William James described four components of the self: the material self, social self, spiritual self, and pure ego. The material self is composed of our body, clothes, immediate family, and home - things we have invested ourselves in and identify with. We become attached to our material possessions as we view them as extensions of ourselves. How we dress and decorate our homes reflects our sense of self.
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UTS Lesson 6 Material Self
William James described four components of the self: the material self, social self, spiritual self, and pure ego. The material self is composed of our body, clothes, immediate family, and home - things we have invested ourselves in and identify with. We become attached to our material possessions as we view them as extensions of ourselves. How we dress and decorate our homes reflects our sense of self.
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DERSTANDING THE
SELF MATERIAL SELF LESSON 6 Prepared by; KATRINA D. MATERIAL SELF
A Harvard psychologist in the late nineteenth
century, William James, wrote in his book, The Principles of Psychology in 1890 that understanding the self can be examined through its different components. He described these components as: (1) constituents (2) the feelings and emotions they arouse - self- feelings (3) the actions to which they prompt self- seeking and self-preservation. MATERIAL SELF
The constituents of self are composed of :
• the material self
• the social self
• the spiritual self
• and the pure ego.
(Trentmann 2016; Green 1997) MATERIAL SELF
-According to James, the material self
is primarily about our bodies, clothes, immediate family and home. We are deeply affected by these things because we have put much investment of our self to them. MATERIAL SELF INVESTMENT DIAGRAM OUR BODY MATERIAL SELF
The innermost part of our material self is OUR
BODY. Intentionally, we are investigating in our body. We are directly attached to this commodity that we cannot live without. We strive hard to make sure that this body functions well and good. Any ailment or disorder directly affects us. We do have certain preferential attachment or intimate closeness to certain body parts because of its value to us CLOTHES MATERIAL SELF
Next to our body are the CLOTHES we use. influenced
by the "Philosohy of Dress" by Herman Lotze, James believed that clothing is an essential part of the material self. Lotze in his book. Microcosmus, stipulates that "any time we bring an object into the surface of our body, we invest that object into the consciousness of our personal existence taking in its contours to be our own and making it part of the self." (Watson 2014) The fabric and style of the clothes we wear bring sensations to the body to which directly affect our attitudes and behavior. Thus, clothes are placed in the second hierarchy of material self. Clothing is a form of self-expression. We choose and wear clothes that reflect our self. (Watson 2014) IMMEDIATE FAMILY MATERIAL SELF
Third in the hierarchy is our IMMEDIATE FAMILY. Our
parents and siblings hold another great important part of our self. What they do or become affects us. When an immediate family member dies, part of our self dies, too. When their lives are in success, we feel their victories as if we are the one holding the trophy. In their failures, we are put to shame or guilt. When they are in disadvantage situation, there is an urgent urge to help like a voluntary instinct of saving one's self from danger. We place huge investment in our immediate family when we see them as the nearest replica of our self. HOME MATERIAL SELF
The fourth component of material self is
our HOME.Home is where our heart is. It is the earliest nest of our selfhood. Our experiences inside the home were recorded and marked on particular parts and things in our home. There was an old cliché about rooms: "if only walls can speak." The home thus is an extension of self, because in it, we can only directly connect our self. MATERIAL SELF
Having investment of self to things, made us
attached to those things. The more investment of self-given to the particular thing the more we identify ourselves to it. We also tended to collect and possess properties. The collections in different degree of investment of self, becomes part of the self. As James (1890) described self: "a man's self is the sum total of all what he CAN call his." Possessions then become a part or an extension of the self. MATERIAL SELF
Russel Belk (1988) posits that "... we
regard our possessions as part of ourselves. "We are what we have and what we possess." The identification of the self to things started in our infancy stage when we make a distinction among self and environment and others who may desire our possessions. MATERIAL SELF
The Possessions that we dearly
have tell something about who we are, our self-concept, our past and even our future. THANK YOU!