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THE TEN YEAR OLD'S CONSTRUCTION OF SELF-IMAGE I

THE TEN YEAR OLD'S CONSTRUCTION OF SELF-IMAGE

According to Markus and Nuris (1984), one's sense of self develops continuously from infancy onward. However, by around age ten years, the self-concept, often termed the self-image is said to become particularly important in terms of having strong associations with personality and social development. Thus, developmental theories discussing how children construct their notions of self in and around the age of ten years can be said to have an especially important significance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine several developmental models of the construction of the self image during this developmental stage. This examination is followed by a discussion of the validity of each model in terms of its ability to explain how children this age build their self-image; this discussion is, in turn, followed by a series of conclusions about the construction of self-image at this developmental stage.

Erikson's Theory of Developmental Identity

There are, today, several theorists who view the development and construction of the self-image or concept as a "social" phenomenon. Almost without exception these theories use, as their conceptual foundation, Erik Erikson's stage theory of psychosocial development (see: Erikson, 1950, 1968, 1973). This

theory of development, while psychodynamic in nature, re-focused attention away from the traditional psychodynamic focus which was upon the child's instinctual responses and his/her experiences during the first few years of life, toward the significant development that takes place at other ages and the impact of social factors on this development (see: Erikson, 1950, 1968).

At each stage in Erikson's general theory, a crisis is said to occur which the individual must resolve with a satisfactory balancing of opposites in order for healthy progress through the next stage. In other words, successful resolution of each crisis requi...

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THE TEN YEAR OLD'S CONSTRUCTION OF SELF-IMAGE I. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 21:57, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1709029.html