KHA302 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Physical Disability, Reinforcement, Identity Formation
30 Jun 2018
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Lifespan Developmental week 9: Identity
Definitions:
- Identity: “unity and persistence of personality”
oEquated to a sense of self: a being separate from others
oContinuous across time
oThrough social interaction with other selves: develop self concept
oSelf concept is not a single idea: the building up of many different
ideas
Feedback from others
oComplex self theory
- Cooley’s looking glass self: feedback from others interacts with and changes
self concept
oEmerges in this way
oIf not, we would be fragmented
oCritically thinking about the feedback we get
oDon’t automatically take all feedback on board
- Erikson: identify development/development of self
oA major stage based lifespan task
oStarts early
oAlways evolving, adding to and changes
oAs the environment impacts and interacts on us
oUntil we die
- Infant to early adult periods discussed
Self during infancy: do they have a sense of self? Continuity? Separate self?
- First emerges with physical self recognition
- Mirror experiment: mark is surreptitious placed on infants face
oSomething that really showed up
oUsually a free standing mirror
oBelow six months: infants do not touch the mark
Indirect evidence that the child is not seeing itself as an entity
that is similar to the person in the mirror
May go around the back of the mirror to see who the person in
the mirror is
o15 months: variation
take great interest increase
physical self recognition
try and rub the mark off, make noises about it
unlike the younger children
recognizes the mirror image as their own body
othis is also found in all great apes
gorillas, chimps etc.
physical self recognition, sense of selves as entities
o20 months: all children understand the mirror and mark test
- self describe:
o19 months: describe using physical characteristics
o24 months: evaluative vocabulary
good, bad, naughty
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go a step beyond purely physical description
in relation ot how other react to them and their behaviours
- these changes represent complex and sophisticated sense of sense
oparticularly when language develops
Self during childhood
- Self labeling: in early childhood
oWhen asked who they are:
Described by gender and age
Showing their self concept is emerging
oEphemeral until self constancy
Understanding their gender will not change
- Up to age 5: based on behaviour and observable features
oConcept development (Piaget)
- Age 8: psychological traits are included
oAbsolute self description: not evaluated very well against other people
oEg. I’m smart at school
oThis indicates an inability to recognize the variations
Between times and situations
- Better organisation and higher complexity than infancy
- Less global and absolute as age increases
- Harter: thinking about multi-faceted sense of selves
oEmotional
oIntelligence
oPhysical selves
oSocial
oStart to come out toward middle to late childhood
- Age 7: social comparisons appear
oCompare at activities
oHard to avoid how well you are doing at school and sports
oWhen schooling becomes more formal
- Age 10-12:
oAbility to recognize contradictory/dissonant ideas of self
Integrate different messages and feedback about themselves
- Gender identity is an important facet: consolidated by contact with same sex
adults and peers
- Ethnic identity emerges at end of childhood
oFamilial self in Asian cultures vs. personal self
oPerson in relation to the family and their values
oLess individualistic in Asian cultures
Self during adolescence:
- Formal operations (Piaget):
oThinking abstract way
oSelf becomes much more complex and abstract when compared to
previous stages
- Shifts from child comparisons to internalized, deeper, unified sense of self
oRelatively strengths and weaknesses
oCan take multiple perspectives: stand outside self
Unlike childhood
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Concrete sense of self
oConflicts may arise: family vs. peers selves
Role identity
Thinking in relation to different types of social situations
Sometimes challenges their sense of authenticity: I am totally
different between groups
Concerns arises around false vs. real self
oExperimentation of false selves can contribute to
healthy development
oReconciliation and experimentation
oA good thing to recognize the differences and
trying to reconcile
oNot good if doing it for social approval, trying
to impress family or friends
oCan cause confusion or depression
oImaginary audience: failure to differentiate self and others’ perspective
Feeling of being judged
Self consciousness
Sensitivity to criticism
Ability to separate logically becomes blurred
Because of imaginary audience: think everyone is looking at
and concern about you and how you look and act
oPersonal fable: exaggerated sense of uniqueness and abilities
Feel that parents cant understand them
Need to distinguish multiple perspectives
oTwenge contends teenage narcissism is increasing
A whole book written on this topic: American research
Significantly higher measures in ME generation Y; compared
to generation X and Baby Boomers
Reasons:
Social media, celebrities, reality shows (small periods
of fame)
Culture creates things feeding this narcissism
Role of self esteem movement: 1970-1990
oChildren don’t have good esteem
oEmbed programs to make children feel good:
got rewarded and told special for not doing
much at all
Because of this, an increase in narcissism
These findings were challenged: no significant differences
between generations
Is self focus in fact adaptable
Thinking about events that have happened: eg.
Terrorism is not as distant anymore, have greater
control
AIDS, global financial crisis
oAdolescent critical questions:
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Document Summary
Feedback from others: complex self theory. Cooley"s looking glass self: feedback from others interacts with and changes self concept: emerges in this way, if not, we would be fragmented, critically thinking about the feedback we get, don"t automatically take all feedback on board. Erikson: identify development/development of self: a major stage based lifespan task, starts early, always evolving, adding to and changes, as the environment impacts and interacts on us, until we die. Mirror experiment: mark is surreptitious placed on infants face: something that really showed up, usually a free standing mirror, below six months: infants do not touch the mark. Indirect evidence that the child is not seeing itself as an entity that is similar to the person in the mirror. Self labeling: in early childhood: when asked who they are: Showing their self concept is emerging: ephemeral until self constancy. Up to age 5: based on behaviour and observable features: concept development (piaget)
