Child Development - Chapter 12.pdf - po ang - Januszek66

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CHAPTER 12

Self and Values

THE CONCEPT OF SELF

Self as Object

Self as Subject

R ESEARCH A PPLIED TO P ARENTING : Preventing Learned

Helplessness

Self-esteem: Evaluating Self

C ONTROVERSY : Is Praise Always a Good Thing?

Identity

SELF-REGULATION AND SELF-CONTROL

Developmental Changes

The Influence of Language and Attention

Individual Differences

MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Freud’s Theory

Social Learning Theory

Cognitive-Developmental Theories

PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR

The Development of Prosocial Behaviors and Altruism

A TYPICAL D EVELOPMENT : Conduct Disorders

Additional Factors in Prosocial Behavior

CHAPTER RECAP

Summary of Developmental Themes

Summary of Topics

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Key Themes in Self and Values

Nature/Nurture What roles do nature and nur-

ture play in the development of the self and of values?

Continuity/Discontinuity Is the development of

the self and of values continuous or discontinuous?

■

Sociocultural Influence How does the socio-

cultural context influence the development of the

self and of values?

Individual Differences How prominent are in-

dividual differences in the development of the self

and of values?

■

Child’s Active Role How does the child play an ac-

tive role in the development of the self and of values?

Interaction Among Domains How does the

development of the self and of values interact with

development in other domains?

■

M ichael had just finished his math assignment when he heard the door slam. Then

he heard the loud, angry voice. “Kids today!” his grandfather fumed to no one in

particular. “A couple of ’em almost ran me down on the sidewalk. Didn’t bother to

apologize. One even yelled, ‘Get out of my way!’ as she chased after her friends. Kids

don’t respect anybody, not even themselves—wearing those weird clothes, dying their

hair every color you can think of, poking holes in their ears, even their noses! I suppose

if I had stopped ’em, they’d have taken a swing at me or even worse....”His voice

trailed off to a mutter.

Michael had heard such tirades before: how the world has changed, how young people

today do not know right from wrong, how they are just plain troublemakers. Michael

also worried about reports on the news: the first-grader who punched his teacher, the

large number of sixth-graders who felt cheating was okay, the junior high students sus-

pended for bringing knives and guns to school, and the shootings.

Did his grandfather have a valid point? Just what values do young people have today?

T o instill in children a sense of satisfaction with who they are and to recognize

the standards of conduct considered acceptable and ethical within their com-

munity are among the most important goals of society. We expect children and

adults to take pride in their accomplishments, learn to judge right from wrong, and

refrain from actions that harm family, friends, or neighbors. Broadly speaking, sur-

vival in a social community depends on helping, cooperation, and sharing, behaviors

that benefit others. Children display an awareness of self and the consequences of

their conduct, both good and bad, early on, but these understandings undergo no-

ticeable changes with development.

Michael’s grandfather believes his generation has witnessed a decline in a positive

sense of self and in courtesy and concern for others. Although one might debate

whether such a change has actually taken place, the concerns voiced by Michael’s

grandfather are not new. Philosophers, theologians, and scientists have argued for

decades about whether human nature is good or evil and whether experience serves

to channel children’s inborn tendencies in either direction. In this sense, the nature-

nurture debate remains embedded in contemporary discussions of the roots of self,

moral behavior, and values. In this chapter, we look first at the nature of “self ” and

how it relates to self-esteem and identity. We consider too how self-regulation and

self-control contribute to our development. We then examine several theories of

moral development. Finally, we look at how and to what extent society promotes the

development of prosocial values.

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Chapter 12

Self and Values

The Concept of Self

“I know how.”

“Look! See what I did!”

“I’m smart.”

“I’m stronger than you!”

“I’m really good at this!”

These declarations express in no uncertain terms what children believe they can

do, what they think they are like, and how they feel about their abilities. The state-

ments reveal the child’s awareness of self. How does this understanding of self —as

someone who is an independent, unique person, able to reflect on his or her own be-

liefs and characteristics—develop?

To answer this question, it will be useful to adopt a distinction first offered by

William James (1892) more than a century ago. The distinction continues to be every

bit as useful today (Harter, 1999). For James, there were two components of self: the

“me,” or objective self, and the “I,” or subjective self .James’s objective, or the “me” as-

pect of self, is often called self-concept .An individual’s self-concept includes an un-

derstanding of his or her physical qualities, possessions and status, skills, and

psychological characteristics, including personality, beliefs, and value systems.

The “I,” or the subjective component, is made up of several key realizations about

the self: (1) I can be an agent of change and can control events in my life (sense of

autonomy); (2) my experiences are unique and accessible to no one else in exactly

the same way (sense of individuality); (3) my past, present, and future are continu-

ous (sense of stability); and (4) I can reflect on, that is, think about, my self (sense of

reflection, or self-consciousness). All contribute to the sense of the subjective “I.”

Self as Object

Self as object, the self-concept, consists of the unique set of traits and characteristics

an individual holds to be true about himself or herself. The seeds of such awareness

already may be sown in the infant’s recognition of how his own body movements

take place. For example, the attentional preferences of babies as young as three

months suggest that they recognize when left and right position and movements of

their legs, viewed on videotape, are inverted (Rochat & Morgan, 1995, 1998). Other

research reveals that infants recognize their own voices, faces, and body movements

as different from those of others, suggesting the origins of a rudimentary under-

standing of self as separate and distinct from other people and objects well before the

end of the first year (Legerstee, Anderson, & Schaffer, 1998; Rochat & Striano, 2002;

To masello, 1995). These capacities very likely serve as precursors to the representa-

tion of self as object. Self-awareness ,however, is usually said to begin with the child’s

ability to declare or indicate in a fairly specific way, “That’s me!” When do young

children have this “idea of me”?

In touching her nose while

looking in the mirror, this

eighteen-month-old illustrates

one way a toddler tells us some-

thing about the knowledge she

has about herself.After having

a small spot of rouge surrepti-

tiously placed on the tip of her

nose, she seems to be indicat-

ing by touching her nose that

the reflection is of “me.” Be-

fore about fifteen to eighteen

months of age, children typi-

cally do not respond to their

reflections in the mirror be-

cause they still have a very

limited understanding of self.

● Self-recognition The household mirror has become a helpful research tool in

answering the question of when self-recognition emerges. A toddler younger than

fifteen to eighteen months shows little evidence of recognizing herself in a mirror.

How do we know? If a spot of rouge, for example, is placed surreptitiously on her

nose, it is not until she is older than this age that she will touch or rub her nose while

looking in the mirror. Such behavior suggests that she has formed a concept of the

details that ordinarily make up her appearance. In just a few more months she will

also say, “That’s me” when asked, “Who’s that?” as she stares at a picture or a reflec-

tion of herself. Moreover, this self-recognition emerges about the same time in chil-

dren from widely varying backgrounds (Cicchetti et al., 1997).

The implications of becoming aware of physical appearance can be enormous. For

one thing, it may signal the appearance of self-conscious emotions, such as embar-

rassment, shame, and pride, that emerge in toddlers, as we saw in the discussion of

self Realization of being an inde-

pendent, unique, stable, and self-

reflective entity; the beliefs, knowl-

edge, feelings, and characteristics

the individual ascribes to himself

or herself.

self-concept Perceptions, con-

ceptions, and values one holds

about oneself.

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The Concept of Self

emotional development in the chapter titled “Emotion” (Lewis et al., 1989). For an-

other, self-recognition seems to develop hand in hand with a growing awareness of

others as distinct individuals. For example, a toddler who displays self-recognition on

the mirror task also is likely to attend to a partner of a similar age and to encourage

that child to play with matching toys, an indication of increased interest in sharing

and enjoyment of the other child’s activities (Asendorpf & Baudonnière, 1993). Thus,

at a very young age, children have begun to unwrap a major piece of the total package

of their self-concept, the first of many steps in the development of their identities.

● Self-definition A self-concept consists of much more than appearance. If asked

to answer the question “Who are you?” a preschooler might say, “I’m a boy. I’m

strong. I know the letters of the alphabet. I like pizza. I live with my mother and fa-

ther. I go to nursery school.” Thus, during the preschool years, knowledge of self ex-

tends beyond physical features to include activities the child likes and is good at, his

possessions, and his relationships to others. In defining themselves, children at this

age commonly establish a categorical self, that is, classify themselves in terms of

membership in certain groups based on their sex, age, skills, what they own, where

they live, and who their friends are.

Are very young children also aware of having psychological and social attributes? As

we pointed out in the chapter titled “Cognition: Piaget and Vygotsky,” preschoolers

know quite a bit about their own mental activities. They possess knowledge of them-

selves that goes beyond appearance and actions. Thus responses such as “I have a

friend” or “I’m a happy person” are among their self-descriptions. Preschoolers consis-

tently select self-statements that reflect moods, feelings, achievements, and other psy-

chological and social orientations. Self as object, as me, even for a young child, includes

a sense of a psychological and social being (Damon & Hart, 1988; Harter, 1999).

Between five and seven years of age children increasingly coordinate the attributes

they apply to themselves (Harter, 1999). When children reach about seven years of

age, a new element enters their self-descriptions. Whereas younger children describe

themselves in terms of typical categorical activities (“I run fast”), older children be-

gin to make relational statements. For example, in response to the question “Who are

you?” a fifth-grader might say, “I can run faster than anyone else in my class,” “I’m

not as pretty as my older sister,” or “Other kids in my class are better than I am at

math.” Instead of itemizing their skills, actions, or social and psychological qualities,

they compare their qualities with those of others (Ruble, 1983; Harter, 1999).

As children become older, they view self in terms of more abstract and increasingly

differentiated qualities (Harter & Monsour, 1992); thus a global notion of self fails to

capture the full complexity of this concept. Even preschool children have some under-

standing of domain-specific representations (DesRosiers et al., 1999; Marsh, Ellis, &

Craven, 2002), but during the elementary school years children effectively distinguish

self in terms of, for example, academic abilities, physical appearance, behavioral con-

duct, social skills, and athletic competence (Cole et al., 2001; Hymel et al., 1999).

Self tends to be evaluated very highly by preschoolers and somewhat less positively

in the early elementary school years, as children acquire a better understanding of their

limitations and strengths at that time. Their self-concepts show some positive increases

in most domains in the later elementary school years but then tend to dip again as they

enter the adolescent years. Moreover, gender differences exist in how favorable these

different domains of self are perceived, as can be seen in Figure 12.1. In addition, the

emphasis on portraying different domains of self increasingly focuses on the implica-

tions of those domains for social relationships. The change is evident in such responses

from young adolescents as, “I play sports ...because all the kids like athletes” and “I’m

an honest person ...people trust me because of it” (Damon & Hart, 1988).

During adolescence, self also begins to be viewed from multiple or even opposing

perspectives. Susan Harter (1986) asked whether someone can have both positive

and negative qualities. Can a person be both “smart” and “dumb” or “nice” and

“nasty”? She found a substantial increase in the belief in this possibility between the

KEY THEME

Interaction Among Domains

categorical self Conceptual

process, starting in the early

preschool years, in which the child

begins to classify himself or her-

self according to easily observable

categories such as sex, age, or

physical capacities.

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Chapter 12

Self and Values

3.0

FIGURE 12.1

Evaluations of Self as

a Function of Gender

The different domains of self

are not always evaluated

equally. Females consistently

give less favorable ratings (on a

4-point scale) to their appear-

ance and to their athletic ability

than do males.These data have

been averaged over thirteen

different studies carried out

by Susan Harter with children

from elementary school through

high school (Harter, 1999). In

addition, research cited by

Harter (1999) and carried out

by others in England, Ireland,

Australia, and many non-English

speaking countries, including

Switzerland, Italy, Holland,

China, Japan, and Korea, reveals

a similar pattern of findings.

2.5

2.0

Social

Scholastic

Conduct

Appearance

Athletics

Males

Females

Source : Harter, 1999, p. 131.

seventh and ninth grades. The number of opposite perspectives, and concerns about

feeling confused or bothered by qualities of self that conflict when, for example, in-

teracting with parents, with friends, in a romantic relationship, or as a member of the

classroom, become greatest during middle adolescence, as Figure 12.2 indicates

(Harter & Monsour, 1992).

The impetus for conflicting selves may arise from a desire to impress or gain in-

creased acceptance or simply as part of experimentation during the teenage years.

Under these circumstances, “false” selves appear to be a normal and even healthy as-

pect of development. However, if, as may be the case for some adolescents, the incon-

sistencies arise from a belief that approval is contingent on “showing different faces”

at the expense of one’s true self, these conflicts may lead to more serious conse-

quences, such as feeling depressed and confused about self (Harter et al., 1996). For-

tunately, concerns about conflicting selves typically lessen for most adolescents as

adolescents become older and establish a higher order coherent picture of self based

on principled ideas and comprehensive plans that include a more extended future

and greater understanding of their strengths and limitations.

Can cultural, religious, and social class differences, which are highly laden with

values in their own right, influence the development of self-concepts? William Da-

mon and Daniel Hart (1988) believe such influence is likely. In some societies, for ex-

ample, possessions or membership in the family or a social group may be far more

important in determining perceptions of self than individual qualities, abilities, and

achievements (Levine & White, 1986). To illustrate their point, Damon and Hart

(1988) studied children living in a fishing village in Puerto Rico. The residents were

relatively poor and had few educational and social services available to them. Chil-

dren typically attended school for no more than three or four years, and obtaining a

job often depended on a network of family and social relationships. Compared with

middle-income youngsters from mainland regions of the United States, Puerto Ri-

can children voiced far more apprehension about whether their behavior was good

or bad than whether they were competent or talented. A twelve-year-old might say it

is important to be nice and respect people because misbehavior would mean “every-

body will hit me and hate me or not help me.” Compared with their mainland coun-

terparts, Puerto Rican children consistently expressed greater concern about whether

others approved of their actions than about their relative competence with respect to

some skill or capacity.

In still other cultures that place greater emphasis on contributions to the collective

community than on individual accomplishments—for example, the Samoan society

and in many Asian countries—evaluations of self in terms of particular competencies

may not be seen as desirable. As a consequence, greater modesty is demanded in de-

scribing one’s personal qualities. Because children’s views of themselves are heavily

KEY THEME

Sociocultural Influence

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