1-050 - Origins of Children's Self-Views

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

From a young age, children start constructing mental images of themselves. This ability to form self-views distinguishes humans from other animals, and enables the most human of their abilities. Without selves, they could not have a sense of identity, strive for their ideals, feel proud when they succeed, or feel ashamed when they fall short. Neither could they be humble, modest, self-centered, or narcissistic.

To date, research has shed much light on the consequences of children’s self-views. Unfortunately, little is known about their origins. How do children acquire their self-views? What processes underlie their self-views? And how are their self-views shaped by socialization? This international symposium integrates emerging lines of research that address these questions, building upon an in-progress Special Section in SRCD’s Child Development.

Using surveys, experiments, observations, and longitudinal methods (N = 12 empirical studies), symposium participants have uncovered key aspects of self-development. They show that children’s self-views are grounded in continuity beliefs: “one must be composed of the same matter to be the same person over time” (Presentation 1). From the second year of life, children start seeing themselves through the eyes of others (Presentation 2), which enables them to engage in impression management and to internalize other people’s views of them. Indeed, older children strategically conceal negative views of themselves to conform to social norms (Presentation 3), and they readily internalize parental praise to form views of themselves (Presentation 4). Thus, consistent with social constructivism, children’s self-views are largely constructed through social processes.

Sub Unit

• Social, Emotional, Personality

Chairs

• Eddie Brummelman, Stanford University, University of Amsterdam

• Sander Thomaes, Utrecht University & University of Southampton

Individual Presentations

• Intuitions About Personal Identity Are Linked to Essentialist Thinking in Adults and Children - Presenting Author: Zachary Horne, University of Illinois; Andrei Cimpian, New York University

• Audience Effect and Impression Management in Early Development - Presenting Author: Sara Valencia Botto, Emory University; Philippe Rochat, Emory University

• Why Most Children Think Well of Themselves - Presenting Author: Sander Thomaes, Utrecht University & University of Southampton; Eddie Brummelman, Stanford University, University of Amsterdam; Constantine Sedikides, University of Southampton

• When Parents’ Praise Inflates, Children’s Self-Esteem Deflates - Presenting Author: Eddie Brummelman, Stanford University, University of Amsterdam; Stefanie A. Nelemans, KU Leuven; Sander Thomaes, Utrecht University & University of Southampton; Bram Orobio de Castro, Utrecht University