Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University

OPEN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM

La Union Philippines

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

(GECC 108)

"The pursuit to Xnow Oneseq- is the Xey to

Understanding the Self' C.D.P.13.

CLAUDIA DENISE PALABAY- BARBADILLO, R.G.C., R.Pm.

Module Writer
 2

COURSE OUTLINE

In

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

(GECC 108)

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This is a 3-unit course under the New General Education Curriculum

(CMO 20, s. 2013) that deals solely with the nature of identity or individuality.
The factors and forces that affect the development and maintenance of
personal identity are likewise studied. The question on "Who am I?" is usually
asked more often and posted challenge in adolescence—believed traditionally to
be a time of vulnerability, unhappiness, unrealism and great possibilities. The
issues of self and identity are among the most critical for the young. Thus, the
directive to Know Oneself has inspired countless and varied ways to
comply.

This course is intended to facilitate the exploration of the issues and

concerns regarding self and identity to arrive at a better understanding of
one's self. It strives to meet this goal by stressing the integration of the
personal with academic—contextualizing matters discussed in the classroom
and in the everyday experiences of students—making for better learning,
generating a new appreciation for the learning process, and developing a
more critical and reflective attitude while enabling them to manage and
improve their selves to attain a better quality of life.

The course is divided into three major parts: The first part seeks to
understand the construct of the self from various disciplinal perspectives:
philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and psychology—as well as the more
traditional division between the East and West each seeking to provide
answers to the difficult but essential question of "What is the self?” And
raising, among others, the questions: Is there even such a construct as the
self?”

The second part explores some of the various aspects that make up the
self, such as biological and material up to and including the more recent
Digital self. The third and final part identifies three areas of concern for young
students: learning, goal setting, and managing stress. It also provides for the
more practical application of the concepts discussed in th is course and
enables them the hands-on experience of developing self-help plans for self-
regulated learning, goal setting, and self-care. This course also includes the
mandatory topics on Family Planning and Population Education.

GECC 108- Understanding the Self -Preliminaries-

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OBJECTIVES

GENERAL OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the course, the students will be able to:

1. Understand and make reflections of one's identity in the "Self from

Various Perspectives" particularly in the various traditional disciplinal
viewpoints on Philosophy, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, East
and West and make comparisons which influencethe development of
a person

2. Explore, discover and assess one's identityin the "Unpacking of

Oneself" with emphasis on the Physical Self, Sexual Self, Material or
Economic Self, Political Self, Spiritual Self and Digital Self, and

3. Acquire proper attitude and life skills in loving and caring of one's
identity in the "Managing and Caring for the Self"

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:
The Self from Various Perspectives
1. Discuss the different representations and conceptualizations of the
self from various disciplinal perspectives

2. Compare and contrast how the self has been presented across
different disciplines and perspectives

3. Examine the different influences, factors, and forces that shape the
self

4. Demonstrate critical and reflective thought in analyzing the

development of one's self and identity by developing a theory of the
self

Unpacking the Self

1. Explore the different aspects of self and identity

2. Demonstrate critical, reflective thought in integrating the various

aspects of self and identity

3. Identify the different forces and institutions that impact the

development of various aspects of self and identity

4. Examine one's self against the different aspects of self discussed in

class

GECC 108- Understanding the Self -Preliminaries-

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Managing and Caring for the Self

1. Understand the different aspects of self and identity

2. Acquire and hone new skills and learning for better managing of one's
self and behavior

3. Apply these new skills to one's and functioning for a better quality of
life

0 .11 DIRECTIONS/ MODULE ORGANIZER

Reading is both an art and a skill. It is imperative to allot time to

explore and read this module.Enjoy every moment going through the
threemodules. Revisit yourself and discover more of who you are. Every
module is a journey of yourself. Read and learn!

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

ar you
Requirements are necessary to test and measure how f
understood the course and how much you have learned. Be ab le to work on
aminations.
the Learning Activities, Summative Tests and pass the major ex
nding in this subject
Submit all requirements to your tutor on time. Your sta will
following percentages.
be based on your performance and output with the

Midterm and Final Exam 50%

Requirements 50%
• Motivational Activities
• Learning Activities
• Summative Tests
• Group Dynamic Activities
• Performance Task/Demonstration
• Blogs and video clips
y, etc.)
• Self-portfolio (reflection/reaction paper, essa

Total 100

GECC 108- Understanding the Self -Preliminaries-

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COURSE CONTENT

MODULE I THE SELF FROM THE VARIOUS

PERSPECTIVES

Lesson 1 Philosophy

Lesson 2 Sociology

Lesson 3 Anthropology

Lesson 4 Psychology

Lesson 5 The Self in Western and Eastern/Oriental

Thought

MODULE II UNPACKING THE SELF

Lesson 1 The Physical Self

Lesson 2 The Sexual Self

Lesson 3 The Material/Economic Self

Lesson 4 The Spiritual Self

Lesson 5 The Political Self

Lesson 6 The Digital Self

MODULE III MANAGING AND CARING FOR

THE SELF

Lesson 1 Learning to be a Better Person

Lesson 2 Setting Goals for Success

Lesson 3 Taking Charge of One's Health

GECC 108- Understanding the Self -Preliminaries-

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REFERENCES

Books
Adolph, K. E., (2008), Motor/Physical Development: Locomotion in
Encyclopedia of Infant and Early childhood Development, edited by M. M.
Haith and J. B. Benson. San Diego, CA Academics Press

Aurelia Estrada, (2011), Developmental Characteristics of Young Children,

Rex Printing Company Inc., Sta. Mesa Heights, Quezon City, Philippines

Barbara Kolucki, MA and DafnaLemish, PhD, (2011), Communicating with

Children, Principles and practices to Nurture, Inspire, Excite, Educate and
Heal, UNICEF

Henry S. Tenedero, (2008), Creative Tips to Get through Student Life,

Center for Learning and Teaching Styles, Phils. Inc.

Henry S. Tenedero, (2008), Cooking Up a Creative Genius, Center for

Learning and Teaching Styles, Phils. Inc.

Henry S. Tenedero, (2008), Super Teacher, Center for Learning and

Teaching Styles, Phils. Inc.

Henry S. Tenedero, (2008), Mindful Ideas, Center for Learning and Teaching
Styles, Phils. Inc.

Imelda Villar, (2009), Career Counseling in the Philippines, Aligned

Transformations Publications, 3423 Guernica St., Makati City 1235,
Philippines

Kathryn Williams Browne, et.al., ((2013), Early Childhood Field Experience,

Learning to Teach Well, Pearson Education Inc., Permissions Department, One
Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458, U.S.A.

Laura E. Marshak, et.al., (2010), The School Counselor's Guide to Helping

Students with Disabilities, Jossey-Bass, A Wily Imprint, 989 Market Street,
San Francisco CA 94103-1741, U.S.A.

McMaster University, (Issue 3, July 2011), Preschooler Physical Activity and

Motor Skill Development Focus, Child Health and Exercise Medicine Program

Samuel Griffin, (2015), Handbook of Learning Disabilities, Arcler Press LLC,

New York, NY 10017, U.S.A.

GECC 108- Understanding the Self -Preliminaries-

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Published Researches
Geraldine French, (200a), Children's Early Learning and Development: A
Research Paper Executive Summary, National Council for Curriculum and
Assessment (NCCA)
Nemours Health and Prevention Services, (2009), Best Practices for Physical
Activity, A Guide to Help Children Grow Up Healthy (under editorial review, for
educational purposes)

Carolyn P. Edwards University of Nebraska - Lincoln,

[email protected],(June 2005), Moral Development Study in the 21st
Century: Introduction to Moral Motivation through the Life Span: Nebraska
Symposium on Motivation, volume 51
The Discipline andGuidance of Children, MESSAGES FROM RESEARCH, A
Review of Research Literature forthe Office of the Children's Commissioner by
the Children's Issues Centre

WEBSITE!

Electronic References
https: / /www.cdc gov/ ncbddd / childdevelopment/ positiveparenting/pdfs/pr
esc hooters- 3-5-w-npa. pdf
hap: / /www. preschool-plan-it. com /developmental-milestones. html
https://wcwpds.wisc.edu/childdevelopment/resources/CompleteDevelopm
entDetails. pdf
Learning in the 21st Century: Teaching Today's Students on Their Terms,
https://www.certiport.com/Portal/Common/DocumentLibrary/lEAB_Whitep
aper040808.pdf)

GECC 108- Understanding the Self -Preliminaries-

 MODULE 1

THE SELF FROM THE VARIOUS

PERSPECTIVES

Lesson 1 Philosophy

Lesson 2 Sociology

Lesson 3 Anthropology

Lesson 4 Psychology

Lesson 5 The Self in Western and

Eastern/Oriental Thought
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MODULE I

THE SELF FROM THE VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES

■ INTRODUCTION

LIFE is the greatest gift one can

ever have. Life itself is a Blessing and
an Opportunity. Life is manifested in
the Self.

Why a blessing? As one journeys

through the different stages of Human
Development, the Self is slowly being
discovered. It is evolving and hidden
talent is uncovered. Try to imagine a
baby learning how to talk, how to
crawl and how to grasp objects.
Everyday is a never-ending practice -
struggle it is until mastery is achieved.
The beauty of being able to see colors,
hear the sound of nature and people
laughing and exchanging words, and to
feel the sensation of human touch.
These are alt blessings life can offer.

czennesketches corn

Why an Opportunity? The Self is a window of possibilities. Growing means

gaining awareness of what one is capable of doing and creating, and making it
a reality. Taking advantage of what the environment and human resources can
offer is a means of packaging and refining the self.

Module 1 provides the learner a view of the Self from the perspective of
Philosophy, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology and Western and
Eastern/Oriental Thoughts. Having an in-depth understanding of who a person is
from these contexts using concepts, theories and principles offer analysis and
reflections of the meaning of life - the essence of the Self.

As a discipline, Philosophy is the study of life's existence, the love of

knowledge. When an individual seeks answers to questions on the
fundamental truths about self, this is the beginning of wisdom.

Sociology, whereas, is a social science that deals with the study of

society, its interactions and relationships. To understand the self means to
fathom the collective behavior of people.

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Anthropology, on the other hand, is a scientific study of humanity -

what makes us human beings. How is human species different from animal
species?

Psychology is the scientific study of the mind and the behavior. How a
person thinks, acts and feels is the direction of this discipline.

Lastly, the Western and Eastern view of the self. Western focuses on
rationality while Eastern fuses supernatural in comprehending individuation.

In the end, these disciplines guide the learner towards building an

objective, systematic and organized image of the self.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of the semester, students will be able to;

1. Discuss the different representations and conceptualizations of the

self from various disciplinal perspectives;

2. Compare and contrast how the self has been presented across
different disciplines and perspectives;

3. Examine the different influences, factors, and forces that shape the
self; and

4. Demonstrate critical and reflective thought in analyzing the

development of one's self and identity by developing a theory of the
self.

DIRECTIONS/ MODULE ORGANIZER

Read carefully the module as presented in the different lessons. At the

end of each lesson, there are questions and/or activities for you to answer and
accomplish. These are designed to determine how well you benefited from
the lesson in terms of knowledge and information (cognitive objective),
desirable values and attitude (affective objective) as well as skills and
competence (psychomotor or operative objective). Work on these
questions/activities conscientiously and submit your output to your tutor on
time. Reading and researching from references are strongly advised to gain
maximum understanding and experiential learning. Immerse yourself into the
various activities and surely, you will discover who you are.

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Lesson 1

PHILOSOPHY

Motivational Activity: "Who Am I?"

On January 12 of 2020, Taal Volcano

situated in Tagaytay, Philippines
began erupting forcing several
families to evacuate. Taal is the
second most active volcano in the
Philippines islands which is
situated at several tectonic plates. If
eruption will intensify, it is
capable of producing deadliest
volcanic hazards - tsunamis,
mudflows, and superheated flows of
gas and debris. You and your family
live in Tagaytay. The government issued an Alert 4 level forcing residents to
leave the place immediately. At the same time, you are required to fill up an
Information Sheet for profiling and monitoring purposes. (Source: Scientific
American 175, Natural Disasters, January 14, 2020)

Activity 1:
INFORMATION SHEET
Name
Sex ( ) Male ( ) Female Others: (please specify)
Religion Citizenship:
Civil Status Tribal Affiliation:
Date of Birth Place of Birth:
Address
Highest Educational
Attainment
Occupation
Employer/Address
Contact No. Email Address:
Body marks
If married Name of Spouse:
Occupation:
No. of children No. of people in the house:
Name of father
Name of mother
Siblings (specify)

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Nursery/Address
Kinder/Address

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Elementary/Address
High school/Address
Senior High
School/Address
College/Address
Vocational School
Eligibilities
Skills
Hobbies/ Interests
Health Issues
Fears
Problem/s at present
In case of Name:
emergency, whom to Address:
contact Contact Details:

Processing Questions:
1. How did you feel about the activity?
2. Was it difficult to fill up the form? Why?
3. What are your reflections about yourself?
4. What are your realizations about the activity?

Reflections to Ponder:
1. Relevance of information about the self
2. Preparedness during a crisis - calamity
3. Value of life

PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS OF THE SELF:

The etymology of the word PHILOSOPHY is a two-Greek words, PHILOS

which means "LOVE" and SOPHIA which means "WISDOM" translated to "love of
knowledge" likely instituted by Pythagoras (c. 570-495 BCE). In other words,
Philosophy deals with the rationality employed by individuals in learning.
Aristotle for instance, an Ancient Greek philosopher from the nineteenth
century tried to explore and understand the rationality employed in
understanding and learning things. He looked into regular reasoning in
discovering and learning. Aristotle introduced stargazing, pharmaceutical,
and material science. Newton's 1687 Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy named a book of material science.

In the nineteenth century, the development of current research,

methods of inquiry have evolved. Thus, various approaches to inquiry by
different colleges drove scholarly rationality and different orders to
professionalize and practice the continuous search for learning. In the cutting
edge period, a few examinations that were customarily part of logic wound
up particular scholarly approaches including brain science, humanism,
phonetics, and financial matters.

The question on, "Who Am I?", continuously baffled and challenged

philosophers to answer. The Self becomes a subject of scholarly studies

GECC 108- Understanding the Self -Module I-

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among philosophers who made impact on our lives and influenced the way we
view human life. Who are these philosophers who contributed in the
understanding the self? Let us study them one by one and find out their
perspectives about individuality.

SOCRATES (469-399 BC)

Philosophy on Understanding the Self:

The goal of life is to "Know Thyself"
and improve the self through virtuous living
and pursue of goodness. The key to self-
discovery is meditation. Know the self
means a person who can think, reflect and
know what is right.

The central concern of philosophy is the psyche, the "true self" or

"soul" being the core identity, the unique spirit that makes one distinct. This is
the authentic personality, the distinctive character. The soul is the source of
deepest thoughts and highest aspirations, the unique life force that shapes and
defines itself through choices made on a daily basis. The soul is "immortal and
imperishable, and after death should continue to exist in another world." Thus,
every soul seeks happiness. Only through the pursuit of goodness that one can
bring happiness. The Law of Karma is very strong.

The formation of a person's thinking and character is typically the

result of many influences throughout their lives.

Core Life Teachings:

1. "The unexamined life is not worth living".

2. "The truth lies within each of us".
3. "We should strive in excellence in all areas of life".
4. "No one knowing does evil".
5. "It is better to suffer wickedness than to commit it".

Place of Origin: ATHENS, GREECE

Significant Experiences:
• Philosophical Career - His pursuit of wisdom which became his full time
job for the rest of his life because of his fascination with intellectual
conversation (parties, going to Agora marketplace).

• Pelodonnesian War - He became a soldier influencing students towards

his teachings, challenged the government which leads to fighting for
democracy and questioning tyranny.

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• Socrates' Trial - He became more popular among Philosophers when he

was indicted to be polluting the minds of Greek students. His defense
on reason put him to death, yet he was able to influence great
Philosophers like Plato, Euclid and Xenophon.

Schools of Thought:
RATIONALISM, DUALISM
a. Rationalism - The search for truth and clarity through
questioning, through reason
b. Dualism - The self is the immortal soul that exists over time. The
self is not separated from the soul.

About Socrates that explains and manifests his schools of thought:

• Socrates laid down the conceptual framework and method of inquiry
for Western consciousness and culture.

• The Father of Western Philosophy, Wisest man in Greece, Crown Jewel

in the native city for the following:

a. He was a catalyst for a significant advancement in human

consciousness. "Know thyself," Socrates was the first important
Western thinker to focus the light of human reason and intelligence
on human beings themselves.

b. He was an archetypal thinker, a quintessential model of rational

inquiry. Socrates believed in the supreme importance of thinking as
well as possible, and for him, everything in human experience was
an appropriate subject for exploration and critical analysis.

c. He was committed to making our actions reflect our convictions.

For Socrates, striving to think well-meant striving to live well,
developing consistent and rigorous standards of conduct and then
following through with the choices that we make.

d. He believed that philosophical inquiry was a social activity. In

contrast to the "ivory tower" dreamer. He found his greatest
pleasure engaging in passionate and energetic discussions with
others. He was certainly capable of deep, introspective thought.

e. He was a heroic martyr to enlightened thinking and virtuous living.

It wasn't just that he died but rather that he died willingly for the
moral principles and values on which his life was constructed.

• His martyrdom, and the genius of Plato, made him a secular saint, the
superior man confronting the ignorant mob with serenity and humor.
This was Socrates' triumph and Plato's masterpiece. Socrates needed
the hemlock, as Jesus needed the Crucifixion, to fulfill a mission.

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• Proponent of Socratic Method - Seeking clarity and truth through

penetrating questioning and astute analysis. Reason is the path to the
truth.

• Uses several strategies to converse with people

a. Dialectic, which is derived from a Greek word for conversation, and
its goal was to achieve a deep, clear, rationally founded
understanding of the most significant areas of human experience:
knowledge, justice, morality, religion, beauty, goodness, and the
traits of good character such as courage and piety.

b. Master of irony used to expertly create a false sense of security in

his dialogue partners and create the conditions for unmasking their
foolishness and ignorance.

PLATO (427-347 BC)

"I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is, that know
not hind. "
Philosophy on Understanding the Self:
Plato believes in the presence of a soul which
he called "psyche" consisting of three elements:
(1) Reason - refers to the divine essence
that enables a person to think deeply,
make wise choices, and achieve a true
understanding of eternal truths
(2) Physical Appetite - refers to the basic
biological needs such as hunger, thirst,
and sexual desire
(3) Spirit or Passion - refers to basic
emotions such as love, anger, ambition,
aggressiveness, empathy.

These three elements of our selves are working together. They are in a
dynamic relationship with one another either sometimes working in concert or
sometimes in bitter conflict.

When conflict occurs, Plato believes it is the job of our Reason to fix
things out and exert control, re-establishing a harmonious relationship
between the three elements of our selves. He shows his view of the soul/self in
Phaedrus with a vivid metaphor - the soul is likened to a winged chariot
drawn by two powerful horses: a white horse, symbolizing the Spirit, and a
black horse, embodying Appetite. The charioteer is Reason, whose task is to
guide the chariot to the eternal realm by controlling the two independent-
minded horses. Those charioteers who are successful in setting a true course
and ensuring that the two steeds work together in harmonious unity achieve
true wisdom and banquet with the gods. However, those charioteers who are
unable to control their horses and keep their chariot on track are destined to
experience personal, intellectual, and spiritual failure.

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Plato's Lessons About the Soul and the Body

According to Plato, the body, with its deceptive senses, keeps us from
real knowledge; it rivets us in a world of material things which is far removed
from the world of reality; and it tempts us away from the virtuous life. It is
through the soul that we shall have knowledge, be in touch with reality, and
lead a life of virtue. Only the soul can truly know, for only the soul can ascend to
the real world, the world of the Forms or Ideas.

Plato also tells us about the nature of beauty. Beauty has nothing
essentially to do with the body or with the world of material things. Real
beauty cannot "take the form of a face, or of hands, or of anything that is of
the flesh." Yes, there are beautiful things, but they only are entitled to be
described that way because they "partake in" the form of Beauty, which itself is
not found in the material world. Real beauty has characteristics which
merely beautiful things cannot have.

Illustration 1: An individual may develop a romantic relationship with

someone who is an intellectual companion (Reason), with whom he/she is
passionately in love (Spirit), and whom he/she finds sexually attractive,
igniting lustful appetites (Appetite). Or he/she may find himself/herself in
personal conflict, torn between three different relationships, each of which
appeals to a different part of our self: Reason, Spirit, Appetite.

Illustration 2: A student who is thirsty for knowledge and driven towards the
achievement of her goal enrolled at DMMMSU Open University System
(Reason). She met friends and hang out with them during their vacant time,
discovering food hubs (Appetite). These friends for her brought her happiness
and a feeling of belongingness (Passion).

Activity 2: Make your own example how the three elements - reason,
appetite and spirit interact and collaborate.

ST. AUGUSTINE (354-430 C.E.)

Philosophy on Understanding the Self:
For St. Augustine, the Self is a
great mystery. A person regardless of
the many sins he/she had committed
can have a great and mysterious life,
through the mercy and forgiveness of
God. The self must continue to search
for the truth in order for his/her soul
to be rested.

Augustine combines the philosophical concepts of Plato with the tenets of

Christianity. He was convinced that Platonism and Christianity were natural
partners, thus he enthusiastically adopted Plato's vision of a bifurcated
universe in which "there are two realms, an intelligible realm where truth

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itself dwells, and this sensible world which we perceive by sight and touch,"
but then adapted this metaphysic to Christian beliefs. Thus, Plato's ultimate
reality, the eternal realm of the Forms, became in Augustine's philosophy a
transcendent God. In the same way, Plato's vision of immortal souls striving to
achieve union with this eternal realm through intellectual enlightenment
became transformed by Augustine into immortal souls striving to achieve
union with God through faith and reason. The transient, finite nature of the
physical world described by Plato became in Christianity a proving ground for
our eternal destinies. Plato's metaphysical framework thus provided
philosophical justification for Christian beliefs that might otherwise have
been considered farfetched.

Place of Origin: Taghaste, North of Africa

Significant Experiences:
• He received a Christian education when he was young, but deferred
receiving the sacrament and became a heresy which his mother Monica
greatly suffered.

• He was sent to Carthage for a forensic career but he succumbed to the

pleasure of the city and his good virtues were corrupted. Hence; he
made his inquiring mind to search for the origin of evil.

• In Milan through the influence of Bishop Ombrose his souls long and
difficult quest finally rested. He possessed the certainty that Jesus
Christ is the only way to truth and salvation.

School of Thought:
• Platonism-the use of reason to influence a person to do good

RENE DESCARTES (1596-1650)

"If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least
once in your life you doubt, as for as possible, all things."

Philosophy on Understanding the Self:

He introduced the modern
perspective of the self. According to
him, everything must be subjected to
doubt. "Cogito ergo sum" translated as "I
think therefore I am" means that there
should be the doubting I first then all
other existence (God, universe, events,
etc.) become certain.

• A French philosopher, the founder of Modern philosophy. In his

Meditations on First Philosophy (1637), he dealt with issues surrounding

GECC 108- Understanding the Self -Module I-

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applied the geometric method

skepticism, mind/body dualism, and he to
s not only important to the
philosophy. The influence of this work wa modern
this day.
period, but is also incredibly influential to

soning process and

• He wanted to penetrate the nature of our rea
onvinced that to
understand its relation to the human self. He was c
bout human
develop the most informed and well-grounded beliefs a
are
existence, we need to be clear about the thinking instrument we
employing. For if our thinking instrument is flawed, then it is likely
that our conclusions will be flawed as well.

• He is a mathematician having invented analytic geometry and an

aspiring scientist, Descartes was an integral part of the scientific
revolution that was just beginning. (His major philosophical work,
Meditations on First Philosophy, was published in 1641, the year before
Galileo died and Isaac Newton was born.) The foundation of this
scientific revolution was the belief that genuine knowledge needed to be
based on independent rational inquiry and real-world
experimentation

JOHN LOCKE (1634-1704)

Philosophy on Understanding the Self:

"Before we can analyze the world and our
success to it, we have to know about
ourselves. It is only once we understand
our cognitive capabilities that we can
suitably direct our researches into the
world"
The Self is comparable to an empty
space (tabula rasa) where everyday
experiences contribute to knowledge. The
self is consciousness.

• A British philosopher. In his Essay Concerning Human Understanding

(1690) Locke lays the groundwork for empiricist philosophy. His theory
that the mind is a tabula rasa, a blank slate, on which experience
writes, challenges the rationalist philosophy that preceded him.

• Founder of the school of thought "British Empiricism" where

foundational contributions to modern theories of limited liberal
government
• Believed that government should be more tolerant of religious diversity

• Argued that many beliefs traditionally believed to be mandatory for

Christians were necessary

GECC 108- Understanding the Self -Module I-

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School of Thought:

ationship between different

• Knowledge consists of a special kind of rel
ideas.

DAVID HUME (1711-1776)

Philosophy on Understanding the Self:

The self is just a bundle or collection of
A wise man proportions different perceptions, which succeed each
his belief to the evidence. other with an inconceivable rapidity, and
are in a perpetual flux and movement. It
is just an impression or a fiction. To Hume,
there is no Self.

• Scottish philosopher whose philosophy is seen as drawing out the

logical consequences of a thoroughgoing empiricism. His skepticism
concerning causation, induction, and religion is still widely influential
today.

• According to Hume, there are only two distinct entities, "impressions"

and "ideas": Impressions—Impressions are the basic sensations of our
experience, the elemental data of our minds: pain, pleasure, heat,
cold, happiness, grief, fear, exhilaration, and so on. These impressions
are "lively" and "vivid." Ideas are copies of impressions, and as a result
they are less "lively" and "vivid." This include thoughts and images
that are built up from our primary impressions through a variety of
relationships, but because they are derivative copies of impressions,
they are once removed from reality.

IMMANUEL KANT (1724-1804) "All our knowledge begins with the senses,
proceeds then to the understanding, and ends with reason."

Philosophy on Understanding the Self:

The self is always transcendental. His
philosophy is called the Transcendental
Unity of Apperception. The self is not in
the body, instead it is outside the body
and qualities of the body. It is something
that is mystical.

• German Philosopher widely regarded as the greatest philosopher of the

modern period. He attempted to synthesize the two competing schools

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of the modern period, rationalism and empiricism, by showing the

important role both experience and reason play in constructing our
knowledge of the world.

• According to him, it is the self that makes experiencing an intelligible

world possible, because it is the self that is responsible for synthesizing
the discreet data of sense experience into a meaningful whole. The
self is the weaver seen metaphorically who, using the loom of the
mind, weaves together the fabric of experience into a unified whole so
that it becomes his/her experience, his/her world, his/her universe.
Without the self to perform this synthesizing function, experience
would be unknowable, a chaotic collection of sensations without
coherence or significance.

SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939) "Look into the depths of your own soul and
learn first to know yourself, then you will understand why this illness was
bound to come upon you and perhaps you will henceforth avoid falling ill."

Philosophy on Understanding the Self:

There are two selves -one
Unconscious and one Conscious.
The self is regarded as the "I"
which; constitutes both the mental and
physical actions. The self was multi-tiered,
divided among the conscious,
preconscious, and unconscious as seen in
his theory on psychoanalysis.

• Psychologist. Freud founded the school of psychoanalysis which

became one of the most influential theories of psychology and therapy
in the twentieth century.

• The two levels of human functioning - the conscious and the

unconscious differ radically both in their content and in he rules and
logic that govern them. The unconscious contains basic instinctual
drives including sexuality, aggressiveness, and self-destruction;
traumatic memories; unfulfilled wishes and childhood fantasies;
thoughts and feelings that would be considered socially taboo. The
unconscious level is characterized by the most primitive level of human
motivation and human functioning. The most basic instinctual drives
that seek immediate gratification or discharge. In contrast, the
conscious self is governed by the “principle” (rather than the
"pleasure principle"), and at this level of functioning, behavior and
experience are organized in ways that are rational, practical, and
appropriate to the social environment.

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GILBERT RYLE (1900-1976) "I discover that there are other minds in
understanding what other people say and do."

Philosophy on Understanding the Self:

The self is how you behave. No more inner
selves, immortal souls, states of
consciousness, or unconscious entities:
instead, the self is defined in terms of the
behavior that is presented to the world, a
view that is known in psychology as
behaviorism.

• Analytic Philosopher, Ryle introduced the 'Linguistic Analysis' which

focused on the solving of philosophical puzzles through an analysis of
language. He mounted an attack against Cartesian mind/body dualism
and supported a behaviorist theory of mind.

• A British philosopher whose book, The Concept of Mind, had a dramatic

Behaviorism The view that the "self" is defined by observable
behavior. Ryle's behaviorism was a different sort from that of
psychology. He thought of his approach as a logical behaviorism,
focused on creating conceptual clarity, not on developing techniques
to condition and manipulate human behavior.

PAUL (1942) AND PATRICIA CHURCHLAND

Philosophy on Understanding the Self:

The self is the brain. The self can
be understood in terms of neuroscience
that focuses on the function of the brain
and how it affects one's behavior. The
couple thus introduced Eliminative
Materialism.

• Paul Churchland is an American philosopher (Ph.D., University of

Pittsburgh, 1969); Areas of interest include philosophy of mind,
philosophy of science, cognitive neurobiology, epistemology, and
perception. Authored several works on mind, including The Engine of
Reason, The Seat of the Soul: A Philosophical Journey into the Brain
(MIT, 1995)

• He introduced a simple identity formula—mental states = brain states- -

is a flawed way in which to conceptualize the relationship between the
mind and the brain. He develops a new, neuroscience-based vocabulary
that will enable us to think and communicate clearly about the mind,

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consciousness, and human experience. He refers to this view as

"eliminative materialism.

• Churchland's central argument is that the concepts and theoretical

vocabulary about selves using such terms as belief, desire, fear,
sensation, pain, joy actually misrepresent the reality of minds and
selves. All of these concepts are part of a “commonsense "folk
psychology that obscures rather than clarifies the nature of human
experience. Eliminative materialists believe that emotional connection
should be understood with reference to the neurophysiology of the
brain. Eliminative Materialism develops a new vocabulary and
conceptual framework that is ground in neuroscience that will be a
more accurate reflection of the human mind and self.

MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY (1908-1961)

Philosophy on Understanding the Self:
The self is embodied subjectivity.
The division between the "mind" and the
"body" is a product of confused thinking.
The self is seen as a unity in which the
mental and physical are seamlessly woven
together. This unity is the primary
experience of the self, and one only begins
to doubt it when the mind is used to
concoct abstract notions of a separate
"mind" and "body." There is no mystery
in the body.

• The philosophy of Ponty is known as Phenomenology of Perception

which is derived from the conviction that all knowledge of the self and
the world is based on the "phenomena" of experience. Perceptions are
caused by the intricate experiences of the self, and processed
intellectually while distinguishing truthful perceptions from illusory.
Thus, the self is regarded as a phenomenon of the whole, which is a
Gestalt understanding of perceptual synthesis.

SUMMARY
•

Lesson 1 on Philosophy helped us to explore the answers to the

question, "Who Am I?" as based on philosophical views. This question actually is
oftentimes difficult to answer as the self is so complex and intriguing.
However, philosophers tried to provide us with an in-depth understanding as
based on their studies. The self is a puzzle that must be solved and
discovered.

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This lesson surely guided you to understand the mysteries of who you are
and helped you deepen your insights about yourself.

OUTPUT PLAN

(1) Formulate your own Philosophy in Life and make a video clip. It can be
in Filipino or English. Be creative. Running time at least 1 minute.
Upload your video clip via fb and submit a screenshot of the comments
and feedbacks.

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Lesson 2

SOCIOLOGY

Motivational Activity:
What Makes You Beautiful? by One
Direction (Song/Dance)

Processing Questions:
1. How did you find the activity?
2. What is your understanding of being
beautiful?
3. How did the song affect you?
4. What have you learned about the
activity?

Sociology is the systematic study of social behavior and human groups. It

focuses primarily on the influence of social relationships upon people's
attitudes and behavior and how societies are established and changed.

As a sociological approach to self and identity, it begins with an

assumption that there is a reciprocal relationship between the self and the
society. This two mutually affects each other. The self influences the society
through the actions of people, thus creating groups and organizations. The
society in return influences the self through its shared language and meanings
that enable the self to take the role of engaging in social interaction and
make self-reflection. This process of reflectivity constitutes selfhood. What is
the meaning of this? We need to understand our society in which the self is
acting.

In general, Sociologists are interested in understanding the nature of

society or the social structure. How the society is being formed, developed
and transformed. There are two approaches, (1) Situational Approach to self and
the society sees society as always in the process of being created through the
definitions and interpretations of actors in situations. This means that the
individuals are free to define the situation in any way they care to. Thus, in
this approach, the self is seen as undifferentiated, unstable and unorganized.
On the other hand, (2) Structural Approach looks at society as stable,
organized and durable. There are patterned regularities that characterize
most human action. These patterned regularities have varied levels of
analysis. By pooling several similar individuals, we can understand persons at
certain type.

Illustration 1: A scientist who has a pattern of behavior of being logical,

analytical, careful and experimentally inclined can be viewed in a larger
social structure. Scientists, because of their background can be elected to
higher positions in their scientific organizations.

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This is a very good example of how a person may validate his conceptions
about himself/herself. Further, this implies that the basis in understanding
social structure may arise from the actions of individuals.

SOCIOLOGICAL VIEWS OF THE SELF

1. The Self as a Product of Modern Society Among Others

• In a Modern Society, life is full of possibilities and opportunities. The

process of finding oneself is enforced upon all individuals - a process
of continuous transformation. Self-identification becomes a reflexive
project of each individual. Thus, the self is "DELOCALIZED" having a
freedom to seek its own identity.

• Individuals have Increased Choices which makes possible new

dimensions of self-development.

• Globalization and Increased Mediated Experience are present which

bring forth more unitary framework of experience and create deeper
forms of fragmentation and levels of distance between individuals.

Reflections:

• Modern Society brings people to experience anxiety because they have

troubles choosing between available options and having fears that they
are not making the right choices.

• Individuals are given little guidance on what is the best option. The
rote of the family, religion and traditional authority has declined and
the constant drive of change within modern institutions and social life
makes everything uncertain and flexible.

• There is a concern on the dehumanization of the self.

2. The Self in the Post-Modern View

• The Self becomes "DIGITALIZED". Social media becomes the platform

of the cyber self. Therefore, the self is dynamic which has a story, a
narrative, a text written and rewritten. It is continuously changing and
updating. This is because of modernity where electronic mediated
virtual interaction is part of daily life.

• Individuals try to avoid fixation and keep their options open for self-
improvement
• The self is found in the prestige symbols of goods consumed by
people. The Post-modern person has become an insatiable
consumer (Jean Baudrillard).

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Reflections:

• Globalization produces diverse/multicultural identities.

• The self is "DIGITALIZED" in cyberspace; thus deviating from the

traditional concept of the self. Information technology dislocates the
self.

3. The Self as a Necessary Fiction

• The self is regarded as a symbolic and material weight, meaning an

ideological force that inserts us into particular roles we may or may
not have chosen in a social script we don't control.

• The self is the totality of individuals' thoughts, feelings and actions. It

is seen as metaphoric or just a representation of something that is
abstract (Nietzche).

Reflections:

• Memory has a role in the concept of the self.

4. The Social Constructed Self

• Social constructionism is a theory of knowledge in sociology and

communication theory that examines the development of jointly-
constructed understandings of the world that form the basis for shared
assumptions about reality. An example of a social construction is the
concept of self/self-identity.

• The self/self-identity is acquired based on social roles that people

partake.

• Socialization has an important role in discovering and exploring the

self. Socialization agents such as the family, school, church and society
are active forces that shape a person.

5. Theory of the Self by George Herbert Mead

• Mead supports the view that a person develops a sense of self

through social interaction and not the biological preconditions

• According to him, the self has Two Divisions:

a. "1" is the Subjective element and the active side of the self
represents the spontaneous and unique traits of the individual

b. "Me" is the Objective element that represents the

internalized attitudes and demands of other people and
the individual's awareness of those demands

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• Full development of self- attained is when the “I” and the “Me” are united

• The Self is not present at birth. It is only developed with social

experience in which language, gestures, and objects are used to
communicate meaningfully.

• Role-taking is a process in which a person infers people's intention or

direction of action, which may lead him to understand the world from
other's perspective, since there is meaning in human actions. The
person creates his own role and anticipates how others will
look and respond. By performing his own role, the self continues to
change along with his social experience.

Three Stages of Development of Self (Mead):

(1) Preparatory stage (from birth to 2) begins when we are born.

Generally, children are only capable of imitation. They like to pretend to
be someone else. They have no ability to imagine how others see
things. They copy the actions of people with whom they regularly
interact, such as their significant others.

(2) Play stage (Age 2 to 6) is when children start to take on the role that
one other person might have. Children might try on a parent's point of
view by acting out "grown up" behavior, like playing "dress up" and
acting out the "mom" role, or talking on a toy telephone the way they
see their mother do.

(3) Game stage (Age 7 onwards) is when children learn to consider several
roles other than being a child at play. They also interact with other
children, with their parents and other significant figure. They learn to
understand interactions involving different people with a variety of
purposes. For example, a child at this stage is likely to be aware of the
different responsibilities of people in a restaurant who together make
for a smooth event/party experience. They begin to have formalized
games similar to the real life situations like "bahay-bahayan".

Finally, children develop, understand, and learn the idea of the

generalized other, the common behavioral expectations of general
society. By this stage of development, an individual is able to imagine how
he or she is viewed by one or many others—and thus, from a sociological
perspective, to have a "self" (Mead 1934; Mead 1964).

6. LOOKING-GLASS SELF (Charles Horton Cooley)

• This concept is helpful in understanding how a person views

himself as he interacts with the social environment including
family, school, peer groups, and mass media.

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• This further states that part of how we see ourselves comes from our
perception of how others see us, who serve as mirror of ourselves.
• The process of discovering the looking-glass self occurs in three
steps:
a. An individual in a social situation imagines how they appear
to others.
b. That individual imagines others' judgment of that
appearance.
c. The individual develops feelings about and responds to
those perceived judgments.

SUMMARY

Lesson 2 on Sociology focused on the study of the functioning of society

and social relationships. The self and the society influenced each other. The
concept of self can be validated by how others perceive a person which
becomes a pattern of behavior. Therefore, the self may be viewed in terms of
the "I and Me" relationship, delocalized, digitalized, and constructed.

What could be the relevance of studying the society and its behavior?
Through comparisons of behaviors, we can attempt to solve issues and gain a
rational understanding of some of society's social problems and concerns.
Sociological backgrounds can be studied and can be a basis for improving and
developing a society.

Wi OUTPUT PLAN

© COMPOSE AN ESSAY WITH THE TITLE:

1. How Do I Negotiate my Self-identity in the Social Contexts I am in?

(A Reflection Paper)

2. Listen to the song, "Beautiful" by Christina Aguilera and make a

Reflection Paper

Title: Beautiful
A Reflection Paper

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Lesson 3

Ela ANTHROPOLOGY

Motivational Activity:

Pinoy Ako!
What makes a Filipino?
Name at least 10 unique practices or
beliefs.

Processing Questions:
1. What makes you proud as a
Filipino?
2. If you will be required by the
school to come up with your
own label or "tatak", what
would it be and why?
3. How did you find the activity?
4. What is your insight about it?

Whang-od Oggay is a tattoo artist. She was born on February 17, 1917.
She is also known as Maria Oggay, a Filipino tattoo artist from
Buscalan, Tinglayan, Kalinga, Philippines. She is often described as the "last"
and oldest mambabatok (traditional Kalinga tattooist) and is part of the
Butbut people of the larger Kalinga ethnic group. She has been tattooing
headhunters and women of the indigenous people of Butbut in Buscalan,
Kalinga, since she was 15 years old, but the Butbut warriors who used to earn
tattoos through protecting villages or killing enemies no longer exist. Despite
that, Whang-od continues to apply her traditional art form to tourists visiting
Buscalan. The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA)
conferred on Whang-od the prestigious Dangal ng Haraya Award at Tabuk,
the capital of Whang-od's ethnic province of Kalinga, in 2018. She was
nominated for the National Living Treasures Award (Gawad Manlilikha ng
Bayan) in 2017. Her nomination is still being processed by the NCCA.

ANTHROPOLOGICAL VIEW OF THE SELF

Anthropology is the science of humanity that studies human beings in

aspects ranging from biological to evolutionary history of Homo sapiens to the
features of society and culture that decisively distinguish humans from other
animal species. It has several branches - Physical anthropology is the branch
that concentrates on the biology and evolution of humanity. It discussed in
greater detail human evolution. Cultural anthropology (or ethnology), social
anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and psychological anthropology are
branches that study the social and cultural constructions of human groups.

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Further, anthropology according to Waltz is the science of the nature of

man. Nature means a matter animated by the Divine Breath. Based from
Thomas Csordas, anthropology means "what it means to be human". For
Clifford Gertz, it is the study of cultures, practices, values, ideas,
technologies economies, and other domains of social and cognitive
organization. He even said that, "Without culture, there is no man". The
study of culture is always a part of anthropology

The word "culture" is derived from a French term, which in turn derives
from the Latin "colere," which means to tend to the earth and grow, or
cultivation and nurture. It shares its etymology with a number of other words
related to actively fostering growth is the integrated pattern of human
knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon man's capacity for
learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations. It is also the
customary beliefs, social forms and material traits of a racial, religious, or
social group.

Culture therefore; is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular

group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits,
music and arts. It is a shared pattern of behaviors and interactions, cognitive
constructs and understanding that are learned by socialization. It can be seen as
the growth of a group identity fostered by social patterns unique to the
group. The Center for Advance Research on Language Acquisition goes a step
further, defining culture as encompassing religion, food, what we wear, how
we wear it, our language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong,
how we sit at the table, how we greet visitors, how we behave with loved
ones, and a million other things (Cristina De Rossi, an anthropologist at Barnet
and Southgate College in London).

What is the relevance of studying Anthropology? It provides us basic

assumption about human life. It gives us information about different cultures
and norms which help us understand beliefs, practices, and values of people
across the globe.

THE SELF EMBEDDED IN CULTURE

Culture is a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic

forms by means of which people communicate, perpetuate and develop their
knowledge about and attitudes toward life. Culture is everything a person
learns as a member of the society. It is a powerful agent that shapes the
decisions and actions of humans. It can material (tangible) and non-material
(intangible) which differ based on the country as a result of environment and
history. Culture is likewise learned through socialization agents. This can be
through;

a. Enculturation - the process of learning your own culture as a result

of interaction with significant others

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b. Acculturation - the process of modifying culture to accommodate

desirable traits from other culture (ex. Inclination of Filipinos
towards Kpop culture)

c. Decculturation - happens when the culture of the older generation

comes in conflict with the needs and realities of the younger
generation (ex. Parental high expectation of elders is an instigator of
high suicidal rate and high educational attainment among
Japanese adolescents)

Culture is also shared intergenerationally. It even affects Biology such as

humans are born into cultures that have values on beauty and body (ex. Mursi
Tribe in Ethiopia Africa wearing lip plates is a sign of beauty. Women are
expected to wear them to attract men).

In summary, the self is embedded in culture once it identifies its

relationship with culture. The self has to respect these cultural practices and
remain reflexive. It is only when the self the power of culture constituted by
every system that we can have an effective shaping of social reality.
A reflection of this is the threat of Cultural Degradation which happens
when there is a loss of a particular culture due to assimilation or loss of
interest (ex. Indigenous people not being proud of who they are and try to
conceal their background when enrolling in a university). Social media has
become a venue of cultural degradation due to commercials or
advertisements and exposures to virtual activities that influence traditions,
language, beliefs, knowledge, and personalities (ex. being thin is beautiful,
being black is ugly, hair must be silky and black, drinking liquor is cool, etc.).

11 SUMMARY

Lesson 3 on Anthropology emphasized the importance of culture in

shaping one's behavior. The self is understood in the context of anthropology in
a sense that the self is biologically attuned to respond in the environment
where he/she lives.

OUTPUT PLAN

3 Compose your own original Shout Out of who you are as a Filipino. It
should reveal the identity of Filipinos.

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LESSON 4

PSYCHOLOGY

Motivational Activity:

Group Dynamic Activity: "Personare"

Processing Questions:

1. How did you find the activity?

2. What are your strategies to be
able to remember the details
of your partner?
3. Is it easy to know a person just
by looking at his/her photo?
4. What did you learn from the
activity?

Psychology is a discipline in Behavioral science that seeks to measure, explain

and sometimes change the behavior of man and animals. The word psychology is
derived from 2 Greek words, "psyche" (mind/soul), logos (science/study). There
are two determinants of human behavior

(1) HEREDITY (NATURE) which comprises the totality of influences,

biologically transmitted from the parents to the offspring that determines the
ways in which an individual will make use of his environment. It covers all the
factors that were present in the individual at the time of conception and

(2) ENVIRONMENT (NURTURE) which is the sum total of all external

conditions and factors potentially capable of influencing an organism. It
covers all the external factors that have acted on him after conception. These
determinants complimented each other toward the development of an
individual.

The self is understood in the psychological context as a Cognitive

Construction and as a Proactive and Agentic.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF SELF

1. Cognitive Construction
2. Proactive and Agentic

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THE SELF AS A COGNITIVE CONSTRUCTION

• William James is a renowned American psychologist who developed

a theory of self-consciousness. His theory of the self divides a person's
mental picture of his/her self into two categories:

a. "Me" can be thought of as a separate object or individual a person

refers to when describing their personal experiences;

b. "I" is the self that knows who they are and what they have done in
their life.

Both concepts are depicted in the statement; "I know it was me who
ate the cookie." He called the "Me" part of self the "empirical me" and the "I"
part "the pure Ego". For James, the "I" part of self was the thinking self, which
could not be further divided. He linked this part of the self to the soul of a
person, or what is now thought of as the mind.

Educational theorists have been inspired in various ways by James's

theory of self, and have developed various applications to curricular and
pedagogical theory and practice.

James further divided the "Me" part of self into: a material, a social,
and a spiritual self, as below.

Material self
The material self consists of things that belong to a person or entities that a
person belongs to. Thus, things like the body, family, clothes, money, and
such make up the material self. The core of the material self was the body.
Second to the body, a person's clothes were important to the material self. A
person's clothes were one way they expressed who they felt they were; or
clothes were a way to show status, thus contributing to forming and
maintaining one's self-image. Money and family are critical parts of the
material self. If one lost a family member, a part of who they are was lost
also. Money figured in one's material self in a similar way. If a person had
significant money then lost it, who they were as a person changed as well.

Social self
Our social selves are who we are in a given social situation. People change
how they act depending on the social situation that they are in. People had as
many social selves as they did social situations they participated in. For
example, a person may act in a different way at work when compared to how
that same person may act when they are out with a group of friends. In a
given social group, an individual's social self may be divided even further. An
example of this would be, in the social context of an individual's work
environment, the difference in behavior when that individual is interacting
with their boss versus their behavior when interacting with a co-worker.

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Spiritual self
The spiritual self was who we are at our core. It is more concrete or
permanent than the other two selves. The spiritual self is our subjective and
most intimate self. Aspects of a spiritual self include things like personality,
core values, and conscience that do not typically change throughout an
individual's lifetime. The spiritual self involves introspection, or looking
inward to deeper spiritual moral, or intellectual questions without the
influence of objective thoughts. Achieving a high level of understanding of
who we are at our core, or understanding our spiritual selves is more
rewarding than satisfying the needs of the social and material selves.

Pure ego
This refers to as the "I" self. The pure ego is what provides the thread of
continuity between our past, present, and future selves. The pure ego's
perception of consistent individual identity arises from a continual stream of
consciousness. It is similar to what we think of as the soul, or the mind. The
pure ego is not a substance and therefore could not be examined by science.

(2) KAREN HORNEY "Real Self and Ideal Self"

• Karen was a German psychoanalyst who practiced in the United States

during her later career.

• Homey believed that if we have an accurate conception of our

own self, then we are free to realize our potential and achieve what we
wish, within reasonable boundaries. Thus, self-actualization is the
healthy person's aim through life—as opposed to the neurotic's clinging to
a set of key needs

• There are two views of our self: the "real self" and the "ideal self". The
real self is who and what we actually are. The ideal self is the type of
person we feel that we should be. The real self has the potential for
growth, happiness, will power, realization of gifts, etc., but it also has
deficiencies. The ideal self is used as a model to assist the real self in
developing its potential and achieving self-actualization. But it is
important to know the differences between our ideal and real self.

• The neurotic person's self is split between an idealized self and a real
self. As a result, neurotic individuals feel that they somehow do not
live up to the ideal self. They feel that there is a flaw somewhere in
comparison to what they "should" be. The goals set out by the neurotic
are not realistic, or indeed possible. The real self then degenerates into
a "despised self", and the neurotic person assumes that this is the "true"
self. Thus, the neurotic is like a clock's pendulum, oscillating between
a fallacious "perfection" and a manifestation of self-hate. Homey
referred to this phenomenon as the "tyranny of the shoulds" and the
neurotic's hopeless "search for glory". She concluded that these
ingrained traits of the psyche forever prevent an individual's potential

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from being actualized unless the cycle of neurosis is somehow broken,

through treatment or, in less severe cases, life lessons.

(3) CARL ROGERS "Self-actualization"

The organism has one basic tendency and striving - to actualize,
maintain, and enhance the experiencing organism" C.R.

• Carl Rogers (1902-1987) was a humanistic psychologist who believed

that for a person to achieve self-actualization they must be in a state
of congruence. This means that self-actualization occurs when a
person's "ideal self" (i.e., who they would Like to be) is congruent with
their actual behavior (self-image).

• Humans have one basic motive, that is the tendency to self-actualize

that is, to fulfill one's potential and achieve the highest level of
'human-beingness' we can. Like a flower that will grow to its full
potential if the conditions are right, but which is constrained by its
environment, so people will flourish and reach their potential if their
environment is good enough. However, unlike a flower, the potential of
the individual human is unique, and we are meant to develop in
different ways according to our personality. People are inherently
good and creative. They become destructive only when a poor self-
concept or external constraints override the valuing process. For a
person to achieve self-actualization, they must be in a state of
congruence. This means that self-actualization occurs when a person's
"ideal self" (i.e., who they would like to be) is congruent with their
actual behavior (self-image).

• Childhood experience is the main determinant of whether we will

become self-actualized or not.

(4) DONALD W. WINNICOTT "True Self and False Self"

• Donald Woods Winnicott FRCP (7 April 1896 - 25 January 1971) was an

English paediatrician and psychoanalyst who was especially influential in
the field of object relations theory and developmental psychology.

• The self is a very important part of mental and emotional welt-being

which plays a vital role in creativity. People were born without a
clearly developed self and had to "search" for an authentic sense of self as
they grew. The sense of feeling real, feeling in touch with others and
with one's own body and its processes was essential for living a life.

TRUE SELF
• "Only the true self can be creative and only the true self can feel real.
The True Self is a sense of being alive and real in one's mind and body,
having feelings that are spontaneous and unforced. This experience of
aliveness is what allows people to be genuinely close to others, and to

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be creative. "True Self' begins to develop in infancy, in the relationship

between the baby and its primary caregiver (typically the mother). One of
the ways the mother helps the baby develop an authentic self is by
responding in a welcoming and reassuring way to the baby's
spontaneous feelings, expressions, and initiatives. In this way the baby
develops a confidence that nothing bad happens when she expresses
what she feels, so her feelings don't seem dangerous or problematic to
her, and she doesn't have to put undue attention into controlling or
avoiding them. She also gains a sense that she is real, that she exists
and her feelings and actions have meaning.

FALSE SELF
• A defense, a kind of mask of behavior that complies with others'
expectations. It is what allowed one to present a "polite and mannered
attitude" in public.

• This began to develop in infancy, as a defense against an environment

that felt unsafe or overwhelming because of a lack of reasonably
attuned caregiving. Parents did not need to be perfectly attuned, but
just "ordinarily devoted" or "good enough" to protect the baby from
often experiencing overwhelming extremes of discomfort and distress,
emotional or physical. But babies who lack this kind of external
protection had to do their best with their own crude defenses.

• "Compliance", or behavior motivated by a desire to please others rather

than spontaneously express one's own feelings and ideas. For example, if
a baby's caregiver was severely depressed, the baby would anxiously
sense a tack of responsiveness, would not be able to enjoy an illusion of
omnipotence, and might instead focus his energies and attentions on
finding ways to get a positive response from the distracted and
unhappy caregiver by being a "good baby". The "False Self" is a defense of
constantly seeking to anticipate others' demands and complying with
them, as a way of protecting the "True Self" from a world that is felt to
be unsafe.

(5) Albert Bandura, "THE SELF AS A PROACTIVE AND AGENTIC"

"Self-efficacy is the belief in one's ability to influence events that
effect one's life and control over the way these events are
experienced. (Bandura, 1994)"

•Aged 93, is one of the most renowned living psychologists in the field
of psychology
• Social Cognitive Theory takes an agentic view of the self. This means
that individuals have the capacity to control their lives. They are
proactive, self-reflective, self-regulating and self-organizing (Feist,
et., 2013). People have the power to influence their own actions to
produce desired results. Thus, the Agent Self is the executive function
that allows for action. That is why; people make choices and utilize

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their sense of control in various life situations. This leads to self-

efficacy.

• Self-efficacy is, according to psychologist Albert Bandura who

originally proposed the concept, a personal judgment of "how well one
can execute courses of action required to deal
with prospective situations"

• Psychologists have studied self-efficacy from several perspectives.

Educator Kathy Kolbe adds, "Belief in innate abilities means valuing
one's particular set of cognitive strengths. It also involves
determination and perseverance to overcome obstacles that would
interfere with utilizing those innate abilities to achieve goals.

• Self-efficacy affects every area of human endeavor. By determining

the beliefs a person holds regarding their power to affect situations, it
strongly influences both the power a person actually has to face
challenges competently and the choices a person is most likely to
make. These effects are particularly apparent, and compelling, with
regard to behaviors affecting health.

Factors affecting self-efficacy:

1. Experience, or "enactive attainment" - The experience of mastery is

the most important factor determining a person's self-efficacy.
Success raises self-efficacy, while failure lowers it. According to
psychologist Erik Erikson: "Children cannot be fooled by empty praise
and condescending encouragement". They may have to accept
artificial bolstering of their self-esteem in lieu of something better.
Ego identity gains real strength only from wholehearted and consistent
recognition of real accomplishment, that is, achievement that has
meaning in their culture."

2. Modeling, or "vicarious experience" - Modeling is experienced as, "If

they can do it, I can do it as well". When we see someone succeeding, our
own self-efficacy increases; where we see people failing, our self-
efficacy decreases. This process is most effectual when we see
ourselves as similar to the model. Although not as influential as direct
experience, modeling is particularly useful for people who are
particularly unsure of themselves.

3. Social persuasion - Social persuasion generally manifests as direct

encouragement or discouragement from another person.
Discouragement is generally more effective at decreasing a person's
self-efficacy than encouragement is at increasing it.

4. Physiological factors - In stressful situations, people commonly exhibit

signs of distress: shakes, aches and pains, fatigue, fear, nausea, etc.
Perceptions of these responses in oneself can markedly alter self-

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efficacy. Getting 'butterflies in the stomach' before public speaking

will be interpreted by someone with low self-efficacy as a sign of
inability, thus decreasing self-efficacy further, where high self-
efficacy would lead to interpreting such physiological signs as normal
and unrelated to ability. It is one's belief in the implications of
physiological response that alters self-efficacy, rather than the
physiological response itself.

SUMMARY

Lesson 4 on Psychology presented the concept of the self from various

personalities. The self is regarded as having components such as material,
social, spiritual and pure ego. it consists of the real and ideal self, true and
the fake self. Further, the self is also viewed as self-actualizing and self-
regulating with a goal towards self-efficacy.

OUTPUT PLAN

Analyze yourself. Come up with a Picture Collage of yourself. Cut out

pictures or draw your Ideal and Real Self. Include your reflections.

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Lesson 5

THE SELF IN WESTERN AND EASTERN/ORIENTAL

THOUGHT

Motivational Activity:

Audio-Visual Presentation on the

difference between Western and
Eastern in terms of beliefs, practices, „ta tip I to
irt
values, etc.

Group work: Be able to show the

difference between eastern and
western thoughts through a skit.

The comparison between the Eastern and Western thoughts about self
led us to the richness of ideas, knowledge, skills, practices, beliefs of both
worlds. In Western thought, people tend to think of the self as an entity
separate from others. People tend to answer affirmatively. The search for
absolute truth is focused on the role of people and individual events. Research
and analysis outside the self are bases in finding answers related to absolute
truth. This implied that the truth needs to be proven by science. On the other
hand, in the Eastern thought, the self is often viewed as an illusion like in the
case of Buddhism where they people in interconnectedness. Everything that is
happening is in fact is connected. Because of this interconnectedness, the
approach to absolute truth is holistic. All events in the universe are all
intertwined. Meditation and right living become the bases for searching the
inside self. This implied that the truth is already given and does not have to
be proven rather look how to find balance.

The table shows us more of the differences between the two thoughts in
terms of Philosophy, cultural values and mindset which help us appreciate their
contributions in the development of the self.

EAST WEST
PHILOSOPHY
EASTERN MAIN PRINCIPLES WESTERN MAIN PRINCIPLES
Christianity, Scientific, Rational,
The self is embedded in relationships Logical schools
and through Spiritual Development. • Feeling oneself as an element
Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, of the Divine
Integral Yoga, Islam, Taoism, Zen • Life is a service to God,
• Believes in cosmological unity money, business, etc.
• Life is a journey towards
eternal realities that are
-Module l-
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beyond realities that surround • Linear view of the universe

us and life based on the
• Circular view of the universe Christian philosophy where
based on perception of everything has beginning and
eternal recurrence the end
• Self liberation form the "False • Outer-world dependent
Me" and finding the "True • Self-dedication to the goal
Me". The highest state is
believed to be a state of "No-
self" where neither self-
worth nor self-importance
have an real meaning
LIVING PRINCIPLES
VIRTUE ETHIC
"Be satisfied with whatever you have "One can live magnificently in this
and enjoy the same. When you come to world if one knows how to work and how
know that you have everything and to love" (Leo Toistoy)
you are not short of anything, then the
whole world will be yours" (Lao Tzu) "There is no real excellence in all
"Five things to be able to become this world which can be separated
virtuous - gravity, generosity of from right living" (David Starr
soul, sincerity, earnestness, Jordan)
kindness" (Confucius)
BELIEFS AND VALUES
The true key is Inside. The inner The main values are success and
world of a human being and his/her achievement which can be achieved
ability to control and develop it is of in many ways, but rarely through
highest value. The way to the top is developing inner strength. The
inside yourself through self- majority of success and achievement
development. criteria have external nature
(money, faith, popularity, etc.) the
way to the top is through Active
Outside intervention.
SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF THE SELF
INDIVIDUALISM/COLLECTIVISM
A human being is an integral art of A human being has an individualistic
the universe and the society. Duty nature and is an independent part of
towards all others is a very the universe and the society.
important matter. Collectivism is Individualism is stronger.
stronger.
Self-sufficiency is encouraged which is
relevant to independence. This
implies confidence in one's capacity to
provide what the self needs.
Being Rational is utilized. The self
must not waste resources.

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IMPROVEMENT/ EVOLUTION
Cyclic development, hence Linear development, hence
improvement is a never ending improvement has a goal.
journey that has no limits. Development stops when the goal is
reached.
ACHIEVEMENT/WINNING
Winning is Inside yourself Winning is Outside yourself
IMPLEMENTATION
Spiritual and Missionary approach Pragmatic and Emotional approach
GOALS AND KEY TO SUCCESS
Spiritual Materialistic
"Live a virtuous life and adhere to "The secret of success in life and
performing your duties" subsequently of making money is to
(Confucianism) enjoy your work. If you do, nothing is
hard work no matter how many
hours you put in" (Billy Butlin)
ESTABLISHING CONTROL OVER YOUR EMOTIONS
Through Meditation Through Analysis
"A man can separate his/her mind "I can control my passions and
from his/her emotions and control emotions if l can understand their
them" (Taoism) nature" (Spinosa)
LEADERSHIP
Spiritual Hands-on
Walking behind people. Silence is Walking ahead of people. Speech is
golden golden

MODULE SUMMARY k

In summary, amidst the dichotomy of the Eastern and Western

thoughts, the self is developing and being explored. Eastern in general are
spiritually and communally inclined. Western traditions put high regard on
individualism, self-efficacy, rationality and science.

Indeed, the pursuit to understand the self is challenging and

interesting. Module 2 will further widen our knowledge of who we are.

OUTPUT PLAN

Provide comparisons between the Eastern and Western thoughts using a

collage. Place it in a 1 /8 illustration board. Recyclable materials are
encouraged. Make a one paragraph reflection about your work.

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AK SUMMATIVE TEST

1. Explain the following quotations. (Note: Follow the format.)

a. The unexamined life is not worth living.

b. I discover that there are other minds in understanding what other
people say and do.

2. What are your personal insights or reflections of the various sociological

perspectives of the self?

3. Provide 2 illustrations of each and be able to cite your sources or

references. You may include a photo.

a. enculturation,
b. acculturation,
c. decculturation and
d. cultural degradation

4. Identify the name of the proponent based on the kind of self mentioned.

Self-actualization
Imitation
Self-efficacy
Real versus ideal self
True versus fake self

5. Conduct an interview to an individual with Asian background who was born

and raised in the Asian way and worked in the Western world. Be able to
list down his/her observations and experiences (at least 5) of the
differences between the two thoughts. Follow format.

GECC 108- Understanding the Self -Module I-