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The Construction of the Self: A Developmental Perspective Susan Barter. Guilford Publications. 1999, 420 pp., $45.00 (hardcover).
Cognitive therapists often describe how the current self and its "schemas" are determined by earlier developmental experiences. However, there is seldom a reference in the clinical literature to the vast body of developmental research and theory. Susan Harter's, The Construction of the Self: A Developmental Perspective, should be required reading for all therapists interested in understanding the self. This volume reflects two decades of Harter's intensive research program on the development of the self.
Harter begins with a review of the history of issues regarding the development of the self, drawing on those themes that will inform her cognitivedevelopmental perspective. She reviews the work of William James (I-self, me-self, different constituents of the self), Cooley and Mead (symbolic interactionists, role-taking, and self-concept), Gergen's sociocultural perspective, and Lifton's...