Final exam Flashcards
What is the self according to James
self as two major components
- existential self
- categorical self
Existential self
the subjective “I” who experiences the world
Categorical self
the objective “me” seen and evaluated in the world
Self according to Harter
the self as a broad concept that can be divided into 3 distinct but interrelated elements
- Self-knowledge (self-awareness)
- Self-evaluation (self-esteem)
- Self-regulation (self-control)
Self schema
an internal cognitive portrait of the self used to organize information about the self
Selman’s 5 stages of self-awareness
Cognitive-developmental approach
Level 0 (infancy) Level 1 (Early childhood) Level 2 (middle childhood) Level 3 (preadolescence) Level 4 (adolescence)
Selman’s level 0
Infancy
children understand their physical existence but
don’t display an awareness of separate psychological existence
Selman’s level 1
Early childhood
Child separates psychological states from behaviour; thoughts can control actions
Selman’s level 2
Middle childhood
The self can be hidden from others but cannot be hidden from oneself
Selman’s level 3
Preadolescence
Self represents a stable component of personality
Selman’s level 4
Adolescence
Self cannot ever be completely known
Bandura’s theory of self
Self evolves from self-efficacy and self-regulation
Environmental/learning approach
Self-efficacy
A person’s perception of his or her ability to succeed at various tasks
Evaluative self reactions
Consequences people apply to themselves as a result of meeting (or not) personal standards
- motivates children to behave in accordance with their internal standards
Bowlby’s attachment theory
Responsive care-giving can influence self-development
evolutionary and biological approach
When did self-consciousness emerge?
Some hominids (I.e. orang-utans & chimpanzees) and possibly dolphins exhibit some self-recognition
How does self-awareness contribute to adaptation?
Self-awareness is thought to have evolved as part of living in complex social groups - allows us to understand the mental state of others
What is the neurobiological source of self-awareness?
Some aspects of self-awareness may be encapsulated in modules in the brain (prefrontal areas)
Sociocultural approach to the self
- The self develops through participation in cultural practices, customs and institutions.
- the delineation between self and other has a more diffused boundary in non-Western cultures
Culture + self
cultures vary in
1) the age @ which an individual is defined as a “person”
2) possible incarnations of the “self” in time and space
3) in notions of the “ideal” self
Cultural perceptions of self begin early
Self-knowledge: perception
Infants can imitate adult facial expressions
- 3 m.o. infants perceive their own Motor control
Personal agency
child understands that he/she can have an impact on the world
- early indicator of this awareness is infant actions on things (toys) in their environment
- the more sensitive and responsive the parents, the more quickly infants come to understand their own influence on the environment
Visual self recognition
3 months: can discriminate still images of self vs. others
- prefer to view image of other
5 months: when still images are altered so cheeks have a mark on them, looking preference changes
- more time spent looking @self
Mirror self-recognition/The Mark test (Gallup, 1970)
children who pass this test understand that a spot on the forehead relates to them (shown by reaching response)
** recognition of the self in photographs occurs several months after mirror self-recognition
Variability of visual self-recognition
- correlation between difficult temperament and earlier self-recognition
- secure attachment is correlated with self-recognition, sense of personal agency, and awareness of personal physical characteristics
- maltreated or abused children are less securely attached and display later self-recognition
Self-description
Piagetian - preoperational
Early childhood
Focus on physical characteristics, possessions, preferences
“I have freckles”
“My cat is white”
Self-description
Piagetian - concrete operations
Middle and later childhood
Focus on behavioural traits and abilities, emotions, category membership
“I’m a good singer”
“I’m a happy kid”
Self-description
Piagetian - Formal operations
Adolescence
Focus on attitudes, personality attributes (sometimes opposing or associated with different roles), beliefs
“I’m patriotic”
“I’m not a quitter”
Cultural continuity
A variety of variables related to autonomy and opportunities to maintain First Nations culture
a protective factor against suicide
Basically culture as a developmental aid and identity factor
Self-esteem
a person’s assessment of and feelings about the self
- cognitive judgment of ability and talent
- affective reactions (shame, pride)
Looking-glass self
individual’s beliefs about how others feel about us
Competence view
self-esteem as a combination of what we would like to achieve and our confidence in achievement
Self-evaluation
evaluations and effects of self-esteem are most often measured through questionnaires
Harter uses a questionnaire to assess self-evaluations in each of 5 domains: scholastic, athletic and social competence, behavioural conduct and physical appearance
Developmental progression of self-esteem
Self-esteem scores are relatively stable during childhood - relatively high in preschoolers and young children
@ age 11/12 scores can dip due to:
- development of excessive self-consciousness
- biological changes during puberty
- moving schools
Gender differences in self-esteem
Self esteem across domains:
- greater variability in girls
- girls feel more positively in the conduct domain, but more negatively in the domains of physical appearance and athletic performance
Development course of self-esteem
- beginning in middle to late childhood, boys report higher global self-worth than girls
Academic self-concept
the part of self-esteem involving children’s perceptions of their academic abilities
Mastery-oriented pattern
Achievement motivation and attribution (Carol Dweck)
children who, in the face of failure, express positive expectations and persist at the task
Helpless pattern
Achievement motivation and attribution (Carol Dweck)
those who response to failure with doubt and avoidance
patterns of persistence or helplessness evident in 4 year olds
Entity model of intelligence
Achievement motivation and attribution (Carol Dweck)
intelligence is seen as fixed or unchangeable quantity
Incremental model
Achievement motivation and attribution (Carol Dweck)
intelligence is believed to be expanded with learning and experience
Criticism & academic self-concept
Achievement motivation and attribution (Carol Dweck)
Factors:
- how caregivers respond to successes or failures influences the development of attribution patterns
- criticism that focuses on stable traits has a negative effect
- criticism that focuses on situation-specific efforts results in mastery orientation, as does praise for efforts
Social comparisons
a comparison of one’s abilities to those of others
- by 2nd grade, a child’s level of self-eval is + correlated with frequency of social comparison
- high achievers compare more
- bidirectional effect
Parental style effects on academic self-concept
- parental attitudes, expectations and behaviours strongly predict children’s self-perceptions
- through participation in school activities and helping children w/ learning activities
- by providing structure and assistance tailored to child’s academic ability
- proving autonomy support
**warm supportive fathers facilitate the development of high academic self-concept
Emergence of self-control
children learn how to control their own behaviours
- to avoid dangerous objects (hot stove)
- to wait for gratification (cookie after dinner)
- to change non-effective strategies (bargaining rather than screaming for a toy)
*A common aspect of all theories of self-regulation is that at first, children are externally controlled and that control becomes internalized over time
Compliance
Going along with requests or adopting standards of behaviour
Committed compliance
when a child embraces the caregiver’s agenda and internalizes their instruction
Situational compliance
when the child cooperates but does not involve any behavioural change in the child
- often temporary
Resistance to temptation
- forbidden toy technique
- examines how long children will resist a common to avoid a forbidden toy
- older children are more able to wait
- observing an adult inhibit behaviour in a similar situation, making self-inhibitory statements, or developing inhibitory strategies can help children resist temptation
Delay gratification
Child is given 2 choices:
- small reward that is available now
- larger reward available later
- both younger and older children are more likely to delay when producing irrelevant statements
- reducing attention paid to tempting object facilitates delay
- delay scores predict SAT scores and BMI 30 years later
Theory of mind
the individual imputes mental states to himself and to others (either to conspecifics or to other species as well). A system of inferences of this kind is properly viewed as a theory, first because such states are not directly observable, and second because the system can be used to make predictions, specifically about the behaviour of other organisms.
Premack & Woodruff
Associationism
- familiarity with sequence –> sequence completion
- follow-up experiment with novel sequences (e.g. trying to play a phonograph that is not plugged in)
Theory of Mind (ToM)
imputes states of mind to the human actor (intention/purpose, knowledge/belief)
False belief understanding
An indicator that the child differentiates between mind and world, and that someone can have a belief that differs from reality
Development of ToM
Progression
Progression from reasoning about desires to reasoning about beliefs and hidden emotions
Important cultural differences
Diverse desire>Diverse belief>Knowledge access>False Belief>Hidden Emotion
Nativist Interpretation of infant FB data
- 15 month olds already possess (at least in rudimentary and implicit form a representational theory of mind
- children are born with an “abstract computation system”
- innate, modular “theory of mind mechanism
Minimalist interpretation of infant false belief data
- infants are following behaviour rules (e.g. “a person will look for an object where she put it”
- statistical learning (innate)
Precursors of ToM
- joint attention and gaze following
- intention-reading
- imitation
- pretend play
- use of internal state language e.g. “I think” “I feel”
- perspective-taking
Empathy
ability to vicariously experience another’s emotional state - can be observed in infants (cry when hearing another infant cry)
Sympathy
feelings of concern for another - is related to children’s ability to understand other’s mental states
Prosocial behaviours
socially desirable behaviours, include helping, sharing, and conflict resolution
**moral emotions (ex. empathy & sympathy) are the roots of prosocial behaviours
Hoffman’s Six Stages
Stage 1
Global empathic distress
First precursor to empathy - infants cry reactively upon hearing the cries of other infants
Hoffman’s Six Stages
Stage 2
Egocentric empathic distress
(11-12 months)
Second precursor to empathy - respond to distress by comforting themselves
Hoffman’s Six Stages
Stage 3
Quasi-egocentric empathic distress
(18-24 months)
Beginning of sympathy; offer help but in the way they would want to be helped/comforted
Hoffman’s Six Stages
Stage 4
Veridical empathy
(~3 y.o.)
Understand that other people have inner states that can be different than their own; offer more appropriate help and comfort
Hoffman’s Six Stages
Stage 5
Empathic distress beyond the situation (middle childhood)
Mature empathy; can empathize with individuals imagined to have generally unpleasant/difficult lives
Hoffman’s Six Stages
Stage 6
Empathy for distressed groups (adolescence)
High level of empathy; can empathize with the plight of groups of people
Helping
- toddlers comfort those in distress
- infants (18 months) help others to achieve goals
- increases with age
incomplete action, identify obstacle, how to overcome
- emerges around 14 months in simple situations (out of reach)
- *more complex helping depends on cognitive and social development
- even very young children have a natural tendency to help other persons solve their problems, even when the other is a stranger and receive no benefit
Sharing
Emerges by the end of the first year
- more likely to share with friends and those who have given them help in the past
Conflict resolution
Goes from coercion to negotiation
- resolve conflict both verbally and nonverbally
Determinants of prosocial behaviour
BIOLOGY
Genes influence prosocial development through temperament
Determinants of prosocial behaviour
AFFECT
empathetic distress
Determinants of prosocial behaviour
COGNITION
prosocial reasoning, and children’s mental state understanding
Determinants of prosocial behaviour
SOCIALIZATION
Parents contribute to children’s prosocial development by:
- providing opportunities to practice prosocial behaviours
- communicating prosocial values using inductive techniques
- modelling and reinforcing prosocial behaviours
Morality
involves issues of right and wrong, good and evil
3 facets: AFFECT, COGNITION & BEHAVIOUR
Moral rules
broad issues of fairness and justice
Social conventional rules
rules used by society to maintain order
Moral reasoning studies
assess the thought processes that underlie morality
Moral conduct studies
Assess behaviours governed by morality
Social-cognitive developmental approaches
mose concerned with children’s moral reasoning
advances in moral understanding depend on children’s cognitive abilities (e.g. perspective taking)
Piaget’s theory on morality
uses moral dilemmas to assess children’s thoughts on morality
- moral reasoning develops as the cognitive structures of the child develop
Stage 1 (Piaget’s theory)
2-4 years
children have no true conception of morality
Stage 2 (Piaget’s theory)
5-7 years
- children understand and use rules, but are not flexible in rule use (stage of moral realism)
- Objective responsibility: children evaluate moral situations on the basis of the amount of damage
Immanent justice: inherent justice
Stage 3 (Piaget’s theory)
8-11 years
- children realize that rules are conventions and can be altered
- children in this stage now consider intention in their evaluations of morality (stage of moral relativism)
Objective responsibility
children evaluate moral situations on the basis of the amount of damage
Stage 4 (Piaget’s theory)
children develop rules as needed and extend moral reasoning beyond their personal level
Piaget’s findings on moral reasoning
- older children become increasingly attuned to motives and intentions
- cognitive capacities underlie moral judgment
- peer relations are important for moral development
- *may have underestimated children’s reasoning abilities
Kohlberg’s model
Presented children with moral dilemmas and asked them to explain their reasoning
Growth across levels and stages depends on:
- improving cognitive skills
- repeated encounters with moral issues
Kohlberg’s model
Preconventional
moral reasoning based on the assumption that individuals must serve their own needs
Kohlberg’s model
Conventional
moral reasoning based on the view that a social system must be based on laws and regulations
Kohlberg’s model
Postconventional
moral reasoning based on the assumption that the value, dignity, and rights of each individual person must be maintained
Similarities between Piaget and Kohlberg
- cognitive-developmental perspectives
- important of interactions with the social world (especially peers)
- moral development occurs in a step-wise fashion
- younger children focus on rules
- older children focus on intention
Differences between Piaget and Kohlberg
- Kohlberg focused more on discrete stages
- Kohlberg argued that conduct follows reasoning; Piaget emphasized that reasoning often follows action
Turtle and Smetana’s Social Domain Theory
Children’s moral reasoning involves several different domains:
- personal
- social-conventional
- moral
Children’s understanding of moral and societal issues is influenced by context
Social Domain Theory
Moral Domain
- have “intrinsic effects” on other’s welfare
- obligatory, universally applicable
Social Domain Theory
Social-conventional
- violate norms and expectations
- inappropriate, but not malicious or victim-based
- contingent on authority commands; can be altered
Social Domain Theory Personal domain (individual choice)
- knowledge of self, personality, and identity
Evaluating Turiel’s model
- support for different domains of moral reasoning
- support for the influence of context in which reasoning takes place
- researchers using culturally appropriate versions of Turiel’s stories have replicated his findings across a diverse array of societies
- there is also cultural variability in how children classify different kinds of rule violations
Altruism
behaviours that benefit another but may cost the person
Kin selection
a person will act to aid persons who share their genes (e.g., other is more likely to act to save her child than her husband; child has more of her genes)
Reciprocal altruism
members of a group reciprocate in their altruism so that all members are more likely to survive and pass on their genes
Environmental/learning approaches
- reinforcement and observational processes are involved in moral development
- as children develop, they internalize what they have learned to regulate their own behaviour
- -> via evaluative self-reactions & self-sanctions
Sociocultural approaches
moral development is a process of socialization
- through interactions with family and cultural institutions, children are assisted by other people in structuring and interpreting situations for themselves
