Psychology: Self as a Cognitive

Construct
William James

Begin to be now
what you will be
hereafter.
William James

There is but one

cause of human
failure. And that is
man's lack of faith in
his true Self.
William James
The self is composed of
the "me" (empirical self/
object/ observable) and
the "I" (transcendental
self/ agent/ observing)
who does the knowing.
William James
Parts of the empirical self:
• the material self (your
body, and possessions)
• the social self (your friends
and relatives)
• the spiritual self (your ideas
and belief systems)
How do people move
from having specific
knowledge about
their attributes to
global evaluations of
their self-worth?
 Global vs Differentiated

Self- Self-
Affective Cognitive
component component
Basic sense of Dynamic, clear,
pride/shame about verbalized, rational
oneself. (“seeing is believing”)
Largely rooted in Hierarchically organized set of
specific mental self-views about
temperament and early one’s characteristics (roles,
childhood experiences abilities, etc.) and their
evaluation

Self- Self-
 Global Self-Esteem
(agency and communion)

self -
competence
an evaluation of one ’ s
ability to bring about
desired outcomes self – liking
an evaluation of one ’ s
goodness, worth, and lovability
 Carl Rogers
Person-Centered Approach

“The Curious
paradox is that
when I accept
myself just as I am,
then I can change”
 Carl Rogers
Person-Centered Approach

"When I look at the

world I'm
pessimistic, but
when I look at
people I am
optimistic."
Incongruence

Congruence
Can we have multiple self-
concept?
 self loses its meaning if
a person has multiple
selves…the essence of
self involves integration
Properly speaking, a man has as many social selves as there are
individuals who recognize him and carry an image of him in their
head.
of diverse experiences
-William James
into a unity…In short,
unity is one of the
defining features of
selfhood and identity.

-Roy Baumeister
Multiple self Unified self
 U E
R F S E
T EL vs L
S A
F EL F
S
 s e
n
se s
s a es
h a len
a t ho
l
th d w e.
f te a g l f to of
e
sennec ly st
o
u of e e a r e
s k s ds
t r c
e e e a n sh
r
is ity, o th
e gr s t
ls s m t o o n
h e t e rk
T in h a
o f at fa n t l y d e
e r a t i
th e a t t e
r ed l
h
T ns ipa n o e r
o i
c t rs n c i t h
n
a he tai
t
o ain
 A self that fits in
The healthy false but through a
self feels that feeling of forced
that it is still compliance
being true to the rather than
true self. It can loving
be compliant but adaptation is
without feeling unhealthy.
that it has
betrayed its true
self.
When the false self wins
debates against the true
self, the person finds that
they are unable to be
guided by their true self and
so has to adapt to the social
situation rather than assert
its self.

- Donald Winnicott
Social cognitive theory adopts
an agentic perspective

Agentic view of
personality, meaning
that humans have the
capacity to exercise
control over their own
lives
Albert Bandura
Social cognitive theory adopts
an agentic perspective

Human agency
is the essence of
humanness.

Albert Bandura
Intentionality Forethought
HUMAN
AGENC
Y
Self- Self-
reflectiveness reactiveness
eir actions
undesirable ones

Intentionality Forethought
HUMAN
AGENC
Y
Self- Self-
reflectiveness reactiveness
Psychology: Self as a Cognitive
Construct