4PAHPDEV Psychology and Development Week 5
BSc Psychology Year 1 The Self and Social Identity
THE SELF AND SOCIAL IDENTITY
UNDERSTAND HOW CHILDREN DEVELOP A SENSE OF SELF AND
HOW THIS CAN BE ASSESSED IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH
THE SELF
• The self is what we mean when we speak of ourselves, including elements of the self-
concept (Baumeister, 2011)
Identity
• Identity defines who we are as distinct individuals, defined partly by our place in a social and
cultural system (Baumeister, 2011)
o Identity changes throughout the lifespan as we experience new things
• Social identity is the aspect of the self that is determined by our group memberships (Sutton
& Douglas, 2019)
Neisser’s (1988) Five Senses of the Self
• Nisser identified five different aspects of the self
o These aspects have different origins and developmental paths, and each plays a
unique role in our social experiences
• Argues that the sense of self is not based on a single instance or insight, but is a gradual
development process with the senses combining to form a higher order self-concept
o However, when the environment provides less clear information, this sense of unity
can become weaker
• All aspects of the self begin to develop early in life, though not all at the same time or in the
same way
o Each aspect shows some stability over time, which helps create the common
experience of feeling like the same person throughout life
The Ecological Self
• The sense where we are as we move through the physical environment
• It is an automatic process that is present from birth
o For example, shown when a baby flinches if something is waved in front of their face
The Interpersonal Self
• The sense of ‘I’ versus ‘You’ in social interactions
• Emerges shortly after birth
o For example, a 2-month-old becoming upset when a parent stops interacting with
them, signalling that they know their caregiver is someone else from who they are
• It is not yet a real understanding that others have different thoughts from each other, but is
an understanding that one is an independent body from others
1
,4PAHPDEV Psychology and Development Week 5
BSc Psychology Year 1 The Self and Social Identity
The Extended Self
• Awareness of autobiographic timelines
o Based on our personal memories of the past, experience of the present, and
anticipation of the future
• Develops from around age 4 – may be linked to the development of autobiographical memory
The Private Self
• Understanding that we have private thoughts and perspectives that no one else has
o For example, understanding that people can only understand what you dreamed
about or are thinking about if you tell them about it
• Emerges from around age 4
The Conceptual Self
• The sense of one’s place in a wider sociocultural context
o For example, what role one plays in a group such as family relationships and wider
social groups
• This can also relate to our gender roles or places in society in comparison to much wider
groups of people
• Begins developing from around age 4-5, with major growth in middle childhood and beyond
HOW BABIES PERCEIVE THEMSELVES
Self-Perception in Infancy
• There are few methods available to help researchers address infant perception
Measuring Self-Perception
The Mirror/Rouge Test (Amsterdam, 1972)
• A dab of red rouge is placed just below an infant’s eye, and they are placed in front of a mirror
o If they can successfully locate the mark on their own face after seeing it in the mirror,
then they are classed as a ‘self-recogniser’
• Some at 18-months-old can pass this test, with most being able to at 2 years
• However, many argue that the test may be examining many abilities beyond self-perception,
such as understanding mirrors
o Therefore, this test is significantly limited in its reliability and validity
Other Findings
• Investigation has tested infants’ visual preferences for video displays of their own moving
legs versus either another’s moving legs or their own in delayed time
o Infants as young as 4-month-old appear to be able to identify when they see their own
legs moving (Bahrick & Watson, 1985; Rochat, 1998)
• Newborns tend to look longer at a video of a face being stroked on the cheek when they are
simultaneously stroked on the cheek themselves, compared to when the stroking is out of
sync (Filippetti et al., 2013)
o This indicates the presence of some body perception from birth
2
, 4PAHPDEV Psychology and Development Week 5
BSc Psychology Year 1 The Self and Social Identity
PERCEIVING TOUCH
Localising Touch in Infancy
• Bremner et al. (2008) tested whether infants could localise vibrotactile stimuli on their hands
o Younger infants (6.5 months) did move when they were touched, but were very limited
in the extent to which they could locate the touch with their eyes
• Younger infants also have difficulties moving their eyes to touches and make mistakes when
their hands were in unfamiliar positions
o When their hands were crossed over, they were unable to respond correctly
• However, at 10-months-old, babies respond just as good when their hands are crossed and
uncrossed
o Rigato et al. (2014) showed changes in the way touch areas of the brain respond
between 6 to 10 months of age, helping to explain these improvements
Adults versus Infants
• Adults continue to have difficulty localising touch when their arms or legs are crossed and
have to move the corresponding hand or foot that was touched (Schicke & Röder, 2006)
o This occurs because we typically perceive touch in relation to the external world
o Therefore, when our hands or feet are positioned differently than usual, our ability to
accurately process touch is reduced
• However, Begum Ali et al. (2015) found that before 6 months of age, infants do not locate
touches in the external world, but only on the body
o As a result, they do not associate touch with what they see or hear
o This separation allows them to perform better in touch localisation tasks, with
performance matching the best 6-month-olds, both with feet crossed and uncrossed
APPRECIATE HOW GENDER IDENTITY DEVELOPS
DEFINING SEX AND GENDER
• Traditionally, gender refers to cognitive and social differences between males and females,
and sex refers to biological and physiological differences
o However, there is fluidity in terms of both gender and sex
• Gender stereotypes are beliefs that members of an entire culture hold about the attitudes
and behaviours acceptable for each sex
o Gender identity is developed early in life as a perception of themselves as either
masculine or feminine and having characteristics and interests that are appropriate
to their gender, in line with the gender stereotypes
• Gender roles are roles or behaviours learned as appropriate to a particular gender
o Children develop gender role preferences or desires to present certain gender-typed
characteristics from gender roles
o These are reflected in their choices of toys and play partners
• Gender expression is the way in which someone expresses their gender identity
o Gender nonconformity (gender variance) is the behaviour of gender expression that
does not match typical gender roles
• If people reach the age of puberty, and still experience intense psychological feelings of
gender dysphoria, this is unlikely to go away
3
BSc Psychology Year 1 The Self and Social Identity
THE SELF AND SOCIAL IDENTITY
UNDERSTAND HOW CHILDREN DEVELOP A SENSE OF SELF AND
HOW THIS CAN BE ASSESSED IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH
THE SELF
• The self is what we mean when we speak of ourselves, including elements of the self-
concept (Baumeister, 2011)
Identity
• Identity defines who we are as distinct individuals, defined partly by our place in a social and
cultural system (Baumeister, 2011)
o Identity changes throughout the lifespan as we experience new things
• Social identity is the aspect of the self that is determined by our group memberships (Sutton
& Douglas, 2019)
Neisser’s (1988) Five Senses of the Self
• Nisser identified five different aspects of the self
o These aspects have different origins and developmental paths, and each plays a
unique role in our social experiences
• Argues that the sense of self is not based on a single instance or insight, but is a gradual
development process with the senses combining to form a higher order self-concept
o However, when the environment provides less clear information, this sense of unity
can become weaker
• All aspects of the self begin to develop early in life, though not all at the same time or in the
same way
o Each aspect shows some stability over time, which helps create the common
experience of feeling like the same person throughout life
The Ecological Self
• The sense where we are as we move through the physical environment
• It is an automatic process that is present from birth
o For example, shown when a baby flinches if something is waved in front of their face
The Interpersonal Self
• The sense of ‘I’ versus ‘You’ in social interactions
• Emerges shortly after birth
o For example, a 2-month-old becoming upset when a parent stops interacting with
them, signalling that they know their caregiver is someone else from who they are
• It is not yet a real understanding that others have different thoughts from each other, but is
an understanding that one is an independent body from others
1
,4PAHPDEV Psychology and Development Week 5
BSc Psychology Year 1 The Self and Social Identity
The Extended Self
• Awareness of autobiographic timelines
o Based on our personal memories of the past, experience of the present, and
anticipation of the future
• Develops from around age 4 – may be linked to the development of autobiographical memory
The Private Self
• Understanding that we have private thoughts and perspectives that no one else has
o For example, understanding that people can only understand what you dreamed
about or are thinking about if you tell them about it
• Emerges from around age 4
The Conceptual Self
• The sense of one’s place in a wider sociocultural context
o For example, what role one plays in a group such as family relationships and wider
social groups
• This can also relate to our gender roles or places in society in comparison to much wider
groups of people
• Begins developing from around age 4-5, with major growth in middle childhood and beyond
HOW BABIES PERCEIVE THEMSELVES
Self-Perception in Infancy
• There are few methods available to help researchers address infant perception
Measuring Self-Perception
The Mirror/Rouge Test (Amsterdam, 1972)
• A dab of red rouge is placed just below an infant’s eye, and they are placed in front of a mirror
o If they can successfully locate the mark on their own face after seeing it in the mirror,
then they are classed as a ‘self-recogniser’
• Some at 18-months-old can pass this test, with most being able to at 2 years
• However, many argue that the test may be examining many abilities beyond self-perception,
such as understanding mirrors
o Therefore, this test is significantly limited in its reliability and validity
Other Findings
• Investigation has tested infants’ visual preferences for video displays of their own moving
legs versus either another’s moving legs or their own in delayed time
o Infants as young as 4-month-old appear to be able to identify when they see their own
legs moving (Bahrick & Watson, 1985; Rochat, 1998)
• Newborns tend to look longer at a video of a face being stroked on the cheek when they are
simultaneously stroked on the cheek themselves, compared to when the stroking is out of
sync (Filippetti et al., 2013)
o This indicates the presence of some body perception from birth
2
, 4PAHPDEV Psychology and Development Week 5
BSc Psychology Year 1 The Self and Social Identity
PERCEIVING TOUCH
Localising Touch in Infancy
• Bremner et al. (2008) tested whether infants could localise vibrotactile stimuli on their hands
o Younger infants (6.5 months) did move when they were touched, but were very limited
in the extent to which they could locate the touch with their eyes
• Younger infants also have difficulties moving their eyes to touches and make mistakes when
their hands were in unfamiliar positions
o When their hands were crossed over, they were unable to respond correctly
• However, at 10-months-old, babies respond just as good when their hands are crossed and
uncrossed
o Rigato et al. (2014) showed changes in the way touch areas of the brain respond
between 6 to 10 months of age, helping to explain these improvements
Adults versus Infants
• Adults continue to have difficulty localising touch when their arms or legs are crossed and
have to move the corresponding hand or foot that was touched (Schicke & Röder, 2006)
o This occurs because we typically perceive touch in relation to the external world
o Therefore, when our hands or feet are positioned differently than usual, our ability to
accurately process touch is reduced
• However, Begum Ali et al. (2015) found that before 6 months of age, infants do not locate
touches in the external world, but only on the body
o As a result, they do not associate touch with what they see or hear
o This separation allows them to perform better in touch localisation tasks, with
performance matching the best 6-month-olds, both with feet crossed and uncrossed
APPRECIATE HOW GENDER IDENTITY DEVELOPS
DEFINING SEX AND GENDER
• Traditionally, gender refers to cognitive and social differences between males and females,
and sex refers to biological and physiological differences
o However, there is fluidity in terms of both gender and sex
• Gender stereotypes are beliefs that members of an entire culture hold about the attitudes
and behaviours acceptable for each sex
o Gender identity is developed early in life as a perception of themselves as either
masculine or feminine and having characteristics and interests that are appropriate
to their gender, in line with the gender stereotypes
• Gender roles are roles or behaviours learned as appropriate to a particular gender
o Children develop gender role preferences or desires to present certain gender-typed
characteristics from gender roles
o These are reflected in their choices of toys and play partners
• Gender expression is the way in which someone expresses their gender identity
o Gender nonconformity (gender variance) is the behaviour of gender expression that
does not match typical gender roles
• If people reach the age of puberty, and still experience intense psychological feelings of
gender dysphoria, this is unlikely to go away
3
