L1: The Self & Personality Flashcards
(33 cards)
Define adolescence
- Period of life between the start of puberty and adulthood when young people are preparing to take on the roles and responsibility of adulthood
- Early adolescence = 10 - 14
- Late adolescence = 15 - 18
Explain the concept of storm and stress & different views about it
- Storm and stress: theory asserting that adolescence is inevitably a time of mood disruptions, conflict with parents, and antisocial behaviour
- Hall - adolescence reflects a period in our evolutionary past where there was a significant amount of chaos
- Anna Freud - storm and stress is universal and inevitable in adolescence
- Contemporary S&S View - adolescence is a period where s&s is more likely to occur, usually in the form of parental conflict, mood disruptions, and risk behaviour. However, not all adolescents will necessarily experience storm and stress. Conflict peaks in early adolescence, mood disruptions peak in middle adolescence, and risk behaviour peaks in late adolescence
Define emerging adulthood
Period from ages 18 - 25 during which young people become more independent from parents and explore life possibilities before making enduring commitments
List distinctive features of emergent adulthood
- Identity exploration
- Instability
- Self-focus
- Feeling in-between
- Optimism
How does self-concept change in adolescence?
More abstract
* Less concrete descriptions of the self
* Capability to distinguish between actual and possible selves
More complex
* Awareness of when they are exhibiting a false self
Explain the different type of selves that emerge in adolescence
- Actual self: perception of the self as it is
- Possible self: conception of the self as it potentially may be (ideal & feared)
- Ideal self: person you would like to become
- Feared self: person you can imagine yourself becoming but dread to become
- False self: self a person presents when they know it does represent their actual self
Define self-esteem
A person’s overall sense of worth and well-being
What happens when there is a discrepancy between the actual self and ideal self?
- Causes negative self-evaluations
- Can be a source of motivation to work towards becoming the ideal self
How does self-esteem change throughout adolescence and why does this occur?
- Declines in early adolescence and then increases throughout late adolescence and emerging adulthood
- Declines in early adolescence due to increased peer orientation, sensitivity to peer evaluation, capacity to imagine how others see you, and the harsh evaluations from peers
- Increases in late adolescence due to increased acceptance by peers, less familiar conflict, and the increasing capability for adolescents to control their own environments
Define baseline and barometric self-esteem and explain how they change in adolescence
- Baseline self-esteem: a person’s stable & enduring sense of worth and wellbeing
- Barometric self-esteem: fluctuating sense of worth and wellbeing people have as they respond to different thoughts, experiences, and interactions throughout the day
- Baseline self-esteem is stable
- There are more fluctuations in barometric self-esteem during early adolescence, but this decreases in late adolescence as social relationships become more stable
Explain Harter’s theory about domains of self-image
- There are 8 domains of self-esteem
- Self-esteem is only affected by the domains if they are considered important to the individual
- Physical appearance is the most important domain of self-esteem for adolescent girls
Explain Gilligan’s theory of gender differences in self-esteem and discuss criticism of these findings
- Gilligan states that girls “lose their voice” in early adolescence due to the cultural conflict occuring regarding the societal values (independence and assertiveness) and female gender roles (appearance and maternal traits)
Criticism:
* Gilligan exaggerates differences between boys and girls, as boys’ self-esteem also declines in early adolescence
* Gilligan rarely included boys in her research
* Follow up research shows that more feminine girls did report less “voice” than boys or androgynous girls, but this did not support the claim that girls actually lose this during adolescence
What is the adaptive function of time alone in adolescence?
- Self-reflection
- Mood management
Define the two types of loneliness
- Social loneliness: occurs when people feel they lack a sufficient number of social contacts and relationships
- Emotional loneliness: occurs when people feel their relationships lack closeness and intimacy
Define identity
An individuals perception of their characteristics and abilties, their beliefs and values, their relations with others, and how they fit in to the world
Explain the crisis of adolescence according to Erikson
- Each stage of life has a central crisis which must be resolved for healthy development to be achieved
- Identity issues occur in adolescence because there is now the capacity for greater self-reflection
- Identity vs identity confusion: crisis of adolescence in which people may follow the healthy path by establishing a clear sense of who they are and how they fit in to the world around them, or the unhealthy alternative of failing to form a stable identity
- Identity is formed in the areas of love, work, and ideology. If someone does not form commitments in these areas, identity confusion occurs
How does identity develop in adolescence according to Erikson?
- Identifications: relationships formed with others in childhood become a model for an individuals identity in adolescence
- Psychosocial moratorium: period during adolescence when adult responsibilities are postponed as young people explore their possible selves
Define negative identity
- Negative identity: identity based on what has been observed to be underisable
- Occurs when there is identity confusion
Define identity vs identity confusion
Crisis typical of the adolescent stage of life, in which people may follow the healthy path of establishing a clear & definite sense of who they are and how they fit into the world around them, or follow the unhealthy alternative of failing to form a stable & secure identity
Explain the Identity Status Model and describe the identity categories
- By Marcia
- Identity Status Model: approach to identity development that classifies people into four identity categories
Categories:
* Identity diffusion: No exploration, No commitment.
* Identity moratorium: Yes exploration, No commitment
* Identity foreclosure: No exploration, Yes commitment
* Identity achievement: Yes exploration, Yes commitment
Define identity diffusion
- No exploration & No commitment
- There is no commitment in love, work, or ideology
- There is no exploration of possible choices or commitments
Related to:
* Lower self-esteem
* Lower self-control
* Anxiety
* Apathy
* Disconnected relationships (with parents)
Define identity moratorium
- Yes exploration, No commitment
- Individual is trying out different personal, occupational, and ideological possibilities
Related to:
* Self-directed
* Cooperative
* Problem-solving
* Indecision
Define identity foreclosure
- No exploration & Yes commitment
- Have not experimented with a range of possibilties but are still commited
- Often adopt the values of their parents automatically without going through personal exploration
Define identity achievement
- Yes exploration & Yes commitment
- People have made definite personal, occupational, ideological choices after a period of exploring possible alternatives
- Identity achievement takes longer than previously thought, with it being attained in emerging adulthood or later
Related to: - Self-directed
- Cooperative
- Problem-solving
