CLASS NOTES #4
CHAPTER 6: SELF CONCEPT & SOCIAL COGNITION
What is self?
Cooley, Mead (early 1900's): self can only be defined in relation to others
Self understanding grows from social interaction.
Cooley--"looking glass self"
Bowlby notion of working model of self in relation to others.
Several aspects of self development studied
Self Concept
Existential self (self recognition/self awareness)
Origins hard to pinpoint; Freud, Piaget--newborns don't distinguish
2-3 mo. contingency learning, but doesn't mean self-differentiation/awareness
4-5 mo. Bahrick study (infant disc. own leg kicks from other) (Rochat, 3 mo.)
18-24 mo. self recognition
Lewis & Brooks-Gunn rouge study
Based on Gallup study with chimps:
isolated chimps don't develop self-recognition
(evidence for Cooley, Mead position)
Securely attached infants develop self-awareness earlier
Categorical self (self-classification)
Age 2+: Concepts of age, gender, simple evaluation (good, bad) develop first
Age 3-5: Concepts of race & ethnicity
Early
categories are physical, concrete
Become more
psychological, abstract across childhood (psychological traits)
Eder: 3 to 5 yr. olds more abstract w. forced choice
(I like to play by myself or I like to play w. friends)
Late
adolescent aware of, resolves inconsistency across traits, situations.
Harter & Monsour (1992): traits seen as consistent, stable until
mid-adolescence (age 15), then awareness of opposing traits with distress.
Age 17 resolution/systhesis of opposing traits
(cheerful to friends, surly to parents = moody).
15 yr. olds most upset about inconsistent traits,
most likely to present "false selves”
There are cultural differences in traits seen as
desirable
(ex. individualism
vs. collectivism)
Private vs. public self
Private: inner self--thoughts, feelings known only to self, "in head"
Public: outer self seen by others
Differentiation of private, public self is part of theory of mind:
Flavell--age 3+ know thinking is
private and in head
but don't know thinking can differ from reality
Age 4+ make appearance-reality distinction
(can look like one thing and physically be another thing at same time)
Also know person can think something that doesn't conform to reality
(know that person can have "false belief"
ex. mother moving Sam's chocolates from blue to green cupboard
when Sam is not looking.
-- 3 yr. olds say Sam will look in green cupboard,
4-5 yr. olds say blue cupboard).
Theory of mind development related to others discussing mental states
Self-esteem (feelings about self-worth)
Harter--general self esteem not measured reliably with
paper & pencil measures prior to age 8-9.
May be measured with puppet characters earlier (age 4-5)
Harter: Young
children focus on domain specific competencies
--academic, social, physical
(athletic, appearance), behavioral
(age 8-9--more related to evaluation by others)
Self-esteem depends on importance of the domain.
General self-esteem scales work
with adolescents
and
relational self worth emerges at this time
(feeling
competent in relationships).
Some studies show dip in self esteem in adolescence,
but may be more related to school
transitions & other stresses than to age
Origins of self worth
Parental warmth, authoritativeness; secure attachment
Social comparison with peers
Identity (consolidation of self-concept)
Erikson--coherent view of self--philosophy, occupation, gender
Marcia--identity statuses based on Erikson:
diffused, foreclosed, moratorium, achieved
Achievement in late adolescence, youth
(not all achieve--not all domains at same time)
Affected
by education, culture, parenting style
(some question validity of Erikson's model outside of white male Anglo
culture).
Ethnic identity achievement associated with higher
self esteem, better social relations,
more
positive view of own and others' cultures
Related
to parenting (teaching traditions & pride, constructive dealing with
prejudice
& with value conflicts, and being warm, supportive confidants)
Facilitated by school, community awareness of diversity, efforts to deal with
racism,
provision of educational and economic opportunities.
V. Social cognition
Parallels self development
Young children typically describe
others in concrete, physical terms;
older
children use more trait-like, abstract, psychological terms
Related to cognitive development, especially role-taking skills (putting self in place of other person)
Facilitated
by social experience, especially with peers.
CHAPTER 7: ACHIEVEMENT
I. Theoretical views
Early work:
McLelland- Achievement
Motivation
Atkinson- Expectancies, values
play a role
Weiner: Attribution theory
--judgment
about cause of success or failure affects achievement
Expectancy of success/failure --> performance --> evaluation -->
attribution (of reason for success/failure) --> revised expectancy -->
future performance
Attributions = perceptions about cause of success or failure
Can be stable or unstable, internal or external.
Stable-Internal: Ability
Unstable-Internal: Motivation/Effort
Stable-External: Task Difficulty
Unstable-External: Luck
Children begin to view ability as
stable between 8-12;
coincides with devaluing of achievement by many.
Dweck: Attribution of failure to lack of ability
and success to unstable factors -->
learned helplessness.
Can reverse helpless cognitions (can increase task persistence)
by attribution retraining (convincing child that failure is caused by lack of
effort).
Success only experiences don't work.
II. Development of achievement:
Originates w. mastery motive in infants
Related to responsive caregiving and stimulating play materials
Fostered by authoritative parenting (but there are cultural differences)
Influenced by:
Availability of age-appropriate stimulation in home
Socioeconomic factors
Cultural expectations about achievement