w1 Flashcards
what is social development
changes over time in a child’s understand of - attitudes toward and - actions with others
what changes
how these changes happen
give some examples why it’s important to study soc dev. (5)
to discover law and principles that govern social behaviour
to improve parenting
support childrens need (teachers)
policy regulations
heath professionals (treat disorders)
provide a brief history of the study of social development (3 periods - major theorists when appropriate - scientific focus - directions of field now - 3)
- emergence:
1800’s
philosophers
scientists - late 1800s
interested in fostering ‘good citizens’ - good traits
more ab thought experiments
- middle period:
idea that to live in a society , we need to follow social norms - question of how kids figure this out - kids as effective social partners
influence of social factors on development
1930 - 1960
frued - sociologists - learning theorists
- modern era:
1960’s onwards
cognitive conflict with peers as a driving force of development (forces thinking ab other’s thoughts)
goal to develop a normative model of social development
three directions now:
self regulation
attention to biology
dyads and groups as essential to social development
(more balanced view than before)
main questions in social development (4)
nature and nurture:
- genetic blueprint vs. learning theorists
- now: look at interactions between the two (how does environment direct biological processes)
ex. epigenetics (predisposed traits altered through environment)
continuity vs. discontinuity:
- discontinuity: idea that development occurs in stages - big jump (results in an individual that is completely different from one stage to another)
ex. kid goes from grabbing toys to asking for toys (doesn’t grab with out asking again)
- continuity: gradual change - new changes add to old ones (kid can now grab OR ask for the toy)
- depends on the POWER OF THE LENS: from a distance development can look abrupt - but up close you can see it consists of more subtle changes
ex. true that kids will develop a number of strategies to do a task - but overtime certain strategies will no longer be used
current perspective:
gradual changes
but there are major transitional periods with major growth (going to high-school)
situation or the child:
- what are the relevant contributions of PERSON FACTORS VS. SITUATIONAL FACTORS
(idea is WHICH IS MORE IMPORTANT - WHICH ONE IS MORE POWERFUL IN A GIVEN SITUATION)
ex. are war crimes more the fault of the person vs. the situation in which they arise ?
- person factors: temperament, personality
- situational factors: context, social groups
- now we KNOW - person and the situation are not independent (ppl seek out situations that suit their interests and abilities - NICHE PICKING)
UNIVERSAL OR CULTURE SPECIFIC:
- matter of figuring out what is shared - what is different across cultures regarding social development
- universal (same basic social foundations shared by all children)
- culture (culture exerts strong influence on child’s development)
what do theories DO? (2)
- provide a basis for organizing and integrating information (framework - conceptual idea of how people work)
- make predictions about child’s behaviour - leads to TESTABLE HYPOTHESES
describe the commonalities between psychodynamic theories ? (3)
- role of biological maturation is important in social development - and problems that might arise because of this (puberty)
- conflicts arise in development - how children deal with these conflicts impact their development
- STAGES - marked by conflicts and resolution (can get stuck at a certain stage of development if conflict is unresolved)
describe freud’s theories of development. (mechanism of change - aspects of personality - and brief review of the stages - 5)
idea that erotically sensitive zones become powered by psychic energy that stems from the biological instinctual drives that drive behaviour - creates challenges that need to navigated
id
- totally unconscious
- source of psychic energy - where all our biological drive come from
- ruled by pleasure principles
- becomes increasingly managed through development
ego
- emerges in first year
- stems from the need to resolve conflicts between the ID’S NEEDs and REALITY
- reality principle (semi-conscious)
- guide to primal urges
- becomes stronger with age
superego
- emerges from 3 - 6
- conscience
- based on norms rules and standards
- guides children
- involves resolving complex
- unconscious
STAGES:
- ORAL (weening of breast -> smoking nail biting) 0 - 1
- ANAL (toilet training -> messiness or overly orderly) 1 - 3
- PHALLIC (resolve complex -> deviance)
- LATENCY (defence mechanisms) 6 - 12
- GENITAL (sexual maturity -> all stages must be complete to reach healthy sexual maturity) 12+
describe erikson’s theory (emphasis - type of development - nature of stages)
- emphasized the effects of the SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT - psychosocial theory
- lifespan of development (development continues into adulthood)
- each stage is associated with tasks to master - and RISKS IF NOT MASTERED - need to be resolved or issues will stay with you for your entire life
nature of stages:
- each of these time periods has an event that we need to resolve - each stage is marked by a key questions - these are things that children need to answer at each stage - DO I LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE I CAN TRUST OTHER PEOPLE - (if not, then will develop a trust issue and get stuck)
CRITIQUE - inflexible (stuck at stage can’t move on - not true - there are things that we all need to navigate into adulthood)
contributions and weaknesses of stage theories (4 contributions - 3 weaknesses erikson - 4 weaknesses freud)
CONTRIBUTIONS
- established some areas of central concern (importance of early experiences - family - social interaction)
-established topics of interest (aggression morality gender roles etc.)
- key developmental phenomena (infantile amnesia)
- FREUD: importance of unconscious processes (against dominant view)
WEAKNESSES:
FREUD:
- unfalsifiable
-retrospective
- biased methods of data collection (not objective)
- focus on sexuality too narrowed
ERIKSON:
- observations can be explained differently (strictly acting this way because hey failed a stage ?)
- what is the mechanism driving developmental change
- implies conflicts are time limited - not actually true - persist through life
what do learning theories have in common (classical - operant - bandura) (3)
- leaning is primary source of development
- no stages - learning happens through life
- individual differences are explained by differences in learning
describe classical - operant conditioning - lasting contributions of these theories (3) - weaknesses (5)
classical
- pair us to ns become cs
operant
behaviour that is rewarded tends to be repeated and that which is suppressed becomes supressed
so - everything we do is an operant response based on outcomes of behaviour
something about behaviour that is intermittently rewarded makes it PARTICULARLY resistant to becoming extinct (stay ‘sticky’)
CONTRIBUTIONS
- showed attention is a powerful reinforcer (paying attention to acting out is reinforcement enough)
- systematic desensitization (phobias - see pic of snakes - hold stuffed toy - see pet snake)
- behaviour modification (look in my eyes - good job !)
WEAKNESSES
- don’t acknowledge changes in children’s social emotional and cognitive abilities
- doesn’t differentiate based on age
- findings that conditioning is less powerful with age (PROBLEM FOR THEORY)
- no attention to biological differences
- no attention to individual differences (environments would have to be radically different to account for such differences we see in people - not true for general population)
describe social learning theory main idea - the bobo doll study - prerequisites for observational learning (4) -reciprocal determinism (2) - perceived self-efficacy (3)
main idea: children learn social behaviours by observing and imitating others
bobo doll -
kid see adult hitting doll
more likely to act agressively to doll when saw this model
direct reproduction of behaviour in some cases
KIDS WHERE MORE LIKELY TO PRODUCE BEHAVIOUR WHEN GIVEN INCENTIVE - even when the model was punished/not rewarded for the behaviour
OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING
1 (MUST PAY ATTENTION - driven by past experiences, relationship with model, circumstances and personality)
2 (RETENTION - children who use strategies to recall the behaviour are more effective learners
3 (FACTORS THAT AFFECT REPRODUCTION - less likely to reproduce a complicated action sequence)
4 (MOTIVATION - reward and personal reasons for behaviour)
RECIPROCAL DETERMINISM
- children have characteristics that lead them to seek out particular kinds of interactions with the external world
- interactions affect the child in turn and influence their further interactions with the world
(kids have characteristics -> shape their interaction with the environment -> impacts with how the child interacts going forward)
perceived self-efficacy:
a person’s beliefs about how much they can control their own behaviour to achieve a desired goal
domain specific but inter-related
- perceived self -efficacy for emotional regulation and academic self-efficacy are separate but related
- idea that beliefs about our self shape things
sources of efficacy:
- experience
- parents
- natural reactions
-large groups
idea that WE SOCIALIZE OURSELVES BASED ON THE BELIEFS WE HAVE ABOUT OURSELVES
lasting contributions of social learning theory (3) weaknesses (2)
contributions:
- testable - derived from empirical research
- tells us how children learn social behaviours
- clinical applications (why are some kids really aggressive)
weaknesses:
- need focus on biology
- need focus on cognition
dodge’s information processing theory (6 steps to solve problems) - dweck’s theory of self-attributions - strengths and weaknesses of these theories (7)
dodge information processing:
-look’s at children’s use of strategies to navigate social situations (social responses through lens of decision-making)
- children have 6 steps to solve problems:
- encode a problematic event
- interpret social cues
- formulate goal to resolve
-generate strategies to achieve goal
- evaluate the success of these strategies
- enact plan
need to bring to bear all their social knowledge to engage in these steps
CRITICISM - ONLY IN NOVEL SITUATIONS (taking a cognitive lens and breaking problem into steps)
DWECK’S THEORY OF SELF-ATTRIBUTION
- children vary how they think about their self-worth
- leads to difference in approach to challenges or failures
mastery orientation (expects future success and enjoys achieving it - based on self evaluation)
helpless orientation (failure leads to doubt - based on evaluation of others - how failures and successes LOOK) - differences emerge as early as 4
- continue as kids get older - ideas about intelligence being fixed or changeable
strengths
- cognition and social understanding
- explains how diff outcomes arise from diff social situations (individual interpretations)
- good for explaining behaviour in new situations
weaknesses
- need to focus on developmental changes (not just ID)
- role of emotions
- not all social interactions are cognitively driven
- biology ?
what do social cognition theories have in common (3)
- thinking as drive of development (ability to think and reason about own thoughts drives behaviour)
- emphasizes self-socialization - children shape own environment
- continuity (and discontinuity)
