Adolescent development HC 6
Self and identity – Sheida Novin ()
Which characteristics regarding identity development did you recognize?
Adolescents
Social/peer identities
Peer groups
Multiple identities (wearing different masks around different people)
Societal/media influence (poster: this is what beauty is)
Struggles/bumps in the road (falls and breaks mask)
Search for autonomous identity: being yourself (puts aside mask)
Self-descriptions
Finding out who you are is an essential and hard job
Today’s aim
Overview of concepts, theories, and processes
What do these look like in adolescence?
These constructs are used interchangeably.
, Adolescent development HC 6
Identity (scientist) makes up your self concept (I want to contribute to the field).
Identity and self concept together makes up the self.
The self (the totality of you)
John Locke: “I think, therefore I am”
The self includes:
o The actor (I am thinking)
o The object (about me)
o Awareness (being aware of thinking about me)
Although having a self is important and people think they know the best who they are,
but the self is not always how you really are.
Immersed versus distal self
Immersed self Distal self
See yourself through own eyes Self through the eyes of others
Using singular pronouns (I, me, myself) Using third person pronouns (Sheida is…)
Particularly salient in adolescence. You care
about what others think.
Can have negative or positive effects
(impaires your functioning
Self and identity – Sheida Novin ()
Which characteristics regarding identity development did you recognize?
Adolescents
Social/peer identities
Peer groups
Multiple identities (wearing different masks around different people)
Societal/media influence (poster: this is what beauty is)
Struggles/bumps in the road (falls and breaks mask)
Search for autonomous identity: being yourself (puts aside mask)
Self-descriptions
Finding out who you are is an essential and hard job
Today’s aim
Overview of concepts, theories, and processes
What do these look like in adolescence?
These constructs are used interchangeably.
, Adolescent development HC 6
Identity (scientist) makes up your self concept (I want to contribute to the field).
Identity and self concept together makes up the self.
The self (the totality of you)
John Locke: “I think, therefore I am”
The self includes:
o The actor (I am thinking)
o The object (about me)
o Awareness (being aware of thinking about me)
Although having a self is important and people think they know the best who they are,
but the self is not always how you really are.
Immersed versus distal self
Immersed self Distal self
See yourself through own eyes Self through the eyes of others
Using singular pronouns (I, me, myself) Using third person pronouns (Sheida is…)
Particularly salient in adolescence. You care
about what others think.
Can have negative or positive effects
(impaires your functioning
