Abstract
The aim of this paper was to study the construction of children’s self-perception relying on Cooley’s hypothesis. More precisely, we were interested in the mediation effect of significant others’ actual appraisal on self-perception by the perception of others’ actual appraisal (i.e., reflected appraisal). First, we argued that this mediation effect would occur in the domains where children have feedback from significant others (here teacher or parents). Second, we took into account two measures of reflected appraisal: reflected appraisal assessed in a classic fashion and appraisal social support assessed with Harter’s scale (1985b). We argued that reflected appraisal assessed in a classic fashion would be a better mediator of the effect of actual appraisal on self-perception by reflected appraisal in comparison to appraisal social support. In order to test these hypotheses, we conducted a study with 126 children (age 8–9), 106 parents and six teachers. The results, taken as a whole, support these hypotheses.
Résumé
Le but de cet article est d’étudier la construction des perceptions de soi des enfants à partir de l’hypothèse de Cooley (1902). Plus précisément, nous nous intéressons à la médiation de l’effet du jugement des personnes signifiantes sur les perceptions de soi par la perception de ce jugement (i.e., perception prêtée). Premièrement, nous faisons l’hypothèse que cette médiation sera observée uniquement dans les domaines où l’enfant reçoit des feedback d’une personne signifiante (ici l’enseignant ou les parents). Deuxièmement, nous avons pris en compte deux mesures de perceptions prêtées pouvant être considérées comme équivalentes: une mesure classique et une mesure de soutien social d’approbation (Harter, 1985b). Nous faisons l’hypothèse que les perceptions prêtées mesurées de manière classique seraient un meilleur médiateur de l’effet du jugement des personnes signifiantes sur les perceptions de soi que la mesure de soutien social d’approbation. Afin de tester ces hypothèses, nous avons conduit une étude auprès de 126 enfants âgés de 8–9 ans, de 106 parents et de six enseignants. Pris dans leur ensemble, les résultats vont dans le sens de nos hypothèses.
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Nurra, C., Pansu, P. The impact of significant others’ actual appraisals on children’s self-perceptions: What about Cooley’s assumption for children?. Eur J Psychol Educ 24, 247–262 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173015
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173015