Week 2 Lesson 2

The Self as Cognitive Construct

Specific Learning Outcomes:
At the end if this lesson, you should be able to:
1. identify the various ideas in psychology about self;
2. discuss the different psychological viewpoints about the self;
3. create your own definition of the “self” based on the definition from psychology.
Motivation
This activity has two parts and we’ll try to compare how you look at yourself and how other
people perceive you depending on how you present yourself.
On the space provided below, for the first part, list at least 10 qualities or things that you think
defines who you are.
For the second part, ask a family member or friend to list down things or qualities based on what
they see and hear about you
 Compare what you wrote about yourself to those written by someone else.
Discussion
As discussed on the previous lesson, Philosophy has their own contribution on the idea of what
is the self. Time has passed and those philosophers just eventually got tired of focusing and arguing on
the long-standing debate since, sixth century BC between the relationships of these two components of
the human person and just settled on the idea that there is a “self”.
In this lesson, we will look what psychology said about the self.
Here are some of the psychologists who contributed their ideas and researches.

William James

William James (1842 – 1910)

Is an American philosopher.
-He was one of the earliest Psychologist to study the self.

And he conceptualized the self as having two aspects:

“I” “Me”
The “I” is the thinking, acting and feeling self” The “Me” on the other hand, is the physical
characteristics as well as psychological
capabilities that makes who you are.
 Carl Rogers

In his theory of personality, he also theorized the terms “I” and “Me”.
Identity and Self-concept
Other ideas similar to self are identity and self-concept.
Identity – composed of personal characteristics, social roles, and responsibilities, as well as
affiliations that define who one is (Oyserman, Elmore, and Smith 2012).
Self-concept – is what basically comes to your mind when you are asked about who you are.

“I” “Me”
The one who acts and decides What you think or feel about yourself as an object

Self-Schema
Going back to Carl Rogers, he has this idea of self-schema.
Self-schema – or our organized system or collection of knowledge about who we are (Glietman,
Gross, and Reisberg 2011; Jhangiani and Tarry 2014).
Imagine an organized list or a diagram similar to the one below:

The schema is not limited to the example

above. It may also include your interests, work, course, age, name and physical characteristics, among
others. As you grow and adapt to the changes around you, they also change. are (Glietman, Gross, and
Reisberg 2011; Jhangiani and Tarry 2014).
 Sigmund Freud

-Most influential and famous psychologist because of his theory.

-He believed that self, its mental processes, and behavior are the result of the
interaction between the Id, Ego and Superego
- He stated that every man’s personality is composed of these three.

Id Ego Superego
o Pleasure Principle o Reality Principle o Moral Principle
-Energy constantly striving to satisfy -Seeks to gratify the Id in -Voice of conscience that focuses
basic drives realistic ways on how we ought to behave
-Related to physiological or impulsive -The individual’s conscious -Individual’s internal expression of
needs to which one seeks immediate control. moral/ethical code of conduct; socio
satisfaction. -Balances the impulsive cultural forces
needs and socio cultural
constraints
-Mediator between the Id
and Superego
Example:
 Self and Identity are a Social Products
However, Freud and other theories and researchers try to understand the self by digging deeper
into one’s mind, they cannot reject the idea the huge effect and contribution of the environment.
Social interaction always has a part to play in who we think we are.
G.H. Mead (1934) provided three reasons why self is created and developed through human interaction.
1. Society helped in creating the foundation of who we are.
2. We need other’s affirmation and reinforcement in who we think we are.
3. What we think is important to us may also have been influenced by what is important in our
social or historical context.
Social Comparison
According to the social comparison theory, we learn about ourselves, the appropriateness of our
behaviors, as well as our social status by comparing aspects of ourselves with other people
Two Types of Social Comparison:
1. The Downward Social Comparison
We create a positive self-concept by comparing ourselves with those are worse off than us
2. The Upward Social Comparison
Comparing ourselves with those who are better off than us as a form of motivation.
Social comparison also involves what is called self-evaluation maintenance theory, which says
that we can feel threatened when someone out-performs us, especially when that person is close to us
(like a friend or a family) (Tesser 1988 in Jhangiani and Tarry 2014).
When we compare our self to other people it can also define our self-esteem.
Self-esteem is a very important concept related to the self. Studies have shown that high or
healthy self-esteem may result to an overall good personality but it is not and should be not the only
source of a person’s healthy perspective of herself.

References:
Biography.com. (2020). Retrieved 23 September 2020, from
https://www.biography.com/scholar/socratesThe Basics of
Philosphy.(2020). Retrieved 28 September 2020, from https://www.philosophybasics.com/Alata, E. J. P.,
Bernardo, N. C., Jr.,
Serafica, J. P. J. & Pawilen, R. A. (2018). Understanding the Self (First Edition). Rex Book Store, In
Name: Date:
Course and Year: Score:

Learning Activities/Exercises:

IDENTIFICATION

1. This is our stock knowledge about us according to Carl Rogers.

2. For him, “Me” is our physical characteristics as well as our psychological capabilities that
makes us who we are.
3. This is what basically comes to our mind when we are asked about who we are.

4. This is our conscience.

5. According to this theory we learn about ourselves by comparing ourselves to other people.

ASSESMENT/

ESSAY
1. In your own words, explain and give an example of Sigmund Freud’s concept of the Id, Ego and
Superego.
2. Make a brief essay on how you would introduce and describe yourself to someone you just met.
(Include your identity and self-concept.)