LESSON 3: THE SELF AS COGNITIVE CONSTUCT

OBJECTIVES:
 Identify the different ideas in psychology about self
 Create our own definition of the “self” based on the definitions from psychology; and
 Analyze the effects of various factors identified in psychology in the formation of the “self”

 INTRODUCTION:
In every field of studies, at least in the social sciences, have their own research, definition
and conceptualization of self and identity. some are specific only in their studies .
 This lesson also seem to define the concept of self from a larger context to individual
concept.
 However, it must be pointed out that modern researches acknowledge the contributions of
each fields and not some sort of nurture vs. nature, society/culture vs. individual/brain, and
other social sciences vs psychology debates.

SELF
- it is the sense of personal identity and who we are as individuals(Jhangiani and Tarry 2014).

WILLIAM JAMES(1890)
-one of the earliest psychologist to study the self. He conceptualize the self as having two aspects,
the “I” and the “ME”.

TWO ASPECTS OF SELF:

I -the thinking, acting and feeling self (Gleitman,Gross, and Reisberg 2011;hogg and
Vaughan 2010).

ME `-the physical characteristics as well as psychological capabilities that makes you who
you are (Gleitman,Gross, and Reisberg 2011;hogg and Vaughan 2010).

Personality Theory also used the same term, the I as the one who acts and decides while the ME
is what I think about my self as an object.

Other similar concepts to self : Identity and Self-concepts.

 IDENTITY- is composed of personal characteristics, social roles and responsibilities, as well
as affiliations that define who one is.
SELF-CONCEPT- is what basically comes to your mind when you are asked about who you
are (Oyserman, Elmore and Smith 2012).

Self Identity and Self-concept are not fixed in one time frame.they are not also fixed for life nor
are they ever-changing at every moment.

SCHEMA- a mental structures that an individual uses to organize knowledge and guide cognitive
processes and behaviour.

COMPONENTS of SELF:
HOBBIES,RELIGION, NATIONALITY and FAMILY
schema is not limited to the example above , this may also includes your interest, works,
name,age and physical characters.

SELF-SCHEMA- refers to the impressions that you have of yourself and how they influenced
your behavior.
What is the function of Self-Schema?
- these categories of knowledge reflect how we expect ourselves to think, feel, and act in
particular settings or situations.

CARL ROGER- Captured an idea in his concept of SELF-SCHEMA , for him it is our
organized system or collection of knowledge about who we are.

Theories generally see the self and identity as mental constructs, created and recreated in
memory(Oyserman,Elmore and Smith 2012).
Several psychologist ,especially during the field's earlier development,followed this trend of
thought ,looking deeper into the mind of the person to theorize about the self ,identity and
concept and in turn ,ones personality.
The most influential of them is Sigmund Freud. Basically Freud saw the self, its mental
processes, and one's behavior as the result of interaction between the Id, Ego and Superego.
One cannot full discount the effects of society and culture on the formation of self, identity and
self-concept. Even Freud and other researcher and theories try to understand the person by
digging deeper into the mind .
 Social interaction always has a part to play in who we think we are. This is not NATURE VS.
NURTURE but instead a NATURE-and-NURTURE Perspective.

Under the Theory of Symbolic Interactionism ,G.H. Mead(19340 argued that the self is created
and developed through human interaction(Hogg and Vaughan 2010).
There are 3 Reasons why self and identity are Social Products:
 We do not create ourselves out of nothing.
 Whether we like to admit it of not, we actually need others to affirm ad reinforce who we
think we are.
 What we think is important to us may also have been influenced by what is important in our
social or historical context.

Social interaction and Group affiliations are vital factors in creating our self-concepts especially
in the aspects of providing us with our social identity or our perception of who we are based on
the membership to certain froups(Jhangiani and Tarry 2014).

There are times that we are aware of our self and it is called Self-Awareness.
Carver and Scheier(1981) identify Two Types of Self that we can be aware of:
The private self or your internal standards and private thoughts and feelings.
The public self or your public image commonly generated toward having a good presentation of
your self to others.(Hogg and Vaughan 2010).

SELF-AWARENESS also presents us at least three other Self-Schema.

1.Actual- self is who we are at the moment.
2.Ideal- self is who you like to be.
3.Ought- Self is who you think you should be.(Higgins 1997 in Hogg and Vaughan 2010).

SELF-AWARENESS can be POSITIVE and NEGATIVE depending in the circumstances and

our next course of action. SELF-AWARENESS can keep you from doing something dangerous.in
other instances, SELF-AWARENESS can be too much that we are concerned about being
observed and criticized by others , it is also known as SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS.
At other times we may experience DEINDIVIDUATION or the Loss of individual Self-
Awareness and Individual Accountability in groups.
Our group identity and self-awareness also has greater impact on our self-esteem. It is define as
our own positive or negative perception or evaluation of ourselves.
One of the ways in which our Social Relationship affects our Self-Esteem is through SOCIAL
COMPARISON.According to Social Comparison Theory, We learn about ourselves, the
appropriateness of our behaviors, as well as our social status by comparing aspects of our selves
with other people.
2 types of Social Comparison:
 Downward Social Comparison- we create a positive self concepts by comparing ourselves
with those who are worse off than us,by having the advantage we can raise our self-esteem.
 Upward Social Comparison- we compare ourselves with those who are better than us, it can
form self motivation for some , but alot actually felt lower self esteem as they highlight their
weakness or inequalities.

Social Comparison also entails what we called Self-Evaluation Maintenance Theory, which states
that we can feel threatened when someone out-performs us ,especially when that person is close
to us(i.e. a family or a friend)(Tesser 1988 in Jhagiani and tarry 2014).
In this case, We usually React in 3 ways:
 We distance ourselves from that person or redefine our relationship with them( Jhagiani and
tarry 2014).
 We may also reconsider the importance of the aspect or skill in which we
out-performed( Jhagiani and tarry 2014).
 We may also strenghten our resolve to improve that certain aspects of ourselves( Jhagiani
and tarry 2014).

In attempt to increase or maintenance of self-esteem, some people become NARCISSISTIC.

Narcissism- is a “trait characterized by overly high slf-esteem, self admiration, and self
centeredness”.
-they are often charismatic because of how they take care of their image.
-taking care of that image includes their interpersonal relationships thus they will look for
better partners, better acquaintances as well as people who will appreciate them alot.
-This make them a bad romantic partner or friend since they engaged in relationship only to
serve themselves.

Sometimes, there is a thin line between high self-esteem and narcissism and there are a lot of test
and measurements for self-esteem like the Rosenberg scale but the issue is that the result can be
affected y the desire of the person to portray herself in a positive and advantageous way.
Incase you want to take a test and find a numerical value or level of yourself-esteem, try to be
honest and objective about what you feel and see about yourself.
Although self-esteem is a very important concept related to the self, studies have shown that it
only has a correlation, not causality, to positive outputs and outlook.
It can be argued that high or healthy self-esteem may result to an overall good personality, but it
is not, and should not be the only source of a person's healthy perspective of herself.

People with high self-esteem are commonly describe as outgoing, adventurous and adaptable in a
lot of situations. They may also be bullies and experiment on abusive behaviors with drugs,
alcohol and sex.
This Duality in the behavior and attitudes only proves the above mentioned
correlation.Baumeiser, Smart and boden(1996) in their research on self eteem concluded that
programs, activities and parenting styles to boost self esteem should only be for rewarding good
behavior and other achievements and not for the purpose of merely trying to make children feel
better about theme selves or to appease them when they get angry or sad.
KOMUNIKASYON SA FILIPINO

Ano ang tinatawag na “WIKANG PANTURO”?

-ito ay ang wikang ginagamit sa personal na edukasyon . Ito ay wikang ginagamit sa

pagtuturo at pag-aaral sa mga eskwelahan at ang wika sa pagsulatng mga aklat at kagamitan sa
pagtuturo sa mga silid aalan.

IKA-20 SIGLO PANAHON NG AMERIKANO

-itinatag ang sistemang monolingguwal kung saan iisang wika lamang ang maaring gamitin
sa sistema ng edukasyon at iyon ay ang Wikang INGLES.

PANAHON NG KOMONWELT
-dito nagsimulang ipagamit ang wikang pambansa para sa mga gurong gustong magturo ng
Wikang Pambansa. Kaya bago pa man nagsimula ang ika lawang digmaang pandaigdig may mga
guro nang nagtuturo ng Wikang Pambansa.

MAYO 3, 1940
- sa isang sirkular na iniatas ni Direktor Celedonio Salvador ng kawanihan ng Edukasyon
ang pagtuturo ng wikang Pambansabilang regular na assignatura sa ika apat na taon sa paaralang
sekundarya.
 At pagkaraan ng digmaan, unti-unti ng binuksan ang mga assignatura sa elementarya at
sekundarya na nagtuturo ng wika at panitikan at gumagamit ng wikang pambansa bilang Wikang
Panturo.

PATAKARANG BILINGGUWALISMO
- ito ay ang pagpapatupad ng mga Seksiyon 2-3, Artikulo XIV ng 1987 konstitusyon ng
Pilipinas hinggil sa paggamit ng Filipino at Ingles bilang mga opisyal na wika ng komonikasyon
at instruksiyon.

-ang mga assignatura sa elementarya at sekundarya ay hinati sa dalawang pangkat kung saan
ang isang pangkat ay magtuturo sa Filipino(panitikan sa Filipino at araling panlipunan) at ang
isang pangkat ay magtuturo sa wikang Ingles(agham,matematika at panitikan sa Inles).

Itinatag din sang Programang MTB-MLE(Mother Tongue Based-Multi Lingual Education) kung
saan naging dagdag na wikang panturo sa antas na Kinder to Grade 3 ang ibang mga wikang
katutubo ng rehiyon.

Higit bang naitaguyod ng 1987 konstitution ng pilipinas ang paggamit ng Wikang pambansa?
-hindi lamang naitaguyod ng 1987 konstitusyon ng pilipinas ang paggamit ng wikang
pambansa sa katunayan mas nilinaw ito sa pamamagitan ng pagtatag ng mga patakarang mas
maisusulong ang paggamit ng wikang pambansa.
Mga patunay na nagsusulong ng paggamit ng wikang Pambansa:

ARTIKULO XIV ng 1987 Philippine Constitution

SEKSIYON 6
nakasaad dito na ang wikang pambansa ng pilipinas ay Filipino. Samantalang nililinang ito
ay dapat pagyabungin at pagyamanin pa salig sa umiiral na wika sa pilipinas at sa iba pang
mga wika.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 335

 Ito ay ipinatupad ni dating pangulong Corazon C. Aquino noong ika-25 ng Agosto taong
1988.
 isinusulong ng batas na ito na ang lahat ng departamento at opisina ng gobyerno ay
kailangan magsagawa ng mga hakbang para maisulong ang paggamit ng Wikang Filiino sa
opisyal na transaksyon at komunikasyon.

EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 210

 Ipinatupad ni dating pangulong Gloria Macapagal Arroyo noong ika-17 ng Mayo taong 2003
 Nakapaloob dito ang Seksiyon 7 ng Artikulo XIV ng 1987 kosntitusiyon na nagsasaad na
ang opisyal na wika ng pilioinas ay Filipino at hangga’t walang itinadhana ng batas,
Ingles

SEKSIYON 8
Nakasaad naman dito na kailangan ang kostitusyon ay nakasulat sa Filipino at Ingles at dapat
isalin sa pangunahing wika ng rehiyon maging sa wikang Arbic at kastila.

SEKSIYON 9
Nakasaad dito na dapt magtatag ang konseho ng isang komisyon ng wikang pambansa na
binubuo ng mga kinatawan ng iba’t-ibang rehiyon, sa ganitong sistema hindi laman ang wikang
pambansa ang higit na mapapaunlad kundi pati narin ang paggamit nga mga wika sa bawat
rehiyon sa Pilipinas.