THE PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE OF THE SELF
WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGY?
Psychology is
• The scientific study of how people behave, think, and feel (Otig and et.al. (2018).
• Is the study of mental processes and human behavior (Demata-Libed (2021).
Two categories of behavior:
1. Covert – internal and invisible, such as having feelings and thoughts
2. Overt – can be observed, such as the manner of talking, walking, or acting of a
person (Demata-Libed, 2021).

WILLIAM JAMES’ PSYCHOLOGY OF THE SELF
• He was recognized as the “father of American Psychology, a philosopher,
psychologist, and trained physician
• The first one to offer psychology course in US
• For him, in order to achieve wholeness and become a well-integrated individual,
one must start with the basics understanding the self.
• For him, the psychology of the self refers to the analysis of the cognitive,
conative, and affective aspects of an individual’s identity.
THE SELF AS A COGNITIVE CONSTRUCTION
Psychologist Jean Piaget was a Swiss clinical psychologist known for his pioneering
work in child development.
• He pioneered the “theory of cognitive development,” a comprehensive theory
about the development of intelligence.

THE SELF AS A COGNITIVE CONSTRUCTION
• Cognitive development according to Piaget is a progressive reorganization of
mental processes resulting from biological maturation and environmental
experience.
• He believes that children construct an understanding of the world around them,
experience inconsistencies between what they already know and they discover in
their environment, and then adjust their ideas accordingly.
• Piaget claims that cognitive development is at the center of the human organism.

THE SELF AS A COGNITIVE CONSTRUCTION
Three basic components of Piaget’s cognitive theory:
1. Schemas/schemes. Schemes are mental organizations that individuals use to
understand their environments and designate action.
2. Adaptation. It involves the child’s learning processes to meet the situational
demands.
3. Stages of Cognitive Development. They reflect the increasing sophistication of
the child’s thought process.
In the “Stages of Cognitive Development,” Piaget theorize that children progress
through 4 stages and that they all do so in the same order.

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
STAGE AGE CHARACTERISTICS OF STAGE
Sensorimotor 0-2
The child learns by doing: looking, touching, sucking. Learn that things continue to
exist even when they cannot be seen (object permanence).
Preoperational 2-7
The child uses language and symbols, including letters and numbers.
Egocentrism is also evident. Tend to be egocentric and struggle to see things from
the perspective of others
Concrete
Operations 7-11
Begin to understand the concept of conservation; that the amount of liquid in a
short, wide cup is equal to that in a tall, skinny glass, for example.
Formal Operations 12+ Begins to think more about moral, philosophical, ethical, social, and political
issues that require theoretical and abstract reasoning.

HARTER’S SELF-DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT
• Early Childhood. The child describes the “self” in terms of concrete, observable
characteristics, such as physical attributes (“I’m pretty/ugly/strong”), material possessions
(“I have lots of toys”), behaviors (“I love playing with my toys”) and preference (“I like
candies”).
• Middle to later childhood. The self is described in terms of traitlike constructs (e.g.,
smart, honest, friendly, shy).
• Adolescence. This is the emergence of more abstract self-definitions, such as inner
thoughts, emotions, attitudes, and motives.
Example: a 15-year-old girl in a study of self-conceptions described herself as follows:
What am I like as a person? Complicated! I’m sensitive, friendly, outgoing, popular and
tolerant though I can also be shy, self conscious, even obnoxious…I’m pretty, cheerful
person, especially with my friends….At home, I’m more likely to be anxious around my
parents”.

HARTER’S SELF-DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT
• The use of abstract words sensitive, outgoing, cheerful, and anxious as self-portrait is
consistent with Piaget’s findings on the adolescent’s ability to construct higher-order
abstractions (concepts, ideas) and the capacity for introspection (self-examination) (Harter,
1999 as cited by Otig and et.al., 2018)
• Emerging adults. The marked characteristics of “self” for emerging adults is having a
vision of “possible self.” It is the “age of possibilities”.
• In Australian study early emerging adulthood (ages 17 – 22) was found to be a time of
“grand dreams,” being wealthy and having glamorous occupation, but beyond emerging
adulthood (28 – 33) the visions of possible-self became more realistic, if still optimistic.

HARTER’S SELF-DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT
• The use of abstract words sensitive, outgoing, cheerful, and anxious as self-portrait is
consistent with Piaget’s findings on the adolescent’s ability to construct higher-order
abstractions (concepts, ideas) and the capacity for introspection (self-examination) (Harter,
1999 as cited by Otig and et.al., 2018)
• Emerging adults. The marked characteristics of “self” for emerging adults is having a
vision of “possible self.” It is the “age of possibilities”.
• In Australian study, early emerging adulthood (ages 17 – 22) was found to be a time of
“grand dreams,” being wealthy and having glamorous occupation, but beyond emerging
adulthood (28 – 33) the visions of possible-self became more realistic, if still optimistic.

WILLIAM JAMES AND THE ME-SELF; I-SELF
William James was known as “the father of American psychology.”
2 elements of the “self” according to William James
1. I-self is the pure ego and aware of its own action.
Characteristically has four features:
a. A sense of being the agent or initiator of behaviour
b. A sense of being unique
c. A sense of consistency
d. A sense of awareness about being aware
2. Me-self is the self that is the object. It is the “self” that you can describe (physical
characteristics, personalities, social role, or relationships, thoughts, feelings).

WILLIAM JAMES AND THE ME-SELF; I-SELF
The dimensions of the me-self include:
1. Material – physical appearance and extensions of it such as clothing, immediate family,
and home.
2. Social – social skills and significant interpersonal relationships; and
3. Spiritual – personality, character, defining values.
PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AND SELF-CONCEPT
Carl Rogers was an American psychologist and among the founders of humanistic
approach to psychology.
Humanistic psychology
• is a psychological perspective that rose to prominence (fame) in the mid-20th century.
• This approach highlighted the individual’s innate drive toward self-actualization and the
process of realizing and expressing one’s own capaialities and creativity.

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT AND SELF-CONCEPT
According to Rogers, all behaviour is motivated by self-actualizing tendencies and these
tendencies drive you to reach your full potential. If the person holds a positive self-concept,
he or she would tend to feel good about himself or herself, and would generally see the world
as a safe and positive place. If the person holds a negative self-concept, then he or she may
feel unhappy with who he/she is.
IDEAL SELF VS. REAL SELF
Rogers further divided the self into two categories:
Ideal self – is the self the person that you would like yourself to be; it is the concept of the
“best me” who is worthy of admiration.

IDEAL SELF VS. REAL SELF
The ideal self could include:
1. Notions is influenced by your parents;
2. What you admire in others;
3. What the society sees as acceptable; and
4. What you think is your best interest.
The real self is the person you actually are. It is how you behave right at the moment of a
situation. It is who you are in reality – how you think, feel, or act present.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ALIGNMENT
According to Rogers, “If the way that I am (the real self) is aligned with the way that I want to
be (the ideal self) then I will feel a sense of mental well-being or pee of mind.
• When your real self and ideal self are very similar you experience congruence.
• High congruence leads to a greater sense of self-worth and a healthy, productive life.
When there is a great inconsistency between your ideal and real selves or if the way you are
is not aligned with what you want to be, then you experience a state Rogers called
incongruence. Incongruence could lead to maladjustment (inability to react successfully
and satisfactorily to the demands of one’s environment).

ALPORT’S PERSONALITY THEORY
According to Gordon Allport, a “trait” is your essential characteristic that never, ever
changes and sticks with you all your life. These traits shape who you are (how you think,
feel, or behave, etc.) in any given day.
THE EGO STATES
Psychiatrist Eric Berne began to develop his transactional analysis model as basis for
understanding behaviour. Transactional analysis is anchored on two notions:
1. Every person has three parts called “ego states” in his or her personality.
2. People communicate with one another assuming roles of any of these ego states.

THE EGO STATES
Berne presented the ego states as:
1. Parent ego state – is the voice of authority. It could be comforting “nurturing parent”
voice or a “controlling/critical parent” voice that tells what you should or should not do.
2. Adult ego state – is the rational person. It is the voice that speaks reasonably and
knows how to assert himself .
3. Child ego state
Three child ego states:
a. The natural child – loves to play but is sensitive and vulnerable.
b. The little professor – is the curious child who wants to try everything.
c. The adaptive child – is the one who reacts to the world. He or she could be trying to fit
in or is rebelling against authority.

DOMAINS (areas) OF THE SELF
University professor and author Gregg Henriques proposed that the human self has three
related, but separable domains.
These domains are:
1. Experiential self – described as the theatre of consciousness because it is the first to
experience its beingness (the state or fact of existing). It is closely tied to memory.
2. Private self-conscious – can be described as the narrator or interpreter. It is the self
that narrates the unfolding events and at the same time tries to make sense of the
experience.
3. Public self or persona – is the image you project to the public. The image that interacts
with others and will influence how others see you.

TRUE VS FALSE SELVES
Imagine that people are like onions. The center of the onion needs to be protected by layers
to be able to survive. At the center of the onion lies our true self, surrounded by layers we
have developed through our lives as protection. These layers are our false self. Most of us
need our false selves as protection to survive childhood, and we carry these layers with us
through our adult lives because these protective layers help us endure.
D. W. Winnicott- introduced his concept of “false self” and “true self.” According to him
• “self” is simply “the healthy person who is me.”
• He proposed that the healthy core of a health person’s self is hidden from the outside
world, uninfluenced by external
• The false self is put up to defend the core from the these realities and prevent it from any
changes

FALSE SELF
• False self is the product of early experience.
• It is defensive organization formed by the infant because of inadequate mothering or
failures in empathy.
• Is developed as the infant is repeatedly subjected to maternal intrudes (imposes,
intervenes, interferes) upon, rejects, or abandons his or her experience
• Also based on being completely obedient to parent’s wishes
• It develops when the child is constantly expected to follow rules
• Is a mask or a persona
• Form of self defense that constantly seek to anticipate other’s demands and complying
with them, as a way of protecting the true self from a world that is felt to be unsafe.

FALSE SELF
Healthy and Unhealthy False Self
• When the person has false self but can still function both as an individual and in the society, then she has a
healthy false self.
• An individual who may seem comfortable in his or her environment but actually feels forced to fit in and
constantly needs to adjust his or her behaviour to adapt to the social situation is said to have an unhealthy
false self.
TRUE SELF
• Flourishes in infancy if the mother is positively responsive to the child’s spontaneous expressions
• It is described as a sense of “self” based on “spontaneous authentic experience”
• It is an awareness that bodily functions are working, such as the heart pumping, as well as simply breathing
• Is part of the infant that feels creative, spontaneous, and real

TRUE SELF
• It has a sense of integrity, of connected wholeness
• It is a sense of being alive and real in one’s mind and body, having feelings that are
spontaneous and unforced.
A child whose mother is positively responsive and supports the child’s natural process of
individuation
• Will grow up as an adult with a stable self-image
• Views other people realistically
• Accepts both the positive and negative side every person including himself/herself