THE CHILD’S CONCEPTION OF SELF- KNOWLEDGE …

1 1 THE CHILD S CONCEPTION OF SELF- KNOWLEDGE AND SELF- ESTEEMJANINA USZYNSKA-JARMOC, UNIVERSITY OF BIALYSTOKABSTRACT | INTRODUCTION | BASIC ASSUMPTIONS OF THE RESEARCHPROGRAMME | METHODS | RESULTS | DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION |REFERENCESABSTRACTThis study investigated what is the image of self presented by pre-school children regardingstructure (self- KNOWLEDGE , SELF- evaluation and SELF- regulation) and contents (what childrenknow and talk about themselves). Data were collected using: videotapes (observations ofchildren and semi-structured interviews procedures of SELF- description analysis); documentanalysis (collection of children s drawings with SELF- portrait); two questionnaire of on SELF- esteem.

2 The research was carried out on a group of 31 children between 6 and 7 yearsselected at random from urban pre-schools. Data uncovered the variety the child sconception of self and description the structure and system self. The empirical research wasbased on the analysis of uninhibited characteristics of self given by children. Cognitiverepresentations were analysed regarding formal as well as contents qualities. All of thesenarratives ought to be taken seriously into account for a better understanding of a child sdevelopment and for the improvement of educational practice in terms SELF- concept and SELF- esteem are often used interchangeably (Street & Isaacs1998).

3 Yet, many researchers argued that SELF- concept and SELF- esteem are differentconstructs and clearly represent two different dimensions. King (1997) pointed out that weunderstand SELF- concept as the perception(s) one has of oneself in terms of personalattributes and the various roles that are played or fulfilled by the individual . King (1997)explained that SELF- concept represents the description an individual attaches to himself in terms of roles and attributes . Since SELF- concept represents only a description ofthe perceived self and does not involve a value judgement , SELF- concept should not bedepicted as positive or negative.

4 Conversely, SELF- esteem refers to the evaluation one makesof the SELF- concept description and, more specifically, to the degree to which one is satisfiedor dissatisfied with it, in whole or in part. SELF- concept would refer to the perception of beingfor example, tall, whereas SELF- esteem would refer to one s feelings about being tall (happyor unhappy). Thus, contrary to the definition of SELF- concept, it is acceptable to consider SELF- esteem as being positive, negative or neutral (King 1997). SELF- concept includes thoseaspects of SELF- image that are descriptive, non-judgemental, and fairly consistent regardlessof time, while self esteem includes the aspects or attitudes that are SELF- evaluative and morevulnerable to situational and value influences.

5 Rosenberg (1979) defined SELF- concept as thecomplete thoughts and feelings of a person in reference to self as an object. Some writersassert that SELF- esteem reflects the difference between the ideal self (what one would like tobe like) and the actual self (what one is actually like). Otherwise the SELF- concept describesthe self, and SELF- esteem is the evaluative component of object, influenced by thediscrepancy between one s desired self and one s existing self. Gottfredson (1985) suggeststhat SELF- concept is comprised of two dimensions: identities and SELF- esteem. Identities refer2to the content of one s beliefs about purposes of this paper, the SELF- concept is defined as person s SELF- perceptions oftheir identity through various roles and identities.

6 SELF- esteem is defined as one s evaluativeassessment of the SELF- concept. Thus in this study we understand SELF- esteem as acomponent of SELF- concept. Whereas we understand SELF- concept as the same term as SELF- image and we use these terms interchangeably. SELF- esteem comes from SELF- evaluation while SELF- concept comes from self- KNOWLEDGE and SELF- evaluation. In otherwords, SELF- concept is how we see ourselves or who we are, and SELF- esteem is how muchwe like what we (2001) pointed that SELF- concept comprises three fundamental elements: Identity ( SELF- image), that is, individuals perception of themselves in relation to cogniti-ve aspects SELF- esteem, the value that individuals attach to the particular manner in which theysee themselves behavioural component, reflecting how SELF- concept are interrelated and complemen-tary, such that a positive SELF- concept implies positive SELF- esteem, and vice (1993) suggested that SELF- acceptance is a necessary condition for SELF- esteem, notjust a sufficient component.

7 SELF- esteem is thus defined as a generalised value one placeson one s self the sense of worthiness one feels and acts upon in reference to one s SELF- concept. (Street & Isaacs 1998). SELF- concept is, in part, socially constructed (Onwuegbuzie 2000; Story 1998). People sperception and assessments of themselves are influenced by others evaluations of is especially true of a child s SELF- image which is largely based on the way others treathim or her. The quality and character of the process of shaping SELF- concept of a child in theearly childhood crucially depend on parents and teachers. Adults reactions to children tellthem about the type of people they are and also the type of people we want them to then judge how much they measure up to this psychological publications (Cashwell 1995; Davies & Brember 1995; 1999; Lawrence1996; Zaborowski 1998) it was emphasised that a child must have a positive SELF- image inorder to get the most out of education.

8 With high and positive SELF- esteem, children gain theconfidence necessary to engage in challenging tasks, to believe in their ability to masterthese tasks, and to do well at school. In a review of research on SELF- esteem enhancementin children (Gipps & Tunstall 1998) it was pointed out that, in the context of school, SELF- esteem is found to be positively associated with school achievement. Therefore, the conceptof self has profound practical significance for (in particular: Fenzel 2000) have pointed out that individual differencesregarding change in feelings of SELF- worth during the school transition are important toinvestigate because of the potential for decreased feelings of SELF- worth to be precipitated bynew academic and social competency challenges presented by a new and larger schoolenvironment, and because low feelings of SELF- worth have been found to mediate thedevelopment of psychological symptoms and academic difficulties for young (1999)

9 Quotes research conducted by Amundson, who reported that SELF- esteemdiminishes as pupils get older. Eighty-nine percent of kindergarten pupils were reported tohave high SELF- esteem, whereas only 20 % of fifth grades, 5 % of high school graduates, and2 % of college graduates reported high SELF- concept research has succeeded in motivating educators to monitor andenhance levels of SELF- worth within schools and pre-schools, the methods of measuring the3self have been found to be in need of modification in order to increase the applicability ofpsychological KNOWLEDGE to education.

10 Street and Isaacs (1998) underlined that one of thebiggest problems in developing adequate SELF- concept and SELF- esteem theory is the poorquality of available measurement instruments. Also researchers (Schott & Bellin 2001;Beane 1991) assert that in the last two decades of research on SELF- concept has had aconsistent tendency to measure the self in abstract, context-free terms. Demo (1985)emphasised that there has been a paucity of empirical measures of the impact of situationdiscrepancies in psychology, researchers have proposed a wide range of SELF- esteem and SELF- conceptmeasures.