psych 315 - F

Question 1

Aspects of parenting

Answer 1

• [1] warmth: support, acceptance, responsiveness
• [2] control: managing and enforcing behaviour through rules

Question 2

Types of Discipline

Answer 2

• learning based theories: reinforcement and punishment
• (+) inductive discipline: providing explanation to help shape behaviour
  
  • other inductive discipline: “how would Sara feel”
  • self inductive discipline: “how would you feel if Sara did that”
• (-) physical punishment
• (-) power assertion: using power as a parent (control, coercion, denial of privileges)

Question 3

Parenting matters

Answer 3

• father involvement predicts grades and criminal records
• mother-teen relationships predicts adjustment in adulthood
• mother-teen closeness predicts own marital satisfaction in adulthood
• parent intervention reduces behavioural problems and delinquency

Question 4

Parenting Styles

Answer 4

• uninvolved: low support, low control
  
  • consistent disadvantage for children
• permissive: high support, low control
  
  • falls in between for disadvantage/advantage
  • no rules, indulgent
  • child can do whatever they want
  • more likely for fathers
• authoritarian: low support, high control
  
  • falls in between for disadvantage/advantage
  • gives rules, but does not give support about the rules
  • rules have to be followed no matter what
  • more common in non-White parents
  • less consistent in research for positive outcomes (linked positively outside of North America)
  • more likely for father
• authoritative: high support, high control
  
  • consistent advantage for children
    
    • high self reliance, social competence, GPA, academic competence
    • low somatic symptoms of distress and school misconduct
  • gives rules, but provides support with those rules
  • more likely for mothers

Question 5

Parent Conflict

Answer 5

• linked to poorer outcomes:
  
  • psychological (depressive symptoms)
  • cognitive (less good grades)
• but conflict is not as important as parenting
  
  • supportive parenting is more crucial than conflict
  • good parenting + poor marriage: children are still successful
  • bad parenting + good marriage: children are less successful

Question 6

Parent Divorce

Answer 6

• increases risk of problems by x2
• caused by
  
  • parent conflict
  • stress to child, to parent
  • diminished parenting
  • economic / social difficulties
  • economic / social changes
  • absence of parent / fear of absence of parent
  • relocation
• divorce is a process
  
  • negative impacts seen before divorce happens
  • short term: most severe problems occur within 1-2 years
  • long term: children more likely to drop out of school, get divorced in the future

Question 7

Conflict v Divorce

Answer 7

• divorce has more benefits than staying together fighting
• children struggle a lot if there is not much conflict → divorce
• fewer psychological symptoms if conflict → divorce
  
  • decline in psychological distress
  • increase in overall happiness

Question 8

How culture interacts with parenting

Answer 8

• across culture: similar goal of parenting to protect, nurture and help child be competent members of society
• parenting reflects the values and beliefs of the cultural context – “good” differs
  
  • behavioural norms
  • beliefs about parenting and child development
  • role of extended family
  • financial and physical resources
  • cultural values (i.e. independent v interdependent)
• there is more variability within cultures than between cultures
  
  • normativeness: not everyone in the culture is the same
• regardless of how parents act, a more important factor
  
  • congruency: how close parent is to the norm
  • congruency with others in cultural context is linked to positive outcomes

Question 9

Similarities and Differences of parenting across culture

Answer 9

• [sim] every parent uses some amounts of warmth and control
  
  • warmth and control is beneficial for development in every culture
• [diff] ideal amount of control
  
  • Western: high warmth, high control
    
    • sees authoritative parenting as advantageous
    • control is necessary, but too much is not ideal
  • Chinese: less warmth, more control
    
    • less warmth: tend to withhold praise
      
      • belief that praise leads to self-satisfied children (not good for growth)
      • uses shame to motivate improvement
      • debate: does less praise = less warmth, or is warmth expressed differently? (i.e. involved in school)
    • more controlling: believes in deeply-involved parenting
      
      • tied to cultural values on family and authority
  • Latin parents: more warmth, more control
    
    • strong family values: importance of warmth, but also needs control to create this adherence
    • familismo: family above all else
    • respeto: fulfill obligations and maintain harmonious relationships in family
• mixed findings on the ideal level of control
  
  • classic studies: no negative effects of higher control in Chinese parenting
  • recent studies: negative effect for too much control in Chinese and North American parents
  • possible explanation: maybe warmth and control are not fully descriptive of parenting
  • may be due to differences
    
    • across ages
    • across regions
    • across type of control
    • across changes over time

Question 10

Types of Sibling Relationships

Answer 10

• caregiver relationship: one serves as quasi-parent for the other
• buddy relationship: both siblings like each other, and try to be like one another
• casual/uninvolved relationship: have little to do with each other
• critical/conflictual/rival relationship: one tries to dominate the other (teasing, fighting)

Question 11

Function of Sibling Relationships

Answer 11

• helps practice social skills (non-voluntary aspect: have to learn, cannot just leave)
• buffer for peer rejection, parent conflict and stressful experiences
• chance to try out new behaviours (non-voluntary aspect: built-in automatic audience)
• opportunity to learn about another gender
• promote individuality
  
  • often want to distinguish yourself from siblings
  • help you find your own identity
• learn about conflict
  
  • teach you to fight, negotiate and resolve conflict
  • but too much / too highly-emotional conflict is linked to negative outcomes (negative emotions, aggression)

Question 12

Influence of grandparents

Answer 12

• evolutionary useful for survival: linked to child survival
• boosts emotional well-being
  
  • buffer against negative outcomes: the closer you are to your grandparent, the greater reduction of risk of depressive symptoms

Question 13

Types of Grandparent Roles

Answer 13

• influential grandparent: involved/intimate, an authority figure
• supportive grandparent: involved/intimate, but not an authority figure
• passive / detached grandparent: not particularly involved/intimate
• authority-oriented grandparent: not involved/intimate, has large authority

Question 14

Friendship across development

Answer 14

• definition: a close, mutual, reciprocal and voluntary relationship
• [infancy, 1-2] will have children they prefer to play with
• [pre-school, 3-4]
  
  • can consistently name who they are friends with
  • defines friends in concrete way: who they spend time and play with
• [middle childhood]
  
  • based on shared interests
  • has emotional component (take care and support each other)
  • has mutuality component
• [adolescence]
  
  • based on shared interest and values (more complex and deep)
  • focused on intimacy
    
    • girls emphasize more on emotional intimacy (i.e. self-disclosure)
    • boys emphasize more on physical intimacy (doing things together)
• shift in friendship caused by
  
  • time spent with peers: increases with age → gets deeper and more complex
  • cognitive development (ie. perspective-taking allows for deeper friendship)

Question 15

Cliques v Crowds

Answer 15

• definition
  
  • [cl] smaller, voluntary, friendship-based group
  • [cr] reputation-based group, less voluntary
• basis
  
  • [cl] shared interest and attitudes
    
    • initially same gender → mixed gender
    • initially mixed race → same race
  • [cr] reputation-based - not always accurate with behaviour
• membership
  
  • [cl] unstable (common to move between cliques)
  • [cr] stable

Question 16

Functions of Friendships

Answer 16

• highly beneficial in development
  
  • emotional support: sounding board, self-disclosure
  • physical support: resources (i.e. notes, money)
• buffer during stressful times (similar to siblings / grandparents)
  
  • no cortisol increase when best friend is present in a negative event
• development of social and cognitive skills
• social comparison
• stimulation
• conflict and resolution
• model and reinforcement of behaviour (– deviancy training)

Question 17

Functions of Cliques

Answer 17

• context of friendship
• having a social group
• sense of belongingness
• guide interest in romantic relationships for straight teens
  (most date within their clique)

Question 18

Function of Crowds

Answer 18

• locate individuals within a social environment (how you are seen)
• establish social norms (how to act)
• contribute to sense of identity and self-concept (not true if it doesn’t match)

Question 19

Sociometric Peer Statuses

Answer 19

• popular: many likes, few dislikes (12-20%)
  
  • skilled at initiating and maintaining positive interactions
  • good at recognizing and regulating emotions
  • good at perspective taking
  • rated by teachers as cooperative, friendly, helpful, leaders
  • assertive, but not pushy
• rejected: few likes, many dislikes (12-20%)
  
  • leads to problems
    
    • external problems: violence, delinquency
      (more common for rejected-aggressive)
    • internal problems: depression, anxiety
      (more common for rejected-withdrawn)
    • academic problems
  • rejected-aggressive (40-50%)
    
    • instrumental aggressive → directed towards something (i.e. lunch money)
    • relational aggression → directed towards someone’s social relationship (i.e. spreading rumors)
    • physical aggression
    • bullying
    • aggression causes rejection [not other way around]
  • rejected-withdrawn (40-50%)
    
    • poor social skills
    • socially anxious
    • difficulty with social goals
  • rejected-aggressive withdrawn: mixed of both (less common)
• controversial: many likes, many dislikes (6-20%)
  
  • share characteristics of popular and rejected children
    
    • i.e. nice and cool, but snobby
    • i.e. helpful but aggressive
• neglected: few likes, few dislikes (= don’t show up on the lists) (6-20%)
  
  • timid, shy, lack of social skills
  • often not bothered by this classification — similar to rejected, but don’t experience the anxiety of being in it
• average: (30-60%)
  
  • moderately sociable
  • average cognitive skills

Question 20

Perceived Popularity

Answer 20

• mixed of positive and negative traits
  
  • positive traits of sociometric popular children
  • negative traits, particularly aggression (high in instrumental and relational)
• physically attractive
• more variable: based on changing norms, malleable to context
  (a child may not be equally popular in different contexts)

Question 21

Culture and Peer Status

Answer 21

• Zhang et al (2019): different cultural values impact peer status through what values are prioritized
  
  • across culture: prosocial behaviour and academic achievement are linked to likability and perceived popularity
  • but, more linked in Chinese children (especially perceived popularity)
  • reflect’s China’s collectivistic values that place heavier emphasis on prosocial behaviour and academic achievement

Question 22

Technology on peer relationships

Answer 22

• defining “friend” can be challenging (is following someone = being friends?)
• (+) facilitate more disclosure and intimacy
• (+) linked with more support
• (-) more challenging to resolve conflict
  
  • easier to avoid things
  • more long-lasting
• (-) lacks social cues

Question 23

Online v Face-to-Face

Answer 23

• [sim]
  
  • we tend to interact with the same people face-to-face v online
  • online friendships serves many of the same functions as face-to-face friendship
• [diff for online]
  
  • increased anonymity (depending on platform)
    
    • (+) helps with disclosure
    • (-) allows for more aggression
  • different social cues
  • different emphasis in physical appearance (depending on platform)
  • more public and long lasting
  • easier to find similar others — not confined to location
  • all-day access to friends
  • more quantifiable

Question 24

Romantic Relationships - Developmental Changes

Answer 24

• [11-13] interest in romantic partners
  
  • very little actual context
  • only within yourself / peers
• [14-15] casual, group-based dating
  
  • common to date within your friend group (for straight teens)
  • casual, but relatively long lasting (~6 months)
• [17-18] stable relationships
  
  • more intimate, 1-on-1 time
  • romantic relationships would replace time spent with friends

Question 25

Influences on Romantic Relationships

Answer 25

• peer relationship:
  better quality friendships → predicts better romantic relationship
  
  • skills learnt to express your intimacy transfers over
• family relationships:
  better quality relationship → predicts better romantic relationship
  
  • attachment theory — early life experiences set up how we think about relationships broadly
• media: shapes what we believe (→ can lead to lower satisfaction in the relationship)
• culture: differences in timing of ages
  (most research done in North America)
• sexual orientation:
  
  • 5-10% report same-sex relationships
  • overall the same, but is more complicated due to stigma
  • more likely to pursue a relationship outside the friend group

Question 26

Unique Functions of Romantic Relationships

Answer 26

• establishes autonomy — independence from parents and friends
• develop intimacy — learn to disclose and develop closeness
• sense of belonging
• boosts feelings of self-worth
• status (especially in early adolescence)
• furthering development of gender and sexual identity

Question 27

Research on Romantic Relationships

Answer 27

• early starters [10-12] have atypical trajectory
  
  • start immediately at serious
  • linked to negative outcomes (not causal - maybe certain individuals are more likely to seek early relationship)
    
    • more externalizing behaviours: acting out, alcohol, delinquency
    • low social maturity, low self-esteem, high depression
• late bloomers follow the typical trajectory
  
  • mixed findings: some studies report negative consequences, some don’t
  • may be linked to cultural norms — will only lead to negative outcomes if you feel delayed
• breaking up: most common trigger for a depressive episode
• dating violence:
  
  • many youth see it as acceptable in a relationship
  • associated with depression, suicide ideation, drug use, teen pregnancy, dropping out of school

Question 28

Piaget’s Stages of Moral Development

Answer 28

• [< 4] premoral reasoning
  
  • not yet thinking about the world in moral terms (right-wrong, good-bad)
• [4-7] heteronomous morality
  
  • right v wrong is based on rules — no deeper connotations
    
    • get rules from authority figures (i.e. parents)
  • focus on consequences
    [breaking 10 cups accidentally > breaking 1 cup on purpose]
  • imminent justice:
    
    • belief that punishment is automatic
    • justice emanate from one’s actions
      (falling through a bridge after stealing apples → would not fall if did not steal)
  • moral realism: the idea that good, bad and consequences are real
• [11-12] autonomous morality (= morality of cooperation)
  
  • rules come from social agreement
  • sensitive to fairness and equality
  • focuses on motives and intensions — purposefulness
  • moral relativism: rules are set by society (not real things), and can chance according to context

Question 29

Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development

Answer 29

• moral development is underlied by:
  
  • cognitive development (perspective thinking and abstract thinking)
  • time spent with peers (drives moral development through lived experience — learn to negotiate and interact)

Question 30

Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

Answer 30

• focus on reasoning, not on yes/no answer
• level 1: preconventional moral reasoning
  
  • stage 1: punishment and obedience orientation
    
    • right = obeying authority + avoiding punishment
      
      • should steal: can do it in the dark to avoid getting caught
      • should not steal: will get caught
  • stage 2: instrumental and exchange orientation
    
    • right = what satisfies own interest, and occasionally others’
      
      • should steal: help wife
      • should not steal: don’t want to go to jail
    • “tit for tat” reciprocity
• level 2: conventional moral reasoning (shared conventions between people of right v wrong)
  
  • stage 3: mutual interpersonal expectations, relationships and conformity orientation
    
    • right = what is expected by people / society
    • importance placed on being ‘good’
      
      • should steal: being a good husband
      • should not steal: being a good citizen
    • “good boy” stage
  • stage 4: social system and conscience orientation
    
    • right = doing one’s duty, adhering to authority, upholding social order
    • focus on social systems of ‘law and order’
    • answers might be similar to stage 1, but reason based on law (v being punished)
      
      • should steal: duty as social order of marriage
      • should not steal: illegal as decided by society
• level 3: postconventional moral reasoning
  (see as one stage grouped together)
  
  • stage 5: social contract of individual orientation
    
    • right = universal values of life and liberty
    • follow rules because we agreed on those deeper values
    • uphold rules in the best interest of the group / rules agreed upon by the group
    • emphasis on the law, but willing to change with rational considerations
  • stage 6: universal ethical principles
    
    • right = self-chosen ethical principles that reflect universal principles of justice
    • civil disobedience: refusal to obey demands of government without resorting to violence / active opposition (i.e. hunger strike)
    • willing to go against own benefit to advocate for others

Question 31

Criticisms on Piaget’s Moral Development Theory

Answer 31

• (+) moral reasoning correlated with cognitive development test performance
• (+) children do increasingly consider intentions and motives
• (-) underestimated children
  
  • < 4 children do think about morality
  • young children considers intentions, but Piaget’s tests were too verbal and couldn’t reflect the child’s ability

Question 32

Criticisms on Kohlberg’s Moral Development Theory

Answer 32

• gender: original study had all male participants
  
  • women may have a larger principle of care: responsibility towards caring for each other
• assessment of moral reasoning
  
  • was very hypothetical
  • may see less cultural differences with more concrete stories
• culture
  
  • [sim] sequence of stages is the same across culture
  • [diff] different rates and end stages of where adults end up
    
    • rural communities: adults end stage is stage 1-2
  • [diff] different moral principles in different cultures
    
    • ethics of autonomy: rights, equality, freedom
    • ethics of community: duty, status
    • ethics of divinity: purity, sanctity

Question 33

Prosocial

Answer 33

• prosocial behaviour: actions that go to help 1+ people, other than yourself
• helping, sharing, cooperating, donating, fundraising

Question 34

Antisocial Behaviour

Answer 34

• antisocial behaviour: actions that intentionally hurt people, or is harmful towards society / social order
• instrumental aggression: motivated by a desire to obtain goal
• reactive aggression: in response to others’ behaviour
• physical aggression: intent to physical harm
  
  • high in early childhood → decreases in later childhood)
• verbal aggression: threat, name-calling, yelling
• relational aggression: directed towards damaging reputation / relationships
  
  • increases across childhood, more for girls)
• cheating: very common (80-90% in high school)
  
  • lower in childhood → rapidly increases in adolescence
  • due to pressure for performance, social comparison, not enough time to study, lack of interest, teacher perceived as unfair or uncaring
  • Zhou et al (2018): children (age 5) are more likely to cheat after overhearing a classmate is smart

Question 35

Why do children engage in prosocial behaviour

Answer 35

• modelling / social learning
• family values (that model and value prosocial behaviour)
• parenting style / discipline (authoritative, supportive)
• opportunities to help (not forcing, but giving opportunity)
• life circumstances (trauma increases prosocialness)

Question 36

Influences on prosocial and antisocial behaviour

Answer 36

• [1] developmental
  
  • age: increases with development
  • individual continuity: more prosocial as a child → more prosocial as an adult
  • Rochat et al: dictator game in 3 and 5 year olds
    
    • developmental trend: 5 year olds share more than 3 year olds
• [2] individual
  
  • nature: has some genetic component
  • probably linked to personality traits
  • identical twins are more similar in prosocialness
• [3] culture
  
  • Rochat et al: [diff] collectivist cultures put more emphasis on maintaining social connections → leads to more sharing in children

Question 37

Parent Gender and Parenting

Answer 37

• fathers:
  
  • more likely to engage in physical play
  • more likely to be permissive / authoritarian
• mothers:
  
  • more likely to spend time with child, engage in caretaking activities
  • more likely to be authoritative
• but regardless of gender, parenting quality relates to outcomes (gender differences don’t matter that much)

Question 38

Siblings

Answer 38

• the most long-lasting relationship you will have
• very unique relationship
  
  • marked by both warmth and conflict
  • non-voluntary
  • neither vertical or horizontal power structure
• variety in relationships
  
  • same v mixed sex:
    
    • same: increase in closeness throughout early adolescence
    • mixed: dip in closeness in early adolescence
  • difference in age gaps:
    
    • increase in conflict in late childhood
    • declines throughout adolescence
    • when the decline occurs varies for first v second borns