Development of Self and
Social Cognition
Chapter 12
Social Cognition

Parallels Between Social and Nonsocial
Cognition (Flavell)
– surface appearances  underlying realities
– salient characteristics

Differences in Social and Nonsocial
Cognition
– Which is easier?
– Physical forces…

What develops faster…social or nonsocial
cognition?
Knowledge of Self
Develops in social context
 Separate and different before
understanding self
 Two aspects of self

– The knower (“I”)/self as subject
– Perceived self/object (“Me”)/categorical self

Self-recognition
– Visual recognition task
18 months
Knowledge of Self

Lewis & Brooks-Gunn
– Photographs of self and other children
– Live videotape of self
– Prerecorded videotape of self
– Videotape of another child
Knowledge of Self

Lewis & Brooks-Gunn Results:
– By 9 months, contingency cues
– Later  featural cues
– By 2 years, contingent and noncontingent
situations
Knowledge of Self

Lewis & Brooks-Gunn (1979) believe that
“it is the ability to recognize and respond
to [the] self independent of contingency
which represents the important
developmental milestone in selfrecognition” (p. 218).
Self-Concept
A summary of personal characteristics
(abilities, attitudes, attributes, values) that
an individual believes defines who s/he is
 Preschoolers  concrete characteristics
 Between 8-11  shift to psychological
qualities
 Adolescence  qualify characteristics; also
emphasize social virtues

Self-Concept

9 y/o: My name is Bruce. I have brown
eyes. I have brown hair. I love sports. I
have seven people in my family. I have
great eyesight. I have lots of friends…I
have an uncle who is almost 7 feet tall.
Self-Concept

11 ½ y/o: My name is A. I’m a human
being…a girl…a truthful person. I’m not
pretty. I do so-so in my studies. I’m a
very good cellist. I’m a little tall for my
age. I like several boys…I’m old
fashioned. I am a very good swimmer…I
try to be helpful…Mostly I’m good, but I
lose my temper. I’m not well liked by
some girls and boys. I don’t know if boys
like me…
Self-Concept

17 y/o: I am a human being…a girl…an
individual…I am a Pisces. I am a moody
person…an indecisive person…an
ambitious person. I am a big curious
person…I am lonely. I am an American
(God help me). I am a Democrat. I am a
liberal person. I am a radical. I am
conservative. I am pseudoliberal. I am
an Atheist. I am not a classifiable person
(that is, I don’t want to be).
Self-Concept
Montemayor & Eisen  adolescents
incorporate many types of descriptors;
more complex
 Are young children unaware of their
psychological characteristics or do they
simply not have the appropriate
vocabulary?

Self-Concept

If children are unaware, is it because
they’re cognitively incapable of grasping
these abstract qualities or is it because
adults tend not to actively reflect back
their impressions of children in these
terms?
Self-Concept
Effect of number of answers requested?
 Eder (1990) used a forced-choice
recognition task

– 180 children, ages 3 ½ to 7
– Presented with 50 pairs of statements:
 “I mostly do things that are hard.” vs. “I mostly do
things that are easy.” (Achievement)
 “When I get angry, I feel like hitting someone.” vs.
“When I get angry, I feel like being quiet.”
(Aggression)
Self-Concept

Eder (1990) con’t
– Responses were internally consistent at every
age
– Self-conceptions were moderately stable over
1 month
•
Figure 12.2 Average number of inconsistent attributes reported by 13-, 15-, and 17-yearolds (panel A) and the percentages of 13-, 15-, and 17-year-olds who said they were
confused or “mixed up” by these inconsistencies in their self-portraits (panel B). ADAPTED
FROM HARTER & MONSOUR, 1992.
•
Figure 12.3 Average percentages of personal/individualistic and social/relational attributes listed as core
dimensions of the self-concept by American and Japanese students who responded to a “Who Am I?”
questionnaire. ADAPTED FROM COUSINS, 1989.
Attributions and Self-Concept

Grusec & Redler
– 7-8 y/o played bowling game
– Scored points = won marbles
– Marbles could be exchanged for toys
– More marbles = better toys
– Could donate marble to charity
Attributions and Self-Concept

Conditions
– attribution: “I guess you’re the kind of
person who likes to help others whenever
you can. Yes, you are a very nice and
helpful person”
– reinforcement: “It was good that you gave
some marbles to those poor children. Yes,
that was a nice and helpful thing to do”
– control: no statement
Attributions and Self-Concept

Results
– marble donation: attribution &
reinforcement donated more than control
– pencils: attribution more than others, no
difference between reinforcement and
control
– cards: same as pencils
– drawings & craft materials: same
Self-Esteem
Judgments we make about our own worth as
well as the feelings that are associated with
those judgments
 Combination of separate self-evaluations into a
general appraisal of ourselves
 “A person with high self-esteem is fundamentally
satisfied with the type of person he is, yet he
may acknowledge his faults while hoping to
overcome them” (Rosenberg, 1979, p. 31).

Self-Esteem
Once believed that self-esteem/worth wasn’t
apparent until school-age
 Recent research suggests that preschool children
display self-esteem/worth behaviorally

– High self-worth = confidence, curiosity, initiative,
independence, can tolerate change/stress
– Low self-worth = low confidence, low curiosity, low
initiative, low independence, difficulty reacting to
change/stress
Models of Self-Esteem

James
– weighting of competencies
– Self-esteem = competencies/”pretensions”

Cooley
– “Looking glass self”
– Others are the social mirror into which one
gazes for information that defines the self

Who is correct?
Self-Esteem
Harter measured perceptions of
competence and then asked children how
important success in each domain was
 A discrepancy score (competence minus
importance) was averaged across domains
child considered important
 Bigger discrepancy score in negative
direction  lower self-esteem should be

Self-Esteem
High self-esteem/worth should be
associated with scores close to zero,
indicating that one’s perceived
competence is similar to importance
 Correlations between
competence/importance discrepancy
scores and self-worth ranged from -.72 to
-.55 across children between 8-15

Self-Esteem
Others’ opinions toward self = degree to which
children felt that others acknowledged their
worth as a person
 Items addressed extent to which children felt
others treated them like a person who matters,
felt they were important, listened to what they
had to say…
 Correlations between overall positive regard and
self-worth ranged from .50 to .56

Influences on Self-Esteem

Culture
– Social comparison plays strong role in
American culture
– Collectivist culture emphasizes humility and
self-effacement; derive self-worth from
contributing to the welfare of the groups to
which they belong
Influences on Self-Esteem

Child-Rearing Practices
– Warm, responsive parenting, reasonable
expectations for behavior  higher selfesteem
– Highly coercive parenting, communication of
inadequacy  lower self-esteem
– Overly tolerant, indulgent parenting  false
sense of high self-esteem
Influences on Self-Esteem

Peers
– use of social comparison as early as 4-5
– adolescence
Components of Self-Esteem
Before age 7, children distinguish how well
others like them (social acceptance) from
how “good” they are at doing things
(competence)
 Above 7-8, self-esteems = academic,
physical, social
 Inaccurately high self-perceptions of
competence

– Based on wishes/desires
Illusion of Incompetence
Hold low expectations for success,
evidence less persistence, more feelings of
anxiety, feel that important adults hold
equally low perceptions of their abilities
 Mothers/fathers of highly competent
children with low perceived competence
have lower perceptions of their children’s
abilities; do not have equally low
expectations for achievement

Components of Self-Esteem
Adolescence  interpersonal relationships
 Relational self-worth = feelings of selfesteem within a particular relationship
context

Changes in Self-Esteem
Decline into middle and high school
 Multiple stressors contribute
 Overall stability lowest in childhood and
early adolescence
 Relatively stable in late adolescence and
early adulthood

Gender Differences in Self-Esteem

emerge by early adolescence

girls  lower self-esteem
Identity

firm and coherent sense of who one is,
where one is heading, and where one fits
into society
Identity

Marcia
– Identity diffusion
– Foreclosure
– Moratorium
– Identity achievement
•
Figure 12.8 Percentages of participants in each of Marcia’s four identity statuses as a function of age.
Note that resolution of the identity crisis occurs much later than Erickson assumed: Only 4 percent of
the 15-year-olds and 20 percent of the 18-year-olds had achieved a stable identity. FROM MEILMAN,
1979.

Marie is a 14-year-old who, when asked what
she wants to do when she graduates from high
school, replies, “Maybe I will get married and
have some children, or maybe I will be a
neurosurgeon, or a fashion designer. I’m
going to take anatomy and physiology next
year to see if I’d like to be a physician and I’m
taking home economics to see if I enjoy
designing clothes and working at home.”

Seventeen-year-old Suzanne is questioning the
tenets of the religion in which she was brought
up. For the first time, she is examining her
beliefs and considering other belief systems. At
the end of the period, she chooses to follow the
same religion as her parents.

Lorraine is 16 years old and, when asked what
she wants to do when she graduates from high
school, replies, “I never really thought about it.
I guess I will decide when the time comes.”

After Bill graduates from high school, he plans to
go into his father’s business. He has been
talking this over with his parents since he was a
young boy and is eager to fulfill his parents’
expectations.

Michael was asked to debate issues concerning
premarital sex in his health class. His parents
always taught him that premarital sex was
wrong and that they would be disappointed if
they discovered he had participated. After
thoroughly investigating the consequences of
premarital sex, Michael came out against it.
Influences on Identity Formation
Cognitive Influences – formal-operational
thought helps imaging and contemplate
future identities
 Parenting Influences

– Being neglected/rejected
– Too controlling
– Affection, mutual respect
Scholastic Influences
 Social-Cultural Influences

Knowledge of Other
Children < 8
 Procedure involves asking children to give
oral or written responses to instructions
such as: “I want you to describe what sort
of person Sally is…”
 Studies using this methodology find that
the use of dispositional attributions
increases with age

Knowledge of Other

Heller & Berndt
– Kindergarten, third, and sixth grade children,
plus college students
– Information about an actor:
 “generous actor” = actor shared part of his/her
lunch with other children
 “selfish actor” = refused to share lunch
 Control = given information about age/sex of child,
but told nothing about behavior
Knowledge of Other

Heller & Berndt (con’t)
– Asked to rate actor on 10 traits: share, selfish,
help, nice, naughty, lie, tease, smart, and two
fillers
– Children’s responses were similar to each
other and to college students’ responses

Holly is an 8-year-old girl who likes to climb
trees. She is the best tree climber in the
neighborhood. One day while climbing down
from a tall tree, she falls…but does not hurt
herself. Her father sees her fall. He is upset
and asks her to promise not to climb trees any
more. Holly promises. Later that day, Holly and
her friends meet Shawn. Shawn’s kitten is
caught in a tree and can’t get down. Something
has to be done right away or the kitten may fall.
Holly is the only one who climbs trees well
enough to reach the kitten and get it down but
she remembers her promise to her father.
Knowledge of Others

Role-taking and thinking about
relationships
– Preschool – any positive interaction equals a
friendship
– 6-8 years – common activities and one-way
friendships
– 8-10 – reciprocal friendships
– Adolescence – exchange of intimate thoughts
or feelings