UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

1. LECTURE 3: THE SELF as a COGNITIVE CONSTRUCT
THIS LESSON PROVIDES AN OVERVIEW OF THE THEMESOF
PSYCHOLOGY REGARDING THECONCEPT OF “SELF”.
Cognitive psychology - concerned with mental processes(as
perception,thinking,learning,andmemory) especiallywith respect
to the internal events occurringbetween sensingandthe
expressionof behavior.
Cognition - the mental processesinvolved in gainingknowledge&
comprehension.Itincludesthinking,knowing,remembering,
judgingand problem-solving.
Thesearehigher-level functionsof thebrain and encompass
language,imagination,perception,andplanning.
In psychology,theselfis defined as:“thesenseof personal identity
and of who we areas individuals.”
WilliamJames(1890)conceptualized theself as:
“I” – the thinking,acting,and feelingself.
“Me” – the physical characteristics;capabilities
In Carl Rogers’(1959) theory of personality:
“I” – the onewho acts and decides
“Me” – whatyou think or feel aboutyourself
Another conceptof the self is IDENTITY/SELF-CONCEPT:
Identity/Self-concept –composed of personal characteristics,social
roles,responsibilities.
- itis whatcomes to your mindwhen asked aboutwho you are.
- itis notfixed in onetimeframe
Rogerscaptured thisidea in hisconceptof SELF-SCHEMA,our
organized systemor collection of knowledgeaboutwho weare.
The self-schemaincludes yourhobbies, family,religion,nationality,
interests,work,course,agename,etc,
As you growand adaptto thechanges around you,they also
change.
They actively shapeand affecthowyou see,think,and feel about
things.
Psychological theoriesseetheself and identity asmental
constructs,created andrecreated in memory.Currentresearches
pointto the frontal lobeof thebrainasthearea associated with
processes concerningtheself.
Oneinfluential psychologistof our generation isSigmundFreud,he
sees theself and themind as a resultof interaction between these3
parts:
Id - the instinctual partof themind thatcontainssexual and
aggressivedrivesand hidden memories.Itisselfish and wishful in
nature.Illogical and fantasy oriented.
Ego - the realistic partthatmediates between thedesiresof theid
and thesuper-ego.Modified by thedirectinfluenceof theexternal
world.Thedecision-makingcomponentof personality.
Superego - operates asa moral conscience.Appliesthevalues of
society which arelearned fromone's parentsandothers.
The theory of symbolic interactionism (G.H.Mead) argues thatthe
self is created & developed through human interaction.Weare
social productsbecause:
1.We do not createourselvesoutof nothing.
2.We need others to affirmand reinforcewho wethink weare.
3.What’s importantto us is influenced by our social/historical
context.
When we areawareof our self-concepts,thatiscalled SELF-
AWARENESS.The 2 types of self wecan beawareof are:
1.The private self – your internal privatethoughtsand feelings
2.The public self/image –geared to havinga good presentation of
yourself to others.
- Carver & Scheier (1981)
Self-awarenesspresentsusthreeother self-schema:
1.Actual self – who you areatthe moment
2. Idealself – who you liketo be
3.Ought self – who you think you shouldbe(responsibilities,etc)
Self-awarenessmaybepositive or negative.
At other times,wemay experience“lossof individual self-
awarenessand accountability in groups.Alotof peopleattune
themselves with theemotions of their group.Beingin a largecrowd
may lessen our self-control.
Social relationshipsaffector self-esteemthrough social
comparison.In this theory,welearn aboutourselves,the
appropriatenessof our behaviors,aswell asour status,by
comparingourselves to other people.
Downward social comparison –isa common typeof comparing
ourselvesto others.Wecreatea POSITIVEself-conceptby
comparingourselves with thosewho areWORSEthan us.
Upward social comparison –is comparingourselves with thosewho
arebetter than us.Itcan beMOTIVATION for some,butitcould
also LOWERYOURSELF-ESTEEMbecauseitshowsyourweaknesses.
Thesealso occurnotonly in individuals butalso ingroups.
Social comparison isconnected to theself-evaluation maintenance
theory,which statesthatwefeel THREATENED when someoneout-
performs us,or does better than us.Especially when thatperson is
a closepeer/partner/friend.
Weusuallyactin3 waysin thesesituations:
1.we distanceourselves fromtheperson.
2.we reconsidertheaspector skill you wereoutperformed in.
3.we try to improvethataspectof ourselves.
But then, sometimes to increaseor maintainself-esteem,somemay
becomeNARCISSISTIC. Meaning:overly high self-esteem,self-
admiration,self-centeredness.
There is a differencebetween self-esteemand narcissism.People
with high self-esteemareusuallyoutgoing,adventurous,adaptable
in a lotof situations.Butthey could also bebulliesandexperiment
on abusivebehavior,drugs,alcohol,etc.
Source: Understandingthe Self (Alata, Caslib, Serafica, Pawilen, 2018.)