SOP 3015

CLASS NOTES # 6 (Chapters 10-13)

Ch. 10: ALTRUISM AND MORAL DEVELOPMENT

I. ALTRUISM & PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOR

Prosocial behavior = behavior that benefits another (behavioral definition)
Altruism = prosocial behavior with primary intent to benefit other (motivational definition)

Theories: (emphasize different aspects of development)

• Ethological: adaptive behavior-- social norms grew from evolution
• Hoffman: emphathy is inherited mechanism for prosocial behavior, interacts with social environment
• Psychoanalytic: superego-- internalization of standards of warm, nurturant parent; violation --> guilt
• Social Learning: reinforcement & modeling/observation
• Indirect conditioning (negative reinforcement) of empathic response
• Feels good to help because other stops crying & relieves own distress
• Direct teaching, praise for altruistic behavior
• Observation of altruistic models
• Cognitive Developmental: ability to reason about prosocial issues parallels cognitive development
• Emphasis on role-taking

Developmental Trend

• Hoffman: Newborns show empathic distress
• 12-18 mo.: offer toys, comfort (comforting others related to self differentiation, self recognition-- ability to differentiate own distress from other's distress)
• 2 1/2 to 3: recognition of reciprocity with mother prompting/ little spontaneous sharing
• 6-12: more generosity/sharing
• related to increased cognitive/role-taking skills (recognition of need, etc.)
• greater competence & responsibility
• Eisenberg: stages of prosocial reasoning (ex. Should Mary help injured peer & miss a birthday party?)
• Hedonistic (what's good for me)
• Approval seeking (help because mom will love me)
• Empathic (role taking) (help because person feels bad, needs help)
• Internalized values (help because it's the right thing to do-- will help even if person is disliked)

Individual differences in altruism affected by:

• Culture: some more cooperative than others
• Whiting: cooperative cultures:

· Less industrial, more extended & interdependent families, children have more responsibility

• Socialization:
• Direct teaching & reinforcement (long term)
• Social reinforcement, not extrinsic reinforcement, is effective
• More effective from warm, nurturant persons
• More effective if focuses on internal characteristics of child; e.g. "that was kind of you"--but need to be concrete with young child): emphasizes altruism as personal characteristic of the child
• Not effective from selfish person
• Modeling:
• Actions louder than words/ Socially committed activists in 60's had activist parents
• Warm, nurturant models more effective
• Discipline:
• Rational, affectively oriented discipline associated with prosocial behavior
• Harsh, punitive discipline-- children less prosocial

II. MORAL DEVELOPMENT

Similar to prosocial behavior, but focus is on moral principles and transgression of moral principles.

Includes affective, cognitive, and behavioral components-- different theories focus on different aspects

Theories

• Psychoanalytic: deals with affective component of morality
• Freud: Oedipal conflict theory not substantiated
• Is support for role of affect in moral behavior
• Social Learning: Deals with behavioral aspect of morality (resistance to temptation, adherence to moral principles)
• Reinforcement of behavioral alternatives to prohibited behavior
• Modeling of moral behavior
• Mild punishment by warm, nurturant parent (harsh punishment alienates child, leads to external control-- child transgresses again when parent is out of sight)
• Providing rationale for prohibition along with mild punishment very effective
• Hoffman: Study of Parent Discipline styles
• Power assertive: authoritarian ("Don't do that"!, Physical force)
• Love withdrawal: (I don't want to speak to you, you terrible child)
• Inductive reasoning:
• Focuses on victim (you've hurt your brother)
• Encourages role taking, empathy
• Communicates social norms
• Encourages reparation
• Inductive reasoning most effective style
• Cognitive Developmental Theory: Focus on cognitive/reasoning aspects of morality
• Piaget: Assessed child's understanding of moral dilemmas
• Dilemmas: manipulated intentions & consequences in transgressions-- breaking 1 cup while taking forbidden jam from cupboard or 15 cups by accident when opening door.
• Stages of moral reasoning:
• Premoral (preschool) -- no conception of rules
• Moral realism (heteronomous morality) age 5-9
• Rules are real, unchangeable
• Violation of rules results in immanent justice
• Consequences more important than intentions in considering punishment
• Moral reciprocity (automomous morality) age 9-10 up
• Rules are arbitrary, socially agreed upon, changeable
• Violations considered in terms of effects on others-- Egalitarian concept of justice, rejection of blind obedience to authority
• Punishment related to intentions
• Mature moral reasoning related to peer conflict: increases role taking, reduces egocentrism
• Kohlberg: Extended Piaget
• Moral dilemma: assess reasoning behind judged rightness or wrongness of act committed by central character
• Example: Heinz steals drug for dying wife
• 3 levels, 6 stages of moral reasoning
• Level 1: Preconventional Morality
• Stage 1: Obedience & Punishment Orientation
• Deference to authority to avoid punishment
• Example: Shouldn't steal because could get caught
• Stage 2: Hedonistic instrumental morality
• Concern with personal gain (you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours)
• Example: Should steal drug so wife can continue to cook and clean
• Level 2: Conventional Morality
• Stage 3: Good boy/good girl morality
• Concern with social approval
• Example: Should steal drug so wife will love him
• Stage 4: Social order maintaining (most adults at this level)
• Law and order morality: must obey laws
• Example: Shouldn't steal drug because stealing is against the law
• Level 3: Postconventional Morality
• Social contract orientation
• Recognition that laws are social contracts subject to change and may be challenged
• Example: Stealing is against the law, but it would be reasonable to steal under these circumstances
• Individual principled morality
• Recognition that there are moral principles that transcend laws & must be decided by individual conscience
• Example: Should steal drug because preservation of human life takes precedence over law against stealing
• Is support for invariant sequence of development
• Mixed data on association with behavior: is associated at higher levels of reasoning & for older children and adults
• No solid evidence for Stage 6 reasoning.
• Gilligan's idea that males have a morality of justice and females have a morality of care is not supported by research: males and females are similar in their moral reasoning
• Cultural variation raises questions about universality of Kohlberg’s model.

Ch. 11: THE FAMILY

Family as system

• Changing families, changing definition of family (father working, mother housewife, 2 or more children = 12% of families)
• Change in one part affects other parts
• Direct and indirect effects (Father support --> mother responsiveness to child)
• Interactions differ depending on presence of different family members
• Family embedded in larger social network, culture (1 in 5 U. S. children live in poverty)

Parenting in childhood

• Parents differ in degree of warmth/supportiveness, control over child, and expectations/demands
• Patterns (Baumrind)
• Authoritative: High warmth, moderate control, appropriate expectations
• Children tend to have high cognitive and social competence
• Authoritarian: Low warmth, high control, high expectations
• Children tend to be lower in competence
• Permissive: High warmth, low control, low expectations
• Children tend to be lower in competence
• 4th pattern not in Baumrind research: uninvolved, neglectful parenting
• Children have very low achievement, low social competence, behavior problems
• Social class/economic stresses affect parenting
• Lower classes more authoritarian
• Economic distress --> more neglectful parenting
• Authoritative parenting associated with positive outcomes regardless of socioeconomic status, but there is cultural variation. Can't assume authoritative parenting is best for all.

Parenting adolescents

• Adolescents striving for autonomy leads to conflict, especially around puberty
• Need independence with safety net of age-appropriate limits
• Emotional closeness continues

Siblings

• Sources of both support and conflict
• Viewed as important relationship / Sibs can serve as attachment figures in strange situation
• Modeling and direct teaching from older to younger sibs/ benefits both
• Only children (those without siblings) are at least as high in cognitive & social competence as those with siblings.

Effects of Divorce:

• Children often show behavioral, academic problems
• Resentments/problems can remain into adulthood/ fear for own marriages
• Probably better for child than living in continual conflict
• Effects can be moderated with
• adequate financial support
• adequate parenting from custodial parent
• social/emotional support from noncustodial parent
• social support from others
• fewer additional stressors (moving, changing schools, etc.)
• Step-parent families
• often unstable/ have difficult time adjusting /girls tend to be less accepting of step-parent
• early adolescents show most academic, behavior problems: about 1/3 disengage from family

Maternal employment

• Positive or negative effects depending on other circumstances
• Children more mature, more respect for women, girls show higher aspirations
• Higher achievement in low income families
• Less positive outcomes if mothers unhappy with jobs, less committed to parenting, & receiving less social support
• Boys show lower achievement only if not monitored
• Mothers need to work-- need to find ways to strengthen families, provide adequate care in parents' absence

Child abuse

• First cases prosecuted under cruelty to animals laws
• Extent of Problem: about 3,000,000 cases/yr. reported, 1,000,000 confirmed/11% of all children in community surveys
• Abusive parents
• often alcoholic or drug abusing, but only 30% of those abused grow up to abuse their own children
• tend to have been abused
• perfectionistic
• unrealistic expectations for child behavior
• believe in authoritarian style, physical punishment (magnify general cultural acceptance of physical punishment)
• exacerbated by stress/poverty/unemployment/social isolation
• Abused children
• often had problems at birth (prematurity, complications)
• more difficult temperaments, less compliant
• Effects of abuse
• child aggressive, low self esteem, rejected by peers
• may be anxious, depressed
• sexually abused children also ashamed, distrustful/ may be promiscuous, suicidal, prone to drug abuse
• some are resilient-- especially if positive relationship is available
• most do not abuse their own children-- especially if
• they had emotional support from nonabuser as children
• they had therapy
• they have good relationship with nonabusive spouse
• Solutions:
• Home visits with high risk families following birth
• Parenting education: parenting skills, age-appropriate expectations, stress management, social networking skills
• Support services/respite care
• Parents Anonymous
• Family therapy
• Some are beyond help-- child needs to be removed

Ch. 12: TV AND SCHOOL EFFECTS

Effects of Television

• Moderate TV watching does not seem to impair cognitive development, school achievement, or peer interaction.
• TV literacy (understanding story lines & characters’ motives & intentions) limited before age 8-9, improves through middle childhood & adolescence.
• Negative effects of TV violence on aggression well-studied, but still not completely clear
• Correlational studies show relationship between TV violence & aggression
• Eron, Huesman longitudinal study: violent TV watching at 8 predicted aggression/delinquency in adolescence & adulthood
• Lab studies manipulating TV violence show causal relation to aggression
• Field experiments confirm
• Notel Canadian study: aggression increased after TV introduced to area
• Friedrich & Stein nursery school study
• children shown Batman/Superman vs. Mr. Rogers, etc. were more aggressive in play
• Leyens et al. study of delinquents in residential cottages
• viewing one week of aggressive films increased aggression for both initially aggressive and less aggressive cottages; aggression declined in cottages viewing nonviolent films
• Effects not reduced by viewing punishment for aggression
• Effects may be most pronounced for children with aggressive tendencies
• Violent media also leads to “mean world beliefs” and desensitization to violence in both children and adults
• Other negative effects of TV
• Stereotyping (gender, race, ethnicity, etc)
• Children susceptible to sales pitches
• Poor nutritional messages, lack of physical activity
• Positive effects of TV
• Education
• Sesame Street highly successful across economic categories and in absence of parental monitoring
• Other educational programs also effective, but more dependent on parental reinforcement
• Prosocial behavior: Mr. Rogers, Sesame St. etc. promote-- more effective with parental reinforcement of lessons

Computer Effects

• Can improve academic performance if not used just for drills & teachers are knowledgeable.
• Programming computers may increase metacognition.
• Collaborative activities with peers enhance social skills.
• Violence in video games > aggression.
• Greater computer literacy in middle to upper income groups may disadvantage lower income children
• Internet use may have positive (ex. access to information) or negative (ex. susceptibility to predators) outcomes.

School Effects

• Effective schools are authoritative schools
• Warm, nurturant atmosphere, coupled with high expectations and good control
• Teachers make a difference
• teacher expectations important: often hold low expectations for lower class students
• use of competitive, timed tasks intimidates anxious students
• derogatory comments to students affect peer ratings, lower self esteem of students
• Small school size may be beneficial
• Smaller class sizes better for younger children and remedial classes
• need adequate resources
• ability tracking not generally beneficial
• OK if done by subject, if all levels have good teachers, and if lower track students integrated into school life
• Structure (example, open vs. closed classrooms) not related clearly to effectiveness:
• Depends on goodness of fit between student and school may be important-- may be no one size fits all in education.
• Schools have middle class bias/ Lower class students do less well, but parents don't value achievement less.
• Lower achievement may be related to school factors (perceived irrelevancy of materials, teacher behavior, etc.)
• May also be affected by peer values
• Mainstreaming of disabled students works better if school emphasized cooperative activities

Ch. 13: PEER RELATIONS

Most peer interactions are mixed age, but same sex/ Same sex friends more common across life span

Functions of peer relations

• egalitarian relationships: promote social-cognitive growth, role-taking
• reinforce and model social competence/ facilitate personal adjustment-- to some extent even in absence of adults
• Harlow, Freud & Dann
• optimal development = adults and peers (usually complementary)

• Poor peer relations predict delinquency, emotional problems, especially for rejected peers

Development of peer interaction

• Peer involvement increases through adolescence
• Development of peer interaction infancy to preschool
• middle of first year: simple social gestures, some imitation, rarely responded to by peers
• 12-18 mo. some simple turn-taking, social play
• 18-24 mo: coordinated, reciprocal interaction (mutual imitation/sharing)
• 2 1/2-3 yrs: cooperative social pretend play (you be mommy, I'll be daddy)
• 3 1/2- 4 yrs: complex social pretend play (organized roles, scripts)
• Later development:
• 7-10 yrs: Rule oriented games, and peer groups (Sherif & Sherif, Robber's Cave study--competition vs. cooperation)
• Early adolescence: same-sex cliques
• Later adolescence: mixed-sex crowds

Origins of peer relations

• Sociability has some genetic component
• Parents: Direct effects
• choice of residence
• "booking agent"
• monitoring (best if indirect)
• teaching, modeling social/play skills
• providing preschool experience for child
• Parents: Indirect effects
• attachment security
• authoritative parenting

Peer Acceptance-Rejection

• Assessed with sociometric ratings, paired comparisons, or nominations (preference + Impact scores)
• Categories of peer status
• popular (high preference, high impact)
• isolated, neglected (low preference, low impact)
• rejected (low preference, high impact)
• average (moderate preference, moderate impact)
• controversial (low/high preference, high impact)
• Rejected children: most stable over time, poorest prognosis
• Many are overly aggressive, lacking in social skills
• Attribute hostility to others
• Others view aggressiveness as stable trait, continue to reject child
• Neglected children--less stable (many become accepted)
• Antecedents:
• Parenting (authoritative, responsive play, etc.)
• Temperament
• Cognitive skills (brighter more accepted)
• Name (unusual names promote rejection)
• Attractiveness, body build (mesomorph more popular)
• Maturation (early maturing boys more popular)
• Behavior/social skills: most important factor
• friendly, cooperative, outgoing more popular
• accepted kids ease into group situation, persist if rejected
• Interventions:
• reinforcement for peer interaction
• modeling-- best with verbal explanations
• direct coaching in social skills, role-taking, social problem solving
• academic skill training for children rejected because of academic failure

Friendships

• Interactions differ between friends and nonfriends
• Serve different functions than peer group-- may be more important than popularity/acceptance
• Enhance social competence
• Provide security, support
• Teach conflict negotiation
• Buffer negative events (divorce, lack of peer acceptance, etc.)
• Friendship networks unstable, but "best friends" more stable from year to year, even in preschool
• Conceptions of friendship change with development
• Early: Friends are those who share play interests
• Middle childhood: Friends have shared values, similarity, trust, loyalty, support
• Adolescence: Friends have shared identity, intimacy, emotional commitment
• Sullivan: same sex friendships ("chumships") important in middle childhood-- does relate to adult adjustment
• Friends contribute to life satisfaction across the life span

Peer group influence

• Starts in middle childhood, peaks in early adolescence, then lessens through high school years
• Peers influence social decisions (peer norms, personal style)
• Parents influence major life choices, scholastic decisions
• Peers generally not deviant from parents