PSYCHOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE OF THE
SELF
Questions to think about:
Who is your role model?
Who knows you the best?
What would your friends say about
you?
What is the question people ask you
most often?
What is the thing you’d never say to
Psychology - The
scientific study of the
human mind and its
What is functions, especially
Psychology?
those affecting behavior
in a given context.
The “Me – Self” and the “I – Self
Two categories:
I – Self
1. William • The self that knows who he or she is
• Thinking self
James’ • Reflects a person's soul or what is
Concept of now thought of as the mind and is
called pure ego.
the Self Me – Self
• The empirical self (experiences)
• It refers to describing the person’s
personal experiences and is further
divided into sub – categories:
material self, social self, and spiritual
self.
2. Carl Rogers’ Self Theory
The “Real Self” and “Ideal
Self
Another concept of self –
understanding is self – concept
- image of oneself.
SELF is a flexible and
changing perception of
personal identity.
The self develops from
interactions with significant
people and self – awareness.
According to Rogers, human
beings always strive for self–
fulfillment or self – actualization.
When the needs of the self are
denied, severe anxiety may
result.
Central to achieving self –
actualization is self–concept
development.
Two components
of self–concept
1. REAL SELF
Consists of all the
ideas, including the
awareness of what I
am” and “what I can
do.”
2. IDEAL SELF
The person’s
conception of what
one should be or
wanted
to be that includes
one’s goals and
ambitions in life
Self – understanding in adolescents
also includes conceptualizing the self
as multiple or unified and true or
false.
The construction of multiple selves
“Multiple varies across different roles and
Self” vs relationships.
“Unified Self” Coping with different selves
constitutes a formidable task among
adolescents.
These challenges contribute heavily
to the young person’s struggle for a
unified self.
3. Donald Winnicott
“True Self” vs “False Self”
FALSE SELF
The function of the false self is to hide and protect the true self.
People pretend to display a false self to impress others.
The self can change depending on the situation.
TRUE SELF
Who a person is without pretensions.
Can show Self with confidence not afraid of being judged.
Albert Bandura suggests that
4. Albert humans can act and make
things happen.
Bandura
In his theory of the self, people
The Self as are viewed as proactive agents or
“Proactive” experiences.
and “Agentic”
Agency embodies the endowments,
belief systems, self–regulatory
capabilities, and structures and
functions through which personal
influence is exercised, rather than
residing as a distinct entity.
Intentionality refers to
The main acts done intentionally.
agentic
features of
human agency Forethought enables
are: the person to anticipate
the likely consequences
of prospective actions
Self-reactiveness enables the
person to make choices and
The main choose appropriate courses of
action, as well as motivate and
agentic regulate their execution.
features of
human
agency are: Self – reflectiveness gives
the person the ability to reflect
upon oneself and the adequacy
of one’s thoughts and actions.
Jung suggested that the
psyche continues to develop
throughout life, but the psyche
5. Carl Jung starts to show a definite form
The Self as the and content during
adolescence.
“Central
Archetype” Jung conceived the structure of
personality (psyche) as a
complex network of interacting
systems that strive toward
harmony.
The ego is one’s unconscious mind, the part
of the psyche that includes perceptions,
thoughts, feelings, and memories that may
enter consciousness. It is through the ego that
we establish sense of stability.
PERSONALITY
(PSYCHE) Personal unconscious includes the
repressed and forgotten experiences.
The collective unconscious consists
of the fundamental elements of the
human psyche that includes
experiences all human share in
An archetype The archetype represents the
hidden potentialities of the
is a universal psyche or total personality.
thought form
or
predisposition Four major archetypes:
to respond to
the world in • Persona
certain ways. • Shadow
• animus/anima, and
• self.
The persona refers to social roles that
Four individuals present to others.
major The shadow refers to the repressed
thoughts that are unacceptable. This
archetype archetype is often considered as the dark
side of the psyche.
s: The anima is the feminine side of the male
psyche while the animus is the masculine
side of the female psyche.
The self is the central archetype that unites
all parts of the psyche. The ego is the
individual’s conscious perception of the self.
It has no regard for others and the law.
6. Sigmund The ego refers to the “I” and works on the
reality principle, control the id, and can delay
Freud pleasure.
The The ego can conform to existing societal
consideration.
Construction
The superego refers to the “conscience” and
of Self and “moral judge” of conduct.
Personality Violation of rules leads to guilt feelings.
It strives for perfection rather than pleasure.
It appears that the id is the devil
within the self, the superego is the
angel, and ego is the person in the
middle.
The id, ego, and superego are often in
conflict with each other.
Freud used the term ego strength to
refer to the ego’s ability to resolve
the conflict between the three
structures.
If this constant state of conflict is
unresolved, personality problems may
arise.
In Freud’s view, the id, ego, and This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY
superego develop in a series of
stages.
PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGES
7. Erik Erikson
The Psychosocial Stages of Development
Reflection Paper (Yellow pad)
Write a reflection on this question, in
not more than 10 sentences.
Which of the basic concepts described
in the theories above that you think
applies to you the most?