chapter 11: understanding self and others Flashcards
what is self concept
attributes, abilities, attitudes and values than define an individual
- core of a person, body is a vehicle for carrying around this important mental entity
origins of self awareness
6 months: aware of being a separate entity (subjective self)
18 months: self recognition, able to recognize self in the mirror, same time as referring to self by name
2 years: point to self in photos, refer to themselves with personal pronoun (me, mine) , realize characteristics (toys, food)
3 yrs: recognize their own shadow
mirror test
putting red dye on a child’s forehead
- younger babies will touch the mirror as if the red mark had nothing to do with themselves, where older infants will rub their foreheads, indicating awareness of their unique experiences
me self/categorical self
a persons sense of his or her objective characteristics such as appearance and abilities
- develops around age 2; at first very basic descriptors
(ex. im a boy)
age 5 -7 evolving self concept
at this age child is able to add general personality traits
(ex. im truthful, im shy)
- be able to make social comparisons
(the process of judging oneself in relation to ones peers) - bc in elementary school, children begin to spend time judging appearance, abilities and behaviour
i self/enduring self
a persons subjective sense of being a particular individual who exists over time and experiences the world in a particular way
- develops after “me self”
- being able to recall events that happend and create a story
current self compared with ideal self - who we aspire to be
discrepancy between ones current self and ones ideal self can be either a source of motivation for self improvement or a source of distress and discouragement
identity development: erik erikson
8 stages; each has a challenge that must be resolved
- developed via CRUCIAL SOCIALIZATION
- each stage has a challenge that has to be successfully resolved (or a skill that must be acquired) before a child can move on to deal with the next stage; if not resolved properly, this might cause psychological problems for an individual in the future
ERIKSON - stage 1
basic trust vs mistrust (birth-1yr)
- infants learn that other people can be trusted
- when recieved warm and responsive care they learn to trust others to take care of basic needs
- mistrust: occurs when infants have to wait too long for comfort or are handled inconsistently (sometimes warm, other times cold (see the world as dangerous, insensitive)
ERIKSON - stage 2
stage 2: autonomy vs shame and doubt (age 1-3)
- children can control own actions and strive for independence
- want to choose for themselves (parents can foster this by allowing free choice)
- not given that = shame
ERIKSON - stage 3
stage 3: initiative vs guilt (age 3-5)
- challenge: to develop a sense of purpose in accomplishing speciifc goals
- initiative (responsbility and ambition) develops when parents support child’s sense of purpose
- undertake goals that conflict with parents rules = guilty
ERIKSON - stage 4
stage 4: industry vs inferiority (age 6-puberty)
- critical for development of self confidence
- am i competent or am i worthless
- challenge: develop self confidence via positive interactions with teachers and peers at school
- children encouraged to demonstrate skills = industry
- if children punished for efforts and found incapable of meeting expectations = inferiority
ERIKSON - stage 5
stage 5: identity vs identity confusion
- age: adolescence
- balancing desire to try out multiple selves vs need to select a single self
- challenge: to develop a lasting integrated sense of self
- how you fit in the world around you
identity vs identity confusion
- identity formed in 3 areas: love, work, ideology
- resolves through meaningful interactions with others
- trying out cultures, interactions, life choices, traits
- will point out ‘falseself’ behaviour
James Marcia
Marcias theory of identity development
- expanded eriksons identity crisis into:
4 different identity statuses
- identity diffusion
- identity foreclousure
- identity moratorium
- identity achievement
- identity diffusion
- state characterized by lack of exploration and commitment
- associated with psychological and interpersonal problems
- finding ones self to be very difficult
- result in: socially withdrawn, disconnected from parents and peers, low self esteem
- identity foreclosure
foreclosure: states (values, goals, careers) determined by adults (usually parents) , not personal exploration
associated with:
- authoritarian values
- high need for social approval
- low levels of autonomy
- identity moratorium
moratorium: actively exploring alternatives but not yet found one thats satisfactory in terms of identity
- trying personal, occupational and ideological possibilities and restricted
- identity achievement
young people who have made definite personal, occupational and ideological choices
if commitment takes place w out exploration = identity foreclosure
associated with:
- content with where you are headed
- high levels of moral reasoning
- high levels of intimacy with peers
- authoritative parenting
negative identity
selection of an identity that is undesirable in the eyes of significant others and broader community
sexual orientation - identity
sexual orientation: the attraction that individuals experience for people of the same sex, both or none
- Modern day psychologists believe that sexual orientation is something that occurs on a continuum, rather than a dichotomy (i.e., it’s not the case that a person is either “straight” or “gay”; there is room for much variation between these endpoints)
sexual orientation - adolescents
- most adolescents are foreclosed in terms of sexual identity
- sexual minority youth often experience identity conflict during moratorium
- parental understanding is critical for positive adjustment
lgbtq issues
LGB+ youth report lower levels of family support, overall, than their heterosexual age-mates, and parental understanding is very important
- strongest predictor of favourable adjustment
ethnic identity
developing a feeling of belonging, and learning the customs and culture of ones ethnic group
- immigrants to new culture experience identity conflict
- adolescents from a minority group develop an awareness of what it means for them to be a member of their minority group within society dominated by majority culture
biculturalism
involves developing a dual identity, one based in ethnic group and one based in majority culture
“shifting frames” - moving back and forth between one’s two identities, depending on who one is with
multiethnic identity
becoming much more common
- interracial parents
- bicultural individuals, bi- and multiracial individuals forming their identities might incorporate elements, or adopt values, from both or multiple ethnic backgrounds
self esteem
our evaluation as to our own worth, how we feel about ourselves
- peoples judgment of their own worthiness
- general affect towards one self
- assessment of ones competencies
- physical, psychological and moral being
self esteem in childhood - harters model
children aged 4-7 might be accused of having inflated egos because they tend to rate themselves positively in all domains
five domains:
1. behavioural conduct
2. physical appearance
3. social acceptance
4. scholastic competence
5. athletic competence
- by age eight, children’s assessments of themselves tend to be more in line with what others think of them
4 to 7 yrs old: overall positive self-appraisal
> 8 yrs old: self-appraisal more closely reflect others’ evaluations
contributors to self esteem
parenting styles
- early sensitive parenting, authoritative parenting in childhood and adolescence
peer influences
- social comparison, peer support, relationship quality
praise and self esteem
avoid inflated praise
- can cause children with a low self esteem to choose an easy task
- it backfires because sets high standards
The researchers surmised that inflated praise sets high standards (e.g., you need to be “perfect” or “the best” at something to get praise), which in turn leads these children to avoid activities where they might fail, as a form of self-protection.
selmans stage theory of role taking
role taking = ability to think about something from another point of view
- perspective taking progresses from less complex to more complex, as a child grows from a pre-schooler to an adolescent
- 5 stages
stages of: selman stage theory of role taking
- undifferentiated (age 3-56)
- confuse own and others POV
- egocentric (struggles to understand others have diff perspectives than their own) - social informational (age 4-9)
- realizes that others can have a different POV than a child does - self reflective (age 7-12)
- can think about others point of view
other people can also imagine things from her point - third person (age 10-15)
- can systematically compare his own POV from someone else
take perspective of a third party and assess - societal (age 14+)
- assess whether their POV is the same as most people of their peers
- multiple perspectives simultaneously
prejudice
a negative view of others based on their membership in a specific group
- we start to clearly delineate between ingroups (groups we belong to) and outgroups (groups we don’t belong to), and to favour our ingroups over outgroups, at a very young age
prejudice in pre school aged children
- have positive views of their own groups, stereotyped rigid views of others
- inflexible views about people in any outgroup that they lack familiarity with
- declines during elementary - school years
- see groups as more heretogenous (diverse) in terms of traits
- by grade 6-8, largely aware of stereotypes
prejudice increases in high school years for 2 reasons
- experiential
- exposed to friends, parents, teachers and religious figures who are prejudiced - identity search
- affiliate with ethnic/cultural heritage group
intergroup contact theory
involves people from different groups working together to achieve a common goal
