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Self-awareness has been called "arguably the most fundamental issue in psychology, from both a developmental and an evolutionary perspective".[17] In psychology, the concept of "self-awareness" is used in different ways: As a form of intelligence, self-awareness can be an understanding of one's own knowledge, attitudes, and opinions. Alfred Binet's first attempts to create an intelligence test included items for "auto-critique" – a critical understanding of oneself.[18] Surprisingly we do not have a privileged access to our own opinions and knowledge directly. For instance, if we try to enumerate all the members of any conceptual category we know, our production falls much short of our recognition of members of that category. Albert Bandura[19] has created a category called self-efficacy that builds on our varying degrees of self-awareness. Our general inaccuracy about our own abilities, knowledge, and opinions has created many popular phenomena for research such as the better than average effect. For instance, 90% of drivers may believe that they are "better than average" (Swenson, 1981).[20] Their inaccuracy comes from the absence of a clear definable measure of driving ability and their own limited self-awareness; and this of course underlines the importance of objective standards to inform our subjective self-awareness in all domains. Inaccuracy in our opinion seems particularly disturbing, for what is more personal than opinions. Yet, inconsistency in our opinion is as strong as in our knowledge of facts. For instance, people who call themselves opposite extremes in political views often hold not just overlapping political views, but views that are an essential component of the opposite extreme. Reconciling such differences proves difficult and gave rise to Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance.[21] Developmental stages Individuals become conscious of themselves through the development of self-awareness.[17] This particular type of self-development pertains to becoming conscious of one's own body and mental state of mind including thoughts, actions, ideas, feelings and interactions with others.[22] “Self-awareness does not occur suddenly through one particular behavior it develops gradually through a succession of different behaviors all of which relate to the self."[23] It is developed through an early sense of non-self components using sensory and memory sources. In developing self –awareness through self-exploration and social experiences one can broaden their social world and become more familiar with the self. Several ideas in the development of self-awareness have been researched. In babies self-awareness occurs in a predicted stages.[22] Ulric Neisser (1988 cited in [22]) states that self-awareness is built upon different resources of information including ecological, interpersonal, extended, private, and conceptual aspects of self. The ecological self is seen in early infancy it is the self in relation to the surrounding environment. It is considered low level self-awareness based on only being aware of your surrounding space. Interpersonal self also emerges in early infancy. It supports the theory of unresponsive interpersonal interaction with the environment for instance a baby cooing. Even though the social world is not responding the infant is able to discover more about themselves. This leads to the extended self where one is able to reflect on itself generating thoughts of past and future. The private self pertains to internal thoughts, feelings, and intentions. Finally, the concept of self (Ulric's theory of self-concept) is the beliefs that we hold based on representations of human nature and the self. This level of self is essential because it enables and individual to portray who they are.[22] According to Emory University’s Phileppe Rochat, there are five levels of self-awareness which unfold in early development and six potential prospects ranging from "Level 0" (having no self-awareness) advancing complexity to "Level 5" (explicit self-awareness).[17] Level 0: Confusion. At this level the individual has a degree of zero self-awareness. This person is unaware of any mirror reflection or the mirror itself. They perceive the mirror as an extension of their environment. Level 0 can also be displayed when an adult frightens themselves in a mirror mistaking their own reflection as another person just for a second. Level 1: Differentiation. The individual realizes the mirror is able to reflect things. They see that what is in the mirror is different than what is surrounding them. At this level one can differentiate between their own movement in the mirror and the movement of the surrounding environment. Level 2: Situation. At this point an individual can link the movements on the mirror to what is perceived within their own body. This is the first hint of self-exploration on a projected surface where what is visualized on the mirror is special to the self. Level 3: Identification. The individual finds out that recognition takes effect. One can now see that what’s in the mirror is not another person but it is actually themselves. It is seen when a child refers to them self while looking in the mirror instead of referring to the mirror while referring to themselves. They have now identified self Level 4: Permanence. Once an individual reaches this level they can identify the self beyond the present mirror imagery. They are able to identify the self in previous pictures looking different or younger. A "permanent self" is now experienced. Level 5: Self-consciousness or "meta" self-awareness. At this level not only is the self seen from a first person view but its realized that it’s also seen from a third person’s view. They begin to understand they can be in the mind of others. For instance, how they are seen from a public standpoint.[17] Related to research stated above by the time an average toddler reaches 18 months they will discover themselves and recognize their own reflection in the mirror. By the age of 24 months the toddler will observe and relate their own actions to those actions of other people and the surrounding environment.[24] As infants grow to familiarize themselves with their surround environment and a child will provide a self-description in terms of action and later in terms of qualities and traits of their environment. Around school age a child’s awareness of personal memory transitions into a sense of ones own self. At this stage, a child begins to develop interests along with likes and dislikes. This transition enables the awareness of an individual’s past, present, and future to grow as conscious experiences are remembered more often.[24] School age children begin to separate As a child’s self-awareness increases they tend to separate and become their own person. Their cognitive and social development allows “the taking of another's perspective and the accepting of inconsistencies.”[25] By adolescence, a coherent and integrated self-perception normally emerges. This very personal emerging perspective continues to direct and advance an individual’s self-awareness throughout their adult life. “A further and deeper development in self-awareness allows a person to become increasingly wise and coherent in the understanding of self.” The increase in awareness can ultimately lead to high levels of consciousness. This has been supported through research on enhanced self-actualization, increased attention in association with expanding ones self-concept, and a higher level of internal control and maintenance of self during stressful conditions.[26] Self-Awareness Theory, developed by Duval and Wicklund in their 1972 landmark book A theory of objective self awareness, states that when we focus our attention on ourselves, we evaluate and compare our current behavior to our internal standards and values. We become self-conscious as objective evaluators of ourselves.[27] However self-awareness is not to be confused with self-consciousness.[28] Various emotional states are intensified by self-awareness. However, some people may seek to increase their self-awareness through these outlets. People are more likely to align their behavior with their standards when made self-aware. People will be negatively affected if they don't live up to their personal standards. Various environmental cues and situations induce awareness of the self, such as mirrors, an audience, or being videotaped or recorded. These cues also increase accuracy of personal memory.[29] In Demetriou's theory, one of the neo-Piagetian theories of cognitive development, self-awareness develops systematically from birth through the life span and it is a major factor for the development of general inferential processes.[30] Moreover, a series of recent studies showed that self-awareness about cognitive processes participates in general intelligence on a par with processing efficiency functions, such as working memory, processing speed, and reasoning.[31] Adolescent Before going into self-awareness in adolescents there are a few terms that must be stated that fit and help you to really understand just what self-awareness is. There are self-esteem, self -concept and self representation. Let’s start with self-esteem. This term is used in psychology to reflect person's overall emotional evaluation of his or her own worth. It is a judgment of oneself as well as an attitude toward their self (Wikipedia). Self-concept is the idea that you have about the kind of person you are, and the mental image one has of oneself according to Webster. Self representation is how you represent yourself in public and around others. Last is adolescent (teenager) and that is a person between the ages of 13 and 19 according to the dictionary. (Free Dictionary). [32] Self-awareness in adolescent is when they are becoming conscious of their emotions. Most children by the age to two are aware of emotions such as shame, guilt, pride and embarrassment (Zeanah,84).[33] But they do not fully understand how those emotions affect their life. By time they become thirteen they are really starting to understand how those emotions have an impact on their lives. Although they are going through puberty they really get to understand and really get in touch with their emotions. The emotions that flow through them at the time they make decisions are not always good and that is part of what makes adults believe they are confused, but they really are not. Harter did a study of adolescents and in the study it found that adolescents (teenagers) are happy and like themselves when around their friends. But when around their parents they feel sad, mad and depressed and when it comes to pleasing them they feel hopeless because what they get from their parents is they can do nothing right. However it was also shown that when at school and around their teachers they felt intelligent and creative. But when around people they do not know they are shy, uncomfortable and nervous (60).[34] This tells you a little bit of how they understand and show their emotions. This may also assist in making outsiders believe adolescents are confused, but they really are not confused they are just going through a lot at that time. The way they respond during the situation is just how they truly felt at that time during that situation. What needs to be realized is that they are in the process of learning to get their emotions together in under control. As adults you have already learned this therefore they should be a little more understanding to what the adolescents are going through. Although they are adolescents they know what they are doing and that’s why they follow two roles. One role is responsible and the other role is the irresponsible and it depends on who they are with to determine which role they are going to be in. When they are around teachers, parents and sometime people they do not know they play the responsible role but when around the oppose sex, friends and enemies they play the irresponsible roles (Harter,89). The responsible role is when they are dependable and you know they will make good decisions on their own. When they act in a reliable way and do things to make you pride of them. The irresponsible role is the opposite of responsible, when they are not trust worthy, they do everything you tell them not to do and should not be on their own because they may do something to get into trouble. |
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