Abstract
Adolescents come to know and define themselves largely through social interaction. In part, the adolescent’s self-concept may be a product of the incorporation of others’ communications. If family relatives, for instance, all proclaim the daughter to be a spitting image of the mother, the daughter may come to think of herself in those terms. Even self-attributions that are not first suggested by others derive their meaning within a social medium. The adolescent who thinks of the self as “shy” is perhaps implicitly comparing the self to friends or peers who are more outgoing socially. Not only is “shy” in this sense social-relational, its selection as a component of the self-conception may reflect a feature that differentiates the self from others (McGuire & Padawer-Singer, 1976).
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Adelson, J., & Doehrman, M. (1980). The psychodynamic approach to adolescence. In J. Adelson (Ed.). Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 99’116). New York: Wiley.
Baldwin, J.M. (1902). Social and ethical interpretations in mental life. New York: Macmillan.
Berndt, T. (1979). Developmental changes in conformity to peers and parents. Developmental Psychology, 15, 608’616.
Blos, P. (1968). The second individuation process of adolescence. In R.S. Eissler et al. (Eds.), Psychoanalytic study of the child (Vol. 23). New York: International Universities Press.
Damon, W., & Hart, D. (1982). The development of self-understanding from infancy through adolescence. Child Development, 53, 841’86
Damon, W., & Hart, D. (1986). Stability and change in children’s self-understanding. Social Cognition, 4, 102’118.
Damon, W., and Hart, D. (in preparation). The development of self-understanding. New York: Cambridge University Press.
DeBoeck, P. (1985). HICLAS Computer Program: Version 1.0. Katholique Universiteit Leuven, Psychology Department, Leuven, Belgium.
DeBoeck, P., & Rosenberg, S. (1985). Hierarchical classes: Model and data analysis. Unpublished manuscript, Katholique Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Elkind, D., & Bowen, R. (1979). Imaginary audience behavior in children and adolescents. Developmental Psychology, 15, 38’44.
Epstein, S. (1981). The unity principle versus the reality and pleasure principles, or the tale of the scorpion and the frog. In M.D. Lynch, A.A. Norem-Hebeisen, & K. Gergen (Eds.), Self-concept: Advances in theory and research (pp. 27’37). Cambridge, MA: Ballinger.
Gecas, V. (1972). Parental behavior and contextual variations in adolescent self-esteem. Sociometry, 35, 332’345.
Grubb, P.D. (1986). The self as a multiplicity: An empirical analysis of identity structure theory. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.
Hart, D. (1986). Adolescent perceptions of past, present, and future selves. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Hart, D., & Damon, W. (1986). Developmental trends in self-understanding. Social Cognition, 4, 388’407.
Hart, D., Lucca-Irizarry, N., & Damon, W. (1986). The development of self-understanding in Puerto Rico and the United States. Journal of Early Adolescence, 6, 293’304.
Hart, D., Maloney, J., & Damon, W. (1987). The meaning and development of personal identity. In T. Honess and K. Yardley (Eds), Self and identity (pp. 121’133). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Harter, S. (1982). The perceived competence scale for children. Child Development, 53, 87’97.
Hartup, W. (1983). Peer relations. In M. Hetherington (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (4th ed.) (Vol. 4, pp. 103’196). New York: Wiley.
James, W. (1950). The principles of psychology (Vols. 1 and 2). New York: Dover.
Joseph, C. (1985). Identity patterns of professional women. Unpublished master’s thesis, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ.
Kihlstrom, J.F., & Cantor, N. (1984). Mental representations of the self. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 17, pp. 1’47). New York: Academic Press.
Kuhn, M., & McPartland, T. (1954). An empirical investigation of self-attitudes. American Sociological Review, 9, 68’76.
Lecky, P. (1945). Self-consistency: A theory of personality. New York: Island Press.
Livesly, W., & Bromley, D. (1973). Person perception in childhood and adolescence. New York: Wiley.
Martindale, C. (1980). Subselves: The internal representation of situational and personal dispositions. In L. Wheeler (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology (pp. 193’218). Beverly Hills: Sage.
McGuire, W., & Padawer-Singer, A. (1976). Trait salience in the spontaneous self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 33, 743’754.
McPhail, C., & Tucker, C. (1972). The classification and ordering of responses to the question “Who am I?”. The Sociological Quarterly, 13, 329’334.
Mead, G.H. (1934). Mind, self, and society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Montemayor, R., & Eisen, M. (1977). The development of self-conceptions from childhood to adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 13, 314’319.
Nowicki, S., & Strickland, B. (1973). A locus of control scale for children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 40, 148’154.
O’Brien, R., & Kaiser, M. (1985). MANOVA method or analyzing repeated measures designs: An extensive primer. Psychological Bulletin, 97, 316’333.
Rosenberg, M. (1979). Conceiving the self. New York: Basic.
Rosenberg, S., & Gara, M. (1985). The multiplicity of personal identity. In P. Shaver (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology (Vol. 6, pp. 87’113). Beverly Hills: Sage.
Secord, P., & Peevers, B. (1974). The development and attribution of person concepts. In T. Mischel (Ed.), Understanding other persons (pp. 87’113). Oxford: Blackwell.
Smollar, J., & Youniss, J. (1985). Adolescent self-concept development. In R. Leahy (Ed.), The development of self (pp. 247’265). New York: Academic Press.
Volpe, J. (1981). The development of concepts of self: An interpersonal perspective. In J. Meacham & N.R. Santilli (Eds.), Social development in youth: Structure and content (pp. 131’144). Basel, Switzerland: Karger.
Youniss, J. (1980). Parents and peers in social development. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1988 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hart, D. (1988). The Adolescent Self-Concept in Social Context. In: Lapsley, D.K., Power, F.C. (eds) Self, Ego, and Identity. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7834-5_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-7834-5_4
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4615-7836-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-7834-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive