MODULE 1: UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

Lesson 3 THE SELF AS COGNITIVE CONSTRUCT

“It almost seems that occasionally giving up self-

consciousness is necessary for building a strong self-
concept.”
― Csikszentmihaly

OBJECTIVES
At the end of this module, you are able to:
1. Identify the different ideas in psychology about the “self”
2. Create your own definition of the “self” based on the definitions from psychology
3. Analyze the effects of various factors identified in psychology in the formation of the self.

INTRODUCTION
Human beings, by their very nature, are prone to focus on the self and to engage in
behavior to protect it. In this lesson you are going to understand yourself in the
perspective of other people towards you as well as you are to yourself. Psychological self
can be seen in a process of how one understands himself or herself, behave and think
based from the underlying intrapersonal and interpersonal factors.

ACTIVITY
Activity No. 3.1

Direction: answer this question brief and concise.

Who are you?

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ANALYSIS
Questions:

1. What have you realized from the question above?

2. Does it make you understand yourself?

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ABSTRACTION

Psychological perspective of the self greatly focuses on the individual and cognitive functions.
In a broader sense, it is centered on the individual functioning with or without the influence of his or
her environment, gaining self-knowledge how people initiate self-regulation to achieve their goals,
the influence of personal standards, expectations, and values on the perception of others or vice
versa, and how people maintain their desired self-images. Although psychology focuses on the
factors associated within the individual context, it does not discount external factors that influence
the psychological well-being such as those factors discussed on the philosophical, social, and
anthropological perspective. Psychological self can be seen in a process of how one understands
himself or herself, behave and think based from the underlying intrapersonal and interpersonal
factors. To fully understand ourselves, it is important to consider the varying psychological factors
that make us a fully functioning person. Thus, psychology does not only help us become aware of
ourselves, it also helps us improve our general well-being. The following are some of the major
psychological perspective about the self:

a. WILLIAM JAMES SELF THEORY

According to an American Psychologist, William James (1890), human beings has the
capacity to be a thinking subject, and the object his or her thinking at the same time. As a
thinking being, they can be both conscious to the environment, and their own existence.
James distinguished two phenomena of the self as “I” and “Me.” The “I” corresponds as the
self as a subject of experience (self as subject) while “Me” is the self as an object of experience
(self as object). In a broader sense, “I” can be the thinking, feeling and acting self. It also
reflects how people become aware of their environment and of themselves in a subjective
and higher level than the “Me” phenomenon. When a person sees what makes him or her
human, looking at his or her abilities as well as physical characteristics, and saw himself or
herself as an object of his or her thinking, this process reflects to the “Me” perspective. The
“me” is the totality of all contents of consciousness that is experienced as self-related based
on sensory experiences.

b. THREE CATEGORIES OF THE SELF

William James contextualized three categories of the self. First are self-feelings,
wherein the arousal of feelings and emotions happens. Second, self-seeking where people’s
actions or behavior manifested. Self-feelings reflect on how an individual appraise and
become aware of his or her experiences in the world. While self-seeking refers to the actions
of an individual that are based or resulted from the processes prompted by the self-feeling.
These actions can be some sort of efforts made to improve and preserve oneself. The third
category of the self is called constituents of the self. Constituents of the self is sub-divided into
further categories namely material self, social self, spiritual self, and pure ego.

Material self refers to how one gives value to his or her material possessions in of one’s
own body, family, clothing, home, and other things one might give value. While social self
reflects on how other people create an image of an individual that also determines his or her
reputation in the society. The third constituent that includes the harmony of one’s thoughts,
beliefs and feelings is called spiritual self. The pure ego which according to William James is
the most puzzling aspect of the self. Pure ego is conceived as the ability to recognize and

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understanding our thoughts, and other self-related experiences. All of these combined forms
the empirical self. These constituents of the self should be understood in hierarchical manner
that places material self at the bottom, social self and spiritual self at the top.

c. CARL ROGERS SELF THEORY

Carl Rogers (1902-1987) is a well-known American psychologist for his great
contribution in the field of psychology. In light of the humanist perspective, he believes that
people are drawn to his or her free will or free choice when it comes to shaping oneself.
Shaping oneself according to individuals free will develops gradually from childhood years.
The role of the free will differentiates one individual from another. Hence, the development
does not lie on influences from the individual's external environment. According to Rogers,
people can make sense of who he or she is and figure out how and why he or she is
experiencing things and responds to environmental influences. The values of an individual
play an essential role in establishing choices or free will. Rogers also believed that the self is
the center of all experiences. His theory also focused on the conditions that allow the self to
develop freely.

Rogers Self Theory lies in the perspective of humanistic psychology. Humanistic

psychology tends to have an optimistic point of view on human behavior and concentrate
on the capacity of individuals to think intentionally and purely, to control their biological
urges, and to achieve their maximum capacity. From the humanistic perspective, individuals
are in charge of their lives and activities and have the opportunity and will to change their
states of mind and behavior. Also, the self has the need to be continuously accepted, taken
care of, and improve (Ismail & Tekke, 2015). Generally, Rogers believed that it is an innate
need for humans to work on progress to become self-actualized.

d. SELF-CONCEPT
Self-concept are composed of mental images or ideas that come to your mind when
you are asked about who you are. For Roger’s, self-concept is defined further as the
individual’s tendency to act in ways which actualize himself based on experiences. Those will
take form and will symbolize in conscious awareness as self-experiences builds our self-
concept. It can be asocial product, developing out of interpersonal relationship and striving
for consistency (Rogers,1959). It is composed of individual perceptions of their own behavior,
unique characteristics and abilities. At an early age, while a person is going through self-
discovery and identity formation, their self-concept tends to be more malleable, however it
is not fixed over time because as people grow with experiences, self-concept also develops
(McLeod, 2007).

As people get older, self-perceptions become more detailed and more organized as
people form a better idea of whom they are. Self-concept can be categorized as real self
and ideal self. The real-self also referred as the self-image includes the influence of our body
image intrinsically. How do we see ourselves, which is very important to a good psychological
health? We have the tendency to perceive ourselves as a beautiful or ugly, good or bad
person, attractive or not. Self-image has a direct effect on how a person feels, thinks and
acts. It is part of the self that is natural, comfortable to express, and true to what or who, one
really is. Despite of its imperfections, it is still the part of us that feels most real (Grice, 2007).
While ideal self represents the part of ourselves that aims to become someone we want to
be or the self that is bound to ambitions and goals. It associated with the kind of ourselves
who we would like to be.

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The ideal self in childhood is not the ideal self in the different stages of development
like in teenage years. In other words, ideal self also changes over time. According to Rogers
(1959), people tend desire to behave, feel and experience ways which are consistent with
their self-image which reflects with our ideal-self. The more parallel or closely related our
self-image and ideal self are to each other, the more consistent or congruent we are, and the
higher our sense of self-worth we can have. A person is said to be in a state of congruence
when our self-image and ideal self is closely parallel. On the other hand, incongruence
happens if a person’s ideal self is denied or distorted with the self-image or real self.

e. SELF-ESTEEM
Self-esteem refers to a person’s overall sense of worth or how much a person values,
approves of, appreciates, prizes, or likes him or herself (Adler & Stewart, 2004). It composes
of our favorable or unfavorable attitude towards ourselves based on our evaluation or
comparison to others. There are several factors that affect our self-esteem such as thoughts,
life experiences, genetics, health, age, social factors, and feedback of other people. A desire
for increased self-esteem through self-verification motivates individuals to form and
maintain relationships that also verify identities. For the most part, this process is continuous
and automatic as the individual responds to subtle changes in his or her self-esteem on
particular situations. Some other factors can be explained through the social comparison
theory, and self-evaluation maintenance theory.

According to Social Comparison Theory, we tend to know more about ourselves, the
appropriateness of behavior, as well as develop a particular social status by comparing
aspects of ourselves with other people. Downward social comparison happens when people
tend to create appositive self-concept by comparing themselves with those who are worse
or inferior to them. At some point, a person’s self-concept can possibly increase to
inappropriate manner like seeing themselves as someone who is superior to the others, and
that they should always be the center of attention, or someone who always needs to be
treated as special.

While upward social comparison happens when people compare themselves with
those who are better than them. It can be a form of motivation but a lot of those who do
this actually felt lower self-esteem as they highlight more of their weakness or inequality as
an individual or a member of a certain a group.

Self-evaluation Maintenance Theory explains the ways on how one can feel
threatened when someone out-performs them. People who feel threatened with someone,
they know who tend to be better than them in some ways can act in three possible ways.
First, the person who was outperformed might consider distancing himself or herself or
change the existing relationship. For example, the person may act like he or she is not
associated or related with the other. Next is reconsidering other ways or skills in which a
person was outperformed. The tendency to quit can be considered as an alternative. Lastly,
the person who was outperformed might still choose to improve himself or herself on that
aspect. This reaction is better than the others since it is considered as positive coping.

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f. THE TRUE SELF AND FALSE SELF
Donald Winnicott, a British psychoanalyst in the 1960s developed a perspective about
the true self and false self. His notions are based on his studies and observation with the
relationship of mothers, and their children. According to Winnicott, true self reflects a sense
of self based on authentic experience, and the feeling of being truly present, alive and
genuinely expressed. The part of the self that is remained unshaped by upbringing however
can be still vulnerable to environmental influences. The false self is a defensive façade, behind
which the person can feel empty, repressed, and ideal as it intends to be perfect and
continuously comply with mores and norms. It is also where behaviors are learned and
controlled rather than spontaneous and genuine.

False self is closely related to the self that is adapted, and the self that wears social
mask which helps a person in forming interpersonal relationships. With the false self,
spontaneous desires are hidden away, and prefers to be obedient at the expense of one’s
ability to feel authentically. However, in some situations, people do not easily present the
different sides of themselves and reveal to other. For example, people might avoid telling
humorous jokes when they are in a particularly professional or big event as they want to
show that they are educated and refined. When a false self-became dominant, well-being is
achieved through reclaiming the true self. Some ways to reclaim our true self are through
self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-worth. Psychotherapy is also great way regain
confidence in expressing our true self genuinely and can help us untangle our false self from
our true self.

g. AGENTIC THEORY OF SELF

Albert Bandura is a well-known Canadian-American psychologist in the 1970s. He
was known to his valuable contributions in psychology. One of his notions is the agentic
theory of the self. Bandura (2009) defined human agency as “the human capability to exert
influence overtone’s functioning and the course of events by one’s actions.” He further
explained that through cognitive self-guidance, humans are capable of intentionally
influencing one's own functionality and life circumstances, they can visualize futures that act
on the present. People are able to make ideas, assess behavior, and modify alternative
courses of action and decisions to gain valued outcomes while maintaining themselves as not
passive actors with external influences.

Furthermore, to be an agent is to influence intentionally one’s functioning

and life circumstances. Agentic theory of the self-rejects the notion that selfhood is culturally
and socially influenced or passively controlled by urges, rather it looks upon human being as
capable of thinking, deciding, foreseeing and controlling his or her actions, free to decide for
himself or herself. The self can be situated in an environment where interpersonal, and
intrapersonal influences happen interchangeably. The self can be influenced as some point
but can remain responsible for any course of one’s action. Furthermore, an individual is
expected to be able to manifest and act according to the core properties as he or she
functions to his or her environment.

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h. CORE PROPERTIES OF HUMAN AGENCY

1. Intentionality
It reflects on how an individual form intention that include action plans and
strategies for realizing them.

2. Forethought
Forethought includes more than future-directed plans since if entails how an
individual position his or her plans in the future. People set goals for themselves
and foresee likely outcomes of prospective actions to guide and motivate their
efforts while anticipating possible opportunities or roadblocks. If the perceived
plans are projected over a valuable long-term course, this perspective can
provide coherence, direction, and meaning to one’s life.

3. Self-reactiveness
In self-reactiveness, people are bound not only as planners or fore thinkers, but also
self-regulators. An individual need to self-regulate his or her efforts for his or her
visions become a reality through constructing appropriate actions, adopting
personal standards as well as regulating and monitoring their course of actions. It
also includes processes of self-motivation, self-management as well as emotional
states that can undermine self-regulation.

4. Self-reflection
This core property reflects on the capability of individual to reflect on their
functioning including life pursuits, meaning of actions to accomplish pursuits, their
thoughts and personal efficacy.

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APPLICATION
Activity No. 3.2

Expound the phrase below in connection with the discussion.

“I AM WHO I AM”
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ASSESSMENT
Answer the question briefly and honestly. Write your answer on the space provided.

1. What is the difference between self-identity and self-concept?

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2. In what way you boost your self-esteem?

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3. How does the construtivist aproach relates to the development of one’s self-identity
and self-concept?
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