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SORSOGON COLLEGE OF CRIMINOLOGY, INC.

3928 Rizal St., Piot, Sorsogon City
Email add: [email protected]
Contact no. 09303071199

FIRST SEMESTER, A.Y. 2021-2022

PRELIMINARY COVERAGE

Course Description:

The course deals with the nature of identify, as well as the factors and forces that affect the development and maintenance of personal identity. This course is intended
to facilitate the exploration of the issues and concerns regarding self and identity to arrive at a better understanding of one’s self. It strives to meet this goal by stressing
the integration of the personal with the academic contextualizing matters discussed in the classroom and in the everyday experiences of students- making for better
learning, generating a new appreciation for the learning process, and developing a more critical and reflective attitude while enabling them to manage and improve
their selves to attain a better quality of life. The course is divided into three major parts. The first part seeks to understand the construct of the self from various
disciplinal perspectives: philosophy, sociology, anthropology and psychology-as well as the more traditional division between East and West- each seeking to provide
answers to the difficult but essential question of “What is the self?”, and raising, among others, the question: “Is there such a construct as the self?” The second part
explores some of the various aspects that make up the self, such as the biological and material and including the more recent Digital Self. The third and final part
identifies three areas of concern for young students: learning, goal setting, and managing stress. It also provides for the more practical application of the concepts
discussed in this course and enables them the hands-on experience of developing self-help plans for self-regulated learning, goal setting and self-care. This includes the
mandatory topics on Family Planning and Population Education.

Grading System: Instructor: Quennie J Balaoro, LPT

Projects/ Activities - 40% Email Add: [email protected]
Major Exams - 40% Contact No. 09303071199
Online Quizzes -10%
Consultation Hours: Monday-Friday (8:00AM-5:00PM)
Punctuality -10%
TOTAL -100%
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Chapter 1 Defining the Self: Personal and Developmental Perspectives on Self and Identity

LESSON 1 THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE

Lesson Objectives: At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

 Explain why it is essential to understand the self

 Describe and discuss the different notion of the self from the points-of view of the various philosophers across time and place;
 Compare and contrast how the self has been represented in different philosophical schools; and
 Examine one’s self against the different views of self that were discussed in class.

INTRODUCTION:

Before we even had to be in any formal institution of learning, among the many things that we were first taught as kids is to articulate and write our names. Growing up, we
were told to refer back to this name when talking about ourselves. Our parents painstakingly thought about our names. Should we be named after a famous celebrity, a respected
politician, or historical personality, or even a saint? Were you named after one? Our names represent who we are. Human beings attach names that are meaningful to birthed
progenies because names are supposed to designate us in the world. Thus, some people get baptized with names such as “precious” “beauty” or “lovely”. Likewise, when our
parents call our names we were taught to respond to them because our names represent who we are. As a student, we are told to always write our names on our papers, projects
or any output for that matter. Our names signify us. Death cannot even stop this bond between the person and her name. Names are inscribed even into one’s gravestone.

A name is not the person itself no matter how intimately bound it is with the bearer. It is only a signifier. A person who was named after a saint most probably will not become
an actual saint. He may not even turn out to be saintly. The self perennially molds, shapes, and develops. The self is not a static thing that one is simply born with like a mole
one’s face or is just assigned by one’s parent’s just like a name. Everyone is tasked to discover one’s self. Have you truly discovered yours?

ACTIVITY #1 Do You Truly Know Yourself?

In a yellow paper, answer the following question about your self as precisely as you can.
1. How would you characterize your self?
2. What makes you stand out from the rest? What makes your self special?
3. How has your self transformed itself?
4. How is your self connected to your body?
5. How is your self related to other selves?
6. What will happen to your self after you die?
7. Were you able to answer the questions above with ease? Why? Which questions did you find easiest to answer? Which ones are difficult? Why? Can one truly now the
self? Do you want to know about self?
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LET’S LEARN! The different perspectives and views on the self can be best seen and understood by revisiting its prime movers and identify the most important conjectures
made by philosophers from the ancient times to the contemporary period.
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APPLICATION/ASSESSMENT:

Output #1: In your own words state what “self” is for each of the following philosophers. After doing so, explain how your concept of “self” is compatible with how they
conceived of the “self”. Write your answer in a yellow paper.

1. Socrates
2. Plato
3. Augustine
4. Descartes
5. Hume
6. Kant
7. Ryle
8. Merleau-Ponty

LESSON 2: THE SELF, SOCIETY AND CULTURE

Lesson Objectives: At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

 Explain the relationship between and among the self, society, and culture;
 Describe and discuss the different ways by which society and culture shape the self
 Compare and contrast how the self can be influenced by the different institutions in the society; and
 Examine one’s self against the different views of self that were discussed in the class.

INTRODUCTION:

Across time and history, the self has been debated, discussed and fruitfully or otherwise conceptualized by different thinkers in philosophy. Eventually, with the advent of the
social sciences, it became possible for new ways and paradigms to reexamine the true nature of the self. People put halt on speculative debates on the relationships between body
and soul, eventually renamed body and the mind. Thinkers just settled on the idea that there are two components of the human person and whatever relationship these two have
is less important than the fact that there is self. But what is the relationship between the external world and the self? In the famous Tarzan story, the little boy named Tarzan was
left in the middle of the forest. Growing up, he never had an interaction with another human being but apes and other animals. Tarzan grew up acting strangely like apes and
unlike human persons. Tarzan became an animal, in effect. His sole interaction with them made him just like one of them.

We may be gifted with intellect and the capacity to rationalize things but at the end of the day, our growth and development and consequentially, our selves are truly products of
our interaction with external reality. How much of you are essential? How much of who you are now a product of your society, community, and family? Has your choice of
school affected yourself now? Had you been born into a different family and schooled in a different college how much of who you are now would change?
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ACTIVITY #2 My Self Over the Years

1. In a short bond paper, paste a picture of yourself when you were in Elementary, in High School, and now that you are in College.
Below each picture list down your salient characteristics that you remember.
2. After having examined your “self” in its different stages, answer the following:
A. Similarities in all stages of my “self”
B. Differences in my “self” across the three stages of my life
C. Possible reasons for the differences in me.

LET’S LEARN!
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APPLICATION/ASSESSMENT:

Output #2: Answer the following questions convincing but honestly. Write your answers in a short bond paper.

1. How would you describe your self?

2. What are the influences of family in your development as an individual?
3. Think of a time when you felt you were your “true self.” What made you think you were truly who you are during this time of your life?
4. Following the question above, can you provide a time when you felt you were not living your “true self”? Why did you have to live a life like that? What did you do
about it?
5. What social pressures help shape your self? Would you have wanted it otherwise?
6. What aspects of your self do you think may be changed or would you like to change?

LESSON 3 THE SELF AS COGNITIVE CONSTRUCT

Lesson Objectives: At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

 Identify the different ideas in psychology about the “self”;

 Create your own definition of the “self” based on the definitions from psychology; and
 Analyze the effects of various factors identified in psychology in the formation of the “self”.

INTRODUCTION:

As discussed in the previous lessons, every filed of a study, at least in the social sciences, have their own research, definition and conceptualization of self and identity. Some are
similar while some specific only in the field. Each field also has thousands of research on self and identity as well as related or synonymous terms. The trend of the lessons also
seems to define the concept of the “self” on a larger context (i.e., culture and society) down to the individual. However, it must be pointed out the modern researchers
acknowledge the contributions of each field and this is not some sort of a nurture vs nature, society/culture vs individual/brain, and other social sciences vs psychology debate.
Psychology may focus on the individual and the cognitive functions, but it does not discount the context and other possible factors that affect the individual. This lessons
provides an overview of the themes of psychology regarding the said concept.

ACTIVITY #3 “You” Through Other’s Eyes

This activity has two parts that try to compare how we look at ourselves against how people perceive us depending on how we present ourselves to them. Write your answers in
a yellow paper.
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1. List 10 qualities or things that you think define who you are. Write your answers in a big circle.
2. Choose three (3) from your classmates to give three (3) words that describes their first impression about you and choose five (5) from your closest friends to give five (5)
words that best describes your personality. Write all these inside a square.
3. Reflection:
Compare what you wrote about yourself to those written by your classmates. What aspects are similar and which are not? What aspects are always true to you? What
aspects are sometimes true or circumstantial? What aspects do you think are not really part of your personality? Write your answers in a yellow paper.

LET’S LEARN!
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APPLICATION/ASSESSMENT:

Output # 3: Do a research and list ten (10) things to boost self-esteem or improve your self-concept. Cite your sources.

Analyze which of those tips are more likely to backfire and make someone conceited or narcissistic and revise them to make the statement both helpful to the individual as well
as society in general. Write your output in a short bond paper.

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