The Inner-Self and its Related Personalities

Brittany L. Peters

Tarrant County College

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The Inner-Self and its Related Personalities

In terms of the inner-self we often find ourselves wondering: how is the inner-self

developed? Where does the inner-self stem from? Grison and Gazzaniga (2015) argue:

When you talk about your ‘self,’ what are you actually referring to? Each of us has a

notion of something we call the self, but the self is difficult to define. Your sense of self

involves your mental representations of your personal experiences, such as memories and

perceptions of what is going on at any particular moment. Your sense of self also includes

your physical body, and your conscious awareness is being separate from others and unique.

In short, your sense of self is who you believe you are. This sense is sometimes called the

self-concept (pg # here).

We see that the inner-self revolves around our own beliefs of what we are, as well as

our attributes.

Within ourselves lies the concept our self-schema. "Our self-schema consists of

interrelated knowledge about ourselves." (Grison & Gazzaniga, 2015). The self-schema is

what allows us to retain memories about who are, in relation to other people. The self-

schema provides us with information about ourselves and stores that information in our

memories, as well as providing us with information about the traits and personalities of other

people around us and stores that information in our memories as well. An example of this

would be knowing what traits you possess, such as knowing that you are wise, charming,

shy, or introverted. It also allows you to store information about other people as well such as

the traits that they possess, and how they are interrelated with you, such as being a close

friend, a brother, or a cousin.

Self-esteem also plays a vital role in the shaping of the inner-self. "Self-esteem is the

affective aspect of our sense of self." (Grison & Gazzaniga, 2015). Self-esteem stems from

how we view ourselves, our traits, and our personalities. With self-esteem we are in essence
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judging ourselves from our own points of view. On the other hand we can also have low self-

esteem which means that we don't think very highly of ourselves, despite having positive

traits.

The inner-self can also be influenced culturally. This means that some people prefer

to be unchanging within their culture, rather than having an individual separate entity from

their culture. "In some cultures, people prefer to blend into the group. An important

difference in the self is whether people view themselves as fundamentally separate from or

connected to other people." (Grison & Gazzaniga, 2015).

Personalities are all around us in every way, shape, and form. Everyone, and everything

we come into contact with has a unique personality. “Personality consists of the typical thoughts,

emotional responses, and behaviors that are relatively stable in people over time and across

circumstances.” (Grison and Gazzaniga, 2015). There are many different approaches to

personality that influence the way we view our personality in relation to the personalities of

others.

The four approaches to personality are the Psycho-dynamic theory, Humanistic

approaches, Social cognitive approaches, and Trait approaches. (Grison & Gazzaniga, 2015).

The Psycho-dynamic theory was proposed by Sigmund Freud. It can be described as,

"Personality is based on our unconscious wishes that create conflict between the id, ego, and

superego." (Grison & Gazzaniga, 2015). This means that the Psycho-dynamic theory is based on

the id mainly. "The id is based on the pleasure principle, which demands immediate gratification

of needs." (Cherry 2018). In this way it is apparent that the personality becomes overruled in a

sense by the things that would serve to pleasure us and fulfill our desires. Within humanistic

approaches, "Personality is based on our tendency to fulfill our potential through personal

growth." (Grison & Gazzaniga, 2015). With the Humanistic approaches we see that our

personality becomes influenced by our desire to reach our utmost potential by means of

exceedingly growing from within. The Social Cognitive approaches can be described as,
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"Personality is based on how we think." (Grison & Gazzaniga, 2015). An example of the Social

Cognitive approach would be,

"For example, imagine that you are getting ready to go on a blind date. Not only do you

worry about the impression and signals that you are sending to the other person, you are also

concerned with interpreting the signals given by the other individual. How do you form an

impression of this person? What meaning do you read into the other person's behavior? This is

just one example of how social cognition influences a single social interaction..." (Cherry 2018)

The trait approach is another approach to personality. With the trait approach

"Personality can be described by our characteristics." (Grison and Gazzaniga, 2015). With the

Trait approach we identify our personality with the traits of ourselves. An example of the trait

approach would be if a person's trait is that they are shy. Therefore their personality would be

described as introverted.

Personality consists of three structures. Personality consists of the id, the superego, and

the ego. The id can be defined as, "In psycho-dynamic theory, the component of personality that

is completely submerged in the unconscious and operates according to the pleasure principle."

(Grison & Gazzaniga, 2015). It is evident that the id is a major component of personality that is

only appealed to upon the basis of what is pleasing to someone at any given moment in time.

The second structure of personality is the superego, which can be defined as, "In psycho-

dynamic theory, the component of personality that reflects the internalization of societal and

parental standards of conduct." (Grison and Gazzaniga, 2015). The superego serves as the

balance between the id, and the other major structures of personality. The superego keeps the id

from becoming too overwhelming by introducing a parental influence to keep pleasure from

ruling over our way of thinking. The ego is the third structure of personality. The ego can be

defined as, "In psycho-dynamic theory, the component of personality that tries to satisfy the

wishes of the id while being responsive to the superego." (Grison and Gazzaniga, 2015). Within

the ego even more balance is evident as the ego balances the effects between the id, and the
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superego. The ego keeps us from being too indulged in pleasure, while also providing us with

standards on how to behave in opposition to pleasure.

In conclusion the inner self revolves around the way we view ourselves, and includes our

self-schemas, and self-esteem. It becomes evident that the inner-self contains our thoughts of

what we believe we are, and how we believe we are, as well as our attributes. The inner-self may

also be influenced by our culture. Personality becomes a major effect of the inner-self, and the

way we view ourselves because personality is a direct outcome of our self-esteem and attributes.

Personality consists of the way we think, the way we respond to certain things, as well as the

way we behave. Personality can be approached in many ways, and the makeup of personality can

be divided into three main basic parts, the id, superego, and ego. All of these concepts help to

establish a good idea of how the concepts of self, and personality have come to be established.
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References:

Cherry, K. (2018, May 23). Social Cognition and the World Around Us. Retrieved November 4,

2018, from https://www.verywellmind.com/social-cognition-2795912

Cherry, K. (2018, October 3). Freud's Theory of the Id in Psychology. Retrieved November 4,

2018, from https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-id-2795275

Grison, S., & Gazzaniga, M. S. (2015). Psychology in your life. New York, NY: W. W. Norton &

Company.