UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
PHILOSOPHY
Socrates
● Highest form of wisdom/thinking
● All existed as (omniscient) souls before being
humans
○ Problems started to arise once assumed
human form
○ Knew everything before being humans
● Socratic Method (continuously ask questions to
remind yourself of the things you knew before)
Plato
● Made everything published based on Socrates
(reinforcement of Socrates)
● Body & Soul (replica of one’s self; soul never dies)
● Contemplation / Metacognition talk to self)
● Dichotomy of ideal world and material world
○ World of forms (Material World) -
changing
○ Ideal World - unchanging
St. Augustine
● Did not believe in God at first
● We’re consumed by our material self
● Material world is a temporary world
● Real world is where God is
Rene Descartes
● Cogito Ergo Sum / “I think, therefore I am”
○ Product of our own thinking
○ We only exist because we think we exist
● Mind and body are different
○ Body: confined in a specific structure
○ Mind: free to process thoughts
John Locke
● Our identity is not locked in the mind, soul or body
only, a person's memory is part of the definition of
the self
● Focused on the person’s memory
○ Same as the person in the past
○ We simultaneously live in the present and
the past.
David Hume
 The mind is composed of impressions
(perceptions; not created) & ideas (created)
 Permanent / true self doesn’t exist
o Changing world
o We can never fix ourselves
Immanuel Kant
● We became who we are because we are free agents
○ Nobody is trying control you.
● Free reasoning / free will
Sigmund Freud
● Development of the mind
● Division of the mind:
○ Id – body pleasures, animal’s only instinct
○ Ego – result of the battle of id and
superego
○ Superego – demands moral standard
Gilbert Ryle
● Contradict Rene’s concept
● Mind is part of the body
● Behavior is the reflection of the mind
Maurice Ponty
● Self is the product of human experience
● We manifest what we want
● Similar to John Locke’s concept
Paul Churchland
● Neurological explanation of the mind and body
○ Scientific explanation
● Based on the stimuli that we receive
SELF-CONCEPT
● Defined as the totality of a complex, organized, and
dynamic system of learned beliefs, attitudes and
opinions that each person hold to be true about his
or her personal existence
● “life being aware of itself”
● Different from self-esteem or self-report
○ Self-esteem – feelings of personal worth
and level of satisfaction regarding one’s
self
○ Self-report – what a person is willing and
able to disclose
● Image of who you are; total picture of who you are
or how you see your whole self; how you perceive
the different parts of yourself that combine to form
a total picture.
○ Psychological self
○ Physical self
○ Spiritual self
○ Social self
○ Intellectual self
● Knowing how others see you.
● Through feedback from the process of
communicating with other people, you acquire a
sense of how others feel about you.
○ As a result, you get to see the big picture of
who you are.
● Constantly modifying your sense of self
● We are always interacting/communicating with
other people, we therefore always learn more
about ourselves.
● Made up of two components:
1. Self-image – literally a picture of who you are;
describes you.
a. Achieved roles – roles that you work to
accomplish or to achieve (e.g. professor,
honor student, etc.)
b. Ascribed roles – roles that you are born
into (e.g. son, brother, sister, daughter)
 2. Self-esteem – how you evaluate yourself in
those roles
- Process of self-evaluation; how
you feel about each of those roles.
- Affected by how others evaluate
your performance in a particular
role
● Intrapersonal communication processes depend
upon communicators:
1. Frame of reference
2. Creativity
3. Self-talk
4. Risk-taking behavior

PERSONALITY TYPES
Four Temperaments
1. Sanguine Personality Type -tend to be lively,
optimistic, buoyant and carefree
o Marketing
o Travel
o Fashion
o Cooking
o Sports
2. Phlegmatic Personality Type – usually a people
person
o Nursing
o Teaching
o Psychology or counseling
o Child development
o Social services
3. Choleric Personality Type – usually a goal-
oriented person
o Management
o Technology
o Statistics
o Engineering
o Programming
o Business
4. Melancholic Personality Type – love traditions
o Management
o Accounting
o Social work
o Administration