Chapter 11

1. Chapter 11 Socioemotional Development in Middle and Late Childhood

2. “Children are busy becoming something they have not quite grasped yet, something which keeps changing.” • Alastair Reid American Poet, 20th Century

3. Learning Goals • Discuss emotional and personality development in middle and late childhood. • Describe parent-child issues and societal changes in families. • Identify changes in peer relationships in middle and late childhood. • Characterize the transition to elementary school and sociocultural aspects of schooling and achievement.

6. The Self • The Development of Self-Understanding • Self-Esteem and Self-Concept • Industry Versus Inferiority

7. The Development of Self-Understanding • Self-understanding shifts from defining oneself through external characteristics to defining oneself through internal characteristics. • Elementary school children are more likely to define themselves in terms of social characteristics. • Self-understanding now includes increasing reference to social comparison—what they can do in comparison with others.

8. Self-Esteem and Self-Concept • What Are Self-Esteem and Self-Concept? • Research on Self-Esteem • Increasing Children’s Self-Esteem

9. What Are Self-Esteem and Self-Concept? • Self-esteem - global evaluations of the self • Also referred to as self-worth or self-image • Self-concept - domain-specific evaluations of the self • Children can make evaluations about themselves academically, athletically, based on their appearance, etc.

10. Research on Self-Esteem • Self-esteem found to be stable at least across a month or so of time. • Self-esteem can change, especially in response to transitions in life. • Elementary school children engage in social comparison, which can lower their self-esteem. • Low-self esteem is related to depression. • Much research is correlational not experimental.

11. Increasing Children’s Self-Esteem • Identify the causes of low self-esteem • Provide emotional support and social approval • Help children achieve • Help children cope

12. Industry Versus Inferiority • In Erikson’s fourth stage, industry refers to the fact that children become interested in how things are made and how they work. • When encouraged in their efforts to make, build, and work, children’s sense of industry increases. • Parents who see their children’s efforts as making “mischief” or “a mess” encourage children’s development of a sense of inferiority. • School plays a very important role in this stage.

13. Emotional Development • Developmental Changes • Emotional Intelligence

14. Developmental Changes • Increased ability to understand such complex emotions as pride and shame • Increased understanding that more than one emotion can be experienced in a particular situation • Increased tendency to take into fuller account the events leading to emotional reactions • Marked improvements in the ability to suppress or conceal negative emotional reactions • Use of self-initiated strategies for redirecting feelings

15. Emotional Intelligence • The concept of emotional intelligence initially was proposed as a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action. • Goleman’s view of emotional intelligence involves: • Developing Emotional Self-Awareness • Managing Emotions • Reading Emotions • Handling Relationships

16. Coping With Stress • As children get older, they are able to more accurately appraise a stressful situation and determine how much control they have over it. • By 10 years of age, children are able to use cognitive strategies to cope with stress. • Intentionally shift their thoughts to something less stressful • Engage in reframing (changing their perception of a stressful situation).

17. Coping With Stress (cont.) • Recommendations for helping children cope with the stress of traumatic events: • Reinforce ideas of safety and security • Listen to and tolerate children retelling events • Encourage children to talk about confusing feelings, worries, daydreams, and disruptions of concentration

18. Coping With Stress (cont.) • Recommendations for helping children cope with the stress of traumatic events: • Help children make sense of what happened • Provide reassurance to children so that they will be able to handle stressful feelings over time • Protect children from rexposure to frightening situations and reminders of the trauma

19. Moral Development • Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development • Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Development • Kohlberg’s Critics • Prosocial Behavior and Altruism

20. Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development • Lawrence Kohlberg stressed that moral development is based primarily on moral reasoning and unfolds in stages. • He arrived at his view after 20 years of using a unique interview with children in which they are presented with a series of stories in which characters face moral dilemmas.

22. Internalization • A key concept in understanding is internalization. • It is the developmental change from behavior that is externally controlled to behavior that is controlled by internal standards and principles. • As children and adolescents develop, their moral thoughts become more internalized.

23. Kohlberg’s Levels of Moral Development • Level 1: Preconventional Level • Stage 1: Heteronomous Morality • Stage 2: Individualism, Purpose, and Exchange • Level 2: Conventional Level • Stage 3: Mutual Interpersonal Expectations, Relationships, and Interpersonal Conformity • Stage 4: Social System Morality • Level 3: Postconventional Level • Stage 5: Social Contract or Utility and Individual Rights • Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles

24. Kohlberg’s Critics • Moral Thought and Moral Behavior • Culture and Moral Development • Family Processes and Moral Development • Gender and the Care Perspective

25. Moral Thought and Moral Behavior • Kohlberg’s theory has been criticized for placing too much emphasis on moral thought and not enough emphasis on moral behavior. • Moral reasons can sometimes be a shelter for immoral behavior. • Cheaters and thieves may know what is right yet still do what is wrong.

26. Culture and Moral Development • Kohlberg’s theory has been criticized for being culturally biased. • Moral reasoning is more culture-specific than Kohlberg envisioned. • His scoring system does not recognize higher-level moral reasoning in certain cultural groups. • His system would not score values related to: • Communal equity and collective happiness in Israel. • The unity and sacredness of all life forms in India. • The relation of the individual to the community in New Guinea.

27. Family Processes and Moral Development • Kohlberg claimed family processes are essentially unimportant in children’s moral development, and that peers are more likely to be an influence. • Many developmentalists believe that Kohlberg underestimated the contribution of family relationships to moral development. • They emphasize that inductive discipline positively influences moral development. • Parents’ moral values are also believed to influence children’s developing moral thoughts.

28. Gender and the Care Perspective • Kohlberg’s theory is a justice perspective that focuses on the rights of the individual; individuals stand alone and independently make moral decisions. • The care perspective is a moral perspective that views people in terms of their connectedness with others and emphasizes interpersonal communication, relationships with others, and concern for others.

29. Gender and the Care Perspective (con’t) • Carol Gilligan believed Kohlberg greatly under-played the care perspective in moral development, due to being male, using primarily males for his research, and basing his theory on male responses. • Gilligan’s research found that girls consistently interpret moral dilemmas in terms of human relationships. • Other research has found that the gender differences in moral reasoning are not absolute.

30. Prosocial Behavior and Altruism • Children’s moral behavior can involve: • Negative antisocial acts – lying, cheating, and stealing • Prosocial behavior – showing empathy to someone, or behaving altrusistically • Altruism – is an unselfish interest in helping someone else.

31. Gender • Gender Stereotypes • Gender Similarities and Differences • Gender-Role Classification • Gender in Context

32. Gender Stereotypes • Broad categories that reflect our impressions and beliefs about females and males. • Males are widely believed to be dominant, independent, aggressive, achievement-oriented, and enduring. • Females are widely believed to be nurturant, affiliative, less esteemed, and more helpful.

33. Gender Similarities and Differences • Physical Similarities and Differences • Cognitive Similarities and Differences • Socioemotional Similarities and Differences

34. Physical Similarities and Differences • Females have a longer life expectancy. • Females are less likely to develop physical or mental disorders. • Males have twice the risk of coronary disease. • Females produce more “good” cholesterol. • Women have about twice the body fat of men. • Fat is concentrated around breasts and hips in women, the abdomen in men. • On average, males grow to be 10% taller.

35. Physical Similarities and Differences • Human brains are much alike, whether the brain is from a male or female, however, research has found some differences: • Part of hypothalamus is larger in men • Portions of the corpus callosum is larger in females • An area of the parietal lobe is larger in males • The areas of the brain involved in emotional expression show more metabolic activity in females

36. Cognitive Similarities and Differences • Controversy exists as to true cognitive differences between males and females. • Some studies have shown that males perform better on math and visuospatial tasks, while females have better verbal skills, although some research has shown that verbal skills are equal. • Overall, girls are found to be far superior students, while boys do slightly better at math and science.

37. Socioemotional Similarities and Differences • Boys are more physically aggressive than girls. • Gender differences often disappear in measuring verbal aggression, although sometimes it is more pronounced in girls. • Males usually show less self-regulation than females. • Low self-regulation has been found to be linked with greater aggression, the teasing of others, overreaction to frustration, low cooperation, and inability to delay gratification.

38. Gender-Role Classification • In the past, a well-adjusted boy was supposed to be independent, aggressive, and powerful. • A well-adjusted girl was supposed to be dependent, nurturant, and uninterested in power. • Society considered masculine characteristics healthy and good, feminine characteristics undesirable. • The concept of androgyny was developed in the 1970s in response to dissatisfaction by both males and females with the burdens imposed by their roles.

39. Androgyny • Refers to the presence of desirable masculine and feminine characteristics in the same person. • The Bem Sex-Role Inventory is used to assess androgyny. • Sandra Bem argues that androgynous individuals are more flexible, competent, and mentally healthy than their masculine or feminine counterparts. • To some degree, which gender-role classification is best depends on the context involved.

40. Gender In Context • The concept of Gender-Role Classification involves a personality trait-like categorization of a person. • Emotional differences between females and males often show up in contexts that highlight social roles and relationships. • In the U.S. , there is a greater acceptance of androgyny and similarities in male and female behavior, many countries gender roles remain gender-specific

42. Parent-Child Issues • The introduction of chores and payment • Helping children learn to entertain themselves • Monitoring children’s lives outside the family in school and peer settings • School-related matters are especially important for families during middle and late childhood. • School-related difficulties are the number one reason children in this age group are referred for clinical help.

43. Parent-Child Issues • Discipline is easier than during early childhood and often easier than in adolescence • Coregulation of control • The coregulation process is a transition period between the strong parental control of early childhood and the increased relinquishment of general supervision of adolescence.

44. Societal Changes in Families • Stepfamilies • Latchkey Children

45. Stepfamilies • Three types of stepfamily structure: • Stepfather – mother has custody of children and has remarried • Stepmother – father usually has custody of children and has remarried • Blended or complex – both parents bring children from previous marriages to live in the newly formed family • Children in simple families (stepmother, stepfather) often show better adjustment than their counterparts in complex (blended) families

46. Stepfamilies (cont.) • Problems mimic those of children of divorce: • academic problems • lower self-esteem • Although a majority of children in stepfamilies do not have problems.

47. Latchkey Children • These children typically do not see their parents from the time they leave for school in the morning until about 6 or 7 P.M. • Latchkey children are largely unsupervised for 2 to 4 hours a day during the week. • During the summer they may be unsupervised for entire days, 5 days a week. • The experiences of latchkey children vary enormously.

48. Findings on Latchkey Children • Some grow up too fast, due to responsibilities. • Many more easily find their way into trouble, possibly stealing, vandalizing, or abusing a sibling. • In a 1987 national poll, teachers rated the latchkey children phenomenon the number one reason that children have problems in schools. • Parental monitoring and authoritative parenting help the child cope more effectively with latchkey experiences, especially in resisting peer pressure.

50. Friends • Companionship • Stimulation • Physical support • Ego support • Social comparison • Intimacy and affection