Development of the Self and Social
Cognition

The Self
 Bandura – the set of cognitive processes and
structures that are concerned with thoughts and
perception
 (Schultz, 2001)
 the combination of physical and psychological
attributes that is unique to each individual
 (Shaffer, 2005)

The Self-Concept
 the perception one has of their unique
combination of attributes
 (Shaffer, 2005)
 self-concept is developed through communicating
to others.
 it is characterized by social relationships we have
with people in our surrounding environment. We
develop our opinions about ourselves by
observing the ways other respond to and
communicate with us.
 (Luke, 2012)

The Emerging Self
 The point at which the sense of self emerges or
comes to the fore front in childhood
 emerges in the early years of life and continues to
develop into adulthood
 Unclear as to when children become aware of
themselves
 Most research has found that this starts around
the age of 2-3 months

Self Recognition
 ability to recognise oneself in a mirror or a
photograph, coupled with the conscious
awareness that the mirror or photograph is a
representative of the self
 Rouge Test
 (Shaffer, 2005)

Theory of the Mind

 Theory of mind: proposed to explain this acquisition
process and development
 It is construed as the “…understanding that people are
cognitive beings with rich mental lives that are available
to themselves and not to others” (p. 466, Shaffer, 1996).

Conceptions of self in Middle
Childhood

 The term self-concept is a general term used to refer to
how someone thinks about or perceives themselves.
 The self helps us determine how we process information
related to the self (e.g., the motives behind our
behavior).
 The looking-glass self is a social psychological concept,
created by Charles Horton Cooley in 1902 ,stating that a
person's self grows out of society's interpersonal
interactions and the perceptions of others.

 Baumeister (1999) provides the following self concept
definition: "the individual's belief about himself or herself,
including the person's attributes and who and what the
self is".
 Lewis (1990) suggests that development of a concept of
self has two aspects: -
(1) The Existential Self
(2) The Categorical Self

 Children in middle childhood are struggling to understand
who they are, and continue to explore answers to the
question “Who am I?”

 Children increase in the development of perspective
taking.
 Between ages 8 and 15, children start to depend more on
peers for feedback. However, parents continue to remain
influential

 During middle childhood, children begin to view
themselves less in terms of external physical attributes
and more in terms of psychological traits.
 Children realize they are good at some things and not so
good at others.
 Their self-concepts become divided into personal and
academic spheres…

As children get older, their views of self become more
differentiated.

DEVELOPMENT OF SELF
UNDERSTANDING
 Changes in self esteem and self concept due to
Social Comparisons
 Social Comparisons: judging one’s appearance,
abilities, and behavior in relation to those of others.

 Children use SOCIAL COMPARISON, comparing
themselves to the abilities, expertise, and opinions of
others.
 Festinger proposed that when objective measures are
absent, people rely on social reality to evaluate
themselves (understanding that comes from studying
how others act, think, feel, and view the world).
 Children look to others who are similar to themselves.

 Children increasingly compare themselves to
others.
 Children are developing their own internal
standards.
 Self-esteem, for most children, increases during
middle childhood.

Therefore children begin to compare themselves to others
by their
 age
 sports
 academics
 physical attributes

 Sometimes children make downward social comparisons
with others who are obviously less competent or
successful to raise or protect their self-esteem.
 Downward social comparisons involve comparing
ourselves to someone who is in a worse state than us,
thereby raising our self-esteem (e.g., finding someone
with a worse test grade than yours)

 Erikson’s Industry vs. Inferiority
 According to Erikson, a combination of adult
expectations and children’s drive towards mastery
creates the crisis in this stage.
 Formal schooling and socialization. Children are
learning roles and talents.

Erikson's Psychosocial Stages

 Success in this stage is evidenced by feelings of mastery,
proficiency, and confidence.
 Children evaluate themselves in terms of physical and
psychological characteristics, but they also think of
themselves as being good or bad (involves emotions).

Adolescence Self Concept
 Adolescents mention attitudes, personality traits,
religious/political beliefs, variation with context, and
an orientation to the future..
 Adolescents use hypothetical reasoning to experiment
with different selves
 Adolescence is characterized by self-absorption,
imaginary audience, personal fable, and illusion of
invulnerability.

 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

 The adolescent thinker is more capable of complex
thought, as previously discussed, but they experience the
return of egocentrism.
 Adolescents experience cognitive distortions that effect
the way adolescents see the world.
 Imaginary audience
 Personal fable
 Illusions of invulnerability

Marcia’s identity status
 Identity achievement
 Moratorium
 Identity foreclosure
 Identity diffusion

 Erikson’s Identity vs. Identity Confusion – the period
during which teenagers seek to determine what is unique
and distinctive about themselves
 Adolescents increasingly rely on their friends and peers
as sources of information about their identity.

SELF ESTEEM

Self Esteem
 Self Esteem is used to describe a person's overall sense of self-
worth or personal value. It may involve a variety of beliefs about
the self, such as the appraisal of one's own appearance,
beliefs, emotions and behaviours. (Braden, 1969).
 Positive links between healthy self-esteem including:
happiness, humility, resilience and optimism.
 Low self-esteem is related to stress, depression anxiety and
eating disorders.

Is self-esteem stable overtime?
 Changes is seen 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

Culture, Ethnicity and Self Esteem
 Most research and theory on self-concept and self-esteem are based
on Western cultures and populations.
 Self-esteem in Individualistic Cultures (US) is more likely to be based
on the achievement of personal goals, whereas in the Collective
Cultures (Asia, China) self-esteem is derived from the achievement
of collective goals, such as those of family or society. Harry Triandis
(1989).
 Hazel Markus and Shinobu Kitayama (1991) propose a similar
distinction between Western and Eastern cultures in their

Parental and Peer Influence
 The family is seen as the first medium of socialization.
 Most common negative impacts on self esteem are the verbal abuse
children receive.
 Parental modelling is an important as any words that can be spoken.
 Positive modelling behaviours and positive self-talk.
 Children adapt the behaviours attitudes, precepts and self talk we instil in
them.
 “Many experienced parents have noted, children won’t always do as you
say but usually do as you do” (Manassis 1996).

Establishing Positive Self-Esteem
 Establishing Positive Self-Esteem begins with parents.
 Look after yourself physically;
 Accept your imperfections (low self-esteem can lead to eating
disorders)
 Slow down personalizing
 Develop skills.
 Do things for pleasure, for fun
 Use rewards, but avoid punishments
 Cultivate good relationships - with yourself and others
 Appreciate your body.

THE END