Susan Harter
Professor Emeritus, Developmental

Dr. Harter's research in the area of socio-emotional development focuses on the self-system, broadly defined. One focus has been the development of a theoretically derived model of the causes and consequences of self-esteem. This work builds upon the conceptual formulations of James (1893) who postulated that self-esteem reflected competence in areas where success was deemed important, and of Cooley (1902), for whom self-esteem was the incorporation of the attitudes that significant others held toward the self. The findings reveal that self-esteem is a direct function of competence in domains of importance as well as the approval of significant others. Important consequences of self-esteem have also been identified, for example, affect along a dimension of cheerful to depressed. Those with low self-esteem are invariably depressed, and among many adolescents, such depression, in turn, leads to thoughts of suicide, an issue of clinical significance. Most recently, this work has demonstrated that there are multiple pathways to depression, representing different combinations of feelings of inadequacy and lack of support (e.g., from peers versus parents).

A subsidiary goal of this research has been the development of psychometrically sound self-report instruments to tap the constructs in the model. These measures include a life-span battery of Self-Perception Profiles (for Children, Adolescents, Learning Disabled Students, College Students, Adults in the world of work and family, and the Elderly). Other measures include The Social Support Scale for Children and Adolescents and the Dimensions of Depression Profile.

Recently, Dr. Harter has turned her attention to the multiple selves that are created as individuals move into adolescence. This greater differentiation brings with it the potential liability that the attributes that define one's multiple selves may lead to opposing characteristics (e.g., outgoing with friends but inhibited in romantic relationships; cheerful with peers but depressed with parents). Seemingly contradictory attributes can and do cause perceived conflicts within the adolescent's self-portrait, particularly for females. The presence of opposing attributes also ushers in concern over which such attributes reflect the true self versus false self behavior.

In another series of study, Dr. Harter has studied false self-behavior directly, identifying a model in which false self behavior with peers and parents is predicted by low levels of perceived support, conditional support, and hopelessness about obtaining support. In the face of this constellation of factors, adolescents don a false self, compromising their true self, in an effort to obtain the desired support that has not been forthcoming. Since a primary manifestation of false self behavior involves not saying what you think, other studies have examined this form more explicitly, namely, what Gilligan labels "lack of voice". It is Gilligan's contention that adolescent girls lose their voices as they identify with the role of the "good" woman in our society, see that female voices are not as respected, and fear that relationships will be threatened if they speak their mind. Our own research has revealed this to be an overgeneralization about female adolescents. We find no gender differences, per se. Rather, certain girls, namely, those with a feminine gender orientation, lack voice. Moreover, both male and female adolescents who lack voice also report low levels of support for voice.

Just as adolescents create multiple selves in different relational contexts, they also report differing levels of voice in different contexts. In addition, self-esteem varies as a function of context. Those reporting low levels of voice in a given context also report low self-esteem.

A related project examines issues involving autonomy and connectedness in adult relationships. In the literature to date, this dichotomy has been rather rigid applied to men and women, respectively. In this research, three (rather than two) styles have now been identified, the overly autonomous, the overly connected, and those displaying a balance of autonomy plus connectedness. Those reporting the two extreme styles report less validation from partners and less true self behavior.

Other projects involve children's emotional understanding and motivational orientation. The work on emotional understanding emanates from the investigator's clinical work with children, where it has been observed that young children have difficulty acknowledging more than one emotion at the same time. Adopting a cognitive-developmental framework, a five-stage normative sequence has now been demonstrated, culminating with older children's ability to acknowledge two feelings of opposite valence (e.g., happy and mad), at the same time, directed toward one event or person. Such a sequence provides a developmental backdrop against which deficits in emotional understanding among clinical populations can be evaluated. With regard to children's motivational orientation for classroom learning, Dr. Harter has focused on the degree to which such learning is intrinsically or extrinsically motivated. This particular work is of educational relevance in documenting developmental shifts toward extrinsic motivation, as well as individual differences in motivational orientation and their correlates. Moreover, changes in motivational orientation have been observed as a function of educational transitions such as the shift to junior high school.

Representative Publications:

Harter, S., Bresnick, S., Bouchey, H., & Whitesell, N.R. The development of multiple role-related selves in adolescence. Development and Psychopathology, 9, 835-854.

Harter, S., Waters, P., & Whitesell, N. R. (1997). Lack of voice as a manifestation of false self behavior: The school setting as a stage upon which the drama of authenticity is enacted. Educational Psychologist, 32, 153-173.

Harter, S. (1997). The personal self in social context: Barriers to authenticity. In R. Ashmore & L. Jussim (Eds.), Self and identity: Fundamental issues. New York: Oxford University Press.

Harter, S. (1998). The development of self-representations. In W. Damon (Series Ed.) & Nancy Eisenberg (Vol. Ed.), Handbook of child psychology, Vol. 3, Social, emotional, and personality development (5th edition), New York: Wiley.