Week 10: Self Development and Social Learning Flashcards
When does emergence of self-awareness happen?
1-2 years. At around age 2, self-recognition is well under way that children can identify the self as a physically unique being ie. use of pronouns (eg. “me”, “my”)
What are scale errors?
Toddlers still lack an objective understanding of their body dimensions, attempting to do things that their body size makes impossible ie. trying to put on a doll’s clothes
When does the emergence of self-concept happen?
3-5 years
What are the 3 types of self?
- Categorical self
- Remembered self
- Enduring self
What is categorical self?
Children classify themselves and others on the basis of perceptually distinct attributes and behaviours ie. age (“baby”, “boy”, “man”)
What is remembered self?
Children’s autobiographical memory enables them to have a remembered self - a more coherent portrait of self narratives than the isolated, episodic memories
What is enduring self?
Preschoolers develop an enduring sense of self - a view of themselves persisting over time, across contexts ie. recognising oneself from the videotapes
What is self-concept?
The set of attributes, abilities, attitudes and values that an individual believes defines who he or she is
What does self-concept consist of in early childhood? (3-5 years old)
Largely consist of observable characteristics, typical emotions, and attitudes ie. name, appearance etc
What does self-concept consist of in middle childhood? (6-10 years old)
Organise their typical behaviours and internal states into general dispositions. More emphasis on competency and descriptions of positive and negative personality traits. Frequent social comparisons by judging their attributes in relation to others.
What does self-concept consist of in adolescence? (11-17 years old)
Refer to a wide array of traits that vary across social contexts ie. self with parents, with peers. More abstract self-concepts. Heightened sensitivity to social approval and validation
What are the 6 measures for children’s self-perception?
- Global self-esteem
- Scholastic competence
- Athletic competence
- Physical appearance
- Social acceptance
- Behavioural conduct
What is “The Sally-Anne Task”?
Understanding a False Belief in others
1. Sally places her marble in basket
2. Sally exits
3. Anne transfers Sally’s marble to box
4. Where will Sally look for her marble?
What is Theory of Mind? (ToM)
The social cognitive ability to see oneself and others in terms of mental states - the desires, beliefs, emotions and intentions
What is the state of ToM at 3-5 years?
- Able to recognise the inner self of private thoughts and beliefs
- Able to engage in perspective taking - the capacity to imagine what others may be thinking or feeling
- Desire ToM expands into a Belief-Desire ToM assessed in a false-belief task
What is a desire-based ToM?
Children understand that people act according to their desires or preferences. At this stage, children can recognise that others may have desires that differ from their own, and they can predict behaviours based on these desires.
What is belief-desire-based ToM?
At this stage, children understand that people’s actions are not only influenced by their desires but also by their beliefs about the world - even if those beliefs are false or incorrect
What is the state of second-order false-belief tasks at 6-7 years old?
By age 6-7, children are aware that 1. people form beliefs about other people’s beliefs and that 2. these second-order beliefs can be wrong.
What are the factors facilitating ToM development?
- Language & Verbal reasoning
- Executive functioning
- Social interaction
- Attachment security & maternal mind-mindedness
- Make-believe play
How does language and verbal reasoning affect ToM development?
When people engage in false-belief tasks, the left-prefrontal brain region becomes active. This part of the brain is involved in language. Also, specific verbs related to mental states (ie. “think”, “believe”) help children understand other people’s thoughts and beliefs.
How does executive functioning affect ToM development?
Executive functioning affects the ability to inhibit inappropriate responses, think flexibly and plan. Developmental gains in inhibition predicts false-belief understanding.
How does attachment security and maternal mind-mindedness affect ToM development?
Mothers of securely attached babies more frequently comment on babies’ mental states (desires, intentions, thoughts and emotions)
How does social interaction affect ToM development?
Having older siblings or multiple siblings facilitate ToM-related training. Well-connected parent-child conversations facilitate ToM development.
How does make-believe play affect ToM development?
Sociodramatic, make-believe play offers rich context for thinking about other’s minds. Fantasy role-plays or plays involving imaginary companions.
What is self-esteem?
The judgements we make about our own self-worth and the feelings associated with those evaluative judgements. Shaped by feedback and evaluative information available to children and their cognitive abilities to process that information.
What are the main factors of children’s self esteem?
- Academic competence
- Social competence
- Athletic competence
- Physical appearance
How does global self esteem change over the first few years of elementary school?
It declines as children evaluate themselves in various domains.
How does individual difference in self-esteem change with age?
It stabilises.
How does self-esteem level change across lifetime?
Is high during childhood, decreases towards adolescence/early adulthood and steadily increases towards retirement age, before plunging to all time lows.
How do Chinese and Japanese children compare to American children in terms of self esteem?
Scored lower, and the differences widened with age. Can be linked to intense competition and high achievement pressures in Asian societies, and cultural emphasis on humility and modesty.
What is the Growth vs Fixed mindset of ability?
Beliefs about the fixedness and malleability of people’s intellectual ability -> Incremental theory of ability vs Entity theory of ability
