the contention that individuals have various selves

1. Baumester (1999) defines the self as, “the individual‟s belief about himself or herself, including
the persons attributes and who and what the self is”. At a general level the self involves the
mental representation of personal experience and it includes thought processes. A physical body
and, conscious experience that one is separate and unique from another individual. According to
Gazzaniga and Heatherton (2006), William James and George Herbert Mead , differentiated
between the self as the knower “I” and the self as the object that is known (me)- which is also
known as the objectified self. According to Mead and James the self is the subject doing the
thinking, feeling and acting. The main thrust of the essay is to discuss whether or not individuals
have various selves
According to Mead (1934), in his theory of social behaviorism. The third stage outlined by
Mead is the play stage, in which the children act out social roles in rather than simple actions, of
particular concern here according to Mead (1934:251), Mead thought that it was significant how
children referred to themselves in the third person when they were playing such as „Emma feed
baby now‟ or „Emma Hungry‟. This shows that children do not have a sense of self, but
experience several different selves which can be called upon when appropriate. Therefore basing
on this view the contention might be true that indeed individuals have various selves since even
children do not have a unified sense of self.
The material self, according to James (1890), is constituted by our bodies, clothes, immediate
family and home. James suggests that the more we are attached to these things they become one
of us eventually. This view also suggests that there is evidence that there are various selves
because the constituencies of the material self which are clothes and our families are the
immediate evidence that individuals have various selves.
According to James (1890) the social self is based on our interactions with the society the
reactions of others that are analyzed in order to contribute to our idea of a social self. In simple
terms the social self is learned, we are what we are because of others which are the social
influence. An example is the self esteem. According to McLeod (2008) the self esteem is directly
influenced by the reaction of others, the comparison with others such as the social roles; „I am a
doctor, she is a Nurse‟. In such instances it becomes relevant that a person reckons this kind of
self because of the people around them. In the same scenario the doctor is supposed to act like a
doctor in order to ensure the proper administration of a medical centre, in the same way become

2. a parent to his or her children. These social roles them suggest that it might be true that an
individual has various selves.
The spiritual self and the psychological self are deemed synonymous they relatively embrace the
same thing according to James (1890) as cited in Green (1999) the spiritual self is our feelings of
our own subjectivity. It is an introspective ability to argue and discriminate, one moral
sensibility, and conscience. Of our indomitable will (James 11890, 164). It is more pure than
other sentiments of satisfaction. The spiritual self although it is abstract or it‟s aspect are not
tangible, there is evidence that it is there. Individuals do recognize through sense ad logic their
spiritual self can be demonstrated by ones personal traits; which are a third dimension of a
person‟s self description or belief about himself. An example is the description or belief about
him. An example is the description, “I‟m impulsive…” and the existential statements like; “I am
a spiritual being” Therefore the contention might be true that individuals possess various selves.
The pure ego is viewed as capable of recognizing its own thoughts, the thoughts that belong to
ones own ego can be recognized and posses a warmth. According to Andrews the ego behaves
rationally and responsibly, and faces the day each day. The ego‟s function is to recall that
personal identity. The ego understands its own thoughts it incorporates the other selves already
mentioned. It then goes without saying that the contention that an individual has various selves is
true because the ego posses as evidence because it is a visual representation of the various
dimensions of the self since it has been deemed so by Andrews.
However according to Mead (1934) the self is ultimately created by the society and needs social
support to maintain it. The integration of all the different roles that a child plays, and the
different selves, into one coherent whole, we develop a core self which can cope with a number
of different situations, rather than adopting a different self for each situation than we are in. This
view shows that and individual may not necessarily have various selves but a correlation of
different selves which operate as a single self hence the contention might not be entirely true.
Another limitation to the contention that an individual has various selves is that the various
dimensions or selves mentioned in this essay cannot be vividly seen without the help of ones
ego. An individual might be unable to view the differing facets of an individual.

3. To conclude this essay the contention that individuals have various selves might be true to a
greater extent although intrinsic and only observable through empirical means.