Republic of the Philippines

LAGUNA STATE POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY

San Pablo City Campus

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF-(GEC 101)

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL

Lesson 1
What is Philosophy?
It is defined as the study of knowledge or wisdom.
It comes from the Greek words, philo (love) and sophia (wisdom)
It gives us a sense of purpose on this earth.
It differs from one another, and represent who we are.
Without philosophy, life will be meaningless.

The Philosophers
Socrates “Know Yourself”
“Know yourself” – tells each man to bring his inner self to light.

Self is composed of two things:

Physical realm – consists of anything we sense, changing and deteriorating.
Ideal realm – concept of beauty, truth and goodness that is unchanging and eternal.
(1) body – imperfect and impermanent aspect
(2) soul – perfect and permanent aspect

Plato “The Ideal Self, The Perfect Self”

He supported the idea that man is a dual nature of body and soul.

Three components of the soul:

(1) rational soul - forged by reason and intellect has to govern the affairs of the human person
(2) spirited soul – in charge of emotions
(3) appetitive soul - in charge of base desires, like eating, drinking, sleeping, and sexual acts.

Justice in human person can only be attained if the three parts of the soul are working harmoniously with one another

St. Augustine
Loving God means loving one’s fellowmen; and loving one’s fellowmen denotes never doing any harm to another or, as golden
principle of justice states, doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.

The body is bound to die on earth and the soul is to anticipate living eternally in a realm of spiritual bliss in communion with God.

Rene Descartes “I think therefore, I am”

“Father of Modern Philosophy”

The fact that one thinks should lead one to conclude without a trace of doubt that he exists.
Two distinct entities of self:
(1) Cogito – mind
(2) Extenza – body

In his view, the body is nothing else but a machine that is attached to the mind. The human person has it but it is not what makes a man
a man. Although mind and the body are independent from each other and serve their own functions, man must use his own mind and
thinking abilities to investigate, analyze, experiment, and develop himself

John Locke “Personal Identity”

The matter of personal identity deals with the question, “What makes it true that a person at a time is the same thing as a person at
another time?”
Famed in his concept of “Tabula Rasa” or blank slate that assumes the nurture of human’s development.

David Hume “The self is a bundle of impression”

He believes that one can only know what comes from the senses and experiences.
Self - “a bundle or collection of different perceptions”.
Empiricism – all knowledge comes from senses and experiences.

The self is nothing else but a bundle of impressions.

(1) Impressions - are the basic object of our direct experience or sensation.
(2) Ideas – are copies of impressions.

In reality, what one thinks as unified self is simply a combination of all experiences with a particular person.

Immanuel Kant “Respect for Self”

All men are persons gifted with the same basic rights and should treat other as equals.
Consciousness is the central feature of the self.

The consciousness is divided into:

(1) Internal Self - composed of psychological states and informed decisions; remembering our own state, how can we combine the new
and old ideas with our mind.
(2) External Self - made up of ourselves and the physical world where the representation of objects

Lesson 2
Anthropological Perspective

What is culture?
 It is the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group.
Culture is “an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a system of inherited conceptions expressed in
symbolic forms by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and their attitudes toward life”
(Geertz 1973).

Embodiment is often defined as "how culture gets under the skin" (Anderson-Fye 2012, 16).

The Self in Different Cultural Context

Collectivist characterized by emphasis on cohesiveness among individuals and prioritization of the group over the self. Collectivism
views the group as the primary entity, with the individuals lost along the way. Harmony and the interdependence of group members are
stressed and valued.

Individualist characterized by individualism, which is the prioritization or emphasis, of the individual over the entire group. The
individual identifies primarily with self, with the needs of the individual being satisfied before those of the group. Looking after and
taking care of oneself, being self-sufficient, guarantees the well-being of the group.

Traits of Individualism
 "I" identity.
 Promotes individual goals, initiative and achievement.
 Individual rights are seen as being the most important. Rules attempt to ensure self-importance and individualism.
 Independence is valued; there is much less of a drive to help other citizens or communities than in collectivism.
 Relying or being dependent on others is frequently seen as shameful.
 People are encouraged to do things on their own; to rely on themselves
 People strive for their own successes.

Traits of Collectivism
 Each person is encouraged to be an active player in society, to do what is best for society as a whole rather than themselves.
 The rights of families, communities, and the collective supersede those of the individual.
 Rules promote unity, brotherhood, and selflessness.
 Working with others and cooperating is the norm; everyone supports each other as a community, family or nation
more than as an individual.

Weaknesses of the two cultures

People in individualist cultures are susceptible to loneliness, and people in collectivist cultures can have a strong fear of rejection.

Clifford Geertz – American Anthropologist

Aim of most his work is to provide an understanding and acknowledgement of “thick description” that exists within cultures;
understanding other people’s understandings of things.
Thick description is an anthropological method of explaining with as much detail as possible the reason behind human actions.

Lesson 3
Sociological Perspective

Self in contemporary literature and even common sense, is common defined by the following characteristics: “separate, self-contained,
independent, consistent, unitary, and private” (Stevens, 1996).

Separate – distinct from others.

Self-contained and independent - distinctness allows it to have its own thoughts, characteristics, and volition.
Consistent - a particular self’s traits, characteristics, tendencies and potentialities are more or less the same.
Unitary – the self is the center of all experiences and thoughts.
Private – the self is isolated from the external world.

Society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same geographical or
social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.

Culture is the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group.

The concern then of this lesson, is in understanding the vibrant relationship between the self and the external reality. This phenomenon
is known as social constructivism.

The self is always in participation with social life and its identity subjected to influences here and there.

“Social constructionists argue for a merged view of ‘the person’ and ‘their social context’ where the boundaries of one cannot easily be
separated from the boundaries of the other” (Stevens 1996, p.222).

The Self and Culture

According to Marcel Mauss, a French anthropologist, every self has two faces:
(1) Moi refers to a person’s sense of who he is, his body, and his basic identity; his biological givenness.

(2) Personne is composed of the social concepts of what it means to be who he is, and has much to do with what it means to live in a
particular institution, a particular family, a particular religion, a particular nationality, and how to behave given the expectations
and influences from others.

The dynamics and capacity for different personne can be illustrated better cross-culturally.

Examples:
A man adjusting life in another country.
A man violating road instructions.
A man who’s sweet and when courting a woman and suddenly change after hearing the sweet “yes”.
Distinction between different languages.

The Self and the Development of the Social World

So how do people actively produce their social worlds?

George Herbert Mead – a child assumes the “other” through language and role play.
Can you notice how little children are fond of playing role play with their toys as they play with them?

Lev Vygotzky – a child internalizes real-life dialogs that he has had with others, with his family, his primary caregivers or his
playmates.
Can you notice how children eventually become what they watch?

Self in Families
The kinds of family that we are born in and the resources available to us will certainly affect us and the kind of development that we
will have as we go through life.

In trying to achieve the goal of becoming a fully realized human, a child enters a system of relationships, most important is, the family.
Human persons learn the ways of living and therefore their selfhood by being in a family.

It is what a family initiates a person to become that serves as the basis for this person’s progress. Babies internalize ways and styles that
they view from the family. That is by imitating the language of the primary agents of rearing, their family,

Gender and Self

Gender is one of those loci of the self that is subject to alteration, change and development. It is important to give one the leeway to
find, express, and his live his identity.
Gender has to personally discovered and asserted and not dictated by culture and the society.

Nancy Chodorow, a feminist, argues that because mothers take the role of taking care of children, there is a tendency for girls to
imitate the same and reproduce the same kind of mentality as women as care provides in the family.

Men on the other hand, in the periphery of their own family, are taught early on how to behave like a man. This normally includes
holding in one’s emotion, being tough, fatalistic, not to worry about danger, and admiration for hard physical labor.

Lesson 4
Psychological Perspective
Personality is a pattern of relatively permanent traits and unique characteristics that give both consistency and individuality to a
person’s behavior (Feist & Feist, 2009).

Structures of Personality

Id
Dominant during infancy.
Operate on pleasure principle.

Superego
Ideals and morals
Operate on morality or the conscience principle.

Ego
Realistic and socially accepted.
Intervene between id impulses and superego inhibitions.
Operates on reality principle.

Three Levels of Mental Mind

Conscious contains whatever we are thinking about or experiencing at a given moment (all that our senses detect).
It is everything that we are aware of and it contains our ego.

Preconscious contains memories that are nor part of the current thoughts but can readily be available to mind if the need arises
(equivalent to our memory). It contains the superego.

Unconscious level contains thoughts, desires and impulses we are unaware of.
The explanation for the meaning of dreams, slips of the tongue and certain kinds of forgetting (repression).
Most of unconscious thoughts were conscious but has been actively repressed-driven from consciousness because they were too anxiety
provoking. It is where the Id resides.

Psychodynamic Stages of Development

Oral Stage
Age: birth – 1.5 years
Focus: mouth

Gratifying activities: nursing (responsive nurturing is the key)

Oral-dependent personality: too much stimulation will lead the child become very dependent and submissive.
Oral-aggressive personality: too little gratification will lead the child be very aggressive and will get what he wants through force.

Anal Stage
Age: 1.5 – 3 years
Focus: anus

Gratifying activities: toilet training and urge control.

Anal-expulsive personality: too lenient will derive the child pleasure and success from the expulsion (reckless, careless)
Anal-retentive personality: excessive pressure will take the child pleasure in being able to withhold (obsessively clean and orderly)

Phallic Stage
Age: 3 – 5 years
Focus: genital
Gratifying activities: play with genitals; sexuality

Identification
Success: control envy and hostility and identify with same-sex parent.
Failure: with commitment issues

Latency Stage
Age: 5 years – puberty
Time of learning, adjusting to the social environment, form beliefs and values.
Developing same–sex friendships.
“Sublimation stage”

Genital Stage
Age: puberty +
Focus: genital
Gratifying activities: masturbating and heterosexual relationships.
Renewed sexual interest desire
Pursuit of relationships
No fixations

Defense Mechanisms
Repression - push conscious unpleasant thoughts to the unconscious.
Denial – refusing to accept reality.
Sublimation - channeling of unacceptable and potentially disruptive impulses through emotions or thoughts into socially accepted
behavior.
Displacement - redirect emotion from a “real” person to a lower status person, object or animal.
Regression - going back to childhood behaviors when faced with anxiety.

Psychosocial Stages of Development

In every stage of life there is an interaction of opposites – that is, a conflict between syntonic tendency (harmonious) elements;
dystonic tendency (disruptive) element; ego quality – basic strength and; core pathology – too little basic strength.

Developmental Crisis: Trust vs Mistrust

Age – infancy (birth to 1st year of life)
Most significant relation – mother; caregiver
Basic Strength – hope
Core pathology – withdrawal

Developmental Crisis: Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt

Age: early childhood (two to three years old)
Basic strength: will
Core pathology: compulsion

Developmental Crisis: Initiative versus Guilt

Age: play age (three to five years old)
Basic strength: purpose
Core pathology: inhibition

Developmental Crisis: Industry vs Inferiority

Age: school age (six to thirteen years old)
Basic strength: competence
Core pathology: inertia (idleness)

Developmental Crisis: Identity versus Identity confusion

Age: adolescence (puberty)
Basic strength: fidelity
Core pathology: role denial

Developmental Crisis: Intimacy vs isolation

Age: young adulthood (eighteen to thirty years old)
Basic strength: capacity to Love
Core pathology: exclusivity

Developmental Crisis: Generativity vs Stagnation

Age: adulthood (thirty one to sixty years old)
Basic strength: care
Core pathology: rejectivity

Developmental Crisis: Integrity vs Despair

Age: Old age (sixty years old until death)
Basic strength: wisdom
Core pathology: disdain

Lesson 5
Physical Self

Factors in the Development of Physical Self

Two Interacting Forces:
Heredity (nature). It is the transmission of traits or characteristics from parents to offspring.
Environment (nurture). It is the sum total of all the forces or experience that a person undergoes from conception to old age.

The Beginning of Life

Human reproductive system, organ system by which humans reproduce and bear live offspring.
The female reproductive system has two functions: The first is to produce egg cells, and the second is to protect and
nourish the offspring until birth. 
The male reproductive system has one function, and it is to produce and deposit sperm.

Life begins at fertilization refers to the meeting of female sex cell (ova) and male sex cell (spermatozoa).

The zygote is known as the fertilized egg cell which contains all the hereditary potentials from the parents.

The gestation period continues to grow of about 280 days or 40 weeks or 9 calendar months.

A male parent may pass either X or Y chromosomes and female always give X chromosomes.

Both male and female chromosomes contain several thousand of genes, small particles in a string like formation.

Within the genes is the substance called DNA or Deoxyribonucleic Acid which is the code of heredity.

Taking Care of Physical Self

Doctors recommend that an adult get an average of 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Sleep deprivation affects our mood, our
concentration, our attention, our memory, our ability to fight off infection, our libido, and our judgment.

Exercise is a form of physical activity done primarily to improve one’s health and fitness. It has many benefits, including
improving overall health and fitness, and reducing risk for many chronic diseases.

Water is the most important nutrient for the body. Staying hydrated is crucial to overall health. To ward off dehydration,
healthy people should get 1 to 1.5 liters of water per day.

Healthy diet is essential for good health and nutrition.

Mental Health
This covers our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to
others, and make choices. Lastly, it is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.

Lesson 6
Sexual Self

Three Types of Sexual Orientation

Monosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction to members of one sex or gender only. A monosexual person may identify
as heterosexual or homosexual.

 Same-Sex Orientation includes people who are exclusively attracted to members of only one gender.
 Gays generally refers to a man who is attracted to men.
 Lesbians refers to a woman who is attracted to women.
 Straight: a man who is exclusively attracted to women or a woman who is exclusively attracted to men; refers to
“heterosexuals”.

Polysexuality refers to people who are sexually attracted to more than one gender or sex.

 Bisexuals are attracted to people of one’s own gender and people of other genders. Often referred as “bi” means two.
 Pansexual are attracted to people regardless of gender. It implies more than two genders. The word “pan” refers to all.
 Queer is an umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities who are not heterosexual or are not cisgender. 
“questioning about the identity”

Asexuality is the lack of sexual attraction to others, or low or absent interest in or desire for sexual activity.

Gender Identity is an individual’s internal sense of being a man, a woman, neither of these, both, and so on – it is one’s
inner sense of being and one’s own understanding of how one relates to the gender binary.

Gender expression is the way in which a person manifests masculinity, femininity, or neither through appearance, behavior,
dress, speech patterns, preferences and more.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases

These are infections that pass from one person to another through sexual contact.
They are also known as Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) or venereal diseases (VD).

Chlamydia is an STD caused by Chlamydia Trachomatis.

Following symptoms: Bladder infection; a change in vaginal discharge; mild lower abdominal pain; bleeding and pain in
sexual intercourse.

Chancroid caused by Streptobacillus Haemophilus Ducreyi.

It causes painful sores on the genitals and is only through sexual contact.
It will be very painful and may be well – defined, undermined borders and a yellowish-gray material at its base.

Crabs or Pubic Lice is usually spread to sexual contact and feed on human blood.
It is attached to the pubic hair, and may sometimes be found in the armpits, mustache, beard, eyelashes and eyebrows.

Genital Herpes is caused by the Herpes Simplex Virus.

Symptoms include: Blisters and ulceration in the cervix; vaginal discharge; pain on urinating.

HSV-1, Herpes Type1

HSV-2 Herpes Type 2

Hepatitis B is caused by Hepatitis B virus. It is transmitted through contact with infected semen, blood, and other bodily
fluids.
It can be passed through: Unprotected sex; using unsterilized syringe; being bitten by a person with Hepatitis B
It can lead to cancer.

Trichomoniasis is caused by single-celled parasite, Trichomonas Vaginalis.

The common site is the vagina and the urethra.
Symptoms include: Vaginal odor and discharge and pain when urinating and during sexual intercourse

Scabbies is a contagious skin condition caused by Sarcoptes Scabiei. They burrow into the skin and lay their eggs.
A person may develops a skin rash and experience intense itchiness.
It can transmit through close body contact.

Syphilis is cause by Treponema Pallidium.

A woman who is pregnant and also has syphilis can pass on this to her baby.
For some, even the symptoms resolve, the bacterium still in the body and can cause serious health problems later on.

Human Papilloma Virus is a name group of viruses that affect the skin and mucous membranes.
It is commonly transmitted through vaginal or anal sex, oral sex and genital to genital contact. Vaccination is the best way
to prevent HPV.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus attacks the immune system leaving its host much more vulnerable to infections and
diseases. It can be found in semen, blood breast milk, vaginal and rectal fluids, sharing of equipment such as needles and
syringes and in rare instances, blood transfusion.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome is a set of symptoms and illnesses that happen at the final stage of HIV infection,
if left untreated. A person is said to have AIDS when their immune system is too weak to fight off infection and develop
certain defining symptoms and illnesses.

Family Planning
Natural Methods of Contraception
Abstinence is refraining from penetrative sex. It provides 100% protection from pregnancy and effective prevention from
sexually transmitted diseases.

Withdrawal or Coitus Interruptus is a male-controlled method.

Effectiveness depends largely on the man’s ability to withdraw prior to ejaculation.

Calendar Method is based on the calculations of cycle length. A woman makes an estimate of the days she is fertile based
on the past menstrual cycle length.

Artificial Methods of Contraception

Barrier method is used to prevent sperm from reaching an egg. It includes male condoms, female condoms, diaphragms,
cervical caps as well as spermicides – a chemical barrier.

Hormonal method is the most common artificial birth control. These are the control patch, vaginal ring, Depo-provera
injections, and intrauterine device.

Surgical sterilization
Procedures:
For men - vasectomy.
For women - tubal ligation.

Lesson 7
Material Self

Why do I shop?
There is a need.
If something catches our eye.
If there is an occasion.
If there is an opportunity.
As part of social gesture.

Consumerism
The promotion of consumer’s interests.
The theory that an increasing consumption of goods is economically desirable

A social and economic order and ideology encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts.

A person is defined not by what they think, but what they own (through shopping).

Shopping is an expressive and constitutive existential act. (Kruger)

Shopping is addictive.According to Mpinganjira, M. (2014), men’s motives for shopping appear to be more utilitarian,
whereas women’s shopping motives tend to be hedonistic.

Women tend to be more comprehensive and take both subjective (customer reviews) and objective information into
consideration, while men tend to favor objective information (make, model, speed etc.) over subjective information.

Lotze in his book, Microcosmus, stipulates that “any time we bring an object into the surface of our body, we invest that
object into the consciousness of our personal existence taking in its contours to be our own and making it part of the self.”

As we grow older, putting importance to material possession decreases. However, material possession gains higher value in
our lifetime, if we use material possession to find happiness, associate these things to significant events, accomplishments
and people in our lives.

There are even times, when material possession of a person that is closely identified to the person, gains acknowledgement
with high regard, even if the person already passed away.

Lesson 8
Spiritual Self

The simplest way to describe the spiritual self is that unseen part of who we are that provides our physical self with insight,
intuition, and other ways of knowing and being beyond what our five senses experience in the physical world. 

Our five senses and our emotions may be access points or portals into experiencing the spiritual self.

Research says.. . Courtesy of Sheryll Villaluz

 The practice of religion has a significant effect on happiness and an overall sense of personal well-being (Stark, R.,
1971)
 Regular religious attendance led to much less psychological distress (Williams, D. 1970)
 Young people see love as the central aspect of the meaning of life; they believe that religion is still important in helping
form judgments and attitudes (Thomas, D.)
 The cohabitation rate is seven times higher among persons who seldom or never attend religious services compared to
persons who frequently attend (Larson, D.)
 The practice of religion is good for individuals, families, states, and the nation.
 It improves health, learning, economic well-being, self-control, self-esteem, and empathy.
 It reduces the incidence of social pathologies, such as out-of-wedlock births, crime, delinquency, drug and alcohol
addiction, health problems, anxieties, and prejudices.

Lesson 9
Filipino Values

Values are integral part of every culture. Filipino values may be attributed into many influences. These can from our
ancestors or from the colonizers. Some values are bipolar, meaning it can be positive or negative.

Stages of Value Formation

Pre-conditional Stage: Childhood. It is the phase wherein children comply with the values of those who assert power on
them (parents, teachers, nuns, priests).

The Conventional Stage: Youth. During the conventional stage or youth, adolescence identify with their peers, idols and
teachers due to interpersonal communication.

Post-Conventional Stage: Adulthood. The people internalize the values they have imbibed in the first two stages without
fear.

Positive Filipino Values

 Bayahihan system or spirit of kinship and camaraderie
 Damayan system
 Familism
 Fun-loving trait
 Compassionate
 Friendly
 Hospitable
 Flexible
 Religious
 Respect to elders
 Utang na loob
 Remeydo attitude
 Matiyaga

Negative Filipino Values

 Bahala na attitude
 Colonial mentality
 Regionalism
 Crab mentality
 Gaya-gaya attitude
 Filipino time
 Jackpot mentality
 Manana habit
 Kapalaran values
 Over-sensitive
 Ningas-cogon
 Lack of sportsmanship

Political Self
Man is by nature a political animal. – Aristotle

Level of Political Analysis

Individual
 Attitudes and values
 Presence of dualism
This highlights the contradiction between self-interest and the good of the community

Attitudes change
 Due to events that sweep the nation.
 Due to involvement in service-oriented activities.

Institutional. It includes rules, norms, and routines that guides behavior within a social group.

Community. The degree (or lack) of identification with the nation depends, among others, on the type of community to
which one belongs and the extent to which it is served by, or benefits from, instruments of the state.

Lesson 10
Emotional Self
Emotion is one of the most important aspects of our behavior. It is what makes life interesting, exciting, and meaningful.

It adds color and variety to our lives and breaks up the drab monotony of routine. It is often said that emotions are the spice
of our lives. Our capacity to experience joy, anger, or sadness enables us to do many things.

Experiences that are accompanied by intense emotions are not only clearly remembered but are also likely to have profound
positive and negative effects on our personality.

Psychosomatic illness is caused by emotional factors such as stress.

This is characterized by the “general-adaptation syndrome” or “stress-response syndrome”.
This syndrome comprises three stages:
1. Alarm Reaction
2. Resistance
3. Exhaustion

Emotional control does not mean inhibition or repression of our emotions. Rather, it means directing and managing
emotional experiences such that they will not have negative consequences.

To achieve emotional control Guilford suggests:

1. Avoid emotion-provoking situations.
2. Change the emotion-provoking situations.
3. Increase skills for coping with the situations.
4. Re-interpret with the situation.
5. Keep working towards your goal.
6. Find substitute outlets.
7. Develop a sense of humor.

Langley (2012) lays out some tips on managing emotions:

1. Smile to make yourself feel good. Face a mirror and smile. Do it for at least 30 seconds.
2. Smile to make others feel good. Smiling opens up your connection with others. It also leads to experiencing
empathy.
3. Get up and move. Exercise activates happy hormones. Movement is also important to get the toxins out of your
body.
4. Check in with your body. Scan your body by understanding how your feelings affect your physiology.
5. Physically remove the tension. If you feel tense in your arms, shake them. Likewise, if there is tension in your
chest, stretch and breathe deeply.
6. Breathe. The body cannot sustain anger when you are breathing deeply.
7. Talk to someone. It is healthier to vent your anger and frustrations to a friend rather than to suppress them.
8. Disengage and re-engage emotions. Learn to park your emotions to deal with at a later time, but do not avoid them.
You must acknowledge your feelings then utilize your emotional intelligence to improve them.
9. Label your emotions. It reduces the intensity of your emotions.
10. Label emotions for others. You can often defuse a tense situation by acknowledging the feeling of others.

Why is emotional intelligence so important?

As we know, it’s not the smartest people that are the most successful or the most fulfilled in life. You probably know
people who are academically brilliant and yet are socially inept and unsuccessful at work or in their personal relationships.

Intellectual intelligence (IQ) isn’t enough on its own to be successful in life. Yes, your IQ can help you get into college, but
it’s your EQ that will help you manage the stress and emotions when facing your final exams.

Lesson 11
Digital Self
The online disinhibition describes the loosening of social restrictions and inhibitions that are normally present in face-to-
face interaction that takes place in interactions on the Internet.

According to Hicks (2010) it is a mask that we put on to engage the technological world.
Twenty-nine years ago, when Belk (1988) presented the concept of the extended self, there were already personal
computers.

Attachment and Singularization

The emergence of dematerialized and nonmaterial possessions raises the question of whether consumers can become as
attached to immaterial possessions as they can to material possessions (which include digital devices) and whether we can
gain status and an enhanced sense of self from virtual possessions.

Six Causes of Online Disinhibition

Dissociative Anonymity (People Don’t Know Me)
This is the confidence you feel every time you anonymously engage in online activities.
Arguing online in the comments sections, for example, emboldens you to use profanities and even hate slurs because none
of them really knows you personally.

Invisibility (People Can’t See Me)

In hiding your true physical and personal attributes away, you are effectively freeing yourself up from the baggage of
having to present yourself as you truly are. Invisibility enables you to alter your visual avatar’s personality.

Asynchronicity (See You When I see You)

Every time you send an email or even message on Facebook, time is on your side. You can compose, structure and edit it in
a span of several minutes, an hour or even more. You have the luxury of time delay in the virtual world.

Solipsistic Introjection (It’s all in the Mind)

This is why acquaintances are sometimes very talkative to each other virtually but do not actually speak let alone interact
much in real life. You play casting director for these voices, imagining how the pitch or intonation would be if spoken out
loud.

Dissociate Imagination (It is All a Play)

Bouyed by the assumption that your real-life identity and digital avatars are separate entities and that the cyberspace is but
an outlet space (like movies), you sometimes resort to doing unspeakable things you normally wouldn’t do in real life.

Minimization of Status and Authority (Your Rules Don’t Work Online)

Authority figures express their authority through dress, body language, name titles, and their environments. Without these
cues, their authority is reduced in online environments. Online, people are perceived to be equals.

In a more visual Internet environment of social media, virtual worlds, online games, blogs, web pages, photo- and video-
sharing sites, Internet dating sites, and so forth, we are disembodied and re-embodied as avatars, photos, and videos.
The resulting disinhibition leads many to conclude that they are able to express their “true self” better online than they ever
could in face-to-face context.

Lesson 12
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

The basis of Maslow's theory is that human beings are motivated by unsatisfied needs, and that certain lower needs need to
be satisfied before higher needs can be satisfied.

According to Maslow, there are general types of needs (physiological, safety, love, and esteem) that must be satisfied
before a person can act unselfishly. He called these needs "deficiency needs.“

As long as we are motivated to satisfy these cravings, we are moving towards growth, toward self-actualization.

Physiological needs – these are biological requirements for human survival (air, food, drink, shelter, sleep, sex). It is the
most important as all other needs become secondary until these needs are met.

Safety needs – protection from elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear.
Love and belongingness – the need for interpersonal relationships motivates behavior. This includes friendship, intimacy,
trust and acceptance, affection and love.

Esteem needs – the need for respect is important for children and adolescents and precedes real self-esteem.
Two Categories:
Esteem for oneself (achievement, independence)
Desire for respect from others (status, prestige)
Self-actualization needs – realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences. A
desire to become everything one is capable of becoming.

Lesson 13
Goal Setting Theory

What is goal?
An idea of future result that a person or a group of people envisions, plans and commits to achieve.
The end toward which effort is directed.

It is simply a target which an individual or organization intends to reach or achieve.

Types of Goals
Performance Goals. It refers to the actual tasks and projects to be completed. They concern your work accomplishments
over a specific time period.

Leadership Goals. It is the areas of professional expertise and knowledge that can help pursuit of the performance goals.

Life Goals. It is concerned with your long term happiness. It is monumentally important to include life goals in addition to
performance and leadership goals. They include major financial milestones, work/life balance, leisure, needs, family
considerations and any other important life matters you wish to address.

Importance of Goals
Goals help us believe in ourselves.
Setting goals for yourself is a way to fuel your ambition.
Goal setting is not just about creating a plan for life, it is also about giving us the inspiration necessary to aim things we
never thought possible.

Self-efficacy
According to Albert Bandura, self-Efficacy refers to people’s knowledge or belief that they are capable of performing those
behaviors or tasks that will produce desired outcomes in any particular situation.

Sources of Self-efficacy
Mastery of Experiences. Past successes and failures in similar situations as perceived by the individual. The key to mastery
is approaching life with dedicated efforts and experimenting realistic but challenging goals.

Vicarious Experiences. Seeing other people like you succeed on a task or reach a goal that is similar to the one you face.

Social Persuasion. Encouragement, informational feedback, useful guidance from a trusted source.
Having directly influence other’s self-efficacy.

Physiological Arousal. Positive or negative arousal- excitement and a feeling of being “psyched” and ready (increases
efficacy) or a sense of anxiety and foreboding (decreases efficacy).

Locus of Control
It was coined by Julian Rotter.
It refers to the person’s perceived control over events in life.

Internal Locus of Control

People with high internal locus of control believe that they can influence events and their outcomes.
People attribute results or events in their lives come primarily from their actions.

Example: When a student failed in exam  “didn’t study enough”

When student got high grade “attribute outcome to his/her ability to study”
External Locus of Control
People with high external locus of control blame outside forces for everything. They attribute events to environmental traits
or causes.

Example : When a student failed in exam test questions were hard/difficulty.

When a student got high score teacher was lenient or student just lucky.
Lesson 14
Fixed and Growth Mindset Theory

It was coined by Carol Dweck.

What is fixed mindset?

People believe their qualities are fixed traits and therefore cannot be changed. People with fixed mindset is to always
appear intelligent, because they believe that they were born with a fixed level of intelligence that cannot be modified.

These people have fear of looking dumb to people because they do not believe that they can redeem themselves once other
people look at them as being unintelligent.

What is growth mindset?

In growth mindset, people have an underlying belief that their learning and intelligence can grown with time and
experience. Their basic abilities are simply a starting point for their potential.

They don’t believe that everyone is the same, but they hold onto the idea that everyone can become smarter if they try.
Students believe that their abilities and intelligence can be developed with effort, learning and persistence.