self concept Flashcards
what is self concept
ideas we have built up about ourselves, including our physical and mental qualities
what are social identities
a sense of identity derived from our memberships of social groups
includes feelings of belonging, following social norms, evaluations
how do self concepts change with age
children start without a firm grasp of personality or traits yet - they don’t describe themselves as funny or helpful yet
- concrete, physical, observable characteristics
middle childhood (5-9 years):
- shift towards internal descriptions, relationships, feelings, beliefs
- more realistic: positive and negative traits
- social comparison
adolescence
unify traits into abstract descriptors (e.g., smart and talented combine into intelligent)
generalisations can be contradictory (e.g., shy and outgoing)
this is because of social pressures to behave differently in different situations
early self awareness
in early infancy, children do not have a basic awareness of the self
do not perceive themselves as distinct human beings
do not understand they have unique appearance, properties
aspects of the self - the I self
a sense of self as knower and actor
- self awareness
- self continuity
- self coherence
- self agency
aspects of the self - the me self
sense of self as an object of knowledge and evaluation
consists of all the characteristics that make the self unique:
- material characteristics
- psychological characteristics
- social characteristics
aspects of the self - the I self and the me self
they are complimentary
I self develops first
me self develops next - cognitive representations that arise from the observing process
starts with self awareness
how to develop I self more quickly
secure attachment
what is categorical self
belonging to groups
commonly learned first: gender, age
these act as a springboard to learn more about their group/aspect of themselves
what is the rouge test
infant placed in front of mirror
caregiver pretends to wipe infants face infants face and superstitiously rubs red dye on childs nose
observe child’s reaction to image in mirror and measure nose-directed behaviour
what is self esteem
the judgement we make about our own worth and the feelings associated with those judgements
development of self esteem - early years
have no general self esteem, and are generally very positive
focus on abilities in different areas
global self evaluations, e.g., how happy they are with themselves
development of self esteem - middle childhood
becomes more aware of own uniqueness and other people’s appraisals
how do we measure self esteem in children
adaption of the self perception profile for children
Susan Harter- what contributes to general self esteem
- academic performance
- social competence
- behavioural conduct
- physical?athletic competence
- physical appearance
Harter - competence and importance
Harter said the contribution of general self esteem depend on competence and importance
if we are not competent at something, but we say it is not important, we will maintain high self esteem
changes in self esteem with age
young children are very positive about themselves, because they find it difficult to distinguish between the actual and ideal self
self esteem becomes more realistic with age due to social comparison
learn to maintain high self esteem by valuing other domains
