The document explores various psychological concepts of self, including definitions and theories from notable psychologists such as Sigmund Freud, Albert Bandura, and William James. It discusses the development of self-concept, the distinction between real and ideal self, and the influence of socialization and cognitive processes on self-awareness. Additionally, it contrasts individualistic and collectivist perspectives on self, emphasizing the importance of understanding multiple selves in personal development.

1. LESSON 4:
PSYCHOLOGICAL
CONSTRUCTION OF
THE SELF

2. Learning Objectives:
• Defineanddescribethedifferent
psychologicalconceptsofself;
• Differentiatethevariousconceptsoftheself
andidentifytheirrelationship;
• Explainhowtheconceptsofself-influence
behavior;
• Applyconceptsofselfinone’slifetodevelop
self-awarenessandself-understanding.

3. Right Handedness or Left Handedness:
Does it Reflect Ones Personality?
Some research has suggested that left-
handers have unique qualities over their right-
handed counterparts. For example, they are
believed to be more creative and more athletic
and to have better memories.
It is believed that left-handers were more
prone to mental disorders and pressured
students to switch hands.

4. Theories of Self Development
Psychologists have a unique way of looking
at self for it attempts to explain it in a personal
and cognitive context.
One view states that self developed
following a developmental order of learning.
Another view states that self developed in
constant struggle between desires against
social expectation. Still another view states that
self is a product of cognitive development
brought by constant interaction of people in
the society.

5. Who is Sigmund Freud?
Sigmund Freud, one of the most
prominent psychologists, had an enormous
impact on the study of self-concept through
the field of psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis
is an approach to the study of human
psychology that emphasizes the complex
reasoning process of human mind. He
emphasized the importance of early
childhood socialization as it is very vital in
the development of basic adult personality
which can be established as early as 5 or 6
years old.

6. Freud's Psychosexual Theory
1. ID (pleasure-oriented) is the seat of basic
biological drives and needs which Freud believed
to be primarily bound up with sexual energy. The
ID lacks the real perception of reality. It operates
on the pleasure principle, with the objective of
seeking pleasure and avoidance of pain, and
doing what one wants to do. The processes that
come into play are primary processes like hunger,
thirst etc. It is contained in the unconscious part
of one's memory.

7. Freud's Psychosexual Theory
2. EGO (balance between ID and superego) is the self,
the core of what is regarded as a person's unique
personality. The Ego is aware of reality and operates via
the reality principle, where it recognizes what is real
and understands that behavior has consequences. The
processes that come into play are secondary processes,
like learning and memory, perception etc. It also
includes the impact that socialization has to play in the
life of an individual; it recognizes the existence of social
rules that are necessary in order to live and socialize
with other people, and thus, plans to satisfy ones'
needs within the social values and rules.

8. Freud's Psychosexual Theory
3. SUPEREGO (conscience-driven) consists of the values
and norms of the society, as they are internalized by the
individual. The Superego has two components the
conscience and the ego-ideal the conscience prevents a
person from doing morally bad things while the ego-ideal
inspires a person to do morally proper. It appears that the
superego together with the ID works through the Ego
system. The Superego pushes the person towards better
virtues that if not checked the person may become
perfectionist who cannot balance the demand that life
requires. In the same manner an unchecked ID would
create in the person primitive pleasure-seeking and selfish
desire seeking immediate fulfillment. It is the EGO that
must compromise the demand of the Superego and the ID.

9. Freud's Psychosexual Theory
ID
“I want to do it now”
EGO
“Maybe we can
compromise”
SUPEREGO
“It’s
not
the
right
to
do
that”

10. Newborn babies are all ID. Left to their own
devices, babies seek insta gratification in the
form of food and nurturing care. They must
therefore be socialized into learning that such
gratification is not always possible.
Socialization is a principal responsibility of
parents, who constantly tell their children what is
right and what is wrong. Such cultural "should"
and "should not" form the basis of the child's
superego, which is in constant war with the
biologically based desires of the ID. The task of
the child’s emerging ego is to strike a balance
between the two. To the extent that the ego
succeeds in bending the desires of the ID to the
social demands of the superego, the child will
grow up to be well-socialized adults, more or less
conforming to social norms and values.

11. For instance, according to
Freud, an infant who is severely
punished during toilet training
may become fixated at that
stage of development and for
the rest of his or her life,
engage in compulsive hand-
washing and other efforts to
remain clean (Freud, 1929)

12. First assumption the
outstanding characteristic of
people is plasticity that is people
have the flexibility to learn a
variety of behavior in varied
situations. Bandura attests that
people can learn through direct
experiences by observing others.
Bandura likewise points out the
idea that reinforcement can be
vicarious. People can be reinforced
by observing another person
receive a reward. The indirect
reinforcements account for a good
bit of people's learning.
People have the competence to
regulate their lives. People can make
transitory events into relative
consistent ways of evaluating and
regulating their social and cultural
environment. Without this capacity,
people would just react to sensory
experience and would lack the ability
to anticipate events, create new
ideas on the internal standard to
evaluate present experiences.
Third assumption social
cognitive theory takes an
argentic perspective,
meaning people have the
competence to exercise
control over the nature and
quality of their lives. People
are the producers and
products of social system.
Albert Bandura Social Cognitive Theory
Social cognitive theory anchors on several basic assumptions.

13. First assumption the
outstanding characteristic of people is
plasticity that is people have the
flexibility to learn a variety of behavior
in varied situations. Bandura attests
that people can learn through direct
experiences by observing others.
Bandura likewise points out the idea
that reinforcement can be vicarious.
People can be reinforced by observing
another person receive a reward. The
indirect reinforcements account for a
good bit of people's learning.
Second assumption is that
people have the competence
to regulate their lives. People
can make transitory events
into relative consistent ways
of evaluating and regulating
their social and cultural
environment. Without this
capacity, people would just
react to sensory experience
and would lack the ability to
anticipate events, create new
ideas on the internal
standard to evaluate present
experiences.
Third assumption social
cognitive theory takes an
argentic perspective,
meaning people have the
competence to exercise
control over the nature and
quality of their lives. People
are the producers and
products of social system.
Albert Bandura Social Cognitive Theory
Social cognitive theory anchors on several basic assumptions.

14. First assumption the
outstanding characteristic of people is
plasticity that is people have the
flexibility to learn a variety of behavior
in varied situations. Bandura attests
that people can learn through direct
experiences by observing others.
Bandura likewise points out the idea
that reinforcement can be vicarious.
People can be reinforced by observing
another person receive a reward. The
indirect reinforcements account for a
good bit of people's learning.
Second assumption is that people
have the competence to regulate their
lives. People can make transitory
events into relative consistent ways of
evaluating and regulating their social
and cultural environment. Without
this capacity, people would just react
to sensory experience and would lack
the ability to anticipate events, create
new ideas on the internal standard to
evaluate present experiences.
Third assumption social cognitive
theory takes an argentic
perspective, meaning people
have the competence to exercise
control over the nature and
quality of their lives. People are
the producers and products of
social system. An important part
of triadic reciprocal causation
model is self- efficacy. People's
action is generally enhanced
when they have high self-efficacy
meaning that they can perform
those behaviors that can bring
desired performance in specific
situations.
Albert Bandura Social Cognitive Theory
Social cognitive theory anchors on several basic assumptions.

15. Fourth assumption - people
regulate their action
through the external and
internal factors. External
factor includes people's
physical and social
environment, while internal
factor includes self-
observation, judgmental
process and self-reaction.
Fifth assumption when people
discover themselves in an unclear
situation they typically try to regulate
their behavior through moral agency
which includes redefining behavior,
disregarding or distorting the
consequences of the behavior and
doing away with responsibility for
their actions. (Feist, Feist& Roberts,
2013)
Albert Bandura Social Cognitive Theory
Social cognitive theory anchors on several basic assumptions.

16. Fourth assumption - people regulate
their action through the external and
internal factors. External factor
includes people's physical and social
environment, while internal factor
includes self-observation, judgmental
process and self-reaction.
Fifth assumption when people
discover themselves in an
unclear situation they
typically try to regulate their
behavior through moral
agency which includes
redefining behavior,
disregarding or distorting the
consequences of the behavior
and doing away with
responsibility for their
actions. (Feist, Feist& Roberts,
2013)
Albert Bandura Social Cognitive Theory
Social cognitive theory anchors on several basic assumptions.

17. TRIADIC CAUSATION
It is a system that assumes that people's
action is a result of interaction among the
variables---environment, behavior and
person. In person there is anticipation,
planning and judging. Because people
possess and use these cognitive capacities,
they have some abilities to select or
reconstruct their environment. Cognition at
least partially determined which
environmental events people attend to,
what value they place on these events and
how they organize the events for the future.
However, cognition can have strong causal
effect on both environment and behavior, it
is not an independent entity of these
variables, meaning environment and
behavior.

18. TRIADIC CAUSATION
At time the behavior maybe powerful
as when a young lady sing
accompanied with the guitar for her
own enjoyment alone. At other times
the environment may exert great effort
as when a motorboat capsizes and the
passengers started screaming, thinking
what to do, and behaving in the same
manner. The relative influence of
behavior, environment and persons
depend on which part of the triadic
factor is strongest at this certain
moment. (Feist, et. al., 2013)

19. TRIADIC CAUSATION
In the second assumption, chance
encounter means unexpected
meetings of individuals not known to
each other, For instance a young man
walking leisurely in the park, happens
to meet a young lady aimlessly
strolling alone. They unconsciously
gazed at each other and for a while
greet each other with a smile. While
fortuitous event is an environmental
experience that is not expected and
not intended. Probably while the
program was going on there was a
sudden brownout.

20. William James The Self
Process of Identification
William James concentrated on the
nature of self and its effect on emotional
aspects. Things become part of the "me"
James disputed through "emotional
identification" with them. The person's
body, feelings, beliefs and values are all
parts of the me. However, because of
what is part of the me is determined by
emotion identification, the parents,
siblings, friends and even lovers are likely
to be included into one's me.

21. William James The Self
Process of Identification
James' concepts of the identification process
show in his belief of the unchanging nature of
the self. He attests that due to the ever-
changing nature of life as reflected in the
social relationship and material possessions,
and the unreality and reconstructive nature of
one' memory, the objective self is not
permanent like diamond. It is constantly
changing because a person is dealing with
shifting materials. This implies that the self
today is different even for a little from the self
of yesterday. (Franzoi, 2006)

22. The Real Self and Ideal
Self
Carl Rogers was a humanistic
psychologist who agreed with Abraham
Maslow's Self Actualization but went
further with the assumption that for a
person to "grow" he must need an
environment that can provide him with
genuineness or openness and self-
disclosure. He believes that a person has
one basic motive, that is, the desire to
self-actualize, to reach his highest
potential and achieve his level of
humanness. Roger believes that a
person, to be self-actualized must be in
a state of congruence.

23. What Is Then Real
and Ideal Self?
Real self is what a person is from
inside or the original self, while ideal self
is what a person wants to become.
Everyone has specific goals and ideal self
that he has for himself and tries to work
consciously to be better person and cut
shorter the distance between the real self
and the ideal self.

24. WhatIsThenRealandIdealSelf?
Real self is the very person, one who is in reality
present. The ideal self is the ought self of which one desires
to be. This comprises the image of the person, both in
terms of one physical or body images and psychological
traits. For instance, a person is hot tempered, that is his
real self but if he shows his tamed temper in situations,
then that is his ideal self. In the same manner a person is
short and flabby but thinks she is tall and slender then that
is her ideal self. In other words, the real self is real,
practical, the very person that one is, whereas ideal self is
ideal, imaginary or belief about oneself. If one always
thinks of the discrepancy a person's real and ideal self the
greater the frustrations and distress one feels.

25. The True and False Self
True self and false self are concepts
in psychoanalysis by Donald Winnicott
who used the term true self to
describe a sense of self based on
instinctive and authentic experience
and a feeling of being alive, having a
real self. False self as stated by
Winnicott is a defensive façade a mere
appearance of being real.

26. The True and False Self
False self or social mask serves many adaptive
purposes. People used to utilize aspect of the false self in
variety of social Accordingly, Winnicott says that everyone
wears social mask or false harmoniously mask that
empowers prep wears or in wide varieties of interpersonal
nature. People show different sides of themselves to
others and significant others like family, friends,
professional colleagues and acquaintances. It is important
to be aware of these different social masks and use them
to help people manage their lives in a balanced and
integrated manner wit to help people manage balance,
people are endangered of feeling disconnected from
themselves and others. A clear understanding of people
selves would enable them to develop a strong integrated
identity.

27. The Proactive and Agentic Self
Bandura defines human agency as the
human capability to exert influence over
one's functioning in the course of event by
one's action. Through cognitive self-
guidance a person can foresee future that
can act on the present-- construct, modify,
evaluate course of action to come up with
valid outcomes and override one's
environmental influence. To be an agent is
to influence purposely a person's
functioning and life structure. (Bandura,
2008)

28. Individualistic vs Collective Self
Individualism is a philosophy of life
emphasizing the priority of the
person's need over group. It is a
preference for loosely knit social
relationship that is caring for
oneself and the family members
only and the desire to be
autonomous or independent from
each other's influence.

29. Individualistic vs Collective Self
In contrast, there is another
perspective called collectivism which
represents preference for a tightly knit
social framework-in which a person
can expect their family and other
relatives of the social group to look
after them in exchanged for
unquestioned loyalty. The loyalty of the
family is highly stressed.

30. Mutiple Selves
A person perception of self-identify
is influenced by messages from
others as well as his/her own biased
ideal self. One's public self is more
complicated which includes both
one's family, self and social self.
One can be a devil at home but a
social angel in a social group

31. True Self
Ideal Self
Perceived Self
Public Self

32. Development and Characteristics of the Self Concept
Part of what is developing in children as they grow is the
fundamental cognitive part of the self, known as the self-
concept. The self-concept is a knowledge representation
that contains knowledge about a person including beliefs
about his/her personality traits, physical characteristics,
abilities, values, goals, and roles, as well as the knowledge
that he/she exists as individual in a particular society.
Throughout childhood and adolescence, the self-concept
becomes more abstract and complex and is organized into
a variety of different cognitive aspects, known as self-
schemas. Children have self-schemas about their progress
in school, their appearance, their skills at sports and other
activities, and many other aspects, and these self-schemas
direct and inform their processing of self- relevant
information (Harter, 1999).

33. Development and Characteristics of the Self Concept
By the time individuals are adults, their sense of self have
grown dramatically. They are more exposed on how their genes
and social experience play vital roles in their development of
sense of self. In addition to possessing a wide variety of self-
schemas, they can analyze their thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors, and can see that other people may have different
thoughts than they do.
People become aware of their own self-concept. They can
plan for their future and consider the potential outcomes of
their actions. At times. having a sense of self may seem
unpleasant-when a person is not proud of his/her appearance,
actions, or relationships with others, or when they become
afraid of the possibility of his/her own end.

34. Development and Characteristics of the Self Concept
On the other hand, the ability to
think about the self is very useful.
Being aware of the past and able to
speculate about the future is
adaptive-it allows one to modify
his/her behavior on the basis of
correcting committed mistakes and
plan for future activities.

35. Thank you
very much!