Self development
This study aims to explore whether children and adolescents show a self bias similar to that seen in adults. We are also looking at relationships between self biases and well-being during these key period of change.
Childhood is thought to be an important time in the development of the self, but objective research about the self in children and adolescents has been limited to date. We also know relatively little about links between the self and well-being, even though we know that adolescence is a time when many young people experience difficulties.
Study aims and methods
The purpose of this study is to investigate the self objectively using computerised tasks that measure whether children and adolescents are faster to respond to shapes linked with the self than other people. We will also look at how children and adolescents learn from social feedback about how others see them and how they see other people.
There has been some research in adults showing that low mood or anxiety is linked to weaker self biases or learning more rapidly from negative feedback on these tasks, but it is not known whether the same effects hold in adolescents. So this study will also use well-being questionnaires, to explore links with between well-being and the self during this important time.