PSY 204 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Family Values, Psy
Document Summary
Children start describing themselves in terms of psychological traits. They also start to compare their own characteristics with those of their peers. They are less inclined to be unrealistically positive. Often make social comparisons, they judge their appearance, abilities and behavior. The structure of self-concept: refers to children"s ability to combine typical experiences and behaviors into psychological dispositions or characteristics. The content of the self-concept both cognitive capacities and social feedback play a role. Children"s improved perspective-taking skills (an ability to infer what other people are thinking) are important for the development of a self-concept based on personality traits. Large discrepancy between real self and ideal self may seriously undermine the self- concept, leading to sadness, hopelessness and depression. Although peers become increasingly important, parents remain influential as children"s sources of self-definition. Self-esteem is an aspect of self-concept that involves judgements about one"s own worth and the feelings associated with those judgements.
