WHO AM I?

The search for the self-

Self expression and identity

MODULE OBJECTIVES

The development of identity

How do we develop self-esteem?

How do children describe others?

WHO AM I?
Self: A conceptual system made up of ones thoughts and
attitudes about ones self, including ones:

Body
Possessions
Thoughts
Psychological functioning

DO INFANTS HAVE SELF AWARENESS?

SELF-AWARENESS: INFANCY
Early in infancy, infants demonstrate a rudimentary sense of
self
8 months
Self-awareness becomes more distinct when infants respond to separation
from their mother

12 months
Self-awareness becomes more distinct when infants show joint attention
with others

18 20 months
Self-awareness becomes more distinct when children can look into a mirror
and realize that the image they see is themselves

2 years
Self-awareness becomes more distinct when children can recognize
themselves in photographs

H OW WO U L D W E K N OW T H AT
I N FA N T S R E C O G N I ZE
The Rouge Test
T H E M S E LV ES I N A M I R RO R ?
The mother places a red mark on her infants nose and then
the infant is placed in front of the mirror

12-month-olds:
Touch the red mark on the mirror, showing that they notice the mark on the face in the mirror

15-month-olds:
Infants see the red mark in the mirror, and some then reach up and touch their OWN noses

24-month-olds:
Infants see the red mark in the mirror, and all then touch their OWN noses

SELF-AWARENESS:
EARLY CHILDHOOD
By 2-3 years:
Children use language personal pronouns to
refer to the self
Such as I and me

Children can construct narratives of the

events in their lives

Between 2 and 3 years of age, selfawareness is quite fragile

Toddlers self-awareness is not strongly linked
across time it is focused largely on the

WHO AM I ?
Toddlers gradually develop an awareness that they are individual.
This awareness becomes the Self Concept which is a persons understanding of who they
are:

I am a girl/boy
I am a big brother
I am 4 years-old
I can tie my shoes!

They talk mostly about concrete,

observable behaviors, physical
features, preferences, possessions,
and members of the family.

At this point, the descriptions

are very positive almost
unrealistically positive.

BY 2 YEARS OF AGE, MOST

CHILDREN CAN RECOGNIZE
THEMSELVES AND REFER TO
THEMSELVES BY NAME OR
WITH I AND ME.

HOW DO TODDLERS
DESCRIBE
THEMSELVES?

Think on your own..

My name is Harvey. I live in a blue house with

my mom, dad, and sister Linda. I have a dog that

is brown. His name is Bluto. I have a

skateboard and a hockey stick. I can skate really

fast. I can brush my teeth and wash my hair all

by myself. I can jump on one foot 50 times in a

row want to see? Im not even tired when I

stop. I have green eyes and lots of freckles.

CHILDHOOD
By elementary school, children engage in social comparison
Children compare themselves with others in terms of characteristics, behaviors, and
possessions

He can run faster than I can

She scored higher on the test
They pay more and more attention to discrepancies between their own behavior and
others behavior

CHILDHOOD
By middle to late elementary school, children use higher-order concepts to integrate
features of the self and attitudes of others
Their self descriptions contain a pronounced social element and focus on personality
traits or physical characteristics that may influence their place in the social network.
I am helpful
To be popular, I have to be nice and keep secrets

SELF-DESCRIPTION
Im a human being. Im an 11-year-old girl. Im a truthful person. Im not pretty. I
do so-so in my studies. Im the best pianist in my class. Im a little tall for my age. I
like several boys. I like several girls. Im a very good swimmer. I try to be helpful. Im

always ready to be friends with anybody. Mostly Im good, but sometimes I lose my
temper. I dont know if Im liked by boys or not.

SELF-AWARENESS:
ADOLESCENCE
In adolescence, the self is defined by abstract characteristics, social competence, and
social acceptance

Adolescents can conceive of themselves in terms of a variety of selves, depending on

the context
With friends, siblings, parents, etc

Adolescents create a variety of selves in their search for identity

SELF-DESCRIPTION
I'm sensitive, friendly, outgoing, though I can also be
shy, self-conscious, and even obnoxious. I'd like to be
friendly and tolerant all of the time. That's the kind of
person I want to be , and I'm disappointed when I'm not.
I'm responsible, even studious every now and then, but on
the other hand I'm a good-off too, because if you're too
studious, you won't be popular. I'm a pretty cheerful
person, especially with my friends, where I can even get
rowdy. I can be my true self with my close friends. I can't
be my real self with my parents.

They don't understand me.

DEVELOPMENTAL CHANGE IN
SELF-CONCEPT
Preschoolers

School-Age

Adolescents

Possessions

Emotions

Attitudes

Physical
Characteristics

Social Groups

Personality
Traits

Preferences

Comparisons with Beliefs vary with

Peers
the Setting
Future-oriented

SELF-CONCEPT OCCUR FROM

PRESCHOOL TO ADOLESCENCE:
1.Self-concept becomes richer as children grow.
Adolescents simply know much more about
themselves than preschoolers.
2.The type of knowledge that children have of
themselves changes. Preschoolers
understanding is linked to the concrete, the
real, and the here and now.

ADOLESCENTS
UNDERSTANDING IS MORE
ABSTRACT, MORE
PSYCHOLOGICAL, AND SEES
THE SELF AS EVOLVING OVER
TIME.

ADOLESCENT
The adolescent thinker is more capable of complex thought, as previously discussed,
but they experience theTHOUGHT
return of egocentrism.
Adolescents experience cognitive distortions that effect the way adolescents see the
world.

Imaginary audience
Personal fable
Illusions of invulnerability

MULTIPLE
Teenagers can take on a number personas that vary by situation and circumstances.
PERSONALITIES?
Their behavior can switch from rowdy to reserved, cooperative to antagonistic.
Aware of the inconsistencies, teens often ask themselves which one is the real me?

MARCIAS IDENTITY
Identity achievement STATUSES
Moratorium

Identity foreclosure

Identity diffusion

IDENTITY
The ultimate status in adolescence is identity achievement.
ACHIEVEMENT
Adolescents who achieve identity know who they are and remain connected to all the
morals and attitudes they have learned earlier, but are not bound to any of them.

FORECLOSURE
Some teenagers never fully examine traditional
values, which leads to foreclosure.
This is premature identity formation, which occurs
when an adolescent adopts parents or societys roles
and values, without question.

BOBS FATHER IS AN
ENGINEER. BOB WAS ALWAYS
ENCOURAGED SINCE HE WAS
A VERY YOUNG CHILD TO
FOLLOW IN HIS FATHERS
FOOTSTEPS.
So, what did Bob do?

He diligently took classes on math and science to

become an engineer.

NEGATIVE IDENTITY
The negative identity is taken on with rebellious
defiance, simply because it is the opposite of what the
parents or society expect.

This identity is formed by direct rebellion and the

fact that the child cannot find alternatives that are truly
their own.

IDENTITY DIFFUSION
Other adolescents experience identity diffusion where they dont seem to care about
their identity.
This is displayed by having few commitments or goals and are apathetic about taking on
any role.

They usually have difficulty completing school, finding a job and thinking about the
future.

IDENTITY MORATORIUM
In the search for identity some teens need a time-out, which is seen in identity
moratorium.
This is a pause in identity formation that allows young people to explore alternatives
without making final identity choices.
The most obvious example in the U.S is college, which requires students to sample a variety
of academic areas before concentrating on one.

SELF AWARENESS EVOLVES

The self concept or self awareness

turns from factual to evaluative,
becoming self esteem.

ASSESSING SELF-ESTEEM
These feelings are based upon self-evaluations of many
aspects of ones life. Below are several aspects of an
individuals functioning. Add up the numbers for each of the
10 items. This is your total self-esteem score.
Very Dissatisfied
1
2

1. Physical maturity
2. Academic performance
3. Work experiences
4. Financial independence
5. Family relations
6. Peer relations
7. Role in community
8. Sense of values and religiosity
9. Romantic and intimate relationships
10. Coping skills

Very Satisfied
6

HOWS YOUR SELFESTEEM?

Self-esteem refers to a persons judgments and feelings about his or
her own worth

High self-esteem: 45-60

Moderate self-esteem: 25-45

Low self-esteem: 10-25

YOUNG CHILDRENS SELF ESTEEM IS MEASURED BY

DESCRIBING MORE AND LESS
COMPETENT PEOPLE, THEN
ASKING PRESCHOOL
CHILDREN WHICH PERSON IS
MORE LIKE THEM.

HARTERS FIVE DOMAINS

Scholastic competence
How competent or smart the child feels in doing schoolwork
Athletic competence
How competent the child feels at sports and games requiring physical
or athletic ability
Social acceptance
How popular or accepted the child feels in social interactions with
peers
Behavior conduct
How adequate the child feels about behaving the way one is supposed
Physical appearance
How good looking the child feels and how much the child likes his or
her physical characteristics, such as height, weight, face, and hair

PROFILE FOR CHILDREN

Really True
for me

Sort of True
for me

Really True
for me

Other kids worry about

Some kids feel that
whether they can do the
they are very good BUT school work assigned to
at their school work
them

Some kids find it BUT Other kids find its pretty

easy to make friends
hard to make
friends
Other kids dont feel that
Some kids do very
well at all kinds of BUT they are very good when
to comes to sports
sports

Some kids are

BUT
happy with the way
they look
Some kids often
do not like the
BUT
way they behave

Other kids are not happy

with the way they look

Other kids usually like the

way they behave

Sort of True
for me

DOES OUR SELF-ESTEEM

CHANGE AS WE DEVELOP?
Self-esteem is at its peak in the preschool years
Children between 2 and 6 develop very favorable impressions of themselves, in fact they
overestimate their abilities!

They believe they can win any race, count

accurately, sing perfectly.

Children of this age enjoy

showing off for an audience,
grandparents, stuffed animals,
peers

Research suggests that children

with relatively high self-esteem tend
to be more accepted by peers over
the years (Verschueren, 2001).

LAST?
Children during this time feel older, stronger, and
more skilled than younger children.
One of the worst insults is to call a 4year-old a
baby

Self-esteem drops somewhat when children enter

the elementary-school years as they begin to compare

themselves with their peers

SELF-ESTEEM
Children with high self-esteem

judge themselves favorably and

feel positive about themselves.

Children with low self-esteem

HOW DO I MEASURE UP??

Along with this development of social cognition
comes the understanding of their own self.
School-age children start to make measurements of
themselves, comparing themselves to peers

Increased understanding of themselves often results

in the development of self criticism, which tends to rise as
self esteem starts to fall.
Ask a child, Are you good?, rather than simply
answering yes, older children might use a specific
standard set by adults. This is social comparison

SOCIAL COMPARISON
Social comparison is the tendency to assess ones abilities,
achievements, social status and attributes by measuring
them against those of their peers.
Older children lose the rosy, imaginary assessment of their behaviors that we saw in younger
children and they tend to feel personally at fault for their shortcomings and they are less
likely to blame someone else.

Children compare themselves against peers even when

no one else explicitly makes the comparison.

SELF-ESTEEM
Peer acceptance is important to self-esteem

Childrens feelings of competence about their

appearance, athletic ability, and likeability is more
affected by peers than by parents

Children develop an internalized standard by

which to judge themselves

A CHILD WITH LOW SELF ESTEEM IS A LIKELY

CANDIDATE FOR BEING
TEASED, REJECTED, OR
IGNORED
A CHILD WITH HIGH SELF ESTEEM IS LIKELY TO BE
WELL LIKED

IS THE PEER GROUP THAT

IMPORTANT?
Most developmentalists consider getting along with peers to be crucial during middle
childhood. Research conducted by Borland (1998) concluded that friends and being part
of a peer group were central to living a full life and feeling good.
Being rejected by peers is a serious precursor to later problems, including juvenile
delinquency, depression and drug abuse.

TO SELF-ESTEEM
One of the most important influences on childrens
self-esteem is the approval and support children
receive from others

The Looking-Glass Self is the concept that

peoples self-esteem is a reflection of what others
think of them.
If children feel loved, they believe that they are worthy of others love

OF SELF-WORTH?

For children 8 to 12 years of age:

Physical appearance most important
Social acceptance second
Less critical to self-worth were schoolwork, conduct and athletics

Harter found that American children judge themselves more by

good looks and popularity

COMPETENCE
Attractive individuals are more likely to report high
self-esteem than those who are less attractive
May be stronger for girls than for boys particularly in late childhood and adolescence

Children who are academically successful tend to have

higher self-esteem with respect to their intellectual and
academic competence than do their less successful peers
Achievement affects childrens self-esteem more than self-esteem affects academic achievement

CONSEQUENCES OF LOW SELF ESTEEM?

Children with low self-esteem are:
More likely to have problems with their peers

(Hymel et al., 1990)

(Garber,
Robinson, & Valentiner, 1997)

More prone to psychological disorders such as depression

More likely to be involved in antisocial behavior

Ippolito, 1997)

More likely to do poorly in school

(Dubow, Edwards, &