California Preschool Learning Foundations - ECEZero2Three ...

Self
Self-Awareness
There has been recent, considerable
research interest in the development
of self-awareness in young children,
particularly because of the realization
that older preschoolers are capable of
significantly greater depth and psychological
insight into their conceptions
of themselves. The period of time
addressed by these foundations is,
therefore, an important transitional
period. This period starts with the very
simple, rudimentary self-awareness of
the younger child, focusing on physical
self-recognition (such as in a mirror
image) and dispositional self-attributions
(e.g., “Me big!”) and progressing
to a more fully realized form of the
psychological self-awareness of the
early-grade-schooler. For general
reviews of this research literature,
consult Harter (1999, 2006) and
Thompson (2006), who offer somewhat
different portrayals of the emergence
of self-awareness during the
preschool period. Self-awareness is an
important component of early school
success because young children’s
self-confidence shapes their interest,
motivation, and persistence in academic
work, and their success in the
classroom reciprocally influences their
sense of pride and accomplishment.
Research revealing young children’s
(unrealistically) optimistic self-regard
has often used Harter’s Self-Perception
Scale for Children (Harter and
Pike 1984); see also studies by Stipek
(1984; Stipek and Hoffman 1980;
Bibliographic Notes
California Department of Education • Preschool Learning Foundations, Volume 1
21
Stipek and Mac Iver 1989; Stipek,
Roberts, and Sanborn 1984). The
sensitivity of preschool children to
adults’ evaluative judgments of their
performance is also well documented
by Stipek’s research (1995; Stipek,
Recchia, and McClintic 1992). A
number of studies have revealed the
emerging awareness of internal, psychological
characteristics in the selfawareness
of older four-year-olds; see
Eder (1989, 1990), Measelle and others
(1998), and the work of Marsh and
his colleagues (Marsh, Craven, and
Debus 1998; Marsh, Ellis, and Craven
2002). This work challenges earlier,
traditional views that preschoolers
are focused exclusively on observable
appearance and behavior in their
self-perceptions and shows that when
developmentally appropriate research
methods are used, even four-year-olds
reveal a dawning understanding of
their psychological selves.
Self-awareness is an important
component of early school success
because young children’s
self-confidence shapes their interest,
motivation, and persistence in
academic work . . .
Povinelli’s creative research studies
have shown that older preschoolers are
also capable of perceiving themselves
in a more extended temporal context,
including the past and future (Povinelli
2001; Povinelli, Landau, and Perilloux
1996; Povinelli and others 1999; Povinelli
and Simon 1998). That capability
is relevant to both autobiographical
SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT