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 ones thoughts and attitudes about ones self, including ones:

Body Possessions Thoughts Psychological functioning

Do Infants have Self-awareness?

Self-Awareness: Infancy
Early in infancy, infants demonstrate a rudimentary sense of self

8 months

Self-awareness becomes more distinct when infants respond to separation from their mother

12 months

Self-awareness becomes more distinct when infants show joint attention with others

18 20 months

Self-awareness becomes more distinct when children can look into a mirror and realize that the image they see is themselves

2 years

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 The mother places a red mark on her infants nose and then the infant is placed in front of the mirror

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:

Children use language personal pronouns to refer to the self

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

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 persons understanding of who they are:

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.

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? Im 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 He can run faster than I can 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.

I am helpful To be popular, I have to be nice and keep secrets

Self-Description
Im a human being. Im an 11-year-old girl. Im a truthful person. Im not pretty. I do so-so in my studies. Im the best pianist in my class. Im a little tall for my age. I like several boys. I like several girls. Im a very good swimmer. I try to be helpful. Im always ready to be friends with anybody. Mostly Im good, but sometimes I lose my temper. I dont know if Im 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

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
Possessions Physical Characteristics Preferences

School-Age
Emotions Social Groups

Adolescents
Attitudes Personality Traits

Comparisons with Beliefs vary with Peers the Setting Future-oriented

Two general changes in self-concept occur from preschool to adolescence:

1.

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.

2.

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.

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?

Marcias 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 societys roles and values, without question.

Bobs father is an engineer. Bob was always encouraged since he was a very young child to follow in his fathers 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 teachers child refuses to go to college, the preachers child becomes a prostitute.

Identity Diffusion
Other adolescents experience identity diffusion where they dont seem to care about their identity.

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.

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.

Self esteem is self pride

Assessing Self-Esteem
These feelings are based upon self-evaluations of many aspects of ones life. Below are several aspects of an individuals functioning. Add up the numbers for each of the 10 items. This is your total self-esteem score.
Very Dissatisfied 1 2
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Very Satisfied 6

6.
7. 8. 9. 10.

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

Hows YOUR self-esteem?

Self-esteem refers to a persons judgments and feelings about his or her own worth

High self-esteem: 45-60 Moderate self-esteem: 25-45 Low self-esteem: 10-25

Young childrens self-esteem is measured by describing more and less competent people, then asking preschool children which person is more like them.

Harters 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

Harters Self-Perception Profile For Children

Really True for me Sort of True for me Really True for me Sort of 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 BUT Other kids find its pretty easy to make friends hard to make friends
Other kids dont 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

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!

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. 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 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 ones abilities, achievements, social status and attributes by measuring them against those of their peers.

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

Childrens 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 childrens self-esteem is the approval and support children receive from others The Looking-Glass Self is the concept that peoples self-esteem is a reflection of what others think of them.

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:

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

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

Achievement affects childrens self-esteem more than self-esteem affects academic achievement

What are the Consequences of Low SelfEsteem?

Children with low self-esteem are: More likely to have problems with their peers

(Hymel et al., 1990)

More prone to psychological disorders such as depression (Garber, Robinson, &

Valentiner, 1997)

More likely to be involved in antisocial behavior

(Dubow, Edwards, & Ippolito, 1997)

More likely to do poorly in school