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LESSON 1: THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND PERSONALITY

Of all mammals, human beings are the most immature at birth and require the longest period of
development before they can be capable of all the activities and skills characteristics of their species.

The saying, “the child is the father of the man,” simply means that the human adult’s behavior and
personality characteristics are influenced by events that occurs during the early years of life; it reflects the
continuity between childhood and adulthood. In addition, the psychological processes of human adults their
perceptions, patterns of thinking, motives, emotions, conflicts, and ways of coping with conflicts can be
better understood if we know how these processes originate and change over time.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

According to Kelly (1965), growth is the progressive increase and continuous advancement of the child from
birth to maturity. Growth involves both structural and functional changes.

1. Structural Change – sometimes referred to as physical change, involves in size and proportion in
relation to height, weight, and breadth and to the different parts and organs of the body. It includes
changes of features like the lengthening of facial muscles of maturity, the sagging of eye muscles, the
loss of elasticity of the skin, and soon.
2. Functional Change – involves a slowing down of mental processes like the ability to perceive things,
the ability to reason, the increase in vocabulary, agility.

Maturation, according to Harmon (1951), is the process of attaining a level of development at which
some specified mental function or type of behavior ordinarily appears. It is the unfolding of traits potentially
present in the individual because of heredity. According to Edwards (1968), the term maturation refers to
the process of change of an individual of aging or time.

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Development, as defined by Hurlock (1975), is a progressive series of changes that occur in an orderly,
predictable pattern resulting from maturation and experience. The goal of development is to enable the
individual to adapt to the environment in which he lives.

a) Prenatal period – from conception to birth

b) Infancy – from birth to the end of the second week
c) Babyhood – end of the second week to the end of the second year.
d) Early Childhood – two to six years
e) Puberty or Pre-adolescence – ten or twelve to thirteen or fourteen years
f) Adolescence – thirteen or fourteen to eighteen years
g) Early Adulthood – eighteen to forty years
h) Middle Age – forty to sixty years
i) Old Age or Senescence – sixty to death

FACTORS GOVERNING DEVELOPMENT

Human development is determined by a continuous interaction between two factors heredity and
environment.
1. Heredity – is often referred to as “nature,” is the transmission of genetic characteristics from parents
to offspring. More specifically, heredity involves organic resemblance based on descent, and it
provides the biological predisposition.
2. Environment – sometimes referred to as “nurture.” It is the descriptive term applied to the factors,
surrounding conditions, influences, and forces that modify and exert an influence on growth and
development from the instant conception (Kelly, 1965).

MAJOR DEVELOPMENTAL THEORIES

Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) is probably the most well-known theorist when it comes to the
development of personality. Freud believed that we develop through stages based upon a particular
erogenous zone. During each stage, an unsuccessful completion means that a child becomes fixated on
that particular erogenous zone either over- or under-indulges once he or she becomes an adult.
a) Oral Stage – (birth to 18 months). During the oral stage, the child is focused on oral pleasures
(sucking). Too much or too little gratification can result in an oral fixation or oral personality, which
is evidenced by a preoccupation with oral activities. It has two outcomes.
 Oral receptive/passive personality is preoccupied with eating/drinking and reduces tension
through oral activity such as eating, drinking, smoking, nail biting, and oral sexual pleasures.
They are generally passive, needy, and sensitive to rejection. If, as infants, they were
excessively gratified, their adult oral personality will be predisposed to unusual optimism and
dependency. Because they were overindulged in infancy, they continue to depend on others
to gratify their needs. As a consequence, they are overly gullible, swallow or believe anything
they are told, and trust other people inordinately. Such people are labeled oral passive
personality types.
 Oral aggressive or oral sadistic, occurs during the painful, frustrating eruption of teeth. As a
result of this experience, infants come to view the mother with hatred as well as love. After
all, she has been responsible for everything in the infant’s environment, so she must also be
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responsible for the pain. Persons who become fixated at this level are prone to excessive
pessimism, hostility, and aggressiveness. They are likely to be argumentative and sarcastic,
making so-called biting remarks and displaying cruelty toward others. They tend to be envious
of other people and try to exploit and manipulate them in an effort to dominate. The oral
stage concludes at the time of weaning, although some libido remains if fixation has occurred.
Then the infant’s focus shifts to the other end.
b) Anal Stage – (18 months to three years). The child’s focus of pleasure in this stage is on eliminating
and retaining feces. Freud believed that the experience of toilet training during the anal stage had a
significant effect on personality development. Defecation produces erotic pleasure for the child, but
with the onset of toilet training, the child must learn to postpone or delay this pleasure. For the first
time, gratification of an instinctual impulse is interfered with as parents attempt to regulate the time
and place for defecation. Through society’s pressure, mainly via parent, the child has to learn to
control anal stimulation. Anal fixation, which may be caused by too much punishment during toilet
training, has two possible outcomes: (1) the anal retentive personality that is stingy, with a
compulsive seeking or order or tidiness. The person is generally stubborn and perfectionist. (2) The
anal expulsive personality is an opposite of the former and has a lack of self-control, being generally
messy and careless.
c) Phallic Stage – (ages three to six). The pleasure zone switches to the genitals. This term used by Freud
to indicate the situation in which the child of either sex develops feelings of love and/or hostility for
the parent. In the simple male Oedipus complex (after the Greek Mythology figure who accidentally
killed his father and married his mother), the boy has incestuous feelings of love for the mother and
hostility toward the father. Boys suffer a castration anxiety, where the son believes his father knows
about his desire for his mother and hence fears his father will castrate him. He thus represses his
desire and defensively identifies with his father. Girls, on the other hand, experience Electra conflict,
which exists when the girl feels hostility for the mother and sexual love for the father. Girls suffer
from penis envy, where the daughter is initially attached to her mother, but then a shift of
attachment occurs when she realizes she lacks a penis. She desires her father whom she sees as a
means to obtain a penis substitute (a child). She then represses her desire for her father, incorporates
the values of her mother, and accepts her inherent “inferiority” in society.

The boy comes to resolve the

Oedipus complex by identifying
with his father.

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The phallic personality. Phallic conflicts and their degree of resolution are of major
importance in determining adult relations with and attitudes toward the opposite sex. Poorly
resolved conflicts can cause lingering forms of castration anxiety and penis envy. The so-called phallic
character or personality type evidences strong narcissism. Although continually acting to attract the
opposite sex, these persons have difficulty establishing mature heterosexual relationships. They need
continual recognition and appreciation of their attractive and unique qualities. As long as they receive
such support they function well, but when it is lacking they feel inadequate and inferior.
Freud described the male phallic personality as brash, vain, and self-assured. Men with this
personality try to assert or express their masculinity through activities such as repeated sexual
conquests. The female phallic personality, motivated by penis envy, exaggerates her femininity and
uses her talents and charms to overwhelm and conquer men.
The tense drama of the phallic stage is repressed in all of us. Its effects motivate us as adults
at the unconscious level, and we recall little, if anything, of the conflict.

d) Latency Period – (age six to puberty). During this stage, the superego continues to develop while the
id's energies are suppressed. Children develop social skills, values and relationships with peers and
adults outside of the family. The development of the ego and superego contribute to this period of
calm. The stage begins around the time that children enter into school and become more concerned
with peer relationships, hobbies, and other interests.
The latent period is a time of exploration in which the sexual energy repressed or dormant.
This energy is still present, but it is sublimated into other areas such as intellectual pursuits and social
interactions. This stage is important in the development of social and communication skills and self-
confidence.
As with the other psychosexual stages, Freud believed that it was possible for children to
become fixated or "stuck" in this phase. Fixation at this stage can result in immaturity and an inability
to form fulfilling relationships as an adult.
e) Genital Stage – (puberty on). The onset of puberty causes the libido to become active once again.
During the final stage of psychosexual development, the individual develops a strong sexual interest
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in the opposite sex. This stage begins during puberty but last throughout the rest of a person's life.
Where in earlier stages the focus was solely on individual needs, interest in the welfare of others
grows during this stage. The goal of this stage is to establish a balance between the various life areas.
If the other stages have been completed successfully, the individual should now be well-balanced,
warm, and caring. Unlike the many of the earlier stages of development, Freud believed that the ego
and superego were fully formed and functioning at this point. Younger children are ruled by the id,
which demands immediate satisfaction of the most basic needs and wants. Teens in the genital stage
of development are able to balance their most basic urges against the need to conform to the
demands of reality and social norms.

ALFRED ALDER: BIRTH ORDER THEORY

Alfred Adler attempts to understand how family matters by considering the order of when a child enters a
family (Adler, 1964). Adler's theory posits that different positions in a family birth order may be correlated
both positive and negative life outcomes.

LESSON 2: THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES

Name: Human beings attach names that are meaningful to birthed progenies because names are supposed
to designate us in the world. It is not the person itself no matter how intimately bound it is with the bearer.
It is only a signifier.

Greeks: They were the earliest thinkers in the history of philosophy who inquired on the self and who
questioned myths and moved away from them in attempting to understand reality and respond to perennial
questions of curiosity.

Philosophy: the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when
considered as an academic discipline.

Socrates: He was the first philosopher who ever engaged in a systematic questioning about the self.

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 The true task of the philosopher is to know oneself (life-long mission).

 “The unexamined life is not worth living for human beings.” – Socrates
 Socrates thought that the worst that can happen to anyone is to live but die inside. Most men, in his
reckoning, were really not fully aware of who they were and the virtues that they were supposed to
attain in order to preserve their souls for the afterlife.
 Every man is composed of BODY (imperfect, impermanent aspect to man) and SOUL (perfect and
permanent) [2 important aspects of personhood].
Plato: supported the idea of his master that man is a dual nature of body and soul.
 He added that there are three components of the soul:
o Rational soul: forged by reason and intellect has to govern the affairs of the human person
o Spirited soul: in charge of emotions that should be kept at bay
o Appetitive soul: in charge of base desires like eating, drinking, sleeping, and having sex
 He emphasizes that justice in the human person can only be attained if the three parts of the soul
are working harmoniously with one another. When this ideal state is attained, then the human
person’s soul becomes just virtuous.
Augustine: Following the ancient view of Plato and infusing it with the newfound doctrine of Christianity, he
agreed that man is of a bifurcated nature.
o Body: an aspect of man that dwells in the world and is imperfect continuously yearns to be with
the Divine. It is bound to die on earth.
o Soul: capable of reaching immortality. It is to anticipate living eternally in a realm of spiritual bliss
in communion with God.
 The goal of human person is to attain this communion and bliss with the Divine by living his life on
earth in virtue.
Aquinas: the most eminent 13th century scholar and stalwart of the medieval philosophy, appended
something to this Christian view. He said that man is composed of two parts: matter and form.
o Matter: or hyle in Greek, refers to the common stuff that makes up everything in the universe.
Man’s body is part of this matter.
o Form: morphe in Greek refers to the “essence of a substance or thing.” It is what makes what it is.
 What makes a human person a human person… is his soul, his essence. The soul is what animates
the body; it is what makes us humans.
Descartes: father of modern philosophy, conceived of the human person as having a body and a mind. In his
famous cogito ergo sum, “I think therefore I am,” the fact that one thinks should lead one to conclude
without a trace of doubt that he exists. The self then for Descartes is also a combination of two distinct
entities:
o Cogito: the thing that thinks, which is the mind
o Extenza: extension of the mind, which is the body
 In Descartes’ view, the body is nothing else but a machine that is attached to the mind. The human
person has it but it is not what makes man a man. If at all, that is the mind.
Hume: Scottish philosopher, has a very unique way of looking at man. He said that the self is not an entity
over and beyond the physical body. The self is nothing but a bundle of impressions. If one tries to examine
one’s experiences, he finds that they can all be categorized into two: impressions and ideas.

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o Impressions: the basic objects of our experience or sensation. They therefore form the core of our
thoughts. Impressions therefore are vivid because they are products of our direct experience with
the world.
o Ideas: are copies of impressions. Because of this, they are not as lively and vivid as our impressions.
 According to Hume, the self is simply “a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed
each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and movement.”
Kant: thinks that the things that men perceive around them are not just randomly infused into the human
person without an organizing principle that regulates the relationship of all these impressions.
 Apparatuses of the Mind: a mind that organizes the impressions that men get from the external
world. Along with it goes the “self.”
 The Self: organizes the different impressions that one gets in relation to his own existence. He
therefore suggests that it is an actively engaged intelligence in man that synthesizes all knowledge
and experience. In addition, it is also the seat of knowledge acquisition for all human persons.
Ryle: He blatantly denies the concept of an internal, nonphysical self. For him, what truly matters is the
behavior that a person manifests. He suggests that the self is not an entity one can locate and analyze but
simply the convenient name that people use to refer to all the behaviors that people make.
Mearleau-Ponty: a phenomenologist who says that the mind and body are so intertwined that they cannot
be separated from one another. One cannot find any experience that is not an embodied experience. All
experience is embodied. One’s body is his opening toward his existence to the world. Because of these
bodies, mean are in the world. The living body, his thoughts, emotions, and experiences are all one.

LESSON 3: THE SELF, SOCIETY, AND CULTURE

The Self, is commonly defined by the following characteristics:
 Separate: it is meant that the self is distinct from other selves. It is always unique and has its own
identity. One cannot be another person.
 Self-contained and Independent: in itself it can exist. Its distinctness allows it to be self-contained
with its own thoughts, characteristics, and volition. It does not require any other self for it to exist.
 Consistent: it has a personality that is enduring and therefore can be expected to persist for quite
some time. Its consistency also means that a particular self’s traits, characteristics, tendencies, and
potentialities are more or less the same.
 Unitary: it is the center of all experiences and thoughts that run through a certain person. It is like
the chief command post in an individual where all processes, emotions, and thoughts converge.
 Private: each person sorts out information, feelings and emotions, and thought processes within the
self. This whole process is never accessible to anyone but the self.

Social Constructivist Perspective:

 A merged view of “the person” and “their social context” where the boundaries of one cannot easily
be separated from the boundaries of the other. One can see that the self is always at the mercy of
external circumstances that bump and collide with it. It is ever changing and dynamic, allowing
external influences to take part in its shaping.
 The self should not be seen as a static entity that stays through and through. Rather, the self has to
be seen as something that is in unceasing flux, in a constant struggle with external reality and is

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malleable in its dealings with society. The self is always in participation with social life and its identity
subject ted to influences here and there; hence, self is truly multifaceted. It is capable of morphing
and fitting itself into any circumstances it finds itself in.

THE SELF AND CULTURE

Anthropology: the study of human culture – the shared values, beliefs, and practices of a group of people
Marcel Mauss: French anthropologist who argues that the self has the ability to remain as the same person
and turning chameleon by adapting to one’s context. Every self has two faces: personne and moi.
 Personne: composed of the social concepts of what it means to be who he is
 Moi: a person’s sense of who he is, his body, and his basic identity, his biological givenness.
The dynamics and capacity for different personne can be illustrated better cross-culturally.
In the Philippines, Filipinos tend to consider their territory as a part of who they are. This includes considering
their immediate surrounding as a part of them.

Language is another interesting aspect of social constructivist perspective. It is a salient part of culture and
ultimately, has a tremendous effect in our crafting of the self. The Filipino language is incredibly interesting
to talk about.
 Mahal kita: the Filipino brand of articulating love does not specify the subject and the object of love;
there is no specification of who loves and who is loved.
 Mahal: has two connotations – desire and value
 Gender-neutral: the distinction is clear between a third person male and female pronoun in English,
Spanish, and other languages. In Filipino, it is plain, “siya.” Our language does not specify between
male and female. We both call it “siya.”

THE SELF AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOCIAL WORLD

More than his givenness (personality, tendencies, propensities, among others), one is believed to be in active
participation in the shaping of the self. Recent studies, however, indicate that men and women in their
growth and development engage actively in the shaping of the self. The unending terrain of metamorphosis
of the self is mediated by language.

Mead and Vygotsky: the way that human person develop is with the use of language acquisition and
interaction with others. The way that we process information is normally a form of an internal dialogue in
our head. Cognitive and emotional development of a child is always a mimicry of how it is done in the social
world, in the external reality where he is in. Mead and Vygotsky treat the human mind as something that is
made, constituted through language as experienced in the external world and as encountered in dialogs with
others.
 Mead: A child conceptualizes his notion of “self” through language and role play. It is thought this
that a child delineates the “I” from the rest.
 Vygotsky: A child internalizes real-life dialogs that he has had with others, with his family, his primary
caregiver, or his playmates.

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SELF IN FAMILIES
Sociology: the study of human societies and the groups that form those societies

Family: the basic unit of society. As a matter of evolutionary fact, human persons are one of those beings
whose importance of family cannot be denied. Human beings are born virtually helpless and the dependency
period of a human baby to its parents for nurturing is relatively longer than most other animals. In trying to
achieve the goal of becoming a fully realized human, a child enters a system of relationships, most important
of which is the family.
 By being in the family, human persons learn the ways of living and therefore their selfhood. It is what
a person to become that serves as the basis for this person’s progress. Those who develop and
eventually grow to become adult who still did not learn simple mattes like basic manners of conduct
failed in internalizing due to parental or familial failure to initiate them into the world.
 Without a family, biologically and sociologically, a person may not even survive or become a human
person. One is who he is because of his family for the most part.

GENDER AND THE SELF

Gender: an important aspect of the self. It is one of those loci of the self that is subject to alteration, change,
and development. To find, express, and live one’s identity form part of selfhood that one cannot just dismiss.
One maneuvers into the society and identifies himself as who he is by also taking note of gender identities.
 Oftentimes, society forces a particular identity unto us depending on our sex and/or gender.
 Nancy Chodorow: a feminist, argues that because mothers take the role of taking care of children,
there is a tendency for girls to imitate the same and reproduce the same kind of mentality of women
as care providers in the family.
 Men, on the other hand, in the periphery of their own family, are taught early on how to behave like
a man. This normally includes holding in one’s emotion, being tough, fatalistic, not to worry about
danger, and admiration for hard physical labor. Masculinity is learned by integrating a young boy in
a society.
 Gender has to be personally discovered and asserted and not dictated by culture and the society.
 My Elementary Self
 My High School Self
 My College Self

LESSON 4: THE SELF AS COGNITIVE CONSTRUCT

Psychology: is the scientific study of mental processes and behavior.

Self: is the sense of personal identity and of who we are as individuals.

William James: one of the earliest psychologists to study the self and conceptualized the self as having two
aspects: the “I” and the “me.”
 “I”: the thinking, acting, and feeling self
 “Me”: the physical characteristics as well as psychological capabilities that makes who you are

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Carl Rogers: his theory of personality also used the same terms.
 “I”: as the one who acts and decides
 “Me”: what you think or feel about yourself as an object
 Self-schema: our organized system or collection of knowledge about who we are. It may also include
interests, work, course, age, name, and physical characteristics, among others. As you grow and
adapt to the changes around you, they also change.
Identity: composed of personal characteristics, social roles, and responsibilities, as well as affiliations that
define who one is.
Self-concept: what basically comes to your mind when you are asked about who you are.

Theories generally see the self and identity as mental constructs, created and recreated in memory.

Frontal lobe of the brain: current researches point this as the specific area in the brain associated with the
processes concerning the self.

Sigmund Freud: saw the self, its mental processes, and one’s behavior as theresults of the interaction
between the id, the ego, and the superego.

However, one cannot fully discount the effects of society and culture on the formation of the self, identity,
and self-concept. Social interaction always has a part to play in who we think we are. This is not nature vs.
nurture but instead a nature-and-nurture perspective.

G. H. Mead’s symbolic interactionism: the self is created and developed through human interaction. Social
interaction and group affiliation, therefore, are vital factors in creating our self-concept especially in the
aspect of providing us with our social identity or our perception of who we are based on our membership to
certain groups.

Self-awareness: times when we are aware of our self-concepts. It also presents us with at least three other
self-schema:
o Actual self: who you are at the moment
o Ideal self: who you like to be
o Ought self: who you think you should be
 Deindividuation: At other times, especially with large crowds, we may experience the loss of
individual self-awareness and individual accountability in groups.

Carver and Scheier: identified two types of self that we can be aware of
 Private self: your internal standards and private thoughts and feelings
 Public self: your public image commonly geared toward having a good presentation of yourself to
others.

Self-esteem: one of the common concepts associated with the self. It is defined as our own positive or
negative perception or evaluation of ourselves.

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Social comparison theory: we learn about ourselves, the appropriateness of our behaviors, as well as our
social status by comparing aspects of our selves with other people. There are two kinds of social
comparison:
 Downward social comparison: more common type of comparing ourselves with others. We create a
positive self-concept by comparing ourselves with those who are worse off than us.
 Upward social comparison: comparing ourselves with those who we are better off than us. While is
can be a form of motivation, a lot of those who do this actually felt lower self-esteem as they highlight
more of their weakness or inequities.
Self-evaluation maintenance theory: states that we can feel threatened when someone out-perform us,
especially when that person is close to us.
In an attempt to increase or maintain self-esteem, some people become narcissistic.
 Narcissism: trait characterized by overly high self-esteem, self-admiration, and self-centeredness.
They are often charismatic because of how they take care of their image.

People with high self-esteem are commonly described as outgoing, adventurous, and adaptable in a lot of
situations.

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