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SELF Module 6: The Physical Self

UNIT II UNPACKING SELF

MODULE 6 THE PHYSICAL SELF

WRITER:

Prof. CARMINA GIGANTE TAULE, LPT, RGC, RPm

Associate Professor III

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Intended Learning Outcome:

1. Learn to know what physical self is
2. Analyze the relationship between physical self and self esteem
3. Appreciate and respect one’s cultural standard of physical bodies; and
4. Understand the importance of beauty and how to preserve a beautiful self

Introduction
Many years ago till this 21st century, we watched and celebrated with both awe and
disappointment the many people who are famous and those who became famous
because of their body changes and modifications. Differences in the body built, color,
sexuality and the many others are seen everywhere specially those stories who reached
the different media platforms. Others spent a lot and bear all the pain just to change their
physical being. Thus, many of us even those who cannot afford somehow wanted to
undergo paying expert to change their physical self to obtain their set of standard beauty,
trying to be recognized as beautiful or handsome.
This lesson will give us more ideas about our physical self since it is fundamental in
answering the most difficult question “Who Am I?” People are really guilty about the fact
that our first assessment of people is based on how they look. The brand of our dress,
our skin tone, our shape and the like help us develop our self-esteem teaching us more
how we can love and learn to embrace our own self.

Lesson Proper

Physical Self
Physical self refers to the concrete dimensions of the body. It is the tangible
aspects of the person which can be directly observed and examined. Physical traits are
the defining features of the person’s body which include the color of the skin, the height,
figure, facial features, hairstyle, clothing, our visual poise, posture and the like. These
physical characteristics can easily be disguised with the naked eye. It can give a better
advantage in the job if learned how to project and present our physical selves properly in
public. It will give us a better edge!

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Erik Erickson believed in the importance of the body from early development
because the physical as well as intellectual skills will somehow serve as a basis to
whether a person has achieved a sense of competence and be able to manage and face
the demands of the life complexities. William James, on the other hand, considered the
body as the initial source of sensation and necessary for the origin and maintenance of
personality.
This is to present what reflects unique aspects of the various stages from
childhood to adulthood. So while both an 8 month old and an 8 year old are considered
children, they have very different motor abilities, social relationships and cognitive
skills. Their nutritional needs are different and their primary psychological concerns are
also distinctive. The same is true of an 18 year old and an 80 year old, both considered
adults. Here is a brief overview of the stages.
During prenatal period conception occurs and development begins. All of the
major structures of the body are forming and the health of the mother is of primary
concern. Understanding nutrition, teratogens (or environmental factors that can lead to
birth defects) and labor and delivery are primary concerns.
The first year and a half to two years of life which know as infancy and toddler
period are ones of dramatic growth and change. A newborn, with a keen sense of hearing
but very poor vision is transformed into a walking, talking toddler within a relatively short
period of time. Parents as caregiver are also transformed from someone who manages
feeding and sleep schedules to a constantly moving guide and safety inspector for a
mobile and energetic child.
Early childhood is also referred to as the preschool years consisting of the years
which follow toddlerhood and precede formal schooling. As a three to five-year-old, the
child is busy learning language, is gaining a sense of self and greater independence and
is beginning to learn the workings of the physical world. This knowledge does not come
quickly. However, preschoolers may initially have interesting conceptions of size, time,
space and distance such as fearing that they may go down the drain if they sit at the front
of the bathtub or by demonstrating how long something will take by holding out their two
index fingers several inches apart. A toddler usually started to get more physically
exploratory in determining his sense of the world.

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The ages of six through eleven comprise middle childhood and much of what
children experience at this age is connected to their involvement in the early grades of
school. Exploring around using physical being is very tremendous during this period,
testing everything on his own. Schools compare students and make these comparisons
public through team sports, test scores and other forms of recognition. Growth rates slow
down and children are able to refine their motor skills at this point in life. And children
begin to learn about social relationships beyond the family through interaction with friends
and fellow students.
Adolescence is a period of dramatic physical change marked by an overall
physical growth spurt and sexual maturation, known as puberty. It is also a time of
cognitive change as the adolescent begins to think of new possibilities and to consider
abstract concepts such as love, fear, and freedom. Ironically, adolescents have a sense
of invincibility that puts them at greater risk of dying from accidents or contracting sexually
transmitted infections that can have lifelong consequences. According to healthy
children.org adolescence is divided into three periods such as early adolescence (11 to
14 years old), middle adolescence (15 to 17 years old) and the late adolescence (18 to 21
years old).
In the Philippines, the Youth in Nation-Building Act (1994) defined youth according
to ages which cover between 15 – 30 years. This range was created by the National
Youth Commission. Though there exists a difference in the age range for what in the
Philippine society may be considered as young, the physical changes that these youth
undergo in the period of adolescence are virtually the same as other adolescents
anywhere in the world.
The twenties and thirties are often thought of as early adulthood in some other
places. Most often, students who are in their mid-30s tend to love to hear that they are a
young adult. It is a time when we are at our physiological peak but are most at risk for
involvement in violent crimes and substance abuse. It is a time of focusing on the future
and putting a lot of energy into making choices that will help one earn the status of a full
adult in the eyes of others. Love and work are primary concerns at this stage of life,
projecting a better image of one self especially in public places.

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The late thirties through the mid-sixties are referred to as middle adulthood. This is
a period in which aging, that began earlier, becomes more noticeable and a period at
which many people are at their peak of productivity in love and work. It may be a period of
gaining expertise in certain fields and being able to understand problems and find
solutions with greater efficiency than before. It can also be a time of becoming more
realistic about possibilities in life previously considered; of recognizing the difference
between what is possible and what is likely. This is also the age group hardest hit by the
AIDS epidemic like in Africa, resulting in a substantial decrease in the number of workers
in those economies (Weitz, 2007) as they physically get engaged intimately with relating
to others.
This period of the life span has increased in the last 100 years, particularly in
industrialized countries. Late adulthood is sometimes subdivided into two or three
categories such as the “young old” and “old old” and “oldest old”.
These periods mark categorization and distinction such as the “young old” who are
people between 65 and 79 and the “old old” or those who are 80 and older. One of the
primary differences between these groups is that the young old are very similar to midlife
adults; still working, still relatively healthy and still interested in being productive and
active. The “old old” remain productive and active and the majority continues to live
independently, but risks of the diseases of old age such as arteriosclerosis, cancer and
cerebral vascular disease increases substantially for this age group. Issues of housing,
healthcare, and extending active life expectancy are only a few of the topics of concern for
this age group. A better way to appreciate the diversity of people in late adulthood is to
go beyond chronological age and examine whether a person is experiencing optimal
aging, meaning those who is in very good health for his age and continues to have an
active, stimulating life; normal aging, in which the changes are similar to most of those of
the same age; or impaired aging, referring to someone who has more physical challenge
and disease than others of the same age. Declining physical characteristics are already
remarkable.

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Activity I:
How well do I know my physical self?
1. In a mirror try to evaluate the physical component of yourself.
2. List down 5 of your most considered positive physical characteristics while looking into
yourself on the mirror and your 5 most considered negative physical characteristics you
able to recognize on yourself upon reflecting on the mirror

Positive Physical Characteristics Negative Physical Characteristics

1. 1.

2. 2.

3. 3.

4. 4.

5. 5.

3. If you will be given a chance, will you be changing some of that body parts. Explain your
idea about it.
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________

Factors that Affect Perception of the Physical Self

There are four areas of development physical, intellectual, emotional and social,
these areas of development will overlap with each other. The fastest period of growth
and development is during the infancy and early childhood life stages. There are
recognized expected patterns of physical growth and change, as well as intellectual,
emotional and social developments, ‘norm’ of development. Each child is an individual
and will develop at their own pace as unique as the other.
Looking into the concept of growth and development, we may probably realize why
we are all different. The first answer would be genetics or the hereditary endowment.

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Those are the characteristics we acquired from our both parents. The second is what
manifest from how we are brought up by them or the environmental or the social
influences we have or experienced inside and outside the mother’s womb. Therefore, it
entails the natural and nurturing process that our selves encountered.
As individuals go through life their health and well-being is affected by a number of
different factors that will affect an individual’s growth and development either positively
and negatively. These include physical, emotional, social, economic and environmental
factors. Knowledge of these factors is needed to be able to understand the effects they
have on the physical, intellectual, emotional and social development, as well as an
individual’s self- concept.

1. Personal Factors
a. Introspection and Self – Reflection – it is the process of making self- examination
after behaving in a certain way. Looking inward is the simplest way to achieve
self-knowledge though some people have a low self-insight on aspects about the self
where they wish were not true and many people tend to overestimate their positive
aspects.
b. Self - Perception Theory (SPT) is an account of attitude formation developed
by psychologist Daryl Bem. It asserts that people develop their attitudes (when there is
no previous attitude due to a lack of experience, etc.—and the emotional response is
ambiguous) by observing their own behavior and concluding what attitudes must have
caused it. The theory is counterintuitive in nature, as the conventional wisdom is that
attitudes determine behaviors. Furthermore, the theory suggests that people induce
attitudes without accessing internal cognition and mood states. The person interprets
their own overt behaviors rationally in the same way they attempt to explain others'
behaviors
c. Self – concept is a general term used to refer to how someone thinks about, evaluates
or perceives themselves. To be aware of oneself is to have a concept of oneself.
Therefore, it is the individual's belief about himself or herself, including the person's
attributes and who and what the self is. Self-Concept is about how we see ourselves
and how others see us. A range of factors influence an individual’s self-concept such as

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age, appearance, gender, culture, emotional development, education, relationships with

other people, sexual orientation and everything about our Life experiences. We can be
having a positive (good) self-concept or we can have a negative (poor) self-concept.
d. Personal identity is the concept you develop about yourself that evolves over the
course of your life. This may include aspects of your life that you have no control over,
such as where you grew up or the color of your skin, as well as choices you make in life,
such as how you spend your time and what you believe.

2. Social Factors
a. Attachment Process and Social Appraisal it is generally thought that attachment
style entails fundamental individual biases that can influence how people perceive and
respond to social information in a wide range of relationship contexts. Nurturing that is
consistent and appropriately responds according to one’s need promote positive
self-concept; whereas those that is neglectful and unresponsive creates a negative
self-concept believing that they are not worthy and that others cannot be trusted.
b. Maintaining, Regulating and Expanding the Self in Interpersonal Relationships.
Aside from the attachment developed when individual are still young, the sense of self is
continuously shaped through ongoing interaction with others or with significant
relationship partners who act as private audiences with whom people carry an internal
dialogue. An interpersonal relationship is a strong, deep, or close association or
acquaintance between two or more people that may range in duration from brief to
enduring. The context can vary from family or kinship relations, friendship,
marriage, relations with associates, work, clubs, neighborhoods, and places of worship
and the like.
c. The Looking – glass Self Theory describes the process wherein individuals base
their sense of self on how they believe others view them. Using social interaction as a
type of “mirror,” people use the judgments they receive from others to measure their own
worth, values, and behavior. Charles Horton Cooley stated that a person’s self grows out
of society’s interpersonal interactions and the perception of others.

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d. Social Comparison Theory state that individuals determine their own social and
personal worth based on how they stack up against others. Below is the schematic
presentation of the theory:

e. Collective Identity Theory encompasses both an individuals' self-definition and

affiliation with specific groups or roles. A sense of connectedness to a
particular social group refers to the ways that people's self-concepts are based on their
membership in social groups it include sports teams, religions, nationalities, occupations,
sexual orientation, ethnic groups and gender.

Activity II
Read and create your reaction paper using the link below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-perception_theory#Bem's_original_experiment

The Impact of Culture on Body Image and Self-Esteem

Beauty is the ascription of a property or characteristic to a person that provides a
perceptual experience of pleasure or satisfaction. Beauty is studied as part of aesthetics,
culture, social psychology and sociology. Although the definition given is specific for what
people may generally believe to be beautiful, it should be noted that in every culture and
in every individual, the standards of beauty vary a lot. For it is said that “beauty lies in the
eye of the beholder. Put simply what one may consider beautiful may not be for another.
Eurocentrism is defined as a tendency to interpret the world in terms of European
or Anglo-American values and experiences. Filipinos with euro centric features are seen
everywhere in media. With their fair skin and tall noses, they grace the spotlight and

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sweep Filipinos with flat nose and dark complexions under the rug. There is now a trend
of seeing mixed Filipinos as the default attractive standard as evidenced by the many
Filipinos bringing home beauty titles from international competitions. This standard of
beauty has a strong implication on how the Filipinos in the society perceive beauty.
The social media is usually perpetuating the idea that the European standard of
beauty is the only thing that can be deemed as beautiful. The Filipino culture has been
influenced a lot as their heritage and identities do not matter at all in the global schema.
An aspect of Eurocentrism called colorism is defined as the prejudicial or preferential
treatment of same-race people based solely on the color of their skin. So a person who is
having a tan complexion or dark skinned Filipino is usually advised to use whitening
products. Further encouraging them by telling that when they whiten the more they will be
beautiful.
Although associated with cleanliness, being fair skinned gives the impression of
beauty, health and wealth. Skin color, not the combination of individual’s feature,
presently determines one’s level of attractiveness. Though other people in the western
world try tanning of their skin for them to feel better, what an ironical world we have.

Activity III:
1. Reflect on your own personal concept of what for you is a real Beauty.
2. Download and print the picture of your most admired person bearing a real
physical beauty. Below that picture, describe the characteristics that manifest such
real physical beauty

Reframing the way we view, think and talk about our physical selves
Many people have an obsession to have a beautiful face and body. This is so
because the body heavily influences our self – identity. For many, as their body changes,
so does their image of themselves. It is very important to reframe the way we view, think
and talk about our physical selves. Here are some tips\.
1. Recognize that your body is your own, no matter what shape or size it comes in.
2. Identify which aspects of your appearance you can realistically change and which you
cannot.

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3. If there are things about yourself that you want to change and can, do this by making
goals for yourself.
4. When you hear negative comments coming from within, tell yourself to stop.
5. Try building your self-esteem by giving yourself at least three compliments every day.
Embrace Yourself, Love who you are!

Self-Assessment Quiz:
A. MODIFIED TRUE OR FALSE: Write U if all of the statements are true; R if only two
of the statements are true and underline the false statement, S if all of the statements are
false; and B if only two of the statements are false and underline the true statement.
_______1. Youth cover the age between 15 to 30 years of age
The range for identifying who the youth are was created by the National
Commission on Election
Heredity and environment were not important in growth and
development
_______2. Physical self are intangible aspects of the person
Our naked eyes can always see what is real on our physical
characteristics
Physical self doesn’t matter as we wanted to take a better edge on the
job
_______3. Self-concept is an individual’s belief about themselves
Adolescence marked the physical exploratory period to determine an
individual’s sense of his world
When individual base their sense of self on how they believe others
view
them is a process under a looking–glass self
_______4. Development begins during prenatal period
Puberty makes dramatic physical changes during adolescence period
Declining physical characteristics are remarkable during old age period
B. List down at least ten examples of what shows Physical Self
1. ________________________________ 6. ______________________________

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2. ________________________________ 7. ______________________________
3. ________________________________ 8. ______________________________
4. ________________________________ 9. ______________________________
5. ________________________________ 10.
______________________________
C. Discuss the schematic presentation of the Social Comparison Theory

ASAQ
A. 1. B
2. S
3. R
4. U
B. Rubrics for the Assessment and Activities:
5 points 3 points 1 point
Explanation of Issues/ Stated the ideas clearly and Stated ideas but description Stated the idea without
problems/ ideas described comprehensively, leaves some terms undefined, clarification or
presented on the delivering all relevant ambiguities unexplored, description
activity/ assessment information necessary for full boundaries undetermined,
understanding and/or backgrounds unknown.
Student's position about Specific position (perspective, Specific position (perspective) Specific position
the idea on the activity/ is imaginative, taking into acknowledges different ideas. (perspective) is stated,
assessment account the complexities of the but is simplistic and
(perspective) item being asked). obvious.
Influence of context and Thoroughly (systematically and Questions some assumptions. Shows an emerging
assumptions on the idea methodically) analyzes own Identifies several relevant awareness of present
presented on the and others' assumptions and contexts when presenting a assumptions Begins to
activity/ assessment carefully evaluates the position. May be more aware identify some contexts
relevance of contexts when of others' assumptions than when presenting a
presenting a position on the one's own (or vice versa) position on the item
item being asked being asked
Conclusions and related Conclusions and related Conclusion is logically tied to Conclusion is
outcomes on the idea outcomes are logical and information (because inconsistently tied to
presented on the reflect student’s informed information is chosen to fit the some of the information
activity/ assessment evaluation and ability to place desired conclusion); some discussed; related
(consequences and evidence and perspectives related outcomes are outcomes are
implications) discussed in priority order identified clearly oversimplified.

References:

Books/ Offline Source

Eden Joy Pastor Alata,Bernardo Nicolas Caslib, Jr. et. al. (2018). Understanding the Self. Sampaloc,
Manila: Rex Bookstore, Inc.

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Leslie B. Gazzingan, Joa-ann E. Porillo et al. (2018). Understanding the Self. Muntinlupa City: Panday-Lahi
Publishing House Inc.

Siverius ega Degho, Grace Sagun Degho et al. (2018). Understanding the Self. Malabon City: Mutya
Publishing House, Inc.

Online Source:
https://www.slideshare.net/arunaapkarunakaran/growth-and-development-26444171

https://www.slideshare.net/arunaapkarunakaran/growth-and-development-26444171

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-perception_theory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-perception_theory#Bem's_original_experiment

https://www.google.com/search?q=self+concept+meaning&oq=self+concept&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l7.
12002j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?ei=WC8rX5bCNcq1rQGK4YbgAg&q=personal+identity&oq=personal+i
dentity&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQARgAMggIABCxAxCDATICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAggAMgIIADICCAAyAg
gAMgIIADoECAAQRzoKCAAQsQMQgwEQQzoOCAAQ6gIQtAIQmgEQ5QI6BAgAEEM6BAguEEM6BwgAELE
DEEM6CwgAELEDEIMBEJECOgUIABCRAjoHCC4QsQMQQzoICAAQsQMQkQI6BQgAELEDOg4ILhCxAxCDAR
DHARCjAlCi0BZYnJsXYM2gBcAF4BIAB1gGIAbgbkgEGMi4yNi4xmAEAoAEBqgEHZ3dzLXdperABBsABAQ&sc
lient=psy-ab

https://www.google.com/search?q=interpersonal+relationship&oq=interpersonal+&aqs=chrome.4.0l2j6
9i57j0l5.7735j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://www.google.com/search?q=looking+glass+self&oq=looking+glass&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j46j0l6.1
4087j0j9&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

https://is.theorizeit.org/w/images/e/ef/Example1.jpg

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