Self Discovery Concept PDF

Module 1 the Greek word 'persona' which means mask worn by actors in the theater. Self-discovery is the process of learning, understanding, or knowing more about yourself and who you...

Module 1 the Greek word 'persona' which means mask worn by actors in the theater. Self-discovery is the process of learning, understanding, or knowing more about yourself and who you Nature is often defined as genetic are, becoming aware of one's true or hormone-based behaviors, traits, potential, character, motives, and the and dispositions. It refers to all of like. the genes and hereditary factors that influence who we are—from Self-awareness is your knowledge of our physical appearance to our yourself and your worth as a person. personality characteristics. An example of awareness is what you hope to gain from meditating. Nurture refers to all the Self-awareness is a result of doing environmental variables that impact self-discovery. who we are, including our early childhood experiences, how we What's in a name? Our names were raised, our social relationships, represent who we are. Our names and our surrounding culture. signify us. However, the name is not while nurture is most commonly the person itself no matter how defined as environment, culture, intimately bound it is with the and experience. While arguments bearer. It is only a signifier. Self is about the predominance of either thought to be more than just the nature or nurture are still name. Self is something that a person unresolved, we could settle for an perennially molds, shapes, and eclectic standpoint of the issue: We develops. The self is not static. can safely assume that the Self is BOTH a product The sum total of your personality is of Nature and Nurture. your S.E.L.F. What you are is a product of your Social, Environmental, and other Life Factors. What is Self: Based on the lexical definition, personality? It is defined as one that “the person that someone normally or is made up of the characteristic truly is… or the entire person of an patterns of thoughts, feelings, and individual”. behaviors that make a person unique. The self is your total Identity: Based on the lexical personality. Personality came from definition, refers to “the qualities, beliefs, etc., that make a particular Empiricism - derives person or group different from explanations of the self from others… or the sensory and bodily responses. distinguishing character or We know things because we personality of an individual” have experienced them through our bodily senses. Rationalism - there is innate knowledge; they differ in that Philosophy is often called the mother of they choose different objects all disciplines simply because all fields of study began as philosophical discourses. It of innate knowledge. originated is from the Greek Rationalism explains self from words Philo- (loving) the standpoint of what is and Sophia (knowledge, wisdom). At “ideal” and the “truth”, not its simplest, philosophy rooted in what is felt by the means “loving senses nor our body. knowledge” or “loving wisdom.” The Dualism - In the modern world term philosophy as originally used by “dualism” most often refers to the Greeks meant “the pursuit of “mind-body dualism,” or the knowledge for its own sake.” idea that the mind is separate from the body. What Philosophy Says about the Socrates: “The unexamined life is Self not worth living” The Self has been defined as “as a unified being, essentially connected Socrates, known as the "father of to consciousness, awareness, and Western philosophy" was believed to agency (or, at least, with the faculty be the first thinker to focus on the full power of reason on the human self of rational choice) “. Different - our existence in the universe, who philosophers have come up with we are, who we should be, and who more specific characteristics of the we will become. For Socrates, the self Self, and over time, these meanings exists in two parts: the physical have transformed from pure body and the soul. The physical abstractions to explanations that body is a tangible aspect of us. It is hold scientific evidence. The mortal (it dies), constantly changing, Philosophy of the self has been imperfect, transforming, defined through distinct disappearing. Our soul, which philosophical lenses: Socrates believed to be immortal, is eternal, unchanging, perfect, or Reason - our divine essence ideal. Socrates believed that there that enables us to think deeply, was a soul first before a man's body. make wise choices and achieve The soul has all the knowledge that is a true understanding of eternal; stored in his mind. However, once he Physical Appetite - our basic came to the material world or the biological needs such as world of senses, he forgot most of hunger, thirst, and sexual; and, what he knew. This resulted in a lack Will or Spirit - is our basic of knowledge or ignorance, which emotion or passion, such as causes problems for men. empathy, aggressiveness, love, anger. Socrates’ conviction is conveyed in his famous statement: "the The three elements of our “self” are unexamined life is not worth in a dynamic relationship with one living." The most important task one another. Sometimes, they work in can undertake is to examine one's concert, sometimes in conflict. For self, for it alone will give one the instance, we may develop a romantic knowledge necessary to answer the relationship with someone who is an question 'how should I live my life.' intellectual companion (Reason) or Socrates explained: "…once we know with whom we are passionately in ourselves, we may learn how to care for love (Spirit) and or with whom we ourselves, but otherwise, we never find sexually attractive, igniting our shall." lustful appetites (Appetite). Plato believed that true and genuine happiness could only be achieved if we consistently make sure that our Plato: “The first and the best victory reason is in control of our Spirits and is to conquer self.” Appetites. Plato is a dualist; there is both an immaterial mind (soul) and a material body, and it is the soul that Aristotle: “Knowing yourself is the represents the self. Plato believed beginning of all wisdom.” the soul exists before birth and after Plato’s idea of the truth about the death. For him, one should care human self was even more about his soul rather than his expounded and formalized by his body. The soul (mind) is divided into prized student, Aristotle. While three parts: Plato emphasized the separation of ideal and phenomenal existence (or being), Aristotle suggested that the was empty and that knowledge is ideal is subsumed in the instead determined only by phenomena. Aristotle called the experience. According to Locke, our memory plays a key role in our ideal as “essence” and the definition of the self. He theorized phenomena as “matter”. He also that we are the same person as we emphasized that the two co-exist were in the past for as long as we can and are co-dependent, the essence remember memories from that past. provides meaning and purpose to It is our memory or our the matter, and the matter provides consciousness of our past that makes us that same person as we substance and solidity to were in the past. Thus, to Locke, our essence. As we may already know, conscious awareness and memory of Plato is sure that the true self is the previous experiences are the keys to soul, not the body. And to be understanding the self. It is our specific, the true self for Plato is the consciousness that makes possible rational soul which is separable from our belief that we are the same the body. Aristotle’s concept of the identity at different times and in different places. self is quite the opposite. Aristotle’s concept of the self is more Immanuel Kant: "We Construct the complicated. However, there is one Self' main theme in Aristotle’s narrative of the soul that guides us in Immanuel Kant refutes Hume’s theory that there is no “self” and understanding his concept of the argues that it is possible to find the self, that is, the human person is a essence of the self. For Kant, man is “rational animal”. In other words, for a free agent, capable of making a Aristotle, the human person is decision for himself. Man is a free simply an animal that thinks. agent, for he is gifted with reason and free will to enable him to organize the data gathered by the senses. From these data and the way John Locke: "The Self Is we organize them, we can build an Consciousness" idea of who we are. According to him, the reason is the final authority John Locke is known for his theory of morality. Every human being has that the mind is a tabula rasa, a blank his inner self and outer self; · The slate. Locke believed that we are inner self includes rational reasoning born without thoughts, or our mind and psychological state while the outer self includes the body and therefore I am”. In short, the physical mind, where representation concept means the self is the brain occurs. Gilbert Ryle: "The Self Is How You Behave". Maurice Merleau-Ponty: "The Self is An Embodied Subjectivity" Gilbert Ryle simply focused on observable behavior in defining the Maurice Merleau-Ponty takes a very self. No more inner selves, immortal different approach to the self. His soul, states of consciousness, or ideas suggest that there is unity in unconscious self: instead, the self is our mental, physical, and emotional defined in terms of the behavior that disposition, and they all affect how is presented to the world. From we experience ourselves. For Ryle's point of view, the self is best instance, when you wake up in the understood as a pattern of behavior, morning and experience your a person’s tendency or disposition to gradually becoming aware of where behave in a certain way in certain you are or how you feel, what are circumstances. In short, the self is your first thoughts of the day? defined by the observable behaviors Perhaps something like, “Oh no, it’s we project to the world around us. time to get up, but I’m still sleepy, but I have a class that I can’t be late for.” He contends that every human being Note that at no point do you doubt has both a physical body and a non- that the “I” you refer to is a physical mind which are ordinarily single integrated entity, but a “harnessed together” while we are blending of mental, physical, and alive. However, after the death of emotional structure around a core the body, our minds may continue to identity: your self. Our self is a exist and function. This “dualistic” product of our conscious human conception of the mind and body is experience. The definition of self is analogous to the dualism of Socrates all about one’s perception of one’s and Plato who viewed the self as experience and the interpretation of being comprised of a mortal body those experiences. To Merleau- and an immortal soul, According to Ponty, the self is an him, “The self is the way people embodied subjectivity. He entirely behave”. The self is basically our rejected the idea of the mind and behavior. This concept provided the body dichotomy because, for him, philosophical principle, “I act man is all about how he sees himself. Sociology is the study of the role of George Herbert Mead: society in shaping behavior. The sociological perspective of the self The"I" Self and "Me" Self looks into self as a social Theory construction, which means that who you are as a person all through George Herbert Mead is an your lifetime is developed under the American Sociologist, and he is influence of people, meaning, the self is considered as the Father of shaped through interaction with other American pragmatism, and one of people in a society. the pioneers in the field of social Through socialization, we develop our psychology because of personalities and potentialities with the influence of our culture and society. his contributions to the Socialization takes place through the development of the person relating interaction with various agents of to various social factors. Mead is a socialization, like peer groups and well-known sociologist for his theory families, plus both formal and informal of the social self. It is based on the social institutions, like schools and clubs. perspective that the self emerges from social interactions, such as observing and interacting with Now let us start to explore the “self” others, responding to others’ as a social construction. Social opinions about oneself, and construction means that individuals internalizing them together with develop a sense of self-based on one’s feelings about oneself. For how they think other people see and Mead, our self is not there at birth, judge them. They see themselves but it is developed over time from and construct a sense of identity, by social experiences and activities. interpreting what they think they see reflected about themselves in others' opinions and reactions. Two Sides of the Self: The “I” and the “Me” Self According to his theory, the self has Socialization is the process of two sides or phases: 'me' and 'I.' The learning one’s culture and how to live 'me' is considered the socialized within it. In other words, it is the aspect of the individual. The 'me' process whereby an individual learns represents learned behaviors, to adjust to a group and behave in a way that is approved by the group. attitudes, and expectations of others their concept of self by observing and of society how they are perceived by others, a concept Cooley coined as the The 'I', can be considered the “looking-glass self.” This process, present and future phase of the particularly when applied to the self. The 'I' represents the digital age, raises questions about individual's identity based on the nature of identity, socialization, response to the 'me.' The 'I' says, and the changing landscape of 'Okay. Society says I should behave self. The looking-glass self describes and socially interact one way, and I the process wherein individuals base think I should act the same (or their sense of self on how they perhaps different),' and that notion believe others view them. Using becomes self. social interaction as a type of “mirror,” people use the judgments they receive from others to measure their own worth, values, and The “Me” are the behavior. characteristics, behavior, and or actions done by a person that follows the “generalized others” that person interacts The people you interact with with. The “Me” is the attitudes, become your “mirrors.” You see what and behavior of the person they think of you when you interact with reference to their social with them, and it changes the way environment you think of yourself. According The “I” is the reaction of the to Society in Focus, the process of individual to the attitude of discovering the looking-glass self others, as well as the occurs in three steps: manifestation of the individuality of the person. The An individual in a social “I” is one’s response to the situation imagines how they established attitude and appear to others. behavior that a person That individual imagines assumes in reference to their others’ judgment of that social interactions. appearance. The individual develops feelings about and responds to those perceived judgments. According to sociologist Charles Horton Cooley, individuals develop The process of the looking-glass allows all these experiences to take self is further complicated by the place. context of each interaction and the nature of the people involved. Not all There are two components of culture feedback carries the same weight, that are essential in understanding for instance. People may take the how the self is being influenced by it: responses from those whom they trust more seriously than those of Material culture consists of strangers. Signals may be human technology - all the misinterpreted. People also usually things that people make and take their own value systems into use. These are the physical consideration when thinking through manifestations of culture. The any changes to their behavior or goods and products we buy views of self. and the products we use are also included here. Non-material culture includes intangible human creations like Anthropologists believe that culture beliefs, values, norms, morals, is the full range of learned behavior rules, language, and patterns, as Sir Edward B. Taylor, organizations. This also helps founder of cultural shape our perspective of the anthropology, defined. Culture as 'a society of ourselves, and even complex whole that includes of the material world. knowledge, beliefs, morals, law, customs, arts, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by a human as a member of Anthropology is the study of people society. Likewise, characteristics of and cultures in the past and today. culture include culture is shared, symbolic, natural, learned, integrated, encompassing and maladaptive, and adaptive There are four branches of Anthropology: Culture is everything that makes up the way a group of people lives. It Archeology – is the study of includes their beliefs, values, and how people lived in the past. traditions. The experiences we go Archaeologists learn from through in life are facilitated by the things people leave behind or culture we live in because culture artifacts like pottery, tools, provides the environment which relics, ceramics, weapons, or  anything made or used by humans. Physical Anthropology – is the Psychology is commonly defined as study of human biology, the scientific study of behavior and including how people adapt to mental processes. It has existed since where they live and how the late 19th century, with 1879 bodies changed over time often being given as a starting date (human evolution). Physical because that was when the first anthropologists also study psychological research lab was non-human founded. Many schools of thought Linguistic anthropology – is within the field have come and gone the study of how people speak since then; some, like behaviorism, and the words they use and have persisted and evolved if they how their language developed stood up to scientific study; others, and evolved. Linguistic like phrenology, have faded as they anthropology also studies the have lost credibility. evolution of language and how it changed what people think Psychology delves into and how people change their the physiological aspect that speaks language. of an organism’s physical processes Cultural anthropology – is the and the cognitive aspect that deals study of how people live their with an organism’s thinking process. lives in the present and how Learning psychology enables us to they may have lived in the past, gain useful insight and a better including the tools they used understanding of our and the food they produced behavior. Psychology is derived from and consumed. It is also two Greek words, psyche meaning related to sociology and social soul/mind; and logos meaning science. study”. In ancient times, it is defined as the study of souls. Anthropology is a relative newcomer to the debate on selfhood. It emerged as a subject from the imperial ambitions of European William James: The Me- states during the eighteenth Self /I-Self Theory and nineteenth centuries and was initially an effort to identify the William James was a leading figure in weaknesses and failings of other both psychology and philosophy at cultures so that they could be the turn of the 19th century, whose exploited and subjugated. contributions laid the groundwork for many modern philosophers and James had claimed that the behavioral psychologists. William understanding of Self can be James, a psychologist, has separated into three categories: introduced in his document The Principles of Psychology (1890) Its constituents; (Material Self, numerous concepts and distinctions Social Self, and Spiritual Self) of the self. For James, his main The feeling and emotions they concepts of self are the “me- arouse – Self-feelings; self” and the “I-self”. The actions to which they prompt – Self-seeking and The “Me-self” is the self-preservation (James, phenomenal self, the 1890, p162) experienced self or the self as known. It is the self that has experienced the phenomena and who had known the situation. The Constituents of the Self The “I-self” is the self-thought or the self-knower The Material Self is constituted by our bodies, He postulated two understandings clothes, immediate family, and of the self as the “Me”, and the self home. It is in this that we as “I”. The 'I' self corresponds to the attached more deeply into and self as an object of experience (self therefore, are most affected by as object) or the self as known, and because of the investment and the self as a subject of experience the consequent attachment (self as subject) or the self as knower we give to these things. that is considered to be pure ego and The Social Self is based on our the consciousness itself. interactions with society and On the other hand, in James' view, the reaction of people towards “Me” reflects “all things” which have us. It is our social self that is the power to produce excitement of thought to have multiple a certain particular source, an divergences or different experiential quality of me-ness, mine- versions of ourselves. It varies ness, and some similar form, and is as to how we present consists of three components, ourselves to a particular social material, social, and spiritual. group. James called the second category of the empirical self the social self. The social self  refers to how we are regarded between past, present, and and recognized by others. He future, allowing us to view posited an instinctive drive to ourselves to have a consistent, be noticed and recognized by individual identity, one others. We affiliate, James brought about by the stream of argued, not simply because we consciousness that James first like company, but because we defined (Hunt, 1920). crave recognition and status. A man’s Social Self is the recognition which he gets from his mates. Carl Rogers believed that we all own The Spiritual Self is our inner a real self and an ideal self. self or our psychological self. It is comprised of our self- The real self of course is perceived abilities, attitudes, what intrinsically we are. It`s the self that feels most true to emotions, interests, values, what and who we really are; the motives, opinions, traits, and honest self that leaves us most wishes. Many aspects of the comfortable in our skin. It may spiritual self are evaluative. not be perfect, but it`s the part People think of themselves as of us that feels most real. And attractive or unattractive, it`s the one we need to learn to intelligent or unintelligent, and love the most. honest or dishonest. The ideal self, on the other hand, is the self that we think In summary, James theorized the we want to be, that we strive components of the Self, which he to be and that we feel we are divided into two categories: “Me” and expected to be. This self is “I.” borne out of influences The “Me” is a separate outside of us. It is the self that individual a person refers to holds values absorbed from when talking about their others; a culmination of all personal experiences. those things that we think we On the other hand, the “I” is should be, and that we feel the part of the self that knows others think we should be. We who you are and what you want to accommodate those have accomplished in life expectations because we (Pomerleau, 2014). believe we will be more loved The “I” is the pure ego – it is and accepted if we what provides continuity do. Holding the values of  others is not a conscious evaluates himself, and a mental decision, but rather, a process picture of who he is. Our self- of osmosis. For the most part, concept begins to develop in early we are not even aware of childhood throughout the lifespan— it. Sadly, having an overly the self-concept of how someone strong ideal self can be thinks about himself. detrimental to our mental The Western culture basically To be able to achieve self- is about the focus on oneself actualization, Rogers focused on the and personal needs; Eastern idea that we need to culture is about focus on achieve consistency between these others and the feeling of two selves. We others. Western culture is experience congruence when our predicated on putting egoism thoughts about our real self and ideal first while Eastern culture is self are very similar — in other words about collectivism. when our self-concept is Conceptually, there is a vast accurate. High congruence leads to a difference between egoism greater sense of self-worth and a healthy, productive life. Parents can and collectivism. While egoism help their children achieve this by is focused on oneself, giving them unconditional positive collectivism is all about regard, or unconditional love. focusing on others. While the Western culture is inclined in In his theory, the closer the ideal self more acquisition of material is to the real self, the more things, the Eastern culture is consistent and the higher person’s tilted towards fewer assets self-worth. Contrary, when the ideal (thus the mantra less is more). self is far from the real self, the Western culture is obsessed person becomes unhappy and with being successful, the dissatisfied (Ismail&Tekke, 2015). eastern culture is more inclined towards long life; for the Eastern culture, long life is equated with wealth. The Western Self focuses solely on health. self (Individualistic). this means you compare in order to be better; you Moreover, Rogers'idea of the self- create associations and bask in the concept is defined in a broad way glory of that group for your self- as 'the individual's tendency to act in esteem. You put primacy on ways which actualize himself, the developing yourself. By focusing on belief about himself, how he the self, they may seem to have is also focused on having a loose associations or even loyalty to harmonious social life. Thus, the their groups. Competition is the identity and self-concept of the name of the game and they are more individual are interwoven with the likely to be straightforward and identity and status of his/her forceful in their communication as community or culture, sharing its well as decision-making. They value pride as well as its failures. equality even if they see that individuals can rise above everything On the other hand, Eastern concepts else. They also promote ideals that of the self are presented based on create 'fair' competition and protect the four great systems of Eastern the individual thought: Hinduism, Buddhism, Co nfucianism, and Taoism. The Oriental Thought 1. Hinduism - Brahman (refers to the highest universal principle, also called the ultimate) is an absolute reality, and Atman (soul or spirit) is the true knowledge of self. Vedanta (Its basic teaching is that our real nature is divine) characterizes human suffering as the result of failure to realize the distinction between the true self (permanent and unchanging) and the non-true self Eastern thought roots are from Asia. (impermanent and changes It is collectivist in culture. It is all continually). about 'We', drawn on people's actions and thought as one. Trying to The goal of the person is to have get rid of the false 'me' concept and a knowledge of the true reality- find meaning in discovering the true Brahman. The Law of karma is the 'me'. Life is all about unity. The inner most important doctrine of self must be freed. It follows the rule Hinduism. Individual actions will lead of Confucianism, seen as a code of to either good or bad outcomes in ethical conduct of how one one’s life (Go-Monilla & Ramirez, should act properly according to their 2018). Thus good actions will reward relationship with other people; thus it good things and bad actions will reap bad things. 2. For Buddhists, there is no ātman (soul or spirit), no eternal Self, that could accompany or exist behind the rebirth process of individual consciousness. They deny all kinds of eternal beings or non- beings. Thus, the impression of a sharp conflict emerges, between Brahmanism or Hinduism on the one hand and Buddhism on the other (Ule, 2016). There are four Noble truths that express the orientation of Buddhism: Life ultimately leads to suffering; suffering is caused by attachment to desires; suffering can be eliminated and the elimination of sufferings. 3. The Confucian doctrines are anchored in the golden rule of “Do not do to others what you would not want others to do to you”. A good relationship with other people is a virtue. Similarly, we treat them the way we want them to treat us. 4. Taoism believes that simplicity, spontaneity, and harmony with nature should govern one's life. An individual should live in his heart, accept himself, fully understand himself, accept himself, and live at peace.