Different Self-Description among Children - Essay Example

DIFFERENT SELF AMONG CHILDREN CHAPTER SUMMARY: I. INTRODUCTION II. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES III. DEFINE SELF OR SELF CONCEPT IV. METHODS V. DIFFERENT LEVELS ON CHILDREN'S PERSONAL AND SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT VI. ROSENBERG'S CATEGORIES OF SELF- DESCRIPTION VII. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE VIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY I. INTRODUCTION Every person is different when it comes to self-description. Others simply described their selves in terms of physical aspect, others include their character, personal traits whether good or bad, hobbies, likes and dislike etc. Self-description is important because it is where you can know a person better. Its also a basis of determining what kind of person you are dealing with. But we should understand that every person is not the same when they described their selves. Children are different from the adults when it comes to self-description. According to Rosenberg's findings, younger children described their selves more on physical activity and physical characteristics while the older children were more likely to use character trait to define the self. Younger children tend to describe their selves more on physical activity and physical characteristics maybe because they are more aware on their physical appearance and they are more exposed to an environment of physical acti9vity like playing different kinds of pay unlike the older children they are starting to mature. However, before we can understand why children are different in descr5ibing their selves regarding their age, we should first know what is the meaning of self-description or self-concept And what is its relevance to us. II AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To understand the different ways of a younger children and an older children when having self-description. III. DEFINE SELF-DESCRIPTION OR SELF-CONCEPT Based on the article of children: personal and social adjustment, self-concept refer to a persons ideas about his or her own physical and mental skill, personality and other characteristics. Self-esteem is the part of self -concept that deals with positive or negative feelings about one's competence and value as a person. IV. METHODS The participants of the interview were both children but of different ages. Malini is a seven-year-old Indian and Malaysian girl. She likes playing football with Matthew. She also likes doing work because it is nice to learn things. Her hobby is badges, reading, and making models of cartoon characters. The other participant is James a thirteen-year-old boy who enjoys playing sport, in particular cricket, tennis and hockey. He likes to relax with a good fantasy or sci-fi book or listen to some quite and classical music. He tend to take life as it comes rather than plan ahead as what his teacher keeps on telling him. He tends to be happy but sometimes he gets frustrated with his teachers and parents and get depressed. He would like to become a journalist, or perhaps a cricketer. V. DIFFERENT LEVELS ON CHILDREN'S PERSONAL AND SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT Self-concept varies with age. Younger children's self-descriptions focus more on their physical appearance, possessions, typical activities or skills. Their self-esteem is high that able them to explore more on different things without any hesitations. They often compare their selves to others. Life Malini's self-description from it tackles more on her physical appearance and inner world was not included in their self-description. A younger child like Malini doesn't give more emphasis on their perceptions in life. They are not sure what they want in the future. Children's self-description middle childhoods are more expanded. It includes social comparisons, character traits and emotions are starting to be effective. As children move to adolescence, their self-concept is more expanded and accurate. Their self-perceptions are becoming realistic and they tend to have future plans. Their description on their physical appearance is not so evident. They focus more on their character traits and inner world. Like James self-description form, he talks more on its character traits and his inner world which includes its emotions, attitudes and future plans. As we can see, children in different ages are different when it comes to their self-concept and self-perceptions. Younger children's self-description are not so at able because they are starting to gain experiences and are about to enter the real world. Unlike the older children, their self-description are somehow becoming stable and their self-perceptions are more realistic because they are already aware of the many things that surrounds them. VI. ROSENBERG'S CATEGORIES OF SELF-DESCRIPTION According to Rosenberg there are four categories on children's replies of self-description. These are the following: Physical Descriptions of self which could be observed or identified or potentially be described by others; they are mainly about physical feature or physical activities. Character Descriptions of self which refer to personal characteristics or traits: personality, emotional characteristics and emotional control. These qualities could still be inferred by others form the behavior of an individual but only the individual can have direct access to them. Relationships Descriptions of self which refer to interpersonal traits or to relationships with others. Inner Descriptions of self which refer to an individual's more private inner world of emotions, attitudes, wishes, beliefs and secrets, such as self-knowledge. VII. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Based on the article of children's personal and social adjustment, researcher find to look at how children evaluate them selves in specific domains, such as physical ability and appearance, academic skill and social acceptance. Self-concept refers to a person's ideas about his or her own physical and mental skills, personality and other characteristics. It is also a way on how others evaluated a certain person. Baumeister (1982, p.3) defines self-concept or self-presentation a shaving the aim of "Establishing, maintaining, or retaining an image of the individual in the minds of others". Self esteem on the other hand is a part of self-concept. It deals with positive or negative feelings about one's competence and value as a person (Berndt, 1997; Harter, 1985). Having a high self-esteem builds a confidence and motivation to learn something or achieve something. The research suggests that simply trying to increase positive feelings without providing children a realistic basis for those feelings may not be successful, and may the unintended insult of encouraging children to be self-centered (Katz, 1993; Harter, 1985). However, meaningful; self-esteem is most likely to be developed when children are provided with opportunities to develop self-confidence through effort, persistence, cooperation, and building genuine skills, rather than just giving uncritical praise (Katz, 1993). VIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY Harter, S. (1983) 'Developmental perspectives on the self-system' in Mussen, P.H. (ed.) Handbook of Child Psychology, vol. 4, New York, John Wiley and Sons. Rosenberg, M. (1979) Conceiving the Self, New York, Basic Books. Children: Personal and Social Adjustment. Evaluating the National Outcomes [online] Available from: http://ag.arizona.edu/fcs/cyfernet/nowg/social_component2.html. September 08,2006 Robin, Banerjee. Embarrassment: Choosing Children's Literature to Overcome Personal Resistance. University of Sussex, UK [online] Available from: http://www.hearstats.org./topic.aspid=880.September08,2006 Read More