Transcript Theories of personality development

Who am I?
The search for the selfSelf expression and identity
Module Objectives
The development of identity
How do we develop self-esteem?
How do children describe others?
Who am I?
Self: A conceptual system made up of one’s
thoughts and attitudes about one’s self,
including one’s:
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Body
Possessions
Thoughts
Psychological functioning
Do Infants have Self-awareness?
Self-Awareness: Infancy
Early in infancy, infants demonstrate a rudimentary sense
of self
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8 months
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12 months
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Self-awareness becomes more distinct when infants show joint
attention with others
18 – 20 months
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Self-awareness becomes more distinct when infants respond to
separation from their mother
Self-awareness becomes more distinct when children can look into a
mirror and realize that the image they see is themselves
2 years
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Self-awareness becomes more distinct when children can recognize
themselves in photographs
How would we know that infants recognize
themselves in a mirror?
The Rouge Test
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The mother places a red mark on her infant’s nose and
then the infant is placed in front of the mirror
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12-month-olds:
‐ Touch the red mark on the mirror, showing that they
notice the mark on the face in the mirror
15-month-olds:
‐ Infants see the red mark in the mirror, and some then
reach up and touch their OWN noses
24-month-olds:
‐ Infants see the red mark in the mirror, and all then
touch their OWN noses
Self-Awareness: Early Childhood
By 2-3 years:
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Children use language – personal pronouns to refer to
the self
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Such as “I” and “me”
Children can construct narratives of the events in their
lives
Between 2 and 3 years of age, self-awareness is
quite fragile
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Toddlers’ self-awareness is not strongly linked across
time – it is focused largely on the present
Who am I ?
Toddlers gradually develop an awareness
that they are individual.
This awareness becomes the Self Concept
which is a person’s understanding of who
they are:
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“I am a girl/boy”
“I am a big brother”
“I am 4 years-old”
“I can tie my shoes!”
They talk mostly about concrete,
observable behaviors, physical features,
preferences, possessions, and members
of the family.
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At this point, the descriptions are
very positive – almost unrealistically
positive.
By 2 years of age, most children
can recognize themselves and
refer to themselves by name or
with I and me.
How do toddlers describe
themselves?
Think on your own..
My name is Harvey. I live in a blue house
with my mom, dad, and sister Linda. I have
a dog that is brown. His name is Bluto. I
have a skateboard and a hockey stick. I can
skate really fast. I can brush my teeth and
wash my hair all by myself. I can jump on
one foot 50 times in a row… want to see? I’m
not even tired when I stop. I have green
eyes and lots of freckles. Most of the
freckles are on my nose.
Self-Awareness in Childhood
By elementary school, children engage in
social comparison
Children compare themselves with others in
terms of characteristics, behaviors, and
possessions
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“He can run faster than I can”
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“She scored higher on the test”
They pay more and more attention to
discrepancies between their own behavior
and others’ behavior
Self Awareness in Childhood
By middle to late elementary school,
children use higher-order concepts to
integrate features of the self and attitudes of
others
Their self descriptions contain a pronounced
social element and focus on personality
traits or physical characteristics that may
influence their place in the social network.
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“I am helpful”
“To be popular, I have to be nice and keep
secrets”
Self-Description
I’m a human being. I’m an 11-year-old girl.
I’m a truthful person. I’m not pretty. I do
so-so in my studies. I’m the best pianist in
my class. I’m a little tall for my age. I like
several boys. I like several girls. I’m a very
good swimmer. I try to be helpful. I’m
always ready to be friends with anybody.
Mostly I’m good, but sometimes I lose my
temper. I don’t know if I’m liked by boys or
not.
Self-Awareness: Adolescence
In adolescence, the self is defined by abstract
characteristics, social competence, and social
acceptance
Adolescents can conceive of themselves in
terms of a variety of selves, depending on the
context
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With friends, siblings, parents, etc…
Adolescents create a variety of selves in their
search for identity
Self-Description
I'm sensitive, friendly, outgoing, though I can also be
shy, self-conscious, and even obnoxious. I'd like to
be friendly and tolerant all of the time. That's the
kind of person I want to be , and I'm disappointed
when I'm not. I'm responsible, even studious every
now and then, but on the other hand I'm a good-off
too, because if you're too studious, you won't be
popular. I'm a pretty cheerful person, especially with
my friends, where I can even get rowdy. I can be my
true self with my close friends. I can't be my real self
with my parents.
They don't understand me.
Developmental Change in
Self-Concept
Preschoolers
School-Age
Adolescents
Possessions
Emotions
Attitudes
Physical
Characteristics
Social Groups
Personality
Traits
Preferences
Comparisons with Beliefs vary with
Peers
the Setting
Future-oriented
Two general changes in self-concept occur
from preschool to adolescence:
1.
2.
Self-concept becomes richer as children
grow. Adolescents simply know much more
about themselves than preschoolers.
The type of knowledge that children have of
themselves changes. Preschoolers’
understanding is linked to the concrete, the
real, and the here and now.
Adolescents’ understanding is
more abstract, more
psychological, and sees the self as
evolving over time.
Adolescent Thought…
The adolescent thinker is more capable of
complex thought, as previously discussed,
but they experience the return of egocentrism.
Adolescents experience cognitive
distortions that effect the way adolescents
see the world.
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Imaginary audience
Personal fable
Illusions of invulnerability
Multiple personalities?
Teenagers can take on a number personas
that vary by situation and circumstances.
Their behavior can switch from rowdy to
reserved, cooperative to antagonistic. Aware
of the inconsistencies, teens often ask
themselves “which one is the real me?”
Marcia’s Identity Statuses
Identity achievement
Moratorium
Identity foreclosure
Identity diffusion
Identity achievement
The ultimate status in adolescence is identity
achievement.
Adolescents who achieve identity know who
they are and remain connected to all the
morals and attitudes they have learned earlier,
but are not bound to any of them.
Foreclosure
Some teenagers never fully examine traditional
values, which leads to foreclosure.
This is premature identity formation, which
occurs when an adolescent adopts parents’ or
society’s roles and values, without question.
Bob’s father is an engineer. Bob
was always encouraged since he
was a very young child to follow
in his father’s footsteps.
So, what did Bob do?
He diligently took classes on math and
science to become an engineer.
Negative Identity
The negative identity is taken on with rebellious
defiance, simply because it is the opposite of
what the parents or society expect.
This identity is formed by direct rebellion and the
fact that the child cannot find alternatives that
are truly their own.
Example: a teacher’s child refuses to go to college,
the preacher’s child becomes a prostitute.
Identity Diffusion
Other adolescents experience identity diffusion
where they don’t seem to care about their
identity.
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This is displayed by having few commitments
or goals and are apathetic about taking on any
role.
They usually have difficulty completing
school, finding a job and thinking about the
future.
Identity Moratorium
In the search for identity some teens need a
time-out, which is seen in identity moratorium.
This is a pause in identity formation that
allows young people to explore alternatives
without making final identity choices.
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The most obvious example in the U.S is college,
which requires students to sample a variety of
academic areas before concentrating on one.
Self Awareness evolves…
The self concept or self awareness turns
from factual to evaluative, becoming self
esteem.
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Self esteem is “self pride”
Assessing Self-Esteem
These feelings are based upon self-evaluations of many
aspects of one’s life. Below are several aspects of an
individual’s functioning. Add up the numbers for each of the
10 items. This is your total self-esteem score.
Very Dissatisfied
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2
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10.
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Physical maturity
Academic performance
Work experiences
Financial independence
Family relations
Peer relations
Role in community
Sense of values and religiosity
Romantic and intimate relationships
Coping skills
Very Satisfied
6
How’s YOUR self-esteem?
Self-esteem refers to a person’s judgments
and feelings about his or her own worth
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High self-esteem: 45-60
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Moderate self-esteem: 25-45
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Low self-esteem: 10-25
Young children’s self-esteem is
measured by describing more and
less competent people, then
asking preschool children which
person is more like them.
Harter’s Five Domains
Scholastic competence
‐ How competent or smart the child feels in doing schoolwork
Athletic competence
‐ How competent the child feels at sports and games requiring
physical or athletic ability
Social acceptance
‐ How popular or accepted the child feels in social interactions
with peers
Behavior conduct
‐ How adequate the child feels about behaving the way one is
supposed
Physical appearance
‐ How good looking the child feels and how much the child likes his
or her physical characteristics, such as height, weight, face, and
hair
Harter’s Self-Perception Profile For Children
Really True
for me
Sort of True
for me
Really True
for me
Other kids worry about
Some kids feel that
whether they can do the
they are very good BUT school work assigned to
at their school work
them
Some kids find it
hard to make
friends
BUT Other kids find it’s pretty
easy to make friends
Other kids don’t feel that
Some kids do very
well at all kinds of BUT they are very good when
to comes to sports
sports
Some kids are
BUT
happy with the way
they look
Some kids often
do not like the
BUT
way they behave
Other kids are not happy
with the way they look
Other kids usually like the
way they behave
Sort of True
for me
Does Our Self-Esteem change as We
Develop?
Self-esteem is at its peak in the preschool
years
Children between 2 and 6 develop very
favorable impressions of themselves, in fact
they overestimate their abilities!
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They believe they can win any race, count
accurately, sing perfectly.
Children of this age enjoy showing off for
an audience, grandparents, stuffed
animals, peers…
Research suggests that children with
relatively high self-esteem tend to be
more accepted by peers over the years
(Verschueren, 2001).
How long can that last?
Children during this time feel older, stronger,
and more skilled than younger children.
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One of the worst insults is to call a 4year-old
a “baby”
Self-esteem drops somewhat when children enter
the elementary-school years as they begin to
compare themselves with their peers
Self-esteem has usually stabilized by adolescence
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It neither increases nor decreases in these
years
Self-Esteem
Children with high self-esteem judge
themselves favorably and feel positive
about themselves.
Children with low self-esteem judge
themselves negatively, are unhappy
with themselves, and often would
rather be someone else.
How do I measure up??
Along with this development of social cognition
comes the understanding of their own self.
School-age children start to make measurements of
themselves, comparing themselves to peers
Increased understanding of themselves often
results in the development of self criticism, which
tends to rise as self esteem starts to fall.
Ask a child, “Are you good?”, rather than simply
answering “yes”, older children might use a specific
standard set by adults. This is social comparison
Social Comparison
Social comparison is the tendency to assess one’s
abilities, achievements, social status and attributes
by measuring them against those of their peers.
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Older children lose the rosy, imaginary
assessment of their behaviors that we saw in
younger children and they tend to feel personally
at fault for their shortcomings and they are less
likely to blame someone else.
Children compare themselves against peers even
when no one else explicitly makes the comparison.
Social Contributions to Self-Esteem
Peer acceptance is important to self-esteem
Children’s feelings of competence about their
appearance, athletic ability, and likeability is
more affected by peers than by parents
Children develop an internalized standard by
which to judge themselves
A child with low self-esteem is a
likely candidate for being teased,
rejected, or ignored
A child with high self-esteem is
likely to be well liked
Is the peer group that important?
Most developmentalists consider getting
along with peers to be crucial during middle
childhood. Research conducted by Borland
(1998) concluded that “friends and being part
of a peer group were central to living a full life
and feeling good.”
Being rejected by peers is a serious precursor
to later problems, including juvenile
delinquency, depression and drug abuse.
Social Contributions to Self-Esteem
One of the most important influences on
children’s self-esteem is the approval and support
children receive from others
The “Looking-Glass Self” is the concept that
people’s self-esteem is a reflection of what others
think of them.
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If children feel loved, they believe that they are worthy
of others’ love
If children do not feel loved, they believe they are not
worthy of others’ love
What are the Sources of Self-Worth?
For children 8 to 12 years of age:
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Physical appearance most important
Social acceptance second
Less critical to self-worth were schoolwork,
conduct and athletics
Harter found that American children judge
themselves more by good looks and
popularity
Appearance and Competence
Attractive individuals are more likely to report
high self-esteem than those who are less attractive
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May be stronger for girls than for boys –
particularly in late childhood and adolescence
Children who are academically successful tend to
have higher self-esteem with respect to their
intellectual and academic competence than do
their less successful peers
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Achievement affects children’s self-esteem more
than self-esteem affects academic achievement
What are the Consequences of Low SelfEsteem?
Children with low self-esteem are:
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More likely to have problems with their peers
(Hymel et al., 1990)
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More prone to psychological disorders such as
depression (Garber, Robinson, &
Valentiner, 1997)
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More likely to be involved in antisocial behavior
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More likely to do poorly in school
(Dubow, Edwards, & Ippolito, 1997)