Introduction to Understanding the Self

SELF

is the person that someone normally or truly is. •It also refers to the ENTIRE PERSON of an individual.

nature

The physical and personality traits determined by your genes stay the same irrespective of where you were born and raised.

AGENTS OF OUR BEING

These are some factors that influence the development of our being (self/identity) or what the developmental specialists and social scientists would call

Identity

distinguishes one from another or can be used to compare (similarities or differences) a person to other persons

Genetics (Biological Science)

explain that our TRAITS are PASSED ON to humanity from ONE GENERATION to ANOTHER, and these transmitted traits serve as a BLUEPRINT of our self and make us predispose to certain self expression ( eg. attitude, behaviour, or tendencies).

The self

is an individual person as the object of his or her own reflective consciousness. This reference is necessarily subjective, thus it is a reference by a subject to the same subject.

Our Identity

product of a complex process of combinations and integration of traits and characteristics from various possible sources. Some of the traits are acquired consciously and voluntarily, while other traits are acquired unconsciously and involuntarily.

nurture

refers to personal experiences refers to your childhood, or how you were brought up.

Self

refers to the TOTAL CHARACTERISTICS or QUALITIES of a person both known or unknown to others (but KNOWN to self).

Formation of Personality

refers to the process of character and traits integration or forming of identity.

Waning Stage

when a child slowly withdraws from strong parental/family attachment to form new relationship with others outside from the family. (Peer group. school. Church, neighbors, friends)

Environmental factor

• broadly includes the physical and communal elements in our everyday surroundings, and are invariably dealt with by individuals in a specific region or area. •This is not only about the physical properties ( climate, temperature, forms of land, etc. ) of the surrounding but also includes the larger society/community and the expectations and norms operating in that particular locality/place.

Heredity factor

• is a biological process by which certain traits and characteristics are passed on from one generation to another. •This is non-negotiable and is relatively fixed and permanent. •It dictates our physical attributes (height, complexion, hair...), some cognitive traits (IQ), and some other personal characteristics ( emotional tendencies) upon birth.

Self-concept

• is generally thought of as our individual perceptions of our behavior, abilities, and unique characteristics. It is essentially a mental picture of who you are as a person. For example, beliefs such as "I am a good friend" or "I am a kind person" are part of an overall...

Person-volition factor

• is perhaps the most controversial one. •It refers to the inclination of the person to form and construct a specific identity which will set him/her apart or unique compared with others. It emanates from within the mentality of an individual, but also brought about by the aggregated social-life experiences. •They maybe referred to as deviant or non-conformist but being one is not necessarily negative. In fact, some of these people turned in to become trend-setters, discoverers, inventors, scientists, revolutionaries.

Environment (Social Science)

•The opposing side argues that the self should be principally viewed as an outcome of various nurturing factors in the context of one's social life. •Different field of ________________ stress how group life (formal or informal) affects individual's behavior and attitude, and emphasizes the impact of various social institutions to the self-construct of the individual.

IDENTITY

•is defined as the qualities, beliefs, and etc. that make a particular person or group different from others. •It is also a DISTINGUISHING CHARACTER or PERSONALITY of an individual or group.

Social factor

•refers to the influences of significant people in a person's life. •It primarily includes the FAMILY in which most of the basic attitudinal and behavioral attributes of individuals are shaped.