Understanding the Self

Prof. Wilson K. Panisan

UNPACKING THE SELF

Chapter Overview THE PHYSICAL SELF

In this chapter, the student will explore some of
the various aspects that make up the self, the
physical/biological and material to the spiritual
and political, including the most recent, the
digital self.
I Objective: at the end of the chapter, the
students will be able to unpack the self in
various aspects.
We live in a world where the material and
immaterial self are both represented. How is
that possible?
Physical world & Virtual Reality
How do we view our self in both worlds?
“ Beauty is when we can appreciate
yourself. When you love yourself, that’s
when you are most beautiful”
Zoe Kravitz
The Physical self refers to the tangible
aspect of the individual, the one with
figure, the one that can be seen and
touched and the one that feels pain and
vulnerable to sickness.

Societies shapes us in many ways,

possibly more than we realize it.
• How we perceive our bodies
• How we feel about our physical
appearance
• How we think and talk to our selves about
our bodies
• Our sense of how the other view our
bodies
UNPACKING THE SELF
The best representation of the Physical
Self
How can you make a best presentation
of yourself emphasizing what your
physical body can do to enhance and
maintain your beauty & good health?
What is Beauty? Is beauty relative?
How beauty is appreciated varies
through time, culture and the various
perceptions about the world
What Philosophers Think about
beauty
The nature of beauty is one of the most
enduring and controversial teams in
Western philosophy being traditionally
among the ultimate values together with
goodness, truth and justice.
Two most-debated views about beauty
are:
1. Beauty is objective
2. Beauty is subjective
As for objective beauty, we know that symmetry (or
lack of it) and contrasts are the basic ingredients of
physical beauty… Some will add that natural
patterns and other proportions helped make
someone or something look appealing.
The saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”
suggests subjective.
UNPACKING THE SELF
Before the 18th century, western
philosophical views on beauty treated it
as an objective quality
1. St. Augustine – Things were beautiful
because it gave delight or whether it gave
delight because it is beautiful
2. Plato – he connected beauty as a
response to love and desire
3. Aristotle – asserted that chief forms of
beauty are order, symmetry and
definiteness
By the 18th century, beauty was
associated with pleasure as a personal
preference.
1. David Hume –”. It exist merely in t“ Beauty
is no quality in things themselveshe mind
which contemplates them and each mind
perceives a different beauty. One person
may even perceive deformity where
another is sensible of beauty.
2. Immanuel Kant – The judgment of taste
is therefore not judgment of cognition
and is consequently not logical but
aesthetical, by which we understand
that whose determining ground can be
no other than subjective
3. Francis Hutcheson – “the perception of
beauty does not depend on the external
sense of sight, however the internal
sense of beauty operates as an internal
or reflect sense
UNPACKING THE SELF
What Did Psychology Discover About
Beauty ?
Research found out that a person who is
perceived as attractive makes more
money than a person who is below
average looks. In politics, voters who are
not actively engaged in social and
political issues choose candidates based
on “looks” 90% of the time.
Cognitive Bias – is an error in
reasoning, evaluating, remembering or
any other mental process that is often a
result of holding on to one’s preferences
and beliefs regardless of contrary
information.
Halo Effect – refers to the tendency of
people to rate attractive individuals more
favorably for their personality traits or
characteristics as compared to those
who are attractive
Does your body have
impact on your Self-
Esteem?
Self-esteem is how you value yourself
and you feel others value you. It is
important because it can affect your
mental health

Body Image - is how you view your

physical body, whether you feel you are
attractive or and how you feel others like
your look
Development of Secondary Sex
Characteristics and the Human
Reproductive System
HOW IS THE SEX OF THE CHILD BEING
DETERMINED?
The chromosomes of the 23rd pair are called
sex chromosomes because they carry the
genes that determine a person’s sex, primary
and secondary sex characteristics, and other
sex-linked traits such as red-green color
blindness, male pattern-baldness, and
hemophilia. The sex chromosomes of female
consist of two X chromosomes (XX); males
have an X chromosomes and a Y chromosome
(XY). The egg cell always contain an X
chromosome. Half of a man’s sperm cells carry
an X chromosome and half carry Y. Therefore
the sex of the child depends on whether the
egg(X) is fertilized by a sperm carrying an X
chromosome, which produces a female (XX), or
a sperm carrying a Y chromosome, which
produces a male (XY).
Puberty – the stage of human Development at
which individuals become sexually mature .
Puberty is considered the onset of adolescence
– a period of rapid physical growth and change
that culminates in sexual maturity. The average
onset of puberty is age 10 for girls and age 12
for boys (Tanner, 1990). Puberty begins with a
surge in hormone production followed by
marked acceleration in growth. Because various
parts of the body grow at different rates, the
adolescent often has a lanky, awkward
appearance. Girls attain their full height
between ages 16 – 17 and boys between ages
18 and 20 (Tanner, 1990). During puberty, the
reproductive organs in both sexes mature and
secondary sex characteristics appear. In girls,
the breast develop, and the hips round; in boys,
the voice deepens and facial and chest hair
appears; in both sexes, there is growth of pubic
and underarm (axillary) hair. The major
landmark of puberty for males is the first
ejaculation, which occurs on average at age
13. And for females, it is menarche – the onset
of menstruation – which occurs at an average of
2, although from 10-15 is considered the normal
range
What are the erogenous zones of the body?
• The skin – serves as the primary erotic
stimulus
• Prepuce – is the retractable fold of skin
covering the tip of the penis(foreskin)
• Penis – is the male erectile organ of
copulation which the urine and semen are
discharged from the body
• Clitoris – a female sexual organ that is
small, sensitive and located infront of the
opening of the vagina
• Perianal skin – area of the body
surrounding the anus and skin that is
sensitive and susceptible to injury/damage
• Lips – are soft, movable and serve as
opening for food intake.. Are designed to be
perceived by touch and erogenous zone
when used in kissing.
• Nipples – are the raised region of tissue on
the surface of the breast. A recent study
found that the sensation from the nipples
travels to the same part of the brain as
sensations from the vagina, clitoris and
cervix
Understanding the Human Sexual
Response
Sexual Response Cycle – refers to the
sequence of physical and emotional occurences
when the person is participating in a sexually
stimulating activity such as intercourse or
masturbation

Phase I Excitement
Phase II Plateau
Phase III Orgasm
Phase IV Resolution
SEX and the Brain
Sex – is the process of combining
male and female genes to form an
offspring.
The Brain  is considered the
largest sex organ controlling the
biological urges, mental processes
as well as the emotional and
physical responses to sex
Roles of the brain in
sexual Activity:
• Responsible for translating the nerve
impulses sensed by the skin into
pleasurable sensations
• It controls the nerves and muscles
used in sexual activities
• Sexual thoughts and fantasies are
theorized to lie in the cerebral
cortex, the same area for thinking
and reasoning
• Emotions and feelings (impt for
sexual behavior are believed to
originate in the limbic system
• The brain releases hormones
considered as physiological origin of
sexual desire
SEX and the BrainHormones secreted by the
Roles of Hormones in
Sexual Activity:
Hypothalamus – is the most
impt part of the brain for sexual
functioning. Its relation to the Pituitary
Glands which secretes the Hormones
produced in the hypothalamus is impt.
Pituitary Glands
1. Oxytocin – is also known as the “love
hormone” and believed to be involved in
our desire to maintain close relationship.
Released during sexual intercourse when
orgasm is achieved.
2. Follicle- Stimulating Hormone (FSH) – Is
responsible for ovulation in females
3. Luteinizing Hormone (LH) – crucial in
regulating the testes in men and ovaries in
women. It stimulates the testes to produce
Testosterone that appears to be a major
contributing factor to sexual orientation
4. Vasopressin – involved in the male arousal
phase. The increase in vasopressin during
erectile response is believed to be directly
associated with increased motivation to
engage in sexual behavior
5. Estrogen and Progesterone – typically
regulate motivation to engage in sexual
behavior for females, with estrogen
increasing motivation and progesterone
decreasing it.
That’s all for now!