3) THE SELF
❖ Empirical SElf= the “me” of personality= what differentiates you from other people, your
uniqueness
THERE ARE 3 COMPONENTS OF THE EMPIRICAL SELF
1) MATERIAL SELF: anything material one could call their own body, family, property,
interest (to be able to differentiate you from other people, have sense of belonging, to be
part of your environment
2) SOCIAL SELF= the self known by others (how others would describe you as= ex:
energetic
WHAT DOES THIS INFO TELL YOU?= shows you how you are perceived, gives you info of
you, your environment gives you insight into who you are, THIS CAN LEAD TO
SELF-REFLECTION
3) SPIRITUAL SELF: states of consciousness, everything we think, our emotions --->
subjective reality (having our own experiences)
THE ASPECT OF SELF that does the knowing (THE I)= when you say I KNOW, what do you
know about yourself?= your past, emotions, memories, thoughts, anything that you are aware of
BUT SOME THINGS you are not aware of= we are constantly learning through the environment
and connections with others, need to value how you experience the world and how others
perceive you as well
● He struggled with the self as knower
● JAMES was the first to study SELF-ESTEEM, to study circumstances where people feel
good or bad about themselves
WHAT SITUATION DO WE FEEL GOOD IN?= getting good grades
WHEN DO YOU NOT FEEL GOOD?= the unknown, the unpredictable
SELF ESTEEM= is determined by the ratio of ATTEMPTED TO THINGS ACHIEVED. 1
) THE THINGS YOU ATTEMPT= said you are going to do this (i am going to study really hard
increases self-esteem), VS 2) WHAT YOU ACTUALLY ACHIEVE: self esteem fluctuates from
the attempts, and the LOSS AND SUCCESS.
**but sometimes even just the attempt itself might be the thing that increases your self-esteem
, 4) EMOTIONS
● He reversed traditional beliefs on emotions
BEFORE, people would think EMOTIONS CAUSES THE EVENT
NOW= THE EMOTIONS ARE THE RESULT FROM THE PERCEIVED EVENT
Ex: bear walks into the classroom, what is the process that would happen in terms of emotions 1)
FEEL YOUR HEART DROP, interpreting fear, and feeling nervous, start to panic and becoming
afraid---> increased heart rate
JAMES BELIEVED THAT= PERCEPTION causes bodily reactions that are then experienced as
emotions = emotions we feel DEPEND on what we do
THE JAMES-LANGE THEORY OF EMOTIONS= 1) YOU HAVE THE EVENT= based on
past experiences determines how you will perceive the situation (ex: perceive the bear), 2)
THEN THAT LEADS TO AROUSAL= objective (increased heart rate). 3) THEN
INTERPRETATION= IS SUBJECTIVE, everyone has their own interpretation of situations, 4)
THEN EMOTIONS (fear, nervous etc..)
ANOTHER THEORISTS= Danish Physician, CARL GEORGE LANGE= published the same
theory at the same time as William James
STRUCTURALISM REGARDING EMOTIONS= has 3 different spectrums
FUNCTIONALISM= interpretation, subjectivity, your own reality, looking at anything and
everything that gives us information, we are adapting to the environment, shows us how we
adapt as well through the JAMES-LANGE theory of emotion, talked about FREE WILL, as well
5) FREE WILL
● He believed that WITHOUT the assumption of DETERMINISM (which is that all human
decisions and actions, are causally inevitable), SCIENCE WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE
● WHY DOES HE AGREE WITH THIS?= the objective part is useful because we can’t
only rely on objectivity, (now how are we going to measure our variable and why??= we
USE REPLICATIONS, to get to the OBJECTIVE part)
● IF PSYCHOLOGY IS TO BE A SCIENCE, it would need to assume determinism=
because it NEEDS TO BE MEASURED so then need the objectivity factor
● FUNCTIONALISM= is subjective and objective
❖ Empirical SElf= the “me” of personality= what differentiates you from other people, your
uniqueness
THERE ARE 3 COMPONENTS OF THE EMPIRICAL SELF
1) MATERIAL SELF: anything material one could call their own body, family, property,
interest (to be able to differentiate you from other people, have sense of belonging, to be
part of your environment
2) SOCIAL SELF= the self known by others (how others would describe you as= ex:
energetic
WHAT DOES THIS INFO TELL YOU?= shows you how you are perceived, gives you info of
you, your environment gives you insight into who you are, THIS CAN LEAD TO
SELF-REFLECTION
3) SPIRITUAL SELF: states of consciousness, everything we think, our emotions --->
subjective reality (having our own experiences)
THE ASPECT OF SELF that does the knowing (THE I)= when you say I KNOW, what do you
know about yourself?= your past, emotions, memories, thoughts, anything that you are aware of
BUT SOME THINGS you are not aware of= we are constantly learning through the environment
and connections with others, need to value how you experience the world and how others
perceive you as well
● He struggled with the self as knower
● JAMES was the first to study SELF-ESTEEM, to study circumstances where people feel
good or bad about themselves
WHAT SITUATION DO WE FEEL GOOD IN?= getting good grades
WHEN DO YOU NOT FEEL GOOD?= the unknown, the unpredictable
SELF ESTEEM= is determined by the ratio of ATTEMPTED TO THINGS ACHIEVED. 1
) THE THINGS YOU ATTEMPT= said you are going to do this (i am going to study really hard
increases self-esteem), VS 2) WHAT YOU ACTUALLY ACHIEVE: self esteem fluctuates from
the attempts, and the LOSS AND SUCCESS.
**but sometimes even just the attempt itself might be the thing that increases your self-esteem
, 4) EMOTIONS
● He reversed traditional beliefs on emotions
BEFORE, people would think EMOTIONS CAUSES THE EVENT
NOW= THE EMOTIONS ARE THE RESULT FROM THE PERCEIVED EVENT
Ex: bear walks into the classroom, what is the process that would happen in terms of emotions 1)
FEEL YOUR HEART DROP, interpreting fear, and feeling nervous, start to panic and becoming
afraid---> increased heart rate
JAMES BELIEVED THAT= PERCEPTION causes bodily reactions that are then experienced as
emotions = emotions we feel DEPEND on what we do
THE JAMES-LANGE THEORY OF EMOTIONS= 1) YOU HAVE THE EVENT= based on
past experiences determines how you will perceive the situation (ex: perceive the bear), 2)
THEN THAT LEADS TO AROUSAL= objective (increased heart rate). 3) THEN
INTERPRETATION= IS SUBJECTIVE, everyone has their own interpretation of situations, 4)
THEN EMOTIONS (fear, nervous etc..)
ANOTHER THEORISTS= Danish Physician, CARL GEORGE LANGE= published the same
theory at the same time as William James
STRUCTURALISM REGARDING EMOTIONS= has 3 different spectrums
FUNCTIONALISM= interpretation, subjectivity, your own reality, looking at anything and
everything that gives us information, we are adapting to the environment, shows us how we
adapt as well through the JAMES-LANGE theory of emotion, talked about FREE WILL, as well
5) FREE WILL
● He believed that WITHOUT the assumption of DETERMINISM (which is that all human
decisions and actions, are causally inevitable), SCIENCE WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE
● WHY DOES HE AGREE WITH THIS?= the objective part is useful because we can’t
only rely on objectivity, (now how are we going to measure our variable and why??= we
USE REPLICATIONS, to get to the OBJECTIVE part)
● IF PSYCHOLOGY IS TO BE A SCIENCE, it would need to assume determinism=
because it NEEDS TO BE MEASURED so then need the objectivity factor
● FUNCTIONALISM= is subjective and objective
