Personality Development in Childhood: The Unique Self

Allport chose the term proprium for the self or ego. He rejected the words self and ego because of the diversity of meanings ascribed to them by other theorists.

Stages of Development
Allport proposed seven stages of the nature and development of the proprium from infancy through adolescence.

1. Bodily self; In this stage, infants become aware of their own existence and distinguish their own bodies from objects in the environment.
2. Self-identity; Children realize that their identity remains intact despite the many changes that are taking place.
3. Self-esteem; Children learn to take pride in their accomplishments.
4. Extension of self; In this stage, children come to recognize the objects and people that are part of their own world.
5. Self-image Children develop actual and idealized images of themselves and their behavior and become aware of satisfying parental expectations.
6. Self as a rational coper; Children begin to apply reason and logic to the solution of everyday problems.
7. Propriate striving; Young people begin to formulate long-range goals and plans.

The infant begins to emerge, without the proprium; with no awareness of self. Allport described infants as pleasure seeking, destructive, selfish, impatient, and dependent. They are simply driven by reflexes to reduce tension and maximize pleasure. During the first three stages from infancy to age four, Allport referred to as a “bodily me.”
Children gain self-identity when they learn their name and self-esteem develops when they discover that they can accomplish things on their own. The extension-of-self stage involves the growing awareness of objects and people in the environment and the identification of them as belonging to the child. The self-extension and self-image stage typically occur between the ages of 4 and 6. The self as rational stage occurs between ages 6 and 12 and the propriate striving stage follows, when adolescents begin to formulate plans and goals for the future.

Parent–Child Interactions
Parent-child interaction is vitally important throughout the stages of development of the proprium. As the proprium will not mature properly, the child becomes insecure, aggressive, demanding, jealous, and self-centered. Psychological growth is stunted. The result is a neurotic adult who functions at the level of childhood drives. Adult motives do not become functionally autonomous but remain tied to their original conditions. Traits and personal dispositions do not develop and the personality remains undifferentiated, as it was in infancy.