Self-esteem, self-efficacy, and locus of control

Self-concept  is derived from self-esteem and self-efficacy

Self-esteem  regard or respect that a person has for oneself

Self-efficacy  belief in one’s capability to succeed in a certain situation

 Developed by Bandura because of his dissatisfaction with self-esteem
 Self-efficacy more specific than self-esteem
 Self-efficacy plays a major role in how they approach goals, tasks and challenges are
approached
 Most people have goals but people realize that putting these plans into action is not simple
 Two types
o Strong self-efficacy  view challenging problems as tasks to be mastered
 Recover quickly
 Interest
 Strong commitment
 Enjoy challenging tasks
o Weak self-efficacy  avoid challenging tasks; focus on failures and negative
outcome
 Fail
 Avoid
 Lose
 Lack
 Four major sources of Self-efficacy
o Mastery experiences – performing a task successfully
o Social modeling – seeing people similar to ourselves successfully complete a task,
raises our beliefs that we too have the capability to master
o Social persuasion – when someone said something positive that helped you achieve
your goal
o Psychological responses – consider a person who becomes extremely nervous when
speaking in public; learn how to minimize stress and elevate mood when facing
difficult or challenging tasks, we can improve their self-efficacy
 Self-esteem and self-efficacy
o You can have LOW self-esteem but have HIGH self-efficacy  perfectionists!
 Overly critical and negative about themselves and still see themselves as
capable in certain areas
 Find yourself boring but still believe that you are capable at tasks

Locus of Control  perceived control over events in life

 Internal LOC  person believes that he or she can influence events and their outcomes
o Attribute results to their own traits
o High internal locus of control believe that events in their life come primarily from
their own actions
 If they don’t perform as well  they will blame it on the lack of
preparedness on their part
 Similar if they perform well  they will attribute it to themselves
 External LOC  blames outside forces for everything.
o They attribute events to environmental traits or causes
o High external locus of control
 If they don’t perform well  they blame the teacher?? They blame the test
  If they perform well  oh I got lucky!

Why Self-efficacy Matters – Mamie Morrow

Mamie Morrow wanted to be a coach

 Applied for promotion but supervisor did not share the same vision  supervisor threw the
application  supervisor thought that she didn’t have what it took to be a coach
 It is surprising our confidence to be easily broken
o After some time those words have less and less power
o I remember my mother that I had the ability to connect to learner
o I realized that I have the resiliency to pick myself up  I knew that I could be a
coach
 Educator and coach for 5 ½ years

Think about a moment in your life when your belief in your ability to do something outweighed what
anyone else told you could or could not do?

 That’s because our genuine belief in our abilities plays a key role in how we approach certain
goals, tasks, and challenges
 Self-efficacy!

People with low levels of self-efficacy for a certain task

 Tend to avoid it doing all together or quit easily

High level of self-efficacy

 Influences our motivation to give it a try and take that action and even to persevere when
challenges are encountered
 That is the power of self-efficacy  the fuel that drives change
 That is why it matters to all of us!

How do we build SEfficacy? To empower ourselves and others? [Bandura’s sources of efficacy
beliefs]
 Experience success (mastery experiences)  nothing creates more self-efficacy than having
a direct experience of mastery with that task
o Imagine if you first wanted to swim – master each small step until you swim
individually
o Break it down to small tasks
o Start where they are  build the skill from there
o So that they can have a positive experience
 See others succeed
o I got inspired to keep going because of those around me. If they could do it, I could
do it too!
 Receive encouragement
o How many of us have our efforts affirmed on a daily basis? We don’t even do that to
ourselves!
 Manage negative emotions
o I normalized what she was feeling
o When our emotions get big  our brains get small
o Lesson: she has the power to manage her emotions
Swimming in Thailand
  Experience success  instructor broke down instructions
 See others succeed  I saw newbies succeeding and not dying
 Receive encouragement  husband constantly constantly encouragement
 Manage negative emotions 

What is that thing that you’ve been wanting to try and you haven’t yet? What is that change that
you’ve been waiting to make in your life? What is it going to take for you to believe in your ability to
successfully do that?
 Whether you believe you can or you believe you cannot, you are right. – Henry Ford
 So I encourage you today to be kind to yourself and build your self-efficacy and you can
prove to yourself that you can!
Embodiment

In the reading The Self: A Transpersonal Neuroanthropological Account by Charles Laughlin, he

points out that in the anthropology of the self, the interest is on understanding how an individual
constructs his or her identity within the context of physical and social environment.

We have to remember that different cultures will have variations in how they understand the self --
that is not all cultures will have similar an exact terms for “ego” , “identity” or even “soul”. As such,
anthropologists noted several factors which help in researching about the self when comparing
across cultures or between different countries. We asked you to read up on the following factors:

1. Self-as-being vs. self-as-psyche

2. Self-as experienced and self-as-reported (otherwise known as private and public self)
3. The embodiment of self
4. Egoistic versus social self
5. Sameness and duration of self
6. Self and emotion

In this lecture we will focus on embodiment.

In anthropology, embodiment refers to the self as how the body experiences the world. Meaning to
say, when we act, we act not simply as minds but also as physical bodies.

For example, we have here Mr. Bean in a fancy fine dining restaurant. He is served oysters. As Mr.
Bean consumes the oysters, he is not only thinking of how disgusting oysters are but his body (or his
internal organs which we call the viscera) experiences the oysters as disgusting.

Here we see that eating as a behavior is part of a complex system of ideas, perceptions, norms,
values, feelings and behaviors so that the act of eating is never just about satisfying hunger, but is
also an expression of how we have learned to see the world. Culture, like a set of glasses, focuses
our experience of the world. And this example shows, culture becomes a part of us, right down to
“natural” reactions, such as nausea.

Here we see that the concept of embodiment attempts to bridge the gap between mind-and-body
dualism that was put forth by Rene Descartes.

It is with this idea of embodiment (That the self is how the body experiences the world) that we can
start to understand the three definitions of embodiment discussed by William Lucas in his video
Embodiment in Anthropology.

1. Our body is shaped by social, mental and historical factors (Bourdieu)

Remember the habitus? Going back to Mr. Bean’s example, probably he learned through
experience that habit of being “disgusted” by the taste of oysters. He might not have been
exposed to eating oysters as a child or he might have had prior experience with oysters
wherein it was felt as unpleasant.

2. Social, mental, and historical factors have real impacts on our biology (Biological
anthropologists)
 For this one, the focus is on health outcomes. We can just think of how certain segments of
the population in the country are prone to diseases or certain illnesses. Or you can even
think of how and why gender is related to mental health outcomes. What is in their social,
mental and historical experience of women for example which predisposes them to say
depression more than men?

3. Our self-narratives also has real social, psychological, and physical consequences (Seligman)

For this one, our bodily experiences and our understanding of ourselves are associated with
becoming different and changing how we see ourselves.

To make this more concrete, let’s look at this example. In Korea, a number of people
experience hallucinations and nightmares of animals and deities – at some point these
people would experience sudden outbursts or release of strong emotion and exhibiting
strange behavior. While health experts might view this hallucination and strange behavior as
similar to schizophrenia, shamans from Korea would tell them that they are experiencing
“spirit illness” and this for them is a “calling” that they have to become shamans or spirit
mediums.

Through inititation rituals, these individuals who experienced “hallucinations” similar to

schizophrenia transformed and viewed themselves no longer as “sick”. They didn’t
experience symptoms anymore. Instead, their self-concept transformed and as well as their
body and health.

In these three examples. The key is to remember that the physical (the body) can influence the
mental (the mind).

Link to video: https://youtu.be/fsPAj2RJbXU

This is a only supplementary video. In this 17 minute video, we will try to go over the significant
points raised in the reading (Charles Laughlin's The Self) and the video you watched for Topic 1
Anthropology (Lucas' Embodiment). It is highly recommended to scan or familiarize yourself with the
materials mentioned prior to watching this supplementary video.

We will try to connect the factors in understanding the self across cultures with the concepts of
embodiment in anthropology.

Tip: View video in 1.5x speed or more

Good day, class.

For Module 2, I have uploaded a supplementary lecture on Embodiment in Anthropology. It is not a

required material and most of what it contains is all in the readings and videos that were already
shared in the study guide.

Hope it somehow points you to the significant concepts/ideas in the readings or materials you have
already encountered so far.

Thank you!
Assignment 3

Section ND1
 The stories are there. Leni’s experiences are there. Don’t forget to cite concepts that would
support your observation of the changes that came about.
o For example: Anthropology posits that embodiment is how the body experiences the
world. One view of embodiment is that social, mental, and historical factors shape
our body [Bourdieu]. As a child, Leni thought that she was shy and introverted.
However, when she became the wife of the late Jesse Robredo, she was asked to
participate in speaking engagements. These such experience of having to speak on
behalf of her husband helped her overcome her fears slowly and as well as change
the way she would experience talking to people, facing people, being a politician
several years later. Leni who once used to be so afraid of talking, has changed into
someone who is now confident and comfortable in addressing thousands, millions of
people as Vice President.
o Why was she able to change? What theories or concepts could explain?
 Bourdieu? Biological anthropology? Seligman?
o Why does her experiences have significant impact on her being a politician?
 Perhaps because we act simply not as minds but also as bodies??
o What are the possible reasons why she could go on now to speaking and talking with
people?
 Perhaps self-efficacy? Mastery experiences as evident in her being part of
her husband’s campaigns?
 Self-esteem
o How one regards oneself – how does Leni regard herself? Does she regard herself in
a positive/negative way? Why so?
o What does Leni think about herself?
o Self-esteem is not equal to self-confidence
 You
o What’s your signature strength?

Forum
 Perhaps, we can focus on embodiment when we argue if mind and body are separable or
not
 Not just a matter of mind controls body  this is never the case; more than that; we act as
minds and bodies – it’s not the body that acts alone; we are subjects; our bodies are not
objects of the mind
o Do you own your body in a similar way that you own your dog? More than that.
o When you dance for example – your mind is experiencing dancing; your body is
experiencing dancing

Section YH1
 Very good explanations and narratives are presented well. Was able to understand the
concept of self-esteem too.