Psychological, Philosophical, and Sociocultural Views of the Self

Vocabulary flashcards covering the psychological (Freud), philosophical (Socrates to Merleau-Ponty), and sociocultural (Mauss, Mead, Vygotsky) theories of self and human development.

Sigmund Freud

Austrian founder of psychoanalysis (born May 6, 1856; died September 23, 1939) who formulated the theory of psychosexual development, the unconscious, the Oedipus complex, libido, defense mechanisms, and the structural model of Id, Ego, and Superego.

Libido

The psychological or sexual energy generated by the Id; according to Freud, all psychological tension stems from its accumulation, and all pleasure derives from its successful discharge.

Erogenous Zone

A specific bodily release valve where pleasure-seeking energy (libido) is focused and discharged as an individual physically matures.

Fixation

An arrested state of psychosexual development where a portion of the libido remains permanently invested in a specific stage due to either frustration or overindulgence.

Oral Stage

The first psychosexual stage (birth to 18 months) where pleasure centers on the mouth through actions like sucking, biting, and chewing, with weaning as the core conflict.

Oral-Frustrated Adult

An adult personality resulting from underfeeding or neglect during the oral stage, characterized by pessimism, envy, and suspicion.

Oral-Overindulged Adult

An adult personality resulting from overfeeding or overprotection during the oral stage, characterized by excessive optimism, gullibility, and admiration.

Anal Stage

The second psychosexual stage (18 months to 3 years) where pleasure focuses on controlling and releasing the bowels, with toilet training as the core conflict.

Anal-Retentive Personality

An adult personality type caused by early or harsh toilet training, characterized by obsessive tidiness, punctuality, high respect for authority, and stubbornness with money.

Anal-Expulsive Personality

An adult personality type caused by liberal or unstructured toilet training, characterized by messiness, disorganization, rebellion against rules, and extreme generosity.

Phallic Stage

The third psychosexual stage (3 to 6 years) where libido focuses on the genitals, sparking awareness of sex differences and intense emotional conflicts like the Oedipus or Electra complex.

Oedipus Complex

A phallic stage conflict in boys involving erotic desire for the mother and castration anxiety regarding the father, resolved by repressing desire and identifying with the father to form the Superego.

Electra Complex

A phallic stage conflict in girls involving desire for the father and penis envy towards the mother, resolved by identifying with the mother.

Latency Stage

The fourth psychosexual stage (6 years to puberty) during which sexual impulses are dormant/repressed, allowing energy to be sublimated into academics, hobbies, and same-sex friendships.

Sublimation

The process during the latency stage of rerouting dormant sexual energy into social, academic, and intellectual pursuits.

Genital Stage

The final psychosexual stage (puberty onward) where libido re-emerges and directs outward toward mature, mutually satisfying heterosexual relationships.

Signifier vs. Signified (Name vs. Self)

The philosophical distinction stating that a given name is merely an external signifier, whereas the true self is an active entity molded and developed over time.

Socratic Shift

A historical transition in philosophy initiated by Socrates, shifting focus from natural mythology and physical reality to rational inquiry regarding the problem of the self.

Tripartite Soul

Plato and Socrates's architectural framework dividing the soul into the Rational Soul (reason/intellect), Spirited Soul (emotions), and Appetitive Soul (base physical desires).

Augustine's Bifurcated Nature of Man

The philosophical view that human existence is split between an Earthly Dwelling (a mortal, imperfect body) and Divine Immortality (an immortal soul striving for eternal bliss with God).

Hyle and Morphe

Thomas Aquinas's Aristotelian framework asserting that man is composed of Hyle (Matter, the physical substance) and Morphe (Form, the animating soul).

Cogito

René Descartes's concept of 'The Thing That Thinks', referring to the non-physical mind that exists independently of physical reality ('Cogito ergo sum').

Extenza

René Descartes's concept of 'The Extension', referring to the physical body viewed as a mechanical entity separate from the mind.

Bundle Theory of Self

David Hume's empiricist concept asserting that there is no unified, static self, but rather a changing bundle of fleeting sensory impressions and ideas.

Impressions vs. Ideas

David Hume's distinction between Impressions (vivid, immediate objects of sensory experience) and Ideas (fainter copies of impressions used in memory and imagination).

Active Intelligence

Immanuel Kant's concept of an organizing mind that actively processes and synthesizes random sensory input into structured knowledge.

Behaviorism (Ryle)

Gilbert Ryle's rejection of Cartesian dualism ('the ghost in the machine'), proposing that the self is simply the sum of all observable behaviors and actions.

Embodied Self

Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological view that mind and body are inextricably linked, meaning all human perception and experience is inherently physical and embodied.

Social Constructivism

A paradigm viewing the self as dynamic, permeable, and continuously shaped by external social contexts and cultural interactions.

Moi

Marcel Mauss's term for a person's basic, underlying sense of identity, representing biological givenness and the physical body.

Personne

Marcel Mauss's term for the social masks and contextual roles shaped by cultural institutions (family, religion, nationality) to meet societal expectations.

Linguistic Code-Switching

The adaptive behavioral and verbal adjustment of language, cadence, and vocabulary depending on the audience or social setting.

Mahal Kita

A Filipino expression for 'I love you' whose linguistic structure blends subject and object into a single entity, illustrating permeable personal boundaries in social constructivism.

Role-Play Theory (Mead)

George Herbert Mead's theory that children develop a distinct sense of self ('I') by taking on the role of the 'other' through play and interaction.

Internalized Dialogue (Vygotsky)

Lev Vygotsky's concept that children internalize external social conversations with caregivers to create the mental frameworks and internal speech used for cognitive problem-solving.