Social Development

Question 1

What is social development

Answer 1

• An individuals social interactions and expectations change across their lifespan.
• Social and cultural environments interact with biological aging

Question 2

Describe Erikson’s Life Span Theory

Answer 2

• At each stage (8) the individual is faced with a psycho-social crisis which can have either a positive or negative impact on personality development.

Question 3

What happens if you pass a stage of Erikson’s Life Span theory?

Answer 3

Successful completion of each stage results in a positive, healthy personality.

Question 4

What happens if you cannot pass a stage of Erikson’s Life Span theory?

Answer 4

Failure to successfully complete a stage can result in a reduced ability to complete further stages and therefore a more unhealthy personality and sense of self.

Question 5

Basic Trust v Mistrust

Hope

Answer 5

Stage one: 0-1 years
Develop sense of trust.
Caregiver provides basic life necessities.
Absence of carer leads to mistrust, insecurity and anxiety.

Question 6

Autonomy v Self-doubt

Will

Answer 6

Stage two: 1-3 years
Exploring and manipulation of world around them.
Develops sense of capability and worth.
Excess restriction or criticism can lead to self-doubt.

Question 7

Initiative v Guilt

Purpose

Answer 7

Stage three: 3-6 years
Begins to initiate intellectual and motor skills.
Develop sense of freedom which turns into self-confidence.
Can produce feelings of guilt, ineptitude and lack of self-worth.

Question 8

Industry v Inferiority

Competency

Answer 8

Stage four: 6-11 years
Developing competencies (mainly from school)
Learning intellectual and motor skills.
Developing social skills.
Feelings of adequacy.
Can lead to lack of self-confidence and failing feelings.

Question 9

Identity v Role Confusion

Fidelity

Answer 9

Stage five: 11-20 years
Crisis of discovering true identity.
Acting in different ways depending on who you are with.
Gain strong sense of self.
Become individualised.
Fragmented sense of self when not achieved.

Question 10

Intimacy v Isolation

Love

Answer 10

Stage six: 20-40 years

Develop capacity to make emotional, moral and sexual commitment.

Question 11

Generativity v Self-absorption

Care

Answer 11

Stage seven: 40-65 years

30’s-40’s focus shifts from self and family to work, society and future generations.

Question 12

Integrity v Despair

Wisdom

Answer 12

Look back on life
Resolving earlier conflicts allows one to look back without regret.
Sense of wholeness, basic satisfaction with life.
Can lead to feelings of futility (pointlessness, uselessness) and disappointment.

Question 13

What is temperament?

Answer 13

Biologically based levels of emotion and behaviour responses to the environment.

Question 14

Describe the findings of Kegan’s (2004) study and longitudinal studies of temperament

Answer 14

“Born shy” - cautious and emotionally reserved.
“Born bold” - sociable, effectively spontaneous.

One’s temperament will remain relatively unchanged over their lifespan and their temperament as an infant sets up for later social development.

Question 15

Describe attachment

Answer 15

• close emotional connection/relationship.
• child-Mother/Father/caregiver bond .
• Intense, enduring social, emotional relationship.
• Ensures survival (biological reason)

Question 16

Describe Bowlby’s theory of attachment

Answer 16

• Biological predisposition to form attachment (both infant and carer)
• attachment is created from 4 weeks old and strengthened until 6 months
• Creates a lifetime model for social relationships (securer attachment in infancy may lead to securer attachment in later relationships)

Question 17

Describe the method and the 4 findings of Ainsworth’s strange situation research

Answer 17

Secure Attachment:
Demonstrated by 60-70%
Shows distress when mother leaves the room.
Cannot be settled until mother returns. (easily comforted by mother on return)
Avoidant Attachment:
Demonstrated by 15-20%
Not disturbed by mother’s leaving.
Finds fascination in stranger and may even interact.
Doesn’t notice when mother returns.
Resistant Attachment:
Demonstrated by 10-15%
Do not use mother as a base of operation.
Not disturbed by mother’s leaving.
Have mixed or ambivalent reaction to mother’s return.
Some will become very upset and even hit mother on return.
Disorganised/Disorientated:
Demonstrated by 5%
Babies become depressed and have periods of unresponsiveness and spurts of sudden emotion towards the end of the experiment.

Question 18

Describe the cupboard theory of attachment

Answer 18

Theory referring to affection that is given purely to gain a reward. i.e. child’s affection towards their carer only based on the fact they give them food.

Question 19

Describe Harlow’s research and findings

Answer 19

Attachment to comforting texture vs source of milk.
Proved that the comforting texture was more important over food to infant monkeys (disproving the cupboard theory).
Other Harlow experiments showed that monkeys who were raised without a mother couldn’t form normal social or sexual relationships when exposed to other monkeys.

Question 20

What is socialisation?

Answer 20

The lifelong process in which an individual acquires:
Behavioural patterns
Standards
Values/morals
Skills
Attitudes etc.

Question 21

Describe the processes involved in socialisation

Answer 21

Socialisation is learnt mainly during childhood, although individuals may further their socialisation when exposed to different communities and cultures, e.g. workplace, traveling.

Stages involved in socialisation:
• Reinforcement and punishment- B F Skinner: behaviour rewarded with reinforcement will be a behaviour repeated.behaviour punished should be discontinued. Although sometimes only supressed when authorities (parent) around. (Do it but don’t get caught)
• Observation and Modelling- Albert Bandura: Acknowledges roles of rewards and punishment shapes behaviour. But believes social behaviours are especially learnt through imitation or modelling.In order to learn from modelling children aged 2+ need to follow these steps:1.Attention - pay attention to the behaviours of another2.Retention - retain the information observed of how the other performs the behaviour.3.Motivation - want to repeat the action because they saw the other receive some sort of positive reinforcement for the behaviour.
4.Potential ability - child must have the physical ability to perform the behaviour, e.g. seeing an older child do a handstand doesn’t mean you are suddenly able to do one to.
• Cognitive development-emphasises the role of understanding interpersonal thought and action.
Children know somethings are bad or good, children can comprehend how they should relate to others and how to act.Builds an observational learning - view social development as dependant on cognitive development.

• Children's temperaments and parents behaviours are influenced and affected by each other. Therefore during socialisation the use of different approaches depending on temperament will be more effective.

Question 22

Describe the 3 different parenting styles

Answer 22

• Authoritative-reciprocal- Parent make appropriate demands on child- Child conform to appropriate rules- Responsive to children i.e. answer questions as to why there is a rule- Open communication- Faster ability to self regulate- independence
  
  • Authoritarian (restricted control)/Autocratic- Power assertive - strict discipline applied- Little attention to child’s autonomy- “Because I said so” instead of explaining why there is a rule- At extreme can lead to abuse- Child hasn’t learnt how to not use that behaviour
  • Indulgent/Permissive- Parents are responsive but apply little discipline- Try to not set schedules, bedtimes etc.- Little demands on children- Fails to help children learn about structure of social rules
  • Neglecting (not really a parenting style)- Lack of responsiveness to child
  - Neglecting, ignoring, indifferent

Question 23

Describe Piaget’s early work on moral development

Answer 23

• Young child cannot distinguish between when an accident happens and when the act is done intentionally. (8y/o)
Older children can. Therefore, they are able to see that it is worse to knock over a vase deliberately than if you accidentally knock it over.

Question 24

Describe and evaluate Kohlberg’s research and theory/model of moral development

Answer 24

Extending from Piaget’s work, Kohlberg presented children with different scenarios involving moral questions and asked the children what would be the right thing to do. (how they thought about there decisions)

Preconventional morality Level 1 (7-10 years)
s1. right/wrong matter of obtaining reward or avoiding punishment.
s2. right/wrong matter of reciprocity and negotiation.
Conventional morality level 2 (10-16+ years)
s3. Interpersonal expectations and conformity to rules to enhance self-image or please others.
s4. Conformity to societal rules forms basis of moral reasoning.
Postconventional morality Level 3 (16+ years)
s5. Moral reasoning envolves balance between societal rules and individual rights.
s6/7. consideration of universal principles of justice to form basis for moral reasoning.

The 4 Principles of Kohlberg’s Model:

1. An individual can only be at one stage at a given time.
2. Everyone goes through the stages in the fixed order.
3. Each stage is more comprehensive and complex than the preceding stage.
4. The same stages occur in every culture. (However this point is contradicted by others)

Evaluating Kohlberg’s theory:
• Not all people will reach stages 4-7. Many never reach stage 5.
• Not all cultures experience the levels.
• Research pool was limited to white, males in the 70s and therefore may not be resembling of other groups.
• Gilligan (1982) believes that females are more empathetic and will reach higher levels over males.
• Trevethan and Walker (1989) found that people use different types of moral reasoning depending on the situation of the dilemma.
• The theory is based on, and therefore applies to, only people’s judgements and not their actions.

Question 25

Describe the traditional view of adolescence

Answer 25

Hall’s “Storm and Stress” description.

traditionally a period of turmoil, mood swings, unpredictable behaviour

Question 26

Describe cultural differences in adolescence experiences

Answer 26

Children gradually take on adult responsibilities without sudden turmoil.
Individualist v collectivist culture

Question 27

Describe the levels of peer relationships in adolescence and outline the benefits of such relationships

Answer 27

commitment to friends
openness
negotiation

Question 28

Describe Erikson’s, Freud’s and Maslow’s different psychosocial stages in a adulthood

Answer 28

Key focus on social relationships.
Erikson’s Intimacy v Isolation, Generativity v Self-absorption and Integrity v Despair.
Freud’s love & work
Maslow’s Love & belonging and then success & esteem

Question 29

Describe the stages of young, middle and late adulthood and the challenges in late adulthood.

Answer 29

Young Adulthood:
• Individuals enter stable relationships
• Couples may decide to have children
• Children can impact on relationships
• Arrival of children can cause a move toward traditional gender roles.

Middle Adulthood:
• When children pass through adolescence there can be an increase in relationship conflicts.
• Midlife transition- Parent of the parent dies and then the parent realises that they are now part of the “older generation” and that their own death is the next in the expected sequence.
• Expectations and ambitions for the future may change.

Late Adulthood:
• Marriages may be happier when spouses reach later adulthood.
• Retirement may lead an individual to thoughts of no value.
• Sense of self may change; especially if individual was very ‘work’ focussed.
• Find themselves in caring for grandchildren and/or volunteering for organisations. (valued nonpaid roles in society)