B . Self during Middle Childhood During this period, children’s self-evaluations become more complex. There are five key changes that characterise this increasing complexity: . The child shifts towards describing herself in terms of her internal characteristics.
The child is more likely to name her/his psychological characteristics (such as preferences or personality traits) in her self- definition and less likely to name physical characteristics. Thus, the child may say, “I am good at making friends”, “I can work hard and finish my homework on time.” . The child’s descriptions include social descriptions and identity – they may define themselves in terms of groups they belong to, “I am in the music choir in school”. .
Children begin to make social comparisons and differentiate themselves from others in comparative rather than absolute terms. Thus, they begin to think about what they can do in comparison with others, for example, “I can run faster than Kiran.” . They begin to distinguish between their real self and ideal self . Thus they can differentiate between their actual competencies and those that they want to have or those which they think are most important.
. The self-descriptions become more realistic as compared to those of the pre-school child. This may be because of the ability to see things and situations from the point of view of others.