Drawing upon the perspective of social identity theory, The Development of the Social Self is concerned with the acquisition and development of children's social identities. In contrast to previous work on self-development, which has focused primarily on the development of the personal self, this volume makes a case for the importance of the study of the social self - that is, the self as defined through group memberships, such as gender, ethnicity, and nationality. A broad range of identity-related issues are addressed, such as ingroup identification, conceptions of social identities, prejudice, and the central role of social context. Based on contributions from leading researchers in Europe, Australia and the US, the book summarises the major research programmes conducted to date. Furthermore, the closing chapters provide commentary on this research, as well as mapping out key directions for future research. With a unique focus encompassing both social and developmental psychology, The Development of the Social Self will appeal to a broad spectrum of students and researchers in both disciplines, as well as those working in related areas such as sociology and child development.

Drawing upon the perspective of social identity theory, The Development of the Social Self is concerned with the acquisition and development of children's social identities. In contrast to previous work on self-development, which has focused primarily on the development of the personal self, this volume makes a case for the importance of the study of the social self - that is, the self as defined through group memberships, such as gender, ethnicity, and nationality. A broad range of identity-related issues are addressed, such as ingroup identification, conceptions of social identities, prejudice, and the central role of social context. Based on contributions from leading researchers in Europe, Australia and the US, the book summarises the major research programmes conducted to date. Furthermore, the closing chapters provide commentary on this research, as well as mapping out key directions for future research. With a unique focus encompassing both social and developmental psychology, The Development of the Social Self will appeal to a broad spectrum of students and researchers in both disciplines, as well as those working in related areas such as sociology and child development.

This innovative text sheds light on how people work -- why they sometimes function well and, at other times, behave in ways that are self-defeating or destructive. The author presents her groundbreaking research on adaptive and maladaptive cognitive-motivational patterns and shows: * How these patterns originate in people's self-theories * Their consequences for the person -- for achievement, social relationships, and emotional well-being * Their consequences for society, from issues of human potential to stereotyping and intergroup relations * The experiences that create them This outstanding text is a must-read for researchers in social psychology, child development, and education, and is appropriate for both graduate and senior undergraduate students in these areas.

· There is no doubt that the development of the social self of individuals generally affects society and makes it exemplary and completely free of all forms of violence. · Understanding the standards of love, emotions, personality development, self-education, sharing hopes and dreams, and stress management helps a person develop socially, personally, and professionally. · This book serves as a practical guide to solving some practical problems that may hinder a person socially during his social self-development and ways to solve those problems smoothly. · The Author, a legal researcher in social psychology, believes that developing the social self would influence the behavior of individuals in society for the better and From this standpoint, he wrote this book .

Much discussion in recent years has centred on the status of the self, identity and subjectivity in the light of powerful arguments about the social origins of personhood. The Social Self presents many dimensions of the debate, spanning psychology, philosophy, politics and feminist theory, and provides a critical overview of the key themes involved. The internationally renowned contributors examine the senses in which we are `social selves' whose very identities are intimately bound up with the communities and cultures in which we live. Drawing on Wittgenstein, Marx, Foucault, Bakhtin, Gilligan and MacIntyre, among others, the chapters show the diversity of influences that have shaped this exciting and controversial

It is always enlightening to inquire about the origins of a research en deavor or a particular theoretical approach. Beginning with the observa tion of the mental life of the infant in 1962, Michael Lewis has contrib uted to the change in the view of the infant as an insensate mass of confusion to a complex and intellectual being. Anyone fortunate enough to have participated in the infancy research of the 1960s knows how exciting it was to have discovered in this small creature such a full and complex organism. More central to the origins of this work was the perception of the infant as an interactive, not a reactive, organism, and as one who influenced its social environment and constructed its cogni tive life, not one who just passively received information. Other areas of psychology had already begun to conceptualize the organism as active and interactive, even while developmental psychologists still clung to either simple learning paradigms, social reinforcement theories, or reflex ive theories. Even though Piaget had proposed an elaborate interactive theory, it was not until the late 1960s that his beliefs were fully im plemented into developmental theory and practice. A concurrent trend was the increase of concern with mother-infant interactions (Ainsworth, 1969; Bowlby, 1969; Goldberg & Lewis, 1969; Lewis & Goldberg, 1969) which provided the impetus for the study of social and emotional as well as cognitive development.