Understanding The Self

Reviewer

The Greeks were the ones who seriously questioned myths and moved away from
them in attempting to understand reality and respond to perennial questions of the
self.
Pre-Socratics denotes that some of them preceded Socrates while others existed
before him.
Arche explains the multiplicity of things in the world.
Plato claimed in his dialogs that Socrates affirmed that the “Unexamined life is not
worth living.” Supported the idea that man is a dual in nature of body and soul, but
added three components of the soul: Rational Soul (forged by reason and intellect),
Spirited Soul (charge of emotions), Appetitive Soul (charge of base desires).
Socrates suggests that every man is composed of body and soul.
Augustine’s agreed that man is bifurcated in nature, infusing it with the newfound
doctrine of Christianity.
Thomas Aquinas man is composed of two parts: Matter (Hyle), common stuff that
makes up everything in the universe) and Form (Morphe), essence of substance or
thing.
Rene Descrates famous for his “cogito ergi sum”, that means I think therefore I am.
The Self is combination of two distinct entities, the cogito, the thing that thinks,
which is the mind. And the extenza, or extension of the mind which is the body.
Hume the self is bundle of expression. (impression)
Hume the self Is simply “a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which
succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity and are in a perceptual flux and
movement.” \Categorized into two: Impressions and Ideas. Impressions are basic
objects of our experience and sensation, Ideas on the other hand, are copies of
impressions.
Emmanuel Kant there is necessarily a mind that organizes the impressions that men
get from the external world. Example is, time and space, are ideas that one cannot
find in the world but is built in our mind.
Gilbert Ryle suggests that the “self” is not an entity one can locate and analyze but
simply the convenient name that people use to refer to all the behaviors that people
make.
Merleaau-Ponty says the mind and body are so intertwined that they cannot be
separated from one another.
Self, in contemporary literature and even common sense, is defined by the following
characteristics; “separate, self-contained, independent, consistent, unitary, and
private.”
Social Construct/Constructivist argue for a merged view of ‘the person’ and ‘their
social construct’ where the boundaries of one cannot easily be separated from the
boundaries of the other world.
Marcel Mauss, every self has two faces: personne and moi.
Personne has much to with what it means to live in a particular institution, a particular
family, a particular religion, a particular nationality and how to behave, with the given
expectations and influences from other; Moi is a person’s basic identity.
Language is another interesting aspect of social constructivism. E.g., Mahal kita,
related to articulation of love and expensive things.
Mead and Vygotsky, the way that human persons develop is with the use of language
acquisition and interaction with others.
For Mead, through role-play a child delineated the “I” from the rest.
For Vygotsky, a child internalizes real-life dialogs that he has had with others, with his
family and his primary caregivers, and apply this to their mental and practical
problems along with social and cultural infusions brought by the said dialogs.
Gender is one of the loci of the self that is a subject to alteration, change, and
development.
Nancy Chodorow, a feminist, argues that because mothers take the role of taking care
of children, there is a tendency for girls to imitate the same and produce the same
mentality.
Self is the “sense of personal identity and of who we are as individuals.”
William James was one of the earliest psychologist to study the self and
conceptualized the self as having two aspects-the “I” and the “me”. I is the thinking,
acting and feeling self; Me is the physical characteristics as well psychological
capabilities that makes who you are.
Identity is composed of personal characteristics, social roles, and responsibilities, as
well as, affiliations.
Self-concept is what basically what comes to your mind when asked about who you
are.
Carl Rogers, with his idea of self-schema or our organized system or collection of
knowledge about who we are.
Sigmund Freud saw the self, its mental processes, and one’s behaviour as the results
of the interaction between the id, Ego and Superego.
G.H. Mead, under the Theory of symbolic interactionalism, argued that the self is
created and developed through human interaction.
Social Interaction and Group Affiliation are vital factors in creating our self-concept
especially in the aspect of providing us with our social identity based on our
membership to certain groups.
Self-concepts is also called self-awareness.
(2) types of self we are aware of . (1) Private Self or internal standards and private
thoughts and feelings. (2) the Public Self or your public images or having good
presentation of yourself to others.
(3) Self-schemas: Actual, Ideal and Ought Self.
Self-consciousness is too much self-awareness that you were concerned about being
observed and criticized by others.
Deindividuation or the loss of individual self-awareness and individual accountability
in groups.
Self-esteem our own positive or negative perception or evaluation of ourselves.
Social Comparison Theory, we learn about ourselves, the appropriateness of our
behaviors, as well as, our social status by comparing aspects of ourselves with other
people.
Self-evaluation maintenance theory, states that we can feel threatened when someone
out performs us, especially when that person is close to us.
Narcissism is a trait characterized by overly high self-esteem, self-admiration, and self-
centeredness.
Confucianism can be seen as a code of ethical conduct, of how one should properly
act according to their relationship with other. Self-cultivation is seen as the ultimate
purpose of life but the characteristics of a chun-tzu, a man of virtue or noble
character.
Subdued Self wherein personal needs are repressed for the good of many.
Taoism, is living the way of the tao or the universe. Taoism rejects having one
definition of what Tao is. The Ideal self is selflessness but this is not forgetting about
the self.
Buddhism, the self is an illusion, born our of ignorance, of trying to hold and control
things, or human-centered needs; thus the self is also the source of all these sufferings.
The Western Culture is what we would call an individualistic culture since their focus
is on the person.
Asian Culture, is called a collectivistic culture as the group and social relations that is
given more importance than individual wants and needs.
Sex chromosomes of humans define the sex (female or male) and their secondary
sexual characteristics. Gonads (testis or ovary) begin to form until about eighth week
of embryonic development.
Pseudohermaphoridites are individuals having accessories that “do not” match their
gonads
Hermaphoridites are individuals who possess both ovarian and testicular tissues.
Neoplasm are major threat to reproductive organs.
Menarche is the first menstrual period of females.
Menopause, occurs when females no longer experience menstruation.

Sexually Transmitted Disease an infection transmitted from an infected person to an

uninfected person through sexual contact.
Puberty is the period of life, generally between the ages of 10 and 15 years old.
Abstinence this natural method involves refraining from sexual intercourse and is the
most effective natural birth control.
Excitement Phase It is caused by an increase in the pulse and blood pressure.
Human Sexual Behavior, defined as any activity - solitary, between two persons, or in
a group.
Premarital Coitus. in the modern Western society, this is more likely to be tolerated
but not encourage if the individuals intend marriage.
Resolution Phase, this is the last stage that refers to the return to a normal or
subnormal physiologic state.
Sexual Problems, may be classified as physiological, psychological and social in
origin.
Thalamus and Limbic System, this are the parts of the brain believed to be responsible
for regulating the sexual response.
Chancroid, this is caused by infection with the bacterium Haemophulus ducreyi.
Trichomonas Vaginalis, this s a common sexually transmitted protozoal infection.
Erogenous Zones, this refers to the parts of the body that are primarily receptive and
increase sexual arousal.
Herpes Simplex Virus, this is among the most prevalent of sexually transmitted
infections.
Calendar Method, it is also called as the rhythm method.
Coitus Interruptus, the oldest method that prevents conception.
Diaphragm, it is a circular, rubber disk that fits the cervix and should be placed before
coitus.
Tubal Ligation, it is performed after menstruation and before ovulation.

The four constituents of the self are composed of Material Self, Social Self, Spiritiual
Self and Pure Ego.
Possessions, regards as part or an extension of the self.
Body, the innermost part of our Material Self. Next is the body is the clothes we used,
thus clothes placed in the second hierarchy of material Self. Third in the hierarchy is
the our immediate family because we see them as the nearest replica of our self. Last
would be the Home, it is the earliest nest of our childhood.
Spiritual Self, the most intimate, inner subjective part of the self.
Buddhism believes that life is not a bed of roses. (2) types of meditation practices is
samatha and vipassana.
Karma, concept where the reincarnated life will depend on how the past life was
spent.
In Hindus, sacred scriptures are called Vedas. Mahabhrata and Ramayana are the (2)
important texts of hindus. Diwali and Navrati are their most celebrated festivals.
Rebecca Stein, She worked on the definition of religion “as a set of cultural beliefs
and practices that usually includes some or all of basic characteristics.”
Ritual, they are specific, observable mode of behavior exhibited by all known
societies.
Quran, the Holy book of Islam.

February, Parinirvana is celebrated on this month.

Crab Mentality, this is a toxic trait among Filipinos where one resents the achievement
of another, instead of being happy for that person.
Self–sacrifice, one of Filipinos attitude that can be seen as an extension of the Filipino
hospitality.
Self–presentation, the “process of controlling how one is perceived by other people.”
Gender, the social understanding of how sex should be experience.
Meta-cognition, commonly defined as “Thinking about thinking.”
Self-management, the mental process you employ using what you have in planning
and adapting to successfully learn or accomplish the task.
Self–appraisal, this is your personal reflection on your knowledge and capabilities.
Persona, the partial identity we create that represents ourselves in a specific situation.
Bayanihan, it is the spirit of communal unity and cooperation of Filipinos.

Albert Bandura, he was named the most influential psychologist of all time.
Self-Efficacy Theory, this theory is based on the assumption that psychological
procedures serve as a means of creating and strengthening expectations of personal
efficacy.
Mastery experiences, one of the effective ways to create a strong sense efficacy.
Stress and Tension, are interpreted as “signs of vulnerability to poor performance’.
Goals, this, along with self-efficacy might mediate effects of values and personality on
performance.
Content and Intensity, (2) broad attributes of goals.
Stress, it always manifests itself by a syndrome, a sum of changes, and not by simply
one change; feeling of being overwhelmed, worried or run - down.
Eustress, it causes much less damage than distress.
Chronic stress these are caused primarily by errors in the body’s general adaptation
process.
The alarm stage it represents a mobilization of the body’s defensive forces.
Amygdala it is when the body dies because it has used up its resources of adaptation
energy; contributes to emotional processing.
Brain the stress response begins here.
Self care and self compassion, (2) ways to positively confront stress.
Hypothalamus, command center.
Hypothalamus, it activates the sympathetic nervous system by sending signals through
the autonomic nerves to the adrenal glands.
Kuo. his study identified and revealed compelling evidence for cultural variations and
specificities on coping based on theoretical and empirical findings generated over the
last two decades’ cultural coping research.
American Institute of Stress, it distinguished different types of stress and the human
response to it.
Self-Care Therapy, the positive way to counter stress.
Self -Compassion Therapy it entails being warm and understanding toward ourselves
when we suffer, fail or feel inadequate rather than flagellating ourselves with self -
criticism.
Self-compassionate letter, example of a self-compassion exercise.
Self – criticism, an important predictor of anxiety and depression.