as shout - outs.

The psychology of self focuses on the representation of an individual

based on his/ her experiences. These experiences are either from the home,
school and other groups, organizations or affiliations he/ she engaged in.
Seemingly, the ‘ self is one of the most heavily researched areas in social
and personality psychology, where concepts are introduced that beyond our
physical attributes, lies our psychological identity. Questions of ‘ who am I? '
or ' what am I beyond my looks? ' are thoughts of many that continuously
search for a deeper sense of self which can be traced back from some time of
human history. " Drawing on caves suggests that sometime during the dawn
of history, human beings began to give serious thought to their nonphysical,
psychological selves. With the advent of written history, writers would
describe this awareness of self in terms of spirit, psyche, or soul. " (Pajares &
Schunck, 2002)

From ancient to current times, the concept of the self is always an

interesting subject for many as it is very personal that it talks about
intrapersonal properties. In oxford bibliographies.com (2-13), it is mentioned
that whatever stance one adopts regarding the self's ontological status, there
is little doubt that the many phenomena of which the self is a predicate-self
- knowledge, self - awareness, self - esteem, self - enhancement, self
regulation, self - deception, self - presentation — to name just a few, are
indispensable research areas.

1. THE SELF AS A COGNITIVE CONSTRUCTION

Cognitive Construction is a cognitive approach that focuses on the

mental processes rather than the observable behavior. This approach will
assist individuals in assimilating new information to their existing
knowledge and will enable to make the appropriate modification to their
existing intellectual framework to accommodate their new information.

1.1 William James and the Me - Self, I - Self

With the initiative of Wilhelm Wundt, the father of Scientific

Psychology, scientific methods in studying what Aguirre et al. (2011)
mentioned as ‘ phenomenon of the consciousness ', urged interest in further
studies of the self and its role in human behavior. It is in this time that
William James ' classic distinction between the self as knower (or pure ego)
and the self as known (or the empirical self) provides a useful scheme within
which to view the multitudinous aspects of self - functioning
(oxfordbibliographies.com, 2013).

W. James suggested that " the total self of ' Me ', being as it were
duplex ” is, he differentiated between composed of " partly object and partly
subject. " As a consequence referred to the “ I ” as pure the self as knower,
or the “ T ”, and the self as known, or “ Me ”. He ego and suggested that this
component of self is consciousness itself. The “ Me ”, on the other hand, is
one of the many things that the I may be conscious of, and it consists of
three components, one physical or material, one social, and one spiritual
(Pajares & Schunck,2002).

Material Self- consists of things that belong to us or that we belong to.

Things like family, clothes, our body, and money are some of what make up
our material selves.

Social Self - our social selves are who we are in a given social situation. For
James, people change how they act depending on the social situation that
they are in. James believed that people had as many social selves as they
had social situations they participated in. Spiritual Self- is who we are at
our core. The spiritual self is more concrete or permanent than the other
two selves. The spiritual self is our subjective and most intimate self.
Aspects of an individual's Spiritual Self- include things like his/ her
personality, core values, and conscience that do not typically change
throughout a lifetime.

1.2 Global versus Differentiated Models

There had been postulation that one's self may be fragmented into
different parts and different selves which may be in conflict or needs
regulation from each other. Although W. James gave a very interesting
perspective on the self, and was even among the first writers to coin the
term ' Self - Esteem ', other theories emerged to study on the selfhood as an
integrated part of one's psyche. In the past 30 years, self - esteem has
become deeply embedded in popular culture (Brown & Marchall, 2006). It is
a person's overall self
evaluation or sense of self - worth.
 Global Self - esteem (a.k.a. Trait self - esteem), is a personality
variable that represents the way people generally feel about themselves. It is
relatively enduring across time and situations. According to researchers (e.g.
Crocker & Park, 2004; Crocker & Wolfe, 2001), Global self - esteem is a
decision people make about their worth as a person.

State Self - esteem (a.k.a. Feelings of Self - worth), refers to temporary

feelings or momentary emotional reactions to positive and negative events
where we feel good or bad
about ourselves during these situations or experiences.

Domain Specific Self - Esteem (a.k.a. Self - evaluations), is focused on

how people evaluate their various abilities and attributes. This is making
distinctions or differentiation on how good or bad people are in specific
physical attributes, abilities and personal characteristics.

1.3 Real and Ideal Self Concepts

The self as the regulating center of an individual's personality and self –
processes under the guise of id, ego and superego functioning (Pajares &
Schunck, 2002), rocked Psychology as the biggest breakthrough in
understanding the psychological self. From this milestone, prominent
psychologists followed with their own perspectives of the self to contest the
roles and functions of ego as the self. These were the landmarks of
Contemporary Psychology and the understanding of the internal processes
of man. A group of psychologists called for renewed attention to inner
experience, internal processes, and self - constructs. These perspectives
assert the overall dignity and worth of human beings and their capacity for
self - realization (Hall, Lindzey, Loehlin, & Manosevitz, 1997)

Karen Horney with her Feminine Psychology, established that a person has
an
ideal self ', ' actual self and the real self ". She believed that everyone
experiences basic anxiety through which we experience conflict and strive to
cope and employ tension reduction approaches. Hall, et al. (1997)
mentioned that Horney believed people develop a number of strategies to
cope with basic anxiety. Because people feel inferior, an idealized self -
image - an imaginary picture of the self as the possessor of unlimited
powers and superlative qualities, is developed. On the other hand, the
actual self, the person one is in
everyday life, is often despised because it fails to fulfill the requirement of
the idealized image. Underlying both the idealized self and the actual self is
the real self, which is revealed only as a person begins to shed the various
techniques developed to deal with basic anxiety and to find ways of resolving
conflicts. The real self is not an entity but a ' force 'that impels growth and
self - realization.

Carl Rogers with his Person - Centered Theory, establish a conception

of self, involving the Real Self (a.k.a. Self - concept) and Ideal Self. The
Real Self includes all those aspects of one's being and one's experiences
that are perceived in awareness (though not always accurately) by the
individual (Feist, Feist & Roberts, 2013). It is the part of ourselves where we
feel, think, look and act involving our self - image. On the other hand, the
Ideal Self revolves around goals and ambitions in life, is dynamic, the
idealized image that we have developed over time. This is what our parents
have taught us considering: what we admire in others, what our society
promotes, what we think are in our best interest.

A wide gap between the ideal self and the real self indicates
incongruence and an unhealthy personality (Feist et al., 2013). If the way
that I am (the real self) is aligned with the way that I want to be (the ideal
self), then I will feel a sense of mental well - being or peace of mind. If the
way that I am is not aligned with how I want to be, the incongruence, or lack
of alignment, will result in mental distress or anxiety. The greater the level of
incongruence between the ideal self and real self, the greater is the level of
resulting
distress.

1.4 Multiple versus Unified Selves

Postmodern psychology contends that man has an identity that shifts

and morphs in different social situations and in response to different
stimuli, as Kenneth Gergen argues that having a flexible sense of self in
different context is more socially adaptable than force oneself to stick to one
self - concept (ctlsites.uga.edu, 2016, danielcw). Theorists believed that
there is no one answer to the question, " Who am I? ” as one person can
undergo several transitions in his life and create multiple versions of
himself. However, there is still the contention of the importance of mental
well - being, of maintaining
a unified, centralized, coherent self.

Multiple Selves, according to K. Gergen, are the capacities we carry within

us from multiple relationships. These are not discovered ' but ' created ' in
our relationships with other people. emphasizes that well out in Traditional
Psychology Unified Selves, as strongly pointed dynamics are congruent,
cohesive and consistent. It is being comes when our personality at the
understood that a person is essentially connected with selfhood and
identity. In a healthy person the ego remains at the helm of the mind,
coherent and organized, staying center (ctlsites.uga.edu, 2016, danielcw).

1.5 True versus False Selves

Donald W. Winnicott distinguished what he called the " true self "
from the " false self " in the human personality, considering the true self as
based on a sense of being in the experiencing body and the false self as a
necessary defensive organization, a survival kit, a caretaker self, the means
by which a threatened person has managed to survive (Klein,1994).

True Self has a sense of integrity, of connected wholeness that harks

to the early stage. False Self is used when the person has to comply with
external rules, such as being polite or otherwise following social codes. The
false self constantly seeks to anticipate demands of others in order to
maintain the relationship. The Healthy False Self is functional, can be
compliant but without the feeling that it has betrayed its true self. The
Unhealthy False Self
fits in but through a feeling of forced compliance rather than loving
adaptation
(changingminds.org 2016). False Selves, as investigated by Heinz Kohut
(1971), can lead towards narcissistic personality, which identifies with
external factors at the cost of one's own autonomous creativity.
2. The Self as Proactive and Agentic

Social Cognitive Theory takes an agentic view of personality, meaning

that humans have the capacity to exercise control over their own lives.
People are self - regulating, proactive, self - reflective, and self - organizing
and that they have the power to influence their own actions to produce
desired consequences. People consciously act on their environment in a
manner that permits growth toward psychological health. An adequate
theory of personality, according to G. Allport must allow for proactive
behavior (Feist et al., 2013).

Agent self - The agent self is known as the executive function that allows
for actions.
This is how we, as individuals, make choices and utilize our control in
situations and actions. The agent self, resides over everything that involves
decision making, self - control, taking charge in situations, and actively
responding. A person might desire to eat unhealthy foods, however, it is his/
her agent self that allows that person to choose to avoid eating them and
make a healthier food choice (Baumeister, & Bushman, 2011).

Human agency is not a thing but an active process of exploring,

manipulating and influencing the environment in order to attain desired
outcomes. According to Albert Bandura, the core features of human agency
are intentionality (acts a person performs intentionally) forethought (setting
goals, anticipation of outcomes of actions, selection of behaviors to produce
desired outcomes and avoiding undesirable ones), self – reactiveness
(monitoring progress toward fulfilling choices), and self-reflectiveness
(examination of own functioning, evaluation of the effect of other people's
action on them). These lead to self efficacy, the belief that they are capable of
performing actions that will produce a desired effect (Feist, et al., 2013).

Self - Efficacy lies in the center of Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory.

It is the measure of one's ability to complete goals. People with high self -
efficacy often are eager to accept challenges because they believe they can
overcome them, while people with low self efficacy may avoid challenges, or
believe experiences are more challenging than they actually are
(appsychtextbk.wikispaces.com, 2014).

Let us move further as we continue examining other perspectives of

the self.

ENRICHMENT
ACTIVITIES

Activity 1

Make a collage of your ' Ideal Self and ' Real Self ". Use cut - out magazine
pictures or use your drawing skills to create a collage that represents your
two selves '.

Activity 2

Test out the Theory of Agentic Self, to show that we make choices and utilize
our control in situations and actions. Get a group of 3-5 teenagers and let
them watch a video on the benefits of choosing healthy foods. In the middle
of watching the video, pause and offer them a choice of healthy and junk
foods and let them choose what they want to eat while finishing the video.
See how concepts of Agentic Self will be confirmed or negated in this simple
experiment.

Activity 3

Pick any song that you think is relevant. This can be pop, R & B, classic
rock, country or whatever you like. Write the lyrics down and analyze how
the Multiple Selves were depicted in the song.
 ASSESSMENT

Name: Date: ____________

Course Year/ Section: ______________________ Score: ___________

Test I: Multiple Choices. Encircle the letter of your chosen answer.

1. It refers to the ‘ self as the pure ego.

a. " T b. " Me "

2. He was among the first who coined the term ' self - esteem '.

a. George Berkeley b. William James

3. He proposed that ideal self is one's aspirations to become.

a. Mischel b. Rogers

4. He contends that a person has multiple rather than unified selves.

a. Gergen b. Freud

5. The differentiated model of self is stating the presence of

a. permanent reactions b. temporary reactions.

TEST ll: Essay. Which among the theories on “ Self” as a Cognitive
Construction, explain s best your personality dynamics? Write down your
thoughts and feelings in no less than 300 words.

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