Chapter 8 = Identity
- Identity as an adolescent issue:
o First substantial reorganization and restructuring of the individual’s sense of
self at a time when he or she has the intellectual capability to appreciate fully
just how significant the changes are
o Adolescents are far more self-conscious about thee changes than during
childhood, and feel them more acutely
o Puberty and identity development:
Undergoing the physical changes of puberty may prompt fluctuations in
one’s self-esteem and self-conceptions
o Cognitive change and identity development:
Adolescents become much more able to imagine their possible selves
(= the various identities an adolescent might imagine for him- or
herself)
Adolescents exert more conscious, deliberate effort when asked
to think about themselves than adults, who seem to do this more
effortlessly
There is an impressive increase in future orientation (= the extent to
which an individual is able and inclined to think about the potential
consequences of decisions and choices)
Adolescents’ expectations for the future are predictive of how
they behave, and those who have stronger future orientations
report better mental health and less risky, delinquent, or
impulsive behaviour than their more short-sighted peers
o Social roles and identity development:
Facing decisions about their place in society necessitates adolescents
asking questions about who they are and where they are headed – they
must make important choices about education and their commitments
to other people
Identity development is better understood as a series of interrelated
developments, that involves changes in the way we view ourselves in
relation to others and in relation to the broader society in which we
live.
- Changes in self-conceptions:
o Self-conceptions = the collection of traits and attributes that individuals use to
describe or characterize themselves
o Children describe themselves in relatively simple, concrete terms
o Adolescents are more likely to employ complex, abstract, and psychological
self-characterizations
o With development also comes greater consistency between how individuals
describe themselves and how they actually behave; there is also evidence that
adolescents’ ideas about the sort of person they would like to be (their ‘ideal
self) become more stable over time
o Changes in the content and structure of self-conceptions:
Differentiation of the self-concept
, The realization that one’s personality is expressed in different
ways in different situations is an example of the increased
differentiation; another one is that teenagers distinguish
between their own opinions of themselves and the views of
others (who is doing the describing); another one is that
adolescents also recognize that they may come across
differently to different people (adolescents’ self-conceptions
may be particularly sensitive to the opinions of others)
Organization and integration of the self-concept
Adolescents are likely to organize and integrate different
aspects of their self-concept into a more logical, coherent whole
The proportion of adolescents who give opposite traits in self-
descriptions, who feel conflicts over such discrepancies, and
who feel confused over such discrepancies increases markedly
between 7th and 9th grades, and then declines somewhat
Although the recognition that one’s personality is multifaceted
– even contradictory – may initially cause some distress, it has a
number of advantages in the long run
o It is one way that individuals cope with the recognition
of their faults and weaknesses, a recognition that comes
with increased self-awareness
o It also gives the ability to distinguish among one’s self
(who one really is), ideal self (who one would like to
be), and feared self (who one most dreads becoming)
important to have a balance between ideal self and
feared self [delinquents don’t have balance, so maybe
they dread to become criminal – they don’t have ideal
self to balance them up]
False self-behaviour
False self-behaviour = behaviour that intentionally presents a
false impression to others
This is another consequence of adolescents’ recognition that
they are not always consistent in their personality
Adolescents who report less emotional support from parents and
peers, who have low self-esteem, and who are relatively less
satisfied with life are more likely to engage in false-self
behaviour
The connection between false-self behaviour and low self-
esteem is bidirectional
Depression and hopelessness are highest among adolescents
who engage in false-self behaviour, because they genuinely
devalue their true self
o Dimensions of personality in adolescence:
Five-factor model = the theory that there are five basic dimension to
personality: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness,
neuroticism, and openness to experience
- Identity as an adolescent issue:
o First substantial reorganization and restructuring of the individual’s sense of
self at a time when he or she has the intellectual capability to appreciate fully
just how significant the changes are
o Adolescents are far more self-conscious about thee changes than during
childhood, and feel them more acutely
o Puberty and identity development:
Undergoing the physical changes of puberty may prompt fluctuations in
one’s self-esteem and self-conceptions
o Cognitive change and identity development:
Adolescents become much more able to imagine their possible selves
(= the various identities an adolescent might imagine for him- or
herself)
Adolescents exert more conscious, deliberate effort when asked
to think about themselves than adults, who seem to do this more
effortlessly
There is an impressive increase in future orientation (= the extent to
which an individual is able and inclined to think about the potential
consequences of decisions and choices)
Adolescents’ expectations for the future are predictive of how
they behave, and those who have stronger future orientations
report better mental health and less risky, delinquent, or
impulsive behaviour than their more short-sighted peers
o Social roles and identity development:
Facing decisions about their place in society necessitates adolescents
asking questions about who they are and where they are headed – they
must make important choices about education and their commitments
to other people
Identity development is better understood as a series of interrelated
developments, that involves changes in the way we view ourselves in
relation to others and in relation to the broader society in which we
live.
- Changes in self-conceptions:
o Self-conceptions = the collection of traits and attributes that individuals use to
describe or characterize themselves
o Children describe themselves in relatively simple, concrete terms
o Adolescents are more likely to employ complex, abstract, and psychological
self-characterizations
o With development also comes greater consistency between how individuals
describe themselves and how they actually behave; there is also evidence that
adolescents’ ideas about the sort of person they would like to be (their ‘ideal
self) become more stable over time
o Changes in the content and structure of self-conceptions:
Differentiation of the self-concept
, The realization that one’s personality is expressed in different
ways in different situations is an example of the increased
differentiation; another one is that teenagers distinguish
between their own opinions of themselves and the views of
others (who is doing the describing); another one is that
adolescents also recognize that they may come across
differently to different people (adolescents’ self-conceptions
may be particularly sensitive to the opinions of others)
Organization and integration of the self-concept
Adolescents are likely to organize and integrate different
aspects of their self-concept into a more logical, coherent whole
The proportion of adolescents who give opposite traits in self-
descriptions, who feel conflicts over such discrepancies, and
who feel confused over such discrepancies increases markedly
between 7th and 9th grades, and then declines somewhat
Although the recognition that one’s personality is multifaceted
– even contradictory – may initially cause some distress, it has a
number of advantages in the long run
o It is one way that individuals cope with the recognition
of their faults and weaknesses, a recognition that comes
with increased self-awareness
o It also gives the ability to distinguish among one’s self
(who one really is), ideal self (who one would like to
be), and feared self (who one most dreads becoming)
important to have a balance between ideal self and
feared self [delinquents don’t have balance, so maybe
they dread to become criminal – they don’t have ideal
self to balance them up]
False self-behaviour
False self-behaviour = behaviour that intentionally presents a
false impression to others
This is another consequence of adolescents’ recognition that
they are not always consistent in their personality
Adolescents who report less emotional support from parents and
peers, who have low self-esteem, and who are relatively less
satisfied with life are more likely to engage in false-self
behaviour
The connection between false-self behaviour and low self-
esteem is bidirectional
Depression and hopelessness are highest among adolescents
who engage in false-self behaviour, because they genuinely
devalue their true self
o Dimensions of personality in adolescence:
Five-factor model = the theory that there are five basic dimension to
personality: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness,
neuroticism, and openness to experience
