Definition of self -concept in adolescence and childhood

¿What is self -concept? We can define self -concept such as set of characteristics (Physical, intellectual, affective, social, etc.) that make up the image that a subject has of himself. This concept of yourself It does not remain static throughout life, but is being developed and built thanks to the intervention of cognitive factors and social interaction throughout development. It is necessary to understand the progress in the concept of itself within the framework of the progress of the abilities and skills to relate and recognize the others.

The self -concept has as one of its premises the awareness that oneself is a differentiated being of others and the environment, that is, self -consciousness. In psychology-online we will discover the Definition of self -concept in adolescence and childhood so that, thus, you know better what it consists of.

1. What is self -concept
2. The self -concept of a baby
3. The ability to recognize yourself: self -consciousness
4. Definition of self -concept according to authors
5. The evolution of self -concept in preschool age
6. The use of language as a sign of self -concept
7. Self -concept in children from 2 years old
8. Self -concept in adolescence
9. The importance of self -concept in mental health

What is self -concept

We start this article about the Definition of self -concept in adolescence and childhood making clear what is precisely the "self -concept" or the concept of oneself.

Definition of self -concept

We describe the self -concept such as the opinion and valuation that a person has on herself, the self -concept is a very broad Construtco that encompasses a multitude of salts such as self -esteem, self -acceptance and authorship. and that is based on both physical and psychological characteristics to be able to form properly.

¿How the self -concept is formed?

For most current self -concept scholars, The baby does not have a feeling of undifferentiation Total, neither his world is as disorganized as he believed. However, his experience of himself as someone independent is, until the end of the second semester of life, very rudimentary, fragile and dependent on the physical and social environment.

During the first months of life, the baby is immersed in a cluster of sensations and experiences that occur in contact with the outside, with daily phenomena and with interactions with nearby people. The baby must form a general representation, organize these experiences from events that are perceived as isolated. In addition, he is learning to integrate the systems with which he is equipped, those that allow him to perceive the world and others, with those that allow him to act. For example, Learn to cry when you want attention to be paid.

From this learning and integration, related to interaction and the increase in cognitive abilities, its ability to control the environment will emerge, which, in turn, implies an element of recognition of itself as an independent being.

The self -concept of a baby

To this primitive sense of himself is what Lewis and Brooks-Gunn have called I existential, In clear allusion to the concept of James. Towards ten months babies already have an experience of full differentiation of their caregivers and their surroundings.

Bandura points out that during these months The baby refine what we could call its ability to self -management and that it is nothing more than the acquisition and sophistication of skills to be able to control events of your environment (point to an object you want, cry when you don't like something, smile when you get something, etc.).

During the first eighteen months, Social interaction is an essential source of information and of help to become aware of himself and the existence of others. Social activities of great importance occur in the games, such as the cucú -ras, in which children learn regularities and relationship patterns that are based, and at the same time help, in an experience of the self and the other.

In addition, Imitation as a form of relationship And of knowledge is one of the influential elements in the emergence of the self, since it means putting into play not only a control over itself, but also a recognition of the other as a model.

The ability to recognize yourself: self -consciousness

Self -consciousness not only implies the sense of itself as an independent being of the environment and others, but it has a fundamental role as the basis of emotions. Regarding the emotional world of the baby, during the first four months, it is basically composed of sensations of pleasure or disgust that when they begin to be consistent with environmental stimulations (caresses, games, etc.) They also contribute to organizing their world.

In this way, self -consciousness is a great achievement within the cognitive world on which it will be based, over the first years, the appearance and development of emotions such as pride or shame and others that involve recognition of taking from taking perspective as empathy or behaviors tending to deceive. Self -consciousness has one of its best expressions in the emergency of the sense of self as an object of knowledge and that can be seen in the acquisition of self -recognition capacity.

In order to continue with the definition of self -concept in adolescence and childhood, it is important that we understand how the capacity for self -recognition appears. The emergence of a sense of self as being independent and different Of the others, it has a clear reflection in the ability to recognize itself, that is, in the ability of self -recognition.

Definition of self -concept according to authors

Now that we know what self -concept is, it is important to make an analysis of the concept of self -concept (apologize redundancy) according to the passing of the years.

The Classic research on the self -knowledge carried out by Lewis and Brooks-Gunn, they were made painting with educated babies of different ages and without them realizing. Then they were put in front of a mirror to see if they showed self -recognition. It was considered as such when the child took his hand to the brand. Another strategy to study the self -recognition has been carried out through photographs and videos in which the children appeared from which it was intended to find out if they were able to recognize themselves (Bigelow and Johnson). These studies have shown that recognizing themselves is quite early in development, although there seems to be a gap between the findings of different investigations.

Several studies show how towards the five months of life some babies are able to recognize and differentiate parts of their body from those of the other children when they are put in front of a mirror, it seems that this capacity is more clearly presented towards the 15 months. However, this capacity will continue to be refined and affirmed so that, towards 24 months, we can talk about self -recognition In strict sense. On the other hand, research conducted with videos and photographs seem.

In 1990, Lewis et al. Within the framework of their investigations aimed at discovering the emergence of the self -recognition using the mirror, and with children between 15 and 24 months, they flattered and verbally reinforced the children who had recognized themselves in it. When this was happening, the children reacted smiling, crouching their heads and looking sideways or covering their faces, which is a clear sample of feelings of shame before the halago and the researcher. Likewise, the children who did not give signs of having self -recognized did not respond to this adulation.

Another signs of author recognition and self -consciousness is clearly exhibited Towards the two years, When children show other behaviors that suppose a differentiation of others such as Use of personal and possessive pronouns (I, Mi, mine) and the reactions of sadness or struggle for some possession that, far from being interpreted as a negative act, can be interpreted as a form of exercise in the acquisition and development of the self.

The evolution of self -concept in preschool age

From the first years The acquisition of symbolic and language thought Play a very important role in the settlement and development of the Self. Language allows the child to think and express their specificity as being in a way that he had never done before, for example, through the use of names, pronouns or the expression of desires or feelings.

¿How to see a preschool? Since the two years, children provide a lot. These expressions, together with the massive use of possessive pronouns, indicate Clearly a conscience by the child of his specificity against the others. If by two or three years a child wonders how it is, their answers are usually of the type "I am a child" or "I have green pants", that is, around physical characteristics, possessions or preferences.

These answers show that the little child bases his knowledge of himself on categories, on very specific aspects and on observable and unique (Fisher) features typical of preoperative thought. It should be noted that children's self -descripts are always made up of positive characteristics and aspects.

If you want to know more about how language is acquired, we recommend you read the following article about Noam Chomsky and Language Theory.

The use of language as a sign of self -concept

Throughout the preschool years, children show considerable advance using a greater number and rank of categories when describing. These new features include psychological, emotional and behavioral. Also, thanks to the acquisition of language, the child is being able to coordinate categories that appeared scattered before, for example, they can be described as good playing cards, with the computer, etc.

Another characteristics of self -knowledge throughout this stage is that children Opposites begin to use, as cheerful or sad, to identify or identify others. These categories, however, are understood by children of these ages as exhaustive, in the sense that or is good or bad, that is, the subjects represent themselves and others as holders of a single quality , and they cannot understand, for example, that someone can be kind to certain people and use a different behavior pattern with others.

The child's thought At the beginning of preschool age it prevents you from establishing distinctions and relationships between psychological or aptitude traits and the results of their actions, they believe that everything can be achieved through will or desire. This child feature and its progressive modification, has one of its interesting aspects in the quality of the relationships established by children with others, for example, adults.

Self -concept in children from 2 years old

Thus, while towards the Two or three years exhibit tantrums permanent in the face of frustration, progressively show greater skill of self -control, negotiation and concession capacity against others. This advance is clearly related to the development of competition to understand their motives, desires, emotions, thoughts, etc. And those of others, that is, again with the development of a theory of the mind. To the End of the preschool period, Children have already developed a concept of themselves, however we could say that this concept is quite superficial and static. His advance in social experience, in the knowledge of others and their intellectual tools will be the foundation of progress throughout the school years.

Definition of self -concept in children from 6 years

Since the six years The self -knowledge of children begins to be more complex and integrated. It is enriched, for example, with the possibility of coordinating categories of itself that were previously separated or opposed. This same progress is observed when describing or interspersed with other people. It is throughout the school years when the child will be able to fully recognize himself, to know and become aware of his internal states as well as recognize them in the others. This makes it possible for the child to describe himself and others through personality traits.

During these years, in addition, children begin to use other types of categories that result very interesting And that have to do with an awareness of membership to groups. Thus they include are their descriptions, for example, which are "fans of a football team" or "fans of a singer". This allows access to a very useful self -knowledge dimension: the awareness of shared characteristics with others, which They identify with the members of a group But that in turn, they do not prevent them from continuing to be themselves. Children of these ages tend to compare themselves in traits and skills with others or with their groups (Ruble and Frey).

This is a very important personal and social advance Since the child also begins to be perceived as an individual who plays different roles depending on the group he is referring to (in the football team it is a striker, at home he is the little one, in school he is the one who knows how to make the accounts better , etc. ). Precisely, the awareness of these different roles It is one of the bases on which he builds his perception of himself as someone unique to others.

These aspects involve a progressive increase in The self -regulation capacity, that is, to adjust the behavior depending on the situations and people with whom it is interacting. The descriptions, the awareness and the self -concept built around all these features, to the competences intellectual and physical He will clarify, coordinating and becoming more complex and complete throughout the adolescence.

Self -concept in adolescence

We continue with this article on the definition of self -concept in adolescence and childhood to speak, now, of the adolescent stage. ¿What do we know about self -concept in adolescent boys and girls?

The new intellectual skills and social skills that are acquired in adolescence are potentially capable of working with abstraction, in addition to thinking in a hypothetical way, which contributes to the subject coordinating categories and features in a more complex way and in turn, it can generate general categories From particular features. This involves awareness of Multiple dimensions of oneself and the importance of the context in its expression. These capacities, together with their new social relations networks, as well as the importance of such networks, make the subjects tend to occupy part of their time to analyze how they are and how they would like be.

They try discover and understand what your interests are and its motives and what is their position before reality and before the others. During preteen, in the field of psychological and emotional self -knowledge, They tend to think about themselves about unique and consistent categories or features, so that this reduces and moves away the probability of facing attributes that could become opposite, that is, they tend to have a conscience and knowledge that we could call compartmentalized (Fisher, Linville, Harter), so that this could be a strategy to prevent traits considered as negative in an area can "contaminate" other spheres of self -concept.

The importance of self -concept in mental health

To finish this article about the definition of self -concept, it is essential to talk about its impact on the mental health of the adolescent.

It is necessary to take into account when understanding the adolescent self -concept some features of your development in the psycho -emotional field And that were exposed by Elkind. These traits are based on the teenager's tendency to perceive itself as a being whose experiences and emotions are hardly understandable by others (egocentrism), to believe that their life and experience are unique (personal fable) and that they are the center of Attention and interest of others (imaginary audience).

They also have a tendency to perceive safe from the repercussions of conducting dangerously or recklessly, despite being aware of the danger (invincibility fable). Subjects are increasingly capable of adjust your thinking and knowledge of himself to reality, as well as to coordinate and form a global, coherent and integrated idea of ​​contradictory ideas and information about who and how are. This global self -concept will be made up of diverse spheres such as social, occupational, politics or morals and in which adolescents tend to form and maintain consistent self -concepts around organized and belief consistent systems. (Damon and Hart; Higgins).

In tune with this effort to achieve complex and adjusted self -knowledge, the adolescent seeks to build their own identity. During these ages, the self -descripts of the subjects continue to contain own features previous ages but now they appear with a new quality. In adolescents' narratives on how they have supremacy the characteristics related to physical, psychological and, fundamentally, attitudes.

This article is merely informative, in psychology-online we have no power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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