Question

Becky is struggling to learn her alphabet letters. Her kindergarten teacher, frustrated by failed attempts to teach her, says to Becky, "All the other girls and boys can write most of the letters and you can't even say their names." The teacher believes she is motivating the child to work harder by comparing Becky to the others. Which of the following predictions is most consistent with Cooley's theory of self-development?

1) Becky will develop a sense of agency because she is more motivated to compete with her peers.
2) Becky will not develop a sense of agency because she is not given adequate support.
3) Becky will work harder to develop her sense of self-esteem.
4) Becky will incorporate her teacher's negative evaluations into her construction of her own sense of self.

Answer 1

Answer: 4) Becky will incorporate her teacher's negative evaluations into her construction of her own sense of self.

Explanation: The teacher's attempt to motivate the child is more of an insult rather than proper motivation.

Being compared to others is not at all a good motivation technique, because then the student will apply those thoughts to herself (and this is a kindergartener so it makes sense that she would take what her teacher said more seriously) and eventully start seeing herself as a failure.

This probably isn't the best explanation, and I apologize for that.