Self-Integration in Culture: A Case Study of Indonesian Individuals’ Self-Processes

Abstract

The self is built of internal and external processes. Humans are cultural beings with independent and interdependent values that are differentiated or integrated into the self. A healthy self depends on the success of integrating experiences in life. Studies of the self are important for insight to the various processes resulting in different degrees of mental health issues. However, much of the studies in psychology is obtained from the Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) population. While individuals from independent cultures equate consistency with well-being, individuals from interdependent cultures display situational behavior. This paper attempts to study self-integration as a goal in self-congruence and as a higher process through a qualitative case study of three individuals from the Indonesian culture. The three individuals in this paper have varying degrees of foreign culture exposures. We found that self-integration is an idiosyncratic process, which differs from one individual to another. We found that more dynamic experiences and older age does not ensure high level of self-integration. Openness to experience and adaptive flexibility is important for higher level of self-integration. Self-integration is not a plateau state, but the overall frequency in displaying a self-congruent or a process type of integration. Other individual factors such as personality and possible psychological dysfunction influence self-integration. Different degrees of self-determination are displayed in self-integration as goal or process. In line with interdependent characteristics, the three Indonesian cases presented here consider their own values along with close others’ values as they face challenges in integration.



Author Information
Ayutias Anggraini, Universitas Tarumanagara, Indonesia
Rijanto Purbojo, Universitas Pelita Harapan, Indonesia

Paper Information
Conference: ACP2019
Stream: Mental Health

This paper is part of the ACP2019 Conference Proceedings (View)
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Posted by James Alexander Gordon