GED 101 - Understanding The Self PART I

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Understanding the Self

GED 101
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
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GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

WEEK 1: UNDERSTANDING THE SELF
Introduction to Self Understanding
Understanding oneself is essential to understand behaviors and beliefs that

affects ourselves and others specifically in becoming effective and successful
person in life, work, and relationship. Moreover, self-understanding (1) provides
a sense of purpose; (2) leads to healthier relationships; (3) helps harness your
natural strength; and (4) promotes confidence.
This module will introduce you to the basic concepts of self and
personality, and how they are related with each other. Self and personality characterized
the way we define our existence, also these refers on how we organized
our experiences that are reflected to our behavior. On the other hand, people have different ideas about
themselves. These ideas represent the self of the person. Moreover, we behave in different ways in a given
situation, but people also behave fairly stable in different circumstances. The relatively permanent pattern
of behavior represents personality of the person. In details,
Personality
• The etymological derivative of personality comes from the word “persona”, the theatrical masks
worn by Romans in Greek and Latin drama. Personality also comes from the two Latin words “per”
and “sonare”, which literally means “to sound through”.
• Personality have no single definition since different personality theories have different views on
how to define it. However, the commonly accepted definition of personality is that it is a relatively
permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a person’s
behavior (Roberts & Mroczek, 2008).
• Personality plays a key role in affecting how people shape their lives. It involves the complex
relationship of people with their environment, how they cope and adjust through life, and how they
respond to demands of physical and social challenges.
• Personality is the overall pattern or integration of a person’s structure, modes of behavior, attitudes,
aptitudes, interests, intellectual abilities, and many other distinguishable personality traits.
Personality is the conglomeration of the following components: physical self, intelligence, character
traits, attitudes, habits, interest, personal discipline, moral values, principles and philosophies of life.
Determinants of Personality
Personality refers to the total person in his/her overt and covert behavior. The determinants of factors
of personality are as follows:
• Environmental Factors of Personality. The surroundings of an individual compose the

environmental factors of personality. This includes the neighborhood a person lives in, his school,
college, university and workplace. Moreover, it also counts the social circle the individual has.
Friends, parents, colleagues, co-workers and bosses, everybody plays a role as the determinants of
personality.

• Biological Factors of Personality. This further includes:
1) hereditary factors or genetic make-up of the person that inherited from their parents. This
describes the tendency of the person to appear and behave the way their parents are;
2) physical features include the overall physical structure of a person: height, weight, color,
sex, beauty and body language, etc. Most of the physical structures change from time to
time, and so does the personality. With exercises, cosmetics and surgeries, many physical
features are changed, and therefore, the personality of the individual also evolves; and
3) brain. The preliminary results from the electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB) research
gives indication that better understanding of human personality and behavior might come
from the study of the brain.
• Situational Factors of Personality. Although these factors do not literally create and shape up an
individual’s personality, situational factors do alter a person’s behavior and response from time to
time. The situational factors can be commonly observed when a person behaves contrastingly and
exhibits different traits and characteristics.
• Cultural Factors. Culture is traditionally considered as the major determinants of an individual’s

personality. The culture largely determinants what a person is and what a person will learn. The
culture within a person is brought up, is very important determinant of behavior of a person. Culture
is complex of these belief, values, and techniques for dealing with the environment which are shared
among contemporaries and transmitted by one generation to the next.
Personality Traits
Personality traits reflect people’s characteristic patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Personality traits imply consistency and stability—someone who scores high on a specific trait like
Extraversion is expected to be sociable in different situations and over time. Thus, trait psychology rests on
the idea that people differ from one another in terms of where they stand on a set of basic trait dimensions
that persist over time and across situations.
The most widely used system of traits is called the Five-Factor Model. This system includes five
broad traits that can be remembered with the acronym OCEAN: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion,
Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Each of the major traits from the Big Five can be divided into facets to
give a more fine-grained analysis of someone's personality. In addition, some trait theorists argue that there
are other traits that cannot be completely captured by the Five-Factor Model. Critics of the trait concept
argue that people do not act consistently from one situation to the next and that people are very influenced
by situational forces. Thus, one major debate in the field concerns the relative power of people’s traits versus
the situations in which they find themselves as predictors of their behavior.
The Five-Factor Model of Personality
Research that used the lexical approach showed that many of the personality descriptors found in
the dictionary do indeed overlap. In other words, many of the words that we use to describe people are
synonyms. Thus, if we want to know what a person is like, we do not necessarily need to ask how sociable
they are, how friendly they are, and how gregarious they are. Instead, because sociable people tend to be
friendly and gregarious, we can summarize this personality dimension with a single term. Someone who is

sociable, friendly, and gregarious would typically be described as an “Extravert.” Once we know she is an
extravert, we can assume that she is sociable, friendly, and gregarious.
The most widely accepted system to emerge from this approach was “The Big Five” or “FiveFactor
Model” (Goldberg, 1990; McCrae & John, 1992; McCrae & Costa, 1987). The Big Five comprises five
major traits shown in the Figure 2 below. A way to remember these five is with the acronym OCEAN (O is
for Openness; C is for Conscientiousness; E is for Extraversion; A is for Agreeableness; N is for
Neuroticism). The table below provides descriptions of people who would score high and low on each of
these traits.
Table 1. Descriptions of Personality Traits

Big 5 Trait Definition
Openness The tendency to appreciate new art, ideas, values, feelings, and behaviors.
Conscientiousness The tendency to be careful, on-time for appointments, to follow rules, and
to be hard working.
Extraversion The tendency to be talkative, sociable, and to enjoy others; the tendency to
have a dominant style.
Agreeableness The tendency to agree and go along with others rather than to assert one
owns opinions and choices.
Neurotism The tendency to be frequently experience negative emotions such as anger,
worry, and sadness, as well as being itnerpersonally sensitive.
Table 2. Example behaviors for those scoring low and high for the big 5 traits
Big 5 Trait Example Behavior for LOW Example Behavior for HIGH Scorers
Scorers
Openness Prefers not to be exposed to Enjoys seeing people with new types
alternative moral systems; narrow of haircuts and body piercing;
interest; inartistic; not analystica; curious; imaginative; untraditional
down-to-earth
Conscientiousness Prefers spur-of-the-moment action Never late for a date; organized;
to planning; unrealiable; hardworking; neat, persevering;
hedonistic; careless; lax punctual; self-disciplined
Extraversion Preferring a quiet evening reading Being the life of the party’ active;
to a loud party; sober; aloof; optimistic; fun-loving; affectionate
unenthusiastic
Agreeableness Quickly and confidently asserts Agrees with other about political
own rights; irritable; opinions; good-natured; forgiving;
manipulative; uncooperative; rude gullible; helpful; forgiving
Neurotism Not getting irritated by sall Constantly worrying about little
annoyances; calm, unemotional; things; insecure; hypochondrical;
hardy; secure; self-satisfied feeling inadequate
Scores on the Big Five traits are mostly independent. That means that a person’s standing on one
trait tells very little about their standing on the other traits of the Big Five. For example, a person can be
extremely high in Extraversion and be either high or low on Neuroticism. Similarly, a person can be low in

Agreeableness and be either high or low in Conscientiousness. Thus, in the Five-Factor Model, you need
five scores to describe most of an individual’s personality. In the exercises part of this module there is a short
scale to assess the Five-Factor Model of personality (Donnellan, Oswald, Baird, & Lucas, 2006). You can
take this test to see where you stand in terms of your Big Five scores.
Traits are important and interesting because they describe stable patterns of behavior that persist for
long periods of time (Caspi, Roberts, & Shiner, 2005). Importantly, these stable patterns can have
broadranging consequences for many areas of our life (Roberts, Kuncel, Shiner, Caspi, & Goldberg, 2007).
For instance, think about the factors that determine success in college. If you were asked to guess what
factors predict good grades in college, you might guess something like intelligence. This guess would be
correct, but we know much more about who is likely to do well. Specifically, personality researchers have
also found the personality traits like Conscientiousness play an important role in college and beyond,
probably because highly conscientious individuals study hard, get their work done on time, and are less
distracted by nonessential activities that take time away from school work. In addition, highly conscientious
people are often healthier than people low in conscientiousness because they are more likely to maintain
healthy diets, to exercise, and to follow basic safety procedures like wearing seat belts or bicycle helmets.
Over the long term, this consistent pattern of behaviors can add up to meaningful differences in health and
longevity. Thus, personality traits are not just a useful way to describe people you know; they actually help
psychologists predict how good a worker someone will be, how long he or she will live, and the types of
jobs and activities the person will enjoy.
Who Am I?
Have you ever ask yourself the question, “Who am I?”? Answering the question 'Who am I?' can
lead to a solid self-concept and self-understanding. For many people, answering this question isn't very easy.
For others, a solid understanding of who they are is a big part of their lives. Understanding of who you are
as a person is called self-concept and understanding what your motives are when you act is called self-
understanding.
In definition, self-concept is generally thought of as our individual perceptions of our behavior,

abilities, and unique characteristics—a mental picture of who you are as a person. For example, beliefs such
as "I am a good friend" or "I am a kind person" are part of an overall self-concept.
Self-concept tends to be more malleable when people are younger and still going through the process
of self-discovery and identity formation. As people age, self-perceptions become much more detailed and
organized as people form a better idea of who they are and what is important to them.
According to the book Essential Social Psychology by Richard Crisp and Rhiannon Turner:
• The individual self consists of attributes and personality traits that differentiate us from other
individuals. Examples include introversion or extroversion.
• The relational self is defined by our relationships with significant others. Examples include siblings,
friends, and spouses.
• The collective self reflects our membership in social groups. Examples include British, Republican,
African-American, or gay.

At its most basic, self-concept is a collection of beliefs one holds about oneself and the responses of
others. It embodies the answer to the question "Who am I?". The lesson to follow will facilitate learning
about the self, and self concept.
WEEK 2: THE SELF ACCORDING TO PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy
Philosophy is defined as the study of knowledge or wisdom from its Latin roots,
philo (love) and sophia (wisdom). This field is also considered as “The Queen
of All Sciences” because every scientific discipline has philosophical
foundations.
Various thinkers for centuries tried to explain the natural causes of everything
that exist specifically the inquiry on the self preoccupied these philosophers in the
history. The Greek philosophers were the ones who seriously questioned myths
and moved away from them in attempting to understand reality by exercising the art of questioning that
satisfies their curiosity, including the questions about self. The following lecture will present the different
philosophical perspectives and views about self.
Socrates
• A philosopher from Athens, Greece and said to have the greatest influence on European thought.
• According to the history he was not able to write any of his teachings and life’s account instead, he
is known from the writings of his student Plato who became one of the greatest philosophers of his
time. Socrates had a unique style of asking questions called Socratic Method.
• Socratic Method or dialectic method involves the search for the correct/proper definition of a thing.
In this method, Socrates did not lecture, he instead would ask questions and engage the person in a
discussion. He would begin by acting as if he did not know anything and would get the other person
to clarify their ideas and resolve logical inconsistencies (Price, 2000).
• The foundation of Socrates philosophy was the Delphic Oracle’s that command to “Know Thyself”.
Here, Socrates would like to emphasize that knowing or understanding oneself should be more than
the physical self, or the body.
• According to Socrates, self is dichotomous which means composed of two things: The physical
realm or the one that is changeable, temporal, and imperfect. The best example of the physical realm
is the physical world. The physical world is consisting of anything we sense – see, smell, feel, hear,
and taste. It is always changing and deteriorating. The ideal realm is the one that is imperfect and
unchanging, eternal, and immortal. This includes the intellectual essences of the universe like the
concept of beauty, truth, and goodness. Moreover, the ideal realm is also present in the physical
world. One may define someone as beautiful or truthful, but their definition is limited and imperfect
for it is always relative and subjective. It is only the ideal forms themselves that are perfect,
unchanging, and eternal.
• For Socrates, a human is composed of body and soul, the first belongs to the physical realm because
it changed, it is imperfect, and it dies, and the latter belongs to ideal realm for it survives the death.
Socrates also used the term soul to identify self.

• The self, according to Socrates is the immortal and unified entity that is consistent over time. For
example, a human being remains the same person during their childhood to adulthood given the fact
that they undergone developmental changes throughout their lifespan.
Plato
• A student of Socrates, who introduced the idea of a threepart soul/self that is composed of reason,
physical appetite and spirit or passion.
• The Reason enables human to think deeply, make wise choices and achieve a true understanding of
eternal truths. Plato also called this as divine essence.
• The physical Appetite is the basic biological needs of human being such as hunger, thirst, and sexual
desire. o And the spirit or passion is the basic emotions of human being such as love, anger,
ambition, aggressiveness and empathy.
• These three elements of the self works in every individual inconsistently. According to Plato, it is
always the responsibility of the reason to organize, control, and reestablish harmonious
relationship between these three elements.
• Plato also illustrated his view of the soul/self in “Phaedrus” in his metaphor: the soul is like a winged
chariot drawn by two powerful horses: a white horse, representing Spirit, and a black horse,
embodying appetite. The charioteer is reason, whose task is to guide the chariot to the eternal realm
by controlling the two independent-minded horses. Those charioteers who are successful in setting
a true course and ensuring that the two steeds work together in harmonious unity achieve true
wisdom and banquet with the gods. However, those charioteers who are unable to control their
horses and keep their chariot on track are destined to experience personal, intellectual, and spiritual
failure.
St. Augustine
• He is considered as the last of the great ancient philosophers whose ideas were greatly Platonic. In
melding philosophy and religious beliefs together, Augustine has been characterized as
Christianity’s first theologian.
• Like Plato, Augustine believed that the physical body is different from the immortal soul. Early in
his philosophical development he described body as “snare” or “cage” of the soul and said that the
body is a “slave” of the soul he even characterized that “the soul makes war with the body”. Later
on he came to view the body as “spouse” of the soul, with both attached to one another by a “natural
appetite.” He concluded, “That the body is united with the soul, so that man may be entire and
complete, is a fact we recognize on the evidence of our own nature.”
According to St. Augustine, the human nature is composed of two realms:
1. God as the source of all reality and truth. Through mystical experience, man is capable of
knowing eternal truths. This is made possible through the existence of the one eternal truth
which is God. He further added that without God as the source of all truth, man could
never understand eternal truth. This relationship with God means that those who know
most about God will come closest to understanding the true nature of the world.

2. The sinfulness of man. The cause of sin or evil is an act of mans’ freewill. Moral goodness
can only be achieved through the grace of God.
• He also stated that real happiness can only be found in God. For God is love and he created
humans for them to also love. Problems arise because of the objects humans choose to love.
Disordered love results when man loves the wrong things which he believes will give him
happiness. Furthermore, he said that if man loves God first and everything else to a lesser
degree, then all will fall into its rightful place.
Rene Descartes
• A French philosopher, mathematician, and considered the founder of modern philosophy.
• Descartes, famous principle the “cogito, ergo sum—“I think, therefore I exist” established his
philosophical views on “true knowledge” and concept of self.
• He explained that in order to gain true knowledge, one must doubt everything even own
existence. Doubting makes someone aware that they are thinking being thus, they exist. The
essence of existing as a human identity is the possibility of being aware of our selves: being
self-conscious in this way is integral to having a personal identity. Conversely, it would be
impossible to be self-conscious if we did not have a personal identity of which to be conscious.
In other words, the essence of self is being a thinking thing.
• The self is a dynamic entity that engages in metal operations – thinking, reasoning, and
perceiving processes. In addition to this, self-identity is dependent on the awareness in
engaging with those mental operations.
• He declared that the essential self or the self as the thinking entity is radically different from
the physical body. The thinking self or soul is a non-material, immortal, conscious being,
independent of the physical laws of the universe while the physical body is a material, mortal,
non-thinking entity, fully governed by the physical laws of nature.
• He also maintained that the soul and the body are independent of one another and each can
exist and function without the other. In cases in which people are sleeping or comatose, their
bodies continue to function even though their minds are not thinking, much like the
mechanisms of a clock. He identified the physical self as part of nature, governed by the
physical laws of the universe, and available to scientific analysis and experimentation, and the
conscious self (mind, soul) is a part of the spiritual realm, independent of the physical laws of
the universe, governed only by the laws of reason and God’s will. And because it exists outside
of the natural world of cause-and-effect, the conscious self is able to exercise free will in the
choices it makes.
John Locke
• An English philosopher and physician and famous in his concept of “Tabula Rasa” or Blank Slate
that assumes the nurture side of human development.
• The self, according to Locke is consciousness. In his essay entitled On Personal Identity (from his
most famous work, Essay Concerning Human Understanding) he discussed the reflective analysis
of how an individual may experience the self in everyday living. He provided the following key
points:
1. To discover the nature of personal identity, it is important to find out what it means to be a person.
2. A person is a thinking, intelligent being who has the abilities to reason and to reflect.

3. A person is also someone who considers themself to be the same thing in different times and different
places. Consciousness as being aware that we are thinking always accompanies thinking and is an
essential part of the thinking process.
4. Consciousness makes possible our belief that we are the same identity in different times and different
places.
• Although Locke and Descartes believed that a person or the self is a thinking intelligent being
who has the abilities to reflect and to reason, Locke was not convinced with the assumptions
of Plato, St. Augustine and Descartes that the individual self necessarily exists in a single soul
or substance. For Locke, personal identity and the soul or substance in which the personal
identity is situated are two very different things. The bottom line of his theory on self is that
self is not tied to any particular body or substance. It only exists in other times and places
because of the memory of those experiences.
David Hume
• He was a Scottish philosopher and also an empiricist.
• His claim about self is quite controversial because he assumed that there is no self! In his essay
entitled, “On Personal Identity” (1739) he said that, if we carefully examine the contents of
[our] experience, we find that there are only two distinct entities, "impressions" and "ideas".
• Impressions are the basic sensations of our experience, the elemental data of our minds: pain,
pleasure, heat, cold, happiness, grief, fear, exhilaration, and so on.
• On the other hand, ideas are copies of impressions that include thoughts and images that are
built up from our primary impressions through a variety of relationships, but because they are
derivative copies of impressions, they are once removed from reality.
• Hume considered that the self does not exist because all of the experiences that a person may
have are just perceptions and this includes the perception of self. None of these perceptions
resemble a unified and permanent self-identity that exists over time.
• He further added that there are instances that an individual is limited in experiencing their
perception like in sleeping. Similarly, when someone died all empirical senses end and
according to him, it makes no sense to believe that self exists in other forms. As an empiricist,
Hume provide an honest description and analysis of his own experience, within which there is
no self to be found.
• Hume explained that the self that is being experienced by an individual is nothing but a kind
of fictional self. Human created an imaginary creature which is not real. “Fictional self” is
created to unify the mental events and introduce order into an individual lives, but this “self”
has no real existence.
Sigmund Freud
• A well-known Australian psychologist and considered as the Father and Founder of Psychoanalysis.
His influence in Psychology and therapy is dominant and popular in the 20th to 21st century.
• The dualistic view of self by Freud involves the conscious self and unconscious self.
• The conscious self is governed by reality principle. Here, the self is rational, practical, and
appropriate to the social environment. The conscious self has the task of controlling the constant
pressures of the unconscious self, as its primitive impulses continually seek for immediate discharge.
• The unconscious self is governed by pleasure principle. It is the self that is aggressive, destructive,
unrealistic and instinctual. Both of Freud’s self needs immediate gratification and reduction of
tensions to optimal levels and the goal of every individual is to make unconscious conscious.

• Freud proposed how mind works, he called this as provinces or structures of the mind. By illustrating
the tip of the iceberg which according to him represents conscious awareness which characterizes
the person in dealing with the external world. The observable behavior, however, is further
controlled by the workings of the subconscious/unconscious
mind.
Subconscious serves as the repository of past experiences, repressed
memories, fantasies, and urges. The three levels of the mind are:
1. Id. This is primarily based on the pleasure principle. It
demands immediate satisfaction and is not hindered by
societal expectations.
2. Ego. The structure that is primarily based on the reality
principle. This mediates between the impulses of the id
and restraints of the superego.
3. Superego. This is primarily dependent on learning the
difference between right and wrong, thus it is called
moral principle. Morality of actions is largely
dependent on childhood upbringing particularly on
rewards and punishments.
• According to Freud, there are two kinds of instinct that : /
drive individual behavior – the eros or the life instinct and
the thanatos of the death instinct. The energy of eros is called libido and includes urges necessary
for individual and species survival like thrist, hunger, and sex.in cases that human behaior is
directed towards destruction in the form of aggression and violence, such are the manifestations of
thanatos.
Gilbert Ryle
• A British analytical philosopher. He was an important figure in the field of Linguistic Analysis
which focused on the solving of philosophical puzzles through an analysis of language.
• According to Ryle, the self is best understood as a pattern of behavior, the tendency or disposition
for a person to behave in a certain way in certain circumstances.
• He opposed the notable ideas of the previous philosophers and even claimed that those were results
of confused conceptual thinking he termed, category mistake. The category mistake happens when
we speak about the self as something independent of the physical body: a purely mental entity
existing in time but not space
Immanuel Kant
• A German Philosopher who made great contribution to the fields of metaphysics, epistemology, and
ethics. Kant is widely regarded as the greatest philosopher of the modern period.
• Kant maintained that an individual self makes the experience of the world comprehensible because
it is responsible for synthesizing the discreet data of sense experience into a meaningful whole.
• It is the self that makes consciousness for the person to make sense of everything. It is the one that
help every individual gain insight and knowledge. If the self failed to do this synthesizing function,
there would be a chaotic and insignificant collection of sensations.

• Additionally, the self is the product of reason, a regulative principle because the self regulates
experience by making unified experience possible and unlike Hume, Kant’s self is not the object of
consciousness, but it makes the consciousness understandable and unique.
• Transcendental apperception happens when people do not experience self directly, instead as a unity
of all impressions that are organized by the mind through perceptions. Kant concluded that all
objects of knowledge, which includes the self, are phenomenal. That the true nature of things is
altogether unknown and unknowable (Price, 2000).
• For Kant, the kingdom of God is within man. God is manifested in people’s lives therefore it is
man’s duty to move towards perfection. Kant emphasized that people should always see duty as a
divine command (Price, 2000).
Paul and Patricia Churchland

• An American philosopher interested in the fields of philosophy of mind, philosophy of science,
cognitive neurobiology, epistemology, and perception.
• Churchland’s central argument is that the concepts and theoretical vocabulary that people use to
think about the selves – using such terms as belief, desire, fear, sensation, pain, joy – actually
misrepresent the reality of minds and selves. He claims that the self is a product of brain activity.
• The behavior of the self can be attributed to the neuropharmacological states, the neural activity in
specialized anatomical areas.
• Neurophilosopy was coined by Patricia Churchland, the modern scientific inquiry looks into the
application of neurology to age-old problems in philosophy. The philosophy of neuroscience is the
study of the philosophy of science, neuroscience, and psychology. It aims to explore the relevance
of neurolinguistic experiments/studies to the philosophy of the mind.
• Patricia Churchland claimed that man’s brain is responsible for the identity known as self. The
biochemical properties of the brain according to this philosophy of neuroscience is really responsible
for man’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
• Paul Churchland is one of the many philosophers and psychologists that viewed the self from a
materialistic point of view, contending that in the final analysis mental states are identical with,
reducible to, or explainable in terms of physical brain states. This assumption was made due to the
physiological processes of the body that directly affecting the mental state of the person. The advent
of sophisticated technology and scientific research gives hope to understand the connection between
the physical body and the mind/brain relationship that integrated in the self.
• Being an eliminative materialist, he believes that there is a need to develop a new vocabulary and
conceptual framework that is grounded in neuroscience. This new framework will be a more
accurate reflection of the human mind and self.
Maurice Merleau-Ponty
• A French philosopher and phenomenologist. He took a very different approach to the self and the
mind/body “problem.” According to him, the division between the “mind” and the “body” is a
product of confused thinking. The self is experienced as a unity in which the mental and physical
are seamlessly woven together. This unity is the primary experience of selves and begin to doubt it
when an individual use their minds to concoct abstract notions of a separate mind and body.
Developed the concept of self-subject and contended that perceptions occur existentially. Thus, the
consciousness, the world, and the human body are all interconnected as they mutually perceive the
world. According to him, the world and the sense of self are emergent phenomena in the ongoing

process of man’s becoming. Phenomenology provides a direct description of the human
experience which serves to guide man’s conscious actions. He further added that, the world is a field
of perception, and human consciousness assigns meaning to the world. Thus man cannot separate
himself from his perceptions of the world.
• Perception is not purely the result of sensations nor it is purely interpretations. Rather consciousness
is a process that includes sensing as well as interpreting/reasoning.
References/Sources:
Arcega, A M., Cullar, D. S., Evangelista, L. D. & Falculan, L. M. (2018). Understanding the Self. Malabon
City: Mutya Publishing House Inc.
Gazzingan, L. B. et al. (2019). Understanding the Self. Muntinlupa City: Panday-Lahi Publishing House,
Inc.
Alata, E.J.P., Caslib, B.N., Serafica, J.P.J., Pawilen, R.A. (2018). Unsertanding the Self. Rex Book Store
Inc., Sta Mesa Heights, Quezon City, Philippines
WEEK 3: THE SELF ACCORDING TO SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
Sociology and Anthropology
• Sociology and Anthropology are two interrelated disciplines that contributes to the understanding
of self. Sociology presents the self as a product of modern society. It is the science that studies the
development, structure, interaction, and collective behavior of human being. On the other hand,
Anthropology is the study of humanity. This broad field takes an interdisciplinary approach to
looking at human culture, both past and present. The following set of sociologists and anthropologist
offered their views about self.
George Herbert Mead and the Social Self
• Mead is an American philosopher, sociologist, and psychologist. He is regarded as one of the

founders of social psychology and the American sociological tradition in general. Mead is well-
known for his theory of self.
• He postulated that, the self represents the sum total of people’s conscious perception of their identity
as distinct from others. Mead argued that the self like the mind is social emergent. This means that
individual selves are the products of social interaction and not logical or biological in nature.
• He claimed that the self is something which undergoes development because it is not present
instantly at birth. The self arises in the process of social experience and activity as a result of their
relations to the said process as a whole and to other individuals within that process. In other words,
one cannot experience their self alone, they need other people to experience their self.
• The social emergence of self is developed due to the three forms of inter-subjective activity, the
language, play, and the game.
• He proposed the stages of self formation:
1. Preparatory Stage. Mead believed that the self did not exist at birth. Instead, the self
develops over time. Its development is dependent on social interaction and social

experience. At this stage, children’s behaviors are primarily based on imitation. It was
observed that children imitate the behaviors of those around them. At this stage, knowing
and understanding the symbols are important for this will constitute their way of
communicating with others throughout their lives.
2. The Play Stage. Skills at knowing and understanding the symbols of communication is
important for this constitutes the basis of socialization. Through communication, social
relationship are formed. Now children begin to role play and pretend to be other people.
Role-taking in the play stage is the process of mentally assuming the process of another
person to see how this person might behave or respond in a given situation (Schefer, 2012).
The play stage is significant in the development of the self. It is at this stage where child
widens his perspective and realizes that he is not alone and that there are others around
him whose presence he has to consider.
3. The Game Stage. Here, the child is about eight or nine years of age and now does more
than just role-take. The child begins to consider several tasks and various types of
relationships simultaneously. Through the learnings that were gained in stage two, the
child now begins to see not only his own perspective but at the same time the perspective
of others. In this final stage of self development, the child now has the ability to respond
not just to one but several members of his social environment.
• Generalized other the person realizes that people in society have cultural norms, beliefs and values
which are incorporated into each self. This realization forms basis of how the person evaluate
themselves.
• The self, according to Mead is not merely a passive reflection of the generalized other. The responses
of the individual to the social world are also active, it means that a person decides what they will do
in reference to the attitude of others but not mechanically determined by such attitudinal structures.
Here, Mead identified the two phases of self:
1. the phase which reflects the attitude of the generalized other or the “me”; and
2. the phase that responds to the attitude of generalized other or the “I”.
• In Mead’s words, the "me" is the social self, and the "I" is a response to the "me". Mead defines the
"me" as "a conventional, habitual individual and the “I” as the “novel reply” of the individual to the
generalized other.
• Generally, Meads theory sees the self as a perspective that comes out of interactions, and he sees the
meanings of symbols, social objects, and the self as emerging from negotiated interactions.
The Self as a product of modern society among other constructions Georg

Simmel
• Simmel was a German sociologist, philosopher, and critic. He was intensely interested in the ways
in which modern, objective culture impacts the individual’s subjective experiences.
• In contrast to Mead, Simmel proposed that there is something called human nature that is innate to
the individual. This human nature is intrinsic to the individual like the natural inclination to religious
impulse or the gender differences. He also added that most of our social interactions are individual
motivations.
• Simmel as a social thinker made a distinction between subjective and objective culture. The
individual or subjective culture refers to the ability to embrace, use, and feel culture.
• Objective culture is made up of elements that become separated from the individual or group’s
control and identified as separate objects.

• There are interrelated forces in modern society that tend to increase objective culture according to
Simmel. These are urbanizations, money, and the configuration of one’s social network.
• Urbanization is the process that moves people from country to city living. This result to the
concentration of population in one place brought about by industrialization. This paved way to the
organization of labor or increased division of labor, which demands specializations wherein this
creates more objective culture.
• Simmel also stressed that the consumption of products has an individuating and trivializing effect
because this enables the person to create self out of things. By consumption, an individual able to
purchase things that can easily personalized or express the self. People used commodities to create
self-concept and self-image. Simmel also said that products used in the modernity to express and
produced the self is also changing. It becomes more and more separated from subjectivity
(subjective culture) due to division of labor and market economy. Many products are easily replaced,
subjected to the dynamics of fashion and diversification of markets which leads to inappropriate
sign use.
• Money creates a universal value system wherein every commodity can be understood. Money also
increases individual freedom by pursuing diverse activities and by increasing the options for
selfexpression. Money also makes the individual to be less attached to the commodities because the
individual tends to understand and experience their possession less in terms of their intrinsic
qualities and more of their objective and abstract worth. Additionally, money also discouraged
intimate ties with people. Money comes to stand in the place of almost everything – and this includes
relationship! Money further discourages intimate ties by encouraging a culture of calculation.
• Because of urbanization, Simmel observed that social networks also changed. Group affiliations in
urban is definitely different from rural settings wherein the relationship are strongly influenced by
family. An individual tends to seek membership to the same group which makes the family as basic
socialization structure. This natural inclination to join groups is called by Simmel as organic
motivation and the grouping is called primary group. This group is based on ties of affection and
personal loyalty endure over long periods of time, and involve multiple aspects of a person’s life.
• On the other hand, in the modern urban settings, group membership is due to rational motivation or
membership due to freedom of choice. This characterized the secondary group which is goal and
utilitarian oriented, with a narrow range of activities, over limited time spans. As a result, it is more
likely that an individual will develop unique personalities. Moreover, Simmel said that a complex
web of group affiliations produces role conflicts and blasé attitude. Role conflict is a situation that
demands a person of two or more roles that clash with one another. Blasé attitude is an attitude of
absolute boredom and lack of concern. This is the inability or limited ability to provide emotional
investment to other people.
The Self and Person in the Contemporary Anthropology
• The four subfields of anthropology – Archeology, Biological Anthropology, Linguistics, and

Cultural Anthropology, suggest that human beings are similar and different in varying ways and
tendencies. For example, people have the same need for food and water, but they have different
means on how to satisfy them. These similarities and differences make life so interesting. As one
learn facts/information that make them similar to the other, they will also discover that they have
different characteristics the define them. This knowledge aims to highlight the uniqueness of each
person and making them value life and existence even more. The subfields of Anthropology are as
follows:
• Archeology. Focus on the study of the past and how it may have contributed to the present ways of
how people conduct their daily lives. Archeologists have so far discovered the unique ways in which

human beings adapted to the changes in their environment in order for them to survive. Among their
discoveries around the world is the species, homo sapiens did not become extinct because of their
ability to think, use tools and learn from experience. In relating to the contemporary society, people
still aim for survival, for their basic needs to be fulfilled and to live legacy to their society.
• Biological Anthropology. Focus on how the human body adapts to the different earth environments.
Among the activities of Anthropologists are identification of probable causes of diseases, physical
mutation, and death, evolution, and comparison of dead and living primates. They are interested in
explaining how the biological characteristics of human being affects their way of living.
Accordingly, human beings at present still share the same biological strengths and vulnerabilities.
Like eating balanced nutrients and minerals that are beneficial to all human beings while being
exposed to a virus in a pandemic might cause negative implications to many.
• Linguistic Anthropology. Focused on using language as means to discover a group’s manner of
social interaction and their worldview. Anthropologists in this field want to discover how language
is used to create and share meanings, to form ideas and concepts and to promote social change.
Furthermore, they also study how language and modes of communication changes over time.
• Cultural Anthropology. Focused in knowing what makes one group’s manner of living forms an
essential part of the member’s personal and societal identity. This encompasses the principles of
Theory of Cultural Determinism which suggests that the human nature is determined by the kind of
culture he is born and grew up in. Cultural diversities are manifested in different ways and different
levels of dept. The following are the ways in which culture may manifest itself in people:
▪ Symbols. These are the words, gestures, pictures or objects that have recognized
or accepted meaning in a particular culture. Example: colors have similar meaning
across all cultures.
▪ Heroes. These are persons from the past or present who have characteristics that
are important in culture. They may be real of work of fictions. Example: Fiction
– Thor, Captain America; Real – Jose Rizal, Apolinario Mabini.
▪ Rituals. These are activities participated by a group of people for the fulfilment
of desired objectives and are concerned to be socially essential. Example:
Wedding, fiesta, Christmas celebration, graduation, etc.
▪ Values. These are considered to be the core of every culture. These are
unconscious, neither discuss or observed, and can only be inferred from the way
people act and react to situations. Example: hospitality, respect for elders etc.
• The field of Anthropology offers another way by which a person can view themselves. As self is
formed or determined by the past and present condition, by biological characteristics, the
communication and language use, and the lifestyle we choose to live.
The Self Embedded in the Culture Clifford Geertz

• Clifford Geertz was an Anthropology Professor at the University of Chicago. He studied different
cultures and explored on the conception of the self in his writings entitled, “The Impact of the
Concept of Culture on the Concept of Man” (1966) in his fieldwork at Java, Bali and Morrocco.
• The analysis of Geertz (1966) in his cultural study about the description of self in Bali is that the
Balinese person is extremely concerned not to present anything individual (distinguishing him or
her from others) in social life but to enact exclusively a culturally prescribed role or mask. In one
instance, Geertz (1973) gave an example of the stage fright that pervades persons in Bali because
they must not be publicly recognizable

• as individual selves and actors points precisely to the fact that agency or an ability to act in one’s
own account is an integral ability of human beings—an ability which continually threatens the
culturally established norm of non-individuality
References/Sources:
Inc.
Inc., Sta Mesa Heights, Quezon City, Philippines.
WEEK 4: THE SELF ACCORDING PSYCHOLOGY
Psychology
Psychology is a scientific study of mental processes and

human behavior. It aims to describe, analyze, predict, control human
behavior in general. Self is an essential construct in psychology
because it fulfills the goals of the discipline in studying human and
the reason for their action. Many psychologists tried to define the
origin of mental processes and behavior but they all settle down with
numerous theories and assumptions. The following descriptions on
the formation of self were presented for you to have a clear picture
on the psychological perspective of self.
The Self as Cognitive Construction
• The cognitive aspect of the self is known as self-concept. Self-concept is defined as self-
knowledge, a cognitive structure that includes beliefs about personality traits, physical
characteristics, abilities, values, goals, and roles, as well as the knowledge that an individual exist
as individuals. As humans grow and develop, self-concept becomes abstract and more complex.
• According to the psychologist Dr. Bruce A. Bracken in 1992, there are six specific domains that
are related to self-concept these are:
1) the social domain or the ability of the person to interact with others;
2) the competence domain or the ability to meet the basic needs;
3) the affect domain or the awareness of the emotional states;
4) the physical domain or the feelings about looks, health, physical condition, and overall
appearance;
5) academic domain or the success or failure in the school; and 6) family domain or how well
one function within the family unit.

William James and the Me-Self and I-Self
• William James is a well-known figure in Psychology who is considered as the founder of
functionalism. He brought prominence to U.S. psychology through the publication of The Principles
of Psychology (1890) that made him more influential than his contemporaries in the field.
• James made a clear distinction between ways of approaching the self – the knower (the pure or the
I – Self) and the known (the objective or the Me – Self). The function of the knower (I-Self) according
to James must be the agent of experience. While the known (Me-Self) have three different but
interrelated aspects of empirical self (known today as selfconcept): the Me viewed as material, the Me
viewed as social, and the Me viewed as spiritual in nature.
• The material self is consists of everything an individual call uniquely as their own, such as the body,
family, home or style of dress. On the other hand, social self refers to the recognition an individual get
from other people. Lastly, spiritual self refers to the individual inner or subjective being.
Real and Ideal Self

Carl Rogers
• Carl Rogers is best known as the founder of clientcentered therapy and considered as one of the
prominent humanistic or existential theorists in personality. His therapy aimed to make the person
achieve balance between their selfconcept (real-self) and ideal self.
• The real self includes all those aspects of one's identity that are perceived in awareness. These are
the things that are known to oneself like the attributes that an individual possesses. The ideal self
is defined as one’s view of self as one wishes to be. This contains all the aspirations or wishes of an
individual for themselves.
• A wide gap between the ideal self and the self-concept indicates incongruence and an unhealthy
personality.
• Psychologically healthy individuals perceive little discrepancy between their self-concept and what
they ideally would like to be.
Multiple versus Unified Self
• According to Multiple Selves Theory, there are different aspects of the self exist in an individual.
From here, we can say that self is a whole consist of parts, and these parts manifest themselves when
need arise.
• Gregg Henriques proposed the Tripartite Model of Human Consciousness, wherein he described that
self is consist of three related, but also separable domains these are the experimental self, private
self, and public self.
o The experiential self or the theater of consciousness is a domain of self that defined as felt
experience of being. This includes the felt consistency of being across periods of time. It is tightly
associated with the memory. This is a part of self that disappears the moment that an individual
enter deep sleep and comes back when they wake up.
o The private self consciousness system or the narrator/interpreter is a portion of self that verbally
narrates what is happening and tries to make sense of what is going on. The moment that you read

this part, there is somewhat like a “voice” speaking in your head trying to understand what this
concept is all about.
o Lastly, the public self or Persona, the domain of self that an individual shows to the public, and
this interacts on how others see an individual. Henriques’ Tripartite Model attempts to capture the
key domains of consciousness, both within the self and between others.
• Unified being is essentially connected to consciousness, awareness, and agency. A well-adjusted
person is able to accept and understood the success and failure that they experienced. They are those
kinds of person who continually adjust, adapt, evolve and survive as an individual with integrated,
unified, multiple selves.
True versus False Self

▪ Donald Winnicott
Donald Winnicott was a pediatrician in London who studied Psychoanalysis with Melanie
Klein, a renowned personality theorist and one of the pioneers in object relations and
development of personality in childhood.
According to him, false self is an alternative personality used to protect an individual’s
true identity or one’s ability to “hide” the real self. The false self is activated to maintain
social relationship as anticipation of the demands of others. Compliance with the external
rules or following societal norms is a good example of this. false self can be a healthy self
if it is perceived as functional for the person and for the society and being compliant
without the feeling of betrayal of true self. On the other hand, unhealthy false self happens
when an individual feels forced compliance in any situation.
On the contrary, true self has a sense of integrity and connected wholeness that is rooted in
early infancy. The baby creates experiences of a sense of reality and sense of life worth
living. Winnicott claimed that true self can be achieved by good parenting that is not
necessarily a perfect parenting.
The Self as Proactive and Agentic Albert Bandura
• Albert Bandura is a psychologist and Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at

Stanford University. He is known for his theory of social learning by means of modeling. He is
famous for his proposed concept of selfefficacy.
• His personality theory, The Social Cognitive Theory asserts that a person is both proactive and
agentic, which means that we have the capacity to exercise control over our life. This theory
emphasized that human beings are proactive, self-regulating, self-reflective, and selforganizing.
• Self as proactive means an individual have control in any situation by making things happen. They
act as agent in doing or making themselves as they are. Agency is a defining feature of modern
selfhood. Agents assume some degree of ownership and control over things, both internally (I
control my own thoughts) and externally (I make things happen in the environment). The ability
of an individual to pursue their goals in life is an example of agentic approach to self.
• According to Bandura (1989), self-efficacy beliefs determine how people feel, think, motivate
themselves and
behave. Such beliefs produce these diverse effects through four major processes. They include
cognitive, motivational, affective and selection processes. A strong sense of efficacy enhances human
accomplishment and personal well-being in many ways.

• In contrast Bandura (1989) said that people who doubt their capabilities shy away from difficult
tasks which they view as personal threats. They have low aspirations and weak commitment to the
goals they choose to pursue. When faced with difficult tasks, they dwell on their personal
deficiencies, on the obstacles they will encounter, and all kinds of adverse outcomes rather than
concentrate on how to perform successfully. They fall easy victim to stress and depression.
References:
Inc.
Inc., Sta Mesa Heights, Quezon City, Philippines
WEEK 5: THE SELF IN THE WESTERN AND ORIENTAL/EASTERN

THOUGHT
Western and Oriental/Eastern Thought
Cultural differences and environment creates different perceptions of

the self. The most common distinction between people and cultures is the
Eastern-Western distinction. Eastern are known as the Asian countries, and
Western represents the Europe and Northen America. It must be noted that
countries who are geographically closer to each other my share
commonalities, but factors that may create diffrences must be considered.
Individualistic versus Collective Self
Understanding individualism and collectivism could help in the understanding of the cross-cultural
values of a person. Not every culture is at one end or the other of the spectrum, but the majority tend to
favor one over the other in everyday life.
Individualistic Self
• Individualism is not the idea that individuals should live like isolated entity, nor the idea that they
should never get or give help from others, nor the idea that an individual never owes anything to other
people.
• Individualism is the idea that the fundamental unit of the human species that thinks, lives, and acts
toward goals is the individual. This means that we can form our own independent judgments, act on
our own thoughts, and disagree with others.

• Each adult individual can consider what is in his own best interests. Each can act on his own private
motivations and values and can judge other people as good people to form relationships with, or as bad
people to be avoided. Each can decide whether to cooperate with others to solve problems. Each can
choose to think for himself about the conclusions that the majority of others in a group come to,
accepting or rejecting their conclusions as indicated by his own thought.
• Example of the description would include an individual identifies primarily with self, with the needs
of the individual being satisfied before those of the group. Looking after and taking care of ourselves,
being self-sufficient, guarantees the well-being of the group. Independence and self-reliance are greatly
stressed and valued.
• In general, people tend to distance themselves psychologically and emotionally from each other. One
may choose to join groups, but group membership is not essential to one’s identity or success.
Individualist characteristics are often associated with men and people in urban settings. Western
cultures are known to be individualistic.
Collective Self
• Collectivism is the idea that the fundamental unit of the human species that thinks, lives, and acts
toward goals is not the individual, but some group. In different variants, this group may be the family,
the city, the economic class, the society, the nation, the race, or the whole human species. The group
exists as a super-organism separate from individuals: A group may make its own decisions, acts apart
from the actions of individuals, and has its own interests apart from those of the individuals that
compose it.
• Under collectivism, individuals are analogous to ants in the protection of their queen ant. The
individual ant doesn’t have minds of their own, and generally cannot disagree with the hive. Any ant
that acts in a way contrary to the interests of the group is a malfunctioning ant. If an ant does not follow
the certain pattern of how they protect their queen, it will be entirely unable to support itself, find other
ants that support other queen ant and will surely die in short order. If the malfunctioning ant stays
within the group, it will be a threat to the line appropriate to protecting the queen ant.
• Examples of the collectivist thinking is when our identity is in large part, a function of our membership
and role in a group, e.g., the family or work team. The survival and success of the group ensures the
well-being of the individual, so that by considering the needs and feelings of others, one protects
oneself. Harmony and the interdependence of group members are stressed and valued. Group members
are relatively close psychologically and emotionally, but distant toward non-group members.
Collectivist characteristics are often associated with women and people in rural settings.
• Asian countries are known to be collective in nature.
The Social Construction of the Self in Western Thought
• Self has been an area of interest by French and English philosophers, and evident in the ideas of
Greek philosophers like Socrates and Plato.
• Descartes in 17th century emphasized the self in his dictum “I think therefore I am” which claims
that cognitive basis of the person’s thoughts is proof for the existence of the self.
• Kant believed that the self is capable of actions that entitles it to have rights as an autonomous
agent.

• Here are some qualities imparted to the Western subjective self. It sketches some features on
subjectivity and ways of thinking of western persons. This provides an impressionistic profile
through the use of a few strokes characterizing some ways of being and thinking of many western
persons.
o Western self as analytic. Since analytic and inductive modes of thinking were
prominent for person in western cultures, to see objects as divisible combinations of
yet smaller objects. Real things are not only visualized but immaterial things like
thoughts, ideas and memories would be given emphasis.
o Western self as monotheistic. Monotheism can be known as the rigid consequence of
the doctrine of normal human being. It is like forcing the concentration of supernatural
capabilities.
o Western self as individualistic. The emphasis on individualism has direct and indirect
effects on both the presentation of self (in public ways) and the experience of the self
(in private awareness).
o Western Self as materialistic and rationalistic. The western accentuation of rational,
scientific approach to reality has tended to define spiritual and immaterial phenomena
as potentially superstitious and dangerous. In any society, belief system is stratified
and composed of a hierarchy of interrelated, causal-explanatory models.
The Self as Embedded in Relationships and through Spiritual Development in Confucian Thought
• Confucius was born in the period of the Zhou Dynasty in 551 BCE in the state of Lu. He grew up
poor although he was descended from scholarly family.
• Confucius philosophy is known as humanistic social philosophy which focusses on human beings
and the society in general.
• Confucianism is centered on ren which can be manifested through the li (propriety), xiao (filiality),
and yi (rightness). For Confucius, ren reflects the person’s own understanding of humanity. It is
found within each person and can be realized in one’s personal life and relationship. Ren guides
human actions that makes life worth living which can be realized through li, xiao, and yi:
o Li the propriety. Rules of propriety should be followed to guide human actions. These
rules are the customs, ceremonies, and traditions that forms the basis of li. According
to Confucius, “to master oneself and return to propriety is humanity” (Koller, 2007).
Self mastery involves self development. Self mastery is characterized by self-control
and the will to redirect impulses to change these to socially accepted expression of
human nature. Li conforms to the norms of humanity, thus one must fulfill their duties
and responsibilities in this five (5) relationships: father and son, ruler and subject, older
and younger brothers, husband and wife, friend and friend.
o Xiao the filiality. This is the virtue of reverence and respect for the family. Parents
should be revered for the life they and given. Children show respect to their parents
by exerting efforts to take care of themselves. Reverence for parents and family is
further demonstrated by bringing honor to the family, making something of himself
and to earn respect of other. If, however, the person is having difficulty giving his
family the honor that they deserved, he should just do this best to not disgrace the
family. Relationship that exist in the family reflect hoe the person relates to others in
the community. The family is the reflection of the person. How the person interacts
socially and the values they emulate can all be traced back to their family environment.
This forms the bases of the person’s moral and social virtues (Koller, 2007).

o Yi the rightness. The right way of behaving which is unconditional and absolute. Right
is right, and what is not right is wrong. Actions must be performed and carried out
because they are right actions. Confucius emphasized that actions should be performed
because they are right and not for selfish benefits that they provide.
WEEK 6: PHYSICAL SELF

THE PHYSICAL SELF: BODY IMAGE AND SELF ESTEEM
Understanding the self of in different classification of physical aspects is one way to

discover a person’s real self.
The concept of Physical Self
● The understanding of the Physical self is shaped by biological and environmental factors.
● The Biological blueprint involves Heredity and its important factors. Heredity is defined as the
transmission of traits from parents to offspring. The traits are made up of specific information embedded
within one’s gene. Genotype refers to the specific information embedded within one’s genes; not all
genotypes translate to an observed physical characteristic. Phenotype is the physical expression of a
particular trait. Each individual carries 23 pairs of chromosomes, which are threadlike bodies in the
nucleus of the cell and the storage unit of genes. The 23rd pair, also known as sex chromosomes,
determines the sex of an individual. Within each chromosome is the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA),
which is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions specifying the biological development of
every individual.
● Maturation is known as the completion of growth of a genetic character within an organism or the
unfolding of an individual’s inherent traits or potential.
● As you grow up, you are exposed to environmental influences that shape your physical self, including
those from your social networks, societal expectations, and cultural practices that will lead a person to
understand themselves.
● According to Santrock (2014), self-understanding is the individual’s cognitive representation of self

which consists of substance and the content of self-conceptions. Self-understanding can be described as
simple to perplex and involve a number of aspects of the self. It also changes throughout the life span
as the person grows older.
● As children advance in age, their interests change and with these come changes in their bodies. The
changes are rapid and before parents notice it, they are no longer babies but teenagers. An obvious
change in teenagers are the changes in Physical Self. The Physical Self refers to the concrete dimensions
of the body, it is the tangible aspect of the person which can be directly observed and examined.
● Physical Characteristics are the defining traits or features of a person’s body. This is also the first thing
people see when they look at another person that could include facial features, hairstyle, clothes, or

figure. They encompass everything that one can describe about a person or group of people, by just
looking.
● Erik Erikson believed in the importance of the body from early development because the physical as
well as intellectual skills will somehow serve as a basis to whether a person has achieved a sense of
competence and be able to manage and face the demands of life complexities. William James, on the
other hand, considered the body as the initial source of sensation and necessary for origin and
maintenance of personality.
● A period of rapid physical changes is in Puberty. According to Santrock (2016), puberty is not the same
as adolescence because puberty ends prior to the end of the adolescent period. But the recognized
puberty as the most essential marker of the beginning of adolescence. The changes experienced during
puberty are different from girls and boys. Girls reach puberty earlier than boys and experience
menarche which is her first menstrual flow. Boys, two or three years later, experience spermarche or
semenarche which is his first ejaculation or nocturnal emission (wet dreams).
● Puberty is a brain neuroendocrine process occurring primarily in early adolescence that triggers the rapid
physical changes. The Pituitary gland is the master endocrine gland that controls growth and regulates
functions of all the other endocrine glands including gonads. The chemical substances secreted by the
gonads promotes physical changes such as height, widening of the hips and increase in fatty tissues in
the breast of girls and responsible for boy’s growth of facial and body hair, muscles, and changes in
voice.
The self as impacted by the body
● Different levels of connectedness characterize the relationship between self and body. These
connectedness may be in a positive or negative ways, or in helpful or destructive ways.
Nevertheless, it is between individuals as well as across situations. The potential of the physical
body to be regarded as an object introduces the possibility of trait and state body as well as the
state of the self.
● Perspectives in Understanding Physical Self:

1. Psychodynamic Perspective
Freud’s theory of the ego was primarily known as body ego, that solidifies the importance
of body in understanding the self. The body and its evolving mental representations form the
basis of a sense of self (Krueger, 2002). The development of a body self mainly has three
stages: early psychic experience of the body in which sensations like tactile like in infants
enable babies to discriminate bodies from their surroundings, which contribute to the sense of
self. Next is defining body surface boundaries which is the stage of being awareness of body
image in contrast to surface boundaries. Last stage is the distinguishing of the body’s internal
states which is the stage of having cohesion of the body. In these images and experiences of
the body and the body, surfaces can be organized into holistic understanding of the body.
Theory suggests that Physical body both has objective and subjective components.
Individual’s conception and acknowledgment of their physical bodies substantiate their
assessment of the sense of totality which is an integral to his/her experience of the physical
world. Moreover, one’s experience of one’s physical body may be a key predictor of a variety
of behaviors.

2. Cognitive-Behavioral Perspective
Focuses on perceptual, cognitive, and affective aspects which is a multidimensional
experience that can aid a more precise understanding of the body . The cognitive-
behavioral perspective makes multiple distinctions to facilitate precise conceptual and
operational definitions of body-image related variables.
The cognitive behavioral model of body image recognizes multiple determinants of

body image with a distinction between those determinants that are historical versus those
determinants that are proximal or concurrent that predispose or influence how people come to
think, feel, and act in relation to their body.
3. Feminist Perspective
Relies on the social construction in which there is a possibility of individuals to
experience their bodies in distorted ways (especially, women). women’s dissatisfaction with
their bodies as a systematic social phenomenon rather than a result of individual pathology
(McKinley, 2002).
Specifically, the duality established between the mind and body in Western societies
and the pairing of men with the “mind” and women with the “body” contribute to women
experiencing their bodies differently than men.
● Factors that affect perception of the Physical Self:
1. Personal Factors
a. Introspection and Self-reflection. Looking inward is one of the simplest
ways to achieve self-knowledge. According to Hewstone, et al., (2015)
Introspection is the process is the process by which one observes and
examines one’s internal state (mental and emotional) after behaving in a
certain way.
b. Self-Perception Theory. As stated by Hewstone and Bem (2015)

Selfperception theory explains that since one’s internal state is difficult to
interpret, people can infer their inner states by observing their own
behavior – as if they are an outside observer. Physical perception includes
all aspects of a person’s perception of his physical self.
c. Self-concept. According to Hewstone, et al., (2015), self-concept is a

cognitive representation of self-knowledge which includes the sum total
of all beliefs that people have about themselves. It is a collection of all
individual experience involving one’s characteristics, social roles, values,
goals and fears. Physical concept is the individual’s perception or
description of his physical self, including his physical appearance.
d. Personal Identity. This is the concept a person has about himself that
develops over the years. This includes aspects of his life that he was born
into like family, nationality, gender, physical traits as well as the choices

he makes, such as what he does for living, who his friends are and what
he believes in.
2. Social Factors
a. Attachment Process and Social Appraisal. According to Bowlby (1969),
people learn about their value and lovability when they experience how
their mothers or caregivers care for them and respond to their needs.
b. Maintaining, Regulating and expanding the self in interpersonal

relationships .
c. The Looking-glass Self Theory. Charles Horton Cooley stated that a

person’s self grows out of society’s interpersonal interactions and the
perception of others. The view of oneself comes from a compilation of
personal qualities and impressions of how others perceive the individual.
Therefore, in a looking-glass self, the self-image is shaped and reflected
from the social world. Other people’s reactions would serve as a mirror
in which people see themselves particularly the way in which they are
perceived and judged by others.
d. Social Comparison. The work of Leon Festinger in 1954 introduced

another way of understanding oneself by comparing one’s traits, abilities,
or opinions to that of others. Social Comparison is a process of comparing
oneself with others in order to evaluate one’s own abilities and opinions.
There are two types of social comparison:
● Upward social comparison happens when an individual compares themselves to others who are
better than them.
● Downward social comparison happens when an individual compares themselves to someone who
is in a worse situation than they are in especially when they are feeling low.
e. Social Identity Theory (Collective Identity). This was formulated by tajfel

and Turner 1973 which provides a framework about how people achieve
understanding about themselves by being a member of their group. This
idea assumes that as a member of the group they will not be discriminated
against by an out-group. It will enhance their self-esteem because they
feel secured with the shield of group membership where they belong.
Social groups include gender, ethnicity, religion, profession, political
membership and business organizations.
References:
Inc.

Hewstone, et.al. (2015). An Introduction to Social Psychology. UK: British Psychological Society and John
Wiley and Sons Ltd.
Krueger, D.W. 2002 Integrating body self and psychological self: Creating a new story in psychoanalysis
and psychotherapy. Accessed date: July 24, 2020. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2003-06051-000
McKinley, N. M. (2012). Continuity and change in self-objectification: Taking a life-span approach to
women’s experiences of objectified body consciousness. Accessed date: July 24, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1037/12304-005
Santrock, J (2014) Adolescence. New York, USA: McGraw Hill International edition
Santrock, M (2016) Essentials of Life Span Development 4 th ed. New York, USA: McGraw Hill
International Edition
WEEK 7: PHYSICAL SELF: The Physical Self: Body Image and Self Esteem
Understanding the self includes understanding the surroundings and what influences
our outlook in our beauty. Culture may seem to have an effect also on how people view
themselves and how they construct their images and boost their self-esteem. Physical
aspect of the self may also provide understanding and the importance of beauty.
The Impact of Culture on Body Image and Self-Esteem: The Importance of Beauty
● After going through all the concepts and theories that may affect the person’s view of his physical
self, there’s another factor that strongly impacts this perception, his cultural milieu. Culture is
defined as a social system that is characterized by the shared meanings that are attributed to people
and events by its members.
● There are a lot of movies in the past that are about the body. One of the most successful horror
movies of the 1950s entitled Invasion of the Body Snatcher, wherein human beings were replaced
with new bodies and devoid human emotions. Another is the The Stepford Wives that took the idea
of body replacement. In this movie husbands were killing their wives and replacing them with
robots who look exactly like them, but perfectly submissive. Some other movies about the body
include Shallow Hal (2001), Huge (2010), 200 pound Beauty (2010) and Imperfect (2019).
● The makeup of a body is a collection of cells, combined into organs, which themselves operate in
systems. In humans, that body typically takes on a form with two arms, two legs, a torso, and a
head. But the question is, is there such a thing as a universal decontextualized body? The answer
is no. bodies are shaped in countless ways by culture, by society, and by the experiences that are

shared with a social and cultural context. Since it is also shaped by history, there are always
changing ideas about it. It can be assumed that the body is contingent – meaning molded by factors
outside the body, and internalized into the physical being itself.
● A significant aspect of culture that strongly influences adolescents who are in a face-to-face
encounter with their physical selves is how their culture conceptualizes beauty. Young adolescents
are forced to adhere to society’s definition of beauty lest they be labelled ugly or “pangit” in local
dialect.
● This is what is called the social constructionist approach to understanding the physical self. This
suggests that beauty, weight, sexuality, or race do not simply result from the collection of genes
one inherited from one’s parents. Instead, these bodily features only take on the meaning that they
have. A person may have a certain set of facial features, or weigh a certain number of pounds and
attractiveness will come from the time and place in which they live.
● These meanings occur within a set of culturally constructed power relations which suggest that,
for example, women must be attractive in order to be valuable. But this process does not just
happen after we enter culture. How those features will be interpreted will then be shaped by culture,
but the features themselves will already be present. Meaning what occurs is that once something
comes to take on cultural meaning, it becomes naturalized: people think that things are the way
that they are because they have always been that way. These meanings have been created, and that
they can change, and that there’s nothing natural at all. Even something that seems to be rooted in
the body as disability is partially socially constructed.
● This differs from what might be called an essentialist view of the body. Essentialism means that
bodies are defined entirely by their biological make-up – bones, muscles, hormones, and the like.
Much of human behavior can also be reduced to many of those biological functions, it is referred
to by social scientists call a reductionist idea that complex human behaviors can be reduced to
something as simple as, for example, hormones. This simply means that we cannot understand the
biological organism without first understanding social, cultural, and historical context in which it
exists.
● Another example of how norms of masculinity and femininity shape not just behavior, but public
perceptions are those people who did activities of the other gender. They were praised at the same
time and criticized just by doing what is not expected to their gender. With this, the idea that the
body is marked with culture and society is the term social skin to refer to the ways in which social
categories become inscribed onto physical body. Through the social skin, the body becomes the
symbolic stage on which dramas of society are enacted. This idea is from the anthropologist
Terence Turner (1980).
● Another anthropologist, Mary Douglas (1973) said that the body is the most natural symbol for
and medium of classification, and thus rules associated with controlling the body and its processes
emerge as a powerful means of social control. She is the one who centralized the analysis of the
body focused on traditional societies. Therefore, the physical body is a threat to the social body.
Further, she finds that societies with strict social limits would regard boundaries with caution
including bodily boundaries.

● In sociology, how the body operates as a focus and symbol has been understood as well. In the
fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries, the civilization process includes the beginning of
Europeans to internalize many of the external forms of social control; however, shame and
embarrassment took place, controlling their behaviors from within. This control of behavior from
within was made as theory by Erving Goffman (1982) which is called the Dramaturgical theory.
The theory suggests that we are all actors on a stage, and much of what we do is engage in
impression management during which we must monitor and adjust our own behavior in accordance
with how people want others to perceive them.
● A woman is what she wears – this statement is from the work of Janes Gaines on fashion (1990)
which implies that women are often defined completely by their clothing –. In this study, it suggests
that people have body images. Body image can be described as a representation of how individuals
think and feel about their own physical attributes. Body image is both internal (personal) and
external (society).
● This includes (1) how a person perceives his body, (2) how a person feels about their physical
appearance, (3) how a person thinks and talks to themselves about their bodies, and (4) a sense of
how other people view their bodies. Though sometimes how a person looks has possibly never
held as much as societal importance or reflected so significantly on our perceived self-worth.
● Body image is the mental representation one creates, but it may or may not bear close relation to
how others actually see you. Body image is subject to all kinds of distortion from internal elements
like our emotions, moods, early experiences, attitudes of our parents, and much more. The mass
media has increasingly become a platform that reinforce cultural beliefs and projects strong views
on how we should look, that we as individuals often unknowingly validate. With such strong
societal scrutiny, it is easy to see how the focus is on negative body image. Nevertheless, it strongly
influences behavior. Preoccupation with and distortions of body image are widespread among
American women (and to a lesser extent, among males), but they are driving forces in eating
disorders, feeding severe anxiety than can be assuaged only by dieting.
● Having a sense of understanding that healthy attractive bodies come in many shapes and sizes, and
that physical appearance says very little about the character or value of a person, a person can have
a positive body image. How to get to this point depends on the acceptance and esteem that a person
has for himself. This can be related to the meaning of self-esteem. In which, it is related to how
much a person likes himself, how they recognize or appreciate their individual character, qualities,
skills, and accomplishments. Like body image, self-esteem can also be based on how a person
thinks other people look at them as a person.
● Self-esteem is the overall evaluation that a person has of himself which can be positive or negative,
high or low. Self esteem is a measure of the person’s self-worth based on some personal or social
standard. It is a global evaluative dimension of the self.
● Self-esteem is how valuable to himself and others he person perceives himself to be. Needless to
say, people with positive or high self-esteem are happier, have a sense of accomplishment and
purpose and relate well with others.
● The impact of culture on body image and self-esteem has been very crucial for sometimes people
depend on this as when they define beautiful. It has been assumed that preferences for beauty are
gradually learned through cultural transmission and exposure to contemporary media.

● Charles Darwin in 1871 became one of the first persons, if not the first, to think and write
extensively about human beauty from a biological point of view, concluding that there is no
universal standard of beauty with respect to the human body and attempts to determine underlying
dimensions of beauty are futile. However, in 1985, contrary to Darwin’s beliefs, Samuels and Ewy
showed that both 3-month-old and 6-month-old infants looked longer at male and female faces
previously rated as attractive by adults, suggesting that infants have the cognitive ability to
discriminate attractiveness. These findings have been further supported, and it has even been
shown that young infants show preferences for attractive faces, measured by looking time, that
transcends gender, race, and age. Problems and other issues will arise when a person’s definition
of body image is different from the understanding of beauty.
● Young people put so much pressure on themselves to attain unrealistic ideals to the point of risking
mental and physical health is unacceptable. The following are some aspects in culture that may
have led to some misconceptions:
1. Society’s ideal for the perfect physical form for men and women.
2. Images of perfection brought by all types of media i.e print, television, film, and
internet.
3. Since a standard has been set by society and reinforced by the media, any
characteristic that does not conform to the standard is labelled as ugly. Body
diversity in size and structure due to genetic heritability is not tolerated.
● These misconceptions strongly affect how the young form their body image and its influence on
their self-esteem. Knowing that adolescence is the period where self-identity is formed, it is
important for adults in the environment to listen to these young people and provide proper guidance
and support.
● Yes, beauty is important. But being beautiful still depends how a person defines beauty and the
standards he sets to meet this definition. It is a big mistake to base beauty on some else’s standard.
People are different and each one is uniquely beautiful.
References:
Douglas, M (1973) Self-Evidence. Accessed July 24, 2020.

https://us.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-assets/66916_book_item_66916.pdf
Gaines, J (1980). Material Possession. Accessed July 24, 2020.

https://faculty.washington.edu/jdb/452/452_chapter_02.pdf
Inc.

WEEK 8: SEXUAL SELF
THE SEXUAL SELF: BODY IMAGE AND SELF ESTEEM
This section tackles one of the most crucial aspects of human development, the sexual self. It
highlights biological and environmental factors that shape sexual
development. Being a complex and amazing structure, the human body is a
source of strength, beauty, and wonder. Like a well-designed machine, a
healthy body has parts whose parts function smoothly together. Like a
harmonious orchestra that musicians play together, they produce beautiful
music, a healthy body that has parts whose operations are in harmony with
others.
Introduction
● Sexual selfhood is defined as how one thinks about himself or herself as a sexual individual. Human
sexuality is a topic that just like beauty is culturally diverse. This should be understood in varied
ways.
1. Historical.
● In Ancient Greece, it is the male that assumes the dominant

role. The male symbol, the penis, was viewed as the symbol
of fertility and how the male body was structured and was
greatly admired. Their wives were considered as objects to be
possessed just like property. Women, on the other hand, were
forbidden to own property and had no legal and only function
was to bear children. The Greek word for woman is “gyne”
means – bearer of children.
● In the Middle Ages (476-1450), bore witness to the strong influence of church particularly in
matters of sexuality. The church decreed that all sexual acts that do not lead to procreation were
considered evil. Women were labelled as either temptress (like Eve) or a woman of virtue (like
Virgin Mary).
● In the protestant reformation of the 16th century (1483-1546) Martin Luther, John Calvin and other
Protestant leaders initiated a movement against the Roman Catholic Church. Protestantism

believed that sexuality is a natural part of life and that priests should be able to marry and have
families. Martin Luther King and John Calvin believed that the reason for sexual intimacy was to
strengthen the physical and emotional bond between husbands and wives and not just procreation.
● By the 17th and 18th century, the Puritans, a group of people who were discontented with the Church
of England rallied for religious, moral and societal reformation. They had positive view on marital
sex and did not tolerate sex outside marriage. Premarital sex, therefore, was considered immoral.
● In the Victorian Era (1837-1901), homosexuality and prostitution were rampant and considered to
be threats to social order. People in this era were not comfortable in discussing breast or buttocks,
they used other terms instead.
● Through the years and in the 20th century, interest in sexuality became more evident and accepted
in society. The separation of church and state reduced the influence the church had over sexual
mores. Also, the rise of feminism allowed for changes in employment, home life, and sexual
standards for women. Over time, cultural diversity and social norms offered varied views on what
today may be considered as sexually normal.
2. Biological.
● Knowing the structures and functions of the reproductive system is essential to the understanding
of sexuality. In the nervous system, it is the brain that initiates and organizes sexual behavior.
Through the process of sexual reproduction, the next generation of human beings are created by
the fusion of the egg cell and sperm cell. This will be discussed further in the next pages.
3. Sociobiological/Evolutionary.
● This perspective studies how evolutionary forces

affect sexual behavior. According to sociobiological
theory, natural selection is a process by which organisms
that are best suited to their environment are most likely to
survive. Traits that lead to reproductive advantage tend to
be passed on, whereas maladaptive traits are lost. On the
basis of human sexual behavior, it all begins with physical
attraction.
● Beauty is more than just cultural standard. It is

primarily an evolutionary standard for attracting the best
male or female in the lot to ensure that one’s genetic
characteristics will be passed on to the next generation.
● Although survival is the goal of the evolutionary perspective, physical attraction which ends in sex
does not mean that the attraction will be lasting. For what is really important in human sexual
relationships is the love, care, and responsibility each gender has for the other.
4. Psychological

● Rosenthal (2013) also explained that sexuality is not a mere physical response. Rather, it also
involves emotions, thoughts and beliefs.
● Sigmund Freud was one of the most prominent people to explain sexuality, through his theories.
According to him, human beings are faces with two forces – sex instinct and libido (pleasure) and
death or aggressive instinct (harm toward oneself or towards others).
● Sex instinct does not only pertain to the sexual act rather it could also mean anything that could
give pleasure to the person. Thus, human behavior is geared towards satisfying the sex instinct
and/or death instinct. A person’s libido or sexual energy is located in an area of the body at different
psychosexual stages. These areas of pleasure are called erogenous zones. These will be discussed
further in the following pages.
● Freud also regarded personality as composed of three structures: the id, the Ego and the Superego.
The id is the part which always seeks for pleasure and aggression. It follows the pleasure principle
because it wants the person to attain gratification immediately. It is unconsciously saying “I want
it now!”. The Superego is the person’s sense of morality; it follows the moral principle whose role
is to restrict demands of the id. It is developed when children are taught the difference between
right and wrong. The ego follows the analytical principle. It analyses the need of the id and its
consequences as dictated by the superego and thinks of ways to satisfy the need in an acceptable
manner.
5. Religious
● Judaism holds a positive and natural outlook toward marital sex which they consider as blessed by
God and pleasurable for both men and women. Sexual connection provides an opportunity for
spirituality and transcendence.
● In Islam, family is considered of utmost importance, and celibacy within marriage is prohibited.
Muslim men are allowed to have up to four wives but Muslim women can only have one husband.
Sex is permitted only within marriage and extramarital sex is penalized.
● According to Taoism, which originated in China, sex is not only natural and healthy, but a sacred
union necessary to people’s physical, mental, and spiritual being. The sexual union is a way to
balance male and female energy.
● In Hinduism, sexuality is seen as spiritual force, and the act of ritual lovemaking is a means of
both celebrating and transcending the physical
● For the Roman Catholic Church, marriage is purely for intercourse and procreation. Pope John
Paul II confirmed the idea that married couples should engage in intercourse only for the purpose
of procreation. They further believed that homosexual orientation, in itself is not sinful, but
homosexual acts are immoral and sinful. The use of birth control is strongly opposed but they agree
to natural family planning and prohibit abortion.
Development of Secondary Sex Characteristics and Reproductive System

● This part is understanding the sexual self in Biological manner.
● From a purely physical standpoint, our bodies are made mainly of water. We are also made of
many minerals, including calcium, phosphorous, potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine,
magnesium, and iron. In order of size, the elements of the body are organized into cells, tissues,
and organs. Related organs are combined into systems, including the musculoskeletal,
cardiovascular, nervous, respiratory, gastrointestinal, endocrine, and reproductive systems
● There are two kinds of reproduction: asexual and sexual. Many biochemical events must occur
before an organism can reproduce either way.
1. Asexual reproduction
The simplest form of reproduction that literally means without sex. A single celled animal
grows to a certain stage or size and divides into two identical organisms. Multi-celled asexual
organisms have developed several unique reproductive strategies. For example, the jellyfish
reproduces by budding, a process where a new individual begins to grow (bud) from the
original organism and is eventually released as a small, free swimming organism.
2. Sexual reproduction
In organisms that reproduce sexually, there are males and females and reproduction occurs
when partners come together. This also involves reproductive cells, including a female ovum
(egg) and a male’s sperm.
● Network of organs and signaling molecules happened in the process of the human reproductive
system. In which, interaction and communication make it possible to the human ability to
produce and bear live offspring. It is distinguished from all other organ systems of the human
body by the fact that it is composed of two anatomically different organ plans, one for the
female and one for the male. It is also a slow-developing system, with the reproductive organs
obtaining full maturity at some point during adolescence, the transitional phase of growth and
development between childhood and adulthood.
● In both male and female embryos, the tissues that will form the structures of the internal
genitalia that are destined to develop in only one way, either as structures in the female
reproductive system or structures in the male reproductive system, but not both.
● Provided all organs are present, normally constructed, and functioning properly, the seven
essential features of human reproduction are:
o (1) liberation of an ovum, or egg, at a specific time in the reproductive cycle; o (2)
internal fertilization of the ovum by spermatozoa, or sperm cells; o (3) transport of
the fertilized ovum to the uterus, or womb;
o (4) implantation of the blastocyst, the early embryo developed from the fertilized
ovum, in the wall of the uterus;
o (5) formation of a placenta and maintenance of the unborn child during the entire
period of gestation;
o (6) birth of the child and expulsion of the placenta; and
o (7) suckling and care of the child, with an eventual return of the maternal organs to
virtually their original state.

● The male reproductive system essential parts are as follows:
1. Penis – a male sexual organ consisting of the internal root and external shaft and glans.
2. Root – the portion of the penis that extends internally into the pelvic cavity.
3. Shaft – the length of the penis between the glans and the body.
4. Glans – the head of the penis; richly endowed with nerve endings.
5. Cavernous bodies – the structures in the shaft of the penis that engorge with blood during sexual
arousal.
6. Foreskin – a covering of skin over the penile glans.
7. Corona – the rim of the penile glans.
8. Frenulum – a highly sensitive, thin strip of skin that connects the glans to the shaft on the
underside of the penis.
● The female reproductive system essential parts are as follows:
1. Vulva – encompasses all female external genital structures – the hairs, fold of skin, and the urinary
and vaginal openings.
a. Mons Veneris – a triangular mound over the pubic bone above the vulva.
b. Labia majora – the outer lips of the vulva.
c. Labia minora – the inner lips of the vulva, one on each side of the vaginal opening.
d. Prepuce – the foreskin or fold of skin over the clitoris.
e. Clitoris – a highly sensitive structure of the female external genitals, the only function of
which is sexual pleasure.
f. Shaft – the length of the clitoris between the glans and the body.
g. Glans – the head of the clitoris; richly endowed with nerve endings.
h. Cruca – the innermost tips of the cavernous bodies that connect to the pubic bones.
i. Vestibule – the area of the vulva inside the labia minora.
j. Urethra – the tube through which urine passes from the bladder to outside the body.
2. Internal Structure
a. Vagina – a stretchable canal in the female that opens at the vulva and extends about four inches
into the pelvis.
b. Rugae – the folds of tissue in the vagina.
c. Cervix – the small end of the uterus, located at the back of the vagina.
d. Uterus – a pear shaped organ inside the female pelvis, within which the fetus develops.
e. Fallopian tubes – two tubes in which the egg and sperm travel, extending from the sides of
the uterus.
f. Ovaries – female gonads that produce ova and sex hormones.
● These are the parts of the reproductive organs that are considered to be important. The primary
and secondary characteristics refer to specific physical differentiate males and females in
sexually dimorphic species – species having two forms that are determined by their sex; that
is, species in which males and females look different from each other. Primary characteristics

are there from birth (for example, penises and vaginas). Secondary sexual characteristics
emerge at puberty (such as low voices and beards in men, and high voices and no facial hair
in women). Samples includes:
● These secondary sexual characteristics are not used in reproduction, but are apparent in most
dimorphic species. Hormones secreted through the hypothalamus initiate the development of
classically male or female secondary sexual traits.
● These secondary sex characteristics can

also be known as some of the first changes in a
boy are the growth of his and growth of pubic
hair. Later, the chest becomes larger, hair grows in
the armpits, muscles grow in the arms and legs
and shoulders become larger and stronger.
● In some males, hair also grows on the

chest, but generally, Asian men are less hairy and
less muscular than Caucasian men, and those from
Africa have coarser body hair. Facial hair, which
usually grows first above the lips and later grows
on the cheeks, may grow into a mustache and
beard unless the boy shaves regularly.
The larynx (voice box) becomes larger as well,
resulting in a deeper voice. In girls, pubic hair begins to grow, followed by underarm hair;
breasts develop, with the areola around the nipple becoming darker. Fat deposits around the
hips and buttocks also contribute to the female's more rounded appearance.
● With girls, the menstrual cycle begins, it may be irregular, with some monthly cycles occurring
without ovulation. Since 1840, menstruation has been beginning a few months earlier every
decade, possibly due to better nutrition or to the consumption of meat that contains hormones.
In general, girls gain less height and weight than boys do during their teenage years.
● The list below shows some of these characteristic differences between human males and
females.
For boys, these include For girls, these include
● More pronounced body hair ● Less pronounced body hair

characteristics (beard, chest, etc.) characteristics (mostly in pubic
and usually more coarse region, hair all over is usually
finer)
● ● Heavier musculature ●
Angular features (i.e. square jaw, ● Lighter musculature
● triangular mid region) Rounded features (i.e. softer facial
● Narrow hips ● features, hourglass mid-region)
● ● Muscular pectorals (chest) ● Wider hips (for child bearing)
Less fat tissue overall More pronounced breasts with more
Deeper voice ● fatty tissue

More fat tissue overall
● Higher voice
● Puberty is the stage of physical maturation in which an individual becomes physiologically

capable of sexual reproduction. The biological changes include: (1) neurosecretory factors
and/or hormones, (2) modulation of somatic growth, and (3) initiation of the development of
the sex glands. The physiology of puberty includes also the activation of the hypothalamic
pituitarygonadal axis which induces and
enhances the progressive ovarian and
testicular sex hormone secretion.
● It is also responsible for the profound

biological, morphological, and psychological
changes to which adolescent is subjected. In
addition, there are sex steroid production Source: https://goo.gl/8NsTKd
which appearance and maintenance of sexual
characteristics are included as well as the
person’s capacity for reproduction.
● Puberty proceeds through five stages from

childhood to full maturity as described by
Marshall and Tanner (2006). In both sexes,
these stages reflect the progressive modifications of the external genitalia and of sexual hair.
Secondary sex characteristics appear at a mean age of 10.5 years in girls and 11.5 to 12 years
in boys.
● Puberty Stages (Female )

P1 Pre-pubertal
P2 Early development of sub-areolar breast bud
+/- small amounts of pubic hair and axillary hair P3
Increase in size of palpable breast tissue and areolar
Increase amount of dark pubic hair and axillary hair
P4 Further increase in breast size and areolae that protrude above breast level
Adult Pubic hair
P5 Adult Stage
Pubic hair with extension to upper thigh

● The prepubertal uterus is tear-drop shaped, with the neck and isthmus accounting for up to
twothirds of the uterine volume; then, with the production of estrogens, it becomes pear shaped,
with the uterine body increasing in length and thickness proportionately more than the cervix.
● The rising levels of plasma gonadotropins stimulate the ovary to produce increasing amounts of
estradiol. Estradiol is responsible for the development of secondary sexual characteristics, that is,
growth and development of the breasts and reproductive organs, fat redistribution (hips, breasts),
and bone maturation. The maturation of the ovary at adolescence correlates well with estradiol
secretion and the stages of puberty.
● During puberty, plasma estradiol levels fluctuate widely, probably reflecting successive waves of
follicular development that fail to reach the ovulatory stage. The uterine endometrium is affected
by these changes and undergoes cycles of proliferation and regression, until a point is reached
when substantial growth occurs so that withdrawal of estrogen results in the first menstruation
(menarche). Female secondary sexual characteristics include breast development, pubic and/or
axillary hair, and menses occur earlier than normal variations from the mean, the terms premature.
Puberty Stages (Males)
P1 Prepubertal
Testicular length less than 2.5 cm
P2 Early increase in testicular size, scrotum

slightly pigmented
Few long and dark pubic hair
P3 Testicular length 3.3-4 cm

Lengthening of the penis, increase of pubic hair
P4 Testicular length 4.1-4.5 cm, increase in

Source: https://goo.gl/d314zv
length and thickening of the penis
Adult amount of pubic hair
● Secondary sexual development in boys includes growth kinetics are enhanced from early puberty
on, this is on maximal velocity of attaining it only around 14 to 15 years of age. Testis increases in
size, mainly at the expense of the seminiferous tubules. Also the interstitial (leydig) cells develop
and ensure synthesis and secretion of testosterone. A testicular volume of 4ml or a longitudinal
diameter greater than or equal to 2.5 cm and a slight progressive increase in scrotal folds and
pigmentation constitute the first signs of puberty. The increase in testicular size observed during
pre puberty and puberty results essentially from the development of the seminiferous tubules.
● The testicular volume increases throughout puberty up to Tanner stage P4 when a longitudinal
diameter of 5.0 + 0.5 cm or a volume of 17.6 + 4.0 ml is reached. A significant increase of plasma
testosterone is found only between Tanner pubertal stages P3 and P4. Dihydrotestosterone shows
a pattern similar to that of testosterone, and the proportion of dihydrotestosterone to testosterone

decreases gradually until adulthood, when dihydrotestosterone levels are approximately 10% of
those of testosterone.
● Remember, that at the start of puberty, changes that happen in the bodies of young males and
females are both secondary and primary sexual changes. Whereas, secondary sexual changes are
physical changes that distinguish males from females.
Discussing Erogenous Zones
● This part could be understanding the sexual self in a Psychological manner.
● Erogenous zones can be understood in a certain way we understand our body. These are areas of
the human body that have heightened sensitivity. The stimulation of these areas may result in the
foundation and production of sexual fantasies, sexual arousal, and orgasm. These are areas that are
more sensitive than others all over the body.
● Varieties of sexual excitement may be provoked that will classify the erogenous zones. Erogenous
zones vary from culture to culture and over time. Essentially, these parts have high concentration
of nerve endings, that the result is they are particularly sensitive to touch, pressure, or vibration.
● In psychology, the five stages of Freud’s psychosexual theory of development:
1. Oral stage, the child erogenous zone is the mouth which receives gratification through
eating and sucking.
2. Anal stage, the erogenous zone is the anus in which sexual gratification is derived from
defecation
3. Phallic stage, erogenous zone is the genitals. Here the child experiences sexual attraction
towards the opposite sex parent. Oedipus complex (sexual attraction of the body child
toward the mother) and Electra complex (sexual attraction of the girl child towards the
father)
4. Latency stage, sexual impulses lie dormant as the child is occupied by social activities
such as going to school and playing.
5. Genital stage, where the erogenous zone is again the genitals. At this time, the sexual
attraction is directed towards others, usually one of opposite sex.

According to his theory, each stage of psychosexual development must be met successfully for proper
development; if we lack proper nurturing and parenting during a stage, we may become stuck in, or fixated
on, that stage. Freud’s psychosexual
theory has been seriously criticized
for the past few decades and is now
considered largely outdated.
However, the erogenous zones were
discussed in each of the stages of
psychosexual development, that if
not outgrown will have fixations for
that certain stage.
● Erogenous zones is
different from
sexual fetishes.
According to
Freud, a fetish is an
inappropriate object (a
shoe for example) that is
substituted for a woman
and used for
sexual gratification.
An erogenous zone
is a body part (a foot, for
instance) that arouses
sexual curiosity and
draws a man's attention to
the whole female body.
Fetishism is an individual
personality disorder, while
erogenous zones are
sexual preferences
shared by most men at a
given time or place.
Fetishes belong to
the science of psychopathology while erogenous zones belong to the social world of costume and
fashion.
● The phrase erogenous zones was coined near the end of the nineteenth century and used in the
early twentieth century by some psychologists to describe how simple pressure to these parts of
the body could arouse complete orgasm in what were defined as hysterical persons (generally
understood to be women).
● The second general meaning of the phrase, to be dealt with at some length here, refers to a visual
phenomenon associated with clothing and body adornment. For cultural anthropologists,
erogenous zones are those areas of the female body which men find sexually arousing and which
women alter or adorn to attract the male eye.

● Because of this understanding, it can be noted that culture determines their unique fixation for
erogenous zones. Examples are Asian men prize the nape of the neck while Europeans are fixated
with waist. In defiance of common sense, the genitals rarely become erogenous zones.
● Human increases their likeness through body paint, cosmetics, mutilation or other procedures like
Western women paint their lips red, enhancing resemblance to the labia; Aristocratic Chinese
women bound their feet so it would be tiny, curled feet more closely resembled the vulva. More
societies alter their erogenous zones to make them more beautiful or prominent.
Understanding Human Sexual Response
● One of the great qualities of a human being is its ability to be modified by experiences. This process
is known as learning and conditioning, which most of the aspects of human behavior, even sexual
behavior appear to be a product of it. Like the preferences people have of type of individual as
partners – tall, short, younger, or varieties of partners like heterosexual/homosexual. The
classification of behavior as normal or away from normal represents culture based rather than
scientifically explained.
● As part of the transition from childhood to adulthood, all adolescents experience sexual feelings.
Some act upon these feelings by having sexual intercourse; others don’t have intercourse but
engage in behaviors stopping short of penile/vaginal intercourse; some engage in anal intercourse
or oral sex (Remez, 2000); and others deny their sexual feelings by focusing intensely on nonsexual
pursuits.
● Other adolescents are able to have socially acceptable intercourse through early, sometimes
prearranged, marriages. Sexual behavior among adolescents is not new – what is new is the delay
in marriage that attends increasing educational attainment, and non-agricultural and increasingly
technological free market societies.
● Individuals become erotically aroused when they observe other individuals engaging in sexual
activity. The human sexual response can be understood through a cycle. This is also called the
sexual response cycle. It refers to the sequence of physical and emotional changes that occur as a
person becomes sexually aroused and participates in sexually stimulating activities.
● Advantages can be known if a person would know how their bodies respond during each cycle.
Men and women experience sexual arousal very differently, not only physiologically but
psychologically. For many women, the excitement phase has much more of an emotional
component. Women are motivated to have sexual responses by a need for emotional intimacy. It is
this motivation that causes them to react to sexual stimuli and thus enter the excitement phase.
● Master and Johnson categorized the human sexual response into four stages which they called the
Human Sexual Response Cycle (HSRC);

Stage Description
Excitement This is the body’s initial response to sexual arousal.
It is characterized by an increase in heart rate and blood pressure as

well as heightened muscle tone.
Plateau This is the period of sexual excitement prior to orgasm
It is characterized by intensification of the changes begun during the

excitement phase.
Orgasm This is characterized by waves of intense pleasure (climax), often

associated with vaginal contractions in females and ejaculation in
males.
Resolution In this phase the body returns to its non-excited stage.
● Sexual response varies from person to person and sexual fulfillment can occur without the
completion of all phases described by Master and Johnson. Rosenthal (2013) has included the stage
of desire prior to excitement which is a drive or motivation to seek out sexual objects or to engage
in sexual activities.
References:
Inc.
Marshall, E. and Tanner, S. Introduction to Psychology. Accessed July 28, 2020.

https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontopsychology/chapter/6-3-adolescence-developing-independence-
andidentity/
Master, A. and Johnson, T. Human Sexual Response. Accessed July 28, 2020.
https://canvas.du.edu/courses/24161/files/1152570
Remez, R. Developing Adolescene. Accessed July 28, 2020.

https://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/develop.pdf
Rosenthal, M. (2013). Human Sexuality from Cells to Society. Asia: Cengage Learning Seventeeth
congress (First Regular session). Accessed July 20, 2020.
http://www.congress.gov.ph/legisdocs/first_17/CR00101.pdf

WEEK 9: SEXUAL SELF: THE SEXUAL SELF: UNDERSTANDING SEXUAL
BEHAVIOR, STIS AND CONTRACEPTION.
This section will provide understanding on the developing a sexual self-concept that
is an important developmental task of adolescence; however, little empirical evidence
describes this development, nor how these changes are related to development in
sexual behavior. Highlight of this part is the understanding of the chemistry of love,
lust and attachment; The Psychological aspect; the sexually diverse behavior;
Sexually Transmitted Disease (STIs) and Contraception.
Understanding the Chemistry of Lust, Love, and Attachment
● According to anthropologist Helen Fisher (2016) there are three stages of falling in love. In
each stage, a different set of brain chemicals run the show. These stages are lust, attraction,
and love.
1. Lust
● When people are in the

stage of lust, they feel Source: https://goo.gl/rKRP9d
physically attracted and
drawn to their object of
affection. There are
elements of mystery that
make things exciting.
● Lust is driven by the desire

for sexual gratification.
The evolutionary basis for
this is from people’s need
to reproduce, a need shared
among all living things.
● Through reproduction,
organisms pass on their
genes, and contribute to
the perpetuation of
their species. The
hypothalamus of the brain plays a big role in this, stimulating the production of the sex
hormones testosterone and estrogen from the testes and ovaries.
● While these chemicals are often stereotyped as being male and female, respectively, both
play a role in men and women. As it turns out, testosterone increases libido in just about
everyone. The effects are less pronounced with estrogen, but some women report being more
sexually motivated around the time they ovulate, when estrogen levels are highest.

2. Attraction
● Attraction is characteristic that causes pleasure or interest by appealing to a person’s desires or

tastes, and causes one to be drawn to the other.
● In this stage, a person may begin to be obsessed about their object of affection and crave for
his presence. A person may don’t feel like sleeping or eating. People can certainly lust for
someone they are attracted to, and vice versa, one can happen without the other.
● .Attraction has brain pathways that controls “reward” behavior, which explains the first few
months of a relationship. Dopamine is the main player in the brain’s reward pathway. When it
is released, people feel good. In this case, these things spending time with loved ones with high
levels of dopamine and related hormones (norepinephrine) are released.
● These chemicals make

people energetic, and
euphoric that can lead to
decreased appetite and
insomnia – which actually
means a person is so “in love”
that this person cannot eat or
cannot sleep. In addition,
norepinephrine plays a large
role in the fight or flight
response, which has a say
when people are stressed and
kept them alert.
● Brain scans of people in love have actually shown that the primary “reward” centers of the
brain. Finally, attraction seems to lead to a reduction in serotonin, a hormone that is involved
in appetite and mood. In the end, everyone is capable of defining love for themselves. And, for
better or for worse, if it’s all hormones, maybe each of us can have “chemistry” with just about
anyone.
3. Attachment
● This stage involves wanting to make a more lasting commitment to your loved one. All the goals are
dedicated to the object of affection being a part of a person’s life. dopamine decreases and attraction
goes down.
● If things are going well, it gets replaced by the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin, which create the
desire to bond, affiliate with, and nurture your partner. You want to cuddle and be close and share your
deepest secrets with her. You plan and dream together.
● Understanding the science of lust, attraction, and attachment can help a person develop more realistic
expectations of their relationships.

● Most romantic relationships begin with two individuals falling into love with each other. The singer
Robert Palmer compares love with an addiction. This was verified in a study in which 17 participants
who were madly in love were asked to go to the lab and bring a picture of their loved one. Participants
were placed in a brain scanner (fMRI
functional magnetic resonance
imaging) which measures the neural
activity of the brain. Their brain
activity was recorded that when
participants gazed at a photo of their
beloved, regions in the brain were
activated. Those parts are closely
associated with the anticipation of
reward and with focused attention.
This is the dopamine system in the
brain which is the same system
involved in pleasure and addiction.
Fisher, et al (2006) concluded that,
rather than defining love as an
emotion, “being in love” can be considered a strong motivation – an addictive craving to be with the
other person (Hewstone et al, 2015).
● Thus, early passionate love is not an emotion in and if itself. Rather, it is best characterized as a
“motivation or goal oriented state that leads to various specific emotions, such as euphoria aor anxiety”.
Unlike many emotions, love is not associated with any specific facial expression, and I am focused on
a single reward. The emotions associated with love – elation, anxiety, joy, fear – may come and go. But
motivation to be with the beloved – remains.
● Love can be characterized by concern for other’s well-being, a desire for physical presence and
emotional support. In a study of Tennov in 1979, though sex is an important component of romantic
love, 95% of women and 91% of male respondents did not agree with the statement that “the best thing
about love is sex”.
● John Lee’s Love Styles:
1. Eros (EH-ros). Love is based on a strong sexual and emotional component. This type of love
creates initial excitement of a new relationship. A romantic and passionate love which
emphasizes physical attraction and sexual desire. The Eros lover dreams of the ideal
characteristics of a partner and usually experiences love at first sight. The relationship, however,

seldom lasts forever because they tend to be quick to fall in and out of love. Agape (AH-gah-
pay). This is altruistic and selfless love. The person shows his love without expecting to receive
the same in return. He considers
the wishes of his partner as more
important than his own. He may
not have a perfect partner but he
will always be there to support
and offer his love.
2. Storge (Store-gay). This

is loverelated friendship and based
on nonsexual affection. The person
experiences love as a gradual and
slow process. When love is storge,
love takes time. Storgic lovers do
not suddenly fall in love with an
idealized lover. Commitment,
stability and comfort are their
goals.
3. Ludus. For ludic lovers, love is just a game, something for fun or
entertainment. They do not experience jealousy. They do not value commitment or intimacy. They
manipulate their partners by lying, cheating and deceiving.
4. Mania. This is characterized by an intense feeling which may lead to obsessive and possessive
love towards the loved one. Manic lovers always check the partner’s whereabouts. They easily get
jealous and their experience of love is out of control. They are easily taken advantage of by ludic
lovers.
5. Pragma. This is a practical and business-like love. Pragmatic lovers may plan the best time to get
married, have children, and other future plans. Love is based on what is appropriate. It is not intense
nor out of control.
● The Triangular Theory of Love by Robert Sternberg, According to him, love is made up of three
components:
1. Intimacy. This includes the desire to give and receive emotional closeness, support, caring and
sharing.
2. Passion. This is the hot component of love which can be described as intensely romantic or sexual
desire for another person usually accompanied by physical attraction and physiological arousal.
3. Commitment. This is the cold component of love. It is the decision to maintain the relationship
through good times and bad times.
● Sternberg also described several types of love based on the above components.

1. Liking (Intimacy). This only
involves emotional intimacy and has
no passionate intention for long-
term commitment. It is just a
friendly relationship.
2. Infatuation (Passion). This is

associated with a high degree of
physiological arousal. There is only
passion without intimacy or
commitment. It is usually called
“love at first sight” and may fade
quickly.
3. Empty love (Commitment). This

involves only commitment. A
relationship. With no intimacy and
passion. Couples only stay together
for their children or other important
reasons.
4. Romantic love (Passion and Intimacy).

It is a combination of both passion and intimacy
which may be present during the first phase of a
relationship. This is characterized by emotional
intensity and sexual excitement. The experience of
passionate love may be positive and negative.
5. Companionate love (Intimacy and

Commitment). The components are both intimacy
and commitment which is experienced in long
deeply committed friendship or marriage where
passion has faded. It is more durable than romantic
love and may grow over time.
6. Fatuous love (Passion and Commitment). A

combination of passion and
commitment experienced by a couple who spent a
short time in courtship and suddenly decided to get
married.
7. Consummate love (Passion, Intimacy, and

Commitment). There exists a healthy balance of
passion, intimacy, and commitment shared by couples considered to be ideal for each other.
● The psychology of love shows that there are psychological theories that would explain why people
fall in love.

1. Behavioral Reinforcement Theory. When someone received a reward such as free ride or other
favors from another, a positive feeling may be experienced. The better the feeling associated with
the behavior of a person, the more likely it is for the behavior to be repeated.
2. Physiological Arousal Theory. This explains the most acceptable theories about emotions: the
bodies experience a physiological change first, then people assign an emotion to that physical
sensation. It is based on the interpretation of the brain. For instance, when a big spider falls in front
of an individual, the stress reaction would be: the person might gasp, the heart would pound faster,
and breathing would quicken. The brain would interpret an emotion associated with this experience
as the feeling of FEAR. In another situation, a girl who happens to see her crush walking by will
have the same experience as the person who encounters the spider (a person might gasp, the heart
and respiratory rate would elevate): the brain would have different interpretation in the second
case, a feeling of LOVE.
3. Evolutionary Theories. This explains that love arose due to some sociobiological need. Males
tend to look for young, healthy females mates to carry their offspring. Females prefer males who
have the resources to support them and their offspring.
● Based on social psychological data from Rosenthal (2013), the factors that would determine with
whom people fall in love are:
o Physical attractiveness (though beauty is in the eye of the beholder) o
Reciprocity (people tend to like an individual who also like them) o
Proximity (being around anytime physically or virtually)
o Similarities (same age, religion, education, race, physical attractiveness,
intelligence, and socio-economic class)

The diversity of sexual behavior: solitary, heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual and transsexual
● Human sexual behavior is any activity, solitary, by

pair or by group which includes sexual arousal.
● Human sexual behavior may conveniently be

classified according to the number and gender of the
participants.
● Not all sexual arousal can lead to sexual activity.

Humans are constantly exposed to sexual stimuli when
seeing attractive persons or seeing advertisement with
sexual themes through mass media.
● There is solitary behavior involving only one

individual, and there is sociosexual behavior involving
more than one person.
● Sociosexual behavior is generally divided into

heterosexual behavior (male with female) and
homosexual behavior (male with male or female with
female). If three or more individuals are involved it is, of
course, possible to have heterosexual and homosexual
activity simultaneously.
● In both solitary and sociosexual behavior there

may be activities that are sufficiently unusual to warrant the label deviant behavior. The term
deviant should not be used as a moral judgment but simply as indicating that such activity is not
common in a particular society. Since human societies differ in their sexual practices, what is
deviant in one society may be normal in another.
● Solitary behavior – A behavior with the intention of stimulating self that caused arousal usually
done in private. This behavior is more common to males. There is great individual variation in
frequency. Solitary behavior provides pleasure for self with emotional content with sole control to
the degree of pleasure.
● One of the necessary tasks of growing up is learning to cope with one’s sexual arousal and to
achieve some balance between suppression, which can be injurious, and free expression, which
can lead to social difficulties. There is great variation among individuals in the strength of sex
drive and responsiveness, so this necessary exercise of restraint is correspondingly difficult or easy.
● On the other hand, Rosenthal (2013) defined sexual orientation as a person’s predisposition or
inclination regarding sexual behavior, emotional attachment or physical attraction to one or both
sexes.
● The phrase “sexual orientation” is preferred over “sexual preference” which implies a conscious
or deliberate choice of a sexual partner. The following are types of sexual orientations:

1. Heterosexuality – it is the attraction to members of opposite sex.
2. Homosexuality – refers to a person whose sexual orientation is toward another of the same
sex. It is the attraction to members of the same sex.
a. Lesbian – is the term used to describe a woman whose sexual and romantic attraction
toward women.
b. Gay - is a man whose sexual and romantic attraction is towards other men.
3. Bisexual – is a person who may be sexually oriented to both men and women
4. Transsexual – these are people experience a gender identity that is inconsistent with, or
not culturally associated with, their assigned sex, and desire to permanently transition to
the gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance.
o According to DSM V (2013), refers to the broad spectrum of individuals who

transiently or persistently identify with a gender different from their natal gender. o
Transsexual denotes an individual who seeks, or has undergone, a social transition
from male to female or female to male, which in many, but not all, cases also involve
a somatic transition by cross-sex hormone and genital surgery (sex reassignment
surgery).
o In clinical viewpoint, a person is suffering from gender dysphoria if there is distress
that may accompany the incongruence between one’s expressed gender or gender
identity and one’s assigned gender.
o Although not all individuals will experience distress as a result of incongruence, many
are distressed if desired physical interventions by means of hormones and/or surgery
are not available.
5. Pansexual – is a new sexual orientation of persons who are sexually attracted to people
regardless of their sex or gender identity. The word “pan” is a Greek word for “all r every”.
Thus, they may also be called “gender blind” for they believe that gender and sex are not
determining factors for getting sexually attracted to both males and females whereas
pansexual is more fluid. Aside from men and women they may also be attracted to
transgender, transsexual, androgynous and other gender categories.
Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD)
● Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) are also known as Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI),
together with venereal disease, these are infections that are commonly spread by sexual
intercourse. These are infections that are passed from one person to another through sexual contact,
blood transfusion, breastfeeding, and a certain amount of saliva.

● Most STD’s affect both
men and women, but in many
cases the health problems they
cause can be more severe for
women. If a pregnant woman has
an STD, it can cause serious
health problems for the baby.
Antibiotics can treat STDs
caused by bacteria, yeast, or
parasites. There is no cure for
STDs caused by a virus, but
medicines can often help with
the symptoms and keep the
disease under control.
● Some causes of STDs

are: bacteria, parasites, yeast,
and viruses. These STDs can be
dangerous, although in today’s
generation it can be treated in
different ways, but if not it can
lead to Human
Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
or even Acquired immune
deficiency syndrome or acquired
immunodeficiency syndrome
(AIDS).
● The following are some

examples of STIs:
1. HIV/AIDS. HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus with AIDS stands for
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. Thus, HIV is a virus while AIDS is a condition
or syndrome. HIV can lead to infections that attack and destroy the CD4 (Tcells) of the
immune system which is the body’s natural defense against such illness as tuberculosis,
pneumonia, and cancer.

o HIV without treatment
can lead to AIDS but not all cases
of HIV develop AIDS. Only
untreated HIV may lead to AIDS.
Presently, there is no effective
cure for HIV. But the condition
can be controlled with proper
medical care.
o The antiretroviral therapy

(ART) is a combination of
medications that are used to
prevent HIV from replicating to
protect the body against the virus
and infection. However, ART is
not a cure. It helps those with
HIV positive to live longer and
happier and lowers the risk of
advancing the condition into AIDS.
o In the statistics of Philippine Department of Health (DOH), in 2008), there is one (1)
newly diagnosed HIV case per day. In 2010, it increased to four (4) cases per day. In
2012, it became nine (9) per day. In 2014, it has blown to seventeen (17) cases per day
and in 2016, there are twenty-sex (26) reported daily cases of newly diagnosed HIV.
2. Genital Herpes. This is a sexually transmitted infection caused by a large family of viruses
of different strains. These strains produce other non-sexually transmitted diseases such as
chicken pox and mononucleosis.
o Most individuals have no or only minimal signs or symptoms. When signs do occur,
they typically appear as one or more blisters on or around the genitals or rectum. The
blisters break, leaving tender sores that may take two to four weeks to heal the first
time they occur. Typically, another outbreak can appear weeks or months after the first,
but it almost always is less severe and shorter.
o The virus remains in the body for life and the lesions may recur from time to time.
Severe or frequently recurrent genital herpes is treated with one of several antiviral
drugs that are available by prescription. These drugs help control the symptoms, but
do not eliminate the herpes virus from the body.
3. Genital Warts. Genital warts (also called venereal warts or Condylomata Acuminata) are
caused by the human papillomavirus, a virus related to the one that causes common skin
warts. Certain high-risk types of HPV can cause cervical cancer and other genital cancers,
but these are different from the types that cause genital warts.
o Genital warts usually first appear as small, hard painless bumps in the vaginal area or
around the anus. If untreated, they may grow and develop a fleshy, cauliflower-like
appearance.

4. Gonorrhea. This a sexually transmitted infection caused by bacterium Neisseria
gonorrheoeae which thrives in the moist mucous membranes linings of the mouth, throuat,
vagina, cervix, urethra, and the anal tract.
o Most women who are infected have no symptoms. Even when a woman has symptoms,
they can be so non-specific as to be mistaken for a bladder or vaginal infection. The
most common symptoms of gonorrhea are a vaginal discharge or vaginal bleeding
between periods. Untreated cases can lead to serious complications, including PID,
ectopic pregnancy and infertility.
o Symptoms for males are discharge from the penis and burning sensations during
urination.
5. Syphilis. This is a sexually transmitted infection caused by bacterium Treponema

palligum, a spirochete. If left untreated, syphilis may progress through four phases: Primay
(chancre sores appear), Secondary (general skin rashes occur), latent (a period that can last
for several years with no overt symptoms), and tertiary (cardiovascular disease, blindness,
paralysis, skin ulcers, liver damage, mental problem and even death may occur).
6. Chlamydia. This is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections, named for
Chlamydia trachomatis, an organism that spreads through sexual contact and infects the
genital organs of both sexes.
o Many people with chlamydial infection, however, have few or no symptoms of

infection; it often goes undiagnosed and untreated. Once diagnosed with chlamydial
infection, a person can be treated with an antibiotic.
Methods of Contraception (Artificial and Natural)
● There are a lot of reasons why people use contraceptives. Some purposes of birth control are
to prevent pregnancy, many women choose to use contraception because of certain health
advantages. For example, some hormonal birth control methods may help regulate your
period, reduce acne, and/or lower endometriosis-related pain.

● In general, with the exception of male and female sterilization, all methods that are appropriate
for healthy adults are also
potentially appropriate for
healthy, post-pubertal
adolescents. Once puberty has
been achieved, methods that
are physiologically safe for
adults are also
physiologically safe for
adolescents.
● In reality, contraceptive use

entails consideration of more than
just medical safety.
Before discussing
contraceptive options, a person
must be given the opportunity to
express their needs and to decide freely whether they want to protect against pregnancy or
need to protect against STI/HIV.
● Once a decision is made for protection, sexually active individual should be presented with
options that, if used consistently and correctly, will prevent pregnancy and, depending upon
an individual’s circumstances, prevent sexually transmissible diseases. When selecting a
method, a person should consider the nature of their sexual relationship, sexual behaviors
engaged in, frequency of intercourse, risk of Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) or even HIV,
ability to comply with the use, ability to tolerate side effects, cost, convenience, religious
beliefs and other personal factors that may affect their decisions.
● Some of the methods of contraception:
1. Hormonal method of contraception (prevents the release of an egg or ovulation)
a. Oral Contraceptives (Pills) – These are daily oral contraceptives. Some contain estrogen and
progesterone; others are progestin only and are over 99% effective if used according to
instruction. Often reduces bleeding and period pain, and may help with premenstrual
symptoms. Missing pills, vomiting or severe diarrhea can make it less effective.

The Patch – It is a small patch you stick on the skin that releases estrogen and progestogen.
It stops ovulation. It can make
bleeds regular, lighter, and less
painful, however, may be seen
and can cause skin irritation.
b. The ring – The contraceptive

vaginal ring is a small plastic ring
a woman inserts into her vagina
every month and
releases hormones to stop
ovulation. One ring stays in for
three weeks – you don’t have
to think about
contraception every day and must
be comfortable with inserting and removing it.
c. Implants - A small, flexible rod put under the skin of the upper arm releases progestogen.
Works for 3 years but can be taken out sooner. It requires a small procedure to fit and remove
it.
d. Injectable - An injection of progestogen. Works for 8 or 13 weeks – you don’t have to think
about contraception during this time. Can’t be removed from the body so side effects may
continue while it works and for some time afterwards.
2. Barrier methods (methods that physically or chemically block the sperm from reaching an egg
and provide a barrier between direct skin to skin contacts)
a. Diaphragm - A flexible latex (rubber) or silicone device, used with spermicide, is put into the
vagina to cover the cervix. Can be put in any time before sex.
b. Cervical Caps – These are similar to the diaphragm, though they are generally always made of
silicone. They are put into the vagina to cover the cervix and are 92 to 96 percent effective
when used correctly.
c. Male and Female Condoms or spermicides - For Males: A very thin latex (rubber) polyurethane
(plastic) or synthetic sheath, put over the erect penis. For Females: Soft, thin polyurethane
sheath that loosely lines the vagina and covers the area just outside. Condoms are the best way
to help protect yourself from sexually transmitted infections

3. Behavioral Methods
a. Rhythm or Calendar Method – It is a way to determine a woman’s most fertile and interfile
times by charting the menstrual cycle. It is also known as natural family planning or fertility
awareness.
b. Abstinence or celibacy – It refers to the avoidance of sexual intercourse.
c. Outercourse – It is a sexual activity that does not include the insertion of the penis into the
vagina.
d. Withdrawal – it happens when a man removes his penis from vagina and ejaculate outside of
the woman’s body.
4. Sterilization (procedures that make an individual permanently incapable of conceiving or

fertilizing a partner)
a. Tubal Ligation /Sterilization – It is a surgery for

women in which fallopian tubes are tied to prevent
eggs from travelling to the uterus so a woman cannot
get pregnant.
b. Vasectomy – It is an operation in which the

surgeon makes a small cut in the upper part of the
scrotum then ties or blocks the vas deferens. Men can
still have orgasm or ejaculation after the operation.
5. Intrauterine Device (IUD) – It is a small device

that is placed in the uterus by a doctor to prevent
pregnancy.
6. Emergency Contraception - It is a measure that protects against pregnancy after unprotected sex
has already occurred. It could be through IUD or higher dosage of pills.

References:
Inc.
Marshall, E. and Tanner, S. Introduction to Psychology. Accessed July 28, 2020.

https://opentextbc.ca/introductiontopsychology/chapter/6-3-adolescence-developing-independence-
andidentity/
Master, A. and Johnson, T. Human Sexual Response. Accessed July 28, 2020.
https://canvas.du.edu/courses/24161/files/1152570
Remez, R. Developing Adolescene. Accessed July 28, 2020.

https://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/develop.pdf
Rosenthal, M. (2013). Human Sexuality from Cells to Society. Asia: Cengage Learning Seventeeth
congress (First Regular session). Accessed July 20, 2020.
http://www.congress.gov.ph/legisdocs/first_17/CR00101.pdf

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1

Understanding the Self

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

Introduction to Self Understanding

Understanding oneself is essential to understand behaviors and beliefs that

• Environmental Factors of Personality. The surroundings of an individual compose the

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

• Cultural Factors. Culture is traditionally considered as the major determinants of an individual’s

The Five-Factor Model of Personality

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

Table 1. Descriptions of Personality Traits

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

In definition, self-concept is generally thought of as our individual perceptions of our behavior,

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

WEEK 2: THE SELF ACCORDING TO PHILOSOPHY

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

Paul and Patricia Churchland

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

WEEK 3: THE SELF ACCORDING TO SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

Sociology and Anthropology

George Herbert Mead and the Social Self

• Mead is an American philosopher, sociologist, and psychologist. He is regarded as one of the

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

The Self as a product of modern society among other constructions Georg

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

The Self and Person in the Contemporary Anthropology

• The four subfields of anthropology – Archeology, Biological Anthropology, Linguistics, and

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

The Self Embedded in the Culture Clifford Geertz

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

WEEK 4: THE SELF ACCORDING PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology is a scientific study of mental processes and

The Self as Cognitive Construction

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

Real and Ideal Self

Multiple versus Unified Self

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

True versus False Self

The Self as Proactive and Agentic Albert Bandura

• Albert Bandura is a psychologist and Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

WEEK 5: THE SELF IN THE WESTERN AND ORIENTAL/EASTERN

Cultural differences and environment creates different perceptions of

Individualistic versus Collective Self

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

The Social Construction of the Self in Western Thought

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

WEEK 6: PHYSICAL SELF

Understanding the self of in different classification of physical aspects is one way to

The concept of Physical Self

● According to Santrock (2014), self-understanding is the individual’s cognitive representation of self

GED 101 UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

The self as impacted by the body