The Family Flashcards
What is the main aim of family
To socialise the young
What does socialisation refer to?
The process by which children acquire the beliefs, motives, values and behaviours deemed significant and appropriate by older members of their society
Is family type or quality of relationship more important with example of research
Research indicates the quality of relationships within family is more important for child outcomes. E.g. very few differences in a child’s adjustment between same sex and opposite sex parents
Outline the relationship between parents sexual orientation and a child’s gender nonconformity
No difference between homo and hetero sexual parents.
What nonconformity was the strongest predictor of gender nonconformity
Toy play was most strongly predicted of gender nonconformity
Outline direct, reciprocal and indirect influences of the family
Historically thought parents directly influence a child’s behaviour. More recently thought parent and child’s relationship is reciprocal. Indirect affects include the quality of a parents other interactions influencing the child.
Outline the nurture assumption, what, who, when
The notion that parents are the most important part of the child’s environment and can determine how the child turns out. Harris. Late 90’s
What are the three theories around child-rearing practices
Attachment theory, attribution theory and social cognitive theory.
Outline the development of attachment theory
Bowlby researched infants and found when separated the child consistently displayed signs of distress, going against behavioural theory while showing attachment isn’t always reciprocal.
Outline the strange situation attachment.
Ainsworth studied attachment security and developed a way of assessing attachment theory. The assessment involved 8 scenarios and observation of the child’s response. Responses were grouped into 4 interaction behaviours including closeness and contact seeking, maintaining contact, avoidance of closeness and contact and resistance to contact and proximity.
Outline Ainsworth’s identified attachment styles
Secure: used attachment figures as a base
insecure-avoidant: don’t reach out to attachment figures in times of distress, caregiver is likely insensitive
insecure-ambivalent/resistant: child not comforted by caregiver but is clingy and rejecting.
Outline Ainsworth’s maternal sensitivity hypothesis
Suggests that the sensitivity the caregiver demonstrates towards a child determines the style of attachment that is developed
What is the contemporary views on attachment styles
Secure, anxious-ambivalent, disorganised, avoidant.
Outline the role of father’s in attachment theory
Original theory gave fathers a minor role, recent advances offer larger role to father, Bowlby revised views giving mothers and fathers equal influence
Outline attribution theory
How individuals interpret events and how this relates to their thinking and behaviours. External motivations: incentives, internal motivations: person attributions
Outline Weiner’s attribution theory on achievement
Identified ability, effort, task difficulty and luck as the important factors affecting attributions for achievement
Outline social cognitive theory
Bandura. Focuses on the development of self-regulatory control in the exercise of human agency where it is initially external control which later becomes self - regulatory
What are the motivational factors of sociocognitive regulators
Social sanctions, self sanctions, self - efficacy beliefs
What is the self regulatory process
Self- observation -> judgment processes -> self-reaction
Which of the theories contain internalisation process
Social cognitive theory and attribution theory. But SCT focuses mostly on self-regulatory internalised processes
Name socialisation techniques to eliminate behaviour
Verbal punishment, physical punishment, extinction, time-out, withdrawal of love, reasoning & reinforcement of alternate desirable behaviour.
Name socialisation techniques for strengthening behaviour
Material rewards, social rewards, verbal attributions, direct instructions and maturity demands
Outline some negative side effects of physical punishment
Imitation of aggression hypothesis, avoidance of parents, anxiety inhibiting recall, highlighting external control