ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

• Anthropology holds a holistic view of human nature. It is concerned with how cultural and
biological processes interact to shape the self.

• Anthropology considers human experience as an interplay of “nature” referring to genetic

inheritance which sets the individual’s potentials and “nurture” which refers to sociocultural
environment.

• Both biological and cultural factors have significant influence in the development of the self.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF:

In the anthropological perspective, there are two ways in which the concept of self is viewed in different
societies: egocentric and sociocentric.

 the egocentric concept of the self suggests that each person is defined as a replica of all
humanity but capable of acting independently from others.

 In the sociocentric concept of the self, the self is viewed as dependent on the situation or social
setting.

 For example, the Japanese possess a sociocentric view of the self, wherein the membership of a
person in a particular group defines the boundaries of the self.

 The Chinese, prioritize kin ties and cooperation. They put importance of compliance and
subordination of one’s will to the authority figures in the family.

 In egocentric view, the self is used as autonomous and distinct individual with inherent
characteristics.

 The Americans are egocentric. They believe that they should be assertive and independent.

 From the similarities and differences in characteristics among individual people construct their
social identities.

 The identity toolbox refers to the “features of a person’s identity that he or she chooses to
emphasize in constructing a “social self”

 Self- identification may be attained by kinship, family membership, gender, age, language,
religion, ethnicity, personal appearance and socioeconomic status.

 Some characteristics such as kinship, gender, and age are almost universally used to
differentiate people.

 Other characteristics, such as ethnicity, personal appearance and socioeconomic status are not
always used in every society.

 Family members could be the most significant feature to determine that person’s social identity.

 Another important identity determinant that is often viewed as essential for the maintenance of
a group identity is language.
  In other societies, religious affiliation is an important maker of group identity.

 In Mindanao, being a Christian or a Muslim is possibly the most important defining feature of
social identity.

 Personal naming, a universal practice of numerous cross- cultured variations establishes a child’s
birthright and social identity. A name is an important device to individualize a person and to
have an identity.

 One’s identity is not inborn. It is something people continuously develop in life.

 Changes in one’s identity usually involve rites of passage that prepares individuals for new roles
from one stages in life to another.

RITES OF PASSAGE BY ARNOLD VAN GENNEP

Changes in one’s status and identity are marked by three-phased rite of passage: separation, liminality,
and incorporation.

In the separation phase, people detach from their former identity to another.

In the liminality phase, a person transitions from one identity to another.

In the incorporation phase, the change in one’s status is officially incorporated.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF

• WILLIAM JAMES’ CONCEPT OF SELF: THE ME-SELF AND THE I-SELF

• The self is divided into two categories: the “I-self” and the “Me—self”.

• The “I-self” refers to the self that knows who he or she is.

• James believed that the “I-self” is the thinking self.

• The “I- self” reflects the soul of a person or what is now thought of as the mind and is called the
pure ego.

• The ‘Me-self’ is the empirical self. It refers to describing the person’s personal experiences and
further divided into sub-categories: material self, social self, and spiritual self.

• The material self consists of things that belong to a person such as the body, clothes, house, etc.

• The social self refers to whom and how a person acts on social situations.

• The spiritual self refers to the most intimate and important part of the self that includes the
person’s purpose, motives, emotions, values, conscience, and moral behavior.

• James believed that the path to understanding the spiritual self is through introspection.
CARL ROGERS’ SELF THEORY: REAL AND IDEAL SELF
• Another aspect of self-understanding is self-concept.

• Self- concept refers to the image of oneself.

• Psychologist Carl Rogers defined the self as a flexible and changing perception of personal
identity.

• The self develops from interaction with significant people and self-awareness.

• According to Rogers, human beings are always striving for self-fulfillment, or self-actualization

• When the needs of the self are denied, severe anxiety may result.

• Central to achieving self- actualization is the development of self-concept.

• Rogers suggest that there are two components of self-concept: real self and ideal self.

• Real self consists of all the ideas, including the awareness of ‘what I am’ and ‘what I can do’

• The ideal self is the person’s conception of what one should be or wanted to be that includes
one’s goals and ambitions in life.

• The closer(congruent) the ideal self is to the real self, the more fulfilled and happy the individual
becomes. The farther(incongruent) the ideal self is to the real self leads to unhappy and
dissatisfied person.

MULTIPLE VERSUS UNIFIED SELF

• Self-understanding in adolescents also includes conceptualizing the self as multiple or unified
and true or false.

• The construction of multiple selves varies across different roles and relationships.

• Coping with different selves constitutes a formidable task among adolescents.

• These challenges contribute heavily to the young person’s struggle for a unified self.

TRUE VERSUS FALSE SELF

• Winnicott suggests that the self is composed of the true self and false self.

• the function of the false self is to hide and protect the true self.

• People tend to display a false self to impress others.

• The self can change depending on situations.

THE SELF AS PROACTIVE AND AGENTIC
• Albert bandura suggests that humans have the ability to act and make things happen.

• In his theory of the self, people are viewed as proactive agents of experiences.

• Agency embodies the endowments, belief systems, self-regulatory capabilities, and structures
and functions through which personal influence is exercised, rather than residing as a distinct
entity.

• The main agentic features of human agency are: intentionality, forethought, self-reactiveness,
and self-reflectiveness.

• Intentionality refers to acts done intentionally.

• Forethought enables the person to anticipate the likely consequences of prospective actions.

• Self- reactiveness enables the person to make choices and choose appropriate courses of action,
as well as motivate and regulate their execution.

• Self- reflectiveness gives the person the ability to reflect upon oneself and the adequacy of one’s
thoughts and actions. People are not only agents of action but self- examiners of their own
functioning.

• Efficacy beliefs are the foundation of human agency.

• Self-efficacy refers to the individual’s belief that he or she is capable to perform a task.

• In influences whether people think pessimistically or optimistically and in ways that are self-
enhancing or self-hindering.

• Efficacy beliefs play a central role in self-regulation.

THE SELF AS THE CENTRAL ARCHETYPE

• Jung suggested that the psyche continues to develop throughout life, but the psyche starts to
show a definite form and content during adolescence.

• Jung conceived the structure of personality(psyche) as a complex network of interacting systems

that strive toward harmony. The main systems are: ego, personal unconscious, and collective
unconscious.

• The ego is one’s conscious mind, the part of the psyche that includes perceptions, thoughts,
feelings, and memories that may enter consciousness. It is through the ego tha we establish
sense of stability.

• Personal unconscious includes the repressed and forgotten experiences.

 • The collective unconscious consists of the fundamental elements of the human psyche that
includes experiences all humans share or in common.

• Within the collective unconscious lie archetypes.

• Central to Carl Jung’s theory of the self is the concept of archetype.

• An archetype is a universal though form or predisposition to respond to the world in certain

ways.

• The archetype represents the hidden potentialities of the psyche, or total personality.

• For Jung, there are four major archetypes: persona, shadow, animus/anima, a self.

• The persona refers to social roles that individuals present to others.

• The shadow refers to the repressed thoughts that are unacceptable. This archetype is often
considered as the dark side of the psyche.

• The anima is the feminine side of the male psyche while the animus is the masculine side of the
female psyche.

• The self is the central archetype that unites all parts of the psyche. The ego is the individual’s
conscious perception of the self.

SIGMUND FREUD’S CONSTRUCTION OF SELF AND PERSONALITY

• According to Sigmund freud, there are three structures of personality: id, ego, and superego.

• The id is the pleasure=seeking side, immature, impulsive, child-like and cannot delay
gratification.

• It has no regard of others and the law.

• The ego refers to the “I” and works on the reality principle, controls the id, and can delay
pleasure.

• The ego can conform with existing societal consideration.

• The superego refers to the “conscience” and “moral judge” of conduct.

• Violation of rules lead to guilt feelings.

• It strives for perfection rather than pleasure.

• It appears that the id is the devil within the self, the superego is the angel, and ego is the person
in the middle.

• The id, ego, and superego are often in conflict with each other.

• Freud used the term ego strength to refer to the ego’s ability to resolve the conflict between the
three structures.
• If this constant state f conflict is unresolved, personality problems may arise.

• In Freud’s view, the id, ego, and superego develop in a series of stages.

• Freud called these the psychosexual stages of development that progresses through five stages:
oral, anal, phallic, latency, and genital.

• Each of the stage is associated with conflicts that the individual must resolved so that he or she
can successfully forward to the next stage.

• Freud also believed that each stage has needs and dissatisfaction of needs may result in fixation
which could have lasting negative effects on personality.

• The first stage is the oral stage, which lasts from birth up to the first year of life. During this
stage, babies derive pleasure from oral activities like sucking and biting. Overindulgence of the
oral needs may lead to oral incorporative personality disorder such as overeating, smoking, and
alcoholism while dissatisfaction may lead to oral aggressive personality disorder such as sarcasm
and tactlessness.

• The next stage is anal stage, which occurs around the second year of life. During this stage, the
child derives pleasure from the elimination of body wastes. Through toilet training, the child
learns the basic rules of society. Anal fixations can lead to anal retentive personality disorder
such as obsession with cleanliness or anal expulsion personality disorder such as clumsiness.

• Freud call the third stage, phallic stage, that usually occurs around the ages of 3 and 6. Children
during this stage derive pleasure from examining, touching, fondling, or displaying their genitals,
or others. These behaviors are likely motivated by curiosity on the differences between the
anatomy of man and woman.

• Sex curiosity will remain high during the elementary years and children tend to ask questions
with regard to anatomical structures, sex, and how babies are made. During this stage, parents
and teachers need to properly educate the children about sexuality. Fixations at this stage may
lead to abnormal sex behaviors in later life.

• The fourth stage is the latency stage, which lasts from 7 to 12. at this stage, sexual energy is
repressed because children become busy with school.

• The last stage is genital stage, which starts from adolescence to adulthood. During this stage,
pleasure is again derived from the genital area and individuals seeks to satisfy their sexual drives
from sexual relationships. Sexual problems may result as a consequence of inappropriate sex
behaviors.

THE ROLE OF ERIK ERIKSON’S THEORY IN UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

• Another important aspect of self- understanding involves views of identity development of the
self.

• In Erik Erikson’s theory, adolescence stage is a period of identity development.

• Identity formation is usually viewed as a process that requires adolescents to distance
themselves from the strong expectations and definitions imposed by parents and other family
members.

• To achieve an individual identity, one must create a vision of the self that is authentic and
having hold of one’s destiny in an effort to reach goals that are personally meaningful.

• Erikson’s theory proposes that individuals go through eight psychosocial stages of development.

• While Erikson believed that each stage is important, he gave a particular emphasis on the
development of the ego.

• The ego is the positive force that contributes to identity formation and lay the foundation for
certain strengths and virtues in life.

• Each sage consists of developmental tasks that one needs to accomplish in order to develop
successfully.

• During each stage, the person experiences life crises which could have negative consequences if
not properly resolved.

•
THE PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

AGE VIRTUE CRISIS

0 to 18 months Hope Trust vs. mistrust

18 months to 3 we Autonomy vs.

years old Shame & Doubt

3 to 6 years old Purpose Initiative vs. Guilt

6 to 12 years old Competence Industry vs.

Inferiority

12 to 18 years Fidelity Identity vs. Role

Confusion

19 to 40 years old Love Intimacy vs.

Isolation

40 to 65 years old Care Generativity vs.

 stagnation

65 years and up Wisdom Ego integrity vs.

despair

EASTERN AND WESTERN THOUGHTS

WESTERN THOUGHTS
• The western thoughts conducted scientific investigations in the effort to understand the self and
have developed theories and concepts to account for the similarities and differences among
them.

• They emphasized the importance of scientific methods of investigation to provide satisfactory

answers to understanding the self.

• In the Western thought, the emphasis is individualistic rather than relational.

EASTERN THOUGHTS
• Many movements of Eastern thoughts raise questions about the ultimate meaning of human life
and have developed theories of self insofar as they have investigated what it means to be a
human being.

• Eastern thoughts aim at transformations in consciousness, feelings, emotions, and one’s relation
to other people and the world.

• In the Eastern thought, the emphasis is relational rather than individual. The self is considered
not an isolation but in relation to others, society, and the universe.

• Eastern theories are highly practical.

• They offer a variety of techniques for cultivating a deeper understanding of the self, they do not
utilize the scientific techniques of investigation.

MODELS AND APPROACHES OF UNDERSTANDING THE SELF.

DIMENSION WESTERN THOUGHT EASTERN THOUGHT

Frame of reference There is a separation between Religion and philosophy are

philosophy and religion/ intertwined.
spirituality.

Examples of school of Scholasticism Hinduism

thought/ belief system Rationalism Buddhism

Empiricism Confucianism

Phenomenology Taoism

Notable Philosophers Socrates Confucius

Plato Lao Tzu

Aristotle Siddharta Gautama

Rene Descartes (Buddha)

John Locke

Source of Knowledge Has made use of reason rather Has trusted intuition and is
than faith to pursue wisdom often associated with religious
beliefs

Modes of Cognition Analytic and Deductive Synthetic and Inductive

Emphasis Distinctions and Oppositions Commonalities and Harmonies

View of the Universe and Life Linear Circular

View of self Egocentric Sociocentric

Subject-Object Distinction Duality of self as subject Simultaneously subject and

(Bipolar Qualities of self) (knower) and self as object object ( the experience of self
(known) as both the knower and
known)

Theological view Monotheistic Polytheistic (pluralistic)

Ideal Self- actualization through To achieve a balanced life an

personal growth find one’s role in society

Cultural framework Individualism Collectivism

1. The self is a distinct and 1. The self is an integrated

autonomous entity; it is part of the universe and
an independent part of the society.
the universe and the
2. Interdependence and
society.
connectedness are core
2. Independence and self- values.
reliance are core values.
3. No distinctions between
3. Prioritize personal goals personal and group goals
over group goals. or if there s a distinction,
the personal goals are
4. Characterized by
subordinate to the group
exchange relationship
 5. Uniqueness, sense of goals.
direction, purpose and
4. Characterized by
volition are the
communal relationship
acknowledged features
of self 5. conformity and
obedience are essential
6. Personal success is
social behaviors.
important.
6. Duty towards all others is
important.

BUDDHISM
• Siddharta Gautama known as Buddha is the founder of Buddhism.

• The root word of Buddhism is “budh” meaning awake.

• To be awake may imply that when the eyes are open, it would lead to understanding more
about the self and the world.

• According to the teachings of Buddhism, every person has the seed of enlightenment, hence
potential to be a Buddha. But the seed should be nurtured.

• In Buddhist philosophy, man is just a title for the summation of the five parts ( matter,
sensation, perception, mental constructs, and consciousness) that compose the individual,
however each of the parts distinctly is not man.

• There is no self (or no-soul)

• There is only nothing and all else is an illusion.

• There is nothing permanent, but change.

• In Buddhism, anicca (impermanence) means that everything in life is always changing, that
nothing lasts forever.

HINDUISM
• The goal of man is to have a knowledge of the true reality- Brahman.

• Law of Karma is the most important doctrine of Hinduism.

• All actions are subject to karma.

• Individual actions will lead to either a good or bad outcome in one’s life.

• Hindus believe that Atman being an immortal soul continues to be reincarnated from lifetime to
lifetime until it is freed from the cycle of rebirth and reach a state of nirvana or non- birth.
 • Karma does not end with a body’s death, so its influence may extend through incarnation of the
soul.

CONFUCIANISM
• The core of Confucian thought is the Golden Rule or the principle of reciprocity; “do not do to
other what you would not want others to do to you”

• Another important feature in Confucian thought is the individual’s greatest mission of attaining
self-realization wherein self- cultivation is instrumental.

• Self- cultivation could be accomplished by knowing one’s role in the society and act accordingly.

• Moral character is perfected through continuously taking every opportunity to improve oneself
in thought and action.

TAOISM
• To them, the self is an extension of the cosmos, not od social relationships.

• The self is described as one of the limitless forms of the Tao.

• The Tao is commonly regarded as nature that is the foundation of all that exists.

• It is not bounded by time and space.

• The ideal is to identify with the Tao.

• The perfect man has no self.

• The selfless person leads to a balanced life, in harmony with both nature and society.

• Taoists believe that simplicity, spontaneity, and harmony with nature should govern one’s life.

• There should be unity and harmony among opposing elements; the Yin and Yang.