Just like some popular philosophers, William James’ also has its theory about the self and it is also categorie into two categories. According to him, the self is categoried as the “me-self” and the I-self”. It is not difficult to become captivated by William James’ conception of “self as knower and self as known.” Because after all, the distinction of self is in terms of I and me is in some fashion common-sensical. For example, “I was talking to myself yesterday…” However,  the definition of him about the self differs in a more wider scope in comparation of other philosophers’ theories. The Me-self refers to the sub categories of the self: social self, material self and spiritual self. James pointed that individuals simply cannot be all possible selves in all possible ways because the actions that arise from differing selves differ and are basically incompatible. Hence, the conflict of the different Me’s. In short, we exhibit a different version of ourselves depending  on the situation and the person whom we are talking to – friends, church mates or parents and relatives. Consequently, he pointed that one who wishes to seek his truest and deepest self must know and review the list of all the selves he wishes to be truthfully and pick out the one on which to take his salvation.

This is when the “I-self” comes in. It refers to the purest and truest version of the self. James belief in God permeates his psychology and plays an important role in his understanding of self particularly of the “I”. According to him,  it’s the primitive part of us that identifies our uniqueness from one another.

On the other hand, Carl Rogers,  a human psychologist, implify that for a person to “grow” , they need an environment that provides them with openness and self disclosure, acceptance (being seen with unconditional positive regard), and empathy (being listened to and understood). His theory were quite similar to Abraham Maslow’s that the self strives to reach self actualization. If the self grew further on its goal, the self will become narcotic. According to him, the self concept which is the image of the self has two concepts; the real self and the ideal self. He believed that for a person to achieve self actualization they must be in a state of congruence. This means that self- actualization occurs when a person’s “ideal self” (i.e., who they would like to be) is  congruent with their actual behavior (real self). Rogers describe an individual who is actualizing as a fully functioning person. The main determinant of whether we will become self- actualized is childhood experience.

 

 

 

Anthropology is the science of human beings. It is more on understanding the human being in relation on cultural and biological processes to construct the self. Addition, it considered the human experiences as interplay of nature referring to genetic inheritance which sets the individual’s potentials and “nurture” with regards to socio-cultural environment. More over, biological and cultural factors have significant influence in shaping the self. There are two concepts of self that is viewed by different societies. Those are Egocentric and sociocentric. The egocentric is concerned with the individual rather than society. While the sociocentric is concerned with one’s own social group or dependent on social situation.

 

 

According to sociologist Mead and Cooley, “self is not dependent on biological predisposition, rather it is a product of social interaction.” We always think that what we are now is because of the attitude and characteristics that we inherit from our biological parents but Mead and Cooley contradicts this idea. For example, My mom is not a religious person, but I am a religious person because I studied in a Catholic School wherein people there taught me to pray every day, go to church every Sundays etc.  Another concept from Gerry Lanuza and Baudrillard about our modern society that we have the freedom in choosing our self-identity and the mass media has an effect in choosing your identity. It is very rampant now a days that people get to choose their identity through what they see in social media. For example, a lot of people now in the social media kept on complaining their life in social media, since I am also a user of social media and that is what I see everyday. I will eventually adapt that and will also complain through my social media accounts which is not a good thing.

Reflection on Self-concept

An organized collection of beliefs about the self. It involves all of the self-perceptions that include appearance, values, and beliefs is what self-concept means. Possible selves refer to one’s conceptions about the kind of person one might become in the future. For instance, in the coming years, I might become an Engineer because I am determined to reach and achieve my dream. Another one is self-discrepancies, means mismatch in self-perception. For example, I always believe that I am a dancer, but my body failed to correspond on standards of being a good dancer. Another is self perceptions which is divided in three; Actual self, Ideal Self, and Ought Self. Actual self is what I am possessing right now. Like being adaptive, respectful, cooperative, kind etc. While the Ideal self is what I like to have. In my own self, I wanted to become a millionaire, model, and very pretty. But not just physical appearance and wealth but also I want to become a very loving and selfless person. Lastly, the ought self refers to what I should possess. For example, I think I should possess the traits of being all the good traits in this world.

ABOUT

Cayla is an eighteen year old girl who has a thing for makeups and other beauty related products. She was born and raised in the province of Nueva Ecija but eventually decided to moved in Manila for her studies. As of now, she is on her first year as a Chemical Engineering student of the Adamson University.

10 THINGS ABOUT ME

I was born on January 14, 2000.
I am an only child.
I am a product of a broken family.
I was raised by my mom, alone. (kudos to all single parent out there!)
I am an independent person.
I have a glassophobia or fear of public speaking. (I am literally shaking whenever I speak in front of a crowd.)
I was once a writer, I used to be a campus journalist way back in grade school.
I hate cheese and pasta so much.
I can stand a day or two without drinking water. Haha.
I really really love to travel.

The first thing that I need to do to become the best of me is to love and accept myself for who I am and for what I am. Second is to know the things that I really want. Third is pursue my goals and dreams. Fourth is to become a responsible student. Fifth is to learn how to manage time. Sixth, do the things that makes me happy. Seventh, learn how to forgive others. Eight is to sleep early and wake up earlier than the usual. Ninth, love others despite of their flaws. Tenth is to always share everything that I have.

• Adaptive– An example of me being an adaptive person was when I moved here in manila to study, I easily adapted their culture and also the way people in Manila speak.
• Respectful- I am a respectful person because I know how to respect and listen to other people’s opinion, choices, culture and believes regardless of their age and their status in life.
• Energetic- I am the type of person who has a lot of energy in everything. For instance, I can still be cheerful after being in a long and tiring busy day.
• Cooperative- Whenever there’s a group activity, I always make sure that I listen, help, share my ideas and cooperate to my group mates.
• Shy- Despite of me being a talkative and friendly person, there are still times that I get shy. Those times are whenever I am in front of a crowd or in front of the people that I met for the first time.