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module 6

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16 views12 pages

module 6

Uploaded by

Karl Alexis Albarillo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY?

THAT IS THE QUESTION!


WEEK 8 BY PROF. MARIA CECILIA SAENZ
MATERIAL SELF
◻ A Harvard psychologist in the late nineteenth
century, William James, wrote in his book, The
Principles of Psychology in 1890 that
understanding the self can be examined through its
different components.
◻ (1) its constituents;
◻ (2) the feelings and emotions they arouse – self
–feelings;
◻ (3) the actions to which they prompt- self- seeking
and self-preservation.
The constituents of self are composed of:
A. Material self
B. Social self,
C. Spiritual self
D. Pure ego.
MATERIAL
SELF
◻ primarily is about our bodies,
clothes, immediate family and
home. We are deeply affected
by these things because we
have put much investment of
our self to them.
MATERIAL SELF
INVESTMENT DIAGRAM

The innermost part of our material self is our body.


Intentionally, we are investigating in our body. We are
directly attached to this commodity that we cannot live
without. We strive hard to make sure that this body
functions well and good. Any ailment or disorder
directly affects us. We do have certain preferential
attachment or intimate closeness to certain body parts
because of its value to us.
Next to our body are the clothes we use. Influenced by
the “ Philosophy of Dress” by Herman Lotze, James
believed that clothing is an essential part of the material self.
Lotze in his book, Microcosmus, stipulates that “any time we
bring an object into the surface of our body, we invest that
object into the consciousness of our personal existence
taking in its contours to be our own and making it part of the
self.” (Watson 2014) The fabric and style of the clothes we
wear bring sensations to the body to which directly affect our
attitudes and behavior. Thus, clothes are placed in the second
hierarchy of material self. Clothing is a form of
self-expression. We choose and wear clothes that reflect our
self (Watson 2014).
Third in the hierarchy is our immediate family. Our
parents and siblings hold another great important
part of our self. What they do or become affects us.
When an immediate family member dies, part of our
self dies, too. When their lives are in success, we
feel their victories as if we are the one holding the
trophy. In their failures, we are put to shame or
guilt. When they are in disadvantage situation, there
is an urgent urge to help like a voluntary instinct of
saving one’s self from danger. We place huge
investment in our immediate family when we see
them as the nearest replica of OUR SELF.
The fourth component of material self is
our home. Home is where our heart is. It is
the earliest nest of our selfhood. Our
experiences inside the home were recorded
and marked on particular parts and things
in our home. There was an old cliché about
rooms: “if only walls can speak.” The
home thus is an extension of self, because
in it, we can only directly connect our self.
Having investment of self to things, made
us attached to those things. The more
investment of self-given to the particular
thing, the more we identify ourselves to it.
We also tended to collect and possess
properties. The collections in different
degree of investment of self, becomes part
of the self. As James (1890) described self:
“a man‘s self is the sum total of all what
he can call his.” Possessions then become
a part or an extension of the self.
WE ARE WHAT WE HAVE

Russel Belk (1988) posits that “… we


regard our possessions as part of ourselves.
We are what we have and what we
possess.” The identification of the self to
things started in our infancy stage when we
make a distinction among self and
environment and others who may desire
our possessions
As we grow older, putting importance to
material possession decreases. However,
material possession gains higher value in
our lifetime if we use material possession
to find happiness, associate these things
with significant events, accomplishments
and people in our lives. There were even
times, when material possession of a
person that is closely identified to the
person, gains acknowledgement with high
regard even if the person already passed
away.
Examples of these are the chair in the
dining room on which the person is always
seated, the chair will be the constant
reminder of the person seated there; a
well-loved and kept vehicle of the person,
which some of the bereaved family
members have a difficulty to sell or let go
of because that vehicle is very much
identified with the owner who passed
away; the favourite pet or book, among
others that the owner placed a high value,
theses favourite things are symbols of the
owner.

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