The Psychological Perspective of the Self
often interpreted as “pattern” or
What is Psychology?
 Psychology is derived from the root
word psyche meaning ‘soul/mind’ and
logos meaning ‘study of.’
 Modern psychology is the scientific
study of behavior and mental
processes.
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
Founder of Psychology
 Used scientific methods to study
fundamental psychological methods.
 Established the first psychological
laboratory in Germany
 Principles of Physiological Psychology –
published in 1874
 Founded psychology as an academic
discipline in 1879.
 Acknowledged as the FATHER OF
MODERN PSYCHOLOGY
SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT&PROPONENTS
STRUCTURALISM: EDWARD TITCHENER
The first major school of thought.
This approach sought to identify basic building
blocks, or structure of thoughts through
INTROSPECTION and then determine how these
elements combine to form the whole
experience.
FUNCTIONALISM: WILLIAM JAMES
Founded a Psychology Laboratory at Harvard
University
Studied how the behavior functions to allow
humans and other animals adapt to their
environment.
Principles of Psychology (1890) was the first
textbook in psychology
GESTALT: MAX WERTHEIMER
 The word Gestalt is used in modern
German to mean the way a thing has
been “placed,” or “put together.”
 There is no exact equivalent in English.
“Form” and “shape” are the usual
translations; in psychology the word is
“configuration.”
 Principle: “the whole is greater than the
sum of its parts” – emphasized how our
minds organized sensory stimuli to
produce the perception of a whole form
– (ex. Big Dipper)
 Perception; learning through insight
 It looks at the human mind and
behavior as a whole
Psychoanalytic: Founded by Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalytic
What Forms Personality?
1. Your Early Experiences (childhood
experiences)
2. Your Unconscious
3. Your Emotions
Human behavior is governed by the
unconscious
Called the mind “psyche” and stated
that it has 3 levels of awareness:
 Conscious
 Preconscious
 Unconscious
FREUD’S LEVELS OF AWARENESS
CONSCIOUS.
 Freud’s term for thoughts that a person
is currently aware of or is remembering.
PRECONSCIOUS.
 Freud’s term for thoughts, motives, or
memories that exist just below the
surface of awareness and that can
easily be brought to mind.
UNCONSCIOUS.
 Freud’s term for thoughts, motives, or
memories blocked from normal
awareness but that still exert great
influence.
PERSONALITY STRUCTURES
Personality is composed of 3 mental structures
 ID
 EGO
 SUPEREGO
Better seen as processes and forces rather than
concrete entities.
PERSONALITY STRUCTURES
 ID is the most primitive structure; it is
made up of innate, biological instincts
and drives.
 It is immature, impulsive and irrational,
totally unconscious and serves as a
reservoir of mental energy.
 Primitive drive builds up – seeks
immediate gratification to relieve
tension - concept – PLEASURE
PRINCIPLE
EGO develops as the child grows older.
 It is responsible for planning, problem
solving, reasoning, and controlling the
potentially destructive energy of the ID.
 Accdg. to Freud - the EGO corresponds
to SELF – our conscious identity of
ourselves as a person.
 It operates on REALITY PRINCIPLE – it
understands reality & can adapt to the
constraint of the real world.
SUPEREGO –the final personality to develop.
It is a set of ethical standards or rules for
behavior.
It develops from internalized parental and
societal standards.
It generates guilt when we act contrary to the
rules.
BEHAVIORISM
It focused its scientific investigations strictly on
overt behavior – observable behaviors that
could be objectively measured.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)
PAIRING OF STIMULI TO ATTAIN A RESPONSE
John B. Watson
“Little Albert” experiment (with Rosalie Rayner)
Emotional reaction can be classically
conditioned in people.
Operant Conditioning
B.F. Skinner
Learning that occurs through rewards and
punishments for behavior.
OTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL PERRSPECTIVES
OF SELF
 Individual Psychology: Founded by
Alfred Adler
 Unconscious is not the only one that
can direct our lives
 An individual has the capacity to
consciously monitor and give direction
to his/her inner life
 Adler believed that we are social
creatures governed by social urges, not
by biological instincts
 Main driving force in personality is a
STRIVING FOR SUPERIORITY.
 THE STRIVING is a struggle to overcome
imperfections, an upward drive for
competence, completion and mastery
of shortcomings.
 Although everyone strives for
superiority, each person tries to
COMPENSATE for different limitations,
each chooses a different pathway to
superiority
 Compensation – any attempt to cover
feelings of inadequacy or inferiority
 Patterns of Overcompensation
 Inferiority Complex
 Exaggerated feelings of weakness and
inadequacy
 Superiority Complex
 Exaggerated feelings of self-importance,
but still mainly to mask or hide feelings
of inferiority

PHYSICAL SELF
- People can have a positive or negative body
image of themselves
-refers to how people see themselves when
they look in a mirror.
BODY IMAGE
Positive Body Image
 when people accept themselves
regardless of body weight or shape.
Negative Body Image
 when people feel that they need to
improve their bodies because they are
unhappy with the way their bodies look.
Body image is both internal (personal) and
external (society)  healthy relationship with food, activity,
This includes:
- How we perceive our bodies visually
-How we feel about our physical appearance
How we look has possibly never held as much
societal importance or reflected so significantly
on our perceived self worth.
MEDIA: strong societal scrutiny
Who’s to blame for our body perceptions, be it
good or bad?
1. TODAY’S EMBEDDED IDEALS –physical
2. The Media
3. Prejudice in size
4. Those closest to us – families and
friends
So how can we build a strong and positive body
image? 
Positive body image involves understanding
that healthy attractive bodies come in many
shapes and sizes, and that physical appearance
says very little about our character or value as a
person.
How we get to this point of acceptance often
depends on our individual development and self
acceptance.
To get to that all important point of balance,
there are a few steps we can take:
1. Talk back to the media
2. De-emphasise numbers
3. Realize that we cannot change our
body type: thin, large, short or tall
4. We need to move and enjoy our bodies
not because we have to, but because it
makes us feel good
5. Spend time with people who have a
and their bodies

6. Question the degree to which self-
esteem depends on our appearance.
7. Broaden our perspective about health
and beauty by reading about body
image, cultural variances, or media
influence.
8. Recognize that size prejudice is a form
of discrimination similar to other forms
of discrimination.
Each of us will have a positive body image when
we have a realistic perception of our bodies,
when we enjoy, accept and celebrate how we
are and let go of negative societal or media
perpetuated conditioning.
THE MATERIAL SELF
Late 19th century… William James
Pieced together a theory of self that is
remarkably modern.
In his book The Principles of Psychology (1890),
he discusses the manifold nature of the self.
Radical note:
“In its widest possible sense, however, a man's
self is the sum total of all that he can call his,
not only his body and his psychic powers, but
his clothes and his house, his wife and children,
his ancestors and friends, his reputation and
works, his lands and horses, and yacht and bank
account. All these things give him the same
emotions.”
The Material Self
Refers not only to the body of a man but as well
as his closest possessions and relatives
“A man’s Self is the sum total of all that he CAN
call his.”
 For the material self, objects helped
make the person but they also showed
what that person was made of. It
means the use and display of wealth
remains powerful and controversial,
and nowhere more so than for the
super rich.
 Luxury has evolved throughout history
because of change in the value systems
and cultural contexts.
 Luxury can be a sign of distinction.
 It can be a commodity.
“I shop therefore I am”
Initiated by Barbara Kruger, an American artist
whose pop art often deals with consumerism
and feminism.
Barbara’s statement stemmed from Descartes’
philosophy of “I think therefore I am”.
Economical Perspective
 The primary way of that people relate
to each other is as consumers.
 For instance, people show their love by
spending money on each other
 Commerce, while not being everything,
is strongly present in most, if not all,
important aspects of life, and thus
shape those aspects in its image
Psychological Perspective
 People who don’t have a strong sense
of who they are long for an identity.
 Creating that sense of identity is at the
heart of contemporary advertising.
 “By shopping, people validate their own
sense of who they wish they were”
The role of consumer culture in one’s identity: Advantages of shopping

 The Self is a psychological construct  Relaxation and escape

that denotes who and what we are
(Rathneshwar & Se, 2012).
 The structure of the self was organized
as a result of interaction with the
environment.
 As the individual received reactions
from his environment, his self-concept
is formed
SELF-CONCEPT
 “the totality of the individual’s thoughts
and feelings having reference to himself
as an object.”
 Social connection
 The pleasure boost of creativity and
aesthetics
Disadvantages of shopping
 May lead to compulsive buying
 People lifestyles may change from
simplicity to lavishness full of material
comforts.
 May serve as a distraction to avoid
other important issues.

 Basically self-concept is how people

understand, think about and represent
themselves (Leary & Tangney, 2003).

Previous studies have emphasized the

significance of self-concept and consumer
preference, as purchases made by consumers
were directly influenced by the image
individuals had of themselves.

Self-image congruity
 the process of consumers purchasing
products/brands that they perceived as
possessing symbolic images similar to
the image they hold of themselves.

The greater the congruity between human

characteristics that exhibit consumers’ senses of
self and the characteristics that depicted a
brand, the greater the consumers’ preferences
were for the brand (Sung, Choi & Tinkman,
2012).