Understanding The Self (Prelim) PDF

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF (PRELIM)  Personality SELF (Social, Environmental. Life Factors) affects THE SELF IN VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES personality  Self-disco...

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF (PRELIM)  Personality SELF (Social, Environmental. Life Factors) affects THE SELF IN VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES personality  Self-discovery one of the characteristic patterns of thoughts, process of learning, understanding, or knowing feelings, and behaviors that make a person more about yourself and who you are unique becoming aware of one's true potential, character, Greek word “persona” meaning mask motives, and the like we wear masks like actors in theater called life as actors we have different roles to play  Self-awareness your past makes up much of what makes you knowledge of yourself and your worth as a what you are, but it doesn't define who you are person today result of doing self-discovery your future can shape what motivates you in life one of the most essential elements of emotional root of all change starts with self-understanding intelligence gives you the ability to understand and control  3 Important Roots of Self-hood your own emotions and actions Reflexive Consciousness helps you know how these affect the feelings and  conscious attention turning back toward its actions of others own source and gradually constructing a allows you to approach people and situations concept of oneself with confidence  becoming aware of yourself by thinking gain control of your life, direction, and about your own thoughts and actions experiences Interpersonal Being  selves become handles and tools for relating  What is in a name? to people names represent who we are  developing your self through relationships names signify us, only a signifier and interactions with others name is not the person itself Executive Function:  when one makes a resolution or vow as a  Self decision-maker or controller (optimistic and more than just a name pessimistic approach to life) something that a person perennially molds,  making decisions and controlling your shapes, and develops actions, shaping your approach to life not static multilevel system not simply reducible to genes  Issues of the Self or neurons, emerging from interactions of Nature VS Nurture (Self is both a product of mechanisms operating at neural, psychological, nature and nurture) and social levels  Nature theoretical entity that can be hypothesized in  genes and hereditary factors that order to explain a huge array of important influence who we are psychological phenomena  Nurture self makes up your total personality  environmental variables: early childhood experiences, upbringing, social relationships, and culture  environment, culture, and experience  Self VS Identity (many perceive them as WHAT SCIENCE SAYS ABOUT THE SELF synonymous)  Biological/Physiological Sciences  Self Neurophilosophy (attributed to Paul and  lexical definition, "the person that Patricia Churchland) concerns the association of someone normally or truly is or the the brain and the mind entire person of an individual." Psychoneuroimmunology describes the  can be comprised of many identities shaping of the self as similar to how the human  entire person of an individual immune system functions.  Identity  Social Sciences  lexical definition, refers to "the Psychology studies human behavior, which sees qualities, beliefs, etc., that make a the self as a theoretical construct particular person or group Psychoanalysis (proposed by Sigmund Freud) different from others… or the focuses on the "unconscious" as a core element distinguishing character or of the self personality of an individual."  Behaviorism maintains that the study of  traits and characteristics, social behavior should be made from an relations, roles, and social group observable and measurable perspective memberships that define who one is  Social cognitive theory considers  make up one's self-concept variously behavior a function of the environment and described as what comes to mind when internal attributes one thinks of oneself  The humanistic Perspective draws its  being identified among groups assumptions from the observed criticisms of  compares oneself to another psychoanalysis and behaviorism. It believes that every individual can reach self- Dimensions of the Self/Identity actualization and transcendence and that  Social factor: Refers to the influences of they are inherently good or possess significant people in one’s life. something good  Personality: The individual patterns of Sociology is the study of the collective behavior thinking, feeling, and behaving. of people within society and focuses on social  Environmental factor: Includes the problems encountered by individuals physical and communal elements present in Anthropology studies human beings and their everyday surroundings. ancestors through time and space and about  Person-volition factor: Refers to the physical character, environmental and social inclination of a person to form and construct relations, and culture a specific identity that will set him/her apart Political Science (PolSci) is concerned with from others. the participation of individuals in establishing a  Hereditary factor: nature, genes government and making political choices Economics describes and analyzes goods and  Knowing different concepts of self will aid us in services' production, distribution, and defining ourselves and will guide us in our life's travel consumption as we fulfill our purpose in life. PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES OF SELF  knowledge is the personification of good,  Different philosophers hold the same views about the and ignorance is that of evil self. Disagree  argued that the ruler of the body is the soul;  Philosophers used empirical and rational lens in superiority of the soul over the body explaining the self. Agree  the soul pre-existed the body, and it makes  Philosophy of the self as explained by modern the body alive philosophers is more relevant than that of ancient  death is the release of the soul from the philosophers. Disagree body, soul is immortal  Philosophical views of the self are a useful guide to  “An unexamined life is not worth having a better life. Agree living.”  Philosophy of the self should only be studied by older  Know thyself: tells each man to bring his individuals and not by younger generations. Disagree inner self to light (gnōthi seauton- Greek  Mother of all disciplines simply because of all fields of aphorism translation study began as philosophical discourses. Philosophy  The man who does not follow the good fails  “to love” in Greek is Philo to do so because he does not recognize it  “wisdom” in Greek is Sophia  Core of Socratic ethics is concept of virtue  Philosophy is “ Love for Wisdom” and knowledge  The goal of Philosophy is wisdom  Virtue: deepest and most basic propensity  Self: a unified being, essentially connected to (tendency) of man consciousness, awareness, and agency (more on the  self-knowledge is the ultimate virtue concept of rational choice)  have the humility to acknowledge our  Ancient philosophy of the self can be traced back ignorance so as to acquire knowledge from one of 147 Greek aphorisms prominently inscribed in the temple of Apollo at Delphi - know Plato (Ideal Self; Perfect Self) Thyself - Socrates’ guiding principle that he  concept of self in dialogue Phaedrus imparted to his students  truth can be distinguished in 2 forms:  3 Great “Golden Age” Greek Philosophers: Socrates, metaphysical realm (mind) and Plato, Aristotle physical world (body)  2 Branches/Division of reality; Theory  Philosophical Orientations of Forms Empiricism: the belief that there is no such  Ontos (ideal): ultimate reality thing as innate knowledge, instead, knowledge is which is permanent and spiritual; basic derived from sensory experience; learn from nature of being or existence; what it our experiences and what we see, hear, means for something to exist and touch  Phenomena: empirical reality; Rationalism: the belief that there is innate manifestation of the ideal; things we knowledge, and that there are different sources can see, hear, or experience directly; of knowledge; learn through thinking and how things appear to us through our reasoning, using our minds senses Idealism: objects of knowledge is held to be  Ideas dependent on the activity of the mind; our ideas  objects of the intellect known by and thoughts shape what we see as reality reason alone  objective realities that exist in a world  Antiquity/Classical Philosophers (S, P, A) of their own Socrates (Know Thyself)  “Man in this world”- illusion   “idea of a man”- is the real man  Medieval/Middle Ages Philosophers (Saints)  self is basically an intellectual entity whose St. Augustine (Love and Justice as the nature/essence exists unconstrained Foundation of the Individual Self) to the body  all knowledge leads to God; only the  Enduring self pure heart can see God; love of God, faith in  Soul is eternal and constitutes the Him, and understanding of the Gospel will enduring self ultimately lead to happiness  Soul continues to exist even after death  the soul holds the truth which is  The idea is that before birth, humans had capable of scientific thinking complete knowledge. However, being  introduced the concept of the self in the separated from this pure state and past, present, and future time living on Earth caused us to forget  time present of things past: memory much of it. By continually reflecting and  time present of things present: direct doing good, we can gradually recover our experience lost wisdom and return to our original  time present of things future: state of understanding. expectation  moral virtue is rooted in the intellect, and  Introspection: awareness of one’s own leads to happiness mental processes  Even though we are far from our perfect  existence of past and future is possible state, we have a divine role model through memory and expectation (which reflects the perfection of our  humans have self-consciousness former selves) to follow. By imitating  argued that as far as consciousness can this model, we can achieve happiness. be extended backward to any past action or forward to an actions to Aristotle come, it determines the identity of the  the ideal (essence) is found inside the person phenomena (matter), and the  Man is of bifurcated/dual nature universals inside the particulars  Spiritual/Divine: capable of reaching  ideal and phenomena co-exist and are co- immortality; connected to God, the soul, dependent; essence provides meaning and seek goodness, truth, eternal life the purpose to the matter (gives us the  Physical/Earthly: imperfect; prone to why and what for of our actions); desires, sins, weaknesses matter provides substance and solidity to  Goal of person: to attain communion with essence (provide the actual form and the divine structure for the ideal to exist in)  The world of materials is not our final home  The ideal is the vision or idea, and the but only a temporary one phenomena is the physical reality that  Real world is the one where God is brings that vision to life.  Virtuous life is a dynamism of love  As an empiriscist: our mind start as blank  Constant following of and turning towards slates and from our sensation where we get love; wicked life is constant turning away ideas or “contents” of our minds from life  Loving God means loving one’s fellowmen; as the golden principle states…  St Thomas Aquinas  you are still same person cuz your mental  Man is composed of matter and form life (memories, feelings, personality)  Matter (hyle): common stuff that makes connects who you are in the past with who up everything you are now, even with diff physical body  Form (morpe): essence of the living  Tabula Rasa: everyone started as a blank slate, and the content is provided by one’s  Enlightenment Philosophers (RD, JL, DH, IK) experiences over time Rene Descartes  Cogito ergo sum: I think therefore I am David Hume  existence of everything that you can register  empiricism: knowledge from experience from your senses can be doubted  skeptical whether there is a simple, unified  “I think I am bored, therefore I am bored” self that exists over time  self is a thinking thing whose whole essence  man has no clear and intelligible idea of or nature is merely thinking self  self is different from the body hence, the  “All knowledge is derived from human self and body exist but differ in existence senses” and reality  there is no self as a mental entity for  Mind-body dichotomy: thought (mind) “what we call a mind is nothing but a heap first before action (body) or collection of different perceptions ”  although mind and body are separate; man  Materialism: soul as product of imagination must use own mind & thinking abilities to  self is simply memory and imagination investigate, analyze, experiment & develop  no single impression of self; self is oneself nothing but a complex set of successive  only humans have hubris (excessive impressions or perceptions (objects of pride) because of the fact that humans are the mind) the sole rational animals in existence  reduced personality and cognition to a  “diskarte”: Descartes; finding a way or machine that may be activated or making things possible deactivated wherein death obliterates the perception one has John Locke (Personal Identity)  man’s impressions vary and always change  Self is founded on consciousness (the  Bundle theory: collection of impressions perception of what passes in a man’s own  Impressions: vivid; products of direct mind) or memory experience  personal identity is not in the brain but in  Ideas: copies of impressions; one’s consciousness imagination  Personal identity (the self) is defined by psychological continuity (memories, Immanuel Kant (Respect for the Self) thoughts, consciousness, over time)  man is the only creature who governs and  Personal identity: concept of oneself that directs himself and his actions, sets up ends evolves over the course of individual’s life for … and his purpose, freely orders means  consciousness can be transferred from for the attainment of his aims one substance (body and soul) to another  every man is thus an end in himself and therefore, the soul can change, but should never be treated merely as a means consciousness remains the same  Plain dictum of reason and justice: golden rule   A person shouldn’t be used as a tool to Gilbert Ryle accomplish another’s private ends  opposed cartesian notion  consciousness is formed by one’s inner and  Mind is NOT separate from the body outer sense:  “I act, therefore I am.”: self is a  inner sense: one’s psychological state combination of mind and body and intellect; empirical self-  the disposition to know, believe, feel, consciousness; moods, feelings, and act is called the mind sensations; conscious to be aware  the self is the way people behave  outer sense: one’s senses and the  Mind consists of dispositions of people physical world; apperception; allows based on what they know, feel, want; for application of concepts; people learn that they have their own minds transcendental apperception makes cuz they behave in certain ways experience possible & allows self &  Logical/ Analytical behaviorism: theory world to come together of mind states that mental concepts can be  consciousness being unified is the central understood through observable events feature of mind  opposed to Hume; self is something real yet Paul and Patricia Churchland is neither an appearance or thing itself  neuroscientists  believed in existence of God and Soul  Eliminative materialism: radical claim  through experience that human can aquire that ordinary, common sense understanding knowledge of the mind is deeply wrong and that some or all of the mental states posited by  Contemporary / Modern Philosophers common sense do not actually exist Sigmund Freud  For them, it is false to claim folk  Psychoanalytic theory psychology  self is multilayered  Folk psychology: common sense  “The ego is not master in its own house” psychology; capacity to explain mental  man is governed by 2 drives: Eros & states (emotions, cognition, perception, etc) Thanatos of people; assuming that common sense can  Eros (Life Drive): life, love, creativity, explain mental states of people survival  self is nothing else but (physical) brain to  Thanatos (Death Drive): death, understand self, study the brain not just the destruction, aggression mind  Three Structures of the Human Mind  Id: since birth, hedonistic/pleasure, Maurice Merleau-Ponty driven by libido (sexual energy)  Phenomenological philosopher  Ego: maintains equilibrium, reality  Subjective body: lived and experienced; principle, adheres to reason and logic the body as-it-is-lived  Superego: last to develop, morality  Objective body: observed and scientifically principle investigated; body that is known to others; 2 Systems: bodies that people see, admire, imitate,  Conscience (can sanction criticize, or dissect ego through feeling guilt)  Self is embodied subjectivity: humans  Ideal Self (follows society’s are neither disembodied minds (existing rules) without body) nor as complex machines,  but as living creatures whose subjectivity new attitudes and beliefs, and accept the (consciousness) is actualized in the opinions of others forms of their physical involvement develop and enhance their intellectual, emotional, with the world. “I am my body.” and socialization skills, accept each opinion,  also opposed cartesian cogito cuz respect well-supported beliefs, and improve their consciousness is both perceiving (being problem-solving skills aware of things) and engaging (actively interacting with and  Bellon, Bellon, and Blank (1992) believe responding to the world) participants in small groups concentrate better on the  accepted the idea of mental states but also issue at hand due to the support of their peers and suggests that the use of mind is inseperable individual motivation to body  body cannot be viewed solely as an object  Meloth and Deering (1994) note that groups are or material entity of the world more likely to devote a collective effort toward their prescribed task and become more focused on their APPLICATION AND APPRECIATION goal when in cooperative groups  Assessments 3 purposes: assessment of learning; THE SELF FROM SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE assessment for learning; assessment as  George Mead (The Social Self): learning story of Genie… should be ongoing and actionable the self is not biological but social teaches critical thinking skills and problem- self is something that is developed through social solving and encourages students to set interaction achievable goals for themselves and objectively Two Parts of Self: self-awareness & self- measure their progress image Role playing  Self-Awareness  process in which one takes on the role of happens through reflection another by putting oneself in the position of Self-awareness and Self Discovery is about the person with whom he or she interacts knowing and understanding:  pretending to be someone else in order to  your beliefs and principles understand their perspective or practice a  what do you value, and what is important to situation you  Imagine you’re practicing for a job interview.  what motivates you You might role play by pretending to be the  your own emotions interviewer and having a friend ask you  your thinking patterns questions as if they were the hiring manager.  your tendencies to react to certain situations This helps you get better at answering  what you want out of life questions and understanding how the real interview might go.  Small-group discussion self is not inborn since babies cannot interpret may be information-based, concentrating on facts the meaning of other people’s behavior or personal opinions and feelings Three stages of development goals are to spark new thought and concept  imitation or preparatory stage: the child exploration, encourage analysis of factual imitates the behavior of his parents information, develop open-mindedness toward   play stage: involves the child playing the  Social Psychology (walang author nakalagay) role of others Private Self: the cognition that involves traits,  game stage: the child comes to see states, and behaviors; assessment of the self by himself from the perspective of other people the self (I am ambidextrous) Public Self: assessment of the self by the Phases of the self (I self & Me self) generalized other (People think I am religious)  I self Collective Self: view of the self that is found in the phase of the self that is unsocialized memberships in social groups (a person may be and spontaneous identified as feminist, attributes of being a part of you that acts and makes decisions; feminist is emphasized, which forms the personal identity; real you collective self)  Me Self the self that results from the progressive  Social Identity Theory stages of role playing or role-taking and Henri Tajfel the perspective one assumes to view and  social identity analyze own’s behaviors  the person’s sense of who he is part of you shaped by what others think according to his membership to a and how you act based on their certain group expectations  group membership gives a sense of how you think others see you social identity (sense of belongingness Generalized Others to the social world) an organized community or social group “Us” and “Them” which gives to the individual his or her unity  William Graham of self  In-group: the group where a person common expectations and norms of society belongs; discriminates against out- that we learn and use to guide our behavior group to enhance its self image the way we imagine how "people in general"  Out-group: the group where a person expect us to behave do not belong  Tajfel and Turner  Charles Horton Cooley  3 Mental Processes Involved in Looking-glass Self Evaluating “us” and “them”  social psychological concept providing that Social categorization the self is developed as a result of one’s  people learn things about perceptions of other people’s opinions themselves knowing what  Steps: category they belong to  (1) people imagine how they must Social identification appear to others  people adopt the identity of  (2) people imagine the judgment on the group, imitating how the that appearance group does their things/ways  (3) people develop themselves through Social comparison the judgment of others  tend to compare the group  should only serve as a guide for reflection they belong to and begin to and should not be taken to end up living in discriminate and criticize accordance with other people’s expectations other groups  Postmodernism Three Regions not a philosophy but a report on the mindset of  Front Stage: where actors perform in the western culture in the latter half of the 20th conformity with the expectations of the century audience; fake self self is not the creator of meaning, nor the center  Back Stage: where actors act/behave or starting point of sociological inquiry differently; where actors are their Michel Foucalt real/natural selves  self is seen as a product of modern  Off-Stage: the region where actors meet discourse that is socially and historically audience independently; there is a choice to conditioned act your “real” or “fake” self  our sense of self is shaped by the society and time we live in  Kenneth Gergen Four Basic Postmodernist Ideas Saturated or Multiplicitous Self  Anderson (1997)  the saturated self is constantly in connection  Multiphrenia to others, a self that absorbs a multitude of  refers to the many voices speaking voices and takes in a seemingly endless about who you are, and what you are stream of information  one can be a husband, a father, and an  when one is stressed or overthinking things, in-law at the same time people internalize different selves or splits  Protean the self into multitude of options  the self that is capable of changing (multiphrenia) that they can choose to constantly to fit the present conditions draw upon depending on the needs of the  people do not have a true stable self current situation  De-Centered  Technology today became a major outlet for  a belief that there is no self at all people to create and experiment with  self is constantly being redefined or multiple selves to construct idealized constantly undergoing change versions of themselves (making online  we are what we are described to be avatars)  Self-in-relation  social saturation brings with it a general loss  humans do not live their lives in of true and knowable selves isolation, but in relation to people and to certain cultural contexts THE SELF FROM ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE self is socially constructed or shaped by outside  In anthropology, the Self came to be understood as a forces like the norms, values, languages, arts and process orchestrating an individual's experience culture of society  Being a Filipino Two Realities that Dominated the Filipino: belonging or relating to the Philippines, postmodern social condition: or to its people and culture  Rise of new media technologies In the context of citizenship, Filipino simply  Dominance of consumerism means membership in a nation-state In the constitution, a citizen is someone who  Erving Goffman legally resides in a country Dramaturgical Model of Social Life  social interactions may be compared to a theater, and people to actors on a stage where each plays a variety of roles  Cultural Identity and National Identity Identity Sir Edward B. Taylor (founder of cultural  refers to “who the person is,” or the anthropology) qualities and traits of an individual that  anthropologists believe that culture is the make him different from others full range of learned behavior patterns  how a person sees and expresses oneself Cultural Identity Culture  identity or feeling of belongingness to  derived from Latin word cultura or cultus, certain culture group meaning care or cultivation  individual’s perception about themselves is  everything that makes up the way a group anchored on race, gender, nationality, of people lives (beliefs, values, traditions) religion, ethnicity and language  shapes how we see ourselves and others Cultural Identity Theory  Two components of culture are  explains why a person act and behaves the essential in understanding how the self way he does is being influenced by it:  talks about how an individual is influenced  Material culture by cultural contexts one is situated in consists of human technology  one can possess multiple identities and physical manifestations of culture makes them a part of many cultural groups goods and products wherein these identities overlap and form  Non-material culture one’s identity intangible human creations like  Rupert Emerson (political scientist): beliefs, values, norms, morals, defines it as a “body of people who feel that rules, language, and organizations they are a nation”  Elements of Culture Nation  Knowledge: everything we've learned  a group of people built on the premise of through experience and study, covering shared customs, traditions, religion, natural, supernatural, technical, and language, art, history, etc magical aspects National Identity  Social Norms: rules for how to  refers to the identity or feeling of behave in certain situations, and belongingness to one state or nation breaking them can lead to punishment  Material Culture  Folkways: society's customs,  a type of culture like national flag, traditions, and conventions national emblem, or seal representative  Mores: important social norms tied to of all the people who are a part of the a society's values, enforcing moral nation behavior and often reflected in laws;  Non-material Culture “must” and “should” of a society  embodies the shared understanding of  Laws: official norms created by the a group of people including norms, government and enforced by beliefs, and traditions authorities, with penalties like fines or  requires process of self-categorization imprisonment for violations wherein one must identify himself or herself with an in-group (identifying with one's nation) and differentiate himself or herself from the out-groups (other nations)   brings out positive emotions like pride, interact openly or one can dominate the nationalism, patriotism, and sense of others responsibility one has to the nation they are  Ex: For example, someone might see part of themselves as both a caring friend and a strict boss, but if the strict boss role  Brian Morris’s Anthropology of the Self dominates, it could overshadow their caring the self is not an entity but a process that side, even with friends. orchestrates an individual’s personal experience an individual's sense of self is established as a result of this process, a person becomes through how one's identifies himself or herself self-aware and self-reflective about his place in with the different positions he or she holds, the surrounding world internally or externally, to himself or herself Self: individual’s mental representation of his or internal l-position her person, as kind of self-representation  refers to how one functions in himself Other: how one perceives the mental or herself (I as empathic) representations of others external l-position stated that the most crucial form of interaction  refers to how one identifies himself or and exchange takes place neither between the herself based on particular external individual and society nor between the psyche factors (I as part of am organization) and culture but instead between the self and his the dialogic self is a relational concept of self or her cultural environment as mediated by social In Herman's view, the autonomy of self is not practices constituted in an internal intraindividual In view of the dialectical relationship between the negotiation made by one l- position with respect self and the cultural milieu, which is assumed to to another, but it is intensely interwoven with be different depending on the dynamics of a external dialogical relationship with actual others society, a dichotomy between Western and Non-  Herman believes that self-autonomy—our western notions of self has long been embedded ability to make independent choices—is in Western philosophical and psychological shaped by interactions with others, not just traditions of thinking by managing internal conflicts between Cultural conception - a category of a particular different roles community; this idea about the self was long  it’s not just about handling different roles in conceived by Marcel Mauss (1938 as cited in your own mind but also how you work with Van Meijl, 2008) others while doing those roles  Herman's view shows that self-autonomy, or  Dialogical Self Theory personal freedom, comes from how we introduced in 1992 by Hubert Hermans interact with others, which is crucial for The theory regarded the “self” as the “Society of understanding the anthropological self as it Mind.” emphasizes the role of social relationships in posited the idea that the self is considered as shaping our identity extended to significant others in the environment that populate the self as a dynamic multiplicity of In a sociological perspective, the self is seen as l-positions in which dialogical or monological shaped by social roles, norms, and interactions relationships may emerge within a society. In an anthropological perspective, the  The self is made up of different roles or self is understood as influenced by cultural beliefs, identities shaped by significant people practices, and broader social contexts across different around us, and these roles can either societies  Individual Self, Relational Self, Collective Self Individual Self  related to traits, states, and behaviors that are stored in memory (e.g. I am religious, I am cold, I am ambidextrous). Relational Self  related to one’s relationships (e.g. I am the father. I am the son-in-law). Collective Self  related o one’s group (e.g. I am an Ilocano. I am a Filipino) each self is important and meaningful to human experience  Identity Struggles An individual can be unsympathetic because of particular individual issues but people, sometimes, fail to consider any justification for why one can be unsympathetic and this is called identity struggle Anthony Wallace and Raymond Fogelson the discrepancy between the identity a person claims to possess and the identity attributed to that person by others it is the difference between how someone sees themselves and how others see them  When an individual perceives that he or she is assigned a wrong impression, he or she will probably always defend his or her identity. The best possible solution is to this situation is to talk to the person and establish a mutual understanding regarding one’s way of perceiving himself or herself as opposed to how he or she thinks he or she perceived by others. It has to be done as soon as possible in order to prevent future conflicts. The confrontation, however, must be done in a calm and respectful manner.