week 12 - families Flashcards
Who is Urie Bronfenbrenner and what is he known for?
a developmental psychologist who recognized the importance of environmental and societal influences on childrens development. he developed the ecological systems theory which later became the bioecological theory of human development
What is the microsystem in Bronfenbrenner’s theory?
the microsystem is the most important level and includes the proximal processes for childrens development. These are everyday activities and interactions in which the developing child engages, and are considered the “engines of development”. It includes a child’s home and other environments where they spend lots of time, such as grandparent’s house, childcare, and school
What is the mesosystem in Bronfenbrenner’s theory?
The mesosystem involves the relationships between microsystems. It explores how different elements of the microsystems work together to influence development. For example, how the home environment impacts learning at school
What is the exosystem in Bronfenbrenner’s theory?
The exosystem includes settings where the child may not be directly involved, but still experiences the effects of that environment. Examples include a parent’s workplace, local government policies, and mass media
What is the macrosystem in Bronfenbrenner’s theory?
The macrosystem encompasses shared beliefs, values, and practices; access to resources; and a sense of common identity. It is akin to culture and includes entire societies, racial/ethnic groups, regional groups, and socioeconomic groups
What is the chronosystem in Bronfenbrenner’s theory?
The chronosystem involves the dimension of time in an individual’s life. It considers how both environmental events and transitions across the lifespan influence development. This includes historical events, life transitions, and sociohistorical contexts
What are the key components of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory?
- microsystem (childs immediate environment)
- mesosystem (interactions between microsystems)
- exosystem (indirect influences on child)
- macrosystem (cultural context)
- chronosystem (influence of time and historical events)
What is socialization according to Hetherington & Parke (1993)?
socialization is the process by which an individuals standards, skills, motives, attitudes and behaviours are influenced to conform to those regarded as desriable and appropriate for his or her present or futture role in society
What is the conflict model of socialization?
views children as inherently selfish, with caregivers inducing them to adopt socially acceptable behaviours. it suggests a negative view of children and a painful socialization process
What is the transactional model of socialization?
views children as active agents in their own socialization. recognises the reciprocal influence of both the child and caregiver, and is influenced by individual differences such as temperament, cognitive abilities, and motivations
Give examples of parent-child transactions in the transactional model of socialisation
a childs attempts at language learning to parental verbal instructions
a child observing and imitating parental behaviour and parents modelling social norms
What are the key parental roles in socialisation?
- reinforcement of expected behaviours
- modelling of behaviours
- managing the environment
How does the Bioecological systems perspective view the family?
- interdependent system where each member and subsystem influence are influenced by eachother
- to change a childs behaviour, may be necessary to change dynamics of the family system
What are characteristics of sibling relationships?
- permanent
- involuntary
- strong emotions
- high levels of intimacy
- a rich context for the development of sociall understanding
How do siblings influence emotional development?
siblings help in the:
- development of an emotion vocabulary: identify and express emotions, decode others emotions, learn emotional regulation and develop the understanding that other’s emotions may differ from their own
they can also offer support in times of stress and work together to change family subsystems
How can sibling interactions promote social cognition?
children who understand their own and their siblings internal states are more likely to interact prosocially. Stocker et al. (2002) and Howe et al. (1998) show that children who use more internal state language have less sibling conflict
How can pretend play with siblings impact development? (Howe et al., 1998)
- pretend play with siblings can improve ToM skills and develop skills such as clear language use, expressing intentions, coordinating activities, and adapting to changes in play
- children who frequently engaged in pretend play with older siblings scored higher on ToM tests
How does sibling conflict contribute to emotional development? (Katz et al., 1992)
sibling conflict can expose children to a wide range of emotions, and help them learn to anticipate emotional responses of others and formulate responses. research suggests that sibling conflict can help children become more comfortable with negative emotions and learn to self-soothe
What were the key findings of the Pennysylvania Study of Social Understanding? (Dunn et al., 1991)
- study found that children who engaged in more pretend play with siblings at 2 years old were better at ToM tasks at 3 years old
- also found that early measures of social understanding predicted emotional understanding at 7 years old, and that children used different conversational patterns when talking with family members vs peers
according to Dunn (2007), what is the significance of sibling relationships for understanding the connections between inner states and behaviour?
- the ability of siblings to decieve, tease, manage conflict, share imaginative worlds, and engage in conversation about behaviour reflects a growing understanding of the connections between inner states and behaviour, and the emotional context and familiarity of the sibling relationship plays an important part in that growth of understanding