PSYCHOLOGY

“ The self thus becomes aware of itself, at least in its practical

action, and discover itself as a cause among others causes and
as an object subject to the same laws as the other objects”.

- Jean Piaget
THE SELF AS A COGNITIVE CONSTRUCTION
Psychology
- is the scientific study of how people behave, think, and feel
- everything that concerns the human being is concern of psychology.

Jean Piaget, was a Swiss clinical psychologist known for his pioneering
work in child development. He pioneered the “theory of cognitive
development” a comprehensive theory about the development of
human intelligence.

Cognitive development – is a progressive reorganization of mental

processes resulting from biological maturation and environmental
experience.
THREE BASICS COMPONENTS TO
PIAGET’S COGNITIVE THEORY
1. Schemas/schemes
- these are the building blocks of knowledge
- are mental organizations that individuals use to understand
their environments and designate action.

2. Adaptation – involves the child’s learning process to meet

situational demands.

3. Stages of Cognitive Development

Reflect the increasing sophistication of the child’s thought
process.
STAGES OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMET
STAGE AGE CHARACTERISTICS OF STAGE
The child learns by doing: looking touching,
sucking. The child also has a primitive
Sensorimotor 0-2
understanding of cause-and- effect relationships.
Object permanence appears around 9 months.

The child uses language and symbols, including

letters and numbers. Egocentrism is also evident.
Preoperational 2-7
Conservation marks the end of the preoperational
stage and the beginning of concrete operations.

The child demonstrates conservation, reversibility,

serial ordering, and a mature understanding of
Concrete Operations 7-11
cause-and-effect relationship. Thinking at this age
is still concrete.
Formal Operations 12+ The individual demonstrate abstract thinking at
this stage is still concrete.
HARTER’S SELF-DEVELOPMENT
CONCEPT

Dr. Susan Harter – detailed the emergence of self-concept

and asserted that the broad developmental changes observed
across early childhood, later childhood, and adolescence could
be interpreted within a Piagetian framework.
DEVELOPMENT OF SELF CONCEPT ACCORDING
TO HARTER
 Early childhood – the child described in terms of concrete,
observable characteristics, such as physical attributes, material
possessions, behaviors, and preferences.

 Middle to later childhood – the self is described in terms of

traitlike constructs that would require the type of hierarchical
organizational skills characteristic of logical development

 Adolescence – this is the emergence of more abstract self-

definitions, such as inner thoughts, emotions, attitudes, and motives.

 Emerging adults – marked characteristic of “self” for emerging adults

is having a vision of a “ possible self.”
WILLIAM JAMES AND THE ME-SELF; I-SELF

William James, wrote “The Principle of Psychology”

-known as “The Father American psychology”,
philosopher, psychologist and university
professor.

-give one of the earliest self theory psychological

analyses. According to him the “self” has two
elements: the I-self and the Me-self.
WILLIAM JAMES AND THE ME-SELF; I-SELF
 I-self is the pure ego. It is the subjective self. It is the “self” that is
aware of its own actions.

Four (4) features of I-self

1. A sense of being the agent or initiator of behavior.

2. A sense of being unique.

3. A sense of continuity.

4. A sense of awareness about being aware.

WILLIAM JAMES AND THE ME-SELF; I-SELF
The me-self - is the self that is the object. It is the “self”
that you can describe, such as your physical
characteristics, personalities, social role, or
relationships, thoughts, feelings.
- James called it the empirical self, defined as “based on,
concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience
rather than theory or pure logic”(Web).

The dimensions of the me-self include:

1. Material
2. Social
3. Spiritual
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AND THE
SELF-CONCEPT

According to Carl Rogers, all behavior is motivated by self-

actualizing tendencies and these tendencies drive you to reach
your full potential.
IDEAL SELF VS. REAL SELF
-Rogers divided self into two categories:

The ideal self- is the person that you would like to be. It is the concept of
the “best me” who is worthy of admiration.

the Ideal Self could include:

1. Notions influenced by your parents;

2. What you admire in others
3. What the society sees as acceptable; and
4. What you think is in your best interest

The real self - is the person you actually are. It is how you behaved right at
the moment of a situation. It is who you are in reality – how you think,
feel or act at present.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ALIGNMENT
(CARL ROGERS)

Congruence – high congruence leads to a greater sense of self

worth and a healthy, productive life.

Incongruence – could lead to maladjustment. Maladjustment is

defined as the inability to react successfully and satisfactorily
to the demands of one’s environment.
THE UNITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
(RENE DESCARTES, IMMANUEL KANT)
According to Rene Descartes, the mind (that is the thinking,
experiencing being) is not made up of parts; thus, it cannot be
a physical substance because anything material has parts

Immanuel Kant “unity of consciousness” that can be describe as

“ I am conscious not only of single experiences but of a great
many experiences at the same time.
ALLPORT’S PERSONALITY THEORY
Gordon Allport – proposed his “personality trait” theory asserting
that every person possesses “traits”

“Trait” –according to Allport is your essential characteristic that

never, ever changes and sticks with you all your life, these
traits shape who you are in any given day.
THE EGO STATES
(ERIC BERNE)
TWO NOTIONS TRANSACIONAL ANALYSIS:

1. Every person has three parts called “ego states” in his

or her personality.

2. People communicate with one another assuming roles

of any of these ego states.
BERNE PRESENTED EGO STATES
1. Parent Ego state –is the voice of authority. It could be
comforting “nurturing parent” voice or a controlling/
critical parent.

2. Adult Ego state –is the rational person. It is the voice that
speaks reasonably and knows how to assert himself
or herself

3. 3 child ego states

1. The natural child – loves to play but is sensitive and vulnerable.
2. The little professor – is the curios child who wants to try everything.
3. The adaptive child – the one who reacts to the world. He or she
could be trying to fit in or is rebelling against
authority.
DOMAIN OF THE SELF
(GREGG HENRIQUES)
Humans self has three related, but separable, domains. These
domains are:

1. Experiential self – as the theater of consciousness because it is

the first to experience its beingness. Experiential self is closely
tied to memory.

2. Private self-conscious - can be described as the narrator or

interpreter. It is the self that narrates the unfolding events and at
the same time tries to make sense of the experience.

3. Public self/persona – is the image you project to the public. This

is the image that interacts with others and will influence how
others see you.
TRUE VS. FALSE SELVES
(D.W. WINNICOTT)
False Self – is the product of early experience. It is a defensive
organization formed by the infant because of inadequate
mothering or failures in empathy.
- is developed as the infant is repeatedly subjected to
maternal care that intrudes upon, rejects, or abandons his or her
experience.

True self – flourishes in infancy if the mother is positively

responsive to the child’s spontaneous expressions.
-as a sense of “self” based on “spontaneous
authentic experience.”