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Some Comments on the Nature of Delinquents' Identification with Television Heroes, Fathers and Best Friends
Author(s) -
NOBLE GRANT
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
british journal of social and clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0007-1293
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1971.tb00730.x
Subject(s) - psychology , context (archaeology) , juvenile delinquency , identification (biology) , social psychology , ideal (ethics) , developmental psychology , parental control , control (management) , paleontology , philosophy , botany , management , epistemology , economics , biology
The minimum context form of repertory grid test was used to measure perceived similarities of both self and ideal‐self with father, best friends and male television heroes. The same procedures were adopted for a sample of delinquent boys as for a sample of matched non‐delinquent boys. Delinquent boys did not perceive themselves as more like, nor wished to be more like, television heroes than control boys. Delinquents perceived themselves as less like their fathers and best friends and wanted to be less like their fathers and best friends than control boys. Since delinquents identified less with their fathers and best friends than controls and yet identified as much as controls with television heroes, it is suggested that television heroes are thus more salient identification figures for delinquents than for controls. Delinquents, more than controls, thought that television heroes did not act a part, but behaved in the same way both on and off the screen. Finally, it was found that the perceived correlation between ideal‐self and real self was lower for delinquents than for controls.