Psychology: Real vs Ideal Self

Real and Ideal Selves

• Idealized self is created when individuals feel alienated from themselves.
• Idealized self-image is an extravagantly positive view of oneself.
• Real self can be achieved through self-realization.
• Incongruence between the ideal self and real self leads to self-hatred.

Carl Rogers' Theory of Self-Concept

• Self-concept has three components:
  • Self-image: How you view yourself, influenced by expectations from significant others.
  • Self-esteem or self-worth: The value you assign to yourself.
  • Ideal-self: What you desire or expect of the "self".
• We have two selves:
  • Ideal self
  • Actual self
• Congruence between the ideal and real self affects our self-esteem.
• Congruence leads to confidence, satisfaction, and self-actualization, resulting in high self-esteem.
• Incongruence, a big gap between the real and ideal self, leads to distress, anxiety, low self-esteem, and defensive actions.

Psychology: Understanding the Self

• Psychology is the science of human behavior and mental processes.
• Psychology draws findings based on empirical data.

The Self in Psychology

• Self is a schema of one's person.
• Self is a sense of personal identity and who we are as individuals.

Individual Self: The Biological Foundations of Behavior

• The brain is the center of all bodily activities, composed of billions of neurons.
• Neurons receive signals from the environment, send them to the central nervous system, and then to different parts of the body.
• Neurotransmitters are brain chemicals that signal the brain.
• Different neurotransmitters have different effects on our responses and behavior.

Types of Neurotransmitters

• Adrenaline: Fight or flight response.
• Noradrenaline: Concentration.
• Dopamine: Pleasure.
• Serotonin: Mood.
• Gaba: Calming.
• Acetylcholine: Learning.
• Glutamate: Memory.
• Endorphins: Euphoria.

Individual Self: Stages of Human Development

• Popular theories in human development include:
  • Psychosexual Stages of Development by Sigmund Freud.
  • Psychosocial Stages of Development by Erik Erikson.

Psychosexual Development

• Freud believed childhood experiences shape adult personality.
• Five stages are limited until puberty.
• Oral Phase (age 0-1): Pleasure is focused on the mouth.
• Anal Phase (age 1-3): Satisfaction is focused on the expulsion of bowel and bladder.
• Phallic Phase (age 3-6): Pleasure zone is the genitals; children develop incestuous feelings toward the opposite sex parent.
• Latent Phase (age 7-13): Dormant sexual feelings; the child acquires new social values and spends time with same-sex peers.
• Genital Phase (Puberty-Death): Maturation of sexual interest; sexual impulses reappear.

Psychosocial Development

• Erikson's theory identifies eight stages a healthy individual should pass through from birth to death.
• Each stage involves different needs, questions, and influences on behavior and learning.
• Basic Trust vs. Mistrust (Infancy, 1-2 years): Infants enter the first stage, where they develop trust or mistrust based on their relationship with caregivers.

Individual Self: The Subjective Being

• Subconscious mind: Thoughts not currently in awareness but easily remembered when needed.
• Unconscious mind: Deepest, hardest to access part of the mind, containing unwanted memories, guilt feelings, unacceptable thoughts, and desires.
• The mind has three provinces:
  • Id: Follows pleasure principles, fully submerged in the unconscious mind.
  • Superego: Follows morality principles, partly aware but influenced by the unconscious mind.
  • Ego: Follows reality principles, aware of the situation and balances the Id, Superego, and reality.

Me-Self and I-Self: William James

• James identified two understandings of self:

  • Me-self: The self as an object of experience.
  • I-Self: The self as a subject of experience.

• Me-self categories:

  • Material Self: Tangible objects, people, or places designated as "mine."
  • Social Self: How we are regarded and recognized by others.
  • Spiritual Self: Inner or psychological self, subjective being.

• I-Self categories:

  • Individual Self: Individual traits, abilities, and possessions.
  • Relational Self: Other people with whom we have personal relationships.
  • Collective Self: Social roles, categories, and group membership.

• The "Me" is a separate individual or object we refer to when narrating personal experience.

• The "I" is the one who knows who they are and what they have done in their life.