Human Development Chapter 2

Self-concept

our understanding and evaluation of who we are

Piaget's stages of cognitive development

1. sensorimotor 2. preoperational 3. concrete operational 4. formal operational

Erikson's stages of psychosocial development

1. trust vs. mistrust 2. autonomy vs. shame and doubt 3. initiative vs. guilt 4. industry vs. inferiority 5. identity vs. role confusion 6. intimacy vs. isolation 7. generativity vs. stagnation 8. integrity vs. despair

What does Carol Dwek's research suggest about how we praise children? Be specific and reference the article.

Carol Dweck says that we have to be sure to praise children the right way in order for them to develop a growth mindset. The article says that instructors shouldn't praise children on their intelligence but rather on their effort. When they believe that they are smart or not smart, they will develop a fixed mindset that they are either good or bad at certain things. If they are praised for their effort, their growth mindset will tell them that they can continue to get better at things if they try. •Praise of Ability vs Effort •Child earns an "A" on an assignment •"Good job, you're so smart" vs "Good job, you worked so hard"

Discuss the factors involved in the development of our self-concept. How might this differ from our self esteem? Why did I say we should be careful about making assumptions with regard to the causes of low self-esteem?

Factors involved in developing our self-concept include input received from others and later comparisons with others and self-evaluation, it is both descriptive and predictive. This may differ form self-esteem because self-esteem is actually the evaluation of our self-concept, or when we evaluate our abilites or lack thereof. We have to be careful about making assumptions with regard to the causes of low self-esteem because it is not clear whether the low-self esteem or the poor performance came first. Often times a person's self-esteem may be based off the way they have been taught and their environment.

Describe Piaget's stages for early childhood and middle childhood including examples of behavior at each stage

Preoperational Stage: Children use symbolic thinking and begin to use correct syntax but often grammatical errors. Using imagination and intuition more but struggle with complex thoughts still. Concrete Operational Stage: SPATIAL THINKING, CAUSE AND EFFECT, CATEGORIZATION, INDUCTIVE AND DEDUCTIVE REASONING, CONSERVATION, NUMBER AND MATH. Cannot yet abstract

Compare and contrast the Social Learning Theory with the Reinforcement Theory of imitation. What part might the discovery of mirror neurons play?

Reinforcement Theory: Intrinsic reinforcers are feelings (chemical changes) that occur in our bodies that serve to make a behavior more likely to occur •Imitation is "naturally" reinforced by these chemical changes, probably because of its survival potential Social Learning Theory An outgrowth of behavioral theory combined with cognitive evaluations •The study of uniquely human behavior (verbal beings) •Operant vs Classical conditioning •Mediating processes that occur between stimuli & responses. •Observational Learning: how behavior is learned from the environment Bandura says that children (even infants) are making a choice about who (and to some degree what) to imitate based on his 3 criteria. Mirror neurons cause our body to mirror the image of the emotions that someone is giving off. This is a natural human instinct in order to show empathy and definitely causes imitation

How does society/media influence a child's development of gender identity? How might a parent or teacher's influence be different?

Society and media definitely influence a child's development of gender identity in many ways. Television normally portrays girls as associated with pink and feminine things, where boys are associated with being the breadwinner and being tough etc. Children, especially when around their peers, assume these gender stereotypes are normal because they want to match their culture's views of gender and conform to the typical boy/girl image. A parent or teacher's influence could be different because they are older and can choose how they want gender to look for children. Children will also often choose to imitate their same sex parent.

What are the advantages/disadvantages of structured vs. free play?

Some advantages of free play include learning, which helps to develop literacy/problem solving, social skills, and motor skills. On the other hand this time of playing is just practice and has no real rules Structured play introduces children to the importance of rules, which teaches them boundaries but can also result in tattling and the need for justice. Good vs. bad

Discuss stages 2-4 of Erikson's developmental theory (Crisis and CP) including an example of what each of those stages might look like

Stage 2: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt -Authoritarian and permissive parenting styles can foster shame and doubt whereas successful parenting will result in socialization skills and sense of self Stage 3: Initiative vs Guilt -Children take initiative and begin to wonder if it's okay to think and be creative Stage 4: Industry vs Inferiority Industry = a sense of competence, feeling you can work to achieve what you want Inferiority = a sense that you don't have the talent or ability to get ahead in life Child wants more than anything...To be bigger, older, smarter, more competent, etc... Inappropriate competition and comparisons foster inferiority Task identities - identifies formed around tasks you competently can perform Critical Point: Education

Identify the parenting approach/style that you were raised with and then discuss what you would do (or are doing/have done) differently and why (according to the research we discussed?

The parenting style I was raised with was mostly authoritative with a little bit of authoritarian. My parents were always supportive of me but were strict at times, still I can't complain about how they raised me much. The only thing I would do differently is handle punishment a bit differently.

Talk about 2 positive and 2 negative effects of the increased peer influence that occurs during middle childhood.

Two positive effects of increased peer influence are that peers are a substitute for lack of closeness with family and they foster leadership and communication skills. Two negative affects are that children feel the need to conform to gender and popularity stereotypes and that prejudice can be caused by biases towards similar looking peers.

Discuss 2 strategies, referenced in the bullying articles, used to help reduce and prevent bullying. Talk specifically about how they're used to help

Two strategies used in the bullying articles are to educate children and parents both on social media edicate and how it's appropriate to act. This is used to monitor children's behavior and to foster an anti-bullying environment, which should reduce and prevent bullying. Another strategy used is encouraging extra curriculars which will hopefully keep kids off screens and make for more face to face interactions

Describe the process illustrated in the "descriptive to predictive" article by giving an example of how childhood experiences could lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy?

•Believe the verbal message - "You're a dummy" becomes "I'm a dummy" •Combine with nonverbal messages •How people treat you •Tone of voice and facial expressions •Gather evidence via perceptual selection (perceptual bias) •Reality change •We become what we believe we are