Lesson 3

• Lesson 3:
The Self as Cognitive Construct
• Jessica C. Guillermo
• Instructor
COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES Department of Social Sciences

ACTIVITY
• This activity has two parts that try to compare how we look at
ourselves against how people perceive us depending on how we
present ourselves to them. For the first part, list 10 to 15 qualities
or things that you think define who you are around the human
figure representing you.
• For the second part, in the space below, write “I am ___________
(your name). Who do you think I am based on what you see me do
or hear me say?” Pass your paper around for two to three minutes
without looking who writes on it. As you fill out the paper of your
classmates, write briefly and only those that you observe about the
person. Do not use any bad words and do not write your name.
After the allotted period, pass all the paper to your teacher who
will distribute them to the respective owners.
ANALYSIS
Compare what you wrote about yourself to those
written by your classmates. What aspects are similar
and what are not? What aspects are always true to
you? What aspects are sometimes true or
circumstantial? What aspects do you think are not
really part of your personality?
SIMILAR
-
CONCEPTS
There are various definitions of the “self” and other similar or interchangeable
concepts in psychology.
- Other concepts similar to self are identity and self-concept:
Identity is composed of personal characteristics, social roles, and
responsibilities, as well as affiliations that define who one is.
Self-concept is what basically comes to your mind when you are asked about
who you are.
- Self, identity, and self-concept are not fixed in one time frame.
- Carl Rogers captured this idea in his concept of self-schema or our organized
system or collection of knowledge about who we are.
- Self-image – internal dictionary
- Ideal Self vs Real Self
Congruence – alignment of ideal and real selves
Incongruence – disparity between ideal and real selves
- Self-esteem (self worth)
Negative Labels
.
Hindu Proverb
“There is nothing noble about being superior to some other

man.
The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.”
- Theories generally see the self and identity as mental constructs,
created and recreated in memory.
- Freud saw the self, its mental processes, and one’s behavior as the
results of the interaction between the Id, the Ego, and the
Superego.
- There are three reasons why self and identity are social products:
1. We do not create ourselves out of nothing. Society helped in
creating the foundations of who we are.
2. Whether we like to admit it or not, we actually need others to
affirm and reinforce who we think we are.
3. What we think is important to us may also have been
influenced by what is important in our social or historical
context.
- Social interaction and group affiliation are vital factors in
creating our self-concept especially in the aspect of
providing us with our social identity;
- There are times when we are aware of our self-concepts;
this is also called self-awareness;
- Carver and Scheier identified two types of self that we can
be aware of:
1) the private self or your internal standards and private
thoughts and feelings; and
2) the public self or your public image commonly geared
toward having a good presentation of yourself to
others.
- Self-awareness also presents us with at least three other
self-schema:
• The “actual” self is who you are at the moment
• The “ideal” self is who you like to be
• The “ought” self is who you think you should be
- Self-awareness may be positive or negative depending on
the circumstances and our next course of action.
- Our group identity and self-awareness also has a great
impact on our self-esteem, defined as our own positive or
negative perception or evaluation of ourselves.
- One of the ways in which our social relationship affects our self-
esteem is through social comparison:
• The downward social comparison is the more common
type of comparing ourselves with others, by comparing
ourselves with those who are worse off than us.
• The upward social comparison which is comparing
ourselves with those who are better off than us.
- Social comparison also entails what is called self-evaluation
maintenance theory, which states that we can feel threatened
when someone out-performs us, especially when that person is
close to us.
- In the attempt to increase or maintain self-esteem, some people
become narcissistic, a “trait characterized by overly high self-
esteem, self-admiration, and self-centeredness.”
- There is a thin line between high self-esteem and
narcissism and there are a lot of tests and measurements
for self-esteem like the Rosenberg scale.
- Though self-esteem is a very important concept related to
the self, studies have shown that it only has a correlation,
not causality, to positive outputs and outlook.
- Programs, activities, and parenting styles to boost self-
esteem should only be for rewarding good behavior and
other achievements and not for the purpose of merely
trying to make children feel better about themselves or to
appease them when they get angry or sad.
Get in
Touch
WithusUs
Send a message
or visit us
City of Batac, Ilocos Norte,
Philippines
(63) 77-600-0459
op@mmsu.edu.ph
Follow us for
updates
facebook.com/MMSUofficial
www.mmsu.edu.ph

Lesson 3

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lesson 3

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Lesson 3

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

• Lesson 3:

The Self as Cognitive Construct

COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES Department of Social Sciences

“There is nothing noble about being superior to some other

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.