Lesson 3:

The Self as Cognitive

Construct
Jessica C. Guillermo
Instructor
  This activity has two parts that try to compare how we look at
ourselves against how people perceive us depending on how we
present ourselves to them. For the first part, list 10 to 15 qualities
or things that you think define who you are around the human
figure representing you.
 For the second part, in the space below, write “I am ___________
(your name). Who do you think I am based on what you see me do
ACTIVITY or hear me say?” Pass your paper around for two to three minutes
without looking who writes on it. As you fill out the paper of your
classmates, write briefly and only those that you observe about
the person. Do not use any bad words and do not write your name.
After the allotted period, pass all the paper to your teacher who
will distribute them to the respective owners.
 Compare what you wrote about yourself to those written
by your classmates. What aspects are similar and what are not?
What aspects are always true to you? What aspects are sometimes
ANALYSIS true or circumstantial? What aspects do you think are not really part
of your personality?
 - There are various definitions of the “self” and other similar or
interchangeable concepts in psychology.
- Other concepts similar to self are identity and self-concept:
Identity is composed of personal characteristics, social roles, and
responsibilities, as well as affiliations that define who one is.
Self-concept is what basically comes to your mind when you are asked
about who you are.
SIMILAR - Self, identity, and self-concept are not fixed in one time frame.
CONCEPTS - Carl Rogers captured this idea in his concept of self-schema or our
organized system or collection of knowledge about who we are.
- Self-image – internal dictionary
- Ideal Self vs Real Self
Congruence – alignment of ideal and real selves
Incongruence – disparity between ideal and real
selves
- Self-esteem (self worth)
Negative
Labels
.
 “There is nothing noble about being superior to some other
man.
Hindu Proverb The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.”
- Theories generally see the self and identity as mental constructs,
created and recreated in memory.
- Freud saw the self, its mental processes, and one’s behavior as
the results of the interaction between the Id, the Ego, and the
Superego.
- There are three reasons why self and identity are social products:
1. We do not create ourselves out of nothing. Society helped
in creating the foundations of who we are.
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 is important to us may also have been
influenced by what is important in our social or historical
context.
- Social interaction and group affiliation are vital factors
in creating our self-concept especially in the aspect of
providing us with our social identity;
- There are times when we are aware of our self-
concepts; this is also called self-awareness;
- Carver and Scheier 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 toward having a good presentation of
yourself to others.
- Self-awareness also presents us with at least three
other self-schema:
• The “actual” self is who you are at the moment
• The “ideal” self is who you like to be
• The “ought” self is who you think you should be
- Self-awareness may be positive or negative depending
on the circumstances and our next course of action.
- Our group identity and self-awareness also has a great
impact on our self-esteem, defined as our own positive
or negative perception or evaluation of ourselves.
- One of the ways in which our social relationship affects our
self-esteem is through social comparison:
• The downward social comparison is the more common
type of comparing ourselves with others, by comparing
ourselves with those who are worse off than us.
• The upward social comparison which is comparing
ourselves with those who are better off than us.
- Social comparison also entails what is called self-evaluation
maintenance theory, which states that we can feel
threatened when someone out-performs us, especially when
that person is close to us.
- In the attempt to increase or maintain self-esteem, some
people become narcissistic, a “trait characterized by overly
high self-esteem, self-admiration, and self-centeredness.”
- There is a thin line between high self-esteem and
narcissism and there are a lot of tests and measurements
for self-esteem like the Rosenberg scale.
- Though self-esteem is a very important concept related to
the self, studies have shown that it only has a correlation,
not causality, to positive outputs and outlook.
- Programs, activities, and parenting styles to boost self-
esteem should only be for rewarding good behavior and
other achievements and not for the purpose of merely
trying to make children feel better about themselves or to
appease them when they get angry or sad.