Untitled Quiz

Adolescence: Theories about Self-Identity - Lecture Notes

• Week 1: Sensory memory, working memory (WM), and long-term memory (LTM) encoding and processing change throughout primary school years. WM shows developmental trends during primary school which can be trained.
• Week 2: Reading difficulties/interventions in the classroom.
  • Sound categorization (e.g., Bradley & Bryant)
  • Memory (e.g., Gathercole & Baddeley)
  • Comprehension (e.g., Oakhill et al.)
  • Inference skills
  • Grasping text structure/story threads
  • Monitoring understanding (metacognition)
  • Comprehension, memory automation, organisation, and retrieval strategies show developmental changes.
• Week 3: Adolescent development (neuro and cognitive changes).
  • White matter increases
  • Development of hypothetical thinking

Freudian Theory

• Freud's theory proposes five stages of psychosexual development.
• Oral stage (0-1): Focus on oral stimulation.
• Anal stage (1-3): Focus on bowel and bladder control.
• Phallic stage (3-5): Focus on genital region and Oedipus/Electra complexes.
• Latency stage (5-12/13): Libido is less prominent.
• Genital stage (13+): Represents the onset of adolescence, with the libido relocating to the genitals.
• Libido: (pleasure urge) changes location in the body during development.
• Adolescence task (1): Replacement of pre-genital (childhood) drives with genital primacy (sexuality).
• (Task 2): Resolution of Oedipal conflicts (detaching from parents, forming relationships with others).

The Role of the Ego

• The ego plays a crucial role in managing the demands of the id and superego during adolescence.
• Ego development involves developing an ideal self.
• Ego's job is to control sexual tension in a socially and personally acceptable way.
• The ego must find a balance between competing drives:
  • The id's demand for sexual gratification
  • The superego's focus on morality.

Identity Versus Identity Crisis

• A clear self-definition is crucial that is both personally and socially adaptive.

• Self-definition involves understanding beliefs, attitudes, and ideals.

• Positive self-identity: adolescents understand who they are and are comfortable with it.

• Identity crisis: If a teenager cannot form a self-definition.

• Individuals might experiment with different identities and try to find their place in the world.

Gap Years

• Purpose of gap years questioned in the context of self-discovery, potentially linked to identity development during adolescence

Freud and Erikson: Adolescence as Search for Identity

• Adolescence is a time of searching for identity according to both Freud and Erikson.

• Formal operations and hypothetical thinking are important tools during the search of identity.

Social Comparisons

• Social comparisons are frequent in adolescence, driven by social comparison theory.
• This involves constantly assessing oneself in relation to others/ideals (social media for example), and impacts on self perception and identity.

Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning

• Hypothetical-deductive reasoning is a cognitive capability that emerges during adolescence, which allows individuals to formulate hypotheses about potential scenarios and deduce their implications.

• This is a form of scientific thinking, permitting adolescents to predict consequences of events and actions.

Hypothetical-Deductive Reasoning (cont.)

• Questions concerning why people may act the way they do. Evidence and confidence are key components of the process of decision-making.

Key Study: Tarrant et al. (2001)

• Participants: 150 males (ages 14-15).
• Method: Rating statements about various aspects of social identity (music, clothing, leisure activities).
• Results: Positive and negative valence items to establish the perceived importance of group affiliation.
• Group favouritism: Adolescents displayed stronger favouritism towards their own social groups than towards others.

Social Identity

• Social identity theory (e.g., Tajfel, 1978; Tajfel & Turner, 1979) explains how social comparisons between groups (ingroup vs outgroup) impact personal identity.

• Positive social identity is fostered by comparing to and favouring one's ingroup.

• Adolescents show an emphasis on their social identity compared to adults through social groups.

Social Identity (cont.)

• Adolescents strive to construct positive social identity through group affiliation. Establishing a sense of belonging is important for identity formation.

The 'Barometric' Self

• Self-identity is not always stable during adolescence, but rather constantly changing; like an instrument that fluctuates (e.g. Barometer).
• This fluctuating sense of self is essential before a stable self-identity forms in adulthood.

Peer Groups

• Peer groups are important in adolescent development, aiding the formation of positive social identity.
• Positive peer relationships involve support, encouragement and are associated with improved social adjustment.
• Social isolation from positive groups can lead to serious problems.

Favouritism and Identity

• Scoring identity is based on rating various statements relating to group affiliation using an 11-point scale.
• An important reflection of self identity occurs when individuals feel valued as part of a group and are respected by others.

Ingroup Favoritism

• Order effect: How a statement is arranged or framed (whether it describes other groups first, or one's own group) makes a noticeable difference/effect on adolescent favouritism.
• Adolescents often view themselves more favourably when their own group's characteristics are compared to those of other groups.

Dimensions of Identity

• Dimensions of worth derived that possess no intrinsic measure, e.g. particular music tastes are socially valued more than others.

Revision and Reading

• Review materials on assigned chapters and slides from the lecture.

Check your Learning

• Goals of adolescence (Freud & Erikson): Identify main goals behind adolescence from respective psychological viewpoints.
• Piaget & hypothetical thinking: How formal operational thought and hypothetical thinking aids the process of identity formation in adolescents?
• Social Comparisons: What roles do social comparisons play in identity development?
• Peer Groups: Importance of peer groups in forming self-identities.
• Social Identity Theory: Briefly describe the theory's proposed mechanism of self-identification.
• Risks of not identifying with peer groups: Potential dangers of not identifying with a positive peer group?

Next Lecture

• Next topics will continue covering adolescents, neuro-risk taking, and moral decision-making.