LESSON II

SELF-AWARENESS LEADS TO SELF-DISCOVERY AND

SELF-ACTUALIZATION

 LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lesson, the students should be able to:

1. Understand one self better and can be express one’s own ideas about
the meaning of self-concept.

2. Identify his needs that can help him to discover more about himself.
Express what his/her needs are, their feeling of satisfaction for each
need, and state how the satisfaction or lack of satisfaction can affect the
fulfillment of potentials within the limits of their capability.

3. Assess himself if he possess the characteristics that will make him a

self-actualized person.

4. Be motivated to develop his strength and minimize his weaknesses

through self-discovery thus, acquiring traits that are socially desirable in
order to become self-actualizers.

MEANING OF SELF- CONCEPT

Self- concept is defined as the way one perceives himself, be it positive

or negative, high or low which is a result of one’s belief and of other’s belief.

Understand one’s self is a key to happiness as one would be able to

identify his weaknesses and strengths, thus, enabling him to undergo self
improvement. The great philosopher, Aristotle believes that knowing and
understanding oneself can lead to the true knowledge.

True knowledge is finding meaning to one’s existence, searching the

path of his direction and aiming to reach his destination.

In Roger’s theory, he coined the term “fully functioning persons”. They

are people who strive to experience life to the fullest, who live in the here and
now, and who trust their own feelings. They are sensitive to the needs and
rights of others but do not allow society’s standards to shape their feelings or
actions to an excessive degree. Fully functioning people aren’t saints- they
can and do lose their temper or act in any ways they later regret. But through
life, their actions become increasingly dominated by constructive impulses.
They are in close touch with their own values and feelings, and experience life
more deeply than most other persons.
 If all human beings are capable of becoming fully functioning, why, then, they
don’t succeed? Rogers contends that it lies in the anxiety generated when life
experiences are inconsistent with our ideas about ourselves – in other words, there
is a gap between self- concept and reality. For instance, a woman believes that she
is very likable, and that she makes friends easily. One day, she happens to overhear
a conversation between two other people who describe her as moody, difficult to get
along with, and definitely not very likable. She is crushed; here is an information that
is highly inconsistent with her self- concept. S a result of this experience, anxiety
occurs, and she adopts one or more psychological defenses to reduce it. The most
common of these is distortion; for example, the woman convinces herself that the
people discussing her do not really know her very well, or that they have
misinterpreted her behavior. Another defense is denial. Here, the woman may refuse
to admit to herself that she heard the conversation, or that she understood what the
other people were saying.

In the short run, such maneuvers are successful in the sense that they help
reduce anxiety; however, they produce a wider gap between an individual’s self-
concept and reality. The larger gap, the greater an individual’s maladjustment and
personal happiness.

A distortion in the self- concept is common because most people grow up in

an atmosphere of conditional positive self- regard. That is, they learn that others,
such as their parents, will approve of them only when they behave in a certain ways
and express certain feelings. As a result, individuals are forced to deny the existence
of various impulses and feelings and their self- concepts become badly distorted.

Now, in order to align the self- concept with reality the unconditional
positive self- regard will help the person to accomplish this goal. It is setting in
which the individual will realize that he can still be accepted by another person no
matter what he say or do. This found to be of great help to enhance people’s level of
personal happiness and adjustment.

Maslow is another humanistic theorist who is well known for his Hierarchy of
Needs, ranging from physiological needs, safety and security needs, belongingness
needs, esteem needs and lastly the self- actualization needs. According to him,
lower- order needs in hierarchy must be satisfied before we can turn to more
complex, high- order needs.

Maslow did not only focus on the need of hierarchy but also gave attention to
the study of people who are described as psychological healthy. These are
individuals who have attained high levels of self- actualization. What are such
people like?

CHARACTERISTICS OF SELF- ACTUALIZED PEOPLE

1. They accept themselves for what they are.

 2. They recognize their shortenings as well as their strengths.

3. Being in touch with their own personalities, they are less conformist or
inhibited than most of us.

4. They are well aware of the rules imposed by society but feel greater
freedom to ignore them.

5. They seem to retain their childhood wonder and amazement with the
world. For them, life continues to be an exciting adventure than
humdrum routine.

6. They seem to achieve peak experiences in which they experience

powerful feelings of unity with the universe and tremendous waves of
power and wonder. Such experiences appear to be linked to personal
growth, for after them, individual’s report feeling more spontaneous,
more appreciative of life, and less concerned with the problems of
everyday life.

To become self- actualized, we have to understand more our self- concept.

Many theorists have suggested that in several respects, our self- concept has
two aspects; self- esteem and self- monitoring (Baron, 1992)

SELF- ESTEEM: SOME EFFECTS OF FEELING GOOD OR BAD

Self- esteem is extent to which our self – evaluation is favorable or

unfavorable.

Self- esteem is related to many forms of behavior. Persons who have

high self- esteem seem to report fewer negative emotions and les depression.
They can handle stress and experience fewer negative health effects. They
are less susceptible to influence, more confident of achieving their goals.
While, high self- esteemed individuals accept criticisms constructively, the low
self- esteemed individuals seem to be easily affected with negative feedback
and feel unworthy and rejected.

SELF- MONITORING: PUBLIC APPEARANCE AND PRIVATE REALITY

Self- monitoring is the ability to adjust his actions to suit and produce
positive reactions from other people. High self- monitors can easily change to
match the current situation. Low self- monitors stick to their own values and
attitudes. Thus, they like people who are more or less resemble their own
behavior, beliefs and views.
HOW ACCURATE DO YOU KNOW YOURSELF?
(Adopted from Baron, 1992)

Directions: Rate yourself from 1-7 on the following traits: 4 is the middle of
the scale. Choose ten people who know you and ask them to rate you.
Compare the result with your own answer. Average their rating and find out if
the difference is big.

1. Cautious Adventurous
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

2. Insensitive Sensitive
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

3. Calm Anxious
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

4. Cooperative Uncooperative
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

5. Irresponsible Responsible
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

6. Composed Excitable
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

7. Sociable Shy
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8. Suspicious Trusting
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

9. Imaginative Down-to-earth
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

10.Careless Careful

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
 EXERCISE ON LESSON II

Name: ______________________________________Score: ___________

Subject & Section: __________________ Instructor: _________________
Course & Year: _____________________ Date: _____________________

Directions: Make an evaluation of yourself by answering the following

questions and write it in narrative form:

1. Who am i?

2. What are my strengths and weaknesses?

3. What are my goals and aspirations in life?

4. How can I achieve or maintain high self- esteem?

5. Can I be a self- actualized person?

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 My Declaration of Self- Esteem
What I am is good enough if I would only be it openly.
Carl Rogers

I am Me.

In the entire world, there is no one else exactly like me. There are people who
have some parts like me but no one adds up exactly like me. Therefore,
everything that comes out of me is authentically mine because I alone choose
it. I won everything about me- my body, including everything it does; my mind
including all my thoughts and ideas; my eyes, including the images of all they
behold; my feelings, whatever they might be anger, joy, frustrations, love,
disappointments, excitement; my mouth and all my words that come out to it-
polite, sweet, or rough, correct or incorrect; my voice, loud or soft; and all my
actions, whether they be to others or to myself, I won my own fantasies, my
dreams, my hopes, my fears. I own all my triumphs and successes, all my
failures and mistakes. Because I own all of me, I can become intimately
acquainted with me. By so doing, I can love me and be friendly with me in all
my parts. I can then make it possible for all for me to work in my best interest.
I know there are aspects about myself that puzzle me, and other aspects that I
do not know. But as long as I am friendly and loving to myself, I can
courageously and hopefully look for the solutions to the puzzles and ways to
find out more about me. Whatever, I look and sound, whatever I say and do,
and whatever I and represents where I am at that moment in time. When I
review later how I looked and sounded, what I said and did, and how I thought
and felt, some parts may turn out to be fitting. I can discard that which is
unfitting and keep which proved fitting and invent something new for that
which I discarded. I can see hear, feel, think, say and do. I have the tools to
survive, to be close to others, to be productive, to make sense and order out
of the world of people and things outside of me. I own me and therefore. I can
engineer me. I am ME and I am OK.

Source: NSTP, Developing a Responsible Citizen Towards Community

Development, 2008