The Development of the Conceptual Organization of Self

This study posed a cognitive-differentiation hypothesis for the development of the concept of self. Children from kindergarten through sixth grade (N = 112), divided equally between the sexes, were administered a class-inclusion task and two measures of the concept of self. The Imaginary Audience Scale for the Young Child (IAS; Elkind & Bowen, 1979) indexed two aspects of the Jamesian “I,” or self-as-subject. A newly developed instrument, the Part-of-Me Scale (PMS), measured the various constituents of the Jamesian “me,” or self-as-object. The results indicated a sex difference on the IAS subscales and a grade effect for constituents judged as integral to self-definition. The results suggest that a relational concept of self, characterized by individuation from and integration with the external world, may be a developmental achievement not apparent until middle adolescence.