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How Children Construct Views of Themselves: A Social‐Developmental Perspective
Author(s) -
Brummelman Eddie,
Thomaes Sander
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.12961
Subject(s) - construct (python library) , psychology , perspective (graphical) , social change , social cognition , child development , developmental psychology , social psychology , cognitive psychology , cognition , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , computer science , economics , programming language , economic growth
As they grow up, children construct views of themselves and their place in the world, known as their self‐concept. This topic has often been addressed by social psychologists (studying how the self‐concept is influenced by social contexts) and developmental psychologists (studying how the self‐concept changes over time). Yet, relatively little is known about the origins of the self‐concept. This article calls for research that bridges social and developmental psychology to illuminate this important issue. Adopting such a social‐developmental approach, the current special section shows that children construct their self‐concept based on the social relationships they have, the feedback they receive, the social comparisons they make, and the cultural values they endorse. These findings underline the deeply social nature of self‐development.