Week 11 - Peer Relationships Flashcards
Piaget and vygotsky on peers
peer relationships provide a unique context - equal status, not be influenced by hierarchies - reciprocity, give and take, negotiate - cooperation from these - intimacy
peers
people of approximately the same age and status
play
- enjoyable, active, and voluntary activities that children pursue for inherent enjoyment
- interact with peers through play - PLAY IS SO IMPORTANT EARLY ON
- UN convention on the rights of the child - child has a right to play
- majority of play from age 4 onward is social
nonsocial play
- unoccupied play - child watches environment but only briefly - looking at world, staking stimuli in, not engaging
- onlooker play - child watches other children play, may ask questions, doesn’t join in
- solitary play - child engrossed in his or her own activity, not attending to behaviour of others
- observed most in young children below age 2
social play
- parallel play - plays alongside but not with other children
- associative play - plays with other children in common activity, but there is no shared goal
- cooperative play - play with peers in organized activity with a shared goal - enacting a dramatic situation, sport, game
- more complex, perspective taking, emotion knowledge, knowledge of social norms - 4 years and up
benefits of play
- social roles
- emotional development
- positive emotional experience
- develop empathy and concern
- emotional regulation
- cognitive development - problem solving, cooperation, memory, tasking, creativity
- language development
- motor skills - coordination, balance, strength
friendships
- type of peer relationship
- an intimate, reciprocated positive relationship between two people
- children across cultures have at least one peer they consider to be a friend - as early as age 2
children’s choice of friends
- homophily - tend to be friends with those similar as them
- similar sociability, personality, interests, academic motivations, cognitive maturity, distress and negative emotions, proximity, age, gender, race
- culture and parental management may influence choice of friends
- young children - proximity
- ethnicity and racial group play less of a factor
cross ethnic friendships
- important - decrease prejudice and stereotypes
- depends on context
- more diver the school is, inclusive teacher = more cross ethnic friendships
cross ethnic best friends
- best friends tend to be from the same racial group - tend to last longer than cross ethnic friendships - could be due to dissimilarity - can be mitigated if there is diversity in classroom, and children spending time in each other’s homes
cross ethnic friendships and gender
- girls tend to have larger and more ethically diverse social networks - girls friendships have more closeness, affection, nurturance, trust
- maybe girls are more inclusive, understanding, trusting of other perspectives
where do adolescents spend the most time with their friends?
- 80% school
- 60% someones house
- 55% online
- 45% extracurricular
- neighbourhood, coffee shop, mall, church, job
why do adolescents spend time online?
greater anonymity
less inhibited
be themselves
more control over interactions
less emphasis on appearance
can find similar peers
stay connected throughout the day
24/7 access
peer interactions 12-18 months
select and prefer some kids over others - interact, smile, engage
peer interactions 20 months
increasingly initiate interactions more with some kids
peer interactions 2 years
more complexity - imitating, cooperation, problem solving
peer interactions 3-4 years
make and maintain friendships with peers - best friend identitification
peer interactions 5-7 years
best friends that can last several months, more communication, more conflicts
peer interactions 6-8 years
define friendship on basis of activities, best friends are those they share with most and play with all the time
peer interactions middle childhood and adolescence
define friendships as mutual liking, closeness, loyalty, admiration, trust - more sensitive to needs of others and share their feels
peer interactions adolescence
friendship for self exploration, who they are compared to their friends work out personal problems with friends, few close friends, more mutual and exclusive, valued higher
changes in peer relationship complexity over time
- 7 years - varies - complex already in russia
- 9-12 - similar trajectories, all increase
- 15 years - cultures all have highly complex friendships
age trends in reports of self disclosure to parents and peers
- grades 2-5 - discloose to parents
- grades 7-10 - friends
- marriage - romantic partner, but friends more important than parents
functions of friendships
- emotional support, security, validation
- less loneliness
- helpful during periods of transition - between schools, moving
- buffer against unpleasant experiences - victimization
- willingness to lend support and help in elementary school - important dimension of friendship
social and cognitive functions of friendship
- reasoning and negotiation skills - criticize and elaborate on ideas
- cooperation
- understanding emotional states and processing emotions
- cope with social stressors
- understand peer norms, when to display certain behaviours - gossip
- enhances self esteem, lower psychopathology
costs of friendships
- negative peer influences
- aggression and disruptiveness - adopt these behaviours - but we don’t know direction of relationship
- modeling
- alcohol and substance abuse - reinforce use within peer group - tend to choose friends similar in drinking and drug use
- similar genetics for temperamental characteristics may be drawn to each other
- socialization vs individual selection? who influences whom?
- authoritarian parenting - more susceptive to peer drug use
gender differences in costs of friendships
- girls - desire closeness and dependency, worry about abandonment, get upset about betrayal, more stress, stability in peer relationships are similar, girls more likely to co-ruminate
early adolescence peer groups
- cliques - friendship groups that children voluntarily form of jorn
- clique membership stable for a few weeks
- 3-10 members
- boys groups are larger
- membership unstable - depends on classroom stability
- members share - sex and race, academic motivation, aggression, bullying, shyness, attractiveness, politeness, cooperativeness
adolescence peer groups
- by 10th grade - membership is stable
- several cliques
- more mixed gender cliques
- failure to conform to group norms can result in shunning or being ridiculed
- clique membership and conforming tends to decline in late adolescence
- autonomy develops
older adolescence peer groups
- increased autonomy, interest in individual relationships, less cliquish
- crowds - still belong to groups with similar stereotyped reputations - still has effect on reputation