Lesson 1: PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF concept of person’s memory.

Identity is explained in terms of

psychological connection ‘tabula rasa’ – blank slate.
 Philosophy from the Greek words
o “philos” which means love DAVID HUME
o “sophia” which means wisdom
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland “All knowledge is derived from
 Way of thinking about everything around us; about the
human senses”.
nature, the world, and the society.
 Seeking to know the truth Influenced by empiricism.
 It is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge
 Bundle Theory - collection of impressions.
Things to ponder  Impressions- vivid: products of direct experiences
 Ideas - copies of impressions imagination
1. What do we actually mean by self”?
2. Are we souls, bodies or just a product of imagination? SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939)
3. Will i survive bodily death or is the end when my bodily
self-die An Austrian neurologist “The ego is not master in its own
house” Man is governed by 2 drives: Eros (sex, drives) and
SOCRATES Thanatos (death, aggression) three provinces of the mind: id,
ego, and superego.
An ancient Greek, philosopher, scholar, teacher one of the
‘big three’ considered to be the main source of western STRUCTURES OF THE MIND
thought his works were only known through Plato’s writing
(the dialogues) Three levels of the mind:
He was concerned with the problem of the self-dualistic-  Id – pleasure principle
every man is composed of body and soul. An unexamined  Ego – reality principle
life is not worth living. “One thing i know, that i know nothing.  Superego – moral principles
There is a soul before the body, existing in the realm of GILBERT RYLE (1900-1976)
ideas. Once the soul comes into the material world, he forgot
everything. This knowledge is brought out by Socratic  An English philosopher
approach  Contradicted the dualism
 Denies the existence of Internal, non-physical self.
PLATO
 The self is not an entity one can locate. It is a name we
Plato’s real name is Aristotle’s (428-348 bce) he established use to refer all behavior.
a school known as ‘the academy’ --the prototype of today’s
MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY (1908-1961)
universities. Dichotomy between ideal (world of forms) and
material world. Three components of the soul: rational,  A French phenomenological philosopher
spirited and appetitive.
 He wrote books on perception, art and political thought
PLATO’S VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE  His philosophy emphasized the human body as the
primary site of knowing the world
o The reason – rational and is the motivation for goodness  He has been known as a philosopher of the body
and truth  The focus is on the relationship between self-experience
o The spirited – non-rational and is the will or the thrive and the experience of other people
toward action  He developed the concept of body-subject and
o The appetites – irrational and lean towards the desire for contended that perceptions occur existentially
pleasures of the body
MERLEAU-PONTY’S VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE
ST. AUGUSTINE
 The consciousness, the world and the human body are
 A Christian philosopher all interconnected as they mutually perceive
 A man is bifurcated nature.  The world the world is a field of perception and human
 Two aspects; imperfect (earthly), capable of reaching consciousness assigns meaning to the world
immortality  The meaning assigned for a particular object is subject
 Goal of the person: to attain communion with the divine. to change depending on the perspective upon which it is
 The world of materials is not our final home but only a seen
temporary one.  It is possible that one subject may be perceived from
 The real world is the one where god is various perspectives

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

 Man is composed of matter and form.

 Matter (hyle)-common stuff that makes up everything.
 Form (morpe) - essence of the living

RENE DESCARTES (1596-1650)

 Known as the “father of modern philosophy”

 “I think, therefore i am” (cogito ergo sum) doubts the
existence of his own physical body. Hyperbolical doubt.

JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)

Born in wrington, England son of a puritan lawyer our identity

is not locked in the mind, soul, and body. He included the
Lesson 2: FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SOCIOLOGY • Begins to see not only the own perspective but also
the perspective of other people
What is Sociology? • ‘Generalized other’ is the behavior of the person
•The scientific study of human social relations or when he sees/ considers other people in the course of
group life. his actions
• Is a study of human interactions, the relationships
that occur within the group and the results of these? MEAD’S THEORY OF THESELF
Interactions. • The self is not present at birth but begins as a
central character in a child’s world
• Children see themselves as the center of their
SOCIALIZATION ‘universe’
-the process whereby an individual learns to adjust to • As the child grow and mature, they begin to see
a society and behave in a manner approved by the other people and now concerned about people’s
society. reactions
• Significant others is the family who play a major role
-It also represents the whole process of learning in the formation of the self
throughout the life course and is a central influence
on the behavior, beliefs, and actions of adults as well THE ‘I’ AND ‘ME’ I SELF
as of children. • When the person initiates or performs a social
action, the self-functions as a subject
GEORGE HERBERT MEAD • It represents the individual’s identity based on the
• Born February 1863 in Massachusetts, USA response in his own experience
• Graduated and taught grade school in Oberlin Ex. I will go on a date
College I will cook dinner tonight
• In 1887, he enrolled at Harvard University and his
main interests were Philosophy and Psychology THE ‘I’ AND ‘ME’
• Died of heart failure in 1931 ME SELF
• When the person takes the role of the other, the
MEAD’S SOCIAL SELF self-function as an object
Social Behaviorism • It represents learned behaviors, attitudes and
• The power of the environment in shaping human expectations of others and of society
behavior Ex. Students around school voted for me. They chose
• Described the self as a ‘dimension of personality me as class president.
That is made-up of the individual’s self-awareness and
self-image ’ CHARLES HORTON COOLEY
• Self cannot be separated from the society • Was an American Sociologist
• Made use of the socio psychological approach to
STAGES OF SELF-FORMATION understanding how societies work
1. The Preparatory Stage • People learn who they are through their social
• Children imitate the behaviors of people around interaction with people
them • Our view of ourselves comes from contemplation of
• At this stage, children starts to know and personal qualities by the impression and perception of
understand the symbols others
• The symbols are the bases of communication. Ex. • Looking-glass self or the self that is a product of
Language, gestures, objects social interaction
2. The Play Stage
• Skills at knowing and understanding the symbols of THREE PHASES OF DEVELOPING A SELF
communication is important for socialization 1. People imagine how they present themselves to
• Children begin to role play and pretend to be other other
people 2. People imagine how others evaluate them
• Role-taking is the process of mentally assuming the 3. People develop some sort of feeling about
perspective of another and see how the person themselves as a result of those impressions
respond in a given situation
3. The Game Stage ERVING GOFFMAN
• 8-9 years of age • A Canadian-American sociologist
• The child begins to consider several tasks and • Known for his development of Modern American
various types of relationships simultaneously Sociology
• One of his popular work was The Presentation of the
Self in Everyday Life
• He observed that people learn to slant their
presentation of themselves in order to create
preferred appearances and satisfy particular audience

IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT
• The process of altering how the person presents
himself to others
• Similarities of real social interaction to a theatrical
presentation
• Also termed as dramaturgical approach
Ex. A food waiter must conceal anger towards rude
customer

FACE-WORK
• Another aspect of the self
• Is the need to maintain proper image of the self to
continue social interaction
• Helps achieve success in interpersonal
communication
Ex. Poise
Lesson 3: FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF Cultural Anthropology
ANTHROPOLOGY
 It is the study of human cultures, their beliefs,
WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY? practices, values, ideas, technologies, economies
and other domains of social and cognitive
 Is a field of the social sciences that focuses on the
study of man organization
 This field includes man’s physical/biological  Culture is described as a group of people’s way of
life. It includes their behaviors, beliefs, and values
characteristics, his social relationships and the
influences of his culture from the dawn of and symbols that they accept (usually
unconsciously) that are socially transmitted
civilization up to the present
through communication and imitation from
 Anthropology makes the person aware that what
generation to generation.
he is maybe determined by his past and present
condition, his biological characteristics, the way Theory of Cultural Determinism
he communicates, the language that he uses and
the manner in which he chooses to live his life.  A belief that the culture in which we are raised
 The four subfields of Anthropology are determines who we are at emotional and
Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, Linguistics behavioral levels
and Cultural Anthropology  Positive implication of this theory suggests that
human beings can be shaped/formed to have the
ARCHAEOLOGY kind of life they prefer it further means that there
is no limit placed on the human ability to be or to
 The study of the ancient and recent human past
do whatever they set their minds and hearts into.
through material remains
 Negative implication is that people have no
 Archaeological records consists of artifacts,
control over what they learn. They blindly accept
architecture, bio facts, and cultural landscapes
the learning their cultures exposed them to.
 Archaeologists’ focus is the past and how it may
Human beings are seen as helpless and do only
have contributed to the present ways of how
what their culture instructs them to do.
people conduct their daily lives
 Archaeologists discovered the most important Theory of Cultural Relativism
aspect of human nature, which is survival
 Is the ability to understand a culture on its own
BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY terms and not to make judgments using the
standards of one’s own culture?
 Also called physical anthropology
 The goal of this is promote understanding of
 Is the study of the past and present evolution of
cultural practices that are not typically part of
the human species and is especially concerned
one’s own culture.
with understanding the causes of present human
 It leads to the view that no one culture is superior
diversity
than another culture when compared to systems
LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY of morality, law, politics, etc

 Studies the role of language in the social lives of Culture may manifest itself in people in the following
individuals and communities ways:
 Explores how language shapes communication
 Symbols
and how language and modes of communication
 Heroes
change over time
 Rituals
 An essential part of human communication is
 Values
language
 Language is a system of communication used by a Symbols
particular country or community
 Language identifies a group of people. The words,  Are the words, gestures, pictures or objects that
sounds, symbols, writings and signs that are used have a recognized/accepted meaning in a
are reflections of a group’s culture particular culture
 Linguistic anthropologists’ interest focuses on  Symbols are considered the most superficial level
using language as a means to discover a group’s of culture
manner of social interaction and his worldview  Symbols can be shared or copied by other cultures
 English is the universal language who find them also fitting for their
Lesson 4: PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
Heroes What is Psychology?
 Are persons from the past or present who have Derived from the Greek words ‘psyche’ which means
characteristics that are important in a culture ‘soul’ and ‘logos’ which means ‘the study of’ scientific
 They may be real of fictitious and are models for study of human behavior and mental processes It is
behavior the field of social sciences that deals with the
description, understand, prediction and control of
Rituals behavior
 Are activities (may be religious or social) Goals of Psychology
participated in by a group of people for the
fulfillment of desired objectives and are Control
considered to be socially essential
Understand
Values
Predict
 Are considered to be the core of every culture
Describe
 Values are unconscious and can neither be
discussed nor be directly observed but can only be Psychology is concerned with
inferred from the way people act and react to
circumstances and situations How individuals develop and mature at different life
 Values involve human tendencies/preferences stages.
towards good or bad, right or wrong Concepts such as consciousness and reasoning.
How the individual and his environment shapes his
personality.
H ow we think and behave and feel in certain
situations.
Mental health and mental illness.
Character strengths, coping, happiness and well being
WILLIAM JAMES
American Philosopher and Psychologist
Founder of American Psychology Professor of
psychology and philosophy at Harvard University
Theory of the self - an individual’s mental picture of
the self is divided into two categories: the “I” and the
“me
William James (1842-1910)
"I and me self"
"I Self"
 It is the self that knows and recognizes who they
are and what they have done
 A sense of being the agent and initiator of
behavior
 A sense of being unique
 A sense of continuity
 A sense of awareness
"ME Self"
 Can be considered as a separate object or Multiple selves theory suggests that there exists in the
individual that the person refers to when individual different aspects of the self
discussing or describing their personal
Unified self is the integration of the different and
experiences
conflicting aspects of the self
 Also called empirical ME
 Three components of ME self DONALD WINNICOTT’S
 The Material self
 The Social self True vs. False Self
 The Spiritual self False Self
- AS defense, a kind of mask that hides the true
CARL ROGERS person for fear of the pain of rejection and failure
- The self that is obedient to parents’ wishes and
Humanistic psychology demands.
- The healthy false self is still connected to the true
 Humanism emphasized the active role of the self.
individual and their external worlds
- The unhealthy false self makes one continually
 Rogers believed that the person is an active being adjust his behavior to fit in.
who lives in the present.
 Rogers coined the term actualizing tendency or True Self
one’s capability to reach his or highest potential.
- is one in which the self is seen as creative,
Person Centered Theory spontaneously experiencing each day of their
lives, appreciating being alive, real, integrated and
Ideal self- who or what you want to be connected to the whole of existence.
Real self- who you actually are - Emerges if the mother is responsive to the needs
of the child.
Congruence- the alignment of the real self and ideal - Creative, spontaneous and real.
self
Incongruence- happens when there is inconsistency
between the real and ideal self ALBERT BANDURA

Carl Rogers self-concept Self as Proactive and Agentic

Real self-concept Ideal self-concept Views people as agents (originators) of experience not
-Refers to all -It is the model version just reactive.
information and the person has of
perception the person himself and what the Suggests that human have the ability to act and make
has about himself person aims for himself things happen
-This is who the person to be
actually is Answers the -This idealized view was
question, “Who am I? borne out of his The Social Cognitive Theory
experiences, standards
and demands of society - Suggested that human beings are proactive, self-
and the heroes and regulating, self-reflective and self-organizing.
models which he - People have the ability to influence their own
chooses to imitate behavior which may lead to desired outcomes
-Answers the question - This human agency involves the active process of
“Who do I want to be?” exploration and manipulation in order to
influence environment and achieve desired
consequences
DAVID LESTER
Four steps in Observational Learning
Multiple and Unified Selves
Attention – In order to learn you need to pay
Multiple and Unified Selves attention
The construction of multiple selves varies across Retention – ability to store information
different roles and relationships.
Motor reproduction – performing the behavior that Interest in school, hobbies, same-sex friends
you observed
ADUL TRAIT ASSOCIATED WITH PROBLEMS: N/A
Motivation – You have to be motivated to imitate that
has been modeled.
STAGE: Genital (from puberty on)
PART OF THE BODY: Genital
SIGMUND FREUD
Psychosexual Theory CONFLICT: Revival of sexual interests
Establishment of mature sexual
Freud believed that personality developed through a
series of childhood stages in which pleasure seeking ADUL TRAIT ASSOCIATED WITH PROBLEMS: N/A
energies from the id became focused on certain
erogenous areas
12 Defense Mechanisms: Sigmund Freud

STAGE: Oral (birth to 1 year) 1. Compensation: Strengthen one to hide another.

2. Denial: Refuse to face a negative behavior.
PART OF THE BODY: Mouth 3. Displacement: Take it out on someone else.
CONFLICT: Weaning 4. Identification: Attach to something positive.
5. Introjection: Conform feelings for approval.
Oral gratification from sucking. Eating, biting 6. Projection: See your faults & foibles in others.
7. Rationalization: Excuse and justify mistakes.
ADUL TRAIT ASSOCIATED WITH PROBLEMS: 8. Reaction Formation: Pretend you are different.
Optimism, gullibility, dependency. Pessimism, 9. Regression: Act much younger to feel better.
passivity, hostility. Sarcasm, aggression 10. Repression: Putting things into darkness.
11. Ritual & Undoing: Override negative with habit.
12. Sublimation: Divert negative into acceptable.
STAGE: Anal (1 to 3 years)
PART OF THE BODY: Anus
CONFLICT: Toilet training
Gratification from expelling and withholding feces
ADUL TRAIT ASSOCIATED WITH PROBLEMS: Excessive
cleanliness, orderliness, stinginess, messiness,
rebelliousness, destructiveness

STAGE: Phallic (3 to 5 or 6 years)

PART OF THE BODY: Genitals
CONFLICT: Oedipal conflict
Sexual curiosity
Masturbation
ADUL TRAIT ASSOCIATED WITH PROBLEMS:
Flirtatiousness, vanity, promiscuity, pride, chastity

STAGE: Latency (5 or 6 years to puberty)

PART OF THE BODY: None
CONFLICT: Period of sexual calm