Psychological

Perspective of the
Self
 I and Me
 Three Parts of the Mind
 Self Awareness
 Social Comparison Theory
 Self Evaluation Theory
 Narcissism
 "I AM WHO I AM.“

• If you are who you are, then who you

are that makes you who you are?
Psychological Perspective

 Focuses on how we think, feel, and behave as

individuals.
 It looks at how we see ourselves, our personalities,
and our inner thoughts and emotions.
 This perspective helps us understand how our mind
shapes who we are and how we interact with the
world.
I and Me – William James
 William James (1890) was one of the
earliest psychologists to study the self and
he conceptualized the self as having two
aspects-the "I" and the "me";
I and Me – William James

The "me" is the physical

The "I" is the THINKING, ACTING, characteristics as well as
and FEELING self psychological capabilities that
makes you who you are
 Carl Rogers (1959) theory of personality also used
the same terms, the "I" as the one who acts and
decides while the "me" is what you think or feel
about yourself as an object (Gleitmann, Gross, and
Reisberg, 2011)
Identity and Self-Concept

 Identity is composed of one's personal

characteristics, social roles, and
responsibilities as well as affiliation that defines
who one is.
 Self-concept is basically what comes to your mind
when you are asked about you are.
 Self, identity, and self-concept are NOT FIXED in one
time frame.
 Your description in the past, present, and future
about yourself varies.
 They are ever changing at every moment;
 Think of malleable metal, strong and hard
 Carl Rogers captured this idea in his concept of self-
schema, or our own organized system or collection
of knowledge about who we are.
 The schema is not limited to the example above. It may
include your interests, your work, your course, your age, your
physical characteristics, etc.
 As you grow and adapt to the changes around you, THEY ALSO
CHANGE
 But they are not passive receivers, they actively shape and
affect how you see, think, and feel about things.
 When someone states your name, even he is not
talking about you, your attention is drawn to him; if
you have a provincial language and you hear
someone using it, it catches your attention; If you
consider yourself a book-lover, a bookstore may
always entice you out of other stores in a mall.
THREE PARTS OF THE MIND – SIGMUND FREUD

 Id: Unconscious, instinctual drives, wants desire fulfilled, exist for

pleasure not realistic, not logical, pressure the mind to satisfy release,
collection of urges, sexuality and aggression
 Ego: Totally Id, think about things, experiences of the outside world,
how much urges are expressed, what is rational and realistic, will,
balance the Id, and Supergo, use defense to avoid anxiety
 Superego: Conscience, collection of moral lessons we learn from the
parents, society and organized religion, moral perfection, too much
freedom that can be perfectionist, sense of guilt
IMPORTANT EFFECTS OF THE ENVIRONMENT
TO THE SELF

 The definitions of the self, social interaction always

has a part to play in who we are;
 This is not nature vs. nurture but instead a nature-
and- nurture perspective;
 Under the THEORY OF SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM,
G.H. Mead (1934) argued that the SELF is CREATED
and DEVELOPED through HUMAN INTERACTION.
3 REASONS AS SELF AND IDENTITY AS SOCIAL
PRODUCTS

 1. WE DO NOT CREATE OURSELVES OUT OF

NOTHING.
 2. WE NEED OTHER OTHERS TO AFFIRM AND
REINFORCE WHO WE THINK WE ARE;
 3. WHAT WE THINK AS IMPORTANT TO US MAY ALSO
HAVE BEEN INFLUENCED BY WHAT IS IMPORTANT IN
OUR SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Self-awareness

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
 2. the public self or your public image commonly
geared towards having a good representation of
yourself to others
 SELF-AWARENESS AS SELF-SCHEMA
 The "actual" self is who you are at the moment - You see
yourself as a student who is working hard but sometimes
struggles with time management.
 The "ideal" self is who you like to be - You might want to be
a successful professional, confident, and highly organized.
 The "ought" self is who you think you should be - You may
feel pressure to be responsible and always follow the rules
because that’s what your family or society expects of you.
SOCIAL COMPARISON THEORY

 We learn about ourselves, the appropriateness of

our behaviors, as well as our social statures by
comparing aspects of ourselves with other people.
(Jhangani and Tarry 2014)
Downward Social Comparison
 comparison is the more common type of comparing
ourselves with others;
 we create a positive self-concept by comparing
ourselves with those who are worse off than us;
 by having the advantage, we are able to raise our
self- esteem.
Upward comparison
 is comparing ourselves with those who are better off
than us.
 a lot of those who do this actually felt lower self-
esteem as we highlight more of our weakness or
inequities.
SELF-EVALUATION MAINTENANCE
THEORY
 It states that we can feel threatened when someone
out- performs us, especially when a person is close
to us, a friend or a family;
 In this case, we usually react in three ways:
 1. We distance ourselves from that person or
redefine our relationship with them like resort to
silent treatment, change of friends, while some may
also redefine by being closer with that person,
hoping to give him/her acknowledgment;
 2. Reconsider the importance of the aspect or skill
in which you were out-performed like being told that
drawing is not really for you and you will find a
hobby which you could excel, thus preserving your
self
 3. Strengthen our resolve to improve that certain
aspect of ourselves like after quitting drawing, you
might join seminars, practice more often, read
books about it, add some elements in your drawing
that makes it unique.
 ACHIEVING YOUR GOAL THROUGH HARD WORK MAY
INCREASE YOUR SELF-ESTEEM TOO
NARCISSISM

 "Trait characterized by characterized by overly high

self-esteem, self-admiration, and self-centeredness."
(Jhiangiani and Tarry 2014)
 They are often charismatic because of how they
take care of their image;
 Taking care of that image includes their
interpersonal relationships thus they will try to look
better partners, better acquaintances, as well as
people who will appreciate them a lot.
 Self-esteem is very important concept related to the
self, studies have shown that it only has correlation,
not causality, to positive outputs and outlook.
 It can be argued that high or healthy self-esteem
may result to an overall good personality but IT IS
NOT, AND SHOULD NOT BE, the ONLY SOURCE of a
person's HEALTHY PERSPECTIVES OF HIMSELF OR
HERSELF
 People with self-esteem are commonly described as
outgoing, adventurous, and adaptable in a lot of
situations. They also initiate activities and building
relationship with people; However, they may also
dismiss other activities that do not conform to their
self-concept or boost their self- esteem; They may
also be bullies and experiment on abusive behaviors
with drugs, alcohol, and sex (Jhiangani and Tarry
2014).