Adolescence 2 Flashcards
Identity in adolescence:
- what plays a part in provoking identity development during adolescence
- what do advances in cognitive development allow?
- three research traditions?
- what is PFC crucial for?
- what are quite tricky cognitively?
- Puberty plays a part in provoking identity development during adolescence.
- Advances in cognitive development allow adolescents the opportunity for self-reflection.
Three research traditions:
- Self-Esteem
- Self-Concept
- Identity Formation
- PFC is crucial for the way we think about the self
- Complexities about what other people think/ what we think are quite tricky cognitively before we get to this age
Self-esteem: theoretical approaches
- Cooley (1902)
- additive model?
Cooley (1902): looking-glass self (if other people think highly of us, were more likely to think highly of ourselves)– opinions of others a large determinant of self-esteem.
Additive Model supported by data from older children and adolescents (Harter, 1987; 1990).
Additive model- The more views/ evidence, the better you self-esteem is
Definitions of:
1. Self-efficacy
2. Self-esteem
3. Self-concept
4. self-evaluation
SELF-EFFICACY: “a person’s judgments of their capabilities to organise and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances”
SELF-ESTEEM: an individual’s confidence in their worth or abilities
Smaller sub-sets of this:
SELF-CONCEPT: a view constructed of one’s self, which is developed through experiences and evaluations adopted from others
SELF-EVALUATION: “the perceptions and beliefs that a person holds about themselves, specifically the emotionally- valenced qualities, characteristics and traits (both positive and negative), and the person’s judgement of the value of these attributes”
Self-esteem: theoretical approaches
- James (1892)
- demonstrated for?
- domains
- James (1892): high self-esteem results from good performance in domains deemed important.
- Empirical work demonstrates this for individuals, as well as for groups (Harter, 1990).
- Correlations between specific domains and self-esteem as a whole
- Across the board, apart from the sports side of things, most aspects of ourselves, our physical appearance, our kind of academic performance, how we believe we are socially, seems to associate quite highly with having this broader sense of self-esteem, particularly physical appearance.
Development of self concept:
- shifts from?
- shift towards
- final task
- Shift from concrete to abstract self-portraits.
- Shift from social comparisons & normative standards during childhood/early adolescence to internalised standards in later adolescence.
- Shift towards differentiation of self into multiple domains.
- Final task: integration of multiple selves into a unified self-concept.
Also idea of having single idea of who we are to having lots of ideas of who we might be.
Recognising also that we might have different personas within our personality.
Imagined selves:
- what are we able to think about?
- imagined?
- We’re able to think about what we are in reality vs what we would like to be
- We’re able to think about what we might be when we’re putting on a front
- Imagined self fitting within society
Imagined selves:
- adolescence able to distinguish?
- greater discrepancy in?
- possible selves: balance between?
- _____ vs _____ selves
- what was dependent on audience
- ______ formation
- task to describe self in terms of ______?
- Adolescents able to distinguish between actual/real & ideal selves
- Greatest discrepancy in middle adolescence
- Possible selves: balance between ideal & feared self
- True versus false selves
- Presentation dependent on audience
- Identity formation
- Task to describe self in terms of attributes (self-concept), but also considering general roles within society.
Erik Erikson (1902-04)
- departed from?
- contributed?
- how many stages?
Departed from Freud’s teachings by emphasising societal factors in development.
Contributed the theory of psychosocial development across the life-span (Erikson, 1982).
8 stages, each with a specific “crisis” to resolve.
Eriksons psychosocial stage
We go through different crises in these stages
In adolescence the “crisis” is identity, defined as “confidence in one’s inner continuity amid change” (Erikson, 1968).
Erikons believed:
Men must achieve a stable identity prior to intimacy, whereas women’s identity is defined through her intimate roles of wife and mother- showing gender stereotyping
For Eriksons’ psychosexual stages, the key thing he says that happens during adolescence is the development of identity and figuring out who we are.
Marcia’s 4 identity statuses
According to whether the person has had a period of crisis, and whether the person has committed to the identity.
Crisis + Commitment = Achievement
Crisis + No Commitment = Moratorium
No Crisis + Commitment = Foreclosure
No Crisis + No Commitment = Diffusion
Definitions of Marcia’s characteristics of identity development
ACHIEVEMENT
Individuals who after a period of exploration emerge with firm identity commitments. (gone through a crisis and committed to what we’ve come out with/ you’ve gone through that kind of experience of figuring out who you are and you emerge with an idea of who you are)
Typically the best identity development
MORATORIUM
The active period of exploration when individuals examine alternatives in an attempt to arrive at a choice (in a crisis but haven’t managed to come out with a commitment)
FORECLOSURE
Individuals have adopted identities prescribed by parents or other authority figures without ever exploring options or experiencing an identity crisis (no to crisis and yes to commitment)
DIFFUSION
Individuals who have little sense of commitment and are not actively seeking to make decisions
Identity status:
- where does development continue to?
- parental influences?
- cultural/ historical influences?
- Development continues well into adulthood
- Parental influences
◦ Attachment with freedom to voice opinions → achievement or moratorium
◦ Overly close bonds without separation → foreclosure
◦ Low warmth w/ open communication → diffusion - Cultural/historical influences – secular trend towards later identity development; current historical events can alter course
Continually over time, this is happening later and later which infers this is societal and possibly biological
Movement away from family is important
What other external influences affect identity?
Bullying, social influences- peers/ friends, social media, mental health, sexuality
Self concept and life outcomes:
What happens if our self concept is good or if our self concept is not as healthy
🙂
- General well-being
- Quality of life
- Confidence in actions and abilities
☹️
- Adjustment problems
- Externalising problems
- Internalising probles
(we struggle with our identity development, think more negatively about ourselves)
Therefore we want to get this development right during adolescence
Self concept and emotional disorders
- strong relationship between?
- problems with?
- what is a core symptom of these disorders?
- what as protective factor in development of emotional disorders, why?
- Strong relationship between emotional disorders and negative self-concept
Eg. the more negative your self-concept is, the more at risk you are of a range of emotional disorders - Problems with self-perceptions are reflected in diagnostic criteria for anxiety and depression
- Negative self perception is a core symptom of these disorders:
— Worthlessness and guilt (depression)
— Fear of negative evaluation from others (social anxiety) - Positive self-concepts function as protective factor in development of emotional disorders, as these individuals are more resilient to life’s stressors
