Topic 4

THE SELF
• adolescents carry with them
a sense of who they are and
what makes them different
from everyone else
• Real or imagined, an
adolescent’s developing
sense of self and uniqueness
is a motivating force in life
Self-
Understandin
g
• What is Self-understanding?
• Self-understanding: The
individual’s cognitive
representation of the self,
the substance and content
of self-conceptions
Self-
Understandin
g
• What are some important
dimensions of adolescents’ and
emerging adults’ self-
understanding?
• Abstraction and idealism
• Differentiation
• The fluctuating self
• Contradictions within the
self
• Real versus ideal, true
versus false selves
• Social comparison
 • Self-
Self- consciousness
• Self-protection
Understandin • The
unconscious
g self
 Self-
Understanding and
Social Contexts
• Adolescents’ self-understanding can vary
across relationships and social roles
• Similarly, adolescents might create different
selves depending on their ethnic and cultural
background and experiences (Lalonde &
Chandler, 2004)
• The multiple selves of ethnically diverse
youth reflect their experiences in
navigating their multiple worlds of
family, peers, school, and community
(Cooper & others, 2002; Rossiter, 2008)
Figure 4.1
 Self-Esteem:
Perception
and Reality
• Narcissism: A self-centered and self-
concerned approach toward others
• This lack of awareness contributes to
adjustment problems
• One study revealed that
narcissistic adolescents were
more aggressive than other
adolescents but only when they
were shamed (Thomaes &
others, 2008)
 • Researchers have found that self-
Does Self- esteem often decreases when
children make the transition from
Esteem elementary school to middle or
junior high school (Twenge &
Change Campbell, 2001)
• This decrease in self-esteem
During may occur during the
transition from middle or
Adolescence junior high school to high
school, and from high school

and to college
• Self-esteem fluctuates across the life
Emerging span
• At most ages, males report
Adulthood? higher self-esteem than
females
 Does Self-Esteem
Change During
Adolescence and
Emerging
Adulthood?

Some researchers argue that

A current concern is that too many
although there may be a decrease
of today’s college students grew
in self-esteem during adolescence,
up receiving empty praise and as a
the drop is actually very slight and
consequence have inflated self-
not nearly as pronounced as
esteem (Graham, 2005; Stipek,
presented in the media (Hyde,
2005)
2005, 2011; Kling & others, 1999)
Is Self-Esteem
Linked to Success
in School and
Initiative?
Is Self-Esteem
Linked to Success
in School and
Initiative?
• School performance and self-esteem are only
moderately correlated, and these correlations do not
suggest that high self-esteem produces better school
performance (Baumeister & others, 2003)
• Adolescents with high self-esteem have greater
initiative, but this can produce positive or negative
outcomes (Baumeister & others, 2003)
 Physical appearance is an especially
powerful contributor to self-esteem in
adolescence (Harter, 2006)
Domains
Closely In Harter’s (1999) research, for example,
global self-esteem was correlated most
Linked strongly with physical appearance, a link
that has been found in both the United
to Self- States and other countries

Esteem This strong association between

perceived appearance and general self-
worth is not confined to adolescence but
holds across most of the life span, from
early childhood through middle age
(Harter, 1999)
 Social contexts such as the
family, peers, and schools
contribute to the development
of an adolescent’s self-esteem
(Roussitt & others, 2010)
Social
Contexts and Peer judgments gain increasing
Self-Esteem importance in adolescence
(Prinstein & Dodge, 2010;
Villanti, Boulay, & Juon, 2010)

• The link between peer approval and

self-worth increases during adolescence
(Harter, 1990)
 • For most adolescents and emerging
adults, the emotional discomfort of
low self-esteem is only temporary,
but for some, low self-esteem can
Consequence develop into other problems
• Low self-esteem has been
s of Low Self- implicated in depression,
anorexia nervosa, delinquency,
Esteem and other adjustment
problems, and even suicide
(Kuhlberg, Pena, & Zayas,
2010)
How can adolescents’
self-esteem be
increased?

• Identify the causes of low

self-esteem and the domains
of competence important to
the self
• Provide emotional support
and social approval
• Foster achievement
• Help adolescents to cope
 • Who am I? What am I all about? What am I going
to do with my life? What is different about me?
How can I make it on my own?
• Erik Erikson (1950, 1968) was the first to
realize how central such questions are to
understanding adolescent development
• Identity versus identity confusion

IDENTI • Erikson’s 5th developmental stage that occurs

during the adolescent years

TY • As part of their identity exploration,

adolescents experience a psychosocial
moratorium (A psychosocial moratorium is
when a person takes a break from “real life” to
actively search for their identity)
• Adolescents who do not successfully resolve
the identity crisis suffer identity confusion
 Personality and Role
Experimentation
Two core ingredients in Erikson’s theory of identity
development are personality and role
experimentation

• During moratorium and before they reach a stable sense of self,

adolescents try out different roles and personalities

As adolescents gradually come to realize that they will

soon be responsible for themselves and their lives,
they search for what those lives are going to be

Erikson argued that by late adolescence, vocational

roles become central to identity development,
especially in a highly technological society like that of
the United States
The Four Statuses
of Identity
James Marcia (1980, 1994, 2002) stresses that Erikson’s theory of identity
development implies four identity statuses:

a) Identity diffusion- refers to a part of the process of a person figuring out who they
are. Typically, it is the part of adolescence when a person has not yet fully realized
their social identity or defined their personality traits - and they are not actively
seeking to.

b) Identity foreclosure- is a stage of self-identity discovery in which an individual has

an identity but hasn't explored other options or ideas. Most common in young
adolescents, in this stage the individual has just adopted the traits and qualities of
parents and friend

c) Identity moratorium- An identity moratorium is one step in the process of finding

a sense of self. It is a period of active searching for one's occupational, religious,
ethnic, or another form of identity to determine who they really are. It is an identity
crisis as part of the quest of teens and tweens to find themselves.

d) Identity achievement- is the life stage where an individual has finally achieved a
"true sense of self."
Crisis: A period of
identity development Commitment: A
during which the personal investment in
adolescent is choosing what an individual is
among meaningful going to do
alternatives
Figure 4.5
 • According to Marcia (1987, 1996), at least
three aspects of the young adolescent’s
development are important to identity
formation
• Confidence that they have parental
support
• An established sense of industry
Developmental • Ability to take a self-reflective stance
toward the future
Changes in
Identity
 • Parents are important figures in
the adolescent’s development of
identity (Cooper, Behrens, &
Family Trinh, 2009)
Influence • Catherine Cooper and her
colleagues (Cooper, Behrens, &
s on Trinh, 2009; Cooper & Grotevant,
1989) have found that a family
Identity atmosphere that promotes both
individuality and connectedness is
important in the adolescent’s
identity development
Ethnic Identity
Throughout the world, ethnic
minority groups have struggled
to maintain their ethnic
identities while blending in with
the dominant culture (Erikson,
1968)

Ethnic identity: An enduring

aspect of the self that includes a
sense of membership in an
ethnic group, along with the
attitudes and feelings related to
that membership (Phinney,
2006)
 • The immediate contexts in which
ethnic minority youth live also
influence their identity development
(Markstrom, 2011; Umana-Taylor &
Ethnic Guimond, 2010)
• In the United States, many ethnic
Identity minority youth live in pockets of
poverty, are exposed to drugs,
gangs, and crime, and interact
with youth and adults who have
dropped out of school or are
unemployed.
• Programs for youth can make an
important contribution to identity
development
Gender and
Identity
Erikson’s (1968) classic presentation of
identity development reflected the
traditional division of labor between
the sexes that was common at the time
• Males were oriented toward career and ideological
commitments, whereas females were mainly
oriented toward marriage and childbearing

In the last several decades, however, as

females have developed stronger
vocational interests, these gender
differences have begun to disappear
(Hyde, 2005, 2011; Sharp & others,
2007)
 • Erikson (1968) argued that
intimacy should develop after
individuals are well on their way
to establishing a stable and
successful identity
Identity • Intimacy versus isolation
and • Erikson’s 6th developmental stage
• If young adults form healthy
Intimacy friendships and an intimate
relationship with another
individual, intimacy will be
achieved; if not, isolation will
result
 • Emotion: Feeling, or affect, that occurs when a
person is in a state or an interaction that is
important to the individual, especially to his or
her well-being

Emotional • Emotion is closely connected to self-

esteem

Development • The emotional experiences involved in

events such as emerging sexual
experiences, dating and romantic
encounters, and driving a car contribute
to the adolescent’s developing identity
(Rosenblum & Lewis, 2003)
The Emotions of
• Adolescence has long been described as a time of
emotional turmoil (Hall, 1904)
• In its extreme form, this view is too stereotypical
because adolescents are not constantly in a state of
Adolescence

“storm and stress”

• Early adolescence is a time when emotional highs and
lows occur more frequently (Rosenblum & Lewis, 2003)
• Moodiness is a normal aspect of early adolescence
• For some adolescents, intensely negative emotions can
reflect serious problems
 The emotional fluctuations of
early adolescence may be
related to variability in hormone
levels during this period
• Pubertal change is associated with an
Experience, and

increase in negative emotions (Dorn &

others, 2006)
Hormones,

Emotions

Most researchers conclude that

such hormonal influences are
small, and are usually associated
with other factors (Susman &
Dorn, 2009)
 • In adolescence, individuals are more likely to
become aware of their emotional cycles
Emotional • This new awareness may improve their
ability to cope with their emotions

Competence • Many adolescents do not effectively manage

their emotions (Somerville, Jones, & Casey,
2010)
 • Emotional competencies include (Saarni,
1999):
• Being aware that the expression of
emotions plays a major role in
relationships
• Adaptively coping with negative
Competence

emotions by using self-regulatory

strategies that reduce the intensity and
Emotional

duration of such emotional states

• Understanding the inner emotional states
do not have to correspond to outer
expressions
• Being aware of one’s emotional states
without being overwhelmed by them
• Being able to discern (detect) others’
emotions
 • During adolescence, through self-
understanding individuals develop an
integrated sense of identity
PERSONALI • In terms of personality traits, identity
development can lead to both stability
TY (the achievement of an identity) and
change (the exploration of new identities
and modification of personality traits)
(Caspi & Shiner, 2006)
 • The Big Five factors of personality:
• Openness to experience
• Conscientiousness
• Extraversion
• Agreeableness
• Neuroticism (emotional stability)

Personality
•The major finding in the study of the Big
Five factors in adolescence is the emergence
of conscientiousness as a key predictor of
adjustment and competence (Roberts &
others, 2009)
Figure 4.6
 • Many psychologists argue that it is
better to view personality not only
in terms of traits but also in terms of

Personalit contexts and situations (Friedman &

Schustack, 2011)

y • Today, most psychologists are

interactionists, arguing that both
traits and situations need to be taken
into account in understanding
personality (Berecz, 2009)
Temperament
Temperament: An individual’s behavioral style and characteristic
way of responding

Many psychologists emphasize that temperament forms the

foundation of personality

The close link between temperament and personality is supported

by research that connects some of the Big Five personality factors
to temperament categories (Caspi & Shiner, 2006)
 • Chess and Thomas (Chess & Thomas,1977;
Thomas & Chess,1991) three basic types, or
clusters, of temperament:
• Easy:
• This child is generally in a
positive mood, quickly establishes
Temperament regular routines, and adapts easily
to new experiences

Categories • Difficult:
• This child reacts negatively to
many situations and is slow to
accept new experiences
• Slow-to-warm-up:
• This child has a low activity level,
is somewhat negative, and
displays a low intensity of mood
 • In sum, studies reveal some continuity
Developmental between certain aspects of temperament in
childhood and adjustment in early
Connections and adulthood
• These connections are based on only
Contexts a small number of studies; more
research is needed to verify the links
Figure 4.7
END