Psychology Chapter 13: The Five Senses of Self

Five Senses of Self

• Ecological Self: refers to our perception and movement awareness based on sensory input from the environment, allowing us to navigate and interact with our surroundings seamlessly.
• Interpersonal Self: formed through social interactions with others, developing automatically as we engage with the social world around us.
• Extended Self: connects our current self to our past and future selves, shaping our identity over time, developing during the preschool years and becoming more complex as we age.
• Private Self: includes experiences and knowledge unique to us, unless we choose to share them with others, emerging in later preschool years and closely linked to the development of theory of mind.
• Conceptual Self: based on the roles we play in society, including our perspectives, opinions, dreams, and goals, influenced by societal expectations and norms.

Delay of Gratification and Self-Regulation

• Delay of gratification is the ability to wait for a larger reward by resisting the temptation of an immediate reward.
• The marshmallow test is a famous experiment used to measure delay of gratification in children.
• Success in delaying gratification is associated with better self-regulation skills and long-term outcomes.
• Self-regulation is influenced by both biological maturation and contextual factors.
• Brain maturation, particularly the development of executive functions in the prefrontal cortex, plays a crucial role in self-regulation.

Theory of Mind

• Theory of mind refers to our understanding that mental states, such as beliefs, intentions, and desires, can differ from person to person.
• Theory of mind develops gradually during infancy and early childhood, enabling us to attribute mental states to others and understand their perspectives.
• Tasks such as the Smarties Task and Sally-Anne Task are used to assess children's understanding of false belief, demonstrating their developing theory of mind.

Attributions and Influences

• Attributions involve identifying the reasons behind certain behaviors, both in ourselves and others.
• Dispositional factors, such as intrinsic traits or characteristics, and situational factors, such as external circumstances or environmental influences, can influence attributions.
• The fundamental attribution error refers to the tendency to attribute others' behavior to internal, dispositional factors rather than external, situational factors.
• Essentialist bias involves explaining a person's behavior based on their unchanging, inner essence or characteristics.

Influences on Gender Development

• Biological factors, such as hormones present during prenatal development, play a significant role in shaping gender development.
• Cultural factors, including parental, peer, and media influences, provide different environments and expectations for boys and girls.
• Cognitive factors involve the development of gender identity and gender constancy, with children acquiring gender labels and understanding their gender identity at an early age.

Transgender Children

• A study titled "Gender Cognition in Transgender Children" explores the development of gender identity in transgender children.
• The study shows the complexity of gender identity development and emphasizes the importance of recognizing and supporting transgender children's gender identities.

Self-Concept

• Self-concept refers to our understanding of ourselves as separate and distinct beings.
• The mirror test is a classic method used to assess self-recognition in infants and young children.
• Passing the mirror test indicates an awareness of one's own reflection and is often considered a milestone in self-awareness development.
• Self-concept encompasses both neutral facts about ourselves and evaluations of different aspects of our identity.

Self-Esteem and Self-Regulation

• Self-esteem refers to our overall assessment of our own worth and the emotions attached to it.
• Self-esteem undergoes developmental changes across different stages of life.
• Self-regulation refers to our ability to control our emotions, impulses, and actions in various situations.