1 Psychology 3260: Personality & Social Development Don Hartmann Spring 2007 Lecture 17a: Social Cognition--Self

2 Lecture Resources Damon, W., & Hart, D. (1992). Self- understanding and its role in social and moral development. In M. H. Bornstein & M. E. Lamb (Eds.), Developmental psychology: An advanced textbook (3 rd ed., pp ). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Shaffer, D. R. (2000). Social & personality development (4 th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

3 Overview: Social Cognition Overlap with text: Pp Lecture: Introduction Development of self concept History What Do Children Know Of Themselves? Development Of Theory Of Mind Self-esteem Next: Lect. #17c: Identity

4 Introduction: What is Social Cognition? How children mentally represent and process information about their social worlds. How do these conception influence their overt social behavior. Social cognition might be viewed at the mediating link between children's socialization experiences and their social behavior. Social cognitions are effected by socialization and in turn affect social behavior. Socialization Social Cognition Social Behavior

5 Introduction: What does the Domain of Social Cognition Encompass? Variety of topics that could be dealt with, including how children acquire a sense of self person perception (how they acquire a sense of the other, including role ‑ taking skills) casual attributions we make about the causes of our own & others’ behavior sense of humor etc. We will focus on …

6 Developing A Sense Of Self (1) Historical/conceptual perspectives Margaret Mahler likens new- born to a "chick in an egg“ Cooley and Mead (turn ‑ of ‑ century symbolic interactionists): The looking glass self

7 So this is the looking-glass self? “You’re predictable.”

8 Perceptions of the Self & Others More historical/conceptual perspectives Mead & Baldwin: One can know what the individual thinks about the self if one knows what one thinks about others ‑ -the similarity assumption. What lovely Hair!

9 Developing A Sense Of Self Historical/conceptual perspectives (continued) William James: “I”--the active self, the knower; and "me", the objective or known self I ME/

10 Conception of self vary across cultures Percent of Self Descriptions

11 The development of the self as separate from others When do children recognize themselves? Different criteria generate different answers. Dot of rouge on nose

12 The development of the self as separate from others When do children recognize themselves? Different criteria generate different answers. Language descriptors As young at 1 ‑ 2 begin to use personal pronouns properly. Have a sense of internal self as young as 3 years At 4 ‑ 5 begin to use language in a couple of different ways: "speech for self" versus "speech for others"

13 Theory of mind: What makes people tick? Many steps toward the development of a theory of mind—of an understanding about how people tick, that they have desires, that their dreams may not be accessible to everyone, etc. Perceiving human actions as purposeful (6 months) Can reason about a person’s desires (18 months) We also know that the precise age during which children acquire this knowledge depends on how the assessment is conducted. The research literature has singled out age 3-4 as a particularly important transition period: When children begin to understand representational diversity. That is, that different individuals may have different takes on what happened, and that people can act on false beliefs.

14 False Beliefs: Evidence for Representational Diversity <3 years of age: Have some sense that individuals-- including themselves--are propelled by their desires. At 3-4 children: Developing the notion that actions are predicated on what we believe to be true--and we see children of this age attempting to change their parents' beliefs in order to change their actions: A belief-desire theory of mind False-belief task—the shell game

15 The False-Belief Task Changes in the role of beliefs with age Younger children view beliefs as accurate reflections of reality that everyone shares Older children view beliefs as interpretations of reality that may differ from person and person and may be inaccurate. The story that children are told: Donnie puts his bennie under the chair, and goes out to play. While he is out playing his mother moves his bennie to the closet. When Donnie comes in from play, where does he look for his bennie? Younger kids: “In the closet.” Why? Old kids: “Under the chair.” Why? The smart take on this is that this is just one component of representational diversity, and that this is just one component of the development of a theory of mind. More comes later.

16 How does theory of mind develop? We may be prewired for understanding the emotions and goals of others (see Box 6.1, p. 171) Pretend play Family conversations about people's motives Conflict resolution experiences ("Johnny ate my book on purpose; he said he was trying to digest the material.").

17 The development of the self as separate from others When do children recognize themselves? Language descriptors—use of pronouns Self-description research Younger than 8 ‑ 9 emphasize physical characteristics >9 years, tend to increasingly use psychological descriptors

18 Summary of Social Cognition Lecture Development Of Self Concept Introduction History What Do Children Know Of Themselves? Development Of Theory Of Mind Next: Lect. 17b: Social Cognition: Self-esteem Go in Peace

19 Additional Self-Related Acquisitions Real self versus ideal self  Locus of Control: Internal versus external (Julian Rotter): Reasonably well established by mid elementary school.