As well as social roles and personality traits being included in the self-image, physical characteristics are also incorporated, i.e. body image. Davies and Furnham (1986) suggest that it is common for people to have an inaccurate body image. An individual subjectively views them-self differently from the way that others see them.
2) Self-esteem: This refers to the extent to which an individual likes or approves of them-self, and the way in which they make judgements about themselves. Self-esteem is entwined with society where certain characteristics have a greater value in it, and possessing that 'valued' characteristic will influence self-esteem for the better.
3) Ideal self: This is a description of how an individual would like to be, also known as the ego ideal or idealised self-image. This can vary in extent or degree. Generally, the greater the gap between an individual's self-image and their ideal self, the lower their self-esteem.
Gallup (1977) conducted a study on preadolescent, wild-born chimps and in each animal's cage, he placed a full-length mirror. Initially, the chimps reacted aggressively and behaved as if another chimp had appeared. Gradually this behaviour faded out and by the end of three days had nearly disappeared. Thereafter, the chimps explored themselves using their image in the mirror. The chimps were anaesthetised after ten days exposure to the mirror and a red spot was painted on the uppermost part of one eyebrow ridge and another spot on the top of the opposite ear. The mirrors were taken away and the chimps returned to their cages. Gallup recorded how often the chimps touched the red spots. The mirror was put back in the cage, and again it was recorded how often the chimps touched the marked spots. Gallup found the chimps explored the marked spots twenty five times more in the latter condition than it had in the former.
Gallup's study supports Cooley's and Mead's theories that emphasise interaction with others and the reactions of others as critical to the development of the self-concept. However, the study was conducted on chimps who are animals, therefore Gallup's theory cannot be generalised to the human race so his sample is not representative.
Eder (1989) studied pre-school children and discovered that they were able to differentiate between their thinking, psychological self and their physical self (mind and body). Eder found this to be a growing capability. The children's understanding in how to behave in certain situations was noted to be apparent, e.g. "I like to play by myself at nursery school." This stage of the children's cognitive development is described as 'egocentric'.
As children get older they will incorporate more roles into their self-concept. Once children have achieved self-awareness, they learn to define themselves in terms of their qualities and social roles. By age 5-7 years, children can give a full description of themselves on many different dimensions. Social categories became increasingly important. Age is the first of these, along with gender.
Kuhn developed the Statements Test of Self-Attitudes (TST). It consists of asking subjects to answer the question "Who am I?" twenty times. Kuhn assumed that the earlier on an item appears in a person's list of answers, the more personal relevance it had. He stated that the twenty answers could be placed into five categories: -
- social groups
- ideological beliefs
- interests
- ambitions
- self-evaluation
Kuhn tested 1185 individuals aged 7-22 years old. They were an opportunity sample of school students, undergraduates and graduates. Kuhn found that young adolescents mentioned age more: 74% of 13 year olds mentioned age as opposed to 27% of 9 year olds and 43% of 19 year olds. He also noted that females were more aware of their sex as 54% mentioned it in the first three places of their twenty responses, compared with 36% of males. More males were found to mention their race in the first three responses than females. Kuhn also noted occupational identity increased with every year of training, where he saw students in the second year of study mentioned what they were doing, more than the first year students.
This supports the idea of roles and how they increase and are incorporated into the self-concept.
However, Kuhn’s sample is not representative of all humans as his sample only consisted of students, and they were only from the ages 7 to 22 years old. Also, Kuhn assumes an individual only has one self when in fact there could be several.
All studies have shown that the self-concept varies with age, be it more social roles the older an individual becomes or greater occupational identity in the older students, age does have an effect on the self-concept which is what this present study was all about.
