Essay - Social Development

Question 1

What is social development?

Answer 1

Social development refers to the way an individual relates to others and develops the skills needed for participating in the social context

Question 2

What is socialisation?

Answer 2

When members of society influence the beliefs and behaviours of children, which enables them to adopt the culture, norms and values of that society

Question 3

Why study social development? (4)

Answer 3

1 Key developmental contexts across life of a being
2 Links to other developmental processes - language, moral, learning & academic achievement
3 Intregral to human development
4 Integral to school/academic achievement

Question 4

What are the three social development essentials?

Answer 4

1. Thinking about self (development of self-awareness)
2. Thinking about others (development of perspective-taking ability)
3. Thinking about connections between people (development of childhood relationships)

Question 5

What are the three key concepts when thinking about the self?

Answer 5

Self-esteem
Self-concept (differentiated across many disciplines)
Self-efficacy

Question 6

What are the three key development areas when thinking about the self?

Answer 6

1. Social feedback
2. Social comparison
3. Social role models

Question 7

Example of social feedback

Answer 7

Laughing at a child in class when something goes wrong

Question 8

What is social comparison?

Answer 8

Comparing oneself to others who perform better or worse than ourselves

Question 9

What are social role models important?

Answer 9

If you admire or respect a role model it makes you feel like you can do it to?

Question 10

What is important to note about the self?

Answer 10

It is complex and different across many areas of our life eg learner, sibling

Question 11

What are the 4 key aspects to thinking about others

Answer 11

1. Moral development
2. Emotional understanding
3. Perspective-taking ability
4. Prosocial reasoning

Question 12

How does moral development help us think about others?

Answer 12

Helps us gradually understand that our moral position on something effects other people

Question 13

How does emotion understanding assist us with thinking about others?

Answer 13

Moves us from understanding emotion in our own bodies to recognising them in other people - expressions, body language

Question 14

What is perspective-taking ability (PTA)?

Answer 14

Ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes

Question 15

Who came up with perspective-taking ability theory? What type of theory is it

Answer 15

Robert Selman

Stage-based theory

Question 16

Sum up the PTA theory

Answer 16

Selman used dilemmas to test ability. Children scored according to responses. Development was measured by their capacity to take into account others perspectives

Question 17

What are the 5 stages of Selman’s PTA?

Answer 17

1. Early childhood = unable to differentiate perspectives
2. Middle childhood = people may have different information, leading to different perspectives
3. Late childhood = can step into another person’s shoes.Not just knowing what they are feeling, but feeling what they are feeling & consciously taking into account someone else’s view.
4. Adolescence = step outside the situation. can look at a situation fresh, from a third person perspective
5. Late adolescence = recognising influence of value systems - perspectives of multiple stakeholders and that all those players have their perspectives influenced by values of their own

Question 18

What are the three areas of skill development in PTA?

Answer 18

1. Social problem solving skills
2. Altruism and empathy
3. Emotional understanding

Question 19

What does high PTA lead to

Answer 19

Higher peer acceptance and popularity

Question 20

What does low PTA lead to?

Answer 20

Peer dislike and rejection

Question 21

What are peers (4)

Answer 21

1. Same age/same class
2. Associates
3. Interactions increase with age
4. Requires social skills (empathy, altruism, social problem solving)

Question 22

What are friends?

Answer 22

1. Same age and similar
2. Mutual liking
3. Interactions increase in quality with age
4. Requires advanced social skills - trust and sharing, social support

Question 23

5 problems of social development

Answer 23

1. Child may not develop appropriate social skills eg autism, adhd
2. Children may not be accepted by peer group
3. Persistent rejection and bullying limit social development
4. Children may be deprived of an opportunity for social development
5. Disability or illness may limit social activities or social skills

Question 24

How can we foster social development? (5)

Answer 24

1. Promote and foster positive social behaviour
2. Create classroom opportunities for positive social interaction, cooperation and helping behaviours
3. Model positive interaction skills and behaviours
4. Supervise the social context and step in if you see bullying, ostracism and rejection
5. Explicitly teach using moral and social dilemmas to promote perspective taking