Psychological Perspective of the Self
Psychology
Psychology has various ways of understanding a person and the therapist way of helping people
understand themselves. Self by definition is a reference by an individual to the same individual
person. Having its own or single character as a person, referring to the person as the same
individual.
The psychology of studying self is about either the cognitive and affective representation of one's
identity or the subject of experience. The earliest formulation of the self in modern psychology forms
the distinction between the self as I, the person knower, and the self as Me, the person that is
known.
“The Self and It Selves”
William James, a psychologist, has introduced in his document The Principles of Psychology (1890)
a numerous concepts and distinction of self. For James, his main concepts of self are the “me-self”
and the “I-self”. The “me self” is the phenomenal self, the experienced self or the self as known. It is
the self that has experience the phenomena and who had known the situation. The “I-self” is the self-
thought or the self-knower. James had claimed that the understanding of Self can be separated into
three categories: “1. Its constituents; 2. The feeling and emotions they arouse – Self-feelings; 3. The
actions to which they prompt – Self-seeking and self-preservation
(James, 1890, p162) Also, James wrote sub-categories of self, 1. the material self; 2. the social self;
and 3. the spiritual self.
The Material Self is constituted by our bodies, clothes, immediate family, and home. It is in this that
we attached more deeply into and therefore we are most affected by because of the investment we
give to these things. The Social Self is based on our interactions with society and the reaction of
people towards us. It is our social self that
is thought to have multiple divergences or different versions of ourselves. It varies as to how we
present ourselves to a particular social group. The most intimate self, the spiritual self. It is the most
intimate because it is more satisfying for the person that they have the ability to argue and
discriminate one’s moral sensibility, conscience and indomitable will.
Conception of Self
Psychology
Psychology has various ways of understanding a person and the therapist way of helping people
understand themselves. Self by definition is a reference by an individual to the same individual
person. Having its own or single character as a person, referring to the person as the same
individual.
The psychology of studying self is about either the cognitive and affective representation of one's
identity or the subject of experience. The earliest formulation of the self in modern psychology forms
the distinction between the self as I, the person knower, and the self as Me, the person that is
known.
“The Self and It Selves”
William James, a psychologist, has introduced in his document The Principles of Psychology (1890)
a numerous concepts and distinction of self. For James, his main concepts of self are the “me-self”
and the “I-self”. The “me self” is the phenomenal self, the experienced self or the self as known. It is
the self that has experience the phenomena and who had known the situation. The “I-self” is the self-
thought or the self-knower. James had claimed that the understanding of Self can be separated into
three categories: “1. Its constituents; 2. The feeling and emotions they arouse – Self-feelings; 3. The
actions to which they prompt – Self-seeking and self-preservation
(James, 1890, p162) Also, James wrote sub-categories of self, 1. the material self; 2. the social self;
and 3. the spiritual self.
The Material Self is constituted by our bodies, clothes, immediate family, and home. It is in this that
we attached more deeply into and therefore we are most affected by because of the investment we
give to these things. The Social Self is based on our interactions with society and the reaction of
people towards us. It is our social self that
is thought to have multiple divergences or different versions of ourselves. It varies as to how we
present ourselves to a particular social group. The most intimate self, the spiritual self. It is the most
intimate because it is more satisfying for the person that they have the ability to argue and
discriminate one’s moral sensibility, conscience and indomitable will.
Conception of Self
