THE ‘ME’ AND THE ‘I’
•All human thoughts are the property of some individual self.
•All thoughts are ever-changing, or never static.
•When the emphasis changes from one entity to another, there is a continuity of thought.
•Thoughts deal with things that vary from the consciousness itself and are separate.
•Consciousness can focus on a given object and not on others.
WILLIAM JAMES (1842-1910)
•American Philosopher and Psychologist
•Professor of Psychology and Philosophy at Harvard University
•Wrote a book entitled “The principles of Psychology”
•“Theory of the Self”
Reviewer 3
Perspective in Psychology
•A separate object or individual to be discussed or described in the person's personal experiences.
•Divided into three components: the material self, the social self, and the spiritual self.
THE ‘ME’ SELF
The material self
•The objects or items belonging to the individual or entities to which the person belongs.
•(e.g. The person’s body, his family, clothes, his money)
The spiritual self
•Refers to the more real or permanent self in contrast with the material and social self.
•The most personal and subjective aspect of the body.
•Also interested in the introspection process (self-observation).
The social self
•Refers to who the person is in a particular social situation
•Changes in behavior are usually due to the different social situations in which the individual fin
ds himself.
THE ‘I’ SELF
•Pure Ego = person’s soul or mind
•Comprises the totality of the person’s identity
GLOBAL AND DIFFERENTIATED SELF MODELS
THE GLOBAL SELF
•Represents the overall importance a individual attaches to himself.
•You are highly affected by groups of people you communicate with every day.
•The global self is the culmination of all the interactions in culture that make up the kind of person he is now.
