The reasons for the choice of ideals are various and not yet well determined.
Civic virtues certainly rise; material and utilitarian considerations do not seem to
much, if at all, at adolescence, and in some data decline. Position, fame, honor,
and general greatness increase rapidly, but moral qualities rise highest and also
fastest just before and near puberty and continue to increase later yet. By these
choices both sexes, but girls far most, show increasing admiration of ethical and
social qualities. Artistic and intellectual traits also rise quite steadily from ten or
eleven onward, but with no such rapidity, and reach no such height as military
ability and achievement for boys. Striking in these studies is the rapid increase,
especially from eight to fourteen, of the sense of historic time for historic
persons. These long since dead are no longer spoken of as now living. Most of
these choices are direct expressions of real differences of taste and character.
Property, Kline and France[14] have defined as "anything that the individual
may acquire which sustains and prolongs life, favors survival, and gives an
advantage over opposing forces." Many animals and even insects store up food
both for themselves and for their young. Very early in life children evince signs
of ownership. Letourneau[15] says that the notion of private property, which
seems to us so natural, dawned late and slowly, and that common ownership was
the rule among primitive people. Value is sometimes measured by use and
sometimes by the work required to produce it. Before puberty, there is great
eagerness to possess things that are of immediate service; but after its dawn, the
desire of possession takes another form, and money for its own sake, which is at
first rather an abstraction, comes to be respected or regarded as an object of
extreme desire, because it is seen to be the embodiment of all values.
The money sense, as it is now often called, is very complex and has not yet been
satisfactorily analyzed by psychology. Ribot and others trace its origin to
provision which they think animals that hoard food feel. Monroe[16] has
tabulated returns from 977 boys and 1,090 girls from six to sixteen in answer to
the question as to what they would do with a small monthly allowance. The
following table shows the marked increase at the dawn of adolescence of the
number who would save it:
Age. Boys. Girls. | Age. Boys. Girls.
7....43 per cent 36 per cent | 12....82 per cent 64 per cent
8....45 " 34 " | 13....88 " 78 "
9....48 " 35 " | 14....85 " 80 "