Chapter 12 Development of the Self and Social Cognition

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Chapter 12 Development of the Self and Social
Cognition
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DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF-CONCEPT

• Self-Differentiation in Infancy
• 2 months a limited sense of personal agency
  they are responsible for some events

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DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF-CONCEPT

• Self-Recognition in Infancy
• Self-concept who or what we are
• 5 months recognize the self as familiar
• Self-recognition
• Rouge test
• 18-24 months, most realized the person in the
  mirror was them
• 2 to 3 years, limited to present self
• 4 to 5 years, extended self

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DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF-CONCEPT

• Contributors to Self-Recognition
• Cognitive development is necessary
• Social experience
• Secure attachment
• Parents provide descriptive information
• Cultural differences
• Younger self-recognition if autonomy was stressed

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• Figure 12.1 Average scores on a test of
  self-knowledge as a function of age and
  attachment quality. ADAPTED FROM PIPP,
  EASTERBROOKS, HARMON, 1992.

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• Table 12.1 Proportion of mothers adopting
  different parenting styles with 3-month-olds and
  the proportion of those children achieving
  self-recognition when they were 18- to 20-months
  old. ADAPTED FROM KELLER ET AL., 2004.

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DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF-CONCEPT

• Social and Emotional Consequences of
  Self-Recognition
• Necessary for self-conscious emotions
• Infants become more socially skilled
• May begin to cooperate
• Begin to categorize themselves on dimensions of
  how people differ

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DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF-CONCEPT

• Who Am I? Responses of Preschool Children
• 3 ½ - 5 use psychological dimensions
• Sociability
• Intelligence
• Athleticism
• Tends to be stable over time

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DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF-CONCEPT

• Conceptions of Self in Middle Childhood and
  Adolescence
• Becomes more abstract with age
• Recognize they are not the same in all situations
• May use false self behaviors acting out of
  character to improve image, etc.
• Becomes more integrated with age

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• Figure 12.2 Average number of inconsistent
  attributes reported by 13-, 15-, and 17-year-olds
  (panel A) and the percentages of 13-, 15-, and
  17-year-olds who said they were confused or
  mixed up by these inconsistencies in their
  self-portraits (panel B). ADAPTED FROM HARTER
  MONSOUR, 1992.

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DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF-CONCEPT

• Cultural Influences on the Self-Concept
• Self descriptors
• American students more likely to be personal or
  individualistic
• Japanese students more likely to be social or
  relational

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• Figure 12.3 Average percentages of
  personal/individualistic and social/relational
  attributes listed as core dimensions of the
  self-concept by American and Japanese students
  who responded to a Who Am I? questionnaire.
  ADAPTED FROM COUSINS, 1989.

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• Origins and Development of Self-Esteem
• 4 5 years, an early, meaningful, stable sense
  of self-esteem
• Securely attached children more likely to have
  high sense of self-esteem
• Reasonably accurate with how others (teachers)
  evaluate their social competencies

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• Components of Self-Esteem
• Academics, social acceptance, appearance,
  athleticism, and behavior
• 4 7 years positive on all
• 8 years based on others evaluation
• Adolescence relational self-worth, importance
  of relationships
• Females supportive friendships
• Males influencing friends

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• Figure 12.4 A multidimensional and hierarchical
  model of self-esteem. ADAPTED FROM HARTER, 1996.

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• Changes in Self-Esteem
• Some children experience a decline into middle
  and high school
• Multiple stressors likely to contribute to
  declines
• Overall stability is lowest in childhood and
  early adolescence
• Relatively stable in late adolescence and early
  adulthood

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• Social Contributors to Self-Esteem
• Parenting Styles
• Warm, supporting, nurturing / democratic leads to
  high self-esteem
• Peer Influences
• Social comparison, especially in individualistic
  societies
• Social support from peers high esteem

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• Culture, Ethnicity, and Self-Esteem
• Self-Esteem appears lower in collectivist
  societies
• But being lower may make individuals feel good,
  as it is what society wants
• Ethnic minorities express lower levels of esteem
  in elementary school, but equal or higher by
  adolescence
• Support and pride in ethnic group

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• Development of Achievement Motivation and
  Academic Self-Concepts
• Achievement motivation
• Willingness to strive to succeed at challenging
  tasks
• To meet standards of accomplishment
• Mastery motive
• Inborn motivation to master the environment

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• Early Origins of Achievement Motivation
• Phase 1 Joy in Mastery
• Prior to 2 years, pleased with successes, but do
  not seek recognition, failures dont matter
• Phase 2 Approval-Seeking
• Near age 2, seek approval for successes, expect
  disapproval for failure

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• Phase 3 Use of Standards
• Adopted objective standards
• Pride after success, shame after failure
• Less dependent on others evaluations

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• Achievement Motivation During Middle Childhood
  and Adolescence
• Home Influences on Mastery Motivation and
  Achievement
• Quality of attachment
• Secure attachment results in being more
  self-assured, and comfortable about taking risks
  and seeking challenges

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• Figure 12.5 Scenes like this one were used by
  David McClelland and his associates to measure
  achievement motivation.

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• The home environment
• 66 of children from intellectually stimulating
  homes doing well in school
• Led to intrinsic orientation to achievement
• 70 of children from unstimulating homes were
  doing poorly

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• Table 12.2 Relation between Quality of Home
  Environment at 12 Months of Age and Childrens
  Grade-School Academic Achievement 5 to 9 years
  later. SOURCE Adapted from Doorninick, Caldwell,
  Wright, Franenberg, 1981.

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• Child-rearing and achievement
• Independence training
• Achievement training
• Praising successes, not being overly critical of
  occasional failures aids achievement motivation
• Authoritative parenting style described above
  (warm, firm, democratic)

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• Peer Group Influences
• African American and Latino peer groups in
  low-income areas may discourage academic
  achievement
• Parents value education, individuals may
  associate with peers sharing those values

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• Cultural Influences
• Chinese children much more critical of personal
  failures in learning versus American children

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• Beyond Achievement Motivation Development of
  Achievement Attributions
• Types of Achievement Attributions
• Ability stable, internal
• Task difficulty - stable, external
• Effort unstable, internal
• Luck - unstable, external

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• Table 12.3 Weiners Classification of the Causes
  of Achievement Outcomes (and Explanations of How
  You Might Explain a Terrible Test Grade).

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• Figure 12.6 An overview of Weiners attribution
  theory of achievement.

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• Age Differences in Achievement-Related
  Attributions
• Prior to age 7, unrealistically optimistic
• Incremental view of ability ability is
  changeable and increases with effort
• 8-12 distinguish ability from effort
• Entity view of ability ability is a stable trait

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• Dwecks Learned-Helplessness Theory
• Mastery orientation attribute successes to
  ability, externalize failures or attribute them
  to unstable causes
• Persist after failure, increase effort
• Learned helplessness orientation attribute
  failures to stable and internal factor
• Stops trying
• Tends to persist over time

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• Figure 12.7 Characteristics of the
  mastery-oriented and learned-helplessness
  achievement orientations.

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SELF-ESTEEM THE EVALUATIVE COMPONENT OF SELF

• How does learned helplessness develop?
• Praise hard work if child succeeds, and criticize
  ability when failure occurs
• Want to criticize lack of effort when failure
  occurs
• Can be changed relatively easily through
  attribution retraining

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WHO AM I TO BE? FORGING AN IDENTITY

• Identity firm and coherent sense of who one is,
  where one is heading, and where one fits into
  society
• Identity diffusion not yet thought about or
  resolved identity issues
• Foreclosure committed to identity but without a
  crisis of decision

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WHO AM I TO BE? FORGING AN IDENTITY

• Moratorium identity crisis, actively asking
  questions and seeking answers
• Identity achievement resolved identity issues by
  making personal commitments to goals, beliefs,
  and values

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WHO AM I TO BE? FORGING AN IDENTITY

• Developmental Trends in Identity Formation
• 12-18 majority are identity diffused or
  foreclosed
• 21 and older moratorium status or achieved a
  stable identity
• Women place more importance on sexuality, gender
  roles, family/career
• Likely to be at different statuses in different
  domains

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• Figure 12.8 Percentages of participants in each
  of Marcias four identity statuses as a function
  of age. Note that resolution of the identity
  crisis occurs much later than Erickson assumed
  Only 4 percent of the 15-year-olds and 20 percent
  of the 18-year-olds had achieved a stable
  identity. FROM MEILMAN, 1979.

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WHO AM I TO BE? FORGING AN IDENTITY

• How Painful Is Identity Formation?
• Moratorium - not a stressful status
• Identity achievement healthy, leads to higher
  self-esteem, fewer personal concerns than other
  statuses
• Long-term failure to establish an identity is
  negative
• Small minority of adolescents

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WHO AM I TO BE? FORGING AN IDENTITY

• Influences on Identity Formation
• Cognitive Influences formal-operational thought
  helps imaging and contemplate future identities
• Parenting Influences
• Being neglected/rejected diffused
• Too controlling foreclosed
• Affection, mutual respect moratorium,
  achievement

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WHO AM I TO BE? FORGING AN IDENTITY

• Scholastic Influences
• College pushes people toward career setting
• College students behind working peers in terms of
  political or religious identities
• Social-Cultural Influences
• Desire to choose a personal identity after
  exploration may only apply in industrialized
  societies today

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WHO AM I TO BE? FORGING AN IDENTITY

• Identity Formation Among Minority Youth
• Deciding to establish an ethnic identity
• Once achieved
• Higher self-esteem, relationships with parents
  and peers of other ethnicities
• Parents need to
• Teach traditions and foster pride
• Prepare children to handle prejudice
• Be warm and supportive confidants

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• Table 12.4 Based on a sample of 1,989
  adolescents, the data show the percent of
  multiracial adolescents (based on their parents
  races) who self-identified with each single race,
  and those who refused to self-identify with a
  single race. ADAPTED FROM HERMANN, 2004.

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THE OTHER SIDE OF SOCIAL COGNITION KNOWING ABOUT
OTHERS

• Age Trends in Person Perception
• Younger than 7-8, characterize people in same
  concrete, observable terms used to describe the
  self
• 4-6 are capable of thinking about traits in
  meaningful ways
• Less likely to think they are stable
• Traits are used to describe recent behavior

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THE OTHER SIDE OF SOCIAL COGNITION KNOWING ABOUT
OTHERS

• 6-8 used many behavioral comparisons
• 8-11 rapid increase in psychological constructs
  (traits)
• 12-16 use of psychological comparisons
• 14-16 recognize dispositional similarities, and
  situational factors both affect behavior

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• Figure 12.9 Percentages of descriptive statements
  classified as behavioral comparisons,
  psychological (traitlike) constructs, and
  psychological comparisons for children between
  ages 6 and 11. FROM BARENBOIM, 1981.

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THE OTHER SIDE OF SOCIAL COGNITION KNOWING ABOUT
OTHERS

• Theories of Social-Cognitive Development
• Cognitive Theories of Social Cognition
• Cognitive-development theory
• Growth of social-cognitive abilities is related
  to cognitive development
• Selmans role-taking theory
• Role-taking skills allow one to assume a
  different perspective
• Developmental sequence

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• Table 12.5 Selmans stages of social perspective
  taking.

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• Table 12.5 Selmans stages of social perspective
  taking.(continued)

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THE OTHER SIDE OF SOCIAL COGNITION KNOWING ABOUT
OTHERS

• Role-taking and thinking about relationships
• Preschool any positive interaction equals a
  friendship
• 6-8 years common activities and one-way
  friendships
• 8-10 reciprocal friendships
• Adolescence exchange of intimate thoughts or
  feelings

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THE OTHER SIDE OF SOCIAL COGNITION KNOWING ABOUT
OTHERS

• Social Influences on Social-Cognitive Development
• Social experience as a contributor to role-taking
• Equal-status contacts with friends and peers are
  important

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THE OTHER SIDE OF SOCIAL COGNITION KNOWING ABOUT
OTHERS

• Social experience as a direct contributor to
  person perception
• Experience with others teaches what others are
  like
• Motivation and practice to understand others