THE SELF FROM PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE Flashcards
– scientific study of how people behave,
think, and feel
Psychology
“of relating to, or involving conscious
intellectual activity, such as thinking, reasoning, or
remembering
Cognitive
cognitive functions and
control of voluntary
movement or activity
Frontal lobe
processes information
about temperature,
taste, touch and
movement
Parietal lobe
– vision
Occipital lobe
processes memories, integrating them with
sensations of taste, sound, sight and touch
Temporal lobe
Swiss clinical psychologist, worked for several
decades on understanding children’s cognitive
development
Jean Piaget
Known for his theory of cognitive development
Jean Piaget
– a progressive
reorganization of mental processes as a result of
biological maturation and environmental
experience
Cognitive development
child begins to interact with the environemnt
sensorimotor stage, 0-2
the child begins to represent the world symbolically
preoperational stage, 2-7
the child learns rules such as conservation
concrete operational stage, 7-12
the adolescent can be transcend the concerete situationa nd think about the futue
formal operational stage, 12-adulthood
Professor Emerita of Psychology at the University
of Denver
➢ A theory of achievement motivation based on
a person’s feelings of personal competence
Susan Harter
increases when a
person successfully masters a task
increases when a
person successfully masters a task
Focus on concrete
and observable
characteristics
Physical: I am
pretty.
Material: I have
lots of toys.
Behaviors: I love
playing with my
toys.
Preferences: I
like candies.
Early Childhood
Focus on the trait-
like constructs
Smart, honest,
friendly, shy
Middle or Later
Childhood
Emergence of
more abstract self-
definitions, i.e.
inner thoughts,
emotions,
attitudes, motives
What I am like a
person?
Sensitive,
outgoing,
cheerful,
anxious
Adolescence
Having a vision of
“possible self”
Being wealthy
and glamorous
occupation
Being wealthy
and glamorous
occupation
2 Main Schools of Thought: pragmatism and
functionalism shape his theories on the world
and his mission to seek out both the practical
value and function of behaviors
William James
Conceptualized the self as having two aspects,
the “I” and the “me”
William James
➢ The part that knows who
they are and what they
have accomplished in
life. (metaphysical)
➢ Existential self
➢ Subjective
➢ The pure ego
➢ It is what provides
continuity between past,
present, and future,
allowing us to view
ourselves to have a
consistent, individual
identity, one brought
about by the stream of
consciousness
➢ “I” leads to your concept
of “self-esteem (pure
ego)
i
➢ Is a separate individual
a person refers to when
talking about their
personal experiences
(phenomenological)
➢ Experiential
➢ Objective
me
Self cannot be further
divided
i
➢ Self cannot be further
divided into three:
me
consists of what belongs
to a person, such as the
body, family, clothes, or
money.
material self
marks
who you are in a specific
social situation such as
our actions, thoughts,
emotions, words, and
mannerisms.
social self
is who
we are at our core,
including our
personality, values, and
conscience.
Our spiritual self is
– the judgment or
opinion we hold about ourselves; the extent to
which we perceive ourselves to be worthwhile
and capable human beings
Self-esteem (pure ego)
hierarchy of needs is a theory of
motivation which states that five categories of
human needs dictate an individual’s behavior
Abraham Maslow
represents growth of an
individual toward fulfillment of the highest needs;
those for meaning in life, in particular
Self-actualization
A humanistic psychologist who agreed with the
main assumptions of Abraham Maslow, but
added that for a person to “grow”, they need
an environment that provides them with
Carl Rogers
(openness and self-disclosure)
Authenticity
(being seen with unconditional
positive regard)
Acceptance
v (being listened to and understood)
Empathy
how we see ourselves; it is very
important to a person’s psychological health
Self-image
the person who we would want to be
Ideal self
– comprises what we
think about ourselves
Self-worth (self-esteem)
both positive and negative
emotions accepted. Negative feelings are not
denied, but worked through (rather than
resorting to ego defense mechanisms).
Open to experience:
in touch with different
experiences as they occur in life, avoiding
prejudging and preconceptions. Being able to
live and fully appreciate the present, not always
looking back to the past or forward to the future
(i.e., living for the moment).
Existential living:
feeling, instincts, and gut-
reactions are paid attention to and trusted.
People’s own decisions are the right ones, and
we should trust ourselves to make the right
choices.
Trust feelings:
creative thinking and risk-taking are
features of a person’s life. A person does not
play safe all the time. This involves the ability to
adjust and change and seek new experiences.
Creativity:
a person is happy and satisfied
with life, and always looking for new challenges
and experiences.
Fulfilled life:
composed of one’s personal
characteristics, social roles and responsibilities
as well as affiliations that defines who one is
(Elmore, Oyserman and Smith 2012, 69)
Identity
what comes to your mind when
you are asked about who you are (Elmore,
Oyserman and Smith 2012,69)
Self-concept
For example, when asked who
you are, you may say something that was part of
your past, something that you do in the present,
or something that is about your future.
Self-identity, and self-concept are not fixed in
one time frame.
American psychologist who focus on the study of
personality and is often referred as one of the
founding figures of personality in psychology
Gordon Allport
Theory of personality
Gordon Allport
The most important personality traits are those
that reflect our values
allport
– a single personality trait that directs
most of a person’s activities (e.g. kindness,
greed, lust); usually develops in a person’s late
life
Cardinal
– a set of major characteristics that make
up the core of a person’s personality (e.g. funny,
hardworking, creative, etc.)
Central
– less important personality traits that
do not affect behavior as much as central and
cardinal traits do (e.g. being anxious with a lot of
people)
Secondary
Canadian-born psychiatrist
➢ Created the theory of transactional analysis as
a way to explain human behavior through social
interactions
Eric Berne
American psychologist
➢ He proposed that the human self has 3 related,
but separable domains:
Gregg Henriques
serve as the theater of
consciousness and is closely tied to memory
Experiential self
– serves as the narrator
or interpreter, it tries to make sense of the
experience
Private self-conscious
serves as the image we
project to the public
Public self/persona
on self-image and ideal self
Rogerian filter
on conscience checking
Freudian filter
Theory of Knowledge
Gregg Henriques
➢ American psychologist
“Split Off“ and “Attack Syndrome”
Gregg Henriques
Pediatrician and psychoanalyst
➢ Theory about the True Self and the False Self
➢ “Transitional object” and the “importance of
play”
D.M. Winnicott
Highlights the importance of the ‘mother and a
good enough mother’ (to be considered
shorthand for the primary caretaker(s),
regardless of gender)
D.M. Winnicott
are what primarily form our sense
of self
Relationships
emphasizes the
importance of observing, modelling, and imitating
the behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions
of others. Social learning theory considers how
both environmental and cognitive factors interact
to influence human learning and behavior.
Social learning theory. Albert Bandura
aspect of human personality that
is determined by future assessments of one’s
goals, objectives, and actions
Agentic self
__ individual has the power to control his or
her own goals actions and destiny
Agentic
- Mastery Experiences
- Social Modeling
- Social Persuasion
- States of Physiology
v4 Ways to Build Self-Efficacy:
- Hardiness
- Personal growth initiative
- Coping self-efficacy
The agentic personality characteristics were:
- Problem-focused
- Emotion-focused
- Avoidant
The forms of dispositional coping were:
➢ Who are you? –
genes
➢ Where do you live?
environment
➢ What do you eat?
lifestyle
– application of previous concepts
to new concepts. For example, a child who was
just learned the word “fish,” shouts “fish!” upon
seeing one.
Assimilation –
– happens when people
encounter completely new information or when
existing ideas are challenged. For example, a
child knows dogs and cats. At school, he/she
learns the word “animals.” The child will then
adjust her understanding that dogs and cats are
both animals.
Accommodation
➢ Learns by doing: looking,
touching, sucking
➢ Has a primitive understanding
of cause-and-effect
relationships
➢ Object permanence appears
around 9 months
Sensorimotor
➢ Uses language and symbols,
including letters and numbers
➢ Egocentrism is evident
➢ Conservation marks the ends
of this stage and the
beginning of concrete
operations
Preoperational
➢ Demonstrates conservation,
reversibility, serial ordering,
and a mature understanding
of cause-and-effect
relationship
➢ Thinking is still concrete
Concrete
Operations
➢ Demonstrates abstract
thinking, at this stage is still
concrete
Formal
Operations
is the pure ego. It is the subjective self. It is
the “self” that is aware of its own actions.
I-self
A sense of being the agent or initiator of
behavior. I believe my actions have an
impact; that I cause an effect in my
environment.
o A sense of being unique. This is how I am
different from everything in my environment; I
perceive there is only one Me.
o A sense of continuity. I am the same person
from day to day.
o A sense of awareness about being aware. I
understand what is going on in me and
around me; and I know I understand it.
I-self
is the self that is the object. It is the
“self” that you can describe, such as your physical
characteristics, personalities, social role, or
relationships, thoughts, feelings.
me-self
Empirical is defined as “based
on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation
or experience rather than theory or pure logic”
empirical self.
physical appearance and
extensions of it such as clothing, immediate
family, and home
Material
social skills and significant
interpersonal relationships
Social
personality, character, defining
values
Spiritual
– a
person’s basic instinct to succeed at his or her
highest possible capacity
actualizing tendency
is the person that you would like
yourself to be; it is your concept of the “best me”
who is worthy of admiration and is based on what
you have learned and experienced. It could
include:
o Notions influenced by your parents
o What you admire in others
o What the society sees as acceptable; and
o What you think is in your best interest.
ideal self
is the person you actually are. It is
how you behave right at the moment of a
situation. It is who you are in reality - how you
think, feel, or act at present.
real self
great inconsistency between
your ideal and real selves or if the way you are is
not aligned with what you want to be; could lead
to maladjustment (inability to react successfully
and satisfactorily to the demands of one’s
environment)
Incongruence
great inconsistency between
your ideal and real selves or if the way you are is
not aligned with what you want to be; could lead
to maladjustment (inability to react successfully
and satisfactorily to the demands of one’s
environment)
Incongruence
Contemporary psychological studies challenged the
notion of a single, distinct, “only one” notion of self.
▪ Several major personality theorists proposed that the
mind is made up of several sub-selves.
One Self or Many Selves?
Psychiatrist Eric Berne began to develop his
transactional analysis model as basis for
understanding behavior. Transactional analysis is
anchored on 2 notions:
The ego states
is
anchored on 2 notions:
1. Every person has three parts called “ego states”
in his or her personality.
2. People communicate with one another assuming
roles of any of these ego states.
Transactional analysis
voice of authority. It could be a
comforting “nurturing parent” voice or a
“controlling/critical parent” voice that tells what
you should or should not do.
Parent
the rational person. It is the voice that
speaks reasonably and knows how to assert
himself or herself.
- Adult –
three child ego states. First is the natural
child who loves to play but is sensitive and vulnerable. The little professor is the curious
child who wants to try everything. The adaptive
child is the one who reacts to the world. He or she
could be trying to fit in or is rebelling against
authority.
child
first to experience its
beingness (the state or fact of existing)
Experiential self
– narrates the unfolding
events and at the same time tries to make sense
of the experience
Private self-conscious
– image that interacts with
others and will influence how others see you
Public self/persona
– layers we have developed through
our lives as protection; protection to survive
childhood, and we carry these layers with us
through our adult lives because these help us
endure; a mask or a persona; a form of defense
that constantly seeks to anticipate others’
demands and complying with them, as a way of
protecting the true self from a world that is felt to
be unsafe
False self
has false self but can still
function both as an individual and in the society;
it is still connected with the true self
➢ Healthy false self
seem happy and
comfortable in his or her environment but actually
feels forced to fit in and constantly needs to adjust
his or her behavior to adapt to the social situation
Unhealthy false self
flourishes in infancy if the mother is
positively responsive to the child’s spontaneous
expressions; a sense of “self” based on
“spontaneous authentic experience;” awareness
that bodily functions are working
True self
It is the part of the infant that feels creative,
spontaneous, and real; has a sense of integrity,
of connected wholeness; sense of being alive and
real in one’s mind and body, having feelings that
are spontaneous and unforced
True self
This experience of aliveness is what allows
people to be genuinely close to others and to be
creative
True self
