William James (1𝟾90) ̶ one

of the earliest psychologists

to study the self and he
conceptualized the self as
having two aspects, the “I”
and “ME’.
 The “ME” on the other hand is
The “I” is the
the physical characteristics as
thinking, acting, well as psychological
capabilities that makes who
and feeling self you are.
CARL ROGERS (1959) –
theory of personality
also used the same
terms, the “I” as the one
who acts and decides
while the “ME” is what
you think or feel about
yourself as an object
Other concepts similar to self are
IDENTITY and SELF-CONCEPT

IDENTITY SELF-CONCEPT

Is composed of personal Is what basically comes

characteristics , social to your mind when you
roles, and responsibilities, are asked about who
as well as affiliations that you are
define who one is
 Hobbies

Family
SELF Religion

Nationality

The schema is not limited to example above. It may also include your
interests, your work, your course, our age, your name, your physical characteristics,
etc. As you grow and adapt to the changes around your, they also change. But
they are not passive receivers, they actively shape and affect how you see, think,
and feel about things object (Gleitman, Gross, and Reisberg 2011, 617; Jhangiani
and Tarry 2014, 107-10𝟴)
 Theories generally see the self and identify as mental constructs, created
and re-created in memory. Current researches point to the frontal lobe of the
brain as the specific area in the brain associated with processes concerning the
self. ( Elmore, Oyserman and Smith 2017, 75)

Under the theory of symbolic interactionism, there are at least three

reason why self and identity are social products (Elmore, Oyserman, and Smitch
2012, 76)

1. We do not create ourselves out of nothing

2. Whether we like to admit it or not, we actually need others to affirm and

reinforce who we think we are

3. What we think as important to us may also have been influenced by what is

important in our social or historical context
 Social interaction and 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.

CARVER and Scheier (19𝟾1) identified two types of self that we can be aware of:
1) the private self or your internal standards and private thoughts and feelings,
and
2) the public self or your public image commonly geared towards having a
good presentation of yourself to other (Hogg and Vaughan 2010, 69)
 SELF-AWARENESS
Actual

Ideal Ought

The ‘ACTUAL’ self is who you are at the moment

The ‘IDEAL’ self is who you like to be

The ‘OUGHT’ self is who we think we should be

SELF-AWARENESS may be positive or negative
depending on the circumstances and our next
course.
In other instances, self-awareness can be too
much that we are concerned about being observed
and criticized by others, also known as self-
consciousness
According to the social comparison theory, we
learn about ourselves, the appropriateness of our
behavior, as well as our social status.
 Our group identity and self-awareness also has a great impact on our
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
(Jhangiani and Tarry 2014, 125; Gleitman, Gross, and Reisberg 201, 617).
One of the ways in which our social relationship affects our self-esteem is
through social comparison. According to the social comparison theory, we learn
about ourselves, the appropriateness of our behaviors, as well as our social
statues by comparing aspects of ourselves with other people (Jhangiani and
Tarry 2014, 139; Hogg and Vaughan 2010, 72).
The downward social comparison is the more common type of
comparing ourselves with others. As the name implies, we create a positive self-
concept by comparing ourselves with those who are worse off than us. Another
comparison is the upward social comparison which is comparing ourselves with
those who are better off than us.

SELF-EVALUATION Maintenance
States that we can feel threatened when someone out performs us so
we can react in three ways:
• We distance ourselves from that person or redefine our relationship with them
 We may also consider the importance of the aspect or skill in which you were
out performed
 We may also strengthen our resolve to improve that certain aspect of
ourselves

However, in the attempt to increase or maintain self-esteem, some

people become Narcissistic. Narcissism is a “trait characterized by
characterized by overly high self-esteem, self-admiration, and self centeredness.