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## Self From Various Perspectives ### Freud (Cont’d) * The conscious part of the self includes mental processes which we are aware of. * The unconscious part of the self are those parts which are not easily accessible to our awareness. * These conscious and unconscious parts of the self are uni...
## Self From Various Perspectives ### Freud (Cont’d) * The conscious part of the self includes mental processes which we are aware of. * The unconscious part of the self are those parts which are not easily accessible to our awareness. * These conscious and unconscious parts of the self are unified in the 'ego'. * Later on, Freud expounded on his idea by formulating a structure of the mind, which consisted of the ego, id, and the superego. * Ego - reality principle; is directly in contact with reality and strives to balance out the demands of the Id and the Superego. * Id - pleasure principle; the unconscious part of the mind; strives to get maximum pleasure by pursuing instinctual needs (e.g., hunger, thirst, sex). * Superego - moralistic principle; both conscious and unconscious; the superego impinges upon the ego with its moralistic demands and should’s. ### William James * The self is a cognitive construction. * Was more concerned with the function rather than the structure of the mind. * Father of the Functionalist School of Thought and of American Psychology. * He viewed the self in terms of 'I' and 'Me'. * I-Self (the knower) - is the subjective self which does everything in the here and now. It is the conscious part of the self and gives you the sense of who you are. * Me-Self (the known) - is the objective self and the repository of all experiences: past, present, and future. The Me-Self is the expressed self and is composed of material, social, and spiritual aspects. * As the I-Self evaluates the Me-Self and all its components, it develops our self-esteem. * Self-esteem is our overall evaluation of ourselves. * This gives us the feeling of 'I like (this part of) myself'. * For James, a realistic view of self and one's aspirations is important in order to have positive feelings about oneself. The problem occurs when one’s ideal self turns into an idealistic and unrealistic MUST SELF (i.e., I must be a good student; I must provide for my family). * As proactive and agentic humans, we are capable of controlling our behavior towards more achievable goals, leading to more positive views of the self. * Self-regulation - our ability to control our behaviors towards goals which are more likely to result in positive experiences and rewards. * By regulating our behaviors and adjusting our goals into more realistic and achievable ones, we increase our self-efficacy. Increased self-efficacy can have profound effects on our self-esteem (although this is not necessarily a cause-and-effect relationship). * Self-efficacy - our beliefs about our capabilities to achieve a goal.
