GE Psy1a

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

PART 1

Introduction
The history of philosophy is replete with men and women who
inquired into the fundamental nature of self. Along with the
question of the primary substratum that defines the multiplicity of
things in the world, the inquiry on the self has preoccupied the
earliest thinkers in the history of philosophy; the Greeks.
The Greeks were the ones who seriously question myths and moved
away from them in attempting to understand reality and respond to
perennial question of curiosity, including the question of the
self. The different perspective and views on the self can be best
seen and understood by revisiting its prime movers and identify the
most important conjectures made by the philosophers from the
ancient times to the contemporary period.
LESSON 2

Unit 1: Defining the Self: Personal and Developmental

Perspective on Self and Identity

Topic: The Self, Society, and Culture

Learning Outcomes:
1. Explain the relationship between and among the self, and
culture
2. Describe and discuss the different ways by which society
and culture shape the self.
3. Create a mask that shows the different “FACES” you present
to society.

Concept Digest

Introduction

Across time and history, the self has been debated, discusses,
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 self. People pit halt on
speculative debates on the relationship between the 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 a self.

What is the relationship between external reality 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 any other human being but apes and other
animals. Tarzan grew up acting strangely like apes and unlike
human persons. Tarzan became and animal, in effect. His sole
interaction with them made him just like one of them.
Disappointedly, human person will not develop as human person
without intervention. This story, which was supposed to be
based on real life, challenges the long-standing notion of
human person and being in the spectrum of living entities.
After all, our selves are not special because of the soul
infused into us. We may be gifted with intellect and the
capacity to rationalize things but at the end of the end, 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? Have you been born into a
different family and schooled in different college, how much of
who you are now would change?
What is the Self?

The self, in contemporary literature and even common sense, is

commonly defined by the following characteristics: “separate,
self-contained, independent, consistency, unitary, and private”
(Stevens 1996). By separate, it is meant that the self is
distinct from other selves. The self is always unique and has
its own identity. One cannot be another person. Even twins are
distinct from each other. Second self is also contained and
independent because in itself it can exist. Its distinctness
allows it to be self-contained with its own thoughts,
characteristics, and volition. It does not require any other
self for it to exist. It is consistent because it has
personality that is enduring and therefore can be expected to
persist for quite some time. Its consistency allows it to be
studied, described, and measured. Consistency also means that a
particular self’s traits, characteristics, tendencies, and
potentialities are more or less the same. Self is unitary in
that it is the center of all experiences and thoughts that run
through a certain person. It is like the chief command post in
an individual where all processes, emotions, and thoughts
converge. Finally, the self is private. Each person sorts out
information, feelings, and emotions, and thoughts processes
within the self. This whole process is never accessible to
anyone but the self.

This last characteristics of the self being private suggest

that the self is isolated form the external world. It lives
within its own world. However, we also see that this potential
clash between the self and external reality is the reason for
the self to have a clear understanding of what it might be,
what it can be, and what will it be. From this perspective on,
one can see that the self is always at the mercy of an external
circumstances that bump and collide with it. The concern then
of this lesson is an understanding the vibrant relationship
between the self and external reality. This perspective is
known as the social constructionist perspective. “Social
constructionist argue for a merged view of the ‘the person’ and
their social context where the boundaries of one cannot easily
be separated from the boundaries.

Social constructivist argue that the self should not be seen as

a static entity that stay constant through and through. Rather,
the self has to be seen as something that is in unceasing flux,
in a constant struggle with external reality and is malleable
in its dealing with society. The self is always in
participation with social life and its identity subjected to
influences here and there. Having these perspectives considered
should draw one into concluding that the self is truly
multifaceted.

Consider a boy named Jon. Jon is a math professor at a Catholic

University for more than decade now. Jon has a beautiful wife
whom he met in college, Joan. Joan was Jon’s first and last
girlfriend. Apart from being husband, Jon is also blessed with
two doting kids, a son and a daughter. He also sometimes serves
in the church too as a lector and a commentator. As a man of
different roles, one can expect Jon to change and adjust his
behaviours, ways, and even language depending on his social
situation. When Jon is in university, he conducts himself in a
matter that benefits his title as a professor. As a husband,
Jon can be intimate and touchy. Joan considers him sweet,
something that his students will never conceive him to be. His
kids fear him. As a father, Jon can be stern. As a lector and
commentator, on the other hand, his church mates knew him as a
guy who calm, all-smiles, and always ready to lend a helping
hand to anyone in need.

The story is not new to most us. We ourselves play different

roles, act in different roles, and act in different ways
depending on our circumstances. Are we being hypocritical in
doing so? Are we even conscious of our shifting selves? The
self is capable if morphing and fitting itself into any
circumstances it finds itself in.

The Self and Culture

Remaining the same person and turning chameleon by adapting to

one’s context seems paradoxical. However, the French
Anthropologist Marcel Mauss has an explanation for this
phenomenon. According to Mauss, every self has two faces:
personne and moi. Moi refers to a person’s sense of who he is,
his body, and his basic identity, his biological givenness. Moi
is a person’s basic identity. Personne, on the other hand, is
composed of the social concepts of what it means to live in a
particular institution, a particular family, a particular
religion, a particular nationality, and how to behave given
expectations and influences form others.

In the story above, Jon might have a moi but certainly, he has
to shift personne from time to time to adapt to his social
situations. He knows who he is and more or less, he is
confident that he has a unified, coherent self. However, at
some point, he has to sport his stern professional look.
Another day, he has to be the doting but strict father that he
is. Inside his bedroom, he can play goofy with his wife. In all
this and more, Jon retains who he is, his being Jon- his moi-
that part of him that is stable and static all throughout.

The Self and the Development of the Social World

So how do people actively produce their social worlds? How do

children growing up become social beings? How can boy turn out
to just be like an ape? How do twins coming out from the same
mother turn out to be terribly different when given up for
adoption? More than his givenness (personality, tendencies, and
propensities, among others), one is believed to be in active
participation in the shaping of the self. Most often, we think
the human person are just passive actors in the whole process
of shaping of selves. That men and women are born with
particularities that they can no longer change. Recent studies,
however, indicated that men and women in
their growth and development engage actively
in the shaping of the self.

Mead and Vygotsky

For Mead and Vygotsky, the way that human

person develops is with the use language
acquisition and interaction with others. The
way that we process information is normally
a form of an internal dialogue in our head.
Those who deliberate about moral dilemmas undergo this internal
dialog. “Should I do this or that?” “But if I do this, it will
be like this”. “Don’t I want the other
option?” and so cognitive and emotional
development of a child is always a mimicry
of how it is done in the social world, in
the external reality where he is in.
Both Vygotsky and Mead treat the human
mind as something that is made,
constituted through language as
experienced in the external world and as
encountered in dialogs with others. For
Mead, this takes place as a child assumes
the “other” through language and role
play. A child conceptualizes his notion “self” through this.
Vygotsky on his part, a child internalizes real life dialogs
that he has had with others, with his family, his primary
caregiver, or his playmate. They apply this to their mental and
practical problems along with the social and cultural infusion
brought about the said dialogs.

Self in families

Apart from the anthropological and psychological basis for the

relationship between the self and the social world, the
sociological likewise struggled to understand the real
connection between the two concepts.
While every child is born with certain givenness, disposition
coming from his parents’ genes and general condition of life,
the impact of one’s family is still deemed as given in
understanding the self. The kind of family that we are born in,
the resources available to us (human, spiritual, economic), and
the kind of development that we will have will certainly affect
us we go through life. Without a family, biologically and
sociologically, a person may not even survive or become a human
person. Go back to the Tarzan example, in more ways than one,
the survival of Tarzan in the midst of the forest is already a
miracle. One is who he is because of his family for the most
part.
Gender and the Self

Another important aspect of the self is gender. Gender is one

of those loci of the self that is subject to alteration,
change, and development. We have seen in the past years how
people fought hard for the right to express, validate, and
assert their gender expression. Many conservatives may frown
upon this and insist on the biological. However, from the point
of view of the social sciences and the self, it is important to
give one leeway to find, express, and live his identity. This
forms part of the selfhood that one cannot just dismiss. One
manoeuvres into the society and identifies himself as who he is
by also taking note of gender identities.

Nancy Chodorow, a feminist, argues that because mothers take

role of taking care the children, there is a tendency for girls
to imitate the same and reproduce the same kind of mentality of
women as care as providers in the family. The way that little
girls are given dolls instead of guns or any other toys or are
encouraged to play with makeshift kitchen also reinforces the
notion of what roles they should take and the selves they
should develop.
Men on the other hand, in the periphery of their own family,
are taught early on how to behave like a man. This normally
includes holding in one’s emotion, being tough, fatalistic, not
to worry about danger, and admiration for hard physical labour.
Masculinity is learned by integrating a young boy in a society.

The gender self is then shaped within a particular context of

time and space. The sense of self that is being taught makes
sure that an individual fits in a particular environment. This
is dangerous and detrimental in the goal of truly finding one’s
self, self-determination, and growth of the self. Gender has to
be personally discovered and asserted and not dictated by
culture and society.
LESSON 3

Unit 1: Defining the Self: Personal and Developmental

Perspective on Self and Identity

Topic: The Self as Cognitive Construct

Learning Outcomes:
1. Explain that knowing oneself can make a person accept his
or her strengths and limitation. And deal with others
better;
2. Create your own definition of the “self” based on the
definitions from psychology; and
3. Analyze the effects of various factors identified in
psychology in the formation of the “self”.

Concept Digest

INTRODUCTION

In confidence or in attempt to avoid further analytical

discussion, a lot of people say, “I am who I am”, Yet, this
statement still begs the question “if you are who you are, then
who are you that makes you who you are?”

As mentioned earlier, there are various definitions of the

“SELF” and other similar or interchangeable concepts in
psychology. Simply put, the “self” is “the sense of personal
identity and of who we are as individuals (Jhangiani and Tary
2014).”

William James (1890) was one of the earliest psychologist to

the study the self and conceptualized the self as having two
aspect – the “I” and the “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’s (1959) theory of personality
also used and decide the same terms, “I” as the one who acts
while the “Me” is what you think or feel about yourself an
object.

Other concepts similar to self are identity and self-concept.

Identity is composed of personal characteristics, social roles,
and responsibilities, as well as affiliations that define who
one is. Self-concept is what basically comes to your mind when
you are asked about who you are. Self, identity, and
self-concept are not fixed in one time frame. For example, when
you are asked about who you are, you can say “I was a varsity
player in 5th Grade” which pertains to the past, “a college
students” which may be the present, and “a future politician”
which is the future. They are not also foxed for life nor are
they ever- changing at every moment.

Several psychologist, especially during the field’s earlier

development, followed this trend of thought, looking deeper
into mind of the person to theorize about the self, identity,
self-concept, and in turn, one’s personality. The most
influential of them is Sigmund Freud. Basically, Freud saw the
self, its mental processes, and one’s behaviour as the result
of the interaction between the Id, the Ego, and the Superego.

Under the theory of symbolic interactionism, G.H. Mead (1934)

argued that the self is created and developed though human
interaction. Basically, there are three reason why the self and
identity are social products.

1. We do not create out of nothing. Society helped in

creating the foundations of who we are and even if we make
our choices, we will still operate in our social and
historical contexts in one way or the other.
2. Whether we like to admit or not, we actually need others
to affirm and reinforce who we think we are. We also need
them as reference points about our identity.

3. What we think is important to us may also have been

influenced by what is important in our social or
historical context. Education might be an important thing
to your self-concept because you grew up in a family that
valued education.

Social interaction and group affiliation, therefore, are vital

factors in creating our self-concept especially in the aspect
of providing us without social identity or our perception of
who we are based on our membership to certain groups. There are
times, however, when we are of our self-concepts; this is also
called self-awareness. Carver and Scheier (1981) identified two
types of self that we can be aware of: (1) the private self or
your internal standards and private thoughts and feelings, and
(2) the public self or your public image commonly geared toward
having a good presentation of yourself to others.

Self-awareness also presents us with at least three other

self-schema: the actual, ideal and ought self. The “actual”
self is who you are at the moment, the “ideal” self is who you
like to be, and the “ought” self is who you think you should
be. Self-awareness may be positive or negative depending on the
circumstances and our next course of action. Self-awareness can
keep you from doing something dangerous; it can help remind you
that there is an exam tomorrow in one of your subjects when you
are about to spend time playing computer games with your
cousins, among others. Our group identity and self-awareness
also has great impact on our sel-esteem, one of the common
concepts associated with the “self”. It is defined as our own
positive or negative perception or evaluation of ourselves.
One ways in which our social relationship affects our
self-esteem is through 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 ourselves with other people (Jhangiani and Tarry
2014; Hogg and Vaughan 2010). Social comparison also entails
what is called self-evaluation maintenance theory, which states
that we can feel threatened when someone out-performs us,
especially when that person is close to us (ex. Friend or
family)(Tesser 1988 in Jhangiani and Tarry 2014). In this case,
we usually react three ways. First, we distance ourselves from
that person or redefine our relationship with them. Second, we
may also reconsider the importance of the aspect or skill in
which you were outperformed. Lastly, we may also strengthen our
resolve to improve that certain aspect ourselves.
However, in the attempt to increase or maintain self-esteem,
some people become narcissistic. Narcissism is a “trait
characterized by overly high self-esteem, self-admiration, and
slef-centeredness” (Jhangiani and Tarry 2014). They are often
charismatic because of how they take care of their image.
Taking care of that image includes their interpersonal
relationship thus they will try to look for better partners,
better acquaintances, as well as people who will appreciate
them a lot. This make them a bad romantic partner or friend
since they engage in relationship only to serve themselves
(Jhangiani and Tarry 2014).
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LESSON 4

Unit 1: Defining the Self: Personal and Developmental

Perspective on Self and Identity

Topic: The Self in Western and Eastern Thoughts

Learning Outcomes:
1. Differentiate the concept of self-according to Western
thought against Eastern/Oriental perspectives’
2. Explain the concept of self as found in Asian thoughts; and
3. Create a representation of the Filipino “self”.

Concept Digest

INTRODUCTION

Different cultures and varying environment tend to create

different perceptions of the “self” and one of the most common
distinctions between cultures and people is the Eastern-vs-Western
dichotomy wherein Eastern represents Asia and Western represents
Europe and Northern America. It must be understood that this
distinction and the countries included was politically colored at
the time that aforementioned concepts were accepted and used in
the social sciences. Furthermore, it must be reiterated that while
countries who are geographically closer to each other may share
commonalities, there are also lot of factors that create
differences. In the Philippines alone, each region may have a
similar or varying perception regarding the “self”.

Abstraction

There are actually a lot of sources in which you can analyze the
perspective of each culture and country about the concept of self.
You can see it in their literature like how one culture depicts a
hero or villain in their stories. You can see it in their social
organization like how they see their boss or their subordinate.
Artworks, dances, even clothing may show you clues about the
“self”.

In this lesson, we will look at religious belief and political

philosophies that greatly influenced the mindset of each nation or
culture. Since almost all the theories about the self, which were
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Discussed in the previous lessons, also came from the Western

scientific research, we will highlight the Eastern thoughts in
this lesson.

First is Confucianism.

Confucianism can be seen as code of ethical conduct, of how one

should properly act according to their relationship with other
people; thus it is also focused on having a harmonious social life
(Ho 1995). Therefore, the identity and self-concept of the
individual are interwoven with the identity and status of his/her
community or culture, sharing its pride as well as its failures
(Ho 1995).
Self-cultivation is seen as the ultimate purpose of life but the
characteristics of chun-tzu, a man of virtue or noble character,
is still embedded in his social relationship (Ho 1995). The
cultivated self in Confucianism is what some scholars call a
“subdued self” wherein personal needs are repressed (subdued) for
the good of many, making Confucian society also hierarchal for the
purpose of maintaining order and balance in society (Ho 1995).

The second philosophy is Taoism.

Taoism is living in the way of Tao or the universe. However,

Taoism rejects having one definition of what the Tao is, and only
one can only state clues of what it is as they adopt a free-
flowing, relatively unitary, as well as paradoxical view of almost
everything. Taoism rejects the hierarchy and strictness brought by
Confucianism and would prefer a simple lifestyle and its teaching
thus aim to describe how to attain that life (Ho 1995). The ideal
self is selflessness but this is not forgetting about the self, it
is living a balanced life with the society and nature, being open
and accepting to change, forgetting about prejudices and egocentric
ideas and thinking about the equality as well as complementarity
among humans as well other beings.

The third belief is Buddhism.

The self is seen as an illusion, born out of ignorance, of

trying to hold and control things, or human-centred needs; thus,
the self is also the source of all these suffering (Ho 1995). It is,
therefore our quest to forget the self, forget the cravings of the
self, break the attachments you have with the world, and to renounce
the self which is the cause of all suffering and doing so, attain
the state of Nirvana (Ho 1995).
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The self or the individual is not focus of the abovementioned Asian

or Eastern philosophies or beliefs. Even with the extended
discussions about how the self should work, Confucianism and Taoism
still situate the self within a bigger context. In striving to
become a better person, one does not create a self above other
people or nature but a self that us beneficial to his community as
well as in order and harmony with everything else. As for Buddhism,
the self, with all its connections and selfish ideas, is taken not
just out the center of the picture, but from the whole picture
entirely.

Western perspective does not discount the role of environment and

society in the formation of the self but the focus is always
looking toward the self. You compare yourself in order to be
better; you create associations and bask in the glory of the group
for your self-esteem; you pit primacy in developing yourself. One
can also describe that the Western thought looks at the world
dualities wherein you are distinct form other person, the creator
is separate from the object he created, in which the self is
distinguished an acknowledged (Wolter 2012). On the other hand,
the Eastern perspective sees the other person as part of yourself
as well as the things you may create, a drama in which everyone is
interconnected with their specific roles (Wolter 2012).
Several studies showed that Americans, for example, talk more about
their personal attributes when describing themselves while Asians
in general talk about their social roles or the social situations
that invoked certain traits that they deem positive for their
selves (Gleitman, Gross, and Reisberg 2011). Evaluation of the
self also differs as Americans would highlight their personal
achievement while Asians would rather keep low profile as promoting
the self can be seen as boastfulness that distrupt social
relationships (Gleitman, Gross, and Reisberg 2011).
The Western culture is what we call an individualistic culture
since their focus is on the person. Asian culture, on the other
hand, is called a collectivistic culture as the group and social
relations that is given more importance than individual needs and
wants. By valuing the individual, Westerners may seem to have loose
associations or even loyalty to their groups. Competition is the
name of the game and they are more likely straightforward and
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forceful in their communication as well as decisions making.

Eastern or oriental person look after the welfare of their groups
and values cooperation.
Westerners also emphasize more on the value of equality even if
they see that the individual can rise above everything else.
Because everyone is on their own in the competition, one can say
that they also promote ideals that create “fair” competition and
protect the individual. Asians, with their collectivistic culture,
put more emphasis in hierarchy as the culture wants to keep things
in harmony and order. For example, Westerners would like to call
their bosses, parents, or other seniors by their first name. For
Asians, we have respectful terms for our seniors and lot of workers
would not dare go against the high ranking officials.
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Landline No. (082) 291 1882
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LESSON 5

Unit 2: Unpacking the Self

Topic: The Physical Self

Learning Outcomes:
1. Examine one’s self against the different aspects of physical
self.
2. Appreciate one’s physical beauty by making a presentation of
the self through collage.

Concept Digest
Introduction

When you look at the mirror… who do you see? Do you see a beautiful
human being looking back at you, someone who is contributing to
life, who is accepting and loving… who is connected to a bigger
picture that fills you with joy, or do you see someone who doesn’t
fit the “image” of who you think you are “supposed” to be.

THE BIOLOGICAL BLUEPRINT

A crucial aspect of the self is one’s physical features including

the face, bodily structure, height and weight. However, people
should also consider their physical competencies, valuation of
physical worth, and perception of beauty.

AM I BEAUTIFUL?

DO PEOPLE FIND ME ATTRACTIVE?

WHAT CAN I DO TO ENHANCE MY FEATURES?

However, the physical self is not only limited to what can be seen
by the naked eye; underneath the skin is a dynamic system of
biological and chemical processes that contribute to one’s physical
features. Body structure, weight, height, skin color, hair color,
and other physical characteristics do not just develop at random.
These are triggered by genetic transformations and biological
development through heredity.
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HEREDITY – is defined as the transmission of traits from parents

to offspring. The traits are made up of specific information
embedded within one’s gene, the basic unit of heredity.
GENOTYPE – refers to specific information embedded within one’s
genes; not all genotypes translate to an observed physical
characteristic. It can be determined by blood testing.

PHENOTYPE – is the physical expression of a particular trait. It

can be directly observed. Each individual carries 23 pairs of
chromosomes. The 23rd pair is the sex chromosomes, determines the
sex of an individual.

MATURATION - is known as the completion of growth of a genetic

character within an organism. It enables man to walk, run and talk
which are evident in the adolescent
stage.

Beauty by numbers

• Our attraction to another

person’s body increases if that
body is symmetrical and in
proportion
• If a face is in proportion, we
are more likely to notice it and
find it beautiful.
• We perceive proportional bodies
to be healthier

Body image, self-esteem and the influence of society

• Society shapes us in many ways, possibly more than we realize

from our interactions, to our personal development through to
others’ perception of our bodies as a reflection of self-
worth.
• We are social beings. Genetically, we rely on one another for
the survival of humanity. That primal connection makes our
interactions physiologically and psychologically important.
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Landline No. (082) 291 1882
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So it’s not surprising that how society perceives us affect

us on many levels.
• And it’s partly how society perceives our bodies that is of
concern; we’re talking body image. So what does that involve?

Body image is both internal (personal) and external (society.

This includes:
• How we perceive our bodies visually
• How we feel about our physical appearance
• How we think and talk to ourselves about our bodies
• Our sense of how other people view our bodies How we look has
possibly never held as much societal importance or reflected
so significantly on our perceived self-worth.

TODAY’S EMBEDDED IDEALS – THE PHYSICAL

• Life today sees image upon image of fashionably clad women,

perfect skin, tiny waists, ample breasts, fashionably
protruding behinds (of Kardashian and Beyonce fame) all with
a weight of no greater than 59kg.
• They are unrealistic images of beauty, genetically impossible
for many of us to emulate. The same thing applies to the 6-
pack or ripped abs shoved in the face of men via famous
sportsmen and male fitness models, which for many is
impossible to achieve without illegal steroids.
• Yet we are told that these unattainable bodies are normal,
desirable, and achievable. When we don’t measure up we develop
a strong sense of dissatisfaction and the way that manifests
can be ugly.
• Intolerance of body diversity has a lot to do with prejudice
of size and shape in our culture. Being thin, toned and
muscular has become associated with the hard-working,
successful, popular, beautiful, strong, and the disciplined.
Being fat is associated with the lazy, ugly, weak, and lacking
in will-power.
• With this prejudice, fat isn’t a description like tall or
redhead – it’s an indication of moral character and we are
conditioned to think that fat is bad.
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So how can we build a strong and positive body image?

Positive body image involves understanding that healthy attractive
bodies come in many shapes and sizes, and that physical appearance
says very little about our character or value as a person.
How we get to this point of acceptance often depends on our
individual development and self-acceptance. To get to that all
important point of balance there are a few steps we can take:

• Talk back to the media. All media and messages are developed
or constructed and are not reflections of reality. So shout
back. Speak our dissatisfaction with the focus on appearance
and lack of size acceptance
• De-emphasize numbers. Kilograms on a scale don’t tell us
anything meaningful about the body as a whole or our health.
Eating habits and activity patterns are much more important
• Realize that we cannot change our body type: thin, large,
short or tall, we need to appreciate the uniqueness of what
we have – and work with it
• Stop comparing ourselves to others. We are unique and we can’t
get a sense of our own body’s needs and abilities by comparing
it to someone else
• We need to move and enjoy our bodies not because we have to,
but because it makes us feel good. Walking, swimming, biking,
dancing – there is something for everyone
• Spend time with people who have a healthy relationship with
food, activity, and their bodies
• Question the degree to which self-esteem depends on our
appearance. If we base our happiness on how we look it is
likely to lead to failure and frustration, and may prevent us
from finding true happiness
• Broaden our perspective about health and beauty by reading
about body image, cultural variances, or media influence.
Check out a local art gallery paying particular attention to
fine art collections that show a variety of body types
throughout the ages and in different cultures
• Recognize that size prejudice is a form of discrimination
similar to other forms of discrimination. Shape and size are
not indicators of character, morality, intelligence, or
success
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• Each of us will have a positive body image when we have a

realistic perception of our bodies, when we enjoy, accept and
celebrate how we are and let go of negative societal or media
perpetuated conditioning. But the media and society in
general, are not all bad. As with most things, with the bad
comes the potential for good and increasingly, people the
world over are waking up to the negativity and conditioning
that we are bombarded with daily.
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LESSON 6

Unit 2: Unpacking the Self

Topic: The Sexual Self

Learning Outcomes:
1. Identify the common secondary sexual characteristics of both
men and women
2.Explain human sexual behavior
1. Create a skit that will express one’s sexuality

Concept Digest

Introduction

It has been believed that the sex chromosomes of humans define the
sex (female and male) and their secondary sexual characteristics.
From childhood, we are controlled by our generic makeup. It
influences the way we treat ourselves and others. However, there
are individuals who do not accept their innate sexual organs
through medications and surgery. Aside from our genes, our society
or the external environment helps shape our selves. This lesson
helps us better understand ourselves through a discussion on the
development of our sexual characteristics and behavior.

Abstraction

Marie, E.N. (2001) explains that the gonads reproductove glands

that produce the gametes; testis or ovary) begin to form until
about the eight week of embryonic development. During the early
stages of human development, the embryonic development. During the
embryonic reproductive structures of males and females are alike
and are said to be in the indifferent stage. When the primary
reproductive structures are formed, development of the accessory
structures and external genitalia begins. The formation of male or
female structures depends on the presence of testosterone. Usually,
once formed, the embryonic testes release testosterone, and the
formation of the duct system and external genitalia follows. In
case of female embryos that form ovaries, it will cause the
development of the female ducts and external genitalia since
testosterone hormone is not produced.
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Puberty is the period of life, generally between the ages of 10-

15 years old, when the reproductive organs grow to their adult
size and become functional under the influence of rising levels of
gonadal hormones (testosterone in males and estrogen in females).
After this time, reproductive capability continues until old age
in males and menopause in females. The changes that occur during
puberty is similar in sequence in all individuals but the age which
they occur differs individuals but the age of 13, puberty is
characterized by the increase in the size of the reproductive
organs followed by the appearance of hair in the pubic are,
axillary, and face. The reproductive organs continue to grow two
years until sexual maturation marked by the presence of mature
semen in the testes. In females, the budding of their breast
usually occurring at the age of 11 signals their puberty. Menarche
is the first menstrual period of females which happen two years
after the start of puberty. Hormones play an important role in the
regulation of ovulation and fertility of females.

Sexual Identity

• What it means to be masculine or feminine.

• Gender Stereotypes: The cultural expectations concerning
which behaviours are appropriate for each sex
• Stereotypes play a role in self-definition as adolescent
question their sexuality and develop a sense of self.

Creating a Sexual Self

• Sexual self-esteem: perception of their worth as sexual being

• Sexual self-efficacy: perception of control over sexual
experiences
• Sexual self-image: beliefs about sexual needs

Sexual Scripts

• Are a set of guidelines concerning expected patterns of

behaviour in a sexual situation
• Inform adolescent of what they should do, feel, and what the
person they are with is likely to do and feel.

Making Sexual Decisions

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• Avoidance and denial of sexual perceptions may cause

engagement in sex without planning and no responsibility
• Attitudes surrounding sexuality usually are not discussed
with parents.
• Adolescent who talks with their parents tend to become
sexually active later and responsibility

Sexual Diversity

Is an important part of sexuality. Although the term “sexual

diversity” can apply to many different aspects of sexuality (for
example people are diverse in terms of their sexual likes and
dislikes), it is usually used with respect to sexual orientation
(to what gender(s) is someone attracted to) and gender identity
(how you feel about and express your gender.
Several terms of sexual diversity are:
Homosexuality: People are attracted to the same sex
Heterosexuality: People are attracted to the opposite sex
Bisexuality: People are attracted to both sexes
Asexuality: People are not sexually attracted to any sex, but they
can have romantic feelings
Have you heard of the acronym LGBTQI? It is a reflection of sexual
diversity within society.
L is for lesbian. Lesbian refers a female person whose primary
sexual attraction is toward females.
G is for Gay. Gay refers to a male person whose primary sexual
attraction is toward males.
B is for Bisexual. Bisexual refers to a male or female person who
is sexually attracted to both males and females.
T is for Transgender and/or Transsexual. Transgender refers to a
person whose gender identity is neither exclusively female nor
male. Transsexual refers to a person whose gender identity is the
opposite of their biological sex.
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Q is for Queer or Questioning. Some non-heterosexual people refer

to themselves as Queer because they are uncomfortable labelling
themselves according to the more traditional categories of gay,
lesbian, or bisexual. A person who is questioning is in the process
of arriving at a clearer sense of what their sexual orientation
is.
I is for Intersexual. A person is born with both male and female
parts, and can choose which sex they most identify with.

Human Sexual Behaviour

Human sexual behaviour is defined as any activity- solitary,

between two persons, or in a group- that induces sexual arousal.
There are two major factors that determine human sexual behaviour:
the inherited sexual response patterns that have evolved as means
of ensuring reproduction and that become part of each individual’s
genetic inheritance, and the degree of restraint or other types of
influence exerted on the individual by society in the expression
of his sexuality.

Types of Behaviour

1. Solitary Behavior
Self- gratification means self-stimulation that leads to
sexual arousal and generally, sexual climax. Usually,
most self-gratification takes place in private as an end
itself, but can be done in socio-sexual relationship.
Self-gratification, generally beginning at or before
puberty, is very common among young males, but become
less frequent or is abandoned when socio-sexual activity
is available. Consequently, self-gratification is most
frequent among the unmarried. There are more males who
perform acts of self-gratification than females.
Majority of males and females have fantasises of some
socio-sexual activity while they gratify themselves. The
fantasy frequently involves idealized sexual partners
and activities that the individual has not experienced
and even might avoid in real life.
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2. Sociosexual Behavior
Heterosexual behaviour is the greatest amount of
sociosexual behaviour that occurs between only one male
and female. It usually begins in childhood and may be
motivated by curiosity, such as showing or examining
genitalia. There is varying degree of sexual impulse and
responsiveness among children. Physical contact
involving necking or petting is considerate as an
ingredient of the learning process and eventually of
courtship and the selection of a marriage partner.

Physiology of Human Sexual Response

Sexual response follows a pattern of sequential stages or phases

when sexual activity is continued.

1. Excitement phase- it is caused by increase in pulse and body

pressure; a sudden rise in blood supply to the surface of the
body resulting in increased skin temperature, flushing, and
swelling of all distensible body parts (particularly
noticeable in the male reproductive structure and female
breast), more rapid breathing, the secretion of genital
fluids, vaginal expansions, and a general increase in muscles
tension. These symptoms of arousal eventually increase to a
near maximal physiological level that leads to the next stage.

2. Plateau phase – it is generally of brief duration. If

stimulation is continued orgasm usually occurs.

3. Sexual climax – it is marked by a feeling of abrupt, intense

pleasure, a rapid increase in pulse rate and blood pressure,
spasm of the pelvic muscles causing contractions of the female
reproduction organ and ejaculation by the male. Sexual climax
may last for a few seconds (normally not over ten), after
which the individual enters the resolution phase.

4. Resolution phase- is it the last stage that refers to the

return to a normal or subnormal physiologic state. Male and
females are similar in their response sequence. Whereas males
return to normal even if stimulation continues, but continued
stimulation cab produce additional orgasm in females. Females
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are physical capable of repeated orgasm without the

intervening rest period required by males.
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LESSON 7

Unit 3: Unpacking the Self

Topic: The Sexual Self

Learning Outcomes:
1. Identify the different sexually transmitted diseases
2. Demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication
skills to enhance health and avoid or reduce health risks.

Concept Digest

What are Sexually transmitted Diseases?

• STD’s are infections that are spread from person to
person through intimate sexual contact.
• STD’s are dangerous because they are easily spread and
it is hard to tell just by looking who has an STD.
• 1 in 4 teenagers has an STD. (Western Statistics.)
• STD’s are diseases and infections which are capable of
being spread from person to person through:
o Sexual intercourse
o Oral-genital contact or in non-sexual ways
o IV drug
o Congenitally transmitted.

TYPES OF STD’s

Chlamydia

Chlamydia, the most prevalent bacterial STI in the United States,

it is the result of the Chlamydia trachomatis bacterium, which can
infect the urethra (bladder opening) and cervix (uterus opening).
It is common in youngsters aged fifteen to nineteen. The disease
is easily treated, but like other sexually transmitted infections,
chlamydia tends to be silent and therefore go undiagnosed until it
becomes more serious than in its early stages.

Gonorrhoea

Chlamydia infection is sometimes confused with gonorrhoea, another

bacterial infection transmitted through vaginal and anal

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intercourse, and oral sex. Not only do they share many of the same
symptoms, the two diseases can occur together.

Gonorrhoea usually begins in the urethra (bladder opening) or the

cervix. However, the rapidly proliferating Neisseria gonorrhoea
bacterium can migrate to the uterus and the fallopian tubes, giving
rise to pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). The infection, like
chlamydia, may also involve the rectum. If left untreated, or not
treated early in the infection, more serious long-term problems
can result, including infertility, pain, and joint problems.

Syphilis

It is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) that can have very

serious complications when left untreated, but it is simple to
cure with the right treatment. Physicians divide the course of the
disease into three stages: primary (stage 1), secondary (stage 2)
and tertiary (stage 3).

Genital Warts and Human Papillomavirus (HPV)

Scientists have identified more than one hundred types of this

virus. A number of them are passed from one person to another
during unprotected sex and cause benign genital warts (condylomata
acuminata). Other human papillomaviruses are responsible for four
in five cases of cervical cancer, in addition to several other
genital malignancies.
Spreads through any sexual contact (anal, oral, and vaginal), and
also by skin-to skin contact. A vaccine exists to help prevent
this disease.

Genital Herpes (HSV-1, HSV-2)

There are two types of herpes simplex viruses, the highly

contagious virus that causes genital herpes. “Herpes simplex 2
usually occurs on or around the vagina, the penis, the anus or on
the buttocks and thighs,” says Dr. Fisher, “whereas herpes simplex
type 1 generally causes cold sores around the outside of the mouth,
or blisters on the gums or in the throat.” However, HSV-1 sometimes
infects the genital-anal area, while both types can be transmitted
to the mouth via oral sex.

2
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Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency

Syndrome (AIDS)

AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which is

spread through unprotected sexual intercourse with an infected
person or through using a contaminated needle to inject drugs. It
can also be spread through intravenous drug use and much less
commonly, blood, blood products, needles, or other sharp
instruments contaminated with infected body fluids or blood.
Symptoms may take 10 years or more to show. Once they appear, the
person is susceptible to life-threatening infections.

Symptoms That Suggest Sexually Transmitted Infections May Include:

HIV/AIDS
• Headaches
• Difficulty swallowing
• Fever
• Night sweats
• Fatigue/weakness
• Appetite loss
• Weight loss
• Chronic diarrhea
• Nausea/vomiting
• Itchy, rashy skin/skin lesions
• Chronic coughing
• Confusion/delirium
• Difficulty breathing

Chlamydial Infection
Symptoms typically occur one to three weeks after exposure.

Women:
• Abnormal vaginal discharge
• Mild pain when urinating
• Progression to pelvic inflammatory disease
Men:
• Penile discharge

3
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• Mild pain when urinating

Gonorrhoea
Symptoms typically occur two to ten days after exposure.

Men:
• Penile discharge
• Mild to severe burning sensation when urinating

Women:
• Painful or burning sensation when urinating and/or yellow or
bloody vaginal discharge
• Abdominal pain
• Bleeding between menstrual periods
• Vomiting
• Fever

Syphilis

Stage 1: Primary Syphilis

Initial symptoms typically occur two to six weeks after exposure
and last four to six weeks.
• Painless chancre on the penis, vulva, vagina, cervix or around
the mouth
• Inflamed lymph nodes

Stage 2: Secondary Syphilis

Symptoms typically occur one to six weeks after the chancre heals
and last three to six months.
• Light rash with brown sores roughly the size of a penny,
typically on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet;
may also cover the rest of the body
• Sores in or around the genitals or anus
• Mild fever
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Sore throat
• Patchy hair loss

4
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• Appetite loss
• Weight loss

Stage 3: Tertiary Stage

Symptoms typically occur anywhere from two years to more than forty
years after the onset of infection.
• Syphilis in multiple systems, including the heart and blood
vessels, skin, bones and brain.

Genital Warts/Human Papillomavirus (Hpv)

Symptoms typically occur three months after exposure.

Women:
• Clusters of tiny warts outside and inside of the vagina, on
the cervix or around the anus
Men:
• Clusters of tiny warts on the penis, scrotum or anus

Genital Herpes
Symptoms typically occur two to ten days after exposure. Initial
episode, typically lasting two to three weeks:
• Itching or burning sensation in the genitals or anus
• Pain in the genitals, buttocks, legs
• Vaginal discharge
• Feeling of pressure in the abdomen
• Tiny red bumps involving the vagina, cervix, penis and/or
anal area; these turn into blisters and then become painful
open sores
• Fever
• Headache
• Muscle aches
• Painful or difficult urination
• Swollen glands in the groin

Recurrences, typically lasting about one week:

• Itching or tingling sensation in the genitals, buttocks or
legs
• Small blisters or open sores at the site of infection

5
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6
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LESSON 8

Unit 3: Unpacking the Self

Topic: The Sexual Self

Learning Outcomes:
1. Identify the different natural and artificial methods.
2. Discuss the different contraception.

Concept Digest

Natural and Artificial Methods of Contraception

Natural Method

The natural family planning methods do not include any

chemical or foreign body introduction into the human body. Most
people who are very conscious of their religious beliefs are more
inclined to use the natural way of birth control. Some want to use
natural methods because it is more cost effective.

Abstinence

• This natural method involves abstaining from sexual

intercourse and is the most effective natural birth control
method with ideally 0% fail rate.
• It is also the most effective way to avoid STIs.
• However, most people find it difficult to comply with
abstinence, so only a few of them use this method.

Calendar Method or Rhythm Method

• Also called as the rhythm method, this natural method of

family planning involves refraining from coitus during the
days that the woman is fertile.
• According to the menstrual cycle, 3 or 4 days before and 3 or
4 days after ovulation, the woman is likely to conceive.
• The process in calculating for the woman’s safe days is
achieved when the woman records her menstrual cycle for six
months.
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• She subtracts 18 from the shortest cycle and the difference

is the first fertile day.
• She also
subtracts 11
from the
longest cycle,
and this
becomes the
last fertile
day.
• Starting
from the first
fertile day
until the last
day, the woman
should avoid
coitus to
avoid
conception.

• It has an ideal fail rate of 5%, but when used it has a

typical fail rate of 25%.

Basal Body Temperature

• The basal body temperature is the woman’s temperature at rest.

• BBT falls at 0.5⁰F before the day of ovulation and during
ovulation, it rises to a full degree because of progesterone
and maintains its level throughout the menstrual cycle, and
this is the basis for the method.
• The woman must take her temperature early every morning before
any activity, and if she notices that there is a slight
decrease and then an increase in her temperature, this is a
sign that she has ovulated.
• The woman must abstain from coitus for the next 3 days.
• The BBT method has an ideal fail rate of 9% and has a typical
use fail rate of 25%.

Cervical Mucus Method

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• The basis of this method is the changes in the cervical mucus

during ovulation.
• To check if the woman is ovulating, the cervical mucus must
be copious, thin, and watery.
• The cervical mucus must exhibit the property of spinnbarkeit,
wherein it can be stretched up until at least 1 inch and feels
slippery.
• The fertile days of a woman according to this method is as
long as the cervical mucus is copious and watery and a day
after it. Therefore, she must avoid coitus during these days.
• When used typically, it has a fail rate of 25%

Symptothermal Method

• The symptothermal method is simply a combination of the BBT

method and the cervical mucus method.
• The woman takes her temperature every morning before getting
up and also takes note of any changes in her cervical mucus
every day.
• She abstains from coitus 3 days after a rise in her
temperature or on the fourth day after the peak of a mucus
change.
• Symptothermal method has an ideal failure rate of 2%.

Ovulation Detection

• The ovulation detection method is an over-the-counter kit

that can predict ovulation through the surge of luteinizing
hormone that happens 12 to 24 hours before ovulation.
• The kit requires the urine specimen of the woman to detect
the LH.
• The kit is 98% to 99% accurate and is fast becoming the method
of choice by women.

Coitus Interruptus

• This is one of the oldest methods of contraception.

• The couple still proceeds with the coitus, but the man
withdraws the moment he ejaculates to emit the spermatozoa
outside of the vagina.
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• The disadvantage of this method is the pre-ejaculation fluid

that contains a few spermatozoa that may cause fertilization.
• Coitus interruptus is only 75% effective because of this.

Artificial Methods

Oral Contraceptives

• Also known as the pill, oral contraceptives contain synthetic

estrogen and progesterone.
• Estrogen suppresses the FSH and LH to suppress ovulation,
while progesterone decreases the permeability of the cervical
mucus to limit the sperm’s access to the ova.
• To use the pill, it is recommended that the woman takes the
first pill on the first Sunday after the beginning of a
menstrual flow, or the woman may choose to start the pill as
soon as it is prescribed.
• Advise the woman that the first 7 days of taking the pill
would still not have an effect, so the couple must use another
contraceptive method on the initial 7 days.
• If the woman has skipped one day of taking the pill, she must
take it the moment she remembers it, than still follow the
regular use of the contraceptive.
• If the woman has missed taking the pill for more than one
day, she and her partner must consider an alternative
contraception to avoid ovulation.
• Side effects for OCs are nausea, weight gain, headache, breast
tenderness, breakthrough bleeding, vaginal infections, mild
hypertension, and depression.

Transdermal Patch

• The transdermal patch has a combination of both estrogen and

progesterone in a form of a patch.
• For three weeks, the woman should apply one patch every week
on the following areas: upper outer arm, upper torso, abdomen,
or buttocks.
• At the fourth week, no patch is applied because the menstrual
flow would then occur.
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• The area where the patch is applied should be clean, dry, and
free from any applications. And without any redness or
irritation.
• Patches can be worn while bathing or swimming, but when the
woman notices that the patch is loose, she should immediately
replace the patch.
• If the patch has been loose for less than 24 hours, the woman
need not use an alternative form of contraceptive, but if she
is not sure of how long the patch has been loose, she should
replace it and start with a new week cycle and also use an
additional contraceptive method.

Vaginal Ring

• The vaginal ring releases a

combination of estrogen and
progesterone and surrounds the
cervix.
• This silicon ring is inserted
vaginally and remains there for
3 weeks, then removed on the
fourth week as menstrual flow
would occur.
• The woman becomes fertile as soon
as the ring is removed.
• The vaginal ring has the same effective rate as the oral
contraceptives.
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Subdermal Implants

• The subdermal implants are two

rod-like implants embedded
under the skin of the woman
during her menses or on the 7th
day of her menstruation to make
sure that she is not pregnant.
• It contains etonogestrel,
desogestrel, and progestin.
• It is effective for 3 to 5
years.
• Subdermal implants have a fail rate of 1%.

Hormonal Injections

• A hormonal injection consists of medroxyprogesterone, a

progesterone, and given once every 12
weeks intramuscularly.
• The injection inhibits ovulation and
causes changes in the endometrium and
the cervical mucus.
• After administration the site should
not be massaged so it could absorb
slowly.
• It has an effectiveness of almost
100%, making it one of the most
popular choices for birth control.
• Advise the woman to ingest an adequate amount of calcium in
her diet as there is a risk for decreased of bone mineral
density and to engage in weight-bearing exercises.

Intrauterine Device

• An IUD is a small, T-shaped object

that is inserted into the uterus
via the vagina.
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• It prevents fertilization by creating a local sterile

inflammatory condition to prevent implantation.
• The IUD is fitted only by the physician and inserted after
the woman’s menstrual flow to be sure that she is not
pregnant.
• The device contains progesterone and is effective for 5 to 7
years.
• A woman with IUD is advised to check the flow of her
menstruation every month and the IUD string, and also to have
a pelvic examination yearly.

Chemical Barriers

• Chemical barriers such as

spermicides, vaginal gels and
creams, and glycerin films are
also used to cause the death
of sperms before they can enter
the cervix and also lower the
pH level of the vagina so it
will not become conducive for
the sperm.
• These chemical barriers cannot
prevent sexually transmitted infections; however, they can be
bought without any prescription.
• The ideal fail rate of chemical barriers is 80%.

Diaphragm

• A diaphragm works by inhibiting the entrance of the sperm

into the vagina.
• It is a circular, rubber disk that
fits the cervix and should be
placed before coitus.
• If a spermicide is combined with
the use of a diaphragm, there is
a failure rate of 6% ideally and
16% typically.
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• The diaphragm should be fitted only by the physician, and

should remain in place for 6 hours after coitus.
• It can be left in place for not more than 24 hours to avoid
inflammation or irritation.

Cervical Cap

• The cervical cap is another

barrier method that is made of
soft rubber and fitted on the
rim of the cervix.
• It is shaped like a thimble with
a thin rim, and could stay in
place for not more than 48
hours.

Male Condoms

• The male condom is a latex or synthetic rubber sheath that is

placed on the erect penis before vaginal penetration to trap
the sperm during ejaculation.
• It can prevent STIs and can be bought over-the-counter without
any fitting needed.
• Male condoms have an ideal fail rate of 2% and a typical fail
rate of 15% due to a break in the sheath’s integrity or
spilling.
• After sexual intercourse, the condom is removed to be
disposed.

Female Condoms

• These are also latex rubber sheaths that are specially

designed for females and pre-lubricated with spermicide.
• It has an inner ring that covers the cervix and an outer,
open ring that is placed against the vaginal opening.
• These are disposable and require no prescription.
• The fail rate of female condoms is 12% to 22%.
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Surgical Methods

One of the most effective birth control methods is the surgical

method. The two kinds of surgical methods are used by either the
male or the female, and would ensure that conception is inhibited
after the surgery for as long as the client lives.

Vasectomy

• Males undergo vasectomy, which is executed through a small

incision made on each side of the scrotum.
• The vas deferens is then tied, cauterized, cut, or plugged to
block the passage of the sperm.
• This procedure is done with local anaesthesia, so advise the
patient that mild local pain can be felt after the procedure.
• Advise the patient to use a back-up contraceptive method until
two negative sperm count results are performed because the
sperm could remain viable in the vas deferens for 6 months.
• There is a 99.5% accuracy rate for vasectomy and has a few
complications.

Tubal Ligation

• In women, tubal ligation is performed by occluding the

fallopian tubes through cutting, cauterizing, or blocking to
inhibit the passage of the both the sperm and the ova.
• After menstruation and before ovulation, the procedure is
done through a small incision under the woman’s umbilicus.
• A laparoscope is used to visualize the surgery, and the
patient is under local anaesthesia.
• The woman may return to her sexual activities after 2 to 3
days of the operation.
• Educate that menstrual cycle would still occur, and make sure
that coitus before ligation is protected to avoid ectopic
pregnancy.
• The effectiveness of this method is at 99.5%.
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LESSON 9

Unit 3: Unpacking the Self

Topic: The Material Self

Learning Outcomes:
1. Explain the associations of self and possessions
2. Identify the role of consumer culture to the self and
identity; and
3. Appraise one’s self based on the description of material self.

Concept Digest

Introduction

We are living in the world of sale and shopping spree. We are given
a wide array of product to purchase from a simple set of spoon and
fork to owning a restaurant. Almost everywhere, including the
digital space, we can find promotions of product purchase. Product
advertisement are suggestive of making us feel better or look good.
Part of us want to have that product. What makes us want to have
those products are connected with who we are. What we want to have
and already possess is related to our self.
Belk (1998) stated that “we regard our possessions as part of our
selves. We are what we have and what we possess”. There is direct
link between self-identity with what we have and possess. Our
wanting to have and possess has a connection with another aspect
of the self the material self.

Abstraction

Material Self

A Harvard psychologist in the late nineteenth century, William

James, wrote in his book, The Principles of Psychology in 1980
that understanding the self can be examined through its different
components. He described these components as: (1) its constituents;
(2) the feelings and emotions they arouse – self- feeling; (3) the
actions to which they prompt- self-seeking and self-preservation.
The constituents of self are composed of the material self, the
social self, the spiritual self and the pure ego.
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The material self, according to James primarily is about our

bodies, clothes, immediate family, and home. We are deeply affected
by these things because we have put much investment of our self to
them.
Body

Clothes

Immediate Family

Home

The innermost part our material self is our body. Intentionally,

we are investing in our body. We are directly attached to this
commodity that we cannot live without. We strive hard to make sure
that this body functions well and good. We do have certain
preferential attachment or intimate closeness to certain body parts
because of its value to us.
Next to our body are the clothes we use. Influenced by the
“Philosophy of Dress” by Herman Lotze, James believed that clothing
is an essential part of the material self. Lotze in his book,
Microcosmus, stipulates that “any time we bring an object into
surface of our body, we invest that object into consciousness of
our personal existence taking in its contours to be our own making
it part of the self”. (Watson 2014) The fabric and style of the
clothes we wear bring sensations to the body to which directly
affect our attitudes and behaviour. Thus, clothes are placed in
the second hierarchy of the material self. Clothing is a form of
self- expression. We choose and wear clothes that reflect our self.
Third in hierarchy is our immediate family. Our parents and
siblings hold another great important part of our self. What they
do or become affects us. When an immediate family dies, part of
our self-dies, too. When their lives are in success, we feel their
victories as if we are the one holding the trophy. In their
failures, we are put to shame or guilt. When they are in
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disadvantages situation, there is an urgent urge to help like

voluntarily instinct of saving one’s self from danger. We place
huge investment in our immediate family when we see them as the
nearest replica of our self.
The fourth component of material self is our home. Home is where
our heart is. It is the earliest nest of our selfhood. Our
experiences inside the home were recorded and marked on particular
parts and things in our home. There was an old cliché about the
rooms; “if only wall can speak”. The home thus is an extension of
self, because in it, we can directly connect our self.
Having investment of self to things, made us attached to those
things. The more investment of self-given to the particular thing,
the more we identify ourselves to it. We also tended to collect
and possess properties. The collections in different degree of
investment of self, becomes part of the self. As James (1980)
described self: “a man’s self is the total of all what he CAN call
his”. Possessions then become a part or an extensions of the self

We Are What We Have

Russel Belk (1988) posits that “we regard our possessions a part
of ourselves. We are what we have and what we possess”. The
identification of the self to things started in our fancy stage
when we make a distinction among self and environment and others
who may desire our possessions.

As we grow older, putting the importance to material possession

decreases. However, material possession gains higher value in our
lifetime if we use material possession to find happiness, associate
these things with significant events accomplishment, and people in
our lives. There are even times, when material possession of a
person that is closely identified to the person, gains
acknowledgement with high regard even if the person already passed
away. Example of these are the chair in the dining room on which
the person is always seated, the chair will be the constant
reminder of the person seated there. The possessions that we dearly
have tell something about who we are, our self-concept, our past,
and even our future.
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LESSON 10 - 11

Unit 4: Unpacking the Self

Topic: The Political Self and Being Filipino

Learning Outcomes:
1. Develop a Filipino identity;
2. Identify different Filipino values and traits; and
3. Reflect on your selfhood in relation to your identity.

Concept Digest

What makes a Filipino? Do physical characteristics such having

dark hair, flat nose, and dark complexion make one Filipino? Or is
it a person’s language, birthplace, ethnicity? If you were to
introduce yourself as a Filipino to a person of another nationality
and he or she asks, “Who are Filipinos?”, what will you reply?
The Philippines as we know it today has only emerged in the
1890s after over three centuries of colonization of the Spaniards.
Meanwhile, liberation from the last colonizers, the Japanese, only
occurred in 1946. Foreign culture, beliefs, language, and religion
have made a huge dent on our own by setting a foundation to the
contemporary Filipino identity and culture. To date, colonial
mentality remains an issue. Given the wide discrepancy between the
liberation period and today’s time, would it be safe to say that
Filipinos have truly developed an identity of their own? Or are we
still living in the shadow of our colonial’s friends?
In this chapter, you will learn that an individual’s race,
ethnicity, and physical characteristics are not the only factors
that make a person’s national identity. Values and traits are also
important indicators that set apart one nationality identity.
Values and traits are also important indicators that set apart one
nationality from the other. These values and traits may not always
be positive thing, but being able to identify one’s self apart
from other nationalities and point out weakness and mistakes,
paired with unity and commitment, make progress a possibility.
Through common goals, principles, and values of its people a nation
empowers itself.

ABSTRACTION
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Who Is a Filipino?
Filipinos are often referenced to globally renowned
personalities like Manny Pacquiao, Lea Salonga, and Michael Cinco
who have made Filipinos recognized around the world through their
expertise. However, being a Filipino is far more than just being
related to these notable figures. Independence Day and Buwan ng
Wika celebrations prompt us to go back to our roots and reflect on
the question: Who is a Filipino?
Technically, according to the 1987 Philippine Constitution,
Filipino citizens are “those whose fathers or mothers are citizens
of the Philippines, those born before January 17, 1973, of Filipino
mothers, who elect Philippines citizenship upon reaching the age
of majority, and those who are naturalized in accordance with law.
“However, citizenship is not the only marker of being Filipino.
Culture and history have greatly influenced the manner Filipinos
learn, live, and behave to date. People who were born and grew in
the same culture develop and share common personality traits and
values. Generations after generations, common traits and values
have been passed on that Filipinos of today still embody.

Filipino Values and Traits

The Philippines is a lush island paradise famous for its

grandiose mountain views, pristine beaches, and rich and diverse
culture changing from province to province. While the Philippines
may be well known for its awe-inspiring beauty, perhaps the
Filipinos’ unique traits, reputable values, and laudable talents
make the country a place to be.
Tourist who have visited the Philippines can never forget the
big and bright smiles that that greeted them, the colorful and
loud jeepne'ys, the common Filipino phrases such as “Mabuhay” and
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“Salamat” and habits such as saying “po” and “opo” to the elders,
leaving shoes or slippers at the front door before entering a
house, and yet the importunate asking of “Kumain ka na ba?” meaning
“Have you eaten yet?” Indeed, it is a marvel to experience these
unique traits of the Filipinos firsthand. Few of these traits are
as follows:

The Filipino Hospitality

A Filipino trait that is known everywhere is the Filipino’s
brand of hospitality. Filipinos welcome their guests and tourist
as if they are their own brothers and sister; they always make
their guest feel at home, offering them something to eat, or even
a place to stay. They will bring out their best sets of plates and
chinaware for their honored guest and would even go as far as
spending a lot of money and going into debt just so they can
satisfy them. In most shops, Filipino salespersons will greet their
customers with warm welcome and say thank you when they leave even
without buying anything. Filipinos also anticipated giving tours
to friends who will visit their hometown and treating them to the
best restaurants and delicacies for free. During festivals of
fiestas, Filipino serve heaps of festive food and invite the whole
barangay over. They are also fond of giving pasalubong or tokens
from their travels and pabaon or farewell gifts to their visitors.

Respect for Elders

Filipinos greet their elders by kissing
their hand while saying “Mano po!” and
constantly using “po” and “opo” in
conversations. Forgetting to address older
people properly will regard them as rude and
impolite. There is also a wide array of
references to elder people such as ate for
older sister; kuya for older brother; Tito
and Tita for uncle and aunt, respectively;
Lolo and Lola for grandfather and
grandfather; and Manong and Aling for elder
people outside the family.
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Close Family Ties

Filipinos maintain a tight
relationship with their families
regardless if the children are
old enough and already have
families. They are also fond of
family reunions during
birthdays, holidays, or fiestas
year-around. Some Filipino
families even opt to live in a
big house where everyone can stay
together. Nursing homes are almost always not an option for family
members and choose to take care of their elders themselves.

Cheerful Personality
Filipinos have a habit of smiling and laughing a lot. They
smile when they are happy, or sometimes even when they are sad or
angry. Smiling has been a coping strategy for Filipinos especially
during trying times and calamities. For instance, Filipinos smile
and waves at the camera while being interviewed even after a fire
or flooding incident. They always try to maintain a positive
outlook in life which makes them resilient and able to manage
almost everything with a simple smile.

Self-sacrifice
The self-sacrificing attitude of Filipinos can be seen as an
extension or the Filipino hospitality. Filipinos go out of their
way to extend help to their friends, families, and loved ones.
They wish comfort and wait and better lives for their loved ones
and would even go to the extent of working abroad hundreds of miles
away to earn more money and save for them. Overseas Filipino
Workers (OFWs) sacrifice a lot; that is why they are regarded as
the modern day Filipino heroes. These are also times when the
elders are regarded as the modern day Filipino heroes. There are
also times when the eldest among the children of the Family would
give up school to work and provide for the rest of the family and
educate his or her siblings.
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Bayanahin
Bayanihan is the spirit of communal unity and corporation of
Filipinos. It is also about giving without expecting something in
return. Filipinos are always ready to share and help their friends
and loved ones who are in need. It may not always be in monetary
form, but by the time and effort they give also count as a form of
help for them. This trait is particularly manifested in how
Filipinos rally themselves to send aid to those who are severely
affected by natural calamities.

“Bahala Na” Attitude

“Bahala na” is the Filipino version of the famous line “Hakuna
Matata,” meaning no worries. The phrase is said to have originated
from “Bathala na,” where Bathala means God, and the phrase meaning
leaving everything into God’s hands. It can also be viewed as
something similar to the cheerful and positive attitude of
Filipinos and allowing situations take care of themselves instead
of worrying about them.
Colonial Mentality
Colonial mentality is regarded as the lack of patriotism and
the attitude where Filipinos favor foreign products more than their
own. This does not only concern goods, but also the desire to look
more foreign than local and keep up with foreign beauty trends. It
is attributed to the centuries colonization Filipinos had
experienced under the Spanish, American, and Japanese rule.

“Mañana” Habit
This is the Filipino term for procrastination. It was derived
from a loner Filipino phrase called “Mamaya na” meaning dawdling
things, which could have been done at an earlier time. It is a
poor habit of laziness that results in heavier workloads.

“Ningas Kugon”
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“Ningas Kugon” is a Filipino term for the flame and “kugon”

is a Filipino term Cogon grass that easily burns after it is out
into flames. Ningas refers to the attitude of eagerly starting
things but quickly losing eagerness soon after experiencing
difficulty, just like how fast the fire of a Cogon grass burns out
moment after being ignited. Laziness is a common problem among
Filipinos; that is why Filipinos; that is why Filipinos are
regarded as “Juan Tamad” or Lazy Juan.

Pride
Most Filipinos hold their pride as if they are more precious
than keeping a good relationship with family and loved ones. When
two parties are not in good terms, they find it so hard to apologize
and get wait until the other party asks for an apology first.

Crab Mentality
This is a toxic trait among Filipinos where one resents the
achievements of another, instead of happy feeling of that person.
Just like crabs in a container, they pull each other down and ruin
each other’s reputation rather than bringing them up, resulting to
no progress. Filipino should change this troublesome attitude and
focus more on their own inadequacies to improve one’s self.

Filipino Time
Filipinos have this common attitude of arriving late at
commitments, dinner, or parties especially if they are someone
close to them. They tend to not observe punctuality altogether.
The 7:00 pm, and almost everyone arrives at the same time because
everyone is using Filipino time.

Filipino Markers
What then are the hallmarks of our being a Filipino? What makes
us truly relish in our being Filipino? The following are constant
reminders of our nationality.
1. Proverbs or Salawikain
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Filipino proverbs, just like any other proverbs, are saying

that convey lessons and reflections on Filipino practices, and
traditions. Damiana Eugenio, regarded as the Mother of
Philippines Folklore, classified proverbs into six categories
(Eungenio, 2000):

a. proverbs expressing a general attitude toward life and

the laws that govern life.
b. ethical proverbs recommending certain virtues and
condemning certain vices.
c. proverbs expressing a system values;
d. proverbs expressing general truths and observation about
life and human nature;
e. miscellaneous proverbs.
An example of a Filipino proverb is the saying “Kung may
tiyaga, may nilaga,” which means that hard work will be
rewarded if one is persistent.

2. Superstitions
Filipinos also subscribe to their own set of superstitions
passed down from generation to generation. Some of these may
be influenced by beliefs from other cultures, but Filipinos
have retold these superstitions according to their own
experiences and they sometimes end up even more interesting.

According to a Filipino superstition, a woman singing while

cooking will end up a spinster so parents remind their
daughters to avoid singing while preparing their meals.
Filipinos also avoided taking picture in threes as the one in
the center is said to die, according to another superstition.

3. Myths and Legends

Due to the Philippines’s rich culture and history,

numerous myths and legends have sprung about things that are
beyond one’s imagination. These stories are aimed to explain
the origin of things, at the same time, teach a valuable
lesson. Some of these stories stemmed in pre-Christianity
period, but have evolved to the stories we know today.
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A famous Filipino legend is about the

origin of the pineapple fruit. It is about a
story of a young and lazy girl named Pina who
always asked where her kept the things she
needed without looking for them first. When
Pina’s mother got tired of being asked where
she hid her things, her mother wished that
eyes be planted on Pina’s face so she would
start using them. To her mother’s surprise the
next morning, Pina was gone and a fruit sprung
in the yard, implanted with “eyes” all around
its body which was later called “pinya”, the
Filipino term for “pineapple.”

4. Heroes and Icons

Heroes serve as a reminder of true patriotism and

nationalism as they have sacrificed their lives for the
sake of the country’s freedom and progress. Every year, we
lend a whole day to celebrate our heroes, usually the last
Monday of August, to remember their greatness, bravery, and
resilience that has led to the freedom we know today.

Famous Filipino icons such as Lea Salonga, Manny

Pacquiao, and our very own hero, Jose Rizal, also serve as
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important Filipino markers as they have made the Filipino

name pronounced worldwide through their own expertise.

How To Be A Good Filipino

Now you know what are your traits and values are important
indicators of being a Filipino. The problem now how truly become
one and how you can be useful to the development and progress of
our country. The following are a few ways on how to be a good
Filipino:
1. Be an active Filipino citizen.

A good Filipino citizen is aware of the current events and

participates in government programs that aim for the country’s
progression and development. By simply exercising your right
to vote, you become an active citizen. When it comes to voting,
the rich and the poor have equal voting rights- every Filipino
citizen legal age have a chance in choosing the right leaders
for the Philippines who are genuine in helping and caring for
the Filipino people.

2. Study the Philippine History.

The road of the Philippine history is long and bloody, and

by learning and fully understanding the events of the Philippine
history, you will learn so much as to why it is important for
you to love your country with your life, extend help to your
fellow Filipinos in need, and recognize abuse of political
power.

3. Support local products.

When you buy local products, you do not

only support manufactures and
businessmen, but you also help strengthen
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the local economy. How is this so? There will more demand of
local products thus, local businesses will in need for more
employees, which will open new job opportunities. The business
owners will invest within the country and are less to likely
to leave. Supporting our local products also displays our
creativity, innovativeness, and resourcefulness

4. Speak the Filipino language.

This history of the Filipino language was as long and hard

as the Philippines history. Jose Rizal highlighted the
importance of speaking a national language as a way of
displaying the love for one’s country. Speaking Filipino serves
as the unique identifier of being Filipino. It has been a
decade-long debate whether to use Filipino as the instructional
language in in school and to translate textbooks into Filipino,
however, this is still not strictly imposed.

5. Do not spread fake news and be democratic in engaging with

dissent.

This period in the history of the Philippines has seen how

the Internet has spawned tons of possibilities for people, both
good and bad. For instance it is easier for the Filipinos
working abroad to communicate with their love ones left in
Philippines through the internet. Despite this, the Internet
has also made the spread of fake news common. Likewise, the
Internet has also made us engage in intense arguments with
people across the globe about our political positions, for
example. It is part of being a good Filipino to understand and
verify what you read online, especially in social media, before
actually believing in it and spreading it like wildfire. It is
also the responsibility of every Filipino to recognize
disagreement in political views, be tolerant, and argue
intelligently without having to resort into name-calling
people.
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LESSON 12

Unit 4: Unpacking the Self

Topic: Who Am I in the Cyberworld? (Digital Self)

Learning Outcomes:
1. Define online identity;
2. Compare real identity versus online identity;
3. Describe the influence of internet on sexuality and gender;
and
4. Discuss the proper way of demonstrating values and attitude
online.

Concept Digest

These days, more people are becoming active in using the

Internet for research, pleasure, business, communication, and
other purposes. Indeed, the Internet is of great help for everyone.
On the other hand, people assume different identities while in the
cyberspace. People act differently when they are online and
offline. We have our real identity and online identity.
ABSTRACTION
The number of people who are becoming more active online
continues to increase worldwide. More than half of the population
worldwide uses the Internet. It has only been 25 years since Tin
Berners-Lee made the World Wide Web available to the public, but
in that time, the Internet has already become an integral part of
everyday life for most of the world’s population. The Philippines
is among one of the countries with the most active Internet users
(We are Social and Hootsuite n.d).

• Almost two-thirds of the world’s population now has a

mobile phone.
• More than the half of the world’s web traffic now comes
from mobile phones.
• More than half of all mobile connections around the world
are now “broadband.”
• More than one in five world’s population shopped online
in the past 30 days.
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Media users in the Philippines grew up by 12 million or 25%

while the number of mobile social users increase by 13 million or
32%. Those growth figures are still higher compared to the previous
year. More than half the world now uses a smartphone.
Figure 1 Growth of world digital users in 2016 compared to 2015

Based on Figure 1, the number of digital users worldwide

increases. More People are becoming interested and devoted in using
the Internet for various activities. In the Philippines,
adolescents are among the most avid users of the Internet.
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Figure 2. Percentage of mobile internet users from different age groups in the
Philippines

Online identity is actually the sum of all our characteristics

and our interactions while partial identity is a subset of
characteristics that make up our identity. Meanwhile, persona is
the partial identity we create that represents ourselves in a
specific situation

Selective Self-presentation and Impression Management

According to Goffman (1959) and Leary (1995), self-
presentation is the “process of controlling how one is perceived
by other people” and is the key to relationship inception and
development. To construct positive images, individuals selectively
provide information about them and carefully cater this information
in response to other’s feedback.
Anything posted online should be considered “public” no matter
what our “privacy” settings are. Let us say, a student wrote online
about how much he hated another student in school, and started
bullying him online. Does it matter if the student said, “Well,
this is my personal account”? Even if the student wrote it in a
“private” account, it can become public with a quick screen capture
and shared with the world. Personal identity is the interpersonal
level of self which differentiates the individual as unique from
others, while social identity is the level of self whereby the
individual is identified by his or her memberships.
Belk (2013) explained that sharing ourselves is no longer new
and has been practiced as soon as human beings were formed. Digital
devices help us share information broadly. More than ever before.
For those who are avid users of Facebook. It is possible that their
social media friends are more updated about their daily activities,
connections, and thoughts than their immediate families. Diaries
that were once private or shared only with close friends are now
posted as blogs which can be viewed by anyone. In websites like
Flickr or Photobucket, the use of arm’s-length self-photography
indicates a major change. In older family albums, the photographer
was not often represented in the album (Mendelson and Papacharissi
2011), whereas with arm’s length photos, they are necessarily
included (e.g, selfies and groupies). In addition, the family album
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of an earlier era has become more of an individual photo gallery

in the digital age. As Schwarz (2010) mentioned, we have entered
an extraordinary era of self-portraiture. Blogs and web pages have
been continuously used for greater self-reflection and self-
presentation. Facebook and other social media applications are now
a key part of self-presentation. Facebook and other social media
application are now a key part of self-presentation for one sixth
of humanity. As a result, researchers and participants become
concern with actively managing identity and reputation and warn
against the phenomenon of “oversharing” (Labreque, Markos, and
Milne 2011; Shepherd 2005; Suler 2002;Zimmer and Hoffman 2011).
Sometimes people become unaware of the extent of information they
share online. They forgot to delineate what can be shared online
and what should not. Furthermore, it provides a more complete
narration of self and gives people an idealized view of how they
would like to remember by others (van Dijck 2008). Many teenagers,
as q well as some adult, share even more intimate details with
their partners like their passwords (Gershon 2010). This could be
an ultimate act of intimacy and trust or the ultimate expression
of paranoia and distrust with the partner.
Because of the conversion of the private diaries into public
revelations of inner secrets, the lack of privacy in many aspects
of social media make the users more vulnerable, leading to
compulsive checking newsfeed and continually adding tweets and
postings in order appear active and interesting. This condition
has been called “fear of missing out.” People would like to remain
updated and they keep on sharing themselves online because it adds
a sense of confidence at their end especially of others like and
hare their posts. One of the reasons for so much sharing and self-
disclosure online is the so called “disinhibition effect” (Ridley
2012; Suler 2004). The lack of face-to-face gaze meeting, together
with feelings of anonymity and invisibility, gives people the
freedom for self-disclosure but can also “flame” others and may
cause conflict sometimes. The resulting disinhibition causes
people believe that they are able to express their “true self”
better online than they ever could in face-to-face contexts (Taylor
2002). However, it does not mean that there is a fixed “true self”.
The self is still a work in progress and we keep on improving and
developing ourselves every single day. Seemingly self-revelation
can be therapeutic to others especially if it goes together with
self-reflection (Morris et al 2010). But it does appear that we
know do a large amount of our identity work online. When the
Internet constantly asks us: “Who are you?” and “what do you have
to share?” it is up to us if we are going to provide answers to
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such as queries every time we use the Internet and to what extent
are going to share details of ourselves to others.
In addition to sharing the good things we experience, many of
us also share the bad, embarrassing, and “sinful” things we
experience. We also react and comment on negative experiences in
others. Sometimes, we empathize with people. We also argue with
others online. Relationships may be made strong or broken through
post online. Blogs and social media are the primary digital for a
on which such confessions occur, but they can also be found in
photo-and video-sharing sites where blunders and bad moments are
also preserved and shared (Strangelove 2011). Why confess to unseen
and anonymous others online? In Foucault’s (1978, 1998) view,
confessing our secret truths feels freeing, even as it binds us in
a guilt-motivated self0givernance born of a long history of
Christian and pre-Christian philosophies and power structures.
According to Foucault (1998), confessions, along with
contemplation, self-examination, learning, reading, and self-
critical letters to friends, are a part of the “technologies of
the self” through which we seek to purge and cleanse ourselves.
Despite the veil of invisibility, writer on the Internet write
for an unseen audience (Serfaty 2004). Both the number and feedback
of readers provide self-validation for the writer and the certain
celebrity (O’Regan 2009). Confessional blogs may also be
therapeutic for the audience to read, allowing both sincere empathy
and the voyeuristic appeal of witnessing a public confession
(Kitzman 2003).
Consequently, we should have a filtering system to whatever
information we share online as well as to what information we
believe in, which are being shared or posted by others online. We
should look at online information carefully whether they are valid
or true before believing and promoting them. In the same way, we
should also think well before we post or share anything online in
order to prevent conflict, arguments, and cyberbullying, and to
preserve our relationship with others.

Gender and Sexuality Online

According to Marwick (2013), while the terms “sex,” “gender,”
and “sexuality” are often thought of as synonymous, they are
actually quite distinct. The difference between the common
understandings of this terms and how researchers think about them
yield key insights about the social functioning of gender. Sex is
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the biological states that corresponds to what we might call a

“man” or a “woman.” This might seem to be a simple distinction,
but biology of sex is actually very complicated. While “sex” is
often explained as biological, fixed, and immutable, it is actually
socially constructed (West and Zimmerman 1987). Gender then, is
the social understanding of how sex should be experienced and hoe
sex manifest in behavior, personality, preferences, capabilities,
and so forth. A person with male sex organs is expected to embody
a masculine gender. While and gender are presumed to be
biologically connected, we can understand gender as a
sociocultural specific set of norms and that are mapped onto
category of “sex” (Kessler and Mackenna 1978; Lorber 1994). Gender
is historical. It is produced by media and popular culture
(Gauntlett 1977). It is reinforced through songs, and sayings,
admonition, slang. Language, fashion, and discourse (Cameron 1998;
Cameron and Kulick 2003), and it is deeply ingrained. Gender is a
system of classification that values male-gendered things more
than female related things. This system plays out on the bodies of
men and women, and in constructing hierarchies of everything from
colors (e.g; pink vs blue) to academic departments (e.g, English
vs Math) to electronic gadgets and websites. Given this inequality,
the universalized “male” body and experience are conceptualized as
average from them norm ( Goffman 1977).
Sexuality is an individual expression and understanding of
desire. While like gender, this is often viewed as binary
(homosexual or heterosexual), in reality, sexuality s often
experience as fluid.

Performing Gender Online

Theorist Judith Butler (1990) conceptualized gender as a
performance. She explained that popular understanding of gender
and sexuality came to be through discourse and social processes.
She argued that gender was performative, in that is produced
through millions of individual actions, rather than something that
comes naturally to men and women. Performances that adhere to
normative understandings of gender and sexuality are allowed, while
those that do not are admonished (for example, a boy “throwing
like a girl”) (Lober 1994). In the 1990s, many Internet scholars
drew from Butler and other queer theorist to understand online
identity. According to the disembodiment hypothesis, Internet
users are free to actively choose which gender or sexuality they
are going to portray with the possibility of creating alternate
identities (Wynn and Katz 1997). The ability of
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users to self-consciously adapt and play with different gender

identities would reveal the choices involved in the production of
gender, breaking down binaries and encouraging fluidity in
sexuality and gender expression.
Recently, social media has been celebrating for facilitating
greater cultural participation and creativity. Social media sites
like Twittter and YouTube have led to the emergence of a “free
culture” where individual empowered to engage in cultural
production using raw materials, ranging from homemade videos to
mainstream television characters to create new culture, memes, and
humor. At its best, this culture of memes, mash-ups, and creative
political activism for civic engagement and fun creative acts.
While Digg, 4chan, and Reddit are used mostly by men, most social
network sites users are women; this is true in Facebook, Flickr,
Live Journal, Tumbler, and YouTube (Chappell 2011; Lenhart 2009;
Lenhart et al.2010). But mere equality of use does not indicate
equality of participation. While both men and women use Wikipedia,
87% of Wikipedia contributors were identified as male (LaVallee
2009). Male students are more likely to create, edit, and
distribute digital video over YouTube or Facebook than female
student. However, the Pew Internet and American Life Project found
no discernible differences in user-generated content by gender
except remixing, which was most likely among teen girls (Lenhart
et al. 2010). While number of male and female bloggers is roughly
equivalent, they tend to blog about different things.
Overwhelming, certain types of blogs are written and read by women
(e.g., food, fashion, parenting) while others (e.g, technology,
politics) are written and run by men (Chittenden 2010; Hindman
2009; Meraz 2008). Although the technologies are the same, the
norms and mores of the people using them differ.

Setting Boundaries To Your Online Self: Sharing

The following guidelines will help you share information
online in a smart way that will protect yourself and not harm
others. Before or sharing anything online, consider the following:

• Is this post/story necessary?

• Is there a real benefit to this post? Is it funny,
warm-related. Teachable- or am I just making noise
online without purpose?
• Have we (as a family or parent/child) resolved this
issue? An issue that is still being worked out at home,
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or one that is either venerable or highly emotional,

should not be made public.
• It is appropriate? Does it stay within the boundaries
of our family values?
• Will this seem as funny in 5, 10, or 15 years? Or is
this post better suited for sharing with small group
of family members? Or maybe not at all.

Rules to Follow
Here are additional guidelines for proper sharing of
information and ethics use of the Internet according to New (2014):
• Stick to safer sites.
• Guard your passwords.
• Limit what you share.
• Remember that anything you put online or post on a site is
there forever even if you try to delete it.
• Do not be mean or embarrass other people online.
• Always tell if you see strange or bad behavior online,
• Be choosy about your online friends.
• Be patient.
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LESSON 13-14

UNIT 5: MANAGING AND CARING FOR THE SELF: Learning To Be a Better

Learner
Learning Outcomes:
1. Explain how learning occurs.
2. Enumerate various metacognition and studying techniques.
3. Identify the metacognitive techniques that you find most
appropriate for yourself.

INTRODUCTION
Knowing the “self” is not enough. Since “who you are” is partly
made up your choice, you must also have the ability to choose
especially to be better “you”. In the school setting, your
knowledge of yourself should at least enable you to become a better
student.
This lesson will present several techniques that you can adapt
depending on your situation and preferences to make you a better
learner. Learning should not just mean studying for you quizzes
and exam in school. Learning could also occur outside the confines
of the book or classroom, like when you want to acquire a new move
in your favorite sport, or the skills for a certain hobby, among
others. Furthermore, the techniques here are not the only
techniques available and months or years from now, new ways on how
to study better will be discovered or rediscovered. What is
important at this moment is that you learn how to learn these
things.
ABSTRACTION

We are Homo sapiens or the “wise man”. We think in a more

complex level than our ancestors and most, if not all, of the other
beings. But being called wise, not only do we think, but we are
also capable to think about thinking, like how we think of things
and why we think in a certain way about things. It is like your
brain think about it self, then thinks about how it thinks about
itself.
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In the context of learning, studies shows that when you are

able to think how you think, how you process information, and how
you utilize techniques while you are studying, you have a higher
chance of improving learning process than those who do not reflect
on their methods.

This idea falls under the concept of metacognition.

Metacognition is commonly defines as “thinking about thinking”
(Livingston 1997; Papeleontiou-Louca 2003). It is awareness of the
scope and limitations of your current knowledge and skills
(Meichenbaum 1985 in America Institute for Research 2010).

Due to this awareness, metacognition enables the person to

adapt their existing knowledge and skill to approach a learning
task, seeking for h the optimum result of the learning experience
(American Institute for Research 2010).

As seen from the above mentioned definitions, metacognition

basically has two aspects: (1) self-appraisal and
(2) self- management of cognition (Paris and Winnograd 1990 in
Papeleontiou-Louca 20013). Self-appraisal is your personal on your
knowledge and capabilities while self-management is the mental
process you employ using what you have in planning and adapting to
successfully learn or accomplish a certain task (Paris Winnograd
1990 in Papeleontiou-Louca 2003). Similar concepts, usually called
of metacognition, are metacognitive knowledge or what you know
about how you think, and metacognition regulation or how adjust
your thinking process to help you learn better. (American Institute
for Research 2010).

However, it must be noted that in order to make self-appraisal

and self-management work, you must have and accurate self-
assessment-you must be honest about what you know and capable of
in order to find ways to utilize your strengths and improve your
awareness (Schoenfield 1987 in Papeleontiou-Louca 2003).
Going back to the activity, review your MAI results and your
answers during the analysis. Do you feel that the results do not
represent you? Rather than dismissing the test or the results if
you feel any incongruence to your perception, try to analyze if
your answer were accurate and think of the specific instances when
you were learning something. Think also of the various factors
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that make that learning experience successful and enjoyable for

you, including your emotions and motivations at that certain
period.
By doing the above reflection, you are actually utilizing
metacognitive skills. According to Watrerloo Student Success
Office (n.d), the following are other skills that can help you in
exercising metacognition:
1. Knowing your limits. As mentioned earlier, one cannot really
make any significance advancement in using metacognitive
skills without having an honest and accurate evaluation of
what you know and what you do not know. Knowing your limits
also looks at the scope and limitations of your resources so
that you can work with other necessities.

2. Modifying your approach. It begins with the recognition that

your strategy is not appropriate with the task and/or that
you do not comprehend the learning experience successfully.
Recognizing, for example, that you are not understanding what
you are reading, you should learn to modify your strategy in
comprehending your material.You might want to read and reread
a page in five-minute intervals instead of trying to finish
the material in one setting. You want to make a summary or
code for yourself instead of using keywords or highlighting
sections of what you are reading.

3. Skimming. This is basically browsing over a material and

keeping an eye on keywords, phrases, or sentences. It is also
about knowing where to search for such key terms. For example,
you might want to look at the Introduction first or the
Abstract. The Table of Contents can also provide you with a
quick guide to the contents of the book. Introductory
paragraphs, headings or subheadings, and conclusions can also
provide you with an overview of the whole material. This
technique works best when you are trying to read and through
several material in a limited time frame, or when you want to
focus on a certain detail, among others.

4. Rehearsing. This is not just about repeatedly talking, wring

and/or doing what you have learned, but also trying to make
a personal interpretation or summary of the learning
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experience. One of the fun ways to do this is by imagining

yourself being interviewed about your task. As you try to
convey what you have learned from the resources, you also
insert the key concepts are well understood and are still in-
line with the source material even with multiple rehearsals.

5. Self-Test. As the name implies, this is trying to your

comprehension of your learning experience or the skills you
have acquired during learning experience. While some
materials already come with the test like this book, you can
still create test for yourself. You can make essay questions
or definition of terms while you are reading or watching a
material. You can challenge yourself by completing a task
successfully, maybe in a given period of time- for example
doing 50 free throws with at least 90% rate. Self-test does
not only focus on what you have learned but also on how you
learned it. After the experience, you should also ask
questions like “What strategies did I use?” “How successful
were my learning strategies?” “How can I further improve my
learning skills?”
Other strategies that you need to develop asking questions
about your methods, self-reflection, finding a mentor or support
group necessary, thinking out loud (though you have to be
considerate of others also when doing this), and welcoming errors
as learning experiences. For clarification, “welcoming errors”
does not mean seeking them or consciously making them as much as
possible. It means that when you commit mistakes, you do not
dismiss it as significant or you do not try to avoid responsibility
of the results. You must process them to learn every lesson that
you can take about yourself, about the topic, and other people or
things. By having a more positive attitude towards mistake, you
will also have the courage to venture into new and unknown learning
experiences that may one day interest you.
Using these strategies, you can at least identify four types
of metacognitive learners (Perkins 1992 in Cambridge International
Examinations 2015). First, the “tacit” learners are unaware of
their metacognitive processes although they the extent of their
knowledge. Second, the “aware” learners know some their
metacognitive strategies but they do not plan on how to use these
techniques. Third, “strategic” learners, as the name implies,
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strategize and plan their course of action word toward a learning

experience. Lastly, the “reflective” learners reflect on their
thinking while they are using the strategies and adapt
metacognitive skills depending on their situations.

As you may have noticed already, the goal of metacognition is

for the student to be self-regulated learner. Education should not
be limited by the capabilities of the teacher, the content of
school textbooks, the four corners of the classroom and the
duration of the academic year or courses. You should have the
capability to study things on your own as well as accurately your
progress.
This is one of the benefits of using metacognitive techniques
and strategies. Another benefit is the compensation and development
of cognitive limitations of the learner because the student is now
aware of his/her capabilities. Various researchers showed
significant improvement in academic performance in any subject and
across the range. The student is also enabled to transfer knowledge
from one context into another (Cambridge International
Examinations 2015).

Other tips that you can use in studying are the following:

1. Using the study time table plan, organize your time though
writing down specific subjects that you want to learn and
read for a specific day of the week.
2. Break down the task in smaller and more manageable details.

3. Integrate variation in your schedule and learning experience.

Change reading materials very hour and do not put similar
topics together (e.g., try studying English then Mathematics
instead of English then Filipino together). Also include
physical activities in your planning.
4. Revise, summarize, and take down notes, then reread them to
help you minimize cramming in the last minute, especially
when you have a weakness in memorizing fact and data. Some
people are motivated when the deadline is tomorrow, for
instance, they just review the day before some evaluation or
exercises. If you are that kind of person, you may still
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motivate yourself and have the feeling of urgency at the last

minute by using the aforementioned techniques, your
“cramming” need not be a desperate attempt to learn but only
as a way to energize your brain as make final review of the
things you have already been studying for a week or so before.
5. Engaged what you have learned. Do something about it. On a
reading material for example, highlight keywords and phrases,
write your opinions about matter on a separate notebook, or
create diagram or concept map. You may want to look for other
definitions and compare or contrast materials. Use your new
knowledge during discussions-just do something about.

As you were reading this topic, were you aware of your

metacognitive processes? What changes did you feel as you try to
use the metacognitive strategies and skill? We encourage you to
utilize and adapt the aforementioned techniques and success in
learning.
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LESSON 15
UNIT 5: MANAGING AND CARING FOR THE SELF: Do Not Just Dream,
Make It Happen
Learning Outcomes:
1. Use Bandura’s self-efficacy theory for self-assessment;
2. Differentiate growth and fixed mindset by Dweck; and
3. Design personal goals adapting Lockes’s goal setting theory.
INTRODUCTION: Do Not Just Dream, Make It Happen
Jack Canfield is an epitome of success. He has authored seven
books listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as New York
Times Bestseller, beating Stephen King (Macmillan 2017). These
books are: Chicken Soup for the Soul Series; The Success
Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be;
The Power of Focus; The Aladdin Factor; Dare to Win; You’ve Got to
Read This Book; and The Key to Living the Law of attraction. Jack
Canfield is the chairman and founder of The Canfield Soup for the
Soul Enterprises; and was invited to a thousand radio and
television programs worldwide (Canfield 2017).
One of Canfield’s featured quotes about success: “By taking
the time to stop and appreciate who you are what you have achieved-
and perhaps learned through few mistakes, stumbles and losses-you
actually can enhance everything about you. Self-acknowledgement
and appreciation are what give you the insights and awareness to
move forward higher goals and accomplishments” (Brown 2016).
We will learn more about the Canfield’s quote through Albert
Bandura’s self-efficacy theory, and Locke’s goal setting theory.
ABSTRACTION
Albert E. Bandura’s Self-efficacy
Biography

The concept of self-efficacy was introduced by Albert Bandura

in an article entitled “Self-efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of
Behavioral Change” published in Psychological Review in 1997. The
article also became an instant classic in psychology (Kendra 2017).
Albert E. Bandura was born in Mundare, Alberta on December 4,
1925. He was the youngest of six children. He grew up with parents
who put great emphasis on the value of family. Life, and education.
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Bandura took a summer job in Alaska after high school

graduation. He then took an introductory psychology course at the
University of British Columbia as a working student. In three
years’ time, he graduated with The Bolocan Award in Psychology in
1949.

He earned his master’s degree from the University of lowa in

1951 and his PhD Clinical Psychology in 1952. He had a postdoctoral
position at the Wichita Guidance Center before accepting a position
as a faculty member at Stanford University in 1953, where he still
works at present.
The Bobo Doll Experiment

In the 1950s, Dr. Bandura had a study known as the Bobo Doll
experiment. In this experiment, the sample children were
represented with new social models of violent and nonviolent
behavior toward an inflatable redounding Bobo doll. The result
were: the group of children saw the violent behavior model became
violent to the doll, while the control group who was presented
with the nonviolent behavior model was rarely to the doll. This
experiment has been proven right the hypothesis that social
modeling is very effective way of learning. Dr Bandura introduced
the social learning theory that focuses on what people learn from
observing and interacting with other people. Bandura’s social
cognitive theory states that people are active participants in
their environment and are not simple shaped by that environment.
To date, as an active faculty member of Stanford University,
Dr.Bandura continues to do researches such as self-efficacy, stress
reactions, and effects of modeling on human behavior, emotion, and
thought. He has received many awards and honorary degrees due to
his works (The great Canadian Psychology Website 2008).
Dr. Bandura was named the most influential psychologist of
all time. His theories gave major contribution to the field of
psychology, psychology, psychotherapy, and education. He was
elected president of the American Psychological; Association (APA)
in 1974. He was awarded by APA for his distinguished scientific
contributions in 1980 and again in 2004 for his outstanding
lifetime contribution to psychology. In 2015, Dr. Bandura was
awarded the National Medal of Science by President Barack Obama
(Kendra 2017).
Summary of Self-efficacy Theory
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Weill (2011) summarized Albert Bandura’s self-efficacy

theory:
“Self-efficacy Theory is based in the assumption that
psychological procedures serve as means of creating and
strengthening expectations of personal efficacy”.
Self-efficacy theory distinguish between expectations of
efficacy and response-outcome expectation. According to Weibell
(2011), outcome expectancy is “a person’s estimated that a given
behavior will lead to certain outcomes.” An efficacy expectation
is “conviction that one can successfully execute the behavior
required to produce the outcomes.” Although a person may expect a
certain activity to lead to a particular outcome, they may lack
the motivation to perform the action, doubting their ability to do
so. Outcome and efficacy expectations are differentiated because
individual can be believe that a particular course of action will
produce certain outcomes. However, if they entertain serious doubts
about whether they can perform the necessary activities with such
information, it does not influence their behavior.
Self-efficacy typically comes into play when there is an
actual or perceived threat to one’s persona; safety, or one’s
ability to deal with potentially aversive events. Increasing a
person’s self-efficacy increase their ability to deal with a
potentially averse situation. For example, experiment studies on
the treatment of adults with ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) have
demonstrated that raising levels of self-efficacy is an effective
technique to help cope up with threatening situations. Perceived
self-efficacy mediates anxiety arousal.
Weilbell (2011) stated that Dr. Bandura defined self-efficacy
as “people’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated
levels of performance that exercise influence over events that
affect their loves.” He identified acts of people with “high
assurance in their capabilities”, such as:
1. Approach difficult task as challenges to be mastered;
2. Set challenging goal and maintain strong commitment to
them;
3. Heighten or sustain efforts in the face of failures or
setbacks;
4. Attribute failure to insufficient effort or deficient
knowledge and skills which are acquirable; and
5. Approach threatening situations with assurance that they
can exercise control over them.
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In contrast, people “who doubt their capabilities”:

1. shy away from task they view as personal threats;
2. have low aspirations and weak commitment to goal they
choose to pursue;
3. Dwell on personal deficiencies, obstacles they will
encounter, and all kinds of adverse outcomes, rather than
concentrating on how to perform successfully;
4. Slacken their efforts and give up quickly in the face of
difficulties;
5. Are slow to recover their sense of efficacy following
failure or setbacks;
6. Fall easy victim to stress and depression.

Dr. Bandura four main sources of influence by which a person’s

self-efficacy is developed and maintained. These are:

• Performance accomplishment or master experiences;

• Vicarious experiences;
• Verbal or social persuasion; and
• Physiological (somatic and emotional) states.

Dr. Bandura identified that “mastery experiences” or

“personal performance accomplishments” are the most effective ways
to create a strong sense of efficacy. “Success build a robust
belief in one’s personal efficacy. Failures undermined it,
especially if failures occur before a sense of efficacy is firmly
established.” Vicarious experiences through observance of social
models also influence one’s perception of self-efficacy. The most
important factor that determines the strength of influence of an
observed success or failure on one’s own self-efficacy is the
degree of similarity between the observer and the model.

Seeing people similar to oneself succeed by sustained effort

raises observes’ beliefs that they, too, possess the capabilities
to succeed, given the comparable activities. By the same token,
observing others who fail despite high efforts lowers observes’
judgments of their own efficacy and undermines their efforts. The
impact of modeling on perceived self-efficacy is strongly
influenced by perceived similarity to the models. The greater the
assumed similarity, the more persuasive is the model’s successes
and failures. If people see the models as very different from
themselves, their perceived self-efficacy is not much influenced
by the models’ behavior and the result it produces.
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Verbal or social persuasion also affects one’s perception of

self-efficacy. It is “a way of strengthening people’s belief that
they have what it takes to succeed.” Verbal or social persuasion
can provide a temporary boost and perceived ability. When it is
effective in mobilizing a person to action, and their actions lead
to success, the enhance self-efficacy may become more permanent.
“People who are persuaded verbally, that they possess the
capabilities to master given activities, are likely to mobilize
greater and effort and sustain it than if they harbor self-doubts
and dwell on personal deficiencies when problem arise.” This
increases their chances of success. Unfortunately, “it is more
difficult to instill high beliefs of personal efficacy by social
persuasion alone than to undermine it since unrealistic boosts in
efficacy are quickly disconfirmed by disappointing result of one’s
efforts” (Weibell 2011).

People also rely on their somatic or emotional sates when

judging their capabilities. Stress and tension are interpreted as
“signs of vulnerability to poor performance. “Fatigue, aches and
pain, and mood also effect perception of ability. Dr. Bandura
notes, however, that it is not the intensity of the emotional or
physical reaction that is important, but rather, how it not the
intensity of emotional or physical reaction that is important, but
rather, how it is perceived and interpreted. People with a high
sense of self-efficacy may perceive affective arousal as “an
energizing facilitator of performance, whereas those who are beset
by self-doubts regard their arousal as a debilitator” (Weibell
2011).

Since “most human motivation is cognitively generated,” self-

belief of efficacy in an important factor in human motivation.
Belief of self-efficacy work in coordination with component skill
and incentive to act. Inasmuch as a person has both the component
skills needed to succeed and the incentive encaged, self-efficacy
plays an important role in determining what activities a person
will choose to engage in , how much effort they will expend, and
how long that effort will be sustained when things get tough
(Weibell 2011).

Expectation alone will not produce desired performances if

the component capabilities are lacking. Moreover, there are many
things that people can do with certainty of success but they not
perform because they have no incentives to do so (Weibell 2011).
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Dr. Albert Bandura’s quotes about elf-efficacy (Kendra 2017)

are as follows:

• “Self-efficacy is the belief in one’s capabilities to

organize and execute the sources of action required to manage
prospective sittuations.” From Social founding of Thought and
Action: A Social Cognitive Theory, 1986.
• “If efficacy beliefs always reflected only what people
can do routinely, they would rarely fail but they not set
aspirations beyond their immediate reach nor mount the extra effort
needed to surpass their ordinary performances.”
• “Self-belief does not necessarily ensure success, but
self-disbelief assuredly spawns failure.” From Encyclopedia of
Human Behavior 1994.
• “By sticking it out through tough times, people emerge
from adversity with a stronger sense of efficacy.” Encyclopedia of
Human Behavior 1994.
• “Peoples belief about their abilities have a profound
effect on those abilities. Ability is not fixed properly; there is
a huge variability in how you perform. People who have a sense of
self-efficacy bounce back from the failure; they approach things
in terms of how to handle them rather than worrying about what can
go wrong”. Fron Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control, 1996.

Carol S. Dweck’s and Growth Mindset Theory

Biography
Carol S Dweck is the author of Mindset: The Psychology of
Success. She was born on October 17, 1946. She graduated from
Bernard College in 1967 and earned her PhD from Yale University in
1972. She taught at Columbia University, Harvard University, and
University of Illinois before joining Stanford University in 2004
(Upclosed 2017).

She is one of the leading researchers in the field of

motivation and is a Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of
Psychology at Stanford University. Her research focused on why
people succeed and how to foster success. She has been elected as
one of the outstanding scholars in social Sciences at the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her works has been featured in
different publications like The New York Times, The Washington
Post, and The Boston (Mindset 2006-2010).
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Dr. Dweck has received the following awards (Stanford Profiles):

• Book Award for Self-Theories, World Education

Federation (an organized of the United Nation and UNICEF (2004).
• Donald Campbell Career-Achievement Award in Social
Psychology Society for Personality and Social Psychology (2008)
• Award for innovative Program of the Year, “Brainology”
(2008)
• Ann L. Brown Award for Research in Development
Psychology University of Illinois (2009)
• Klingenstein Award for Leadership In Education,
Klingenstein Center, Columbia University (2010)
• Thorndike Career Achievement Award in Educational
Psychology American Psychology Association (2010)
• Beckman Mentoring Award , Columbia University (2011)
• Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, American
Psychology Association (2011)
• Gallery of Scientist, Federation of Association in
Behavioral & Brain Sciences (2011)
• James Mackeen Cattell Lifetime Achievement Award,
Association for Psychology Science (2013)
• Distinguished Scholar Award, Society for Personality and
Social Psychology (2013)

Fixed and Growth Mindset

Dr. Dweck’s contribution to social psychology related to
implicit theories of intelligence with hey book, Mindset: The New
Psychology of Success published in 2006. Dr. Dweck described people
with two types of mindset. People who believe that success is based
on their innate abilities have a “fixed” theory of intelligence,
and goes under fixed mindset. On the other hand, people who believe
that success is based on hardwork, learning, training, and
perseverance have growth theory of intelligence, which goes under
growth mindset. According to Dr.Dweck, individual may not
necessarily be aware of their own mindset, but their mindset can
still be discerned based on their behavior. It is especially
evident in their reaction to failure. Fixed-mindset individual
dread failure because it is a negative statement on their basic
abilities, while growth-mindset individual do not mind or fear
failure as much because they realize their performance can be
improved and learning comes from failure. These two mindsets play
an important role in all aspects of a person’s life. Dr. Dweck
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argues that the growth will allow a person to live a less stressful
and more successful life (Upclosed 2017).

In an interview with Dr.Dweckin 2012, she described the fixed

and growth mindset as:

“In a fixed mindset, student believe their basic abilities,

their intelligence, their talents are just fixed traits. They have
a certain amount and that’s that, and their goal becomes to look
smart all the time and never dumb. In the growth mindset, student
understand that their talents and abilities can be developed
through effort, good teaching and persistence. They don’t
necessarily think everyone’s the same or anyone can be Einstein,
but they believe everyone can get smarted if they work for it.”
(Upclosed 2017).

Edwin A. Locke’s Setting Theory

Biography
Edwin A. Locke is internationally known for his research on
goal setting. He was born on January 5, 1938. He is Deans’s
Professor (Emiritus) of leadership and motivation at the Robert H.
Smith Schoolof Business at the University of Maryland, College
Park. He received his BA from Harvard in 1960 (Locke 2017).

He has published more than 300 chapters, notes, an articles

in professional in professional joirnals on such subjects as work
motivation, job satisfaction, incentives, and the philosophy of
science. He is also the author/editor of 12 books, including The
Selfish Path to Romance: How to Love with Pasion and Reason
(Platfom Press); Study Methods and Motivation (Ayn Rand Bookstore
2008); Goal Setting: A Motivational Technque That Works (Prentice
Hall 1984, with G. Latham); A theory of Goal Setting and Task
Performance (Prentice Hall 1990, with G. Latham); New Developments
in Goal Setting and Task Performance (2013, with G. Latham); New
Developments in Goal Setting and Task Performance (2013, G.
Latham); Handbook of Principles of Organizational
Behavior(Blackwell 2000; Second Edition, Wiley 2009); The Prime
Movers: Traits of the Great Wealth Creators ( Second Edition, Ayn
Rand Bokkstore 2008); and Postmodernism and Management: Pros, Cons
and the Alternative (JAI: ELSEVIER 2003). A recent survey found
that Locke’s goal setting theory (developed with G. Latham) was
ranked number one in importance among 73 management theories. His
work has been supported by numerous research grants, and he has
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served as consultant to research firms and private businesses

(Locke 2017).

Dr.Locke has been elected a Fellow of the Association for

Psychological Science, The American Psychological Society, The
Academy of Management, and Teacher-Scholar Award at the University
of Maryland, the Distinguished Scientific Career Contribution
Award of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology,
the Division), The Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of
Management (Organizational Behavior Division), and the James
Mackeen Cattell Fellow Award from the American Psychological
Society. He is also write and lecture for the Ayn Rand Instituted
and is interested in the application of the philosophy of
objectives to behavioral sciences (Locke 2017).
Goal Setting Theory
The goal setting theory was first studied by Dr. Locke in the
middle of 1960s. He continued to do more studies in relation to
his theory. In 1996, he published another article entitled
“Motivation Through Conscious Goal Setting.” The article is about
his 30 years of research finding on the relationship between
conscious performance goals and performance on work task. The basic
contents of goal setting theory are summarized in terms of 14
categories of findings discussed in the article (Locke 1996).

Locke (1996) first described that the approach of goal setting

theory is based on what Aristotle called final causality; that is,
action caused by a purpose. It accepts the axiomatic status of
consciousness and violation. It also assumes that introspective
reports provide useful and valid data for formulating psychological
concepts and measuring psychological phenomena (e.g., purpose,
goal, commitment. Self-efficacy). He then discussed the attributes
of goals and his 14 research findings.

Goal Attributes
Goal have both an internal and external aspect. Internally,
they are ideas (desired ends); externally, they refer to the object
or condition sought (e.g., a job, a sale, a certain performance
level). The idea guides action to attain the object. Two broad
attributes of goals are content (the actual object sought) and
intensity (the scope, focus, and complexity, among others of the
choice process). Qualitatively, the content of a goal is whatever
the person is seeking. Qualitatively, two attributes, the content
of a goal is whatever the person is seeking. Quantitatively, two
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attributes of content, difficulty, and specifically, have been

studied (Locke 2017).

14 Research Findings
A research was made by Locke (2017) under the article
“Motivation Through Conscious Goal Setting.” The research has the
following finding:

1. The more the difficult the goal, the greater the achievement.

The linear function assumes, however, that the

individual is committed to the goal and possesses the requisite
ability and knowledge to achieve it. Without these, performance
does drop at high goal levels.

2. The more specific or explicit the goal, the more precisely

does drop at high goals levels.

High goal specificity is achieved mainly through

quantification (e.g, increase by 10%) or enumeration (e.g, a list
of task to be accomplished). Thus, it reduces variance in
performance, provided that the individual can control his or her
performance. This is not to say that specificity is always
desirable (it may not be in some creative innovation situations),
but only that it has certain effects.

3. Goals that are both specific and difficult lead to the highest
performance.

Especially relevant here are the many studies that compared

the effect of specific hard goal such as “do your best.” People do
NOT actually do their best when they try to do their best because,
as a vague goal, it is compatible with many different outcomes,
including most studied in goal setting research is that of goal
commitment – the degree to which the person is genuinely attached
to and determined to reach the goals.

4. Commitment to goals is most critical when goals are specific

and difficult.

Hen goals are easy or vague, it is not hard to be committed

to it because it does not require much dedication to reach easy
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goals, and vague goals can be easily redefined to accommodate low

performance. However, when goals are specific and hard, the higher
the commitment is being required, which result to better
performance.
5. High commitment to goals is attained when:
a. the individual is convinced that the goals is important;
b. the individual is convinced that the goal is attainable (
or that, at least, progress can be made toward it).

These are the same factors that influence goal choice. There
are many ways to convince a person that a goal is important:

• In most laboratory settings, it is quite sufficient to

simple ask for compliance after providing a plausible rationale
for the study.
• In work situations, the supervisor or leader can use
legitimate authority to get initial commitment.
• Continued commitment might require additional incentives
such as supportiveness, recognition, and rewards.

Financial incentives may facilitate commitment and

performance, except when reward are offered for attaining
impossible goals. Here, performance actually drops.

Participation by subordinates in setting goals (i.e, joint

goal setting by supervisor and subordinate) leads to higher
commitment than curtly telling people what to do with no
explanation, but it does not lead to (practically significant)
higher commitment than providing a convincing rationale for a
assigned goal.

Self-set can be highly effective in gaining commitment,

although they may not always be set as high as another person would
assign.

Commitment can be enhanced by effective leadership. Relevant

leadership techniques include:
• providing and communicating an inspiring vision.
• acting as role model for the employees;
• expecting outstanding performances;
• promoting employees who are embrace the vision an
dismissing those who reject it;
• delegating responsibility (“ownership”) for keys tasks;
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• goal setting itself can be delegated for capable,

responsible employees;
• expressing (genuine) confidence in employee capabilities.
• enhancing capabilities through training; and
• asking for commitment in public.

Self-efficacy refers to task-specific confidence and is a key

component of Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory. Bandura
showed that self-efficacy can be raised by enactive mastery,
persuasion, and role modeling- all referred to above. In
organizational settings, enactive mastery can be assured by
providing people based on their skills and abilities. Persuasion
may include not only verbal expressions of confidence but also
giving people information regarding what task strategies to use.
The effectiveness of role modeling depends on the attributes of
the model and on the person observing the model.

6. In addition to having direct effect on performance, self-

efficacy influences:

a. the difficulty of the goal chosen or accepted;

b. commitment to goals;
c. the response to negative feedback or failure; and
d. the choice of task strategies.

People with high self-efficacy are more likely to set high

goals or to accept difficult, assigned goals, to commit themselves
to difficult goals, to respond with renewed efforts to setbacks,
and to discover successful task strategies. Thus, the effects of
self-efficacy on performance are both direct and indirect (through
various goal processes). Additionally, goal choice and commitment
can be influence through role modeling.

Feedback. For people to pursue goals effectively, they need

some means of checking or tracking their progress toward their
goal. Sometimes this self-evident to perception, as when a person
walks down a road toward a distant but visible town. In such cases,
deviations from the path to the goal are easily seen and corrected.
However, take note that this is in contrast with a sales goal,
whose attainment requires scores of sales over a period of many
months. Here, some formal means of keeping score is needed so that
people can get a clear indication if they are moving fast enough
and in the right direction.
7. Goal setting is most effective when there is feedback that
shows progress in relation to the goal.
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When provided with feedback on their own performance or that of

others, people often spontaneously set goals to improve their
previous best or beat the performance of others simple as a way of
challenging themselves, but this is not inevitable. The goal set
may be higher or lower than the performance level achieved. The
effect of performance feedback (knowledge of score) depends on the
goal set in response to it.

8. Goal setting (along with self-efficacy) mediates the effect

of knowledge of past performance on subsequent performance.

When people receive negative performance, they are

typically unhappy and may also experience doubts about their
ability. Those who can sustain their doubts about their ability.
Those who can sustain their self-efficacy under such pressure tend
to maintain or even raise their subsequent goals, retain their
commitment, intensify their search for better strategies, and
thereby improve their subsequent performance. Those who lose
confidence will tend to lower their goals, decrease their efforts
and lessen the intensity and effectiveness of their strategy
search. According to Bandura, changes in self-efficacy after
experiencing failure may be affected by the types of casual
affirmative statement people make.

9. Goals affect performance aspect is fairly obvious. A person

who has a goal to maximize quality of performance will focus more
attention and action on quality than on, for example, quantity or
speed. When there is conflict between two or more goals,
performances with respect to each goal may be undermined. Effort
is roughly proportional to the judge difficulty of the goal-which
is why difficult goal ordinarily lead to higher performances than
easy goals. Persistent refers to directed effort extended over
time. Harder goals typically lead to more persistence than easy
goals, because, given the commitment, they take longer to reach
and may require overcoming obstacles. These mechanisms operate
almost automatically, or at least routinely once a goal is
committed to, because people have learned by (by about the age of
6) that if they want to achieve something they have to: pay
attention to it to the exclusion of other things, exert the needed
effort, and persist until it is achieved.

There is another, more indirect goal mechanism- that of

task strategies or plans. Most goals require the application of
task specific procedures in addition to attention and effort if
they are to be attained. For example, a student who wants to get
an A in psychology course needs to know how to study in general,
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how to study psychology in particular, how to identify what is

needed for an A in this course=, and how to implement this
knowledge. There are several things we have learned about the
relationship of goals and plans.

10. Goals stimulate planning in general. Often, the planning

quality is higher than that occurs which without goals. When people
possess task or goal-relevant plans as a result of experience or
training, they activate them automatically when confronted with a
performance goal. Newly learned plans or strategies are most likely
to be utilized under the stimulus of the specific, difficult goal.

People recognize that goal requires plans and seek either to

use what they already know or to make new plans when they want
reach goals. Sometimes such as plans are quite pedestrian. For
example, to attain difficult goals, people may simplify sacrifice
quality- a common trade-off which is everyone familiar it. When
people are given training in a new strategy, they do not always
use it consistently unless they must order to attain goals that
cannot otherwise be attained. When task are complex, a number of
issues arise. Direct goal mechanism are adequate than in the case
of simple tasks for attaining the goal. (Compare, for example the
efficacy of effort in leading to high performance when doing push-
ups versus playing chess.) The path to the goal is to less clear,
and there may be no relevant prior experience or training which
they can fall back on. In such cases, people are forced to discover
new strategies; sometimes they do this poorly especially if the
goals are specific and difficult. The reason appears to be that
under type of pressure, tunnel vision inhibits effective search
procedures.

11. When strive for goals on complex tasks, they are least
effective in discovering suitable task strategies if:

a. They have no prior experience or training on the task;

b. There is high pressure to perform well; and
c. There is high time pressure (to perform well immediately).

Goal as meditators. Goals, along with self-efficacy, might

mediate the effects of values and personality on performance. There
is a firm support for goals. Feedback alone is just information.
To act based on information, people need to know or decide what it
means- that is, what significant it has. In goal-setting context,
this means knowing what a good or desirable score is from a bad or
undesirable score. If no such judgment is made, the feedback will
probably ignored. Similarly participations seems to motivate
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performance to the extent that leads to higher goals, higher self-

efficacy or higher commitment. More recent studies have shown
evidence for goals or goals plus self-efficacy as mediator of
personality and charismatic leadership. In other words, these
variable affect performance through their effects on goals and
self-efficacy.

12. Goals (including goal commitment), in combination with self-

efficacy, mediate or partially mediate the effects of several
personality traits and incentives on performance.

The logic behind this model is that goals and self-

efficacy are immediate regulators of much action and these goals
and self-efficacy, therefore, reflect the individual’s assessment
of the value of incentives and of the applicability of values and
traits to specific situations.

Self-management. Goal directed actions and choice are not

necessarily “imposed” or even encouraged by environments (e.g,
organizational demands). People have the choice to manage their
own lives by setting their own purposes and working to achieve
them.

13. Goal-setting and goal-related mechanism can be trained and/or

adopted in the absence of training for the purpose of self-
regulation.

Affect. Emotion is a type of automatic, partly subconscious,

psychological estimate-an estimate of the relationship things to
oneself. More precisely, emotions are the form in which one
experiences atomized value judgments-judgments of objects, events
and situations seen as threatening to one’s value give rise to
negative emotions. (e.g., fear, anxiety, dissatisfaction), whereas
events and situation seen is furthering one’s values produce
positive emotions (e.g., fear, anxiety, satisfaction, love). In
goal-setting contexts, the immediate value standard is one’s goal;
that is the level of performance desired or sought. Thus, goal
achievement leads to satisfaction, while goal failure leads to
dissatisfaction, at first glance, there is an interesting and non-
intuitive finding that pertains to the relation of goals to
satisfaction. High goals lead to less performance satisfaction, on
the average, than easy goals.

This seems paradoxical in the sense that higher goal are

more motivating than lower goals in terms of effort and
performance. The explanation is that high goals require higher
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standard of attainment compare to low goals, making satisfaction

harder achieve. This is why, people could set their own goals
without penalty, they would set them lower rather than higher.
However in the real world, more rewards accrue to people who set
high goals for themselves than those who set goals, thus limiting
the number of people who set their goal high, As noted earlier,
people who set goals based both on what is important to them and
what they think they capable of.

14. Goal serves as standard of self-satisfaction, with

harder goals demanding higher accomplishment in order to attain
self-satisfaction than easy goals. Goals can also be used to
enhanced task interest, reduce boredom, and promote goal clarity.
When used to punish or intimidate people, however, goals, increase
stress and anxiety.

Goal-setting dilemmas. If hard or difficult goals lead to

higher performances and lower satisfaction than easy goals, there
is obviously a problem of how get people (or oneself) to be both
happy and productive. There obvious benefits and penalties of
trying for too little in life as well as for trying too much.
Obviously, the key principle here is personal context. Life goals
must be based on what you really want out of life (not on what
other people want for you) and on your capabilities. If you want
to pursue challenging goals, these goals do not have to be attained
all at once, but can be pursued over an extended time period. Lower
sub-goals can be set as steps to a longer terms and higher goal.
Partial success can be credited by others oneself. Failure can be
treated or framed as a learning experience, not as proof of
incompetence. New skills can be required as needed, a jobs can be
chosen, when possible, to match your aspirations and abilities.
Another dilemma is how structure reward system in
organizations. If incentives were offered for goals that could not
be reached, lower motivations, and performance resulted as compared
to hourly payment or piece-rate pay. This might suggest that
moderate goals would be ideal; however, moderate works situations
do not stay moderate for long because people improve their
strategies and skills overtime. Thus, difficult juggling act would
be required to maintain an effective system. Another possibility
would be to set goals to motivate people but pay for performance,
regardless of goal level. This would be similar to piece-rate
system. Alternatively, multiple goal levels could be set, from
moderately easy to almost impossible, and pay could be promotional
to the highest level attained. This would guarantee some reward
even for moderate attainments but would stimulates higher
attainments as well. Incentives can be dangerous if they
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encourage tunnel vision and thereby the neglect important non-goal

activities.

People with growth mindset, where there is room for improvement of

performance, with a positive perceived self-efficacy, where he or
she has high confidence on his or her capabilities.
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LESSON 16
UNIT 6: MANAGING STRESS
TOPIC: Less Stress, More Care
Learning Outcomes:
1. Explain the effects of stress to one’s health;
2. Examine cultural dimension of stress and coping; and
3. Design self-care plan.

INTRODUCTION
The American Psychological Association (2017) has these
statements about stress: “Stress often described as felling of
being overwhelmed, worried, or run-down. Stress can affect people
of all ages, genders, and circumstances and can lead to both
physical psychological health issues. By definition, stress is any
uncomfortable ‘emotional experience accompanied by predictable
biochemical, physiological, and behavioral changes.’ Some stress
can be beneficial at times, producing boost that provides drive
and energy to help people get through situations like exams or
work deadlines. However, an extreme amount of stress can have
health consequences and adversely affect the immune,
cardiovascular, neuroendocrine and central nervous systems.”
Since stress is inevitable to life, we have to learn how to
handle and cope up with. More so, we have to be familiar with other
approach to a healthy lifestyle which is self-care.

ABSTARCTION
Stress and Human Response
The American Institute of Stress (AIS) has distinguished
different types of stress and the human response to it.
Hans Selye define stress as the body’s nonspecific response
to any demand. Whether it is caused by or results in pleasant or
unpleasant stimuli. It is essential to differentiate between the
unpleasant or harmful variety of stress termed distress, which
often connotes disease, or eustress, which often connotes
euphoria. Eustress is stress in daily life that has positive
connotations, such as marriage, promotion, baby, winning money,
new friends, and graduation. On the other hand, distress is stress
in daily life that has negative connotations such as divorce,
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punishment, injury, negative feelings, financial problems, and

work difficulties (AIS 2017)
The general stress syndrome has three components:
1. The alarm stage - represents a mobilization of the body's
defensive forces. The body is preparing for the "fight or
flight" syndrome. This involves a number of hormones and
chemicals excreted at high levels as well as an increase in
heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration, and respiration
rate, among others.
2. The stage of resistance - the body becomes adaptive to the
challenge and even begins to resist it. The length of this
stage of resistance is dependent upon the body's innate and
stored adaptation energy reserves and upon the intensity of
the stressor. Just as any machine wears out even if it has
been properly maintained, the same thing happens with living
organisms-sooner or later they become the victim of this
constant wear and tear process. The acquired adaptation is
lost if the individual is subject to still greater exposure
to the stressor. The organism then enters into the third and
final stage.
3. The exhaustion stage - the body dies because it has used up
its resources of adaptation energy. Thankfully, few people
ever experience this last stage.
Stress diseases are maladies caused principally by errors in
the body's general adaptation process. They will not occur when
all the body's regulatory processes are properly checked and
balanced. They will not develop when adaptation is facilitated by
improved perception and interpretation. The biggest problems with
derailing the general stress syndrome and causing disease is an
absolute excess, deficiency, or disequilibrium in the amount of
adaptive hormones. For example, corticoids, Adrenocorticotropic
Hormone (ACTH), and growth hormones are produced during stress.
Unfortunately, if stress is induced chronically, our defense
response lowers its resistance since fewer antibodies are produced
and an inflammatory response dwindles (AIS 2017).
In the article "Understanding Stress Response" of the Health
Harvard Journal (2017), it further discussed chronic stress and
human body response:
"Chronic stress is unpleasant, even when it is transient. A
stressful situation—whether something environmental, such as a
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looming work deadline, or psychological, such as persistent worry

about losing a job-can trigger a cascade of stress hormones that
produce well-orchestrated physiological changes. Stressful
incident can make the heart pound and breathing quicken. Muscles
tense and beads of sweat appear."
This combination of reactions to stress is also known as the
"fight-or-flight" response because it evolved as a survival
mechanism, enabling people and other mammals to react quickly to
life-threatening situations. The carefully orchestrated vet near-
instantaneous sequence of hormonal changes and physiological
responses helps someone to fight the threat off or flee to safety.
Unfortunately, the body can also overreact to stressors that are
not life-threatening, such as traffic jams, work pressure, and
family difficulties. Over time, repeated activation of the stress
response takes a toll on the body. Research suggests that chronic
stress contributes to high blood pressure, promotes the formation
of artery-clogging deposits, and causes brain changes that may
contribute to anxiety, depression, and addiction. More preliminary
research suggests that chronic stress may also contribute to
obesity, both through direct mechanisms (causing people to eat
more) or indirectly (decreasing sleep and exercise) (Health Harvard
2017).
The stress response begins in the brain. When someone confronts
an oncoming car or other danger, the eyes or ears (or both) send
the information to the amygdala, an area of the brain that
contributes to emotional processing. The amygdala interprets the
images and sounds. When it perceives danger, it instantly sends a
distress signal to the hypothalamus (Health Harvard 2017).
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When someone experiences a stressful event, the amygdala, an

area of the brain that contributes to emotional processing, sends
a distress signal to the hypothalamus. This area of the brain
functions like a command center, communicating with the rest of
the body through the nervous system so that the person has the
energy to fight or flee. (Health Harvard 2017).
The hypothalamus is a bit like a command center. This area of
the brain communicates with the rest of the body through the
autonomic nervous system. Which controls involuntary body
functions like breathing, blood pressure, heartbeat, and the
dilation or constriction of key blood vessels and small airways in
the lungs called bronchioles. The autonomic nervous system has two
components. The sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic
nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system functions like a
gas pedal in a car. It triggers the fight or-flight response,
providing the body with a burst of energy so that it can respond
to perceived dangers. The parasympathetic nervous system acts like
a brake. It promotes the "rest and digest" response that calms the
body down after the danger has passed (Health Harvard 2017).
After the amygdala sends a distress signal, the hypothalamus
activates the sympathetic nervous system by sending signals through
the autonomic nerves to the adrenal glands. These glands respond
by pumping the hormone epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) into
the bloodstream. As epinephrine circulates through the body, it
brings on a number of physiological changes. The heart beats faster
than normal, pushing blood to the muscles, heart, and other vital
organs. Pulse rate and blood pressure go up. The person undergoing
these changes also starts to breathe more rapidly. Small airways
in the lungs open wide. This way, the lungs can take in as much
oxygen as possible with each breath. Extra oxygen is sent to the
brain, increasing alertness. Sight, hearing, and other senses
become sharper. Meanwhile, epinephrine triggers the release of
blood sugar (glucose) and fats from temporary storage sites in the
body. These nutrients flood into the bloodstream supplying energy
to all parts of the body (Health Harvard 2017)
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All of these changes happen so quickly that people are not

aware of them. In fact, the wiring is so efficient that the amygdala
and hypothalamus start this cascade even before the brain's visual
centers have had a chance to fully process what is happening. That
is why people are able to jump out of the path of an incoming car
even before they think about what they are doing. As the initial
surge of epinephrine subsides, the hypothalamus activates the
second component of the stress response system known as the
hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis. This network consists
of the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal glands.
The HPA axis relies on a series of hormonal signals to keep the
sympathetic nervous system- the "gas pedal"-pressed down. If the
brain continues to perceive something as dangerous, the
hypothalamus releases corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH),
which travels to the pituitary gland, triggering the release of
ACTH. This hormone travels to the adrenal glands, prompting them
to release cortisol. The body thus stays revved up and on high
alert. When the threat passes, cortisol levels fall. The
parasympathetic nervous system-the "brake" then dampens the stress
response (Health Harvard 2017).
Persistent epinephrine surges can damage blood vessels and
arteries, increasing blood pressure and raising risk of heart
attacks or strokes. Elevated cortisol levels create physiological
changes that help to replenish the body's energy stores that are
depleted during the stress response. But they inadvertently
contribute to the buildup of fat tissue and to weight gain. For
example, cortisol increases appetite, so that people will want to
eat more to obtain extra energy. It a while, this has an effect on
the body that contributes to the health problems also increases
storage of unused nutrients as fat. Chronic low-level stress keeps
the HPA axis activated, much like a motor that is idling too high
for too long. After associated with chronic stress (Health Harvard
2017).
Techniques to Counter Chronic Stress
Several techniques to counter chronic stress were presented in the
same article (Health Harvard 2017):
1. Relaxation response. Dr. Herbert Benson, director emeritus of
the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at
Massachusetts General Hospital, has devoted much of his career
to learning how people can counter the stress response
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by using a combination of approaches that elicit the

relaxation response. These include deep abdominal breathing,
focus on a soothing word (such as peace or calm),
visualization of tranquil scenes, repetitive prayer, yoga,
and tai chi.

Most of the research using objective measures to evaluate

how effective the relaxation response is at countering chronic
stress have been conducted in people with hypertension and
other forms of heart disease. Those results suggest the
technique may be worth trying although for most people it is
not a cure at all. For example researchers at the
Massachusetts General Hospital conducted a double-blind,
randomized controlled trial of 122 patients with
hypertension, ages 55 and older, in which half were assigned
to relaxation response training and the other half to a
control group that received information about blood pressure
control. After eight weeks, 34 of the people who practiced
the relaxation response a little more than half-had achieved
a systolic blood pressure reduction of more than 5 mm Hg, and
were therefore eligible for the next phase of the study, in
which they could reduce levels of blood pressure medication
they were taking. During the second phase, 50% were able to
eliminate at least one blood pressure medication-
significantly more than in the control group, where only 19%
eliminated their medication.

2. Physical activity. People can use exercise to stifle the

buildup stress in several ways. Exercise, such as taking a
brisk walk shorty after feeling stressed, not only deepens
breathing but also helps relieve muscle tension Movement
therapies such as yoga, tai chi and qi gong combined with
fold movements, with deep breathing, and mental focus, all of
which can induce calm.

3. Social support. Confidants, friends, acquaintances, coworker,

relatives, spouses and companions all provide a life-
enhancing social net, and may increase longevity. It is not
clear why, but the buffering theory holds that people who
enjoy close relationships with family and friends receive
emotional support that indirectly helps to sustain them at
times of chronic stress and crisis.
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LESSON 17-18
UNIT 6: MANAGING STRESS
TOPIC: Coping and Managing Stress
Learning Outcomes:
1. Explain the effects of stress to one’s health;
2. Examine cultural dimension of stress and coping; and
3. Design self-care plan.
The Cultural Dimension of Stress and Coping
Ben Kuo (2010) reviews studies on cultural dimensions of
stress and coping. His study, "Culture's Consequences on Coping:
Theories. Evidences, and Dimensionalities" published in the
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology had the following findings
Stress and coping research constitutes one of the most
intensively studied areas within health, social, and psychological
research because of its broad implications for understanding human
well-being and adaptation Early thesis on stress and coping, the
interwoven relationship of culture and stress responses was
implicated, conceptually. The thesis postulated that a person's
internalized cultural values, beliefs, and norms affect the
appraisal process of stressors and the perceived appropriateness
of coping responses. Accordingly, these cultural factors delimit
the coping options available to an individual in the face of stress
As follows, stress and coping are universal experiences faced by
individuals regardless of culture, ethnicity, and race, but members
of different cultures might consider and respond to stressors
differently with respect to coping goals, strategies, and outcomes.
Kuo's study identified and revealed compelling evidence for
cultural variations and specificities on coping based on
theoretical and empirical findings generated over the last two
decades cultural coping research. Based on the broad problem-
versus-emotion-focused coping nomenclature, repeated studies have
pointed to the prevalence of "emotion-focused," "indirect,"
"passive, or "covert," "internally target," or "secondary control"
coping among individuals of Asian backgrounds, as well as, to a
lesser extent, among individuals of African and Latino backgrounds.
Specifically, the avoidance, withdrawal, and forbearance coping
methods are common among Asians, while
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spiritual, religious, and ritual based coping are common among

African-Americans and African-Canadians. Additionally, spiritual
and religious coping and coping through family support are common
among individuals of Latino/Latina backgrounds (Kuo 2010).
Furthermore, emotion-focused coping has been shown to be
beneficial (e.g., reducing distress) for Asian-Americans and
Asian-Canadians in dealing with various stressors, including
family conflicts and racial discrimination. Problem focused coping
has also been found to be effective for Asian-Americans and Asian-
Canadians in responding to male gender conflicts, racial
discrimination, and cross-cultural adjustment. For non-Asians,
emotion-focused coping was shown to be negative in increasing
stress for African-American adult caregivers but problem-focused
coping was shown to be negative in exacerbating stress for
Hispanic-American college students in facing family conflicts. As
evident, the existing knowledge on the adaptive quality of
different coping strategies is currently incomplete and
inconclusive and necessitates further research (Kuo 2010).
The current review also highlighted the salience of
"collective coping" approaches among culturally diverse
individuals, including Asians, African Americans, and Latino-
Americans, based on more recent research. This distinctive domain
of coping represents the collective and interdependent
characteristics of many ethnic minorities which is a critical
aspect of coping, overlooked by both the extant coping and the
cultural coping literature until recently. As has already been
demonstrated in a number of recent published studies, to fully
represent and account for the coping system of ethnic minority
individuals, an integrated approach incorporating conventional and
culture-based collective coping measures is imperative (Kuo 2010).
Finally, this review also points to coping's link to: (a)
broad societal climate, such as collectivism-individualism and
independent-interdependent. Cultural norms; (b) individuals'
acculturation and ethnic identity: (c) primary/internally versus
secondary externally controlled orientations; (d) accessibility
and attitudes toward seeking social and family support; and (e)
degrees of religious/spiritual beliefs and identifications.
Together, these findings further underscore the significance of
person-cultural environment interaction in the coping process and
provide corroborating evidence in support of the contextual and
transactional theories of coping (Kuo 2010).
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However, the said syntheses need to be interpreted with

caution in view of several limitations. First, it should be noted
that the way in which types of coping were defined, categorized,
and measured varied quite significantly from study to study and
would likely have skewed the findings and the conclusions drawn
and reduced the comparability across studies.
Second, the relationship between coping methods and coping
outcomes is not straightforward but is moderated by a constellation
of contextual and personal factors as suggested by the theoretical
models reviewed earlier.
Empirical data, in fact, have evidenced the effects of a
person's perceived "intensity" and "controllability" of the
stressor and cultural orientations (e.g., acculturation, self-
construals) on coping. Lastly, it should be recognized that an
individual's actual coping system often comprises a complex and
diverse range of coping behaviors. For instance, Chinese-Canadian
adolescents were found to engage in collectivistically based
coping, in conjunction with individualistically based coping when
dealing with interpersonal conflict, adjustment stress, and gender
role-related stress. Those qualitatively and functionally opposite
coping strategies should not automatically be construed as mutually
exclusive within culturally diverse individuals (Kuo 2010).

Self-care Therapy
A positive way to counter stress is self-care therapy. Nancy
Apperson (2008) of Northern Illinois University has provided steps
for self-care:
1. Stop, breathe, and tell yourself: "This is hard and I will
get through this one step at a time." During an unexpected
event or crisis, we are faced with dealing with a new reality
and it takes time to incorporate what happened into our
everyday lives. Identify the steps you need to take first,
write them down, and focus on each step one at a time. I you
look at everything you have to do, you will become
overwhelmed. Remember you can only do one thing at a time and
focus exclusively on that one thing.
2. Acknowledge to yourself what you are feeling. All feelings
are normal số accept whatever you are feeling. Once you
recognize, name, and accept your feelings, you feel less out
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of control. You can then find a comfortable place to express

your feelings. During periods of extreme stress and grief, it
is very hard to hold back your feelings, particularly your
tears and anger. This is normal so describe this as grieving
or sadness or anger. You are not falling apart. You are
grieving or feeling angry or sad. It is important during this
time of intense feelings to own your feelings and NOT hurt
yourself or lash out at someone else.
3. Find someone who listens and is accepting. You do not need
advice. You need to be heard. Sharing our story is how we
begin to accept whatever happened and integrate it into our
new reality. It may be that you just need to let go of your
expectations of how things should be and talking about your
feelings and beliefs is the beginning of that process.
4. Maintain your normal routine as much as possible. Making
everyday decisions-deciding to get dressed, doing the dishes,
or going to work-gives you a sense of control and feels
comforting as it is a familiar activity. Be realistic with
what you can do and remember everything right now will take
you longer to do. Avoid making major decisions based on the
stress you feel right now.

5. Allow plenty of time for a task. You will not be as productive

as you normally are. Accept how much you are able to do right
now and recognize it will not be this way forever. During
periods of extreme stress, prolonged stress, or after a
crisis, your ability to concentrate and focus on tasks is
diminished and it will take time for your concentration to
return so give yourself extra time and be gentle and accepting
of yourself and what you can do.

6. Take good care of yourself. Remember to:

a. Get enough rest and sleep. Sleep at least six hours and
not more than nine hours. If you are having difficulty
sleeping, listen to peaceful or slow music and/or do
progressive relaxation before you go to sleep. Sleep
helps your body heals and strengthens our immune system.
b. Eat regularly and make healthy choices. Skipping meals
particularly breakfast, contributes to fatigue, mood
swings, and poor concentration. Healthy food choices
(not high in simple sugars) maintain blood sugar level,
energy, and concentration of the body.
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c. Know your limits and when you need to let go. Some
problems are beyond our control. If something cannot be
changed, work at accepting it for what it is. Resist the
urge to fix the unfixable or try to control the
uncontrollable. Sometimes a mantra helps: "It is what it
is, I just need to accept it." For things within your
control, remember that change takes time. If you are
holding on and need to let go, journal about it.
d. Identify or create a nurturing place in your home. A
rocking chair, a nice view, and a soothing music are
important components to a nurturing place. Twenty
minutes of spending in a rocking chair reduces both your
physical pain and anxiety. It is like giving yourself a
hug. Music and nature sounds nurture our being and lifts
our spirits.
e. Practice relaxation or meditation. Go to your nurturing
place and listen to guided relaxation tapes. Time spent
in meditation or prayer allows your mind and body to
slow down and let go of the stress.
Take a mental vacation in the midst of stress by relaxing
your body, shutting your eyes, and visualizing yourself
in your favorite vacation spot or quiet haven.
f. Escape for a while through meditation, reading a book,
watching a movie, or taking a short trip.
Self-compassion Therapy
Self-compassion is another way to counter stress. Kristin
Neff (2012) has discussed self-compassion in her article, The
Science of Self-Compassion"
"Self-compassion entails being warm and understanding toward
ourselves when we suffer, fall, or feel inadequate, rather than
flagellating ourselves with self-criticism. It recognizes that
being imperfect and experiencing life difficulties is inevitable,
so we soothe and nurture ourselves when confronting our pain rather
than getting angry when life falls short of our ideals. We clearly
acknowledge our problems and shortcomings without judgment, so we
can do what is necessary to help ourselves. We cannot always get
what we want. We cannot always be who we want to be. When this
reality is denied or resisted, suffering arises the form of stress,
frustration, and self-criticism. When this reality is accepted
with benevolence, however, we generate positive emotions of
kindness and care that help us cope. Self-compassion recognizes
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that life challenges and personal failures are part of being human,
an experience we all share. In this way, it helps us to feel less
desolate and isolated when we are in pain."

Self-compassion Phrases
Neff provided self-compassion phrases when feeling stress or
emotional pain, perhaps when you are caught in a traffic jam,
arguing with a loved one, or feeling inadequate in some way. It is
helpful to have a set of phrases memorized to help you remember to
be more compassionate to yourself in the moment. You can take a
deep breath, put your hand over your heart, or gently hug yourself
(if you feel comfortable doing so), and repeat the following
phrases:

• This is a moment of suffering.

• Suffering is a part of life.
• May I be kind to myself.
• May I give myself the compassion I need.
These phrases capture the essence of the three components of
self-compassion. The first phrase helps to mindfully open to the
sting of emotional pain. (You can also just simply say "This is
really hard right now" or "This hurts.") The second phrase reminds
us that suffering unites all living beings and reduces the tendency
to feel ashamed and isolated when things go wrong in our lives.
The third phrase begins the process of responding with self-
kindness rather than self-criticism. The final phrase reinforces
the idea that you both need and deserve compassion in difficult
moments. Be experimental with the phrases. Other phrases that may
feel more authentic in a given situation are: "May I accept myself
as I am, "May I forgive myself," or "May I learn to accept what I
cannot change." (Neff 2012)

Self-compassion and Emotional Well-being

One of the most consistent findings in the research literature
is that greater self-compassion is linked to less anxiety and
depression. Of course, a key feature of self-compassion is the
lack of self-criticism, and self-criticism is known to be an
important predictor of anxiety and depression. However, self-
compassion stil offers protection against anxiety and depression
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when controlling for self-criticism and negative effect. Thus,

self-compassion is not merely a matter of looking on the bright
side of things or avoiding negative feelings. Self-compassionate
people recognize when they are suffering, but are kind toward
themselves in these moments, acknowledging their connectedness
with the rest of humanity Self-compassion is associated with
greater wisdom and emotional intelligence, suggesting that self-
compassion represents a wise way of dealing with difficult
emotions. For instance, self-compassionate people engage in
rumination and think suppression less often than those low in self-
compassion. They also report greater emotional coping skills,
including more clarity about their feelings and greater ability to
repair negative emotional states. Self-compassion appears to
bolster positive states of being as well. By wrapping one's pain
in the warm embrace of self-compassion, positive feelings are
generated that help balance the negative ones (Neff 2012).

Self-compassion, Motivation, and Health

Research supports the idea that self-compassion enhances
motivation rather than self-indulgence. For instance, while self-
compassion is negatively related to perfectionism, it has no
association with the level of performance standards adapted for
the self. Self-compassionate people aim just as high, but also
recognize and accept that they cannot always reach their goals.
Self-compassion is also linked to greater personal initiative the
desire to reach one's full potential. Self-compassionate people
have been found to have less motivational anxiety and engage in
fewer self-handicapping behaviors such as procrastination than
those who lack self-compassion. In addition, self-compassion was
positively associated with mastery goals (the intrinsic motivation
to learn and grow) and negatively associated with performance goals
(the desire to enhance one's self-image) found on the study of
Deck in 1986.
This relationship was mediated by the lesser fear of failure
and perceived self-efficacy of self-compassionate individuals.
Thus, self-compassionate people are motivated to achieve, but for
intrinsic reasons, not because they want to garner social approval.
(Neff 2012).

Self-compassion versus Self-esteem

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Research indicates that self-compassion is moderately

associated with trait levels of self-esteem as one would expect,
given that both represent positive attitudes toward the self.
However, self-compassion still predicts greater happiness and
optimism as well as less depression and anxiety when controlling
for self-esteem. Moreover, the two constructs differ in terms of
their impact on well-being. Also, self-esteem had a robust
association with narcissism while self-compassion had no
association with narcissism. In contrast to those with high self-
esteem, self-compassionate people are less focused on evaluating
themselves, feeling superior to others. Worrying about whether or
not others are evaluating them, defending their viewpoints, or
angrily reacting against those who disagree with them. Self-esteem
is thought to be an evaluation of superiority/inferiority that
helps to establish social rank stability and is related to
alerting, energizing impulses and dopamine activation. While self-
esteem positions the self in competition with others and amplifies
feelings of distinctness and separation, self-compassion enhances
feelings of safety and interconnectedness (Neff 2012).
Self-compassionate Letter
An example of a self-compassion exercise is the self-compassionate
letter. This exercise has been used in therapeutic programs. Below
are the steps in doing the self-compassionate letter exercise as
provided by Neff (2012):
1. Candidly describe a problem that tends to make you feel
bad about yourself, such as a physical flaw, a relationship
problem, or failure at work or school. Note what emotions
come up-shame, anger, sadness, fear-as you write.
2. Next, think of an imaginary friend who is unconditionally
accepting and compassionate; someone who knows all your strengths
and weaknesses, understands your life history, your current
circumstances, and understands the limits of human nature.
3. Finally, write a letter to yourself from that perspective.
What would your friend say about your perceived problem? What words
would he or she use to convey deep compassion? How would your
friend remind you that you are only human? If your friend were to
make any suggestions, how would they reflect unconditional
understanding?
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4. When you are done writing, put the letter down for a while
and come back to it later. Then read the letter again, letting the
words sink in, allowing yourself to be soothed and comforted.
Less Stress, Care More
We should be in control of the stress that confronts us every
day. Otherwise, when we are overwhelmed by stress, it can be
detrimental to our health Self-care and self-compassion are two
ways to positively confront stress. We should love and care for
our self more and more each day.