Question

1. You ask a preschooler and an adolescent to describe themselves. Write a brief description of what each might have told you (you can make up the specific traits). Finally, describe any differences between the two examples you wrote and explain them from a developmental perspective (how do preschoolers and adolescents/adults differ in their self-descriptions?).

Answer 1

To introduce, self-concept is the view a person has of him/herself or his/her abilities. A baby starts developing self-concept at birth. It starts with how people respond to him/her. Mothers, fathers, caregivers, and other family members create an emotional, positive bonding with the newborn and infant through caring and warm interactions. When you ask young children to describe themselves, they would usually describe themselves in terms of their age (how old they are), gender (boy or girl), value (good boy/girl or bad boy/girl), and physical traits such as tall or short. They use these labels to explain their self-concept in observable and concrete terms. Kids who have more concrete self-concept will use observable, concrete traits to describe themselves like their hair color, ability to dance, run fast, etc.

On the other hand, adolescents use more abstract traits and characteristics for describing themselves like their sense of humor, their kindness, loyalty, etc. Various theories suggest that adolescents’ self-description shows their self-identity. In fact, during adolescence the person’s sense-of-self changes dramatically and profoundly.