FORMATION AND TRANSFORMATION OF SELF (UNDERSTANDING THE SELF)

ETHICS

1. Formation and Transformation of Self Group 2 • Understanding the Self • Self and Philosophical Ethics

2. What is Understanding the Self? Understanding the Self U nderstanding the self is having insight into one's own behavior, attitudes, strengths, and weakness. It is the individual's ability to say and know what he or she is good at or needs improvement. Self understanding is one of the highest goals in psychology. Self-understanding is necessary to get to a self-concept.  What is Self-concept? Self-concept is how the individual perceives oneself. It is the belief that an individual holds about oneself. When someone asks, "Who am I?," an individual may answer "I am a teacher," "I am intelligent" or "I am a good person.“ Self-concept is how a person describes him or herself. In youth, self-concept is amenable. Young people are very impressionable and often change according to interactions and experiences.

3. • There are a few major psychologists known as  humanisticpsychologists  who contributed to the development of self-concept . • Humanistic psychology  focuses on the positives of mental health, the ability of the individual to grow, and one's strengths and qualities. • The components that contribute to self-concept have been debated by various philosophers and are manifold. • The development of the self helps the individual understand who the self was in the past, who the self is in the present, and who the self will be in the future.

4. Abraham Maslow Abraham Maslow was a humanist psychologist who focused his ideas of the self-concept on stages that lead to self-actualization, which is exemplified by his graphic triangle of Hierarchy of Needs. He lists many stages starting at the bottom of the triangle that an individual must complete before escalating to reach the final stage of self-actualization at the top of the triangle. The Hierarchy of Needslisted from the bottom are physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging needs, esteem needs, and, finally at the top, self-actualization. 

5. Abraham Maslow Self-actualization, according to Maslow, is the highest potential a person can attain by being completely accepting and in agreement with the self and the surroundings.  So, in short, an individual will live at his or her highest self when he or she accepts the self, others, and the surrounding world.

6. Carl Rogers Carl Rogers, believes that the self-concept has three parts:      Self-image  is the picture of the self in the mind. This self will define the individual self as intelligent, ugly, fat, or beautiful. One might say "I am intelligent," or "I am fat. ” Self-esteem  is how an individual feels about the self and the achievements, abilities, and self-worth. An individual may feel pride, despair, or shame. One might say, 'I am good at playing video games," or "I never do anything right.“ Ideal  self  is the self that one wishes to create based on experiences, societal expectations and any role models the self may have. When the real self is not close to the ideal-self, the individual becomes dissatisfied and disgruntled. Then the individual sees the self as a failure.

7. Carl Rogers Roger's overall belief is that all humans are born with the innate desire to become the best self a human can be. He believed that the behavior of an individual is based on the way the individual perceives their situation. Another perspective on the self-concept focuses on six dimensions. These six dimensions (physical, social, competence, family, affect, and academic) are an integral part of the development of self-concept. The belief that all humans develop self in the space between self and interaction with society are examined in each dimension. 

8. HOW TO UNDERSTAND YOURSELF?

9. Self-awareness is the path to how to understand yourself and the kind of person one wants to be. There are many ways that one can practice self-awareness. Each activity is necessary to enter a space of understanding. There are various methods to encourage self-understanding. An individual who offers friends unsolicited opinions or solutions is often perceived as an authority on that subject. This leads to the question of why one feels the need to offer up knowledge of someone else's life. Is the advice given because it was requested or as a judgment? It is important to only offer solicited advice. Another method is to think about your listening ability. One should always listen patiently without interrupting. To listen to another's thoughts is sometimes the hardest thing to do. We start listening and soon we want to share our own thoughts. However, when we listen to someone it is about them and not us. We must learn to sit quietly and focus on what the other is saying and not focus on self. There are some activities that can be practiced daily to keep one in tune with the self. While there are many activities that therapists suggest that the individual do, not all will be liked; however, is it highly recommended that they be done daily. The daily routine of them creates habits that result in an examination of self and hopefully yielding positive outcomes for self-understanding. Self understanding is a result of knowledge of the "I" by which the individual understands one's own emotions andwho the individual wants to be and by the "me" which refers to how one sees the self and the self's response to society.  

10. The Philosophy of Self Self and Philosophical Ethics defines the essential qualities that make one person distinct from all others. There have been numerous approaches to defining these qualities. The self is the idea of a unified being which is the source of consciousness. Personal Ethics are ethical principles that a person uses when making decisions and behaving in both personal and professional settings. These ethics influence various aspects of a person’s life and help individuals develop their work ethic, personal goals, and values.   Individuals use their ethics to determine between right and wrong and influence how someone behaves in challenging situations. Each person’s code of ethics varies, but many people share common ethics such as honesty and respect.

11. Why are personal ethics important?

12. A person’s personal ethical principles are important for several reasons, including that they:   Give individuals a solid basis of which to determine the most appropriate action in any given situation:   When a person has solid personal ethics, they are better able to make decisions and take action in situations that may otherwise seem challenging.   Improve the decision-making process:   A professional’s ability to make decisions is based on their personal and professional ethics and what they believe to be good or bad. Having strong ethics makes the decision-making process easier and more streamlined.   Set a standard of behavior:   In the workplace and in life, ethics help establish an appropriate standard of behavior for individuals. This behavior is called ethical behavior and refers to a person’s ability to make sound decisions based on their ethical nature. Support motivation:  Individuals with strong ethics are often easily self-motivated and willing to go the extra mile to accomplish a task or goal on time and in the correct manner.

13. Ethics (Moral Philosophy) I s the discipline concerned with what is morally good and bad and morally right and wrong. The term is also applied to any system or theory of moral values or principles. D eals with such questions at all levels. Its subject consists of the fundamental issues of practical decision making, and its major concerns include the nature of ultimate value and the standards by which human actions can be judged right or wrong.

14. Three Major Divisions of Ethical Philosophy 1.  Virtue Ethics : This theory of virtue proposed by Aristotle, is a notion that was already a part of Greek culture. He espoused the view that the good man is one who lives in a way as to allow him to move towards the goal of man-as-such, the telos, and the way to reach the telos is to live a life of virtue.   2.  Deontology : Its main supporter has been Kant. Deontology is the study of obligations in a very narrow sense. It attempts to divine from reason alone the obligations every man holds simply because he is a rational being.    3.  Consequentialism : This theory includes John Stuart Mill’s utilitarianism, and its focus is, from its name, on the consequences of one’s actions. General consequentialism will say we have obligations to help people because helping people produces a better result than not helping people. Utilitarianismgoes beyond this to mathematize ethics. It quantifies the utility, which it defines as “ happiness ” or “ pleasure ,” a given action will produce and weighs that number against the amount of utility produced by another action. Whichever action produces the most utility is the one that is obligated.

15. Thank you