10 Emotional and moral develpoment Flashcards
What is a conscience
an internal regulatory mechanism that increases the individuals ability to conform with standards of conduct accepted in his or her own society
When does the conscience develop? what does it do?
- slowly over time
- 2 year show guilt when they’ve done something wrong
- improves compliance with adults rules and standards
- reigns in anti social behaviour
- can help the child engage in pro social behaviour because they feel guilty about not helping others
Where does a child’s conscience stem from?
primarily reflects the internalised parental standards
When are children more likely to adopt their parents moral values?
- When they are given explanations rather than harsh disciplines for wrong doings
- when they are securely attached
How do fearful children best learn conscience?
- through gentle discipline and rationalisation from the mother
- when given non material incentives to do things
- if the mother disciplines harshly they will tune out and not take on board what she is saying because they are apprehensive and anxious
- discipline arouses fearful children just enough to make them listen
How do fearless children learn best?
- mothers explaining everything to them
- don’t learn from gentle discipline
- aim to please their mothers rather than doing things coz they fear them
- more likely to internalize parental standards when securely attached
What has a huge influence on moral development?
Parental-child disciplinary interactions
-early development of a conscience/guilt is indicative of future moral development and can predict whether or not children will engage in hurtful or problematic behaviour in future.
What is pro social behaviour
helpful behaviour intended to benefit others
Why do children engage in pro social behaviour?
- avoid conflict
- get a reward
- social approval
Why do adults want children to engage in pro social behaviour
- altruistic motives
- empathy and sympathy
- later as a desire to act in ways that are consistent with their conscience and moral principles
Where does altruistic prosocial behaviour come from?
empathy and sympathy
Development of altruistic prosocial behaviour: 1
-infants react to other distress and may not be able to distinguish it from their own
Development of altruistic prosocial behaviour: 2
-around age 2 infants react to others distress still in an egocentric way but are able to distinguish it form their own
Development of altruistic prosocial behaviour: 3
-2-3 infants prosocial behaviour frequency increases but is still not regular
Development of altruistic prosocial behaviour: 4
-pro social behaviours increase into adolescence
Individual differences in prosocial behaviour are due to:
genetic and environmental and cultural factors
-children from chile, kenya etc with extended families are often assigned responsibility for young ones early on
what are the gentic factors that cause individual differences in prosocial behaviour
- little impact
- identical twins are more similar pro socially than fraternal twins
- may arise indirectly due to temperament (childs ability to control emotions. children who experience emotion without getting over whelmed are more likely to be sympathetic)
what are the environmental factors that cause individual differences in prosocial behaviour
- have a big impact
- socialisation in the family
- children are more likely to imitate prosocial behaviour of adults they have a positive relationship with
- opportunities to engage in pro social behaviour
- reasoning in discipline form adults
- exposure to prosocial beliefs and values
What kind of parents promote prosocial behaviour and sympathy the best?
- discipline with reasoning, pointing out consequences for others
- parents who are constructive and supportive
parents who are constructive and supportive are more likely to have children that are
prosocial and sympathetic
How can you promote future willingness to engage in prosocial behaviour?
Provide opportunities for them to engage in prosocial behaviour - e.g chores.
What can cause non altruistic behaviour to continue in children?
- punishment (think they must act pro socially to avoid it)
- material rewards (become reluctant to engage in it if there are no rewards)
antisocial behaviour is
harmful behaviour with the intention of inflicting negative consequences on another
What is the most common form of antisocial behaviour?
Aggression
What are the types of aggressive behaviour?
- Hostile
- Instrumental
- realtional
Hostile aggression:
motivated by the desire to injure others in anger or self -protection
Instrumental aggression:
motivated by the desire to obtain a concrete goal e.g. gain possession of a peers toy
relational aggression:
harming the peer relations of others e.g. excluding them from a group (3-5 yr olds)
When do children show physical aggression?
increases from 18 months to 2 years but then starts to decline
-however verbal aggression increases as language develops
What ages display instrumental aggression?
3-5 years as they learn to share
What type of aggression to children show between 3-5 yrs
instrumental and relational
What is the main type of aggression shown in children between 18 - 24 months?
physically (hostile..?)
how are aggressive children different to no-aggressive children?
- Show differences in social cognition
- Tend to interpret behaviours with unknown intentions as having hostile intentions
- Seem to expect a positive social reaction to their aggression (e.g. for other kids to leave them alone)
- Come up with fewer reactions when imagining reactions to a negative social situation
- -expect
What are characteristics of children prone to reactional aggression?
- tend to expect positive social consequences to aggressive reactions
- tend to evaluate their aggressive responses as appropriate
- perceive others motives as hostile
- tend to expect aggressive responses to provocation
What is reactional aggression?
hostile, emotional aggression caused by provocation
What is proactive aggression?
non emotional, with a goal or desire in mind (bullying/intimidation)
What are characteristics of children prone to procative aggression?
-tend to expect positive responses to aggressive reactions
In most children, between what ages does aggression decline?
if not?
2-8
they probably have issues with aggression sometimes stemming from a neurological deficit such as those underlying hyperactivity or difficulty paying attention
Where does aggressive behaviour come from?
what does it mean for the futuuuree?
- early onset indicates family (abuse?)
- teen onset (late onset) comes from peer interactions
- children identified by peers as aggressive age 8 have higher self reported aggression age 30 and more, more serious criminal convictions.
