Chapter 10: Middle Childhood - Social & Emotional Development

Question 1

What is ‘reciprocal determinism?’

Answer 1

The interplay between one’s personality, environment, and behaviour.
* Coined by Bandura
* When children are aggressive, they receive feedback that they are powerful and the environment changes, allowing the children to maintain their power of fear

Question 2

What is ‘social cognition?’

Answer 2

One’s understanding of the relatinhip between oneself and others.

Question 3

What are ‘blended families?’

Answer 3

Families that include the biological children of at least one of the partners in a relationship.

Question 4

What are ‘skip-generation families?’

Answer 4

Families whose grandparents parent the grandchildren with little or no help from their adult child.

Question 5

What is ‘peer rejection?’ What are the two types?

Answer 5

When children are rejected by their peers. Divided into two groups: one is withdrawn-rejected, as someone is disliked by their peers due to being perceived differently; the other is aggressive-rejected, and their children are rejected due to aggressive, disruptive behaviour

Question 6

What is ‘bullying?’

Answer 6

An act of intentional harm, repeated over time, in a relationship characterized by an imbalance in power.

Question 7

What are ‘bystanders?’

Answer 7

Peers who watch bullying episodes take place but do not take part in the bullying, at least, initially

Question 8

hat is ‘cyberbullying?’

Answer 8

Using some form of technology to bully and harass another person

Question 9

What is the ‘pygmalion effect?’

Answer 9

A self-fulfilling prophecy; is an expectation that is confirmed because of the behaviour of those who hold the expectation.
* shows that teacher expectations influence student performance. Positive expectations influence performance positively, and negative expectations influence performance negatively.

Question 10

What is a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy?’

Answer 10

An event that occurs because of the behaviour of those who expect it to occur.

Question 11

What is ‘sexism?’

Answer 11

Discrimination or bias based on a person’s sex.

Question 12

What is ‘serotonin?’

Answer 12

A neurotransmitter that is involved in mood disorders such as depression.

Question 13

What is ‘attributional style?’

Answer 13

One’s disposition toward interpreting outcomes (success or failures), as in tending to place blame or responsibility on oneself on external factors.

Question 14

What is ‘generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)?’

Answer 14

An anxiety disorder in which anxiety appears to be present continuously and is unrelated to the situation.

Question 15

What are ‘phobias?’

Answer 15

Irrational, excessive fears that interfere with one’s functioning.

Question 16

What is ‘separation anxiety disorder (SAD)?’

Answer 16

An extreme form of separation anxiety characterized by anxiety about separating from parents, SAD often takes the form of refusal to go to school.

Question 17

What is ‘school phobia?’

Answer 17

Fear of attending school, marked by extreme anxiety at leaving parents.

Question 18

What are ‘conduct disorders?’

Answer 18

Disorders marked by the persistent breaking of the rules and violations of the rights of others.

Question 19

How does a child’s self-concept change as they progress from early to middle childhood?

Answer 19

• In early childhood, children’s self-concepts focus on external traits.
• In middle childhood, children begin to include abstract internal traits or personality traits, and social relationships and group memberships take on significance.

Question 20

What is ‘self-concept?’

Answer 20

An idea of the self-constructed from the beliefs one holds about oneself and the responses of others.
Based on social comparison
● Perception of others
● Perception of peers as similar (as models)
● Own experience almost important factor!

Question 20

What is ‘self-esteem?’

Answer 20

Self-esteem is confidence in one’s own worth or abilities.
* Individual overall and specific self-evaluation
* Tends to decline throughout middle-childhood (lowest point around 12-13)
* Based on the child’s mental comparison of her ideal and
actual self/experiences (If discrepant, will lead to low self-esteem)

Question 21

What contributes to lower self-esteem?

Answer 21

• Social media comparison (with is also affecting age-specific social abilities)
• Pre-schoolers are egocentric and have unrealistic self-concepts; in middle childhood, they begin to compare themselves to other children
• type of parent figure (a non-authoritative parent)

Question 22

How do children progress through the ‘levels of perspective-taking?’

Answer 22

• Ages 3-6: egocentric, no concept of theory of mind, assumes everyone feels the same as they do
• Ages 5-9: developing ‘theory of mind.’ but still assuming that their perspective is the right one and they have more information.
• Ages 7-12: developing ‘theory of mind.’ They understand that others think differently because they have different values or ideas. They also know that others are capable of understanding their own perspective. A child can anticipate the reactions of others.
• Ages 10-15: the child knows that they and another can consider each other’s POV at the same time
• Ages 12+: mutual perspective-taking does not always lead to an agreement, and the larger social group’s perspective must also be considered.

Question 23

What stage are children entering when they are in middle childhood, according to ‘Erikson’s Theory of Development?’

Answer 23

*Stage 4: Industry vs. Inferiority (6-11 years)
- children become more capable of learning new skills and knowledge, which develops a sense of industry
* Children begin to look outwardly and compare themselves with their peers; constant social comparison can result in feelings of inadequacy and inferiority
* Development of a sense of competence through the achievement of culturally defined goals
○ Development of willingness to work to accomplish these goals
○ Success brings a sense of competence and mastery
○ Failures bring a sense of inadequacy, inferiority

Question 24

What are the family characteristics of ‘same-sex parents?’

Answer 24

Psychological adjustment and sexual orientation comparable with that of children of heterosexual parents

Question 25

What are the family characteristics of ‘divorced’ parents?’

Answer 25

• Financial strain
• After a couple of years, children tend to rebound
• Long-term consequences in middle-childhood
• more likely to experience conduct disorders, drug abuse, and poor grades in school, lowered self-esteem, disruptions in interpersonal functioning
• Difficult to study the sole impact

Question 26

What are the family characteristics of ‘step-parent & blended families?’

Answer 26

• Role ambiguity
• Importance of supporting “biological” parent and acting as an authoritative figure

Question 27

What are the family characteristics of ‘single parents?’

Answer 27

• Children fare almost as well as children from two-parent homes
• Level of income and education are important factors, rather than emphasizing family structure

Question 28

What is ‘self-efficacy?’

Answer 28

Self-perceived competence