Chulipa, Loraine T.

17 Aug 2016

2012-14615

Psych 180

WFU
Images (but not pictures) of Social Being
Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not
accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human.
Aristotles quote indicates that since a long time ago, we have recognized that we
are social beings. He even implies that being social is a criterion of being human!
However, it is just in the relatively recent years that we have found out evidence to
support his posits.
It was interesting, reading through the images described by Baumeister and Finkel
(2010). I tried to situate and analyze myself in each image but the following are the three
images I am most partial to.
First is the Information Processor. In this image, humans are viewed as beings who
seek and process information, wherein the processing includes several steps such as
choosing what to focus on, interpreting and storing the information, and then retrieving it.
When interacting with people, when I meet them for the first time, I generally notice
their expressions and clothes first (selective attention). This is because I can make
inferences about them if I compare what I see to the existing schemas or information I
have. My interpretations then affect my behaviour towards them.
The process of observing, inferring, then acting on it is never-ending and is not
absolute, that is to say, it is a continuous process that might be affected by our
physiological and psychological states and the environment.
A variant of the Information Processor, the Foolish Mistake Maker, occurs when
there are errors in the process that lead to mistakes. For example, I once called an
acquaintance by the wrong name because when we first met, I was in a hurry so misheard
her name, and thus leading to encoding and retrieval of a faulty memory.
The second and third images I am partial to are somewhat related. One is the image
of a Group Member wherein humans seek to be with other people. The adage No man is
an island fits this image. The other is the Cultural Animal wherein nature and culture
coevolved. Nature selected traits that aided in survival and reproduction while culture is

the way of solving problems in survival and reproduction. In relation to these, being in a
group increases the chances of survival (Taflinger, 1996).
A group is usually composed of individuals who are bound by a culture which is
defined in the image of the Cultural Animal as the learned behaviours that facilitate better
participation within a group. A characteristic of the Group Member is his or her desire to
be accepted and liked by the other members and one way to do this is by adopting the
group culture.
In a group, it is said that there is deindividuation, meaning that the members lose
their individuality in the course of becoming similar to others, whether this is in the way of
thinking, race, outer appearance etc. This can be construed as one way of being loyal to
the group. However, individually, they also seek to be at the top of the group hierarchy.
An example of the group and cultural dynamic is our identity as Filipinos. Yacat
(2005) identified three ways we classify ourselves as Filipinos: (1) Pinagmulan (shared
origins), (2) Kinalakhan (shared culture), and (3) Kamalayan (shared consciousness). For
the Cultural Animal, the qualification kinalakhan fits the most.
However, the Philippines is an island country and so, it is hard to really unify
ourselves as Filipinos. I observed that regional pride and loyalty to several subgroups such
as the Igorots, Ilocanos, and the Warays, sometimes overtakes the national identity. I think
this is in line with the behaviour of a group member which seeks to be at the topo of the
hierarchy of the group.

References
Baumeister, R. F., & Finkel, E. J. (2010). Advanced social psychology: The state of the
science. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Taflinger, R. (1996). Social Basis of Human Behavior. Retrieved from
http://public.wsu.edu/~taflinge/socself.html
Yacat, J. (2005). Making Sense of Being and Becoming Filipinos: An Indigenous Psychology
Perspective. Philippine

Journal of Psychology, 38(2). Retrieved from

http://116.50.242.171/PSSC/index.php/pjp01/ article/view/1375