lecture 18- understanding of the self Flashcards
Self-Concept: I & Me
William James (1890) philosopher I self and me self
I self
self as knower, actor;
inner life not accessible to others
Develops 1st
me self
: object of evaluation; own representation of personal characteristics as they are seen by others, looking glass self
Develops later
Self-Concept:Changes During Development
Self-concept: Set of attributes, abilities, attitudes, values that an individual sees as defining who s/he is
Elaboration of me-self (self as object)
Early childhood (3-5 yrs) concrete descriptions, categories
Middle childhood (8-11) general dispositions, abilities
More realistic/balanced pos/neg: social comparison
Early adolescence: unify traits into higher-order abstract descriptors, conflicting traits not well integrated
Later adolescence: more integration
e.g., “adaptable” to explain variation across social roles
Culturally specific: individualistic/collectivistic
Self-Esteem
SE: Judgments about own worth
-High SE:
fundamental satisfaction w/ type of person one is
acknowledge faults, hope to improve
self-acceptance & respect
-Hierarchical structure
General self-esteem/self worth
Domain specific: academic, social, physical/athletic, appearance (Harter)
Domains differ in correlation with general SE
Appearance most correlated at all ages
Self Esteem:Longitudinal Change & Critique
Normative longitudinal patterns
SE high in early childhood
Decreases in early school yrs (social comparison)
Rises around 4th grade when comparisons balanced w/ personal goals, maintained except at school transitions
Critique of SE in contemporary “Western” cultures
Damon: SE must be linked to realistic self evaluation, product not producer of accomplishment
Achievement-Related Attributions
Attribution: explanation for cause of behavior
3 years: learning optimist, effort doesn’t detract from ability
Mastery orientation: learning goal
Incremental view of ability: increase w/ effort
Learned helpless: performance/failure avoidance goal
Entity view of ability: have a fixed amount
Fostered by criticism which emphasizes ability over effort
Theory of Mind
Understanding of own & others’ rich inner lives
At 2 ½ children refer to mental states
Want, think, pretend
Desire theory of mind: think people always act consistently with desires, (ignore beliefs etc.)
Belief-desire theory: (4 yrs) beliefs & desires determine action
False belief games (e.g., band-aid box) solved at 4
Understanding false belief associated w/ social skill, probably because of perspective taking
Promoted by language, cognitive dev, pretend play, interaction w/ older siblings & others
Autism & Theory of Mind
Characteristics
Severely deficient or absent theory of mind
fail false belief tasks
Delayed language, lack mental state words
Absorbed in the self
Narrow and intense interests; focus on details, repetitive
Poor social skills
Origins
Abnormal brain functioning
Genetic or prenatal environment causes
One theory: deficit social-cog brain module
