Understanding the Self

Final Exam Reviewer

By: Hanah Grace R. Delfin

BSA

I. POLITICAL SELF: POLITICS AND BEING A FILIPINO

POLITICAL SELF

• Public identity one makes and constructs about him/herself to be; Political position based on
interests and perspectives of one’s social organizations.
• ibig sabihin politics focus on sa pagiging sino, at ano ang isang Filipino.
• exercise of political self – VOTING
Being a Filipino is defined by the Politics and Constitution we have. In the Constitution, a Filipino is
defined. Constitution should define politics, but the contrary happens nowadays. Politics define the
Constitution now.
How do you recognize a Filipino? Or your Political Self?
1. Culture
▪ involves values (regard that something is held to deserve) and traits (referred to as
distinguishing characteristic)
STRENGTHS
▪ Filipino Hospitality – Filipino brand in welcoming visitors
▪ Good-humored – habit of smiling and laughing a lot
▪ Close family ties – tight relationship with their families
▪ Respectful – use “po” and “opo”
▪ Selflessness – OFW
WEAKNESSES
▪ Filipino time – appearing late during meetings and commitments
▪ Mañana Habit – mamaya na, dawdling things
▪ Ningas Kugon – sa una lang magaling
▪ Colonial mentality – where we prefer foreign products and patronize them more, rather than
our own products,
▪ Crab mentality – when a neighbor improves or becomes better in life, we tend to be jealous
and speak negative things to bring them down rather than support them up
2. Proverbs
▪ Sayings that gives lessons and reflects Filipino values
▪ kung maiksi ang kumot, matutong mamaluktot (be content with what you have or settle with
what you have)
3. Superstitions or Superstitious beliefs
▪ Passed down from generation to generation
▪ pag nakakita ka ng pusang itim sa iyong dadaaanan, mas mabuting bumalik ka na, dahil
maaaring magdulot ito ng kapahamakan
▪ bawal magwalis sa gabi, matatapon o mawawala ang biyaya
▪ in baptismal, birthdays, marriage, life and death, or in any events there are beliefs
4. Myths and Legends
▪ Explains the origin of things and teach valuable lessons
▪ mga Alamat, pati mga creatures like tikbalang, kapre and etc.
5. Icons and heroes
 ▪ Jose Rizal, Pacman or Pacquiao, Lea Salonga
All these define the Political Self or who we are in the Political World.
How can we be good Filipino citizens?
1. Be an active Filipino citizen.
2. Study the Philippine history.
3. Support local products.
4. Speak the Filipino Language.
5. Do not spread fake news and be democratic in engaging with dissent.

II. SPIRITUAL SELF: RELIGION AND SPIRITUAL BELIEFS

SPIRITUAL SELF

• may mean belief in beyond what we see. It is the most intimate, innermost part of the self and it is
not with the religion. It is because religion usually teaches fear. It is beyond our religious self.
RELIGIOUS SELF

• practices religion, rituals and practices

RELIGION

• set of cultural beliefs or practices that involves belief in the sacred supernatural and anthropomorphic
beings.
In religion, there are:
CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICES
▪ a method used to:
(1) develop concentration
(2) deepen understanding and insight
(3) and cultivates awareness and compassion
- Meditation (form of mental exercise, practiced by Buddhism) Prayer and Yoga (practiced by Hinduism)
DIMENSION OF RELIGION
1. Beliefs- what we believe in
2. Rituals- repeatedly practiced, performance of ceremonial acts
3. Spiritual Experience- a dimension wherein you encounter something spiritually
4. Unique Social Form of Community
5 MAJOR RELIGIONS (arranged according to number of followers)
1. CHRISTIANITY
- Most number of followers, founded by Jesus Christ, belief in the Holy Trinity
- Scriptures: BIBLE; Practices: the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of Communion
Festivals: CHRISTMAS (birth of Jesus Christ) EASTER (resurrection of Jesus Christ)

2. ISLAM
- There is only one God (Allah) and Muhammad is the messenger of God
- Scriptures: QUR’AN; Festivals: Eidul-Fitr (end of Ramadan) Eidul-Adha (within the completion of Hajj)
 - 5 pillars: Shahadah (statement of faith) Salat (prayer 5 times a day) Zakat (monetary offering 2.5% of
assets) Hajj (yearly pilgrimage to Mecca) Sawm (fasting during Ramadan)

3. HINDUISM
- oldest religion, no single founder, governed by Karma (concept where the reincarnated life will depend
on how past life is spent)
- Scriptures: VEDAS; Important texts: MAHABHARATA and RAMAYANA
- Festivals: DIWALI (festival of lights) NAVRATI (festival of 9 nights- triumph of good over evil)

4. BUDDHISM
- Path or practice and spiritual development and meditation, founded by Siddhartha Gautama Buddha
- Life is full of suffering. Life is not a bed of roses.
- Festivals: Parinirvana Day (February) Buddha/Wesak Day (May) Dharma Day (July)
Padmasambhava Day (October) Sangha Day (November)
- Meditation Practices: Samatha (mindfulness of breathing and development of loving kindness)
Vipassana (developing insight into reality) Dharma (teachings of Buddha)
- DHARMA: right—view, intentions, speech, action, livelihood, effort, concentration and mindfulness

5. JUDAISM
- Oldest of the monotheistic faith, Abraham is the founder
- Scriptures: TORAH or the LAW
- Festivals: Rosh Hashanah (New Year), Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), Pesach (Passover),
Shavuot (Pentecost), Sukkot (tabernacles)

Dr. Viktor Frankl- considered the Father of Logotherapy

- “man’s primary motivational force is search for meaning.”

- Meaning can be discovered by creating a work or doing a deed; experiencing something or
encountering someone
- Life has meaning under all circumstances
- Main Motivation for living is finding the meaning of life
- Freedom to find meaning
- The human being = body, mind, and spirit.
- The individual is unique
- People have a will of learning
- People have freedom under all circumstances to activate the will to find meaning

Sources of Meaning

- Purposeful Work
- Courage in the Face of Difficulty
- Love

III. DIGITAL SELF: WHO AM I IN THE CYBERWORLD?

▪ Online identity- sum of all our characteristics and our interactions
▪ Partial identity- subset of characteristics that make up our identity
▪ Persona- is the partial identity we create that represents ourselves in a specific situation
▪ Personal identity- is the interpersonal level of self which differentiates the individuals as
unique from others
 ▪ Social identity- is the level of self whereby the individual is identified by his/her group
memberships
▪ Self-presentation- is the process of controlling how one if perceived by other people

FIVE-FACTOR MODEL OF PERSONALITY

1. Openness to experience- curious, imaginative and creative
2. Extraversion- how much you like being with other people
3. Agreeableness- tendency to relate to other people in a friendly way
4. Conscientiousness- related in a way which people control or regulate
5. Neuroticism- people are frequently troubles by negative emotions
Digital Devices- help us share information broadly more than ever before
Blog and web pages- have been continuously used for greater self-reflection and self-presentation
Blogs and Social media- are the primary digital for a on which such confessions occur
Phenomenon of “OVERSHARING”
▪ People are unaware of the extent of the information they share online, forget to delineate what
can be shared or not and even share intimate details.
Lack of Privacy- in many aspects of social media make the users more vulnerable

Why do we share online?

1. Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)- like to remain updated because it adds a sense of confidence
2. Disinhibition Effect- reason for so much sharing and self-disclosure. It is the way how people
behave online in ways they wouldn’t in person.
Advantages
▪ Anonymity- online people can’t be identified the same way they can be in public
▪ Invisibility- others can’t see, no worries on how people behave online
There is no fixed true self because the self is still a work in progress.
Confessing our secret truths feels freeing.
GENDER AND SEXUALITY ONLINE
Sex- biological state that corresponds to what we might call a “man” or a “woman”
Gender- social understanding of how sex should be experienced and how sex manifests in behavior,
personality, preferences etc. It is a system of classification that values male/female-gendered things.
Sexuality- is an individual expression and understanding of desire.
Gender Inequality- is the idea and the situation that men and women are not equal. Unequal
treatment or perceptions of individuals wholly or partly because of gender.
Gender Discrimination- may encompass sexism and is discrimination toward people based on their
gender identity and differences.
TYPES OF SEXUALITY
1. Heterosexual- hetero “different/opposite”, feels attraction to the opposite sex
2. Homosexual- homo “same”, liking someone of the same sex. Gay and Lesbian
 3. Bisexual- bi “two”, feel attraction to both different and same sex.
4. Queer- does not conform to the traditional gender or sexuality norms
L-LESBIAN G-GAY B-BISEXUAL T- TRANSGENDER/SEXUAL Q- QUEER +-INTERSEX/ASEXUAL

IV. LEARNING TO BE: A BETTER LEARNER

METACOGNITION
▪ Thinking about thinking; awareness of the scope and limitations of your current knowledge and
skills.
2 Aspects of Metacognition
▪ Self-appraisal- your personal reflection on your knowledge and capabilities
▪ Self-management- mental process you employ using what you have in planning and
adapting to successfully learn or accomplish a task
Elements of Metacognition
1. Metacognitive Knowledge- what you know about how you think
There are variables that affect the metacognitive knowledge
▪ Personal variable- evaluation of your strengths and weaknesses in learning
▪ Task variable- what you know or what you think about the nature of the task as
well as what strategies the task requires
▪ Strategy variable- what strategies or skills you already have in dealing with
certain tasks
2. Metacognition Regulation- how you adjust your thinking processes to help you learn
better
STRATEGIES THAT HELP YOU EXERCISE METACOGNITION
1. Knowing your limits. 6. Asking questions about your methods
2. Modifying your approach 7. Self-reflection
3. Skimming 8. Finding a mentor or support group
4. Rehearsing 9. Thinking out loud
5. Self-test 10. Welcoming errors
4 TYPES OF METACOGNITIVE LEARNERS
▪ Tacit learners- unaware of their metacognitive processes although they know the extent of
their knowledge
▪ Aware learners- know some of their metacognitive strategies but they do not plan on how
to use these techniques
▪ Strategic learners- strategize and plan their course of action toward a learning experience
▪ Reflective learners- reflect on their thinking while they are using the strategies and adapt
metacognitive skills depending on their situation
The goal of metacognition is for the student to be a self-regulated individual.
Self-regulation- when you activate, take control of and evaluate your own learning; regulate
your own emotions and cognition
TIPS FOR STUDYING
1. Make an outline of things you want to learn
2. Break down the task into smaller or manageable details
3. Integrate variation in your schedule and learning experiences
 4. Try to incubate your ideas
5. Revise summarize and take down notes
6. Engaged what you have learned
ADVANTAGES OF LEARNING
1. Self-growth
2. Confidence
3. Access to opportunities
4. Accomplishment
5. Learning speed increases
V. Do not just dream: make it happen!
Dr. Albert E. Bandura’s
1. SELF-EFFICACY THEORY
• Based on the assumption that psychological procedures serve as a means of creating
and strengthening expectations of personal efficacy
Outcome Expectancy- a person’s estimate that a given behavior will lead to certain
outcomes
Efficacy Expectation- the conviction that one can successfully execute the behavior
required to produce the outcomes
Self-Efficacy
▪ People’s beliefs about their capabilities to produce designated levels of performance
that exercise influence over events that affect their lives
▪ Belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute sources of action required to
manage prospective situations
4 Main Sources of Influence
a. Performance accomplishments or mastery experiences- most effective way
b. Vicarious experiences
c. Verbal or Social persuasion- way of strengthening the people’s beliefs that they
have what it takes to succeed
d. Physiological (somatic and emotional) states

2. The BOBO DOLL EXPERIMENT

• proved that social modelling is a very effective way of learning
Self-concept- your idea of who you are based on your personal belief and your
perceived notion of how other people see you
Self-esteem- always involves a degree of self-evaluation or overall sense of self-worth
and self-value.
Carol S. Dweck’s
FIXED AND GROWTH MINDSET THEORY
• Fixed Mindset- people who believe that success is based on their innate abilities.
They dread failure because it is a negative statement on their basic abilities.
• Growth Mindset- people who believe that success is based on hard work, training,
learning and perseverance. Do not mind or fear failure because they realize their
performance can be improved and learning comes from failure.
How to raise kid: Now or Yet?
• “Obsessed with Ace Grades vs. Dreaming Big”
What can we do: to bridge to yet?
1. Praise Wisely
• instead of Intelligent praise, do process praise
2. Rewarding Yet
• instead of rewarding results, reward the effort, strategy & progress
Edwin A. Locke’s
GOAL-SETTING THEORY
• Locke first describe that the approach of goal setting theory is based on what Aristotle called
final causality; that is, action caused by a purpose.
5 Principles of Goal-setting
1. Clarity
2. Challenge
3. Commitment
4. Feedback
5. Task complexity
GOALS: Internal aspect (ideas or desired ends);
External Aspect (object or condition sought)
2 attributes of Goals: Content (actual object sought);
Intensity (scope, focus and complexity among others of the choice process)

14 RESEARCH FINDINGS
1. The more difficult the goal, the greater achievement.
2. The more specific or explicit the goal, the more precisely performance is regulated.
3. Goals that are both specific and difficult lead to the highest performance.
4. Communicate to goals is most critical when goals are specific and difficult.
5. High commitment to goals is attained when:
a. The individual is convinced that the goal is important
b. The individual is convinced that the goal is attainable
6. In addition to having a direct effect on performance, self-efficacy influences:
a. The difficulty level of the goal
b. Commitment to goals
c. The response to negative feedback or failure
d. The choice of task strategies
 7. Goal setting is most effective when there is feedback that shows progress relation to the
goal.
8. Goal setting mediates the effect of knowledge of past performance on subsequent
performance.
9. Goals affect performance by affecting the direction of action the degree of effort exerted,
and persistence of action over time.
10. Goal stimulate planning in general.
11. When people strive for goals on complex tasks, they are least effective in discovering
suitable task strategies.
12. Goals in combination with self-efficacy mediate or partially mediate the effects of several
personality and incentives on performance.
13. Goal-setting and goal-related mechanics can be trained and/or adapted in the absence of
training for the purpose of self-regulation.
14. Goals serve as standards of self satisfaction.

VI. LESS STRESS: MORE CARE

STRESS
• body’s nonspecific response to demand
• is the body's reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. The body
reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses.
• A feeling of being overwhelmed, worried or run-down
STRESSOR
• any object, event, situation or individual that causes demand. Stress comes from
Frustration, Conflict, and Pressure
Types of Stress
• Eustress- often connotes euphoria; stress in daily life that has positive connotations
• Distress- unpleasant, harmful variety; stress in daily life that has negative
connotations
• Neustress- that does not directly affect you
3 STAGES or Components of General adaption or stress syndrome
1. Alarm Stage- preparing for “fight or flight syndrome’
2. Stage of Resistance- the body becomes adaptive to the challenge and begins to resist it
3. Exhaustion Stage- the body dies because it has used up its resources of adaptation energy
Stress diseases- maladies caused principally by errors in the body’s general adaptation process.
▪ Acute Stress
▪ Episodic Acute
▪ Chronic Stress- unpleasant even when transient
SYMPTOMS
a. Cognitive - Poor judgment
- memory problems - Seeing only the negative
- Inability to concentrate
 - Anxious or racing thoughts - Nausea, dizziness
- Constant worrying - Chest pain, rapid heart rate
b. Emotional - Loss of sex drive
- Depression or general unhappiness - Frequent colds or flu
- Anxiety and agitation d. Behavioral
- Moodiness, irritability, or anger - Eating more or less
- Feeling overwhelmed - Sleeping too much or too little
- Loneliness and isolation - Withdrawing from others
- Other mental or emotional health - Procrastinating or neglecting
problems responsibilities
c. Physical - Using alcohol, cigarettes, or drugs to
- Aches and pains relax
- Diarrhea or constipation - Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing)

TECHNIQUES to Counter Chronic Stress

1. Relaxation Response
2. Physical Activity
3. Social Support

SELF-CARE THERAPY
Self-care- encompasses anything you do to be good to yourself. Being kind to yourself.
Types of Self-Care
▪ Sensory- all about helping to calm your mind
▪ Emotional- fully engage with emotions. Face them head-on
▪ Spiritual- getting in touch with values and what really matters to you
▪ Physical – physical aspects of health, bodily well-being
▪ Social- connecting with others
SELF-COMPASSION THEORY
Self-compassion- entails being warm & understanding toward ourselves when we suffer/fail.
Compassion- felt response to perceiving suffering, desire to ease this stress