CH 13: DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF AND SOCIAL COGNITION
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF-CONCEPT
Self: combo of physical + psych attributes that is unique to an individual
Social cognition: thinking done about the thoughts, feelings, motives and
behaviours that a person displays and others display
Neonates have some capability of distinguishing their self from others; have
proprioceptive feedback: they are able to locate parts of their body in space
i.e. being able to put their hands in their mouth or imitating the facial
expressions someone else is doing
o Other theorist disagree and think infants cant tell the difference b.w
the environment and their self
SELF-DIFFERENTATION IN INFANCY
Infants around 2-3 months have a sense of personal agency: they
understand that they are responsible for some of the events that fascinate
them i.e. sucking their thumb
SELF-RECONGITION IN INFANCY
Once infants know that they are independent from other things, they can
start developing their self-concept (one’s perception of their unique
attributes/traits)…but when does this happen?
o By 5 months infants can discriminate their face from another babies
face when looking in a mirror or videotape
Self-recognition: ability to recognize oneself in a mirror or videotape
o Tested by putting rouge on an infants face: if when they look in the
mirror, they attempt to wipe it off, then they have the ability to self-
recognize (start doing this at 18-24 months, even in places where
infants have no prior experience w. mirrors
Present self: 2-3 year olds have a stable idea of the self, but are unaware that
past representations of the self have implications for the present
Extended self: 4-5, children can start integrating the past, current and
unknown future self-representations into a notion of the self that endures
over time (they recognize the self is stable, but that things that happened in
the past may not happen in the future [like seeing a sticker on their head a
week ago, and knowing the sticker is no longer there])
Social stimulation and high attachment with parents can lead to increased
knowledge of the self for children of 2-3
Parenting styles that stress autonomy also increase a child’s self-awareness,
whereas styles stressing interdependence leads to less children being able to
reach self-recognition by 18-20 months
Once children develop self-recognition, the first thing they start doing is
categorizing themselves and others (known as the categorical self)
o Start using age and gender to categorize things, i.e. “I am a big boy” or
“Jennie is a good girl” “WHO AM I” RESPONSES OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN
Although children in preschool cannot express their knowledge of the self in
trait-like terminology, when asked contrasting forced-choice statements that
require few verbal skills, they can quickly characterize themselves on
psychological dimensions (they cannot answer open ended questions like
“Who am I” yet
CONCEPTIONS OF SELF IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
As children get older they become aware that they are not the same person in
many different situations
False self behaviour: acting in ways not consistent with your true self – ppl
who display this feel least confident that they know who they truly are
Having inconsistent self-portrayals in different situations is very bothersome
to kids around 15; as they get older it becomes less bothersome
WHO AM I to BE? FORGING AN IDENTITY
Major developmental hurdle for adolescents: forming an identity
o Identity: a mature self-definition; firm sense of who you are, where
you are heading and how you will fit into society
To assess identity, you can use a structured interview – identity is based on
whether children have explored various alternatives and made firm
commitments to an occupation, religion, sexual orientation & political values
o Refer to slide 64 for the identity statuses
DEVELOPMENTAL TRENDS IN IDENTITY FORMATION
Identity issues are most important when you’re an adolescent – establishing
a clear identity during this time is critical for later development (id formation
doesn’t occur until late adolescent, like in college/uni)
Majority of uni kids are in the diffused or foreclosed state
You are able to get a strong sense of identity in one area in life, even if you
still have confusion of identity in other areas
IDENTITY FORMATION AND ADJUSTMENT
People that are id achievers have a high self-esteem and are less self-
conscious or preoccupied w. personal concerns than the other id types
College students in diffusion can lead to a lower self-esteem, depression,
have a sense of hopelessness and also suicide
INFLUENCES ON IDENTITY FORMATION
Cognitive dev plays a role in id achievement – being more intellectually
mature can lead you to raising and resolving id issues better than others
Parenting influences: authoritative leads to foreclosure; rejection leads to
diffusion; having a good r/s w. parents leads children to being moratorium or
achievement in identity, since they can easily communicate w. their parents Scholastic influence: being in uni/college can lead to obtaining achievement
in occupation/career goals; but does not help w. forming a clear id of your
political or religious identities
Id formation is also influenced by ones social and historical contexts (in
many countries, id formation is highly based on foreclosure since you just
end up doing the same thing that your parents did in life)
SELF-ESTEEM: THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF
Self-esteem: assessment of the qualities that make up your self concept to
evaluate your worth as a person
o Note: self-concept refers to how a child views their qualities and sense
of self, whereas self esteem refers to an evaluation and the child’s
satisfaction w. their qualities
ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF SELF-ESTEEM
Children that have a secure attachment to their parents describe themselves
as more favourable and more socially skilled than others (age 4-5)
Self esteem is higher when you have a secure attachment to both parents
Children 4-7 have an inflated self perception – they rate themselves +ve in all
domains; by 8 they start to rate themselves similar to other ppl’s rating
Looking glass-self: self-image is constructed based, to a large extent, on how
others perceive and react to a child’s behaviour (so a child rates themselves
based on how they think others evaluate them)
Relational self-worth: feelings of self-esteem based highly on ones
interpersonal r/s’s (starts happening during adolescence)
o In this case, self-worth is rated differently in different domains, and all
of these aspects together contribute to a global self-esteem
Typically girls who have a high self esteem have supportive r/s’s w. friends;
males have a high self-esteem based on their ability to successfully influence
their friends
o Females w. low self-esteem are associated w. a failure to win friend’s
approval; males self-esteem is linked w. a lack of romantic
competence (failure to win the affection of girls)
A child’s view on their competence gradually declines as they proceed to high
school years but when they enter early adulthood, self-esteem starts to rise
once again until they become elder
o Having more stressors in life is a good indication of if ones self-esteem
will lower i.e. a child who is entering highschool, going through
puberty, parent divorce and beginning to date can all account for a
lower self-esteem
Read about social contributors to self esteem on slide 67
DEVELOPMENT OF ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION & ACADEMIC SELF-CONCEPT
Achievement motivation: willingness to strive to succeed at challenging
tasks and meet high standards of accomplishment Even as infants, children are motivated to master their environment (known
as mastery motive: an inborn motive to explore, understand and control our
environment)
EARLY ORIGINS OF ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION
Studies have been done with 1-5 year olds to find out when children develop
the capacity to evaluate their accomplishments against performance
standards (which is n
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