Transcript CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 14
SOCIOEMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE AND
LATE CHILDHOOD
EMOTIONAL AND
PERSONALITY
DEVELOPMENT
The Self
The development of self-understanding –
Middle childhood sees a shift from the defining of
external characteristics to internal characteristics.
Children also employ social comparison –
distinguishing themselves from others.
The role of perspective-taking in selfunderstanding – The child begins to see through
others’ perspective.
Self-esteem and self concept
What are self-esteem and self-concept? A child begins
to weigh her self-worth and focuses on the self.
Research on self-esteem – The child increasingly
compares himself with peers. Depression is common in
this stage of development.
Increasing children’s self-esteem – Identification of the
causes of low self-esteem, emotional support, achievement,
and coping are all strategies to increase a child’s selfesteem.
Industry vs. inferiority – Erikson’s fourth stage – this is
an especially difficult time for children who are just below
average in achievement.
Emotional Development
Developmental changes – Able to understand emotions of
pride and shame; can experience more than one emotion in
a given situation; able to have a greater perspective on
events leading to emotional reactions; can suppress or
conceal emotions more successfully; uses self-initiated
strategies to cope.
Emotional intelligence – ability to monitor one’s own and
others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them
– Daniel Goleman.
Coping with Stress
Age changes – older children can more accurately appraise
a stressful situation
Removing one stressor – helps a child to cope
Teaching children how to cope effectively – has success
in helping children govern their emotions. Coping with
death – children given high-quality care by surviving
family members experience less separation distress.
MORAL DEVELOPMENT
Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral
Development – Children internalize or
begin to control their values and
feelings from within; they are making
judgments at this age that impact their
moral development.
Continued…
Level 1: Preconventional Reasoning – Stage 1:
Heteronomous morality is tied to punishment – simply
obey adults. Stage 2: individualism, instrumental purpose
– pursuing their own interests but allowing others to do the
same – right is an equal exchange.
Level 2: Conventional Reasoning – Stage 3: mutual
interpersonal expectations – individuals value trust, caring,
and loyalty – seeking to be thought of as “good.” Stage 4:
social systems morality – based on social order, law,
justice – respect for the social order.
Level 3: Postconventional reasoning – highest level –
individual recognizes alternative moral courses – Stage 5:
social preserve a person’s rights and values. Stage 6:
universal ethical principles – individual follows his or her
conscience – a more universal application of morality.
Kohlberg’s Critics
Moral thought and moral behavior – Many people propound one
moral code while living another.
Culture and moral development – Kohlhberg’s stages are devoid of
considerations for cultural norms.
Family process and moral development – He believed that the
family process was essentially unimportant, arguing that parent-child
relations were power-oriented; he put more stock in peer relations.
Gender and care perspective – Kohlberg is accused of understanding
a person’s willingness to care in terms of their connectedness to others.
Prosocial behavior and altruism – Positive aspects of moral behavior
such as showing empathy or behaving altruistically.
Altruism – Helping someone else unselfishly; children develop a
belief that sharing is obligatory and gradually express more objective
ideas about sharing.
GENDER
Gender stereotypes – Broad categories reflecting our impressions or
beliefs about males and females. Generally considered to be
pervasive.
Gender similarities and differences – Differences are average, overlap,
and attributable to biological and sociocultural factors.
Physical similarities and differences – Females are more immune to
infection because of higher levels of estrogen, have more elastic blood
vessels. Males grow 10 percent higher and stronger. Brain shows
emotional and physical expression more active in females.
Socioemotional similarities and differences – One researcher believes
that boys and girls grow up in different worlds of talk (i.e., boys games
have winners and losers and boast, whereas girls play in small groups
and tend to develop friends) – girls are more relationship-oriented.
Continued…
Gender controversy – Although many would see no
differences, science tells us that indeed there are
differences.
Gender-role classification – There are specific expectations
for girls and boys; this is changing to an androgynous
world where there is an equal presence of female and male
characteristics. Some argue that we should not teach
androgyny, but rather gender-role transcendence, where
an individual’s competence should be conceptualized on a
person basis; and that gender needs to be considered in
context, especially in countries where male or female role
is completely predesigned (e.g. Muslim countries).
FAMILIES
Parent-child issues – As children grow more independent,
there appear to be more issues that can cause tension.
Some of them are bedtime irregularities, temper tantrums,
sibling fighting, eating behaviors, and manners. Discipline
becomes focused at this time.
Stepfamilies
Types of stepfamilies – three types; stepfather, stepmother, and
complex. There are three types of relationships: (1) neo-traditional
– following divorce the new family settles in as a non-divorced
family; (2) matriarchal – custodial mother manages without
stepfather’s help; and (3) romantic – an unrealistic approach that
usually is disappointing.
Adjustment – Children adjusting to stepfamilies have the same
problems as children in divorced families: early sexual activity,
academic problems, and lower-self-esteem.
Latchkey children – These children left alone after school often
become involved in negative sometimes criminal, activities. They
tend to “grow up too fast.”
PEER RELATIONS
Peer Statuses – Children of middle childhood are often classified as
“types” such as: popular – someone’s best friend, rarely rejected by
peers; neglected – not usually someone’s best friend and generally
disliked by peers; controversial – someone’s best friend but also
disliked by peers.
Bullying – A prevalent problem, especially among children of this age
group. Researchers have found that bullies display certain
characteristics – intrusive, demanding but unresponsive parents, prone
to eventual criminal activity. Victims are often depressed and have
lower self-esteem through adulthood.
Social Cognition – A complex set of scripts are engaged as children of
this age navigate social situations. This has come to be known as
social cognition – an ability to socially interact effectively.
Friends – serve six functions: companionship, stimulation, physical
support, ego support, social comparison and intimacy/affection.
SCHOOLS
Contemporary Approaches – How children learn is a topic
always under discussion – the direct-instruction approach is
teacher-centered and is characterized by a power-down executive
strategy of instruction. The cognitive constructivist approach,
Piagetian in origin, stresses a child’s engagement of knowledge
and understanding. The social constructivist approach,
Vygotskyian in origin, stresses a collaboration with others to
produce knowledge and understanding.
The Transition to Elementary School – there is a changing view
of how children learn, especially in elementary school, and that
view is centered on the developmental needs of children. As they
transition from home to school, the need to attend to their
developmental styles of learning is acute. Traditional schooling
offers subject-centered topics to which the students attend,
whereas constructivist schooling seeks to construct relationships
among all topics to foster understanding.
Socioeconomic Status and Ethnicity
– The education of students from low-socioeconomic
backgrounds – A great many of our nations schools are
under-funded and offer substandard education in substandard
environments. This inequity results largely from how schools
are funded. Students from these schools are more likely to
drop out, less likely to find high-paying jobs in adulthood, and
more likely to have social problems – from divorce to
criminality.
– Ethnicity – Because 90 percent of the teachers in American
schools are non-Latino White, a widening gap is forming as
the minorities of African-American, Asian, and Latino
students continues to grow at an exponential rate. This
problem is exacerbated by large concentrations of minority
students in urban areas where substandard schooling
dominates. (See Santrock p. 463-64 for strategies to improve
relations between ethnically diverse students).