408 Journal of School Psychology

Rosenberg, Morris. Conceiving the Self New York: Basic Books, 1979. Pp. xvi
+ 319, $16.95 hard cover.

This book deals with the self-concept. Four principles of self-concept forma-
tion are presented and discussed along with data relevant to the social deter-
minants and development of self-concept.
The first chapter distinguishes among three broad regions of the self-concept.
The extant self-concept is how the person actually sees himself. The desired self is
how he would like to see himself. The presenting self is how he shows himself to
others. The gap between the extant self-concept and the desired self (further
divided into idealized, committed, and moral selves) and the impression manage-
ment of the presenting self are invoked as motivations for a broad range of nor-
real social and pathological behavior.
The second chapter considers the self-concept as a motivational system and
presents four principles of self-concept formation. The motives to evaluate one's
identity positively (self-esteem) and to maintain a stable, coherent identity (self-
consistency), as well as their emotional and behavioral consequences, are discuss-
ed in the first part of the chapter. The second part deals with the formation of the
self-concept through reflected appraisals from others, social comparison of the
self with others, self-attribution of internal states from one's own behavior, and
the psychological centrality of various dispositions.
Chapters three through ten are discussions of the results of three surveys of
5024 juniors and seniors in New York State, 1988 grade 3-12 students in
Baltimore, and 2300 adults in Chicago. Chapter three deals with significant others
and their differential significance in affecting a person's self-esteem. Chapter
four deals with the social similarity or dissimilarity of the individual to those
around him and its effects on self-concept. Chapter five deals with the differential
association of social class and self-esteem among adults and children, with the
association being stronger among adults. Chapter six, contrary to current
assumptions, deals with the lack of association between minority status and self-
esteem. Chapter seven deals with the effect on self-esteem of the individual's
(negative) attitude toward his group and the psychological centrality of the group.
Moving to developmental concerns, chapter eight presents evidence that older
children's self-concepts are expressed in terms of a psychological interior and in
trait terms more than are younger children's. Chapter nine presents evidence of a
self-concept disturbance in early adolescence (age 12-14) that levels off in later
adolescence. Chapter l0 deals with the locus of self-knowledge which shifts away
from adults and toward peers with increasing age.
The final chapter suggests selectivity as a mechanism for enhancing and protec-
ting self-esteem. Selectivity is applied to each of the four principles of self-
concept formation. Reflected appraisals, as well as the people who give them, are
selected. A person's favorable self-components are selected for psychological cen-
trality. Attributions of causes and dispositions are selected in a manner favorable
to self-esteem. Finally, an individual's comparisons of himself with others are
highly selective.
This book should be read by students and professionals in education, counsel-
ing, and related areas. Self-concept and self-este~m are increasingly used to ex-
plain a wide variety of behavior. Facil assumptions such as that children's low
self-esteem accounts for their low achievement, or vice-versa, lead to simplistic
 Reviews 409
and, usually, unsuccessful programs. The system and the data presented in this
book should provoke more sophisticated and successful use of the concept of
self-concept.

James A. Wakefield, Jr.

Department of Psychology
California State College, Stanislaus
800 Monte Vista Ave.
Turlock, California 95380

Mearig, J. M. and Associates. Working for Children: Ethical Issues Beyond

Professional Guidelines. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1978. Pp. XVII + 348,
$13.95 hard cover.

Although Mearig graciously shares overall authorship with her "Associates,"

this book actually consists of individually or group-authored chapters separately
written by eighteen specialists representing psychology, pediatrics, family
medicine, education, social work and child advocacy, including an introduction
and concluding chapter by Mearig. Multidisciplinary in authorship and in ap-
plicability, each of the chapters in this provocative and important book should be
of particular interest to school psychology students and practitioners. Each
chapter is an original contribution written for this book and each author has, in
some professional role, provided services to children and has been a teacher or
supervisor of young professionals.
Despite the inevitable differences in individual philosophical-perspective or
style of expression, each author speaks to the moral dilemmas which profes-
sionals continually face in their day-to-day work with clients. Two early chapters
(Morse and Hobbs) offer a broad look at the philosophical underpinnings of the
helping professions and some of the value dilemmas, frustrations and challenges
which face the practitioner, particularly the student or novice. Morse introduces
such issues as the occupational hazard of professional arrogance and unrealistic
expectations of instant change in our society and considers particular implications
for young practitioners and for trainers. Hobbs points out that "the final
authority for ethical and moral choice must be the individual professional
person" (p. 25), but he also rejects complaints that the burgeoning development
of formal professional standards and legislation is unduly restraining or intrusive
upon professionals. Some individual chapters focus on specific areas of child-
centered service such as child custody (Smith), severely impaired infants (Di-
Buono), parents of disabled children (Switzer), and child abuse (Friedman, et al)
or on specific professional disciplines such as medicine (Mendelsohn), clinical
psychology (Kessler), or school psychology (Lisbe). Other chapters focus on
specific cross-disciplinary professional issues such as concepts of normality-
abnormality (Rhodes), ecological obstacles to advocacy (Knitzer), the meaning of
client consent (Biklen), dilemmas in stardardized testing (Fischer), and profes-
sional functioning within bureaucracies (McGowan). A final chapter by Mearig
summarizes major conclusions reached and significant issues raised including the
general consensus that the individual professional must take ultimate responsi-