Class 16: The Self, Part I

Is there a single, unitary, core self? Why do we care so much one way or the other?

Where does the self come from? Where does it reside?

Why do people care so much about having a self? Was this true of all peoples (or cultures), and was this true historically?

What function does the self serve? Why do we need a self?

How does the self relate to how others see us, and to how we see others? To our interpretation of events, and things in the world?

What is the relation between the self, thinking, and feeling?

The Self

Personal Identity irrelevantOnly first nameTown had no nameNo sense of outer world,

or of history or major eventsClothing determined rankNo independent thinking

Difficult to protect, assert, develop unique selfShort life spansLittle privacyHarsh world precludes self developmentFrightening world discourages exploration

The Self in the Middle Ages

Which Self-Aspects Did Middle Ages

Permit? AthleticsAmbitions

AccomplishmentsAesthetic interests

Basic desires

Family connectionsFamily roleHobbies/sports/leisureHome townNationality

ProfessionPolitics

Ethnic group

Original ideas/interpretations

Religious beliefsRelationships

NONO

NONO

YES

YESYESNOYES (?)NO

NONO

NO

NO

YESYES

NO: Middle Ages didn't support

YES: Middle Ages did support

"Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness“

Magna Carta, Bill of Rights, Four Freedoms, 14th Amendment, habeas corpus, universal suffrage all foster the modern "self“

Also, telescope, photography, mirror, pen, privacy, leisure time, literacy.

The Self and Modernity

William James and The SelfJames' The Self is one of first expositions in psych on this topic

Charts out important territory

a. What are the elements of the self?

b. Is there a core self?

c. How does the self organize perception?

Touches on issues alien to modern psychology

Prayer, the soul, God, para-psychology

What is the main issue that James wrestles with in this chapter?

Whether a core, unitary, enduring self exists.

Wllm .James1842-1910

Dual aspects of self:

The Me = self as knownThe I = self as knower

Me: Inventory of myself, everything I possess, I have done, I believe, I invest with sentiment

Material MeSocial MeSpiritual Me

Symbolic Interactionism

1. Body

2. Clothes

3. Immediate family

4. House, home

5. Things one makes

Constituents of the Material "Me"

Social "me" = self as reflected back self from others ("looking glass self")

People have as many selves as they have social contacts

Q: Does this mean there is no core self, but instead simply as many different variants as social roles, social connections?

Constituents of the Social "Me"

People have a deep need to be seen by others, beyond being with others

Belief in God based on need to be seen most fully, in best possible light

* Self requires social recognition to be confirmed

* Ideal self requires supreme external validation

* Only God represents the ultimate evaluator

* Hence people pray—to be seen

Need to Be Seen is Fundamental

The Pain of Not Being Seen: Of Being "Invisible"

I am invisible, understand, because people refuse to see me. ...It is though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination—indeed, everything and anything except me.

Ralph Ellison, Invisible ManRalph Ellison1914-1944

Spiritual me = Capacity to think, to have sensations, to have emotions. Capacity for consciousness.

It is part of ourselves that encounters, appraises, and knows all the other elements of our observed selves.

It is our awareness of our own style, capacity, and "flavor" of consciousness.

Spiritual me is not the act of consciousness (that is the "I"), it is the awareness and appraisal of the kind of consciousness one has.

Spiritual Me

Rank Ordering the Spiritual Me

Sensations

Emotions

Intentions

Reasoning

Memory

1

2

3

4

5

James's rankings (with a little help from Kent). Note affect is first. Why?

We Choose Who We Are: Rivalry and Conflict of the

Different MesI am often confronted by the necessity of standing by one of my empirical selves and relinquishing the rest. Not that I would not, if I could, be both handsome and fat and well dressed, and a great athlete, and make a million a year, be a wit, a bon-vivant, and a lady-killer, as well as a philosopher, statesman, warrior, and African explorer, as well as a 'tone poet' and saint. But the thing is simply impossible.

The seeker of his truest, strongest, deepest self must review the list carefully and pick out the one on which to stake his salvation.

Central Human Choice: Carry a "Light and Narrow" or "Heavy and Complete" Me

Self esteem = SuccessesPretensions

Relief in surrendering ambitions. "How pleasant the day when we give up striving to be young, or slender!”

Stoics: dispossess yourself in advance of all that was out of your own power, --then fortune's shocks may rain down unfelt.

Carlyle: It is only with renunciation that life...can...begin.

James' position: agree or disagree with the Stoic formula?

Hoarding the Self vs. Surrendering the Self

Stoic Approach: Only for "narrow and unsympathetic" characters.

Proceeds from negation: I am what I am not; as my boundaries get confined, I'm a smaller target

Negation can be a self-protective tactic. How so?

Don't need to feel envy, jealousy, competition, towards those with skills, abilities, fortunes that exceed our own. Can dismiss them as of no consequence. How might this relate to prejudice?

How about alternative: Embracing all, regardless of treatment of me.

"Sympathetic [empathic] people...Outline of self becomes uncertain, but "spread of content" more than compensates.

Constituents and Priorities of The Self

Body

Friends/Associations

Spiritual Dispositions: Values, aspirations, beliefs 3

2

1

James suggests that these constituents comprise "natural Me". The primacy we place on these "objects" above other things in the world reflects natural selection.

The "I" is consciousness—feelings and sensations that go with it.

But what is "consciousness"?

NOT associationism -- not simply a clerk, or a counter.Lemonade ≠ (sour) + (sweet), but (sour + sweet)

Consciousness not collection of separate things, existingin mutual independence (even if they are objectively so).

12 men each thinking one word of 12 word sentence ≠ sentenceA + B ≠ (A + B)

Consciousness may flow in a stream, but stream is filled with meaningful chunks. Not just A, B, C, ... But (A + B), (B - C), ((A + C) - D) etc.

Consciousness is capacity to construct and combine into wholes.

The "I", or the Self as Knower

Where Does "Core Self" Reside?

The Me? NO: "Me" changes constantly, incrementally.

The I? NO: The "I" lives only in the very immediate present. Today's consciousness is not yesterday's. "I" is just a stream of conscious states.

What then? Core self a matter of theology, metaphysics--no empirical psychology.

Questions: Would Winnicott or Stern agree? Do you agree?