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Defining the
Self:
Personal and Developmental Perspective
on Self and Identity
In the famous Tarzan story, the little
boy named Tarzan was left in the
middle of the forest. Growing up, he
never had an interaction with any
other human being but apes and other
animals. Tarzan grew up acting
strangely like apes and unlike human
persons. Tarzan became an animal, in
effect, the sole interaction with them
made him just like them.
• Disappointingly, human persons will
not develop as human person without
intervention.
• This story, which was supposed to

be based on real life, challenges the
long-standing notion of human
persons being special and being a
particular kind of being in the
spectrum of living entities.
• We may be gifted with intellect and
the capacity to rationalize things but
at the end of the day, our growth and
development and consequentially,
our selves are truly products of our
interaction with
External Reality.
Another Story
Consider a man named Jon. He is a math
professor at a Catholic university for
more than a decade now.
Jon has a beautiful wife whom he met in

college, Joan. Joan first Jon's first and
last girlfriend.
Apart from being a husband, Jon is also blessed
with two doting kids, a son and a daughter.
He also sometimes serves in the church too as a

lector and a commentator.
As a man different roles, one can expect Jon to

change and adjust his behaviors, ways, and even
language depending on his social situation.
Questions
• We ourselves play different roles act
in different ways depending on our
circumstances.
• Are we being hypocritical in doing

so?
• Are we even conscious of our shifting

selves?
Answers
 According to what we have so far, this

is not only normal but it also is acceptable
and expected.
 The self is capable of morphing and

fitting itself into any circumstances it
finds itself in.
SELF and External World
CU
LTUGender
Society
R
and
Culture
E
AN
D
SELF
E T
C I
Development
of the Social S O
Families
World
Y
The Self and Culture
CULTURE
 includes language, ideas,

beliefs, customs, codes,
institutions, tools,
techniques, works of art,
rituals, and ceremonies,
among other elements.
Source: (https://www.britannica.com/topic/culture)
• Every self has two faces: personne and moi.
Moi
• Moi refers to a person's sense of who he is, his
body, and his basic identity, his biological
givenness.
• Moi is a person's basic Identity.

Personne
• Personne, on the other hand, is composed of the
social concepts of what it means to be who he is.
• Personne has much to do with what it means to

live in a particular institution, a particular ramify,
a particular religion, a particular nationality, and
how to behave given expectations and influences
from others.
An Anecdote
An overseas Filipino worker (OFW) adjusting to
life in another country is a very good case study. In
the Philippines, many people unabashedly violate
Jaywalking rules. A common Filipino treats road,
even national ones, as basically his and so he just
merely crosses whenever and wherever, When the
same Filipino visits another country with strict
traffic rules, say Singapore, you will notice how
suddenly law-abiding the said Filipino becomes.
The Self and the Development of the Social
World
 Recent studies indicated that men and women in their growth

and development engage actively in the shaping of the self.
 The unending terrain of metamorphosis of the self is

mediated by language.
 “Language as both a publicly shared and privately utilized

symbol system is the site where the individual and the social
make and remake each other' (Schwartz, White, and Lutz
1993).
The Self and the Development of the Social
World
 For Mead and Vygotsky, the way that human persons

develop is with the use of language acquisition and
Interaction with others.
 A young child internalizes values, norms, practices and

social beliefs and more through exposure to these dialogs
that will eventually become part of his individual world.
 For Mead, this takes place as a child assumes the 'other

through language and role-play.
Self in Families
• While every child is born with certain givenness,
disposition coming from his parents' genes and general
condition of life, the impact of one's family is still
deemed as a given in understanding the self.
• The kind of family that we are born in the resources

available to us (human, spiritual, economic), and the
kind of development that we will have will certainly
affect us as we go through life.
• As a matter of evolutionary fact, human persons are one

of those beings whose importance of family cannot be
denied.
Gender and the Self
• Gender is one of those points of the self that is
subject to alteration, change, and
development.
• We have seen in the past years how people

fought hard for the right to express, validate,
and assert their gender expression.
• The gendered self is then shaped within a

particular context of time and space.
Gender and the Self
• The sense of self that is being taught

makes sure that an individual fits in a
particular environment.
• This is dangerous and detrimental in

the goal of truly finding one’s self,
self-determination, and growth of the
self. Gender has to be personally
discovered and asserted and not
dictated by culture and the society.
GENDER TYPES
MALE:
FEMALE
GENDER TYPES
LESBIAN: Usually refers to a woman who has a romantic
and/or sexual orientation toward women. Some
nonbinary people also identify with this term.
GAY: Used in some cultural settings to represent men

who are attracted to men in a romantic, erotic and/or
emotional sense. Not all men who engage in same-
gender sexual behavior identify as gay, and as such this
label should be used with caution.
BISEXUAL or BI: A person who experiences sexual,

romantic, physical, and/or spiritual attraction to more
than one gender, not necessarily at the same time, in the
GENDER TYPES
TRANSGENDER: A person whose sense of personal identity
or gender does not correspond to the sex they were assigned
at birth, or does not conform to gender stereotypes. Sexual
orientation varies and is not dependent on gender identity.
QUEER: a multi-faceted word that is used in different ways

and means different things to different people.
1) Attraction to people of many genders.

2) Don’t conform to cultural norms around gender and/or
sexuality.
3) A general term referring to all non-heterosexual
people. Some within the community, however, may feel
the word has been hatefully used against them for too long
and are reluctant to embrace it.
GENDER TYPES
QUESTIONING: An individual
who is unsure of and/or exploring
their gender identity and/or
sexual orientation.

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Defining the

• This story, which was supposed to

Jon has a beautiful wife whom he met in

He also sometimes serves in the church too as a

As a man different roles, one can expect Jon to

• Are we being hypocritical in doing

• Are we even conscious of our shifting

 According to what we have so far, this

 The self is capable of morphing and

 includes language, ideas,

• Every self has two faces: personne and moi.

• Moi is a person's basic Identity.

• Personne has much to do with what it means to

 Recent studies indicated that men and women in their growth

 The unending terrain of metamorphosis of the self is

 “Language as both a publicly shared and privately utilized

 For Mead and Vygotsky, the way that human persons

 A young child internalizes values, norms, practices and

 For Mead, this takes place as a child assumes the 'other

• The kind of family that we are born in the resources

• As a matter of evolutionary fact, human persons are one

• We have seen in the past years how people

• The gendered self is then shaped within a

• The sense of self that is being taught

• This is dangerous and detrimental in

GAY: Used in some cultural settings to represent men

BISEXUAL or BI: A person who experiences sexual,

QUEER: a multi-faceted word that is used in different ways

1) Attraction to people of many genders.

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