Personal Development – First Semester

Knowing Oneself
DIMENSIONS OF THE SELF ATTITUDES AND ITS COMPONENTS
What does the word “SELF” mean? • A key factor in personality development is
• Perez (2016) defined self as what an attitude — a settled way of thinking and
individual sees, perceives, and defines feeling about someone or something,
oneself apart from the others. typically reflecting in a person’s behavior.
• union of elements (such as body, • It can be implicitly or explicitly expressed.
emotions, thoughts, and 1. Affect: used to represent emotions
sensations) that constitute the 2. Cognition: the way we think that serves as
individuality and identity of a person. a viewpoint
To know oneself, one must distinguish the three 3. Behavior: manifestation of attitude (action
apart from each other: form)
1. Physical Dimension: it revolves around Note: Attitude can be shaped through various
the physical body of a human being; its ways: social factors, learning, experience, and
processes, functions, mechanisms, and conditioning
chemistry.
• could be observed directly and can be SELF- CONCEPT VS. SELF-ESTEEM
measured. 1. SELF- CONCEPT
• refers to individual as an organism under • Your cognition to yourself
the species of Homo Sapiens; viewing • How you see yourself
oneself on their physical traits. • Involves describing the attributes you
2. Psychological Dimension: contains the think you have
concepts of stress, cognition, behavior, • Mostly informational
attitude, emotion and ultimately,
personality. 2. SELF- ESTEEM
• has both internal and external factors • Attitude towards yourself
that CANNOT BE measured and • How you value yourself
calculated. • Involves about how you feel about those
3. Spiritual Dimension: allows us to view attributes
ourselves in a spiritual level. • Emotionally inclined
• It can be subjectively altered or perceived
by the person. Most notably, it holds a
relevance to a perceived existence of God
or a Superior Being.
 DEVELOPING THE WHOLE PERSON
HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT: Thoughts, Feelings, & Behaviors

-Cognition will be represented by thoughts, affect will be represented by feelings; and behavior
represents itself.

1. Thoughts: originates from things we have learned both in right and wrong way.
• Malcognitions- irrational belief
• Maladaptive- self-blame cognition which affects or changes your attitudes & behavior.

2. Feelings:
• feelings (affect) may bloat or minimize the perception of the mind: works like an amplifier
• Feelings and behavior relate to each other interchangeably

3. Behavior: primary output of our attitude

• Overt behavior-expressed consciously

• Covert behavior-occurs in our blind spot.
Emotions – what we feel
Thoughts- what we think
Behavior- what we do

ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENTS

1. Physical: an individual starts growing into a full-fledged mature human being from infancy.

2. Cognitive: The development of our cognitive abilities also has stages from the time we are born to
what we are now.

3. Psychological: A development that involves changes not only in children's overt behavior but also
in their social cognition

4. Spiritual: It involves exploring certain universal themes love, compassion, altruism, life after
death, wisdom and truth.
 DEVELOPMENT SKILLS AND TASKS AMONG ADOLESCENTS
Erikson’s Psychosocial Stages of Development: Identity Formation VS Identity
Confusion

• The formation of identity is an ongoing process.

• At approximately age 12 to 18, Erik Erikson, a famous developmental psychologist, stated that
adolescents are going to face a struggle with what they think of themselves and who
they want to be.

Kids who are not allowed to explore and test out different identities might be left with what Erikson
referred to as role confusion, which can result in the following:

• Being unsure of who you are and where you fit

• Drifting from one job or relationship to another
• Feeling disappointed and confused about your place in life
Robert J. Havighurst’s Developmental Task Theory

• “Teachable moment”- when the timing is right, the ability to learn a particular task will be
possible.
• A developmental task is a task which is learned at a specific point and which makes
achievement of succeeding tasks possible.
While societal rules and customs certainly influence the tasks within each stage of development, other
factors are also at play here.

1. Social Influences (Pressures of Society): These are the rules of society and other cultural ideas that
influence an individual’s developmental tasks. Havighurst lists “Achieving a masculine or feminine
social role” multiple times as a developmental task. That is going to look different in every culture .

2. Psychological Influences (Personal Values): These tasks do not just come from external forces. An
individual’s personality and interests will also influence the tasks required to develop successfully.
Psychological influences may also lead an individual to prioritize some developmental tasks over
others.

3. Biological Influences (Physical Maturation): Biology is also at play here. Certain tasks are reserved
for childhood or adulthood simply because the body can or cannot take on those tasks. If someone is
seriously injured or develops a debilitating condition later in life, their developmental tasks may
change.
Other skills and tasks:

• The adolescent must adjust to anew physical sense of self;

• The adolescent must adjust to new intellectual abilities;
• The adolescent must adjust to increased cognitive demands at school;
• The adolescent must develop expanded verbal skills;
• The adolescent must develop a personal sense of identity;
• The adolescent must establish adult vocational goals;
• Must establish emotional and psychological independence; and
• Must develop stable and productive peer relationship.
 CHALLENGES AND ISSUES AMONG ADOLESCENCE
It is wise to know yourself, but it is wiser to know your enemy— your weakness, vulnerability, and
imperfection. We cannot run away forever. It is always more courageous to face these so we could
grow into better individuals for our sake and others’.

• PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: Adolescents face a lot of challenges regarding their physical

appearance. It helps to know that everyone goes through puberty differently from a lot of aspects —
time, nature, and degree. It is not rational to compare yourself to others. Be your own
person. It takes time.
• IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT: We should also monitor ourselves for behaviors that might go over
the top. It is enough to have knowledge but it will ensure victory if you apply it as well.
• SOCIAL COGNITION:

Imaginary Audience: The adolescent believe that a group of followers exist to continuously watch
and judge their every move, and public or personal behavior.

• EMPATHY: Empathy is the ability to see things from another’s perspective and feel
their emotions. Putting yourself in another person’s shoes might lead you to act with
compassion.
 THE POWERS OF THE MIND
The role of the brain: The brain is a very complex organ. It controls every process involved in
regulating the human body. It controls memory, thoughts, emotions, motor skills, breathing, body
temperature, touch and many more bodily processes.

1. Frontal Lobe: The frontal lobe controls important cognitive skills such as judgement, speech,
learning, reasoning, problem solving and memory.
- Each side of the frontal lobe controls voluntary muscle movements on the opposite side of the body.

2. Parietal Lobe: The parietal lobe organizes sensory information from various body parts. It
processes sensations such as touch, temperature and pain which gives us self -perception.

- The parietal lobe also allows us to make controlled precise movements such as writing. It gives us
location awareness, so we understand where items are in relation to ourselves and to categorize
linked items e.g. apples and bananas as items of fruit.

3. Occipital Lobe: The occipital lobe helps us recognize and understand what we see, by processing
visual information from our eyes.

- The occipital lobe helps use identify shapes, colors, movement, places and faces. It also provides us
with depth perception and understanding 3D space.

4. Temporal Lobe: The temporal lobe is linked with memory and recalling past experiences. It also
helps us understand the meaning of words and linking words to objects.

- The temporal lobe is key in processing emotions and how we feel about situations. It is essential in
alerting us when we feel in danger.

- It also plays a role in processing sensory signals like sight and sound.

5. Cerebellum: The cerebellum coordinates movement and helps us maintain balance. It plays a key
role in muscle actions which are essential for any movement from picking something up from the
floor to walking, playing sports and learning to play a musical instrument.

- The cerebellum controls eye movement e.g. when you are watching tv or tracking an object with
your eyes.
Brain Facts:

• The brain triples in size during the first year of life and stops growing at the age of 18.
• The largest brain on Earth belongs to a sperm whale and weighs 20 pounds.
• An adult brain produces enough power to light a 25-watt light bulb
• A massive 75% of the brain is made up of water
THE BRAIN DOMINANCE THEORY

WHOLE BRAIN MODEL

Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner: In his theory, he believes these innate intelligences
are expressed in different sensory modalities.
1. Spatial: visualizing the world in 3D
2. Intra-personal: understanding yourself, what you feel, and what you want.

3. Linguistic: finding the right words to express what you mean.

4. Bodily-Kinesthetic: coordinating your mind with your body.

5. Interpersonal: sensing people’s feelings and motives.

6. Naturalist: understanding living things and reading nature.

7. Musical: discerning sounds, their, pitch, tone, rhythm, and timbre.

8. Logical: mathematical: quantifying things, making hypotheses and proving them.

9. Existential: tackling the questions of why we live, and why we die

CRITICAL THINKING: a type of thinking that converges on a single thought or entity. Here one
must organize, analyze, or evaluate information, all of which could become a thinking skill if they
were broken into parts and taught explicitly (Johnson, 2010).
Critical Thinking Skills:

• Comparing and Contrasting

• Analyzing
• Supporting a statement
• Decision making
• Ordering
• Creating Groups
• Inferring

CREATIVE THINKING: utilizes divergent thinking; thinking that diverges from a single point.
The following types of cognitive processes are used in realizing the skill: generating ideas, integrating
ideas, or seeing things in new ways (Johnson, 2010).

Creative Thinking Skills:

• Fluency
• Flexibility
• Originality
• Elaboration
• Integrate
• Brainstorming Web
• Generate Relationships
• Reflective Thinking

COPING WITH STRESS

Stress: Stress is a natural response to the demands of our environment. To put it simply,
stress is physiological response to a physical or psychological threat. Is defined as a reaction of the
mind and body to a stimulus that disturbs the well-being, state of calm, or equilibrium of a person.

• STRESS AS STIMULUS: Stress is caused by situations that may be life threatening or life
changing such as separation, moving into a new home, or having a new job.
• STRESS AS RESPONSE: It is the way the body reacts to challenging situations.
• STRESS AS RELATIONAL: When a person experiencing stress takes a step back to assess the
situation causing the stress, it allows them to evaluate its relevance or irrelevance.
• HEALTHY STRESS: It is a type of stress that can benefit a person. This stress is short, and it
can propel a person into necessary action. This type of stress can motivate individuals to take
fruitful actions.
KNOW YOUR STRESSORS

The Mayo Clinic in the US identified two sources of stressors:

• EXTERNAL STRESSORS- from outside of you, like situations, people, and experiences.
• INTERNAL STRESSORS- from within you, like thoughts and lack of control over situations.
STRESS FACTORS:

• Physiological Factor: Hans Selye, an Austrian-Canadian endocrinologist, proposed the

General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) to explain our body’s response to stress. It consists of
three stages: (a) alarm stage, (b) resistance stage, and (c) exhaustion

1. ALARM STAGE: Suppose your parents often quarrel, but before the actual fight, you sense that the
atmosphere gets tense and you become upset. Signaling that there is starting to brew in your family
environment.

2. RESISTANCE STAGE: Yet you try to ignore it and pretend that it does not affect you. This is now
the resistance stage

3. EXHUASTION STAGE: However, your parent’s conflict continued on with their fighting day after
day until you are fed up listening to their squabbles. You feel that you have become tired and stressed
out.

STRESS & THE IMMUNIE SYSTEM: The immune system is the body’s natural defense against
any disease. It helps the body fight infection that can lead to more serious health problems. Handling
chronic stress causes fatigue and consequently weakens our immune system or our body’s defense.

• Psychological Factor: There are individual differences in the way we appraise or interpret a
situation. When we are overwhelmed with stress, it is not only the body that suffers but our mind
and behavior as well. We feel lonely and depressed.
1. COGNITIVE SYMPTOMS 3. PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS

2. EMOTIONAL SYMPTOMS 4. BEHAVIORAL SYMPTOMS

Coping Strategies: Richard Lazarus proposed the Appraisal Theory, talking about two components
of cognitive appraisal, the primary and secondary. Primary appraisal is evaluating the meaning of
the situation and checks if it will affect him. Secondary appraisal involves how one feels about the
situation
Types of Coping Responses:

• Emotion-Focused Coping Behavior

• Problem- Focused Coping Behavior