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Foundations of children’s self-concepts about everyday activities: Identities and comparative contexts

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Abstract

Children’s motivations to engage in everyday activities draw on their experiences in thinking of oneself and the activities. In theory, these personal and social realities provide the complex foundations of self-concepts. The aim of this project was to define the foundations of children’s self-concepts about everyday activities; to focus on everyday activities of literacy and numeracy. Participants were 8- to 12-year-old girls and boys, in a pilot study (N = 16), correlational models of identities (N = 297) and comparative contexts (N = 42), and experimental evidence (N = 82). The pilot study validated materials, and Study 1 confirmed a perceptual base for self-concepts. Results of Study 2 highlighted a range of comparative contexts, and Study 3 confirmed personal and social bases of children’s self-concepts. In this situation, foundations of self-concepts cover identities (as a sense of individuality and belonging) and self-categorizations, in thinking about stability of skills and abilities over time, and in relation to children the same age. These ideas are readily applied to identities and arrays of self-categorizations in other situations. In conclusion, a personal and social theory of self-concepts extends contemporary Motivational Spiral Models that relate self-concepts to task strategies, skills, feelings and participation. Outcomes suggest foundations for differential interventions motivating children to participate in everyday activities.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thanks the children, their parents and guardians, and school staff for their co-operation; to Ian Fisher, Fiona Spencer, Jens Möller, and Alison Elliott for support and advice; and Kathryn Timmis, Adrienne Whitby, Leilah Nelson, Peter Tong, Carol Pearce, Marijana Vurmeska, Jodie Gaven, Lucy Chimarides, Matthew Drury, and David Glen for the research assistance. Partial funding for this project was from an Australian Research Council Insititutional Grant and a seed grant from the University of Sydney.

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  1. Watervale Systems, PO Box 318, Potts Point, NSW, 1335, Australia

    Laurel Fisher

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  1. Laurel Fisher
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Correspondence to Laurel Fisher.

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Dr. Laurel Fisher. Watervale Systems, PO Box 318 Potts Point, NSW 1335 Australia

Current themes of research:

Self concepts in motivation include motivational spiral models (MSM) that relate self concepts, positive and negative feelings, skills, strategies, and participation. The role of identities in diverse contexts cover a sense of individuality, belonging, place, and spirituality that provide foundations for health and well-being. Brief, meaningful assessment materials are useful tools in community, clinical, health, and educational settings

Most relevant publications in the field of Psychology of Education:

Fisher, L. J. (2013). Motivated spiral models (MSM): Common and distinct motivation in context. SpringerPlus, 2, 565. http://www.springerplus.com/content/2/1/565

Fisher, L. J., & Spencer, F. H. (2013). Children’s social behaviour for learning (SBL): Extending observations of social behaviour (under review).

Bornholt, L. J., Robinson, R. A., & Maras, P. F. (2009). ‘I am — we are’: Personal and social pathways to further study, work and family life, Social Psychology of Education: An International Journal, 12(3), 345–359.

Bornholt, L., Brake, N., Thomas, S., Madden, S., Clarke, S., Anderson, G. & Kohn, M. (2005). Understanding affective and cognitive self evaluations about the body for adolescent girls, British Journal of Health Psychology, 10, 1–10

Bornholt, L. J., Ajersch, S., Fisher, I. H., Markham, R. H., & Ouvrier, R. A. (2010). Cognitive screening for children and adolescents: General limits or ceiling effects? Journal of Child Neurology, 25, 567–571.

Bornholt, L. J., & Wilson, R. (2007). A mediated model of aspects of self knowledge (M-ASK). Applied Psychology. An International Review, 56, 302–318.

Bornholt, L. J. (2005). ASK-KIDS inventory for children. Melbourne: ACER Press. http://www.acer.edu.au

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Fisher, L. Foundations of children’s self-concepts about everyday activities: Identities and comparative contexts. Eur J Psychol Educ 29, 537–555 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-014-0212-y

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