A Study of Inter-Relationship at Cognitive and Affective Levels of Self Perception and Environmental Perception of Adolescents

The total self development of adolescents takes place in the framework of their self perception at “real me and “ideal me” levels and their environmental perception at the “family “and “school “perceptual levels. The present study sought to find out the degree of affectivity of cognitively advanced adolescents and the less cognitively advanced adolescents. Two groups were formed on the basis of their performance on two Piagetion Tasks purported to assess the formal operations stage or otherwise. A comparative analysis showed that the formal operational i.e. cognitively more advanced adolescents, showed less discrepancy between their “real me” and “ideal me” estimation of themselves. This gap was less than those of the less cognitively advanced adolescents whose gap between the two pictures of themselves was more than they could cope with. This finding was in conformity with the discrepancy theory advocated by William James. The study also empirically tested the hypothetical theoretical assertion of Piaget that the cognitive and affective domains are parallel and influence each other. The findings of this study have shown the differential development of affective and domains of formal operational and non formal operational and these are not only parallel but are also concomitant.