UTS 100 REVIEWER AND FUNCTIONALLY, from the

molecular level to the entirety of human

I. WHAT IS THE SELF? physiological systems.

The SELF is a topic that is often talked NURTURE

about but largely goes unnoticed. - principally viewed as an outcome
of VARIOUS NURTURING FACTORS in
It composes both the: the context of one’s life.
“ I “ - as an actor - Social sciences (insight in the
“ me “ - as the object micro and macro level).
- Different social sciences stress
The consciousness of the existence of how group life (formal and informal)
the self has been almost AUTOMATIC or affects an individual's behavior and
REFLEXIVE. Thus, people are almost attitude, and emphasize on the impact
unaware of it. In our everyday lives, we of various social institutions to the self.
are constantly acknowledging it.

Three Scholars (theorists, scientists,

philosophers) in different fields have IDENTITY VS. SELF
attempted to explain and thoroughly
expound on several issues and Self and identity are topics that remain
controversies about the nature, popular.
existence, and dimensionality of self.
Noticeable, the terms “self” and
The most prevalent among issues on “identity” have been loosely
self are on: interchanged in various literatures.

● nature vs. nurture, Based on lexical definitions, the two

● identity vs. self, and concepts are distinct and can be
● dimensionalities of the self. delineated.

IDENTITY (noun, identity \-den-ta-te, a-,

-de-no-\)
NATURE VS. NURTURE - "the qualities, beliefs, etc., that
make a particular person or group
NATURE different from others... or the
- self is predominantly a product distinguishing character or personality
of NATURAL PROCESSES to which of an individual."
people are INHERENTLY
PREDISPOSED. SELF (noun)
- anchored on BIOLOGY and - "the person that someone
explains that human traits are passed normally or truly is.. or the entire person
from one generation to another. of an individual."
- BLUEPRINT OF THE SELF and
predisposes one to certain SUMMARY:
self-expressions (e.g., attitude, behavior, IDENTITY distinguishes or
tendencies, etc.) compares one from another while the
- self is STUDIED STRUCTURALLY SELF refers to the total characteristics or
qualities of a person both known and In Philosophy, discussion of the self is a
unknown to others (but known to basic search for meaning and purpose
oneself). in life.

Oyserman, Elmore, and Smith (2012, p. The inability to define oneself leads to a
69) stating that: lot of contradictions within the self later
on; hence, it is one of the many
● Identities are the traits and imperatives in life to know oneself and
characteristics, social relations, to go on with the business of leading a
roles, and social group life charted by oneself.
memberships that define who
one is. The philosophical quest is aimed at
● They can be focused on the past unraveling who man is and his nature
(what used to be true), the by looking, not just on the everyday
present (what is true), or the goals of man, but to determine- what
future (what one wishes to ultimately is his PURPOSE, GOALS AND
become) ESSENCE.
● Identities make up one’s self
concept. Philosophy’s history: men and women
who inquired the fundamental nature
of the self

DIMENSIONALITIES The inquiry of the self has preoccupied

the earliest thinkers in the history of
The identity of a person is highlighted philosophy: GREEKS.
by a dominant trait which makes them
distinguishable from others.

In most cases, the identity of a person SOCRATES (469 - 399 BC)

can be best depicted using certain traits
that would set them apart from others. - Known to be a market
philosopher, because of his penchant
Unfortunately, you will find it difficult to for engaging youths in philosophizing in
describe a person who belongs to the public markets.
so-called "average" category. As the
term implies, average connotes that one - 1st philosopher who engaged in
is just like everybody else in the group. a systematic questioning of the self.

- KNOW THYSELF: “An

II. WHO AM I? : THE PHILOSOPHICAL unexamined life is NOT worth living.” -
VIEW if a person knows who they is, all basic
issues and difficulties in life will vanish
Philosophy has always sought to and everything will be clearer and
answer life's difficult questions and has simpler.
relentlessly pursued answers to these no
matter how seemingly futile the quest - Dualist: soul first before man’s
may be. body.
 writing of his student Plato and
- The soul has knowledge by historian Xenophon.
direct intuition and all these are stored
in his mind.
PLATO (427 - 347 BCE)
- When man came to the material
world, he forgot most of what he knew,
- “Thinking - the talking of the
thus, resulting in lack of knowledge or
soul with itself.”
ignorance.
- student of Socrates and teacher
- But knowledge can be restored
of Aristotle
through dialectic method or Socratic
method, an exchange of question and
- believed in an enduring self that
answer that ultimately aims to make
is represented by the soul.
the person remember all the
knowledge he has forgotten. ; subjective
- The soul is eternal and
answers, no right and wrong.
constitutes the enduring self, because
Dialectic method: sort of intellectual even after death, the soul continues to
midwifery trying to painfully coax exist.
knowledge out of man.
- World of forms vs. Material world
Self-knowledge, for Socrates, means (dualism)
knowing one's degree of understanding “ World of forms ”
about the world and knowing one's - ideal world
capabilities and potentials. - permanent, unchanging
reality
Self is achieved and not just discovered, “ Material world “
something to work on and not a - constantly changing
product of a mere realization. - what we see around us
- For Plato, this is just a
He argued that a person's acceptance of replica of the real world found in the
ignorance is a springboard for the world of Forms.
acquisition of knowledge later on. So,
one must first have the humility to - Human beings are composed of
acknowledge their ignorance so as to a body and a soul.
acquire knowledge. “ soul “ - true self
“ body “ - changing self
He was a Greek philosopher and one of
the very few individuals who shaped - The soul exists before birth and
Western thought. However, unlike the leaves room for the possibility that it
other philosophers during his time, might survive bodily death.
Socrates never wrote anything.
Knowledge about Socrates is through - 3 parts of the soul: Rational,
second-hand information from the Spirited, Appetitive
 - The body is seen as a prison and RENE DESCARTES (1596)
we can only be free through
contemplation. - Father of Modern Philosophy
“ Contemplation “
- entails communion of the - I think, therefore; I am. (Cogito
mind with universal and eternal ideas. ergo sum)
- a deep thinking or
meditation - “Cogito ergo sum”, emphasizes
the consciousness of his mind which
- We continue to exist even in the leads to an evidence of his existence
absence of our bodies because we are despite the fact that he is doubting the
souls only. existence of everything. In other words,
the existence of anything that you
register from your senses can be
doubted.
AUGUSTINE

- One can always doubt about the

- Man is bifurcated nature
certainty of things but the very fact that
one doubts is something that cannot be
- Out of love, God created man
doubted.
- Man is created in the image of
- Only humans have hubris
God and he has an immortal soul whose
(excessive pride) but the same people
main pursuit is to have an everlasting
also have their own answers to their
life with God.
own musings.
- He posits that "the body is
- Cartesian Geometry
bound to die on earth and the soul is to
anticipate living eternally in a realm of
- The mind and body are separate
spiritual bliss in communion with God"
entities (cogito- one that thinks &
extenza/body) but the mind is conjoined
- In this world, man pursues
with the body in an intimate way that
happiness but this can only be achieved
they casually act upon each other.
in God alone.

- The essence of the Self is in its

- Moral law exists and is imposed
being a “thinking being” – the self being
on the mind.
the mind more than the body.
- There is an eternal law and it is
- When the body is gone, the
the law of conscience.
mind may continue to exist and
“ Conscience “
function.
– that still small voice that
tells us instinctively whether our actions
- Thought (mind) always precedes
are morally good or bad.
action (body)
 - Humans think first about doing same, thereby maintaining the personal
something and then do it. It is the identity through the change.
thought that sets direction to human
actions but humans are always free to - The idea is as long as we have
choose. overlapping memories, then you are the
same person.

- Father of Classical Liberalism

JOHN LOCKE (1632 - 1704)
because of his contribution to the
formation of human rights.
- “What worries you, masters you”

- He included the concept of a

person’s memory in the definition of the DAVID HUME (1711 - 1776)
self.
- Scottish philosopher
- He subscribes to the memory
theory which holds that we are the - Hume views the soul as a
same person as we were in the past for product of the imagination.
as long as we can remember something
from that past. - What you think and what you
feel constitute what you are at this very
- consciousness is the perception moment. So, if at this moment, you are
of what passes in a man's own mind. happy, then you are happy. If you are
hungry, then you are hungry. That is
- He rejected that the brain has what you are; that is who you are.
something to do with consciousness as
the brain, as well, as the body may - Mind
change, while consciousness remains impressions: what we perceive
the same. thru our senses
Ideas: we create in our minds even
- Personal identity is explained in though we don’t experience them
terms of psychological connection
between life stages in the memory - The self keeps on changing, thus,
theory. an “enduring self” is just a fiction by our
imagination.
- Our memory makes us aware of
our existence. - “I” will be constantly changing
because the different experiences one
- tabula rasa – a concept that has for every constant change will affect
posits everyone started as a blank slate, and reshape that person.
and the content is provided by one's
experiences over time. - Thus, we cannot observe any
permanent self because we
- While the soul is changed, for continuously undergo change.
instance, consciousness remains the
 - In conclusion, THERE IS NO SELF. - The self itself is a subject.

- He believes that man is a free

agent, capable of making a decision for
IMMANUEL KANT (1724 - 1804)
himself.
- “Dare to know!”
- As a free agent, man is gifted
with reason (actively engaged
- German Philosopher
intelligence) and free will (to be moral or
not).
- Consciousness is formed by
one's inner and outer sense. The inner
- SELF is personality & seat of
sense consists of one's psychological
knowledge
state and intellect. The outer sense
consists of one's senses and the physical
- Thus, we must respect every
world.
individual and they should not be
exploited and used.
EMPIRICAL SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS
= Consciousness of oneself + one’s
psychological state
SIGMUND FREUD (1856 - 1939)
TRANSCENDENTAL APPERCEPTION
= Consciousness of oneself + one’s - “The ego is not the master in
state via acts of apperception its own house.”

- All representational states are in - Psychoanalytic theory

the inner sense such as moods, feelings,
and sensations including pleasure and - Famous for his tripartite division
pain. One must be phenomenally of the mind – id, ego, and superego.
conscious to be aware of something in
the inner sense. - Id – exists since birth (instinct),
impulses; biological drives and urges,
- This comes from the outer sense, storeroom of wishes and obsessions
and allows one to synthesize or make related to sexual and aggressive desires;
sense of a unified object. It makes ignores reality, common sense and
experience possible and allows the self reason; no sense of good and evil;
and the world to come together. pleasure principle (satisfy the urges)

- Consciousness is the CENTRAL - Ego - the rational part, maintain

FEATURE of the mind. equilibrium between demands of id and
superego, developed through personal
- Refuted Hume’s claims and experience and adheres to principles of
argued that it is possible to find the logic and reason; reality principle
essence of the self, and that it belonged (winner of the battle is manifested here)
to a different metaphysical class.
 - Superego - moral and ethical person through how a man behaves,
standards; reservoir of moral standards, their tendencies and reactions in certain
compliance with norms, values, circumstances.
standards, moral principle (controls the
impulses of id) - Self is not an entity one can
locate but the convenient name that
people use to refer to all behaviors that
people make

- Example: Personality d/o

PAUL & PATRICIA CHURCHLAND (1942 -

1943)

- “The self is the brain.”

GILBERT RYLE (1900 - 1976)

- Eliminative Materialism- a radical

- “I act; therefore I am.”
claim that ordinary, common sense
understanding of the mind is deeply
- British philosopher; theory:
wrong and that some or all of the
logical behaviorism or analytical
mental states posited by common sense
behaviorism – a theory of mind which
do not actually exist.
states that mental concepts can be
understood through observable events.
- Our moods, emotions, actions,
and consciousness are deeply affected
- The only proof of the mind’s
by the state of our brain.
operation is visible and evident in
activities like singing, running, walking,
- By manipulating certain parts of
and the like.
the brain, our feelings, actions, and
physical state are successfully altered.
- The self is the way people
behave.

- Solved mind-body dichotomy -> MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY (1908 - 1961)

denying existence of internal,
nonphysical self - “I am my body.”

- The mind is certainly a part of - distinguished the body into two

our body. types: the subjective body, as lived and
experienced, and the objective body, as
- The only way by which we can observed and scientifically investigated
know how the mind is working is and these two are not different bodies.
through the behavior of the person.
- SELF= embodied subjectivity:
- Hence, we can only know a living creatures whose subjectivity
(consciousness) is actualized in the Augustine: Man is an image in the
forms of their physical involvement with likeness of God and he is essentially a
the world. soul whose goal is to be with God.

- Body: general medium for Rene Descartes – Man is a mind – a

having a world thinking being separate from his body. It
doesn’t mean that we don’t need the
- To be a self is to be more than body, because the body is a necessity for
one’s body* the mind in order for it to perform any
act.
- The self is grounded on the
John Locke – Self is a consciousness
experiences from the past, the
and that for as long as we have
possibilities for the future, and the
memories about who we are and our
present cognition.
identity, then that tells us that we are
that same person, that same self that
- “I am the sum of all that I make
we are conscious of now.
my body do.”
David Hume – There is NO permanent
- It is a continuous flow of self because the self is only a bundle of
movement from infancy to adulthood. senses that keeps on changing.

- The definition of self is all about Immanuel Kant – it is possible for us to

one’s perception of one’s experience construct our self. We can organize our
and the interpretation of those experiences so that we can build an idea
experiences. of who we are.

Sigmund Freud – man is made up of

- Opposed dualist account of
two things: conscious and unconscious
subjectivity
and that man has many layers.

- a person is defined by virtue of Gilbert Ryle – how one behaves is a big

movement and expression. factor in showing who man is

- Mind and body are essentially Paul Churchland – the brain is the
correlated and it is not possible to essence of the self
understand subjectivity without taking
into account this essential correlation. Maurice Merleau-Ponty – Man is all
He also opposed the Cartesian cogito. about how he sees himself (subjectivity)
For him, consciousness is both
perceiving and engaging.
III. THE SELF AS A SOCIAL
CONSTRUCT: THE SOCIOLOGICAL
SUMMARY: VIEW

Socrates: Man is essentially a soul. It was Social Construct

seconded by Plato. - Society does the defining.
Knowing the self requires standpoint of others. Therefore,
understanding our society and its developing the concept of “self” lies in
culture and how it provokes us in the ability “to wear other people’s
making decisions which are culturally shoes.”
influenced and socially constructed. No
one could live by themselves alone.

The self, as a social being, is influenced Developmental Stages of the Self

by his culture. As products of it, we
mirror the values, traditions, and beliefs. - For Mead, the self is not inborn, it
is usually learned during childhood.
By extension, man will always look for
someone to commune with. The 1. Imitation or Preparatory Stage
human person is a social animal; they - child imitates their parents’
will always seek others for commercial behavior
or personal reasons. In the realm of
2. Play Stage
sociology, the self interacts with the
- child playing the role of others.
social world. Initially, the self is
In doing these, they become aware that
self-absorbed and is just concerned with
there is a difference between themself
its own. Progressively, however, the self
and the role that they are playing.
expands and is now concerned with
other constellations of selves, known as 3. Game Stage
others. - child comes to see themselves
from the perspective of other people. To
play the game, the child must be aware
SOCIAL SELF by George Herbert Mead of their relationship with others and
(1863 - 1931) place themselves in their roles to
appreciate their particular role. In doing
- self is developed as one grows this, they see themselves in terms of the
and ages and is constructed by directly collective viewpoint of other people and
engaging in the world through the attitude of generalized others.
interaction and reflections on those
interactions.
I AND ME
- Role-playing is the process in
which one takes on the role of another - For Mead, the self is a social
by putting oneself in the position of the process between the I and Me.
person with whom they interact.
“I”- unsocialized and spontaneous self,
- Through role-playing, the subjective and acting part, immediate
individual develops a concept of self. By response to others. (unfiltered)
putting oneself in the position of others,
“Me” – conventional and objective part
one can reflect upon oneself.
of the self, results from the progressive
stages of role-playing or role-taking and
- To accomplish this, one must be
the perspective one assumes to view
conscious of oneself from the
and analyze one’s behaviors, individual’s awareness of one’s social
organization of the internalized attitude or personal identity, is a social
of others development.

- The self is built through social

interaction, which involves three steps:
GENERALIZED OTHER
first, people imagine how they must
- One of Mead’s best-known appear to others;
concepts
second, they imagine the judgment on
- an organized community or that appearance;
social group which gives the individual
their unity of self. and finally, they develop themselves by
assessing others.
- The attitude of the generalized
other is the attitude of the community - As a result, the looking-glass self
as a whole. is made up of feelings about other
people’s judgments of one’s behavior.
- The focus of the individual’s
actions has now shifted from the ‘self’ to - The self consists of the
the generalized other or the prominent individual’s more or less accurate
people around him. assessments of other people’s judgment
about one’s self.
- Since an individual sees themself
as a member of the group, their actions - It should serve only as a guide for
and decisions tend to be carefully reflection and should be taken to avoid
analyzed so that it would mirror societal ending up living following other
goals and values. people’s expectations.

LOOKING-GLASS SELF by Charles PRIVATE, PUBLIC, AND COLLECTIVE

Horton Cooley (1864 - 1929) SELF by Harry Triandis (1926 - 2019)

1. Private self
- self is developed as a result of
- individual self
one’s perceptions of other people’s
- cognition that involves traits,
opinions
states, and behaviors
- assessment of the self by the self
- They constantly pick up
- one’s knowledge of attributes
feedback and incorporate it into their
that differentiate them from others.
sense of self. It is a social construction
and personal reality, showing how 2. Public self
others influence people’s image of - cognition concerning the
themselves. generalized other’s view of the self
- assessment of the self by the
- For Cooley, the self, an
generalized other The second process is called social
- one’s relationship with others identification. After learning their
and the role one assumes in that category, people adopt the identity of
relationship. the group they have categorized
themselves with.
3. Collective self
- cognition concerning a view of The last process is social comparison.
the self found in memberships in social After classifying themselves as part of
groups (e.g., family, co-workers, tribe, the group and identifying with it, they
professional organizations) tend to compare that group with
others. Here they might begin to
discriminate and criticize the other
groups.
SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY by Henri
Tajfel & William Sumner (1919 - 1982)

Social Identity ANTHROPOLOGY OF THE SELF by

- defined as the person’s sense of Brian Morris (1936 - present)
who they are according to their
membership in a particular group - Anthropology is the science of
- group membership is an humanity.
essential source of pride and
self-esteem - self is not an entity but a process
orchestrating an individual’s experience
In-group
- a person becomes self-aware
- esteemed social group
and self-reflective about their place in
commanding a member’s loyalty
the surrounding world. For him, “self” is
- group to which a person belongs
defined as an individual’s mental
Out-group representation of their person as
- scorned social group to which self-representation.
one feels competition or opposition
- group to which a person does - “other” refers to how one
not belong perceives the mental representations of
others.

- At the same time, the

Three mental processes involved in
relationship between the self and others
evaluating others as “us” or “them”:
is also a function of culture.
Social Categorization. People also
categorize other people to identify and
understand the social environment. DIALOGICAL SELF by Hubert Hermans
With this, people learn things about (1935 - present)
themselves by knowing their category.
- regarded the “self” as the
“society of Mind.”
 a significant outlet for people to create
- An internal I-position refers to and experiment with multiple selves.
how one functions in oneself, while an
external I-position refers to how one - Simply put, the saturated self is
identifies themselves based on stressed. Because of technology, there
particular external factors. All these are a lot of options that are all available
constitute the functionality of the self. immediately, which leads to an endless
list of things to do.
- The dialogic self approach calls
for the I-positions to come in contact - Thus, social saturation brings a
with each other – to be in a dialogue general loss of true and knowable selves.
with one another for an individual to
become fully aware of the different
dimensions that constitute themselves.
THE SELF IN THE WESTERN AND
ORIENTAL THOUGHT

SATURATED SELF by Kenneth Gergen Culture

(1935 - present) - That complex whole which
includes knowledge, beliefs, arts,
- extreme form of The morals, law, customs, and any other
Looking-Glass Self capabilities and habits acquired by
humans as a member of society.
- characterized by constant
The self is clearly linked to his/her
connection to others.
culture. In fact, our social personality is
a reflection of culture itself.
- This self absorbs many voices
(sometimes contradictory) and takes in
seemingly endless streams of
information. Individualist
- emphasize that people are
- contradicts the notion of a independent of their groups.
singular, true, authentic self and instead - personal goals are more
gives way to a self consisting of multiple important than the goals of the ingroup.
selves. - value independence and
personal uniqueness. Highly
- Multiphrenia: people establish individualist people value personal
multiple selves by absorbing the freedom, self-sufficiency, control over
numerous voices of people in their lives, their lives, and appreciation of their
either in real life or through the media; unique qualities that distinguish them
creating a seemingly endless pool of from others.
selves that they can choose to draw
upon depending on the needs of the
current situation. Collectivist
- goals of the ingroup are more
- Today’s technology has become important than personal goals
 - people are expected to maintain IV: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL SELF: MY
close interdependent relationships. FAVORITE MYSTERY

Individualist vs. Collectivist Societies In the context of psychology, the self

can be defined as a reflexive
psychological process that starts when
one identifies themself as an object,
followed by describing oneself as a
self-concept or self-feeling, and ends
with saying that the self is manifested
in how one acts and presents
themselves to others.

In this process, the self is perceived

THE SELF AS A PRODUCT OF THE
through how one sees and understands
MODERN WORLD
themselves.

- Culture is dynamic, WHO WE ARE, THOUGH NOT EASILY

ever-changing, go through adjustments CHANGED, MIGHT BE LIKENED TO A
and re-alignments LIQUID, ABLE TO TAKE MANY FORMS,
DEPENDING ON THE FACTORS AND
- Culture’s values change over CONTEXT AFFECTING IT.
time, and if they do not, society is
trapped in the challenges of the modern
world.
HUMANISTIC THEORY by Carl Rogers
(1902 - 1987)
- The fast-paced world has made it
more challenging to decipher the self
- believes that the self does not
since the sources of our identities are no
exist at birth; it is developed gradually
longer stable and secure.
during childhood, wherein one
differentiates the self from the non-self.
- Technology has allowed us to do
things unimaginable before. Yesterday’s
- utilizing free choice and action,
handful of options is fast becoming
one can shape themselves based on
obsolete, and choices that man makes
what they want
now integrate the post-modern world’s
cultural traditions culture has been
- self as the center of experience
presented as global in perspective, as
today’s generation does not identify
- His theory focuses on the nature
with their societal culture but
of the self and the conditions that allow
recognizes the unprecedented
the self to develop freely.
influence of the worldwide culture.
2 SELVES ACCORDING TO CARL greater self-worth and a healthy,
ROGERS productive life.

1. Real Self - Incongruence = great

- who we actually are inconsistency between your ideal and
- the self that feels closest to how real selves or if the way you are is not
one identifies with aligned with what you want to be,
- self that feels most natural,
comfortable, and true to what and who - Incongruence = maladjustment:
one is. inability to react successfully and
- How I see me satisfactorily to the demands of one’s
- the actual self environment
2. Ideal Self
- person we want to be
- idealized version of yourself that
has developed over time based on the
influence of the environment and the
people one interacts with
- product of expectations and
pressures from others and arises from
the need to be loved and accepted by
others POSSIBLE SELVES
- How should I be - In/Congruence between ideal
- dynamic and forever changing self and real self has effects on our
self-esteem
- These are ideas about what one
might become in the future.
Our ideal self is essential in guiding and
- It can be a Hoped-for Selves or
motivating us to behave in a way that
Feared Selves.
would lead us to the best version of who
we want to be, helpful motivation in
There is CONGRUENCE or alignment or
guiding real self to strive and continue
there is a small gap between our real
improving
self and ideal self.

This gives us confidence, satisfaction,

CONGRUENCE and fulfillment leading to a high
self-esteem.
- Rogers accentuated the need to
Otherwise, there is a feeling of
achieve consistency between the ideal
disappointment and frustration about
and real selves.
ourselves…

- when your real and ideal selves This results to us being distressed,
are similar, you experience congruence. anxious, leading to a low self-esteem,
and defensive. (def. mech: DENIAL,
- High congruence leads to PERCEPTUAL DISTORTION)
SELF-CONCEPT

- the totality of a complex,

organized, and dynamic system of
learned beliefs, attitudes, and opinions
each person holds to be true about their
existence.

- social product that develops out

of interpersonal relationships and
strives for consistency.
SELF-SCHEMAS

- It is an organized, consistent set

- These perceptions and beliefs
of perceptions of and beliefs about
that comprise our self-concept.
oneself. (Carl Rogers)
They are formed by numerous factors
such as:
THREE COMPONENTS OF
● Past experiences
SELF-CONCEPT
● Personality traits
1. Self-worth or self-esteem ● Abilities
- what one thinks about oneself ● Physical features
- develops in early childhood ● Values
stage which is a result from the child’s ● Goals
interaction with the parents ● Social roles
● Own observations
2. Self-image ● Feedback from others
- how one sees the self
- includes body image’s influence
on inner personality
TRUE SELF & FALSE SELF by Donald
3. Ideal self Woods Winnicott (1896 - 1971)
- person that one wants to be
- introduced the concept of the
true self and false self.
QUESTION: Is our self-concept
constant? - proposed that the healthy core
of a healthy person’s true self is hidden
ANSWER:
from the outside world, uninfluenced by
NO, self-concept can be fluid because
external (harsh) realities. The false self is
all factors are dynamic. It can GROW,
put up to defend the core from these
IMPROVE, or LESSEN as we go through
realities and prevent it from any
life.
changes.
FALSE SELF TRUE SELF

- false self is the product of early - True self flourishes in infancy if

experience. the mother responds positively to the
child’s spontaneous expressions.
- a defensive organization formed
by the infant because of inadequate - self based on “spontaneous,
mothering or failures in empathy. authentic experience.”

- developed as the infant is - It has a sense of integrity, of

repeatedly subjected to maternal care connected wholeness.
that intrudes upon, rejects, or abandons
their experience. - sense of being alive and real in
one’s mind and body, having
- based on being completely spontaneous and unforced feelings.
obedient to the parent’s wishes.
- This experience of aliveness
- false self develops when the allows people to be genuinely close to
child is constantly expected to follow others and be creative.
the rules.
- A child whose mother is
- false self is a mask or a persona, positively responsive and supports the
a form of defense that continually seeks child’s natural individuation process will
to anticipate others’ demands and grow up as an adult with a stable
comply with them to protect the true self-image, views other people
self from a world that is felt unsafe. realistically, and accepts both the
positive and negative side of every
person, including themselves.
1. Healthy false self

- when the person has a false self

but can still function as an individual AGENTIC THEORY OF THE SELF by
and in society Albert Bandura (1925 - 2021)

- feels that it is still connected - To be an agent means to be

with the true self; it can be compliant capable of intentionally influencing
without feeling guilty that it abandoned one’s own functionality and life
its true self circumstances.

2. Unhealthy false self - people are not merely passive

entities molded by environmental forces
- individual may seem happy and or driven by inner influences.
comfortable in their environment but
feels forced to fit in and constantly - The agentic theory of the self
needs to adjust their behavior to adapt rejects the notion that selfhood is
to the social situation. culturally influenced or controlled by
urges; rather, it looks upon every human influences making the individual
being as capable of thinking, deciding, responsible for how they let these
foreseeing, and managing their actions, various influences affect how they
free to decide for themselves. function.

- Bandura terms this capability as

human agency. An individual can exert
influence throughout their actions.

FOUR CORE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN

AGENCY

INTENTIONALITY
- how an individual forms
intentions with action plans and
strategies to realize them

FORETHOUGHT
- how individuals position their
goals in the future and visualize
themselves in a future state of
existence, ensuring that plans can
anticipate possible opportunities or
roadblocks

SELF-REACTIVENESS
- agents are planners,
forethinkers, and self-regulators.
- includes adopting personal
standards, constructing appropriate
courses of action, monitoring activities,
and regulating them using
self-reactions.

SELF-REFLECTION
- signifies that people can
self-examine their functioning.

As agents, individuals exercise control

over their functioning. Since the self is
situated in an environment where the
interplay of interpersonal and
intrapersonal activities occur, the self
functions as a product of these