Essay

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Chapter Seven

EXPANDING SOCIAL HORIZONS: SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

Industry

u Developing a sense of competence at useful skills and tasks

u School provides many opportunities for children to discover their own and others’ unique capacities and develop a sense of moral commitment and responsibility

Inferiority

u Pessimism and lack of confidences in own ability to do things well

u Negative responses from family, teachers, and peers can contribute to negative feelings

Erikson’s Theory: Industry vs. Inferiority

Emotional Development in Middle Childhood

u Self-conscious emotions: governed by personal responsibility u Pride motivates children to tackle challenges; Guilt prompts

them to make amends u Emotional understanding

u Explains emotion using internal states u Understands mixed emotions; Gains in emotional

understanding are supported by cognitive development and social experiences

u Empathy increases

u Emotional self-regulation: u Motivated by self-esteem and peer approval u Emotional self-efficacy: A feeling of being in control of their

emotional experience

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Family Relationships

The Family as a System

u Families exist for economic, emotional support, and childrearing purposes

u Parents are not all powerful in shaping development, despite older theories

u Families function, and are influenced from the micro to macro (e.g., parent/child interactions to the culture’s larger institutions)

A Systems View of Families

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Dimensions & Styles of Parenting

u Two general parenting dimensions u Warm & responsive vs. hostile & uninvolved

u Extreme control vs. no control

u Children benefit from warmth & responsiveness plus intermediate amounts of control

u Four parenting styles result from combining the two dimensions and their two levels

Parenting Styles

u Authoritarian parenting: high control but low warmth and responsiveness

u Authoritative parenting: greater control plus warm and responsive

u Permissive parenting: low control but warm

u Uninvolved parenting: low control and warmth

Siblings

u Birth of a sibling can result in the older child withdrawing or regressing to childish behavior u Responsive, involving parenting ameliorates

u Sibling relationships are more harmonious u In adolescence

u If same-sex and neither is too emotional

u When parents have a good relationship

u When parents are affectionate, caring, and responsive to all of their children

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Impact of Birth Order

u First-born children often: u Have enthusiastic but inexperienced parents

u Later-born children are: u Less concerned about pleasing parents and

adults

7.2 Peers

Friendships

u Friendship: voluntary relationship of two people involving mutual liking u Preschoolers: choose based on common

interests and getting along well

u 8-to-11: above, plus psychological characteristics (e.g., trust, helpfulness)

u Adolescents: above, plus loyalty/intimacy

u Fear humiliation if friends are disloyal

u Intimacy especially crucial for girls

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Who Are Friends?

u Friends tend to be similar in age, of same-sex, and from the same race or ethnic group u Latter less true if children’s schools or

neighborhoods are ethnically diverse u Cross-group friendships help majority group

children form more positive attitudes toward a minority

u Friends have similar interests, attitudes toward school, recreational pursuits, future plans, and drug use

Quality and Consequences of Friendships

u Children benefit from good friendships u Higher self-esteem u Less likely to be lonely or depressed u Act more prosocially u Better cope with stresses

u Co-rumination: discussing personal problems

u Risks of friendships u Reinforce each other’s aggressiveness and

risky behaviors

Groups

u Clique: small group of child or adolescent friends similar in attitudes, sex, race, and age

u Crowd: larger mixed-sex group of older children with similar attitudes and values

u Children of parents who are: u Authoritative join crowds endorsing adult

behavioral standards u Neglectful or permissive join crowds

disavowing these standards

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Categories of Peer Acceptance

Popular n popular-prosocial n popular-antisocial

Rejected n rejected-aggressive n rejected-withdrawn

Controversial

Neglected

Copyright © 2014, 2011, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Think about…

u Characteristics of popular, rejected, controversial, and neglected children

Think about…

u Consequences of peer relations u Positive

u Negative

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Aggressive Children and Their Victims

u Instrumental, hostile, and relational aggression u Early childhood aggressiveness predicts

adolescent and adult aggression u Chronic bullying victims have low self-

esteem, dislike school, and are often lonely, anxious, and depressed

u Risks for being victimized include children either being aggressive themselves or withdrawn and submissive