ABSTRACT
Harter describes how children thinking about themselves has traditionally been thought to progress in a series of crude developmental stages, inextricably linked to cognitive abilities. Harter explains how this was traditionally associated with the recruitment of a higher organizational system and more sophisticated cognitive skills. Findings reveal that there are four stages of virtual social identity: self-development, identity development, identity projection, and self-representation. These stages occur in a somewhat linear progression from around the age a child enters elementary school until adulthood. One of the most interesting findings were seen in this area of virtual social identity is that there are minimal, if any, gender differences in these stages. An important gaming development that may have elevated the online potential for self-exploration and expression has been the rising use of customizable avatars digital representations of ones persona, for self-representation. Turkle and others have focused primarily on identity exploration as it pertains to adolescents or adults.
