Expectations, Conditioning, and Gauging
According to Kathleen Berger, author of the text The Developing Person, guilt plays a significant role in shaping a young child's self-concept. As an example, she describes a child that is coddled at home and his/her socially unacceptable behavior never thwarted by the parent(s). When the child is denied whatever they want from another child, he/she strikes out towards other children not understanding that there will be consequences and possible retaliation. If this kind of behavior were to occur in a classroom environment, a teacher could use guilt in an attempt to shape the spoiled child's self-concept by reminding the student that hitting others is not acceptable in most social situations. In essence, guilt shapes behavior. Berger goes on to explain that most children over the age of 5 have some sense of the rules and regulations that govern social behavior that they learn from a guardian, thus shaping their self-concept without using guilt. In some cases, if maladaptive behavior is left unchecked, the seeds of bullying could start to germinate.
Self-concept is linked directly to a person's level of anxiety, according to the famous humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers. According to Rogers, if a child feels highly valued and wanted as a child, that person is more likely to grow up with a positive self-image with the possibility of becoming self-actualized. Rogers describes this individual as a fully functioning person with a low level of anxiety, which he attributes to inconsistencies, between self-perceptions and possible-self. Here again, expectations play a major role in shaping self-concept. Dr. Rogers hypothesizes that psychologically healthy people actively move away from roles created by others' expectations but instead look within themselves for validation.
"Neurotic and psychotic people, on the other hand, have self-concepts that do not match their experiences.. They are afraid to accept their own experiences as valid, so they distort them, either to protect themselves or to win approval from others."
Children learn at an early age that certain conditions will be placed upon them in exchange for approval or love from the parents. For example, a parent may tell a child that he/she must love the new baby sister or brother or Mommy and Daddy won't love them. This kind of hostage mentality could harbor and suppress negative ill will towards the new baby which will eventually express itself later on in life.
To gauge a child's self-concept, Susan Harter developed the Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents. In it, domains such as scholastic competence, behavior conduct, close friendships, social acceptance, athletic competence, romantic appeal, and physical appearance are rated using a number of indicators. Some of the positive indicators include if the child or adolescent expresses their opinion, maintains eye contact during conversion, works cooperatively in a group, maintains a comfortable space between self and others, and uses proper voice levels for various situation. Negative indicators could include teasing, gossiping, using dramatic gesturing, engaging in inappropriate touching or avoiding physical contact, verbally putting down self or others, or bragging about achievements, skills, or appearance.
Read more about this topic: Conceptions Of Self