Psychological Aspect
of the Self
Focus: representation based on experience
William James
I me
William James
“I” ✓
✓
Knower
Pure ego
✓ Consciousness
✓ Thinking,
acting, and
feeling
William James
“me”
✓ Physical
✓ Psychological
William James
“I” what you
“me”
the one who
acts and think or feel
decides about
yourself as
an object
William James
Material Self “me”
Social Self
Spiritual Self
William James
Material Self “me”
Social Self
Spiritual Self
William James
Material Self “me”
Social Self
Spiritual Self
William James
Material Self “me”
Social Self
Spiritual Self
Global Self-esteem (Trait self-esteem)
- represents the way people
generally feel about themselves
State Self-esteem (Feelings of Self-worth)
- temporary feelings or momentary
emotional reactions to positive and
negative events where we feel good
or bad about ourselves during these
situations or experiences
Domain Specific Self-esteem (Self-Evaluations)
- how people evaluate their various
abilities and attributes
- make distinctions or differentiation
on how good or bad people are in
specific physical attributes,
abilities, and personal
characteristics
Karen Horney
- a person has an “ideal self” , “actual self” , and
the “real self”
- everyone experiences basic anxiety through which
we experience conflict and strive to cope and
reduce anxiety
- people develop a number of strategies to cope
with basic anxiety
Ideal self: having power
Ideal self: having power
Actual self:
tendency to fail
Ideal self: having power
Actual self:
tendency to fail
Real self: force that impels
growth and self-realization
Carl Rogers
Ideal Self Real Self
Person-Centered
Theory
one’s being and one’s
Carl Rogers experiences that are
perceived by the
individual
Ideal Self
Person-Centered
Theory
goals
ambitions
dynamic
Real Self
Person-Centered
Theory
incongruence
unhealthy personality
Ideal Self Real Self
distress
anxiety
Ideal Self Real Self
sense of mental
Ideal Self well-being or Real Self
peace of mind
The greater the
level of incongruence
between the ideal
self and the real
self, the greater is
the level of
resulting distress.
Carl Roger’s Concept of Self-schema
✓ a collection of knowledge of organized system
of who we are
✓ self is composed of personal characteristics,
social roles, and responsibilities, and
personality
family
nationality
self hobbies
religion
family
Physical
hobbies
characteristics
self
Work religion
Interests Nationality
Kenneth Gergen
“Having a flexible sense of self in
different context is more socially
adaptable than force oneself to stick to
one self-concept.”
“Who am I?”
transitions
unified
centralized multiple
coherent
versions
Multiple Selves
✓ capacities we carry within us from
multiple relationships
✓ not “discovered” but “created”
Unified Selves
✓ Connected with selfhood and identity
✓ Coherent and organized ego is at the center
Donald Winnicott
“true self” “false self”
sense of integrity comply with
connected external rules
wholeness follow social codes
Social Cognitive Theory
✓Albert Bandura
✓humans have the capacity to
exercise control over their own
lives
Self-Efficacy
✓ measure of one’s ability to complete goals
low self-efficacy:
avoid challenges
high self-efficacy:
accept challenges
McCrae and Costa
✓Personality: the dynamic
psychological organization that
coordinates experience and action
Personality System
self-concept
basic
tendencies
characteristic
adaptation
Personality System
Personality System
view of our
self-concept own self
basic
tendencies
characteristic
adaptation
Personality System
