Understanding The Self Module 1
Understanding The Self Module 1
Course Description This course deals with the nature of identity, as well as the
factors and forces that affect the development and
maintenance of personal identity. This course is intended to
facilitate the exploration of the issues and concerns regarding
self and identity to arrive at a better understanding of the self.
It strives to meet this goal by stressing the integration of the
personal with the academic – contextualizing matters
discussed in the classroom and in the everyday experiences of
students – making for better learning, generating a new
appreciation for the learning process, and developing a more
critical and reflective attitude while enabling them to manage
and improve their selves to attain a better quality of life.
Course Outcomes Demonstrate critical and reflective thought in analysing the
development of one’s self and identity.
Module Guide
This material consists of 5 modules from the three chapters of this subject;
Understanding the Self. Each module is designed to help students attain the desired
outcomes of the course. The modules are structured with segments of lessons, each of
which has common integrated parts; learning outcomes, discussions, individual reflective
activities, supplemental readings and assessment tasks. This material shall be navigated
accordingly as its sequence.
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Pre-Test
Name: _______________________________ Course, Year & Section: _________________________
Directions: Before we proceed to your lessons, you need to first take a pre-test to assess
your understanding on the previous concepts that are related in this subject. Encircle the
letter of your answer.
1. This is a great factor that affects the development of an individual. This includes
a community’s behavior, eating habits, clothing, beliefs, values, customs,
experiences and assumptions.
a. Self
b. Society
c. Culture
d. Consciousness
2. Irene considers herself as a materialistic person. She makes sure to purchase
items online every payday. She also shops in the mall every week. She becomes
unhappy whenever she is unable to shop items. She feels unsatisfied when she
cannot buy what she likes. According to Three Dimensions of Orienting Values
by Richins, Irene can be categorized in:
a. Acquisition centrality
b. Acquisition as the pursuit of happiness
c. Possession-defined success
d. All of the above
3. What are the ways to experience one’s sexuality?
a. Through the body
b. Through societal roles
c. Through relationships
d. All of the above
4. According to Freud, information that you are not currently aware of that can be
easily recalled into awareness resides in which part of the mind?
a. preconscious
b. conscious
c. unconscious
d. subconscious
5. Individuals nowadays have a hard time accepting how they look like. What could
be the ultimate cause of this?
a. Because they are not contented
b. Because they are being bullied
c. Because of society’s standards
d. Because of fear of rejection and discrimination
6. Noelle is born a girl and claims she is attracted to men however she loves to wear
masculine outfit. How do we describe her using the Genderbread person?
a. Identity: Woman, Expression: Masculine, Sex: Male, Orientation:
Homosexual
b. Identity: Woman, Expression: Masculine, Sex: Female, Orientation:
Heterosexual
c. Identity: Man, Expression: Feminine, Sex: Female, Orientation:
Homosexual
d. Identity: Man, Expression: Masculine, Sex: Male, Orientation:
Heterosexual
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MODULE 1
THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES: PHILOSOPHICAL, SOCIOLOGICAL,
ANTHROPOLOGICAL, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES OF THE SELF
Intended Learning Outcome:
By the end of the lesson, the students are able to explain the development of the self
using the discussed concepts.
Introductory Activity 1: Encircle the words below that best describes you. You may
also add further words. After which, explain in a few sentences what has influenced you
to acquire these traits.
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Introduction:
In understanding the self, we must first undertake the concepts that tries to define
what the “self” is. In this lesson we first discuss about how the study of Philosophy tries
to study and unravel the concept of the “self”
Philosophy is the study of the basic or fundamental principles of life, knowledge,
reality, existence, morality, human nature, etc., through the use of logic and reason. This
study includes understanding what and how the self is formed. In this lesson, you will be
provided with the different philosophical concepts in order to identify, differentiate and
analyze how the self is formed as founded by Philosophy.
A. Ancient Philosophy:
Philosopher Concept of the Self
Socrates He is a philosopher that was principally concerned on man. He is famous
for the line, “Know thyself.” He emphasized that every individual must
consciously understand themselves, in every aspect of their life, may it be
mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Socrates said “An unexamined life is
not worth living.” Thus, he focused on the importance of the conscious
effort to evaluate how we are doing every day.
This concept tells us to examine deep within our self. Try asking yourself,
“How am I today? Am I happy or sad, why?”
Answering questions like this creates in you an awareness of how the self
is. It also creates a sense of knowing and identifying the state of “being”
you are right now.
Aristotle This philosopher argued with the previous philosophers. He said that the
self is a Tabularasa or a blank tablet. This means that the self is initially
empty and that as time and experience progresses, we receive new
learning and our self is slowly formed. According to him, the development
of the self is a continuous process of developing and becoming. Every
experience, whether good or bad, has created an impact to what we are
today.
Try asking yourself, “what experiences in your life do you believe has
greatly affected who you are today?”
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As time progressed, Philosophy’s notion of the “self” has also evolved. Below are
some of the concept of “self” from the Modern Philosophy.
B. Modern Philosophy
Philosopher Concept of the Self
René This modern philosopher is famous for his line: “Cogito ergo sum.”
Descartes Which translates as “I think, therefore, I am.” He believes that the self
is a thinking thing. The self is always thinking. Our being thinks and
according to him, we stop being “who we are” when we stop thinking.
Has there been a time you always thought that life has been hard you
would not want to think at all? Well, this philosophy emphasizes that
the more we think about not thinking, the more we should deepen
about giving our “self” a thought.
What have been your thoughts these past few days?
Sigmund This psychologist said that the SELF (or mind) is multi-layered: 1)
Freud Conscious, 2) Preconscious 3) Unconscious.
Conscious – is the part of the Self that is aware of what he/she
does. For instance, you are aware that you are looking at these
words right now. You are aware about your name, your family
and where you live.
Preconscious – is the part of the Self which is considered as half
conscious and half unconscious. These could be thoughts that
you don’t always have to remember because you have been used
to in doing. An example of this would be; do you notice how you
when you go inside a room, you always turn on the switch of the
room even if it’s already on? Your automatic behavior belongs in
the preconscious.
Unconscious – this is the part of the Self which is considered
hidden. They are not the thoughts that you usually think of.
Unconscious part consists of your dreams, desires, traumas and
past pain or pleasure that Self prefers to be hidden from others.
Gilbert Ryle This philosopher believes that the Self can be defined through the study
of Behaviorism. He says that the self is a pattern of behavior, the
tendency or disposition for a person to behave in a certain way in
certain circumstances. Have you tried judging others and even yourself
based on how you behaved in specific situations?
Maurice This philosopher believed that in order to understand the Self. We must
Merleau- use the Phenomenological approach. This means describing the
Ponty phenomena of the lived experience by describing what your immediate
responses are — physically, emotionally, cognitively.
This means we are only able to understand the Self on our own personal
point of view. Nobody can fully say that the Self is like this and like that.
According to this approach, only in the view of the one who “lived” an
experience can fully explain how he feels, thinks and do with regards to
that situation. Take for example the question: “What happens to you
when you fall in love – physically, emotionally, and mentally?”
When you ask others about this question, you may realize that they may
have a different answer from yours. This is because according to this
philosopher, who we are differs because we see, feel and think about
the experiences differently from others.
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Name: _______________________________ Course, Year & Section: _________________________
Application:
Each of the philosophical concept is unique. All of these have distinct explanations of
what the self is. We may believe one, two or all of these theories in explaining the self.
What about you? What theories do you associate most with regards to what the “Self” is?
In this activity, choose one (or more) theory from Ancient Philosophy and Modern
Philosophy and explain how these theories have been real in your life.
Modern Philosophy:
“We know not through our intellect but through our experience.”
- Maurice Merleau-Ponty
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Lesson 2: Sociological and Anthropological Perspectives of the Self
Introductory Activity 2: Read the questions and input your answers in the space
provided.
Write at least 5 things (one in each box) that other people (family, friends, peers,
classmates, teachers, neighbors, and others) describe you to be.
Source: [Link]
Next, explain in a few words why you believe these descriptions are true or untrue
about who you truly are.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Introduction:
Understanding our self requires understanding how our environment affects us.
Society and culture impacts how we behave, how we view certain circumstances in the
world, how we make decisions and ultimately how we view our selves.
Sociology is the study of human society and social behavior, from large-scale
institutions and mass culture to small groups and individual interactions. This study
involves how society behaves as a group and how these behaviors affect humans and vice
versa. In deepening the understanding of the “self”, we must take into consideration how
society plays the role in the molding of the identity of a person.
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A. The Looking Glass Self
Sociologist Charles Horton Cooley introduced the “Looking Glass Self” in 1902 to
highlight that the people with whom we interact with becomes a mirror in which we view
ourselves. According to this sociological theory, our self-identity is achieved through a
threefold event as specified below:
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B. I and Me
Another sociological theory that talks about the formation of the self is George H.
Meads, “I & Me” theory. He supports the view that person develops a sense of self through
social interaction and not the biological preconditions of that interaction.
Mead’s theory explained that the self has two divisions: the “I” and the “me”.
According to Mead, the full development of the self is attained when “I” and “me”
are united. The self develops only with social experience in which language, gestures and
objects are used to communicate meaningfully. Through experiences, the self continues
to change and develop. Thus, the self is created through his adjustment to one’s
environment (me) and his natural behavior of things.
Let have an example for this one.
Ben is a very talkative person. He makes a lot of friends by talking to them about random
things. One time as he was attending a conference, he was scolded by the organizer for
talking while the event is ongoing. Later on, Ben adjusts and waits for the time to be able to
chit-chat with friends while attending certain events.
In the example above, what do you think is the “I” here? ____________________________
What about the “me”? ___________________________.
Take note that according to Mead, our social self is continuously adapting
depending on the demands of our social experiences. Thus, our self is dynamic and
evolving.
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C. The Self as Embedded in Culture
2. What social pressure do you think has affected the development of your
“self”?
3. In what way did these social pressures become good or bad for you?
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Lesson 3: Psychological Perspective of the Self
Introductory Activity 3:
In the space provided below, answer the following statements in each box. Afterwards,
answer the questions below the boxes.
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Introduction:
Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and behavior. It encompasses the
biological influences, social pressures, and environmental factors that affect how people
think, act, and feel. Gaining a richer and deeper understanding of psychology and its
different theories can help a person achieve insights of what the self is.
Being aware of how our mind works and how our behaviour and emotions are
create a deeper understanding of the self. In this lesson, two topics shall be introduced in
order to further understand how the structure of our mind and emotions affect our
behaviour and eventually create our personalities.
A. Sigmund Freud’s Construction of Self and Personality
According to Sigmund Freud, the dynamic forces within the self are many and
inevitable conflict. He argues that the mind is composed of three structures through
which the personality is formed:
The Id refers to the component of the personality characterized by its need to satisfy
basic urges and desires and demands instant gratification. Because its sole function is to
seek pleasure, we say that the id serves the pleasure principle. The ego or I, is the only
region of the mind in contact with reality. It is governed by the reality principle, which
it tries to substitute for the pleasure principle of the id. As the sole region of the mind in
contact with the external world, the ego becomes the decision-making or executive
branch of personality. The superego, or above-I, represents the moral and ideal aspects
of personality and is guided by the moralistic and idealistic principles as opposed to the
pleasure principle of the id and the realistic principle of the ego.
In Freud’s view, the id, ego, and superego develop in a series of stages. Freud calls
these the psychosexual stages of development. Each stage is associated with conflicts
that the individual must resolve so that he or she can move to the next stage. Freud also
believes that each stage has needs and if not met may result in fixation which would have
lasting negative effects on one’s personality.
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Stage Age What happens at this stage? What happens if the need is
dissatisfied?
Oral 0 – 1 year Babies derive pleasure from Overindulgence may result to
Stage old oral activities like sucking and personality disorders such overeating,
biting smoking, and alcoholism.
Dissatisfaction may result to oral
aggressive personality such as sarcasm
and tactlessness.
Anal 2 – 3 years The child derives pleasure Anal fixations can lead to anal retentive
Stage old from elimination of body personality disorder such as having
wastes. obsession with cleanliness or anal
expulsion disorder such as clumsiness.
Phallic 3 – 6 years Children around this age Fixations of this stage may lead to
Stage old derive pleasure from abnormal sex behaviors in later life.
examining, touching, fondling,
or displaying their genitals.
They become curious of the
differences between the
anatomy of man and woman.
Latency 7 – 12 years At this stage, sexual energy is
Stage old repressed because children
become occupied with school.
Genital Adolescence Pleasure is again derived from Sexual problems may result as a
Stage to the genital area and consequence of inappropriate sex
adulthood individuals seek to satisfy behaviors.
their sexual drives from sexual
relationships.
George wants to buy a new smartphone but his money is not enough. He thought of getting
money from his mother’s card. However, he understood that it was not the right thing to do. He
then asked his mother to let him borrow money that he would gradually pay back.
In this example given, which structure prevailed? The Id, Ego or Superego? Why do you
think so? _________________________________________________________________________________________
Take note that, according to Freud, the key to a healthy personality is a balance
between the id, the ego, and the superego. If the ego is able to adequately moderate
between the demands of reality, the id, and the superego, a healthy and well-adjusted
personality emerges. Freud believed that an imbalance between these elements would
lead to a maladaptive personality. If the ego is able to adequately moderate between the
demands of reality, the id, and the superego, a healthy and well-adjusted personality
emerges. Freud believed that an imbalance between these elements would lead to a
maladaptive personality.
What about you? Have you experienced moments were you had a conflict with
what you want versus what should be done? How were you able to deal with it?
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B. Carl Rogers’ Self Theory: Real and Ideal Self
Carl Rogers defines the self as flexible and changing perception of personal identity.
The self is the center of experience. He suggests that the self develops from interactions
with significant people and awareness of one’s own characteristics and level of
functioning. According to Rogers, human beings are always striving for self-fulfillment
and self-actualization. When the needs of the self are denied, severe anxiety may arise.
Central to achieving self-actualization is the development of self-concept.
Rogers suggests two components of self-concept: the real self and the ideal self. The
real self consists of all the ideas, including the awareness of what one is and what he or
she can do. On the other hand, the ideal self is one’s conception of what he or she should
be. This includes what he or she aspires to be, his or her goals, and ambitions in life. In
Roger’s view, the closer the ideal self to the real self, the happier the individual becomes.
When the real self is far from the ideal self, the individual becomes unhappy and
dissatisfied.
Real Self Self Ideal Self Real Self Self Ideal Self
Cindy is born with as a small, brown-skinned with curly hair girl. She often sees girls as beautiful
when they’re fair-skinned, tall and with straight hair. Thus, often times she gets unsatisfied with
how she looks like. She always labels herself as ugly and would be shy when facing other people.
In the example above, Cindy grew with a distorted self-concept. Her self was not
in line with her ideal self. The inconsistence in her real self and her ideal self often leads
to unhealthy self-image. This may cause other people to be anxious and depressed due to
their unsatisfied wants.
In your opinion, what could make Cindy be satisfied with how she looks like?
Carl Rogers believed that humans have one basic motive that is the tendency to
self-actualize. A person may be able to fully grow given that the conditions are right. Each
person will flourish and reach their potential if their environment is good enough. The
potential of an individual human is unique, and we are meant to develop in different ways
according to our personality. Rogers believed that people are inherently good and
creative. They become destructive only when a poor self-concept or external constraints
override the valuing process. Take Note: Carl Rogers believed that for a person to
achieve self-actualization they must be in a state of congruence. This means that a
person’s ideal self is in harmony with their actual behaviour.
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Name: _______________________________ Course, Year & Section: _________________________
Application
Instruction: Write as much as possible traits, characteristics, values etc. that describes
your real and ideal self. Write your answer in the Venn Diagram. Write in the overlapping
part of the circles the traits, characteristics, etc. that you think can be both found in your
real self and ideal self. Afterwards, answer the questions below:
Do you think you are truly satisfied with yourself right now?
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________
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ASSESSMENT
Name: ______________________________________ Year and Section: __________________
Instructions: In the illustration below, create your own assumption or perspective on
the development of the self using the lessons that has been covered. You may use more
than one page if needed.
Philosophically, how does the “SELF” develop? Sociologically, how does the “SELF” develop?
You may use one or more or a mix of the theories You may use one or more or a mix of the theories
to explain or you may come up with your own to explain or you may come up with your own
theory. theory.
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Rubrics:
For you to be guided on how your work will be rated, please see details of
the rubrics below:
CATEGORY 30 25 20 15 10
Main concept The main The main The main The main The main concept
concept is concept is concept concept of the has no relation to
appropriate relevant belongs to the subject is not the main theme.
and relevant within the topic, but it is exposed in a
to the topic. topic, but not clear and
does not fundamental or orderly way.
present a answers the
focus focus question.
question.
Subordinate It includes all It includes Some of the Most of the It did not include the
concepts the most of the important important most significant
important important concepts that concepts that concepts. It repeated
concepts that concepts represent the represent the several concepts and
the main that main main / or several foreign
information represent information of information of or irrelevant
of the topic the main the topic are the topic are concepts appear.
represents. information missing. Repeat missing. Repeat
of the topic. some concept. some concept.
Link words The Some of the Only some of Several of the Presents invalid
and propositions propositions the propositions propositions
propositions represent are invalid or propositions are not valid according to topic,
the main do not are valid according to with links describing
information. represent according to the a non-existent
the main the topic. Repeat relationship, false
information topic. Repeat various claims.
of the topic. some concept. concepts. Presents vague
statements and / or
various foreign or
irrelevant concepts
appear.
Presentation All ideas Some ideas Only a few Ideas Ideas presented
of Ideas presented presented ideas presented were were not clear and
were clear were clear presented were somewhat not direct to the
and direct to and direct to clear and direct unclear and main concept
the main the main to the main indirect to the
concept concept concept main concept
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References
Stets, Jan & Burke, Peter. (2003). A Sociological Approach to Self and Identity.
Handbook of Self and Identity. Retrieved from:
[Link]
h_to_Self_and_Identity
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