Week 2 - Social/Emotional Development + Gender/Moral Development

Question 1

What is theory of Mind?

Answer 1

The appreciation that other people may think differently, and that what they think will guide their behaviour, rather than how things really are.

Question 2

Influences on developing a theory of mind?

Answer 2

6 main influences:

• Brain maturation - age threshold
• Relations with language development
• Pretend play - social interactions
• Parental use of mental state language - parents who explain and discuss
• quality of child parent relationship
• presence of older siblings

Question 3

What is the Rouge Test?

Answer 3

• Tests the child’s self awareness
• Mirror self recognition test
• At 18 months the child can understand they are the person in the mirror - they notice the red dot on themselves in the mirror

Question 4

What is Attachment Theory?

Answer 4

The origins of the theory began with the work of Colby and Ainsworth through their work with animals in Africa.

The emotional connection we share with those to whom we feel closest too is called attachment.

Primary caregivers who are available and responsive to an infant’s needs allow the child to develop a sense of security.

Question 5

What are the individual differences in attachment?

Answer 5

• They emerged in 1977 through the work of Mary Ainsworth in her “Strange Situation Procedure” which was an experiment with 7 stages that centred around separation and reunion between the parent and the baby.

The results from the procedure:

1. Secure attachment (50-60%) - distress when separated then the reunion terminates the distress.
2. Insecure anxious-ambivalent (15-20%) - extreme separation distress, not terminated by the reunion.
3. Insecure avoidant (15-20%) - limited separation distress, limited response to mother on reunion.
4. Disorganised (5-10%) - no coherent strategy - confusing/contradictory or bizarre behaviour.

Question 6

What are the consequences of the different attachment styles?

Answer 6

Secure attachment will result in:

1. Better relations with peers
2. More leadership
3. Better emotional regulation
4. Relate better to teachers

Disorganised attachment results in:
- Clinically significant problems later in development

Question 7

What are the limitations and conceptual challenges of SSP?

Answer 7

• There may exist different attachment styles depending on the parent/caregiver
• If the caregiving quality and/or circumstances change throughout development the attachment style will be impacted
• Need different measurement approaches as the child develops - the attachment system has to be activated for the experiment/procedure to be effective

Question 8

How do individual differences in attachment occur?

Answer 8

The differences arise through nature and nurture:

• Parents differ in how they respond to their infants
• Infants differ in what they bring to relationships

The challenge for parents is to modulate their responses to match the baby they have.

Question 9

According to Ainsworth, what are the core features of sensitivity?

Answer 9

1. Does the parent notice and receive the infant signals and cues
2. Does the parent interpret these accurately
3. Does the parent respond promptly and appropriately/flexibly.

Question 10

What is the still-face procedure?

Answer 10

• Parent doesn’t react to the signals/cues of the baby and maintains a still face –> extremely distressful for the baby.
• Illuminates the importance of being a sensitive caregiver as a parent in order to develop a secure attachment style for the baby.

Question 11

What is the difference between sex and gender?

Answer 11

Sex is biological and gender is psychological.

Question 12

What are gender stereotypes?

Answer 12

They are a set of beliefs as to what it means to be a boy or a girl. They are the behavioural patterns that are deemed appropriate based on if you are a boy or a girl.

e.g. colour of room, toys put in room, appropriate activities for each gender to engage in.

Question 13

What are the gender differences at infancy?

Answer 13

Other than obvious anatomical differences there are no other differences between a boy and a girl at birth. Soon after though, the newborns are labelled as either boys or girls and thus this affects the way they are perceived and treated.

By the time they are 2 years old the groundwork for later gender role development is established, and later they begin to establish a basic gender identity and pursue stereotypical activities.

Question 14

What happens with gender development through childhood?

Answer 14

• The child’s gender development proceeds rapidly
• Through school the child will choose to engage ion gender specific activities and prefer same-sex playmates
• Gender segregation begins

Question 15

What happens with gender development through adolescence?

Answer 15

• Boys and girls begin to come together in intimate ways, namely through romantic relationships
• Biological changes coupled with social pressures throughout this time lead to an increase in gender differences
• This begins to establish adult gender identity

Question 16

What are the differences in aggression between the two genders?

Answer 16

• Boys tend to engage in more rough and tumble play meaning that are more physically aggressive
• Adolescent males are arrested for violent crimes five times more than adolescent females
• Girls engage in relational aggression more so than boys (although boys still do) - this involves social exclusion, rumour spreading and talking behind their back

Question 17

What are the differences in cognitive abilities between the two genders?

Answer 17

• Men perform better than women on spatial tests involving mental rotation
• Gender differences in mathematics are small and have been reducing over time
• Gender stereotypes also attribute to this - e.g. a girl maybe great at maths in primary school but begin to doubt her own ability or not try as hard in maths due to gender stereotypes in high school
• Gender differences in verbal performance is also small however females are slightly superior

Question 18

What is gender constancy?

Answer 18

Kohlberg (1966, 1969) developed this term to outline that a person’s sex is a permanent attribute that is tied to underlying biological properties.

He states that it does not depend on surface characteristics - such as length of hair, clothing choice and choice of play etc.

Question 19

What are the new views on Gender Identity?

Answer 19

• Traditional binary views on gender identity have been challenged by a broader view of identity which includes transgender identities and fluid identities
• 3 to 5 year olds often begin the process of socially transitioned transgender children where they will start to dress like the opposite gender and use different pronouns to describe themselves
• (Fast and Olsen, 2018) state that preference, behaviour and belief measures establish this transition
• Transgender children were less likely than both control groups to believe that their gender at birth matches their current gender, also less likely to believe that other people’s gender is stable

Question 20

What are the new views on gendered behaviour?

Answer 20

• Gender roles are more flexible - however stereotypes still remain alive and well
• Gender influences are still pervasive and affect life course however more people are increasingly not prescribing to traditional views

Question 21

What is moral conduct?

Answer 21

Moral conduct refers to what the individual believes is the right and wrong way to act and behave. Children learn these rules from parents.

Question 22

What are the main theories of morality?

Answer 22

1. Piaget’s Theory
2. Kohlberg’s Theory
3. Freud’s theory of conscience
4. Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura)

Question 23

What is Piagets theory of moral development?

Answer 23

• Conducted in 1932, Piaget was interested in how children understand moral issues
• He concluded that children judge the morality of certain decisions by the consequences of those decisions rather than the intentions
• Morality of constraint - Children up until adolescence will follow their parents orders without considering the reasoning or consequences behind them
• Morality of cooperation - The perception that rules are social conventions that can be challenged and modified when concerned parties agree

Question 24

What is Kohlberg’s theory of moral development?

Answer 24

Kohlberg stated moral development proceeds through a universal and invariant sequence of three broad moral stages; each is composed of 3 levels:

He asked 10. 13 and 16 year old boys if the act is right or wrong and if so why?

Stage 1: Preconventional Morality

• The focus is on satisfying their own needs - avoiding punishment and obtaining personal rewards
• Level 1 and 2

Stage 2: Conventional Morality

• The focus is on social approval: right and wrong are defined by convention and by what people will say
• Level 3 - gain approval of others
• Level 4 - rigid codes of “law and order”

Stage 3: Postconventional Morality

• Focus on abstract ideals - broad principles of justice and internalisation of personal moral principles
• Level 5 - “social contract” agreed upon for the public good
• Level 6 - abstract ethical principles that determine own’s own moral code

Question 25

What is Gilligan’s theory of moral development?

Answer 25

• Centres around the morality of Justice vs the morality of Care
• Individuals with a justice based perspective tend to see any dilemma as a conflict between different claims - solution to the dilemma is necessary with a verdict
• Individuals with a care based perspective avoids seeing the dilemma as separate parties with their own invalid or valid claims, however, they see the whole situation as difficult for everyone - the point is not to decide a verdict one way or the other but to find a way to get around it or remove it

Question 26

What is moral disengagement?

Answer 26

• It is a concept used to explain the mismatch between adopting moral standards and not behaving in accord with those standards
• Selective activation and disengagement of internal control permits different types of conduct with the same moral standards

Self Sanctions can be disengaged from harmful conduct by:

1. Reconstruing the conduct
2. Obscuring personal causal agency
3. Misrepresenting or disregarding the injurious consequences of one’s actions
4. Vilifying the recipients of maltreatment by blaming and devaluing them