Early Childhood Developement

Learning Objectives

By the end of the chapter, you will be able to:

• Describe the development of attitudes as well as the influence that family, peers, mass media, and school have on them.

• Identify and define a school-aged child’s attributions and motives.

• Understand a school-aged child’s development of self-esteem.

• Understand the role of values with regard to beliefs and behaviors of a school- aged child.

7

Cognitive and Emotional Outcomes: School-Aged Children

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CHAPTER 7Pre-Test

Introduction

Have you ever wondered why school-aged children favor one set of attitudes and beliefs over others? Some children may favor academics over sports, while other children prefer to spend their time playing sports and ignore their schoolwork. In this chapter, we will discuss how school-aged children form and alter these attitudes and beliefs based on different influences in their lives. At this age, children are readily influ- enced, and the messages they receive can and will impact their adult lives.

Can you remember a time when you were motivated to achieve something that was very important to you? Was it related to school? Sports? Or something else? This chapter covers the various ways in which achievement motivation can be seen in school-aged children. As we have seen in previous chapters, children’s microsystems play an integral role in influencing children’s beliefs. Family members, peers, and the school community have the ability to affect children’s motivation levels, self-esteem levels, and overall outlook on others. Other forces also come into play as children grow. The media and other cultural influences begin to take more of a role in shaping children’s attitudes and beliefs. We will explore this as well as the role of self-esteem in school-aged children and the different influences on it.

Pre-Test

1. Spatial thinking is characterized by a child’s ability to understand the sequences of events as they pertain to a logical order.

True False

2. Family, peers, mass media, and the school system do not play a significant role in the development of attitudes and beliefs in school-aged children.

True False

3. School-aged children who have high expectations of themselves have a tendency to stay with a task longer and end up performing better on that task than children who have low expectations of themselves.

True False

4. Family plays a small role in the development of a school-aged child’s self-esteem. True False

5. Within the school-aged child’s exosystem reside the parental, peer, and teacher influences on value acquisition.

True False

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.1 Attitudes and Beliefs

Answers 1. False The answer can be found in Section 7.1. 2. False The answer can be found in Section 7.2. 3. True The answer can be found in Section 7.3. 4. False The answer can be found in Section 7.4. 5. False The answer can be found in Section 7.5.

7.1 Attitudes and Beliefs

Middle childhood (school-aged children), frequently defined as the period between ages 6 and 11 or 12 years, is filled with transitions in many domains, particularly in children’s cognitive abilities. They make a great deal of progress in this area, which in turn affects their attitudes and beliefs. The ways in which children’s attitudes and beliefs change as they grow have much to do with their microsystems, in addition to their mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, and chronosystem.

However, before discussing the influences on school-aged children’s attitudes and beliefs, we must examine their cognitive development.

Cognitive Development

According to Piaget’s stages of cognitive development (1952, 1964), children enter the stage of concrete operations around the age of 6 or 7 (see Section 2.3). Concrete operations is the stage in which children can use mental operations to solve concrete or actual prob- lems. Children in the midst of concrete operations function at a much higher level in terms of their cognition than they did during the stage of preoperational thinking. As the name of this stage suggests, concrete operational thinking suffers from one important limitation. School-aged children are able to think in an organized and logical fashion only when deal- ing with concrete information that they have seen for themselves. Their thinking process works poorly with abstract ideas. This important limitation has profound implications with regard to their development of various attitudes and beliefs. The advances typically seen during this stage include spatial thinking, cause-and-effect, categorizing, inductive and deductive reasoning, and conservation (Piaget, 1952, 1964). (See Figure 7.1.)

Spatial Thinking Spatial thinking is a child’s ability to analyze, engage in problem solving, and use pattern recognition involving objects and their spatial relationships (Pruden, Levine, & Huttenlo- cher, 2011). For example, at 7 years old, Hector is able to find his way home from school and can give his friend Lisa’s mom detailed instructions on how to get to his house. Hec- tor has the spatial thinking ability to recognize the streets and landmarks that would bring him to his house. Hector’s parents (members of his microsystem) were able to cultivate Hector’s abilities in spatial thinking and ultimately increased his self-efficacy by allowing him to demonstrate his abilities to Lisa’s mom. By encouraging and teaching children to hone their skills in analyzing problems and recognizing spatial relationships, parents and others can help them develop more positive, confident attitudes.

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.1 Attitudes and Beliefs

Cause-and-Effect Thinking The next advancement in cognitive abilities during concrete operations occurs within the realm of cause-and-effect thinking, which is characterized by a child’s ability to under- stand the sequences of events as they pertain to a logical order. Having the ability to think problems through in a logical progression is important in influencing attitudes and beliefs. Children must be able to internally process the consequences of their actions based on what they perceive to be “right” or “wrong” and act accordingly. When children are working through this stage, members of their microsystems can talk them through this way of thinking in order to better prepare them for the future.

Categorization Categorization is an ability that helps a child to think logically and is another advance- ment in this stage. As you may recall from Chapter 5, when children are younger, they are able to categorize objects using simple logic (see Section 5.1). However, a school-aged child is now able to group or categorize objects using higher-order thinking, such as through transitive inference, class inclusion, and seriation. Transitive inference is the ability to infer a relationship between two objects from the relationship between each of them and a third object, while class inclusion is defined as the ability to see the relationship between a whole and its individual parts. Seriation is the ability to order objects in a series according to one or more characteristics or dimensions such as length or color (Piaget, 1952, 1964). For example, 9-year-old Judy is playing with her 4-year-old sister, Molly. Judy wants to line up all of the crayons from lightest to darkest. Molly just wants to put the crayons into piles of the same colors. Judy says to her, “You are doing it wrong,” and Molly replies, “All of the oranges are together.” Judy has the ability to classify the orange crayons from lightest to darkest whereas Molly does not because she sees all of the orange crayons as being the same.

Seriation is an important abil- ity in terms of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model. In the same way that Judy classified crayons in terms of their shades, children can learn that people can be clas- sified in more ways than simply the color of their skin, gender, or a disability. This is where the attitudes and beliefs of members of children’s microsystems shape the way that children classify others, and in turn, shape their beliefs about these people.

Reasoning Another developmental milestone reached during concrete operations is the use of rea- soning, both inductive and deductive, as mentioned in Chapter 2 (see Section 2.3). For example, Tara, an 8-year-old, has a new Asian American classmate, Michio. Tara sees that Michio always gets good grades on his homework and tests, and can answer all

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The ability to categorize crayons by color will differ depending upon the age of the child.

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.2 Development of Attitudes and Belief Systems

the teacher ’s questions, which she believes makes him very smart. One night before bedtime, Tara is watching Jeopardy with her parents and sees that an Asian American woman is answering almost all of the questions correctly. She and her parents agree that this woman is very smart. Tara uses inductive reasoning and now believes that all Asian Americans are smart. Tara then uses deductive reasoning to conclude that her neighbor Jeni, who is also Asian American, must be good at school, though Tara has never seen any of Jeni’s schoolwork.

Parents and other members of children’s microsystems must be aware that this new cog- nitive development has the potential to cause children to generalize their attitudes and beliefs in ways that may be untrue. This is where racial and gender stereotypes can come into play, particularly because the cultural messages from children’s macrosystems may be persuading the children that these generalizations are true.

Conservation Another advancement seen during concrete operations is conservation, which is the awareness that two objects that are equal according to a certain measure remain equal in the face of perceptual alteration so long as nothing has been added or taken away from either object (Piaget, 1952, 1964). For example, Liam (6 years old) and Andy (14 years old) are sitting at a table and Andy makes 2 rows of 5 pennies each. The top row has the pen- nies spread out along the table, whereas in the second row, the five pennies are touching each other. Andy asks Liam, “Which row has more pennies?” Liam replies, “They are the same.” Liam understands that even though the pennies are spread out differently and that the top row takes up more space, there is still the same number of pennies in each row. Liam has mastered conservation.

Figure 7.1: Advances in cognitive development in Piaget’s concrete development stage

As children experience these stages of cognitive development, their attitudes and beliefs begin to take shape.

7.2 Development of Attitudes and Belief Systems

Various factors influence the development of attitudes and beliefs in school-aged children, including their family, peers, mass media, and their school commu-nity. Bronfenbrenner ’s (1979, 1986) ecological model can be seen in various ways when examining where a school-aged child’s development of attitudes and beliefs stem from. The concepts of the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosys- tem can be explored to learn what influences children. The most obvious influence to examine is a child’s family, because they spend the most time with the child as he or she is growing up.

Cause- and-Effect Thinking

Spatial Thinking

Categorization ConservationReasoning

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.2 Development of Attitudes and Belief Systems

The development of attitudes is influenced by a child’s age, cognitive development, and social experience (Van Ausdale & Feagin, 2001). Attitudes about diverse cultural groups sequentially develop in three stages (see Section 5.1). The last stage is especially pertinent

in discussing attitude and belief development because it is during middle childhood that this phase occurs. Children during this third stage of cultural awareness become cognizant of the various ways in which people within their family’s microsystem inter- act with others throughout their community. That is, they begin to notice things such as discrimi- nation, violence, and prejudice. Prejudice is defined as an atti- tude involving prejudgment and refers to the application of a previously formed judgment to some person, object, or situation. It can be either favorable or unfa- vorable and usually comes from categorizing or stereotyping.

BananaStock/Thinkstock

Culture and society tend to influence children’s prejudices, which can lead to ambivalent cultural identity.

Did You Know?

Did you know that there is a typical developmental sequence in how children become prejudiced? There are five steps in the process:

1. Awareness. The child notices and begins to understand differences. 2. Identification. The child labels and classifies people based upon physical characteristics. 3. Attitudes. The child develops feelings and thoughts regarding another person and the way he or

she lives in society. 4. Preference. The child values or gives priority to a physical attribute, person, or lifestyle over others. 5. Prejudice. The child holds a preconceived and often hostile attitude toward another person,

ethnic group, or lifestyle without knowing anything about it (York, 1992).

Influences on Attitude and Belief Development

Family members, peers, mass media, and the school system all play significant roles in the development of attitudes and beliefs in school-aged children. Members of children’s microsystems spend the most time with these children and therefore have the most influ- ence on their socialization and development. The role parents play within the microsys- tem with regards to the attitudes of their children has been well documented. In fact, school-aged children’s attitudes toward academic achievement (Parsons, Adler, & Kac- zala, 1982), obesity and food advertising (Yu, 2011), physical activity (Zecevic, Tremblay,

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.2 Development of Attitudes and Belief Systems

Lovsin, & Michel, 2010), physical risk taking during outdoor play (Little, Wyver, & Gib- son, 2011), and even organ donation (Siebelink, Geerts, Albers, Roodbol, & van de Wiel, 2011) are influenced by their parents. Furthermore, a study by Sinclair, Dunn, and Lowery (2005) documented the extent to which school-aged children ultimately identified with their parents’ attitudes and beliefs about race.

As an exemplar, Parsons, Adler, and Kaczala (1982) studied parental influence on chil- dren’s attitudes and beliefs regarding math achievement. Their study found that parents of sons rated their child higher in math achievement, and parents of daughters rated their child lower in math achievement. In addition, the boys rated themselves higher in math achievement than the girls even though there was no difference in math scores across gen- der. Parents of boys also thought it was more important for boys to learn advanced math than parents of girls, and parents of girls also rated that girls need to work harder at math, compared to the parents of boys who thought that math came more naturally.

Peers have a tremendous influence on school-aged children’s attitudes and beliefs. Children spend hours together every day, and the attitudes and beliefs they have about each other and other groups significantly impact each other’s attitudes and beliefs. School-aged children have a tendency to compare their behavior with the behavior of their peers (Brown, 2010). They understand the differences between classmates within the in-group and the out-group and have a greater tendency to exhibit prejudicial opinions toward members of the out- group. Because school-aged children are particularly sensitive to the influence of their peers, anyone who is seen as being “different” (for example, an individual from a culture other than the norm or an individual with a disability) is often excluded from the group (Brown, 2010; Gollnick & Chinn, 2008). Since peer influence increases over time, it is important for children to be part of a group that accepts them as equals (Kropej, Videmsek, & Pisot, 2008).

Mass media is another outlet that affects a school-aged child’s attitudes and beliefs. In fact, the statistics show that the average school-age child spends nearly 45 hours a week engaged in some type of media. This is almost three times the amount of time spent with parents. The Internet and other types of media have been found to have adverse effects on children (National Institutes of Health [NIH], 2008). Eighty percent of 173 studies exploring the effects of media consumption on children agree that heavy media exposure increases the risk of harm, including obesity, smoking, sex, drug and alcohol use, atten- tion problems, and poor grades. In addition, 93% of those studies found that children with greater media exposure have sexual relations earlier (NIH, 2008). Because children are inundated with the same messages daily, for hours on end, it may not be a surprise that they would begin to change their attitudes and beliefs to reflect these messages that they see and hear on television, radio, and in print.

Another type of media that affects a school-aged child’s attitudes and beliefs is video games. Video games are uniquely different from watching television or movies because they allow the child to become an active participant in the game’s script. Players benefit from engaging in acts of violence by beating an enemy and moving to the next level of the game. This inadvertently teaches children that the more aggressive they are, the more they will achieve. Video games have been found to increase aggressive behavior, because violent acts are continually repeated throughout the game (Gentile & Anderson, 2003). In addition, video games encourage players to identify with their favorite characters, which is referred

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.2 Development of Attitudes and Belief Systems

to as a “first person” game (Anderson & Dill, 2000). In this sense, a school-aged child is able to make decisions that ultimately affect the actions of the character he or she is “playing.” This first-person game playing can have a profound impact, because a player can exhibit “prime aggressive thoughts” after a limited amount of time playing the game (Bushman & Anderson, 2002). Players with previous experience playing aggressive video games are more likely to respond with increased levels of aggression when faced with confrontation. Although the influence of these various forms of media is particularly relevant given their prevalence in today’s society, one of the most influential factors associated with school- aged children’s attitudes and beliefs is the school community itself.

Think About It

Have you ever been at a restaurant and noticed that a school-aged child is playing a handheld video game while the rest of his family is eating a meal and talking to each other? How do you think this affects his ability to socialize? If a parent constantly checked his or her phone at the table, would it be considered acceptable behavior?

The influence of the school commu- nity on school-aged children can be seen in a variety of ways. For exam- ple, gender role stereotyping is per- petuated in schools. Schools that separate male and female activi- ties (such as boys being required to take math and science classes and girls being required to take English classes) are inadvertently teaching children which activities are gender appropriate (Sadker & Sadker, 1994; Sadker & Zittleman, 2009). Further, teachers who project their gender- type expectations onto the boys and girls in their classrooms reinforce traditional gender role behaviors (Good & Brophy, 2007). This means that the boys in those classrooms acted in ways that demonstrated more activity and aggression than the girls in those classrooms. In addition, a teacher who expected the girls to be passive and quiet had girls in their classroom who exhibited those types of behaviors as well.

One of the most profound examples of how a teacher (and subsequently the school com- munity itself) can influence a school-aged student’s attitudes and beliefs can be seen in Case Study 7.1, which is a true story.

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Video games are different from watching television or movies because they allow children to become active participants in the game’s script.

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.2 Development of Attitudes and Belief Systems

Case Study 7.1: A Class Divided

Jane Elliot was a 3rd-grade teacher during the 1960s and 1970s. After days of watching news com- mentary in the aftermath of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, she listened to White men sit around and discuss “those people” and “those communities.” It was then that Jane knew that she needed to try a new approach to teaching her young students about discrimination and its effects. She began her experiment in 1967. The following is an account of her 1970 experiment, which lasted 2 days.

Day 1

Jane began by asking her class about National Brotherhood Week, what it means and whether there are people in America who aren’t treated like brothers. She then proposed an experiment to help the students understand what discrimination means. She suggested that over 2 days, the class would be split into blue-eyed and brown-eyed students and that on the first day, blue-eyed people would be better than brown-eyed people. She went on to tell the students that those who were better (the blue-eyed for day 1) would get extra recess, be able to drink right from the fountain, have seconds at lunch, and could play on the playground equipment. The other children had to use paper cups to drink from the fountain, couldn’t play with the better children, had to stay off the playground equip- ment, and had to wear collars around their necks to be easily identifiable.

Throughout the rest of the day, both in and out of class, Jane pointed out how long brown-eyed stu- dents took to complete tasks, how ill-prepared they were, how they didn’t take things seriously, and how they were generally disruptive and ill-behaved. She enlisted the blue-eyed children to back her up and provide examples of these supposed behavior deficiencies.

It was shocking to see how quickly and easily the blue-eyed children slipped into the roles of bully, informer, and bigot. One child suggested that Jane keep the yardstick close by so that she could deal with unruly brown-eyed kids. Some children called others “brown eyes” in a way that one child com- pared to the use of the n-word against African Americans.

Day 2

On day 2, it was the brown-eyed children’s turn to become better than the blue-eyed children. All the privileges that accrued to the blue-eyed kids the day before were now the prerogative of the brown- eyed ones. Despite having been on the receiving end of discriminatory and nasty behavior because of their eye color only the day before, the brown-eyed children took to their roles as bigots and tormen- tors easily and cheerfully. When it was time for the brown-eyed children to do the daily flashcards with Jane, they improved their time by almost a minute over the day before. When Jane asked why the brown-eyed children were able to get through the flashcards so much faster, they told her it was because they didn’t have the collars on.

On the afternoon of day 2, Jane explicitly led the students to the lesson of the experiment by asking whether eye or skin color should be a factor in how to decide whether someone is good or bad or if those things make a good or bad person. All of the children answered “no.” In fact, one blue-eyed child described his experience on day 2 like being a dog on a leash.

Reflection Questions

1. Imagine that you were a child in that classroom. How would you have felt if the teacher turned against you because of the color of your eyes?

2. Have you ever been in a situation where you felt you were being discriminated against based upon a physical characteristic? How did that make you feel?

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.3 Attributions and Motives

Changing Attitudes About Diversity

School-aged children’s attitudes toward diversity have received a great deal of attention within the scientific community. In fact, several studies have documented the ways in which a child’s attitude can be changed through the use of educational techniques. This can be particularly important because children spend a great deal of time in classroom settings, and teachers and their peers are important members of their micro- and mesosystems.

One study found that the process of imagining an interaction with a physically disabled child can change the child’s attitude toward the other child (Cameron, Cameron, Turner, Holman-Nicolas, & Powell, 2011). Children who engaged in this “imagined contact” sub- sequently showed reduced bias and increased ratings of warmth and competence toward the disabled child. In addition, the imagined contact led to more positive intended friend- ship behavior toward the disabled child. If teachers are able to cultivate situations such as these, they can influence children’s reactions to students with disabilities. This type of interactional exercise can be used in other situations with students who are considered “different” to promote more acceptance and friendliness toward them.

Additionally, short-term, quality intergenerational contact can impact a child’s attitude toward older adults (Hannon & Gueldner, 2008). Children who participated in a treatment (that changed attitudes through discussion, direct exposure, and increased knowledge regarding the elderly) had a more positive attitude toward older adults. Both inclusion in the intergenerational activities and time spent with related older adults are significant in explaining changes in the children’s attitudes toward older adults.

The more exposure children have to others with disabilities, who are different ethnici- ties, or anyone else who is different from them, the more accepting they seem to be. This is important for members of children’s microsystems to know and to utilize while these school-aged children are developing attitudes and beliefs. If parents and teachers can pro- mote more accepting attitudes toward others, children are more likely to adopt their atti- tudes and beliefs as well. As a result, they will become tolerant of differences and learn to celebrate diversity.

7.3 Attributions and Motives

Motivation becomes much more of a self-centered activity—it becomes more indi-vidually tailored—when children become school-aged. By examining attribution and motivation in school-aged children, we will take a closer look at different types of motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic), locus of control, learned helplessness, and self-efficacy to help understand why school-aged children act the way they do.

Achievement Motivation

Achievement motivation is often related to actual achievement behavior (Bandura, 1997; Wigfield, Eccles, Schiefele, Rosser, & Davis-Kean, 2006). However, it is important to note that a school-aged child’s motives to achieve may only be seen in one aspect of life, mean- ing that a boy may be motivated to do well in baseball and eventually make the all-star team, and at the same time fail many courses in school. Members of a child’s microsystem have the ability to influence achievement motivation.

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.3 Attributions and Motives

Parenting practices influence achievement motivation. If parents set standards that are unrealistic (either too high or too low), it will affect their child’s motivation (Pomerantz, Grolnick, & Price, 2007). Low motivation can be caused by standards that are too easy or expectations that are too high. Both of these cause children to adopt a “why try?” type of attitude. Children with parents who set standards that are developmentally appro- priate (not too high and not too low) tend to have high motivation to accomplish the task (Pomerantz et al., 2007). Additionally, children who show high achievement usually come from homes that include the developmentally appropriate timing of achievement demands (Wigfield et al., 2006). Further, high-achieving children come from homes where parents have high confidence in their child’s abilities, a supportive family environment, and highly motivated role models.

School-aged children who have high expectations of themselves have a tendency to stay with a task longer and end up performing better on that task than children who have low expectations. In fact, children with high IQs and higher expectations of themselves in school receive higher grades compared to those children with high IQs but low expecta- tions of themselves (Wigfield et al., 2006).

It is important to realize that it is not only parents or home environment that affects children’s motivation but also other members of the microsystem. School environment is another important microsystem to study. Teachers play a big role in a school-aged child’s

achievement motivation. When teachers are caring and supportive, and emphasize the learning pro- cess over performance outcomes, as well as provide feedback, children tend to be motivated to achieve and expect success (Dan- iels, Kalkman, & McCombs, 2001). For example, Nolan (age 9) has consistently been praised by his teachers, extended family, and parents for his intellect and curi- osity. He earns the highest marks in school. As such, in his spare time, Nolan can be found read- ing books that are above his grade level, solving math problems in a workbook designed for older chil- dren, and working on scientific

experiments that he has read about on the Internet. Nolan’s internal motivation, his parents, and his teachers play a large role in Nolan’s achievement motivation, which is evidenced by his spare-time activity.

Locus of Control

Research has found that those who have mostly been successful in their past experiences have a tendency to expect to succeed in the present and future as well. Likewise, those who have mostly failed in the past expect to fail in the future and the present (Skinner &

iStockphoto/Thinkstock

Teachers play a big role in a school-aged child’s achieve- ment motivation.

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.3 Attributions and Motives

Greene, 2008). This idea that individuals are responsible for their own fate leads us right into our discussion on locus of control.

School-aged children who attribute their performance or behavior to an internal locus of control attribute the responsibility for behavior to themselves. For example, Katie, an 11-year-old, studies hard for her math test and earns an A. When her teacher asks how she did so well, Katie says, “I felt good the last time I got an A on my math test, so I wanted to study really hard to get another A. It feels just as good this time too.” In contrast, children who attribute their behavior to an external locus of control attribute responsibility for the behavior to something outside themselves. In the same situation, if Katie responds to her teacher and says, “I got lucky—the test was pretty easy,” she is exhibiting an external locus of control.

Children’s orientation toward either an internal or external locus of control is related to a number of factors (Wigfield et al., 2006). In particular, having an internal locus of control is shown to be related to age, gender, and socioeconomic status. There appears to be an increase of school-aged children’s perceived internal locus of control around the age of 9. In addition, girls (as opposed to boys) and middle- and upper-class (as opposed lower- class) children exhibit more of an internal locus of control orientation. School-aged chil- dren with an orientation toward an internal locus of control tend to do better academically than children who tend to attribute their performance to an external force (Patrick, Skin- ner, & Connell, 1993; Skinner & Greene, 2008). These factors are important for parents and teachers to know, since they have a direct influence on children’s beliefs in themselves. They must help students to become self-motivating and to see that their hard work has good affects rather than simply basing their successes on luck or fate.

Learned Helplessness

Gender differences in school-aged children’s learned helplessness have been well docu- mented (Dweck & Bush, 1976; Dweck & Gillard, 1975). Girls are more likely to attribute a lack of ability in themselves when compared to boys even when both boys and girls displayed learned helplessness orientations (Dweck & Bush, 1976; Dweck & Gillard, 1975). On the other hand, boys attribute poor performance to not working hard enough. Teachers can play a role in their students’ perceptions due to the types of feedback they offer to their students. Boys who submit work that is not up to the teacher ’s standards are often told that they did not put forth enough effort, whereas girls who submit poor work are told that they did not do it right even though they had tried (Dweck & Bush, 1976; Dweck & Gillard, 1975). Teachers must be fair in their critiques and comments to students, as they have the ability to influence how children feel about their present and future performance.

Similar findings have been reported in more recent studies. When faced with failure (after success), school-aged girls are more likely to attribute a subsequent poor performance to their ability than school-aged boys are, even when both sexes are given the same previous praise based upon their ability (Corpus & Lepper, 2007). For example, Judy (a 9-year- old), is struggling with science, and her teacher asks her if she would like to stay after school and get some help from the science tutor. Judy tells her teacher that there is no use in wasting the tutor’s time and that she is just no good in science and never will be. Here, Judy is displaying signs of learned helplessness with regard to science achievement.

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.3 Attributions and Motives

Due to previous attempts and subsequent failures to earn good grades in her science class, Judy now believes that she is incapable of achieving good grades and that no matter what she does, she will always be bad in science. The way that Judy’s teacher responds to her comments will affect whether Judy will continue to display signs of learned helplessness or if she can be empowered to try harder and improve her belief in her abilities.

Self-Efficacy

Self-efficacy (see Section 5.2) has been linked in school-aged children to the choice of tasks, effort and persistence, and achievement.

Children’s conception of their own abilities tends to be more predictive of their achievement than their conceptions of what others believe their abilities are (Pomerantz & Saxon, 2001). Further, school-aged children’s conceptions about their own com- petence are based on whether the ability is considered stable over time. School-aged children who have high self-efficacy set chal- lenging goals and use appropriate strategies to achieve them; they try hard, persist despite difficul- ties, and seek help when neces- sary. Also, these children have a tendency to embrace challenging goals and are better at monitor- ing their time. For example, Rob (an 11-year-old) spends the majority of his free time per- fecting his figure skating routines. Rob’s goal is to make the junior Olympic team in the coming year. He knows that he must sacrifice time with friends, going to church camp, and sleeping in on the weekends in order to achieve his goal. When asked why he makes these sacrifices, Rob replies, “Because I am really good at ice skating. I have won several state competitions, and I know that with my training, my parents’ constant encourage- ment, and my dedication, I will be the next Olympic-gold athlete.” Rob has positive self-efficacy with regard to his figure skating ability because of his performance record, vicarious learning through his trainer, verbal encouragement by his parents, and his emotional reaction that he is good at ice skating.

On the other hand, students who have low self-efficacy tend to become frustrated and depressed, which can make the idea of success even more intangible (Maddux & Volk- mann, 2010). In these situations, members of children’s microsystems, such as peers, can help. It was found that a solutions-focused approach group can help children with low self-efficacy to reach their goals, because they learn from each other and have the oppor- tunity to share their feelings and support one another (Kvarme, Helseth, Sørum, Luth- Hansen, Haugland, & Natvig, 2010).

Exactostock/SuperStock

Self-efficacy has been linked to a variety of outcomes, including achievement.

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.4 Self-Esteem

7.4 Self-Esteem

A major determinate of self-esteem in school-aged children is the child’s view of his or her capacity to do productive work (Erikson, 1982). Erikson’s fourth stage of psychosocial development is industry vs. inferiority. In this stage, children must learn the productive skills that are important to their culture, or they will face feelings of inferiority (Erikson, 1982). This stage of psychosocial development directly relates to Bronfenbrenner’s (1979, 1989, 1993, 1995, 2005) macrosystem and the beliefs that are held to be important in children’s culture and society.

Self-Esteem and the Microsystem

Children’s microsystems have a great impact on their development as their family and peers directly influence children’s self-esteem (Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1989, 1993, 1995, 2005).

Each child’s microsystem will dictate the skills and competency level he or she must reach in order to feel industrious. For example, some cultures expect school-aged children to learn to hunt, fish, or farm rather than go to school to learn reading, writing, and arith- metic. However, each child’s microsystem tells him or her something different. Children whose microsystems emphasize the importance of schoolwork will work hard at get- ting good grades in school. For example, 11-year-old Jeanne’s school emphasizes a well- rounded education. The school dictates that students do well in academics, but they must also participate in sports. Jeanne is currently in fifth grade. Although Jeanne is very good in school, she is not very good at playing sports. On most days, Jeanne enjoys going to school. However, on gym class days, Jeanne knows that teams will be picked. She pleads with her mother to allow her to stay home from school to avoid gym. She is always picked last, and as a result, her self-esteem plummets on those days.

Children’s self-esteem can also be based on their peer microsystem. Children will measure their feelings of competence with regard to how well they engage in the behaviors that are looked on highly by peers. For example, if Jeanne’s friends are all good at sports, this would also affect her low self-esteem on gym days at school.

The virtue or the strength that develops out of this stage of Erikson’s theory is com- petence. If a child feels inadequate in comparison to his or her peers, the child may retreat to the protective embrace that is shown by his or her family. The flip side of this is that if children become too industrial, they can begin to neglect social relationships and turn into workaholics as adults. For example, Justin, a 4th grader, is only 7 years old. He is exceptionally smart, as he has skipped two grades, loves school, and has high self-esteem. His parents have taught him that having a good education and being smart are important to succeed in life. However, Justin does not want to socialize with members of his class. He wants to go to school, learn all of the information, and then go home after school to his computer where he can surf the Internet and learn even more information. Though Justin’s parents value hard work, Justin’s teacher, Mr. Wilson, wants to promote balance in Justin’s life. As a member of the microsystem, Mr. Wilson wants to positively influence Justin, so he holds a conference with his parents, demon- strating the mesosystem influence. He tries to promote more balance and socialization in Justin’s life by discussing ways that Justin’s parents can help influence Justin to form

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.4 Self-Esteem

Peers become more important during this time, and school- aged children whose peers like them are more likely to be well- adjusted adolescents and are less likely to drop out of school or become delinquent (Cillessen & Mayeux, 2004). Children who participate in team sports are more likely to have higher self- esteem than children who par- ticipate in individual sports (Slutzky & Simpkins, 2009). It can be inferred that team sports provide more opportunities to bond and to strengthen friend- ships than individual sports do, thereby increasing children’s self- esteem. Further, children’s ability

to make friends during middle childhood has an effect on their self-esteem. One study showed that fifth graders who have no friends are more likely than their classmates to have lower self-esteem both in middle childhood and in young adulthood (Bagwell, New- comb, & Bukowski, 1998).

Self-esteem can be promoted within classrooms. Classrooms with more personalized displays (where teachers display children’s work or information about them) cultivate higher self-esteem in first graders (Maxwell & Chmielewski, 2008). Teacher and student interactions are important as well. Teachers who are actively involved with their students and who provide them with support increase students’ self-esteem both socially and

relationships with his peers who also value education by joining intellectually based clubs. This is an example of how parents and teachers have the ability to work together for a child’s best interest.

A school-aged child’s family can play a significant role in developing and influencing self-esteem. Parents who are warm and accepting, provide reasonable expectations for mature behavior, and engage in positive problem solving with their child have children with higher self-esteem (Rudy & Grusec, 2006). Further, controlling parents, meaning those parents who help too often or make decisions for their child, communicate a sense of inadequacy to their child. Having parents who are repeatedly disproving or insulting is also linked to school-aged children’s low self-esteem (Kernis, 2002).

Blend Images/SuperStock

During the school-aged years, peers become an important part of a child’s self-esteem.

Think About It

Can you remember a time when you were in elementary school and you earned a good grade on a test or assignment? How did members of your microsystem react to this achievement? How did this affect your self-esteem?

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.4 Self-Esteem

academically (Leflot, Onghena, & Colpin, 2010). These vital members of children’s micro- systems have the ability to help students succeed simply by being supportive. This holds true for boys and girls.

Another factor in children’s self-esteem is the media. Internet use, such as email and instant messaging, has been found to increase self-esteem in children around the age of 12 years old (Jackson, von Eye, Fitzgerald, Zhao, & Witt, 2010). Children now have the opportunity to stay in contact with their friends and family at almost all times due to the evolution of the Internet. This can be an important factor in self-esteem. However, it has also been found that video game playing is a negative influence on self-esteem (Jackson et al., 2010). Additionally, the cultural (macrosystem) messages that the media convey to children have the ability to increase or decrease their self-esteem. The media often shows children (and adults) what they should consider to be ideal—such as what qualities are considered beautiful, the possible careers that will show they are “successful,” and the appropriate ways to behave in different situations. If children do not live up to these ideas, their self-esteem may decrease.

Self-Esteem and the Macrosystem

In Chapter 1 we discussed how the macrosystem in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model shapes the socialization process (see Section 1.2). The macrosystem includes cultural beliefs and values. With the macrosystem, it is important to look at the influence of both gender and socioeconomic status on a child’s self-esteem.

Parents play a role in shaping children’s emotion regulation even during middle child- hood. The strategies that parents use are influenced by their cultural context. If parents are stressed themselves, they may have fewer resources available to devote to children’s problems. There are differences in cultural responses to school-aged girls’ and boys’ emotions. Analysis of questionnaires and observational methods to examine middle- income parents’ behaviors has suggested no differences in parents’ responses to boys’ versus girls’ general emotions (Lunkenheimer, Shields, & Cortina, 2007; Suveg, Zeman, Flannery-Schroeder, & Cassano, 2005; Wong, Diener, & Isabella, 2008). However, middle- income parents’ responses to specific emotions with questionnaires and observational methods reveal that parents are more likely to encourage girls’ emotions of fear and sad- ness and boys’ anger (Cassano, Perry-Parrish, & Zeman, 2007; Chaplin, Cole, & Zahn- Waxler, 2005). This means that differences have been found when a specific emotion such as fear is targeted—which can influence a child’s self-esteem. Parents may have particular goals in mind for promoting a specific emotion more heavily with girls than boys and vice versa. For example, parents may be more likely to encourage girls to cry when they are upset whereas they would discourage that specific emotion in boys. Not only is it important to look at potential gender differences in the socialization of emotion in middle-income families; low-income families experience different stressors that have the potential to impact emotion socialization.

It is imperative to consider the role of poverty in influencing self-esteem and to determine whether the gender differences found for mostly European American middle-income fam- ilies also are found in families living in low-income environments (O’Neal & Magai, 2005). Families living in poverty are likely to experience considerable and enduring economic

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.4 Self-Esteem

and social stressors, such as inability to pay bills and adversity in meeting the family’s physical needs. Perhaps due to this increased stress, low-income parents are less respon- sive and more likely to punish than middle-income parents (Pinderhughes, Dodge, Bates, Pettit, & Zelli, 2000). For example, low-income parents may be more likely to ignore a child who is angry about something that happened at school because they are so focused on an immediate problem in the family system, such as unemployment. Similarly, low- income parents may exhibit unique types of emotion socialization behaviors. For exam- ple, low-income parents may be too overwhelmed by stressors to focus on encouraging or supporting a child’s self-esteem. However, minimizing sadness may be adaptive for cop- ing in inner-city environments (Chaplin, Casey, Sinha, & Mayes, 2010). Because children in these contexts are more likely to be exposed to anxiety-provoking conditions such as noise and violence, it works to their advantage to be less sensitive to these environmental stressors because they can tune out these distractions more easily and function despite the adverse conditions. Some evidence even suggests that youth living in aggressive environments even compensate biologically by pro- ducing less cortisol, which is the hormone produced in the body to help in responding to stress- ful situations (Saxbe, Margolin, Spies Shapiro, & Baucom, 2012).

Despite the predominant pat- terns of parent socialization reported in low-income families, it is important to note that there is considerable variation in parent- ing quality and emotion social- ization in low-income families (Chaplin et al., 2010). Supportive emotion socialization behaviors may contribute to resilience and high self-esteem in low- income children. This means that when parents talk about children’s emotions openly, it promotes adaptive outcomes for the child. Discussion of emotion involves helping a child associate a label such as “anger” with specific behavioral and situational cues and talking about what it feels like to be angry. In other words, parents can assist children in understanding emotion by giving them a label for what they are feeling and learning the signs of that emotion.

Corbis/SuperStock

Socializing children to minimize sadness may be adaptive in promoting resilience, especially for youth living in stressful environments.

Did You Know?

Did you know that gender roles for emotion also may differ depending on socioeconomic context? For example, females in low-income environments may be socialized to appear “tough” to protect themselves and may be less likely than females in middle-income environments to experience social- ization pressure to express gentler emotions and to avoid anger (Eisenberg, 1999). Thus, socialization practices reflect adaptation depending on the child’s environment.

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.5 Values

7.5 Values

Values—particularly for school-aged children—are influenced by various factors and are often reflective of the values held by their parents, teachers, religion, culture, and with increasingly more importance, their friends. Bronfenbrenner ’s (1979, 1989, 1993, 1995, 2005) ecological model can be seen in multiple ways when exam- ining how a school-aged child’s values develop. One can examine the different systems of Bronfenbrenner ’s ecological model, specifically the child’s microsystem, exosystem, and macrosystem, to learn what influences the child’s values. In addition, the age, expe- riences, and cognitive development of the school-aged children ultimately impact the values that they come to hold. For example, as children undergo advancements in cogni- tive development, they are able to better interpret the behaviors and social interactions of others. By doing so, they are able to personally construct their own values for social interactions and behavior.

Within the school-aged child’s microsystem reside the parental, peer, and teacher influ- ences on value acquisition. For example, if a teacher stresses the importance of diligence, hard work, and persistence, her students may come to value these important character traits. In fact, this may actually be the school motto created by the school board—diligence, hard work, and persistence—which illustrates how the exosystem (referring to the settings in which children are not the active participants) ultimately impacts children’s microsys- tems, which in this case would be their teacher’s values in the classroom.

When examining the macrosystem and its impact on a school-aged child’s values, we need to recall that the macrosystem refers to the society or subculture to which the school- aged child belongs. On a basic level, this could be gender. It also can include particular reference to the belief system held by the culture in which the child lives. For example, Judy (a 7-year-old) has just started first grade at St. Cecilia’s Catholic School. Her friend Mindy has just started school at the Worth Public Elementary School. Judy is confused because she must go to church during the school day, but Mindy does not. Judy asks her

teacher, Sister Mary Terese, why she has to go to church when it isn’t Sunday. Sister Mary Terese replies that because she is going to a Catholic school, she must subscribe to Catholic values, which means that she must attend church every day.

There are values that entire societies are based upon. For example, the United States has the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, which form the basis of our democratic society. These documents spell out the basic principles valued by Ameri- cans that dictate how a person should act and be treated. These

Corbis/SuperStock

The Pledge of Allegiance symbolizes America’s values as a country.

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CHAPTER 7Section 7.5 Values

values are passed on to school-aged children by their parents, within the public school systems, and through society. In fact, in some public schools, children recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, a symbol of this country and its values.

Voices: The Value of Education Versus the Value of Sports

Scott, age 11: Hi! My name is Scott, and I am in the 6th grade at Benjamin Franklin Middle School. I really love school! My favorite part of school is during math and sciences classes. I love them! I think it is so amazing all of the things that you can create when you are good at math and science. When I am not at school learning about math and science, I come home and read books about math and science. Everyone in my family loves math and science: my mom, my dad, and even my brother Erik loves it. Both my mom and dad are biochemists, and they get to do math and science all day long. They are so lucky. Right now my dad and I and my older brother are working on two different proj- ects: a solar powered car and a real-life erupting volcano! During the last three summers, I went to a math camp for 2 weeks and then science camp for 2 weeks. I loved it. It was so cool being around other kids who like math and science as much as I do.

This summer my mom and dad are bringing me and my brother to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or as my dad calls it, MIT. We are going to visit because my dad earned his Ph.D. there, and my brother was accepted there, and he is going to start in August. My mom does not want me to go to MIT. She says the best place to earn a degree in biochemistry is from Princeton. That is where she went, and she really wants me to go to that school, but I told her that I want to go to MIT just like Dad and Erik. My dad told me that if I work really hard at school and keep earning straight A’s I will be able to grow up and be a biochemist and earn my Ph.D. from MIT just like he did. I cannot wait!

Joe, age 11: Hi! My name is Joe, and I am in the 6th grade at Benjamin Franklin Middle School. I like school sometimes, but I would rather be playing baseball than going to school every day. Baseball is not only a big part of my life; it is a big part of my family’s life. My two older brothers also play base- ball, and my mom just signed my little brother up for baseball this year too.

We play baseball in the summer and can play baseball all year long because we play for traveling teams too. The last 3 years after our regular season, I have made the all-star team, so that is even more time I get to play. I spend most of my time at baseball practice or at one of my baseball games, and if I am not at one of my games, I am at one of my brothers’ games or practices. My dad is the coach of my team, and he coaches one of my brothers’ teams too. We all love baseball in our house! Sometimes we don’t get home until really late, and I don’t do my homework. I used to feel bad about not being able to turn in my homework, but my dad said not to worry. He told me that major league baseball players don’t need to know how to use long division; they can just hire an accountant. I totally agree with my dad. I am going to be a major league baseball player one day and play for the Chicago White Sox!

Reflection Questions

1. What values did your family pass down to you when you were in middle school? 2. What values did you gain from your peers when you were in middle school? 3. Are any of the values that were important to you when you were in middle school still important

to you today?

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CHAPTER 7Post-Test

Conclusion

Children’s thinking during their school-aged years is marked by advances in spatial thinking, cause-and-effect thinking, transitive inference, and class inclusion. These advances allow school-aged children to think logically and in concrete terms, both of which contribute to their acquisition of various attitudes and beliefs. It is important to note that children at this age begin to show signs of prejudice; therefore, it is vital that communication and modeling be established in an effort to overcome this type of think- ing. School-aged children’s attitudes and beliefs are influenced by their microsystems, which include their family, peers, mass media, and the school community.

It is important for parents and teachers to be aware of the changes in school-aged chil- dren’s attributions, motives, and self-esteem. Collectively, this is the period of time in children’s lives when they begin to form the foundation for their beliefs regarding their abilities, talents, and pursuits. A child’s microsystem influences each of these components. Finally, it is important to note that school-aged children’s values are developed in concert with the values of their parents, peers, and school community. When children are young, families play the biggest role in children’s socialization and acquisition of attitudes and beliefs. However, as children age, their peers and school community become very impor- tant in shaping their outlooks on life. Each of these avenues offers the opportunity to pro- vide appropriate guidance and support in a positively developing child.

Post-Test

1. What term did Piaget use to describe the ability to see the relationship between a whole and its individual parts?

a. class inclusion b. transitive inference c. understanding cause-and-effect d. seriation

2. Mr. Mose is teaching his first graders to treat all people equally by having them act out scenarios in class. This is an example of _____________.

a. educational techniques b. orchestrated dialogues c. systematic inquiry d. technical listings

3. An individual’s perceived self-efficacy is related to ___________. (More than one answer can be correct.)

a. effort b. choice of tasks c. persistence d. achievement

4. Children’s self-esteem can be impacted by which of the following elements in their microsystem? (More than one answer can be correct.)

a. their peers b. the values of their culture

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CHAPTER 7Key Ideas

c. their family d. their siblings

5. Marcie is in kindergarten. Her values are unlikely to reflect the values of _____________.

a. her parents b. her teacher c. her friends d. her neighbors

Answers 1. a. class inclusion The answer can be found in Section 7.1. 2. a. educational techniques The answer can be found in Section 7.2. 3. a. effort, b. choice of task, c. persistence, d. achievement The answer can be found in Section 7.3. 4. a. their peers, c. their family, d. their siblings The answer can be found in Section 7.4. 5. d. her neighbors The answer can be found in Section 7.5.

Key Ideas

• According to Piaget, children around the age of 6 enter the stage of concrete oper- ations where they can use mental operations to solve concrete or actual problems.

• Five advances are seen during the stage of concrete operations: spatial thinking, cause-and-effect, categorizing, inductive and deductive reasoning, and conserva- tion. Two developmental milestones reached during concrete operations are the use of inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning.

• A child’s age, cognitive development, and social experiences influence develop- ment of attitudes.

• When examining the familial, peer, mass media, and school’s influence on school-aged children’s attitudes and beliefs, remembering the different layers in Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model is important.

• Several studies have documented the ways in which the use of educational tech- niques can change a child’s attitude.

• What motivates one person to do something may not motivate someone else. • School-aged children who have high expectations of themselves tend to stay with

a task longer and end up performing better on that task than children who have low expectations of themselves.

• School-aged children who attribute their performance or behavior to an inter- nal locus of control credit the responsibility for the behavior to themselves, whereas school-aged children who attribute their behavior to an external locus of control give responsibility for the behavior to something outside them- selves—external forces.

• A major determinate of self-esteem is the child’s view of his or her capacity to do productive work.

• Values—particularly for school-aged children—are influenced by a variety of fac- tors and are often reflective of the values held by the children’s parents, teachers, religion, culture, and with increasingly more importance, their friends.

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CHAPTER 7Key Terms

Critical Thinking Questions

1. Provide an example of a school-aged child using one of the cognitive advances seen during the third stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, concrete operations.

2. Think of a time when you have witnessed a child in elementary school being prejudiced against another child. What did it look like? What was happening?

3. Using Bronfenbrenner’s concept of the microsystem, determine who had the big- gest impact on your attitude development during your school-aged years. Was it your parents, a peer, a teacher, or someone else? Why did this particular person stand out?

4. Think back to when you were in elementary school and remember how much time you spent in front of the TV or video games. Did either of these have an impact on your attitudes or beliefs? How?

5. When it comes to the concept of achievement motivation, what was something that you were focused on? Was this motivation influenced by members of your microsystem? If so, how?

6. Taking Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model into account, who or what within your microsystem had the most influence on your self-esteem?

7. Give an example of when you displayed characteristics of being in Erikson’s fourth stage of psychosocial development (industry vs. inferiority).

8. Recall from your school-aged years a value that was important in your com- munity (your macrosystem) that trickled down and had an impact within your microsystem.

Key Terms

categorization A stage in cognitive devel- opment where a child has the ability to cat- egorize items using higher-order thinking.

cause-and-effect thinking A child’s abil- ity to understand the sequences of events as they pertain to a logical order.

class inclusion The ability to see the relationship between a whole and its indi- vidual parts.

concrete operations The third stage in Piaget’s cognitive development in which children (typically between ages 7 and 12) can use mental operations to solve con- crete or actual problems.

conservation A child’s awareness that two objects that are equal according to a certain measure remain equal in the face of percep- tual alteration so long as nothing has been added to or taken away from either object.

industry vs. inferiority Erikson’s fourth stage of psychosocial development where children must learn the productive skills that are important to their culture or else face feelings of inferiority.

prejudice An attitude involving prejudg- ment; refers to the application of a previ- ously formed judgment to some person, object, or situation.

seriation The ability to order objects in a series according to one or more dimensions.

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CHAPTER 7Web Resources

spatial thinking A child’s ability to ana- lyze, engage in problem solving, and use pattern recognition involving objects and their spatial relationships.

transitive inference The ability to infer a relationship between two objects from the relationship between each of them and a third object.

Web Resources

This is a website that examines the extent to which media impacts a child’s self-image and how the same child sees others: http://www.childrennow.org/index.php/learn/media_messages_about_race_class_gender

This program documents an exercise in discrimination based on eye color: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/etc/view.html

This website discusses how media impact children in multiple facets of their life: http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/family/tv_affects_child.html

This is a website dedicated to school-aged children’s well-being: http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/connecting_with_your_school-age_child_ introductio.html

This video asks teachers how they will contribute to a student’s sense of industry vs. inferiority: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAbuj5kZufo

This website examines ways to influence a school-aged child’s self-esteem: http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/gradeschool/pages/Helping- Your-Child-Develop-A-Healthy-Sense-of-Self-Esteem.aspx

This video takes a school-aged child through some of Piaget’s cognitive tasks from concrete operations: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4lvQfhuNmg

This website from the Anti-Defamation League gives ideas on how to talk with children about hatred and prejudice: http://www.adl.org/issue_education/hateprejudice/print.asp

This website offers a quiz to learn about language and its effect on learned helplessness: http://www.chickmoorman.com/PAhelplessness.html

This website and video examines a school-aged child’s social and emotional skills: http://www.healthyfuturesva.com/detail.aspx?id=347

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