Understanding the self

1. SOCIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE
LESSON II
of the self

2. OBJECTIVE
1.Explain the relationship between and among the self,
society, and culture
2.Describe and discuss the different ways by which
society and culture shape the self;
3.Compare and contrast how the self can be influenced
by the different institutions in the society; and
4.Examine one’s self against the different views of self
that were discussed in the class.

3. MY ELEMENTARY
SELF
MY HIGH SCHOOL
SELF
MY COLLEGE SELF
ACTIVITY
MYSELF THROUGH THE YEARS
Paste a picture of you when you were in elementary, in high school and now that you
are in college. Below the picture, list down you salient characteristics that you
remember.

4. SIMILARITIES IN ALL
STAGES OF MY “SELF"
DIFFERENCE IN MY
“SELF” ACROSS THE
THREE STAGES OF MY
LIFE
POSSIBLE REASONS
FOR THE DIFFERENCES
IN ME
ANALYSIS
MYSELF THROUGH THE YEARS
After having examined your “self” in its different stages, fill out the table

5. THE FIVE MONKEYS EXPERIMENT

6. THE FIVE MONKEYS EXPERIMENT
A GROUP OF
SCIENTISTS
PLACED 5
MONKEYS IN A
CAGE AND IN
THE MIDDLE, A
LADDER WITH
BANANAS ON
TOP

7. THE FIVE MONKEYS EXPERIMENT
EVERY TIME A
MONKEY WENT
UP THE
LADDER, THE
SCIENTISTS
SOAKED THE
REST OF THE
MONKEYS
WITH COLD
WATER.

8. THE FIVE MONKEYS EXPERIMENT
AFTER A
WHILE, EVERY
TIME A MONKEY
WENT UP THE
LADDER, THE
OTHER ONES
BEAT UP THE
ONE ON THE
LADDER.

9. THE FIVE MONKEYS EXPERIMENT
AFTER SOME
TIME, NO
MONKEY DARE
TO GO UP THE
LADDER
REGARDLESS
OF THE
TEMPTATION.

10. THE FIVE MONKEYS EXPERIMENT
SCIENTISTS THEN
DECIDED TO
SUBSTITUTE ONE OF
THE MONKEYS. THE
FIRST THING THIS NEW
MONKEY DID WAS TO
GO UP THE LADDER.
IMMEDIATELY THE
OTHER MONKEYS BEAT
HIM UP.
AFTER SEVERAL
BEATINGS, THE NEW
MEMBER LEARNED
NOT TO CLIMB THE
LADDER EVEN THOUGH
NEVER KNEW WHY.

11. -An experiment conducted by G. R.
Stephenson in 1967
“Cultural Acquisition of a
specific learned response
among rhesus monkey”

12. 1
GEORGE MEAD
2
CHARLES
COOLEY
The Social Self The Looking - Glass Self
THREE
SOCIOLOGISTS Page 12
3
ERVING
GOFFMAN
Constructing Situations and
Drama

13. GEORGE MEAD
THE SOCIAL SELF
1

14. “The self is born of society. The self is
inseparable from society and bound up with
communication. It builds on social
experience. This is largely a matter of taking
the role of other with increasing
sophistications, broadening out from
significant others to greater complexity.”
1
-GEORGE MEAD

15. • created through social
interaction
• Process started in childhood,
with children beginning to
develop a sense of self at about
the same time that they began
to learn language
THE SOCIAL SELF

16. The self is the human capacity to be
reflective and take the role of others
The self emerges
from social
experience. It is
not part of the
body and it does
noes exist at
birth
Social
experience
involves
communication
and the exchange
of symbols.
People create
meaning
To understand
the intention you
must imagine the
situation from
another person’s
point of view. By
taking the role of
the other: the
self is reflective
and reflexive.

17. STAGES IN MEAD’s THEORY ON THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF
Preparatory Stage:
Children mimic/imitate others

18. STAGES IN MEAD’s THEORY ON THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF
Play Stage:
Children pretend to play the role of
a particular or a significant other
Particular or significant other are
the perspectives and particular
roles that a child learns and
internalizes

19. STAGES IN MEAD’s THEORY ON THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF
Game Stage:
Children play organized games and
take on the perspectives of the
generalized other

20. STAGES IN MEAD’s THEORY ON THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF
Generalized Other:
The perspectives and expectations
of a network of others (or society in
general that a child learns and then
takes into account when shaping
his /her own behavior.

21. STAGES IN MEAD’s THEORY ON THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF
Dual Nature of the Self:
The belief that we experience the
self as both subject and object, the
“I” and the “me”

22. CHARLES
COOLEY
THE LOOKING-GLASS SELF
2

23. “One’s sense of self depends
on seeing one’s reflected in
interactions with others”
-CHARLES COOLEY

24. • Charles Cooley was George
Mead’s colleagues
• The looking-glass self refers to
the notion that the self develops
through our perception of
others’ evaluation and
appraisal of us.
THE LOOKING-
GLASS SELF

25. • The image people have of
themselves is based on how
they believe others perceive
them.
THE LOOKING-
GLASS SELF

26. THE LOOKING-GLASS SELF

27. • We imagine how we appear to other people
• We imagine how other people judge the
appearance that we think we present
• If we think the evaluation is favorable, our
self-concept is enhanced
• If we think the evaluation is unfavorable, our
self-concept is diminished
THE LOOKING-
GLASS SELF

28. ERVING
GOFFMAN
CONSTRUCTING SITUATIONS
AND DRAMA
3

29. “People routinely behave like actors on a
stage. Everyday social life become
theatrical. There are roles, scripts ad
actions. Daily life as a series of
stagecraft rules.”
3
-ERVING GOFFMAN

30. Believed that meaning is constructed
through interaction
INTERACTION ORDER
What we do in the immediate presence of
others
PRESENTATION OF THE
SELF IN EVERYDAY LIFE

31. Focuses on how individuals take on
roles and act them out to present a
favorable impression to their
“audience”
DRAMATURGY

32. Goffman argues that people are
concerned with controlling how
others view them, a process he called
impression management
PRESENTATION OF THE
SELF IN EVERYDAY LIFE

33. “All the world is a stage, and all the men
and women are merely players: they have
their exits and entrances; and one man in
his time plays many parts”
-WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

34. People play different
roles throughout their
daily lives and display
different kinds of
behavior depending on
where they are and the
time of day.
FRONTSTAGE BACKSTAGE
THE SELF IS A SOCIAL
CONSTRUCTION
When people engage in
back stage behavior,
they are free of the
expectations of the
norms that dictate front
stage behavior.

35. ERVING GOFFMAN
Each definition of a situation lends itself to a
different approach, and the consequences are
real
The self is a Social Construction dependent on
the situation

36. PSYCHOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE
NEXT LESSON
of the self

37. THANK
YOU!
UNDERSTANDING THE SELF