The self is a person's sense of who they are as an individual, separate from other people. The self includes a person's thoughts, feelings and memories about themselves.

What is the categorical self, according to Lewis (1990)?

The categorical self is the awareness of oneself as an object with properties that can be described. Children place themselves in categories such as age, gender and size.

How does the categorical self change as children get older?

Young children describe themselves in concrete terms such as age, gender and possessions. Older children add psychological traits and compare themselves with others.

What did the rouge test show about the development of the self?

Infants had red make-up put on their nose and were placed in front of a mirror. Most infants of about two years touched their own nose, but few younger than a year did.

Edexcel GCSE Psychology 1PS0

Development

Topic overview Early brain development Piaget's theory of cognitive development Dweck's mindset theory and Willingham's learning theory The three mountains task and Gunderson's praise study The development of morality

Memory

Topic overview Information processing, duration and capacity Retrograde and anterograde amnesia Bartlett's theory of reconstructive memory The multi-store model, reductionism and holism War of the Ghosts and the Peterson and Peterson study

Psychological Problems

Topic overview Symptoms of depression and addiction Incidence and effects of mental health problems Explaining depression Explaining addiction Treating depression and addiction Key studies and the nature–nurture debate

The Brain and Neuropsychology

Topic overview Lobes of the brain and the effects of damage Lateralisation and Sperry's split-brain study Neurons, synapses and the central nervous system Phineas Gage and how brain research has changed

Social Influence

Topic overview Conformity to majority influence Obedience to authority Bystander intervention Crowd behaviour, society and culture Piliavin's subway study and the Stanford prison study

Criminal PsychologyOptional topic

Topic overview Operant conditioning and social learning explanations of crime Eysenck's criminal personality theory Punishment, recidivism and rehabilitation Bandura's Bobo doll study and Charlton's St Helena study

The SelfOptional topic

Topic overview Self-concept and influences on self-esteem Erikson's identity stages and belief in free will Rogers' and Maslow's humanistic theory Measuring personality and trait theory Vohs and Schooler's cheating study and Van Houtte and Jarvis's pet study

PerceptionOptional topic

Topic overview Depth cues, visual illusions and constancies Gibson's direct theory and Gregory's constructivist theory Perceptual set The Haber and Levin and Carmichael studies

Sleep and DreamingOptional topic

Topic overview Sleep stages and the sleep cycle Influences on sleep and sleep disorders Freud's theory of dreaming and activation synthesis theory Freud's Little Hans and Siffre's cave study

Language, Thought and CommunicationOptional topic

Topic overview Piaget and Vygotsky on language and thought Linguistic relativism and determinism Human and animal communication Non-verbal communication and Darwin's evolutionary theory The Yuki and Boroditsky studies

Research Methods

Topic overview Variables, hypotheses and controls Sampling methods Experiments and experimental designs Interviews, questionnaires and types of data Correlations, case studies and observations Ethical issues in psychological research Evaluating studies and the core areas of psychology Averages, calculations and graphs

The Self

Self-concept and influences on self-esteem

3 things to know
Paper 2

Overview

The self and self-concept, Lewis's existential and categorical self and the rouge test, self-image, ideal self and congruence, and temperament and experience as influences on self-esteem.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

What is the self?

Key term

What is self-concept?

Who and when

What is the existential self, according to Lewis (1990)?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What is the self?
Model answer
The self is a person's sense of who they are as an individual, separate from other people. The self includes a person's thoughts, feelings and memories about themselves.
2
What is self-concept?
Model answer
Self-concept is the set of beliefs and ideas a person holds about themselves. Self-concept covers their abilities, personality, appearance and roles.
3
What is the existential self, according to Lewis (1990)?
Model answer
The existential self is the basic awareness of being a separate person who exists and continues over time. Lewis said it begins at two to three months, as infants learn that their actions affect the world.
4
What is the categorical self, according to Lewis (1990)?
Model answer
The categorical self is the awareness of oneself as an object with properties that can be described. Children place themselves in categories such as age, gender and size.
5
How does the categorical self change as children get older?
Model answer
Young children describe themselves in concrete terms such as age, gender and possessions. Older children add psychological traits and compare themselves with others.
6
What did the rouge test show about the development of the self?
Model answer
Infants had red make-up put on their nose and were placed in front of a mirror. Most infants of about two years touched their own nose, but few younger than a year did.

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Development

Memory

Psychological Problems

The Brain and Neuropsychology

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