1. Cognitive Development in Adolescence
The Social Reality of the Imaginary Audience: A Grounded Theory Approach
Authors: Bell and Bromnick

2. David Elkind Ph. D. Personal Fable – distorted view of own importance
Invincibility Fable- feeling invulnerable, even immortal
Imaginary Audience

3. Imaginary Audience
“Although she understands that others have minds of their own and that they have their own concerns, her own fascination with herself, enhanced by the compelling and unpredictable physical changes she is undergoing, leads her to mistakenly assume that others are as intrigued by and concerned with her as she is…Because she is so sure that others are as interested in her as she is, she feels extremely self-conscious, acutely aware of her looks and her behavior in the presence of others.” – (text, p.296)

4. Imaginary Audience cont…
According to Elkind:
An individuals MISTAKEN assumption that others are as intrigued by and concerned about him as he is. A characteristic feature of adolescents’ focus.

5. Bell & Bromnick
The Social Reality of the Imaginary Audience: A Ground Theory Approach
Challenge Elkind’s approach to understanding the “imaginary audience.”
Understand adolescent experience from adolescent P.O.V.

6. Assumption/Hypothesis
Adolescents have REAL concerns, they are not imaginary!
Egocentrism theory is just as influenced by socialization as it is cognitive development.

7. Supporting Theory
Henwood and Pigeon (1992) suggest a grounded theory approach
Need to gain understanding through adolescents’ perspectives.
 Understand “world of what matters” to young people.

8. Method Participants: Pilot study: *15 students (12f, 3m: ages 14/15)
Main study: *346 students (173f, 173m, 14/15)
**From northern England

9. Part One (pilot generated)
“What do you think young people worry about?”
Generate items for questionnaire
31 questions  e.g. acne, being in fashion, being called names, boys, bullying, drugs, girls, hair….sex, weight, what other people think/other people’s opinions.
Answer “never,” “sometimes,” “often,” or “a lot/always” to how much worry about topics

10. Part two
Select from the list of items, 3 topics that were most worrisome for young people.

11. Results
Largest concerns related to friendship, popularity, and fitting in.
Also concerned about other people’s opinion. Other people’s opinions needed to appraise self.
People’s opinion correlates/impacts one’s self esteem/confidence
Major concerns related to physical appearance. Felt “people judge you based on your appearance.”

12. Author Conclusions
Concerns phenomenologically evidenced in the “real lives” of young people
Audience should be conceptualized as real, NOT IMAGINARY!
Adolescents worry about what other people think b/c there are real consequences. Both personal (esteem, confidence) and social (popularity, approval, support)
Concerns rooted in social reality, not just in heads!

13. Discussion Overall, great study
Rebuttal to trend of marginalizing adolescent’s perceptions
Could collate the data by age & gender
Generate the questionnaire questions from a larger sample (pilot only had 15 people).
How are they measuring/defining self esteem & confidence?
Do study again using more students from varying regions, cultures, etc…
Questions from study were generated by the students  open ended format  seemingly no experimental bias