4 Psychological Self

Psychological Perspective in
Understanding the Self

Instr. Jhal Mark Le M. Villareal, RPm
What is psychology?
Psychology: is the scientific study of human
behavior and mental processes.
Four goals of psychology

1. Describe – what the person is doing
2. Explain – why is s/he doing that?
3. Predict – what is he going to do?
4. Modify – how can we change the behavior
• This topic present the psychological theories
that influences the way people understand the
self and the growth process to live life to the
full.
• Understanding of the self is highest when the
different parts of the self becomes integrative.
• An important aspect of understanding the self
is awareness
WILLIAM JAMES’ CONCEPT OF SELF:
“The Me-self and the I-Self”
• The self is divided in two categories: the “I-self”
and the “me-self”
• The “i-self” refers to the self that knows who he or
she is.
• James believed that the “I-self” is the thinking self.
• The “I-self” reflects the soul of a person or what is
now thought of as the mind and is called the pure
ego.
• The “me-self” is the empirical self. It refers to
describing the person’s personal experiences
and further divided into sub-categories:
material self, social self, and spiritual self.
• The material self consists of things that belong
to a person such as the body, clothes house, etc.
• The social self refers to whom and how a
person acts on social situations.
• The spiritual self refers to the most intimate
and important part of the self that includes
the person’s purpose, motives, emotions,
values, conscience, and moral behavior.
• James believed that the path to
understanding the spiritual self is through
introspection.
CARL ROGERS SELF THEORY
Real and Ideal Self
• Another aspect of self-understanding is self concept.
• Self-concept refers to the image of oneself.
• Psychologist Carl Rogers defined the self as a
flexible and changing perception of personal
identity.
• The self develops from interactions with significant
people and self-awareness
• According to Rogers, human beings are always
striving to for self-fulfillment, or self-actualization.
• When the needs of the self are denied severe
anxiety may result.
• Central to achieving self-actualization is
development of self-concept
• Rogers suggest that there are two components
of self-concept: Real-self and ideal Self
• Real self consists of all the ideas, including the
awareness of ‘what I am’ and ‘what can I do.’
• The ideal self is the person’s conception of
what one should be or wanted to be that
includes one’s goals and ambitions in life.
• The closer (congruent) the ideal self is to the
real self, the more fulfilled and happy the
individual becomes. The farther (incongruent)
the ideal self is to the real self leads to
unhappy and dissatisfied person.
DAVID LESTER
Multiple versus Unified self
Multiple versus Unified self
• Self-understanding in adolescents also includes
conceptualizing the self as multiple or unified and true or
false.
• The construction of multiple selves varies across different
roles relationships
• Coping with different selves constitutes a formidable task
among adolescents
• These challenges contribute heavily to the young person’s
struggle for a unified self.
DONALD WINNICOTT
True versus False self
True versus False self
• Winnicott suggests that the self is composed of
the true self and the false self.
• The function of the false self is to hide and
protect the true self.
• People tend to display a false self to impress
others.
• The self can change depending on situations.
ALBERT BANDURA
The Self As Proactive and
Agentic
The self as proactive and agentic
• Albert bandura suggests that humans have ability to act
and make things happen.
• In his theory of the self, people viewed as proactive
agents of experiences
• Agency embodies the endowments, belief systems,
self-regulatory capabilities, and structures and
functions through which personal influence is
exercised, rather than residing as a distinct entity.
• The main agentic features of human agency are:
intentionality, forethought, self-reactiveness,
and self-reflectiveness.
• Intentionality refers to acts done intentionally.
• Forethought enables the person to anticipate the
likely consequences of prospective actions.
“The choices you make at 19 will,
in some way, shape the person you
become at 29, and the person you
become at 39 will be influenced by
the choices you make at 19 and
29.”
• Self-reactiveness enables the person to make
choices and choose appropriate courses of action,
as well as motivate and regulate their execution.
• Self-reflectiveness gives the person the ability to
reflect upon oneself and the adequacy of one’s
thoughts and actions. People are not only agents of
actions but self-examiners of their own functioning.
• Efficacy beliefs are the foundation of human
agency.
• Self-efficacy refers to the individual’s belief that
he or she is capable to perform a task.
• It influences whether people think pessimistically
or optimistically and in ways that are self-
enhancing or self-hindering.
• Efficacy beliefs play a central role in self-
regulation.

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Psychological Perspective in

Understanding the Self

Four goals of psychology

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