Developing the Whole Person symbol where each of the two elements is in a

balanced state, coexisting with each other, and can

The key phase to this lesson that you have to pay
change or transmute into each other.
attention to is “whole person”, emphasizing the
complete aspects of a person or his totality. y. For example, for a long time, medicine saw the
body as separated from the mind, and doctors then
for us to understand what it means to perceive or see
only treated physical ailments as such. Today, a
a person as a whole organism, we will discuss
person who is physically sick may also receive
philosophical theories such as Dualism and Holism.
counseling or psychological therapy.
Holistic Development is the complete aspects of a
Eastern -that there is DYNAMISM between two forces
person or his totality.
in nature, and that each force is present in each other
In order to understand what it means to perceive a and will never exist in its purest form.
person as a whole organism, we will discuss
For example, when they see a person as bad, there is
philosophical theories, such as dualism and holism.
also a good side to the person, and there is a
Mind and Body Dualism of Descartes possibility this person can change to somebody
better. E
Rene Descartes
Holism and Gestalt
A modern philosopher; influenced much of mankind’s
thinking with his theory of DUALITY or understanding General Jan C. Smuts (1926)
the nature of things in a simple, dual mode.
• A south African statesman, military leader and
Examples: Separation of body and spirit philosopher, wrote about holism in his book
(Western religion) Holism and Evolution.

Separation of mind and body (Human sciences) • He defined Holism as “the tendency in nature
to form wholes which are greater than the
Dualism is a Philosophical theories sum of the parts through creative evolution. It
At death, the body returns to the elements: “dust to is also about seeing things as a whole and as
dust . . .” But the soul resurrects with a new something that is bigger than the sum of its
heavenly body. part.”

The mind is about mental processes, thoughts, and In 1890, German Philosophers and psychologists
consciousness. The body is about the physical aspects namely Christian von Ehrehfels, Max Wertheimer,
of the brain-neurons and how the brain is structured. Kurt Koffka, and Wolfang Kohler of the Berlin
School introduced the concept of gestalt.
Typically humans are characterized as having both a
mind (nonphysical) and a body/brain (physical). Gestalt is something that is made of many parts
and yet is somehow more than or different from
Dualism - people perceive things as dual in character. the combination of its parts; broadly, the general
quality or character of something.

Mind and Body Dualism of Descartes E.g. Symphony, car

Western Philosophers The parallelism between a symphony, a car, and

humans in terms of being a unified entity follows the
Understand duality as the one that regard opposites principle of holism.
as rigidly the negation of the other. like black or
white, good or bad, life or death, mind or body. Holism and gestalt is evident in MUSIC.

Examples: Black or White Life or Death A symphony cannot be defined by one of its notes
alone. There are more or less 3o to 1oo musicians and
Good or Bad Mind or Body lots of instruments used in symphony.
Eastern Philosophers

Duality is a continuous and dynamic (cyclical)

movement of these opposing forces, like the yin-yang
Symphony is a musical composition for an orchestra. For example, judging a person because of one
The interaction and fusion of the different notes behavior only is not balanced.
produce something bigger and greater than the notes
How do these five aspects interrelate and affect each
themselves.
other?
Car is made up of hundreds of different parts.
Basic drives
Separately, these different parts do not represent a
car, but when put together and made to work with Psychologist often refer to basic human drive as those
each other, these parts produce a new entity entirely that are biologically related such as hunger and thirst.
different from its parts.
Affect
To understand people better is to see them in their
totality Affect is the various emotional experiences such as
emotions, moods, and affective traits. (Fiest and
In understanding humans, it is important to see the Rosenberg 2O12)
person in his entirety and not just his parts.
Feelings and Emotions
The Various Aspects of Holistic Development of
Persons Paul Ekman of the University of California identified
six basic emotions that human beings experience:
Five aspects of a whole person
• Happiness
• Physiological – refers to the physical
attributes including the five physical senses. • Sadness

• Cognitive – refers to the intellectual function, • Fear

and thinking process of the mind • Anger
• Psychological – refers to a person’s way of • Surprise
thinking, feeling, and behaving
• Disgust
• Social – refers to the manner by which
individual interacts with other individuals or The Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology at the
group of individuals. University of Glasgow conducted a research study and
published in a journal named Current Biology, has
• Spiritual – refers to the attribute of a person’s concluded that there are only four basic emotions:
consciousness and belief, including the values
and virtues that guide and put meaning into a • Happy
person’s life. • Sad

• Afraid or Surprised
When we consider a human person and what various • Angry or Disgusted
aspects make up this complex organism, five aspects
come to mind: Feelings, moods, and emotions do not exactly mean
one and the same.
2. Cognitive intellectual functions of the mind includes
recognizing, reasoning, analyzing, projecting, Feeling are result of emotion
synthesizing, recalling, reasoning, and assessing.
Happy =masaya/maligaya
When you look at a person, try to understand this
Sad = malungkot/malumbay
individual, its good to consider these five aspects and
what it is about this person that makes him/her Afraid or surprised = Natakot, nasindak, nagulat,
unique from you and others. nabigla

Understand a person holistically, as a whole. one Angry or disgusted = galit, suklam, o rindi
aspect cannot be seen in isolation from the whole
person.
Emotion
Emotion is taken from the Latin verb, movare, which Values refers to as the universal human values that
means to move or be upset or agitated. transcend culture and race. There are different sets of
values identified by different people and
organizations, depending on what they intend to
Emotion is defined as a descriptive term referring to achieve.
variations in level of arousal, affective state or mood,
-create meaning and purpose in a person’s life.
expressive movements, and attitudes. (Sanchez, Abad,
and Jao 2002) Values and Virtues

In a state of strong emotion, the persons physical Virtues are descriptions of adjectives that reflect a
responses include faster heartbeat, profuse sweating value.
and dilation of eye pupils, higher blood pressure and
Virtues are dispositions to do good deeds.
muscular tremors, affecting the nervous system in
general. Values are usually nouns, while virtues are adjectives
that describe positive and desirable qualities which
Emotions - are usually caused by physical sensations
usually mirror a value it represents.
experienced by the body as a reaction to a certain
external stimulus. Values are usually reflected through these virtues,
which in turn become eminent in the attitude and
behavior of a person.
Feelings
Examples:
In an online article of Scientific American titled
1. United Nation universal values are Peace,
Feeling our Emotions, the author interviewed a noted
Freedom, Social Progress, Equal Rights, and
neurologist, Dr. Antonio R. Damasio (2OO5) about the
Human Dignity.
distinction between feelings and emotions.
2. Robert L. Dilenschneider wrote the Five Core
According to Dr. Damasio, from a neuro-scientific
Values for the Workplace and listed the
approach, feeling arises from the brain as it interprets
following corporate values: Integrity,
an emotion, which is usually caused by physical
Accountability, Diligence, Perseverance and
sensations experienced by the body as reaction to a
Discipline.
certain external stimulus.
Every person has a system of beliefs as a human
Example: The emotion of fear which produces a
being.
feeling of being afraid.
These are not in conflict with each other, but rather a
ranking in the order of importance over what set of
Attitudes and Behavior values they prioritize.

Attitudes are a person’s thoughts, feelings, and

emotions about another person, object, idea,
Wholeness
behavior, or situation.
 It essentially an integral sense of Integration. The
Attitude is a result of a person’s evaluation of an
different aspects of the individual- mental,
experience with another person, object, idea,
emotional, physical, social and spiritual are in
behavior, or situation based on his or her values and
harmony or balanced.
belief systems.
 This harmony or feeling of balanced is important
Behavior is a manifestation or acting out of the
for Self-esteem and self-actualization.
attitudes an individual has.
 It is also a transcendental goal and lifelong
Beliefs and certain values therefore, affect the
pursuit.
attitude of a person.
Carl Jung – 1875-1961

One of the few classical thinkers and psychologist who

Values and Virtues
put forward the concept of wholeness in theory and
practice. He recognized man is essentially a whole
being.

The four motivational goals that characterize the

ten values that Shalom H. Schwartz identified were:

1. Openness to change

2. Self-transcendence

3. Self-enhancement

4. Conservation

Every person has a system of beliefs as a human being.

These are not in conflict with each other, but rather a ranking in the order of importance over what set of values they prioritize

Physical development – all about growing and developing motor 7. True or false- The self is the essence of a person; his thoughts,
skills. feelings and actions, experiences, beliefs, values, principles and
relationship.
Social skills – how children interact with others and communicate
in their world. 8. True or false- extraversion or introversion is how one prefers to
process information whether through the use of senses or
Emotional understanding – learning to express emotions in a intuitively.
healthy way.
9.True or false – judgement or perception is how an individual
Intellectual development – cognitive, creativity and acquiring skills prefers to make decision whether to use logic or feelings.
for learning.
1O. Personality is influenced by nature and nurture.
Spiritual development – building morals, values and caring for the
world. 11. It is taken from the latin word movare which means to move
or be upset or agitated.
1. It is one’s own development and growth.
12 are descriptions of adjectives that reflect a value.
2. - 3. Give two aspects or domains of human
development. 13-15 enumerate 3 Five aspects of a whole person

4 – 5. Give two influences of human development. 1. Personal development

6. True or false- To know others is the first step in personal 2. - 3 physical development, cognitive development,
development. psychosocial development

4- 5. heredity, environment, maturation

6. False 7. True 8 false - (Sensing or Intuition)

9 false - (Thinking or Feeling)

1O. true 11. Emotion 12. virtues

Five aspects of a whole person