Understanding the Self

OSIAS EDUCATIONALFOUNDATION
DR. CAMILO OSIAS, BALAOAN, 2517, LA UNION
Tel. No. 072-607-0142 Cell. No. 0927-5937-027
Email Address: [email protected]

CHAPTER II
Unpacking the Self

GEC 1
Understanding the Self

Febbie May H. Marzan

Instructor
 Understanding the Self

UNPACKING THE SELF

Overview
It was discussed in the previous lesson that the self can be best understood by
revisiting its prime movers. We have defined the different concepts and ideas of
the self from the various fields of studies such as philosophy and psychology.
Aside from knowing the different definitions and views about the self, our society
or the external environment helps shape ourselves.
This module is entitled “Unpacking the Self” because we will slowly unpack or
open our self and look into its different aspects – physical and sexual, spiritual,
political and digital self.

Course Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the module, students are expected to:
1. Articulate and discuss the latest developments in the specific field of
practice;
2. Act in recognition of professional, social, and ethical responsibility.

Unpack - to deconstruct, to analyze the nature of… by examining in detail.

A. THE PHYSICAL SELF: The self as impacted by the body

Physical self refers to the body which we interface with our environment and
fellow being. It is a tangible aspect of the person that can be directly
observed and examined. People now days are too conscious on how they look.
How they see themselves in the mirror, how people will look at them and what
will people say about them. Our concept of our self and the perception of people
around us will always have big effect on how we deal in a situation, cultural or
not. This discussion of Physical Self has found place on different Schools of
Psychology, like psychoanalysis, behaviorism, humanism etc. For example:
 William James considered body as initial source of sensation and
necessary for the origin and maintenance of personality. It is an element
of spiritual hygiene of supreme significance. For example, a boxer during
a fight, do not notice/feels his wounds until the intensity of fight
has subside.
 Sigmund Freud, In Psychoanalytical school, construction of self and
personality makes the physical body the core of human experience.
 Wilhelm Reichargued that mind and body are one; all
psychological processes, he postulated, are a part of physical processes,
and vice versa.
 According to Erik Erikson, the role of bodily organs is especially important
in early developmental stages of a person’s life. Later in life, the
development of physical as well as intellectual skills help determine
whether the individual will achieve a sense of competence and
 Understanding the Self

ability to choose demanding roles in a complex society. For example,

a child gets their confidence when they bigger, stronger, faster
and more capable of learning complex skills.
 Carl Jung, argued that the physical body and the external world can be
known only as psychological experiences.
 B.F. Skinner, says that the role of the body is of primary
importance.

Which from this different orientation clearly show us and explains how people
deals with their physical self. Regardless of what culture or traditions he or she
may be, his or her interpretation of himself will be how people act in the
community.
Self – Esteem
“We all know that self-esteem comes from what you think of you, not what other
people think of you” -Gloria Graynor
People from different culture have opted to change their features in attempt to
meet the cultural standards of beauty, as well as their religious and/or social
obligations. They modify and adorn their bodies as part of the part of complex
process of creating and re-creating their personal and social identity to be
accepted by society and to be able to accept them self. This includes body
painting, tattooing, jewelries and adornments. Youth in present time are too
conscious of their physical attributes that they are not confident to face the day
without make- up.
As our physical self, dictates how we act in front of other people it also defines
how we will manage our self-esteem. Yet, this self-esteem is vital on how we form
positive and healthy relationships with people around us. We have different
kinds of self-esteem; The Inflated Self- Esteem (this people hold high regards of
themselves. Better than the other to the point of under estimating them), High
Self-Esteem (this is a positive self-esteem, which make the person be
satisfied of themselves) and Low Self-Esteem (this person do not value
themselves and do not trust their possibilities). Most of the times, this self-
esteem is defined by what physical attributes they have. Beauty as define by the
society, culture or traditions, is what matter to the person

Achieving Physical Well-Being

1. Healthy Eating
2. Embracing a Healthy Lifestyle
3. Having the Right Hygiene
4. Confidence ourselves is our best make-up
 Understanding the Self

B. THE SEXUAL SELF

• Development of Secondary sex characteristics and the human
reproductive system
• Discussing the Erogenous Zones
• Understanding the Human sexual response
The basic biology of sexual behavior Understanding the Chemistry of lust, love
and attachment.
The Psychological aspect: What turns people on: the phases of sexual
response * The diversity of sexual behavior: solitary, heterosexual,
homosexual and bisexual, transsexual
• Sexually transmitted diseases (STIs)
• Methods of Contraception (natural and artificial)

Motivation: Fill out the table below by listing the common observable changes
when a male and female hits puberty stage.
MALE FEMALE

SEXUAL SELF: The Biology of sex

• At birth, sex is a biological feature that distinguishes males from females.
• Secondary sexual characteristics are observable changes in the human
body That begin during puberty and adolescence.
Males
Outgrowth of facial and bodily hair
Emerging Adam’s apple
Deepening of the voice
Muscle development
Females
Onset of menarche
Noticeable changes in the hips, breast, and skin
Aside from these observable changes in males and females, release of
hormones triggers physiological changes in the reproductive system.
They are capable of reproduction
 Understanding the Self

When physiological changes are triggered within an individual’s reproductive

system, an adolescent is likely to:
 Experience sexual urges
 Become more sensitive to sexual stimuli
 Feel sexual arousal
Men experience erection during an arousing moment; for women, vaginal
lubrication.
 If sexual arousal is satisfied through sexual intercourse, men would
experience ejaculation while women would reach orgasm.
 Refractory Period: the period of rest after ejaculation
o Men experience a longer refractory period than women.
These bodily sensations are normal and typical in any sexual activity since
hormones produced within the body trigger these physiological responses.

Sexual Response Cycle:

 Excitement
 Plateau
 Orgasm
 Resolution
Excitement Phase (desire/arousal)
 D: Sexual urges occur in response to sexual cues or fantasies.
 A: subjective sense of sexual pleasure and physiological signs of sexual
arousal (males – penile tumescence; females – vasocongestion)
Plateau Phase
 Brief period occurs before orgasm
Orgasm Phase
 in males, feelings of the inevitability of ejaculation, followed by ejaculation;
in females, contractions of the walls of the lower third of the vagina.
Resolution Phase
 Decrease in arousal occurs after orgasm (particularly in men)
 When adolescents feel sexual urges, they are likely to engage in sexual
activities they engage in may vary.
 Medical professionals have cited the health benefits of masturbation:
stress relief, better sleep, improved self-esteem, and enhanced body image.
 Masturbation is a better alternative to sexual intercourse, which may
result to pregnancy and getting sexually-transmitted diseases.
 Engaging in sexual activities may result in consequences that adolescents
may not be ready for
EROGENOUS ZONES
 Erogenous Zones are described as parts of the body that are chiefly
sensitive and cause increased sexual arousal when touched in a sexual
manner.
 Understanding the Self

 Mouth, breasts (nipple and areola as well as the lateral breast tissue),
reproductive organs, and the anus
 It has been mentioned that the level of erotic sensitivity of a particular
body part is largely dependent on the amount of nerve endings that are
located in that region. (University of California, 2017)
 The genital regions of the male and female body undergo a process known
as vasocongestion, which increases the amount of blood that flows to these
regions, making them highly sensitive when aroused.

HUMAN SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

Solitary Behavior
 Self-gratification is self-stimulation with the intention of causing sexual
arousal and generally, sexual climax.
 Very common in young males, but becomes less frequent when sociosexual
activity is available
 It does not have the same psychological gratification that interaction with
another person provides.
 Sexual climax in sleep is a compensatory phenomenon.
Sociosexual Behavior
 May be heterosexual or homosexual
 Petting: hugging, kissing, and generalized caresses of the clothed body
 Coitus: the insertion of the male reproductive organ into the female
reproductive organ
 Premarital coitus | Marital coitus | Extramarital coitus | Postmarital
coitus

SEXUAL SELF: SEXUAL IDENTITY AND GENDER ORIENTATION

 Biological Sex: one’s assignment upon birth and is dependent on the
physical features the person has
 Gender: an identity that is learned and embraced by the individual; is both
a personal and social construct
 As a social construct, gender is known to be the socially created roles,
personality traits, attitudes, behaviors, and values attributed for men and
women.
 Gender roles are societal expectations of how men and women should act.
 Men are assumed to be strong and dominant.
 Women are perceived to be submissive and demure.
 An aspect of sexual orientation is when a person is born a man, but
assumes womanly traits.
 Heterosexual: when a man is attracted to a woman
 Homosexual: when someone is attracted to a person of the same sex
 It is important that we are responsible for our self-expression with regards
our gender orientation and sexual identity.
 We should take note that our behavior in various situations would entail
consequences; we need to realize the possible effects of such actions and
be able to regulate our own behavior, including our sexual behavior.
 Understanding the Self

SEXUAL SELF: THE CONSEQUENCES OF SEXUAL CHOICE

 Pregnancy: Having a child entails a big responsibility and should not
merely be a consequence of an impulsive moment.
 Physical risks to having early pregnancy: risk of miscarriage, emotional
stress, health risks to both mother and infant
 Early pregnancy may result to dropping out of school, alienation, and
other similar disruptions.
 Pregnancy does not only affect females; males are also burdened by the
responsibility of caring for a new child, his partner, and may also face the
same aforementioned problems.
 Risk of acquiring sexually-transmitted diseases: STD is passed on by
means of exchange of body fluids or genital contact.
 While most of them can be treated and cured, these diseases may have
long-term consequences to one’s health.

Responsible Sexual Behavior entails the following:

 Respect for one’s body
 Maturity in thoughts and deeds
 Being guided by one’s personal beliefs and core values
 Being future-oriented

C. THE MATERIAL/ECONOMIC SELF

• I shop; therefore, I Am: I have; therefore, I am?
• Shaping the way, we see ourselves:
- The role of consumer culture on our sense of self and identity
“We regard our possessions as parts of our selves. We are what we have and
what we possess.”- Belk (1988)
Material Self: bodies, clothes, immediate family, and home- William James

The innermost part of our material self is our body. Intentionally, we

are investing on our body. We cannot live without it. We do our best to make
sure it functions properly and avoid as much as possible ailments or disorders.
We do have certain preferential attachment or intimate closeness to certain body
parts because of its values to us.
“Any time we bring an object into the surface of our body, we invest that object
into the consciousness of our personal existence taking its contours to be our
own and making it part of our self.”-Herman Lotze, Microcosmus
“Clothing is a form of self-expression. We choose and wear clothes that
arereflection of our self.” –Watson (2014)
Immediate family- What they do or become affect us. When an immediate family
dies, part of our self-dies too. When their lives successful we share in their glory.
In their failures, we are put to shame or guilt. When they are in a
disadvantageous situation, there is an urgent desire to help like an
involuntary instinct of saving one’s self from danger. We place a
 Understanding the Self

huge investment to our immediate family when we see them as the nearest
replica of our self.

Home is where our heart is. It is the earliest nest of our selfhood.
Our experience inside the home were recorded and marked on particular parts
and things in our home. There is an old cliché about rooms, “if only walls can
speak.” Thus, the home is an extension of self because in it we can directly
connect our self.
Having investment of self to things, made us attached to those things. The more
investment of self is given to the particular thing, the more we identify ourselves
to it. We also have the tendency to collect and possess properties.
“A man’s self is the sum total of all what he can call his.”- William James
As we grow older, putting importance to material possession decreases.
There are times when material possessions of a person that is
closely identified to the person, gains acknowledgement with high regard, even
if the person already passed away. Favorite things are symbols of the owner. The
possessions that we dearly have tell something about who we are, our self-
concept, our past, and even our future.
The term homo economicus, or ‘economic man’, denotes a view of humans in the
social sciences, particularly economics, as self-interested agents who seek
optimal, utility-maximizing outcomes. Behavioral economists and most
psychologists, sociologists, and anthropologists are critical of the concept.
People are not always self-interested (see social preferences), nor are they mainly
concerned about maximizing benefits and minimizing costs. We may make
decisions under uncertainty with insufficient knowledge, feedback, and
processing capability (bounded rationality); we sometimes lack self-control; and
our preferences change, often in response to changes in decision
contexts.

D. THE SPIRITUAL SELF

Spirituality has been studied widely by a number of researchers and academics
across several disciplines but remains to be elusive in terms of having a standard
definition. Highlighting the mind-body-spirit connection, the spiritual self is an
ongoing, personal life journey, contextualized by the beliefs in a higher being,
culture, relationship, nature and discovery of meaning in one’s life.
A number of definition have been formulated regarding spirituality, religion and
ritual
Spirituality – it is the aspect of the self that is associated to an individual’s
process of seeking and expressing meaning and how he or she is connected to
the self, to others, to the moments and to everything else that composes his/her
environment, including the sacred and significant. (Puchalski, 2014)
Religion – Rebecca Stien works on the definition of religion as a “set of cultural
beliefs and practices”. (Stien, 2014)
 Understanding the Self

Ritual – Ritual is the performance of ceremonial acts prescribed by the tradition

or sacred law (Birtannica 2017). Ritual is a specific, observable mode of behavior
exhibited by all known societies. It is then possible to view ritualas a way of
defining or describing humans.

“We think we are human beings having a spiritual experience but in reality, we
are spiritual beings having a human experience” — Swami Survapriyananda
The practice of religion: belief in supernatural being and power
“The spiritual self is the most intimate, inner subjective part of self. It is the most
intimate version of the self because of the satisfaction experience when one
thinks of one’s ability to argue and discriminate, of one’s moral sensibility and
conscience, of our unconquerable will is purer than all other sentiments of
satisfaction.”- William James

Some World Religious Beliefs and Practices

There are different religions with different beliefs and practices. Some of the
major world religions are:
1. Buddhism
 Buddhism believes that life is not a bed of roses. Instead, there are
sufferings, pain, and frustration.
 When people suffer, they want to experience the goodness of live and
avoid disappointments. It becomes a habit known as the “reactive
cycle” of wanting and hating, like and dislike, craving and aversion.
 This reactive cycle can be broken through the practice of meditation,
acquiring more wisdom and deeper understanding, and acceptance
of things as they are.
 Dharma – Buddha’s teachings; Buddhists’ holy scripture
2. Christianity
 Christians believe in the Trinitarian God – one God in three
personas: God the Father (Creator), God the Aon (Savior), and God
the Holy Spirit (Sustainer).
 Eternal life after death will be achieved through faith in Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ is, God the Son, who came in toflesh, to spread
the Good News of Salvation. He died on the cross for the sin of the
humanity but resurrected fromthe death.
 The Holy Bible is the sacred scripture of Christians.
 Sacrament of Baptism and Sacrament of Communion are practiced
by Christian churches. o Sacrament of Baptism symbolizes the birth
in Christian World.
o Sacrament of Communion is an act of remembrance of Jesus
Christ’s sacrificial love.
 Understanding the Self

3. Hinduism
 Hindus believe that existence is a cycle of birth, death and rebirth,
governed by Karma.
O Karma – is a concept where the reincarnated life will depend on
how the past life was spent.
 Hindus believe that the soul passes through a cycle of successive
lives and its incarnation is always dependent on how the previous
life was lived.
 Vedas is the sacred scripture of the Hindus
4. Islam
 Muslims believe in Allah, who is their “One God”.

 They believe in the unity and universality of God. Muslims also have
a strong sense of community called “Ummah” and an awareness of
their solidarity with all Muslims worldwide.
 Islam means “willing submission to God”.

 Muslims believe that Mohammed is the last and final prophet sent
by God.
 The Holy Book of Islam is called the Quran.

 Two of the major festivals in Islam are Eidul-Fitr and Eidul-Adha.

O Eidul-Fitr is the celebration at the end of Ramadan
O Eidul-Adha is celebrated within the completion of the pilgrimage
called the “Hajj”.
5. Judaism
 The Jews believe in the God of Abraham, the same God that liberated
the Hebrew slaves from Egypt to Canaan, the Promise Land through
the leadership of Moses and later. Joshua.
 The Jews believe in the coming of Messiah, the Savior.
 The Sacred Scripture of the Jews is called Torah.
Religious beliefs, rituals, practices and customs are all part of the expression of
the spiritual self. What to believe and how to manifest the belief is entirely
dependent on the individual, to the self.
 Understanding the Self

E. THE POLITICAL SELF

It was Aristotle who, in Politics, called man “Zoon politikon.”
Hence it is evident that the state is a creation of nature, and that man is by
nature a political animal. And he who by nature and not by mere accident is
without a state, is either above humanity, or below it; he is the ‘Tribeless, lawless,
hearthless one,’ whom Homera denounces—the outcast who is a lover of war; he
may be compared to a bird which flies alone. - Aristotle,

• Developing a Filipino Identity: Values, Traits, Community and Institutional

factors
• Establishing a democratic culture

Filipino Values and Traits

Group Work: Describe the following and give 1 example each
 Filipino Hospitality
 Respect for elders
 Close family ties
 Cheerful personality
 Self-sacrifice
 “Bayanihan”
 “Bahala na” Attitude
 Colonial Mentality
 Mañana Habit
 Ningas Kugon
 Pride
 Crab mentality
 Filipino time

How to be a good Filipino?

1. Be an active Filipino citizen
2. Study Philippine History
3. Support Local products
4. Speak the Filipino Language
5. Do not spread fake news and be democratic in engaging with opposition