01:830:333 Final: Adolescent Development Exam 2 Textbook Notes Chapter 4.docx

• School: Rutgers University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: 01:830:333
• Professor: All

Document Summary

Self-understanding is a social cognitive construction; adolescents" developing cognitive capacities interact with their sociocultural experiences to influence their self-understanding. Abstraction & idealism: adolescents are more likely than children to use abstract and idealistic terms to describe themselves. The fluctuating self: the self fluctuates across situations and across time. Ex: a girl being cheerful at one moment, then anxious to the next. Contradictions within the self: adolescents differentiate their concept of the self into multiple roles in different relationship contexts; they sense potential contradictions between their differentiated selves. Ex: adolescents would say that they were ugly & attractive, or caring & uncaring. They may show false selves to impress others or try out new behaviors/roles. Social comparison: some developmentalists believe that adolescents are more likely than children to use social comparison in evaluating themselves. Social consciousness: adolescents are more likely to be self-conscious about, and preoccupied with, their self understanding.