journal

Chapter 13

Emotional and Social Development in

Middle Childhood

ERIKSON'S STAGES

Toddlerhood Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt

Early Childhood Initiative vs. Guilt

Infancy Basic Trust vs. Mistrust

Middle Childhood Industry vs. Inferiority

Adolescence Identity vs. Identity Confusion

Early Adulthood Intimacy vs. Isolation

Middle Adulthood Generativity vs. Stagnation

Late Adulthood Ego Integrity vs. Despair

ERIKSON'S THEORY • Basic conflict of middle childhood:

Industry versus Inferiority

7 to 11 years of age

• According to Erikson this conflict is resolved positively when experiences lead children to develop a sense of competence at useful skills and tasks.

• This period of development is marked by the beginning of formal schooling – industry, gains in knowledge and skill building

ERIKSON'S THEORY

• The danger at this stage is inferiority, reflected in the sad pessimism of children who have come to believe they will never be good at anything.

• Children realize they are good at some things and not so good at others

Parents and caregivers provide

support and point out the skills

and knowledge children have

mastered up to middle

childhood.

Children need to feel a sense of

industry and appreciation for

who they are and what they can

do.

SELF-DEVELOPMENT • Self-concept is the sum total of attributes, abilities,

attitudes and values that an individual believes defines who he or she is.

• In Middle childhood there are some changes in self- concept – More refined self-concept, or me-self – Children begin to view themselves less in terms of external physical

attributes and more in terms of psychological traits

– Social comparisons are made with peers and others

– Cognitive development affects the structure of the self

– Organize their observations of behaviors

– Children are better at reading others emotional states

– Peer influence increases

Self-Esteem

Berk, 2012

View of Oneself

• A person’s self-esteem, the overall positive or negative self-evaluation develops in important ways during middle childhood. Children continue to

– compare themselves to others.

– develop their own internal standards.

– Internalize feedback from others (positive or negative)

• Self-esteem, for most children, increases during middle childhood.

A Cycle of Low Self-Esteem

If a child has low

self-esteem and

expects to do

poorly on a test,

she may

experience anxiety

and not do as well,

which confirms the

negative self view.

Parents can break

this cycle a warm

and supportive

style of caregiving.

Emotional Understanding

• By age 8, Children are aware of their Emotions

• Pride motivates children to take on challenges • Guilt prompts making amends, striving for self-

improvement.

• Although aware of the external event, children in middle childhood have a range of emotional experience and become better at reading the emotional state of others.

Emotional Self-Regulation • By age 10, most children have an

adaptive set of strategies for managing emotions. They use strategies internalized from experiences with parent, caregiver and peer models.

• Emotionally well-regulated children are: – Upbeat in mood

– Empathic and pro-social

– Liked by their peers.

UNDERSTANDING OTHERS

• In middle childhood children have a better understanding of others and begin perspective taking. Perspective taking is defined as:

– Imagining what other people may be thinking and feeling

Perspective Taking and Social Skills

• Varies greatly among children of the same age.

• Children with poor social skills have difficulty imagining others’ thoughts and feelings.

• Interventions – Provide practice in perspective taking – Helpful in reducing antisocial behavior – Increases empathy and prosocial responding

Moral Development

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development:

• People pass through stages of the kind of reasoning they use to make moral judgments, primarily based on cognitive characteristics.

• Reasoning moves from concrete rules to abstract principles in three stages.

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development:

Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning

• Preconventional Morality (stages 1 & 2) – children follow unvarying rules based on rewards and punishments.

• Stage 1 – children follow rules to avoid punishment

• Stage 2 – children follow rules for their own benefit, e.g., if they are rewarded.

Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning

• Conventional Morality (stages 3 & 4) is where people approach problems in terms of their own position as good, responsible members of society.

• Stage 3 – desire to be “good boy” in the eyes of others

• Stage 4 – conform to societal rules and norms; what’s “right” is what society defines as right.

Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning

• Postconventional Morality (stages 5 & 6) is where universal moral principles are invoked and considered broader than the values of a particular society.

• Stage 5 – do what is right out of sense of obligation to laws agreed upon in society.

• Stage 6 – a person’s behavior is based upon universal ethical principles, which trump societal laws.

Kohlberg’s Theory

• Kohlberg assessed people's moral reasoning using moral dilemmas.

• According to Kohlberg, people move through these stages in a fixed order.

• Middle childhood is at stage 1 & 2, the preconventional stage, because of the limits of children's cognitive abilities.

Criticisms of Kohlberg’s Theory

• Kohlberg's theory is a good account of moral judgment but not adequate at predicting moral behavior.

• The theory is based on data from boys, and may be inadequate in describing the moral development of girls.

Moral Development in Girls

• Carol Gilligan says:

– The way boys and girls are raised in our own society leads to differences in moral reasoning.

– Kohlberg's theory is inadequate and places girls' moral reasoning at a lower level than boys‘ reasoning.

– Boys view morality primarily in terms of justice and fairness.

– Girls see morality in terms of responsibility and compassion toward individuals and a willingness to sacrifice for relationships.

Moral Development in Girls

• Gilligan sees morality in girls developing in 3 stages.

– Orientation toward individual survival - where females

concentrate on what is practical and best for them.

– Goodness as self-sacrifice - where females think they must sacrifice their own wishes to what others want.

– Morality of nonviolence - women come to see hurting anyone as immoral, including themselves.

PEER RELATIONS

• Peers become an increasingly important context for development.

• A peer group is composed of peers who form a social unit by generating shared values and standards for behavior and a social structure of leaders and followers.

• Aggression declines in

middle childhood, especially

physical attacks.

Peer Groups

• Peers generate

– Shared values and standards

– Social structure of leaders and followers

• The “peer culture” of a peer group typically consists of:

– a specialized vocabulary

– dress code

– place(s) to "hang out”

• Children who deviate are often rejected (rebuffed, snubbed) by their peers.

Peer Groups

• Peer groups provide a context for children to practice – Cooperation

– leadership and followership

– And develop a sense of loyalty to collective goals

• Participation in Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H, church groups, and other associations promote gains in social and moral understanding.

• From third grade on, relational aggression rises among girls (verbal and physical aggression toward both ingroup and outgroup). Boys are more straight forward (hostile) toward the "outgroup."

Friendships

• Friendship becomes a mutually agreed on relationship in which children like each other's personal qualities and respond to one another's needs and desires.

• Trust is the defining feature. Violations of trust are a serious breach of friendship and may bring the friendship to an end.

• Same age, sex, ethnicity, and SES

– Schools and neighborhoods can affect friendships.

• Through the development of friendships children learn emotional commitment, respect and responsibility

Stages of Friendship

• According to William Damon (1983), childhood friendship has three stages:

1. Basing friendship on other’s behavior.

• Age 4-7; friends are children who like you and with

whom you share toys and activities.

2. Basing friendship on trust.

• Age 8-10; focus on mutual trust.

3. Basing friendship on psychological closeness.

• Age 11-15; focus on intimacy and loyalty.

Children in middle childhood provide a list of behaviors favored in their good friends.

Most-liked

• Sense of humor

• Nice/friendly

• Helpful

• Complementary

• Sharing

• Loyalty and Trusting

Least-liked

• Verbal aggression

• Dishonesty

• Critical

• Greedy/bossy

• Teasing

• Physical aggression

Peer Acceptance

Four types of peer acceptance: – Popular children

• Many positive interactions with their peers

– Rejected children

• Actively disliked by their peers

– Controversial children

• Hostile and disruptive, but they engage in high rates of positive, prosocial acts.

– Neglected children

• Shy by their classmates, but are not less socially skilled

Berk, L. E., (2016). Infants, Children, and Adolescents. Boston, MA: Pearson. EIGHTH EDITION