Psy 134: Exam 2

Cyberbullying:

Bullying that occurs over the Internet or via cell phones

Five C's of positive youth development:

Competence, confidence, connection, character & caring/compassion

Crowds vs cliques

Crowds: develop a sense of identity &self-conception Cliques: context in which adolescents learn social skills.

Positive youth development:

the goal of programs designed to facilitate healthy psychosocial development and not simply to deter problematic development

Mainstreaming:

the integration of adolescents who have educational handicaps into regular classrooms

Baby boom:

the period following World War II, during which the number of infants born was extremely large

Social promotion:

the practice of promoting students from one grade to the next automatically, regardless of their school performance

Tracking:

the practice of separating students into ability groups, so that they take classes with peers at the same skill level

Age grading:

the process of grouping individuals within social institutions on the basis of age

Sibling deidentification:

the process through which siblings deliberately try to be different from each other

Big fish--little pond effect:

the reason that individuals who attend high school w/ high achieving peers feel worse about themselves than comparably successful individuals with lower-achieving peers

Critical thinking:

thinking that involves analyzing, evaluating, and interpreting information, rather than simply memorizing it

Iatrogenic effects:

unintended adverse consequences of a treatment or intervention

Indifferent parents:

Parents who are characterized by low levels of both responsiveness and demandingness

Indulgent parents:

Parents who are characterized by responsiveness but low demandingness, and who are mainly concerned with the child's happiness

Authoritarian parents:

Parents who use punitive, absolute, and forceful discipline, and who place a premium on obedience and conformity

Authoritative parents:

Parents who use warmth, firm control, and rational, issue-oriented discipline, in which emphasis is placed on the development of self-direction

Charter schools:

Public schools that have been given the autonomy to establish their own curricula and teaching practices

Behavioral genetics:

The scientific study of genetic influences on behavior

Secondary Educational System:

The system of middle schools, junior high schools, and high schools

Hostile attributional bias:

The tendency to interpret ambiguous interactions with others as deliberately hostile.

Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD):

a biologically based psychological disorder characterized by impulsivity, inattentiveness, and restlessness, often in school situations.

Learning disability:

a difficulty with academic tasks that cannot be traced to an emotional problem or sensory dysfunction

Internet addiction:

a disorder in which an individual's use of the internet is pathological, defined by six symptoms: salience, mood change, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict and relapse and reinstatement

Routine activity theory:

a perspective on adolescence that views unstructured, unsupervised time with peers as a main cause of misbehavior

Uses and gratification approach:

a perspective on media use that emphasizes the active role users play in selecting the media to which they are exposed

Cultivation theory:

a perspective on media use that emphasizes the impact media exposure has on individuals

Caring/compassion:

a sense of sympathy and empathy for others

Ethnography:

a type of research in which individuals are observed in their natural settings

Viral marketing:

a way of promoting products or services by encouraging individuals to pass information on to others

School vouchers:

government-subsidized vouchers that can be used for private school tuition

Sociometric popularity:

how well-liked an individual is

Dyscalculia:

impaired ability in arithmetic

Dysgraphia:

impaired ability in handwriting

Dyslexia:

impaired ability in reading or spelling

Standards-based reform:

policies designed to improve achievement by holding school and students to a pre-determined set of standards measured by achievement tests

Connection:

positive bonds with people and institutions that are reflected in bidirectional exchanges between the individual and peers, family, school and community in which both parties contribute to the relationship

Flow experience:

the experience of high levels of both concentration and interest at the same time

Student engagement:

the extent to which students are psychologically committed to learning and mastering the material rather than simply completing the assigned work

Correlation:

the extent to which two things vary systematically with each other

When it comes to school size, is bigger better? What about class size? Discuss what you know about research on school size and extracurricular activity participation among high school students

-A pro of having large schools is there is more varied curriculum and more extracurriculars. However, students performance is better when the school has a cohesive sense of community which is found in small schools. Additionally, extracurricular activity participation in large schools is only half as high compared to smaller schools. Classroom size does not usually affect students' academic achievement during adolescence but does have more benefits with young elementary school children.

You have been asked to talk to a child development class about issues related to ethnic differences in parenting practices. Which parenting strategies are most and least likely to be used in different ethnic groups? Do the effects of parenting strategies on children's outcomes differ for different ethnic groups? What parenting practices have the greatest likelihood of facilitating healthy development for adolescents? What cautions can you offer them about how parenting behaviors are interpreted?

-Authoritative parenting is lower in ethnic minority families compared with white families but it is still good for adolescent adjustment in ethnic minority families. Authoritative parenting is more likely to facilitate healthy development for adolescents. Negative effects of parental control are stronger for white adolescents than ethnic minority adolescents because authoritarian parenting may beneficial if living in dangerous community. -Parenting is a 2 way street, Parents influence adolescent behavior and adolescents influence parents behavior. "Good" adolescents can elicit more warm parenting. Adolescents who are willing to disclose more to parents encourage balanced parental monitoring.

4) Marji, a 10-year-old preadolescent, is going to enter junior high next year. Based on your knowledge of adolescent development, what can you predict about how Marji's relationships with her friends will change throughout junior high and high school?

1) Increase in amount of time spent with peers relative to adults, Less adult supervision and More opposite sex interaction because puberty leads to interest in romantic relationships and increased distance from parents. 2) Larger peer groups (cliques and growds) because larger schools lead adolescents to seek out groups of individuals with whom they share common interests. Additionally, the individual has more sophisticated understanding of social relationships.

8) Imagine that you (an adolescent development expert) have been asked to talk to city council members about the No Child Left Behind Act. The council wants to know the history of the act, including a discussion of why it was signed into law, and intended, as well as unintended, effects. Be sure to discuss the problems with the original NCLB act, and discuss what the Obama administration did to remedy the problems that had developed during the early years of the policy.

-First, President George W. Bush signed the act into law as a response to ppl considering alternatives like charter school & homeschooling. This act forced schools to test students every year to enforce academic standards. Schools that didn't meet the standards would have a chance to do better the following year with additional help for the students who needed it. However, if the school did not meet the standards again, funding would be taken away. -One of the issues with NCLB was it had different estimates of proficiency because it permitted individual states to set their own standards. The Obama administration tried to fix the problems by setting a common set of standards across all 50 states. The Obama administration also tried adding more flexibility with Race to the Top, a competition that motivating schools to experiment with different approaches to raising student achievement.

Tammy's father has absolute standards and expects Tammy to conform to them without exception. If she disobeys, he generally punishes her, and he sees no reason why he should explain his rules to Tammy. Instead, his response is, "I'm the father and I know what's best fro you." Kathy's father, on the other hand, sets rules for her, but she feels that when a rule seems unfair, she can discuss it with him. Even if he doesn't agree to change the rule, he listens to her opinion. What style of parenting does Tammy's father most resemble? Kathy's father? Based on what you know about the effects of parenting on adolescence, describe two outcomes you might expect for Tammy and two outcomes you might expect for Kathy.

-Tammy's father is an authoritarian parent while Kathy's father is authoritative. I would expect Tammy to be more dependent and less socially adept. I would expect Kathy to be more confident and have better social skills.

10) Pretend you are about to give a lecture to a group of parents about current research views on media exposure and adolescent development. You know that parents are concerned with understanding whether all media is bad for all adolescents, or what determines the effect that media messages and images will have on particular adolescents. Discuss the three major prevalent theories of media influence on adolescent development and give examples of each theory to illustrate its points

1) Cultivation theory: media shapes adolescents' interests, motives, and beliefs about the world Ex: Playing violent video games leads to aggression 2) Uses and Gratifications approach: Adolescents choose the media they are exposed to. Ex: drinking beer makes you watch beer commercials 3) Media Practice Model: Links between adolescents' preferences and their media exposure are reciprocal (affect each other). Adolescents interpret the media in ways that shape their impact. Ex: Drinking beer and exposure to beer commercials can impact the adolescent depending on how they interpret it.

Zero tolerance:

A get-tough approach to adolescent misbehavior that responds seriously or excessively to the first infraction

Reference groups:

A group against which an individual compares him or herself

Experience sampling method (ESM):

A method of collecting data about adolescents' emotional states, in which individuals are signaled and asked to report on their mood and activity

Family systems theory:

A perspective on family functioning that emphasizes interconnections among different family relationships (such as marital, parent-child, sibling)

Media practice model:

A perspective on media use that emphasizes the fact that adolescents not only choose what media they are exposed to but also interpret the media in ways that shape their impact

Foster care:

A placement in a temporary living arrangement when a child's parents are not able to provide care, nurturance, or safety

Competence:

A positive view of one's actions in domain-specific areas, including social, academic, cognitive, and vocational. Social competence pertains to interpersonal skills (conflict resolution). Cognitive competence pertains to cognitive abilities (ex: decision making). School grades, attendance and test scores are part of academic competence. Vocational competence involves work habits and career choice explorations

Common core:

A proposed set of standards in language arts and mathematics that all American schools would be expected to use

Midlife crisis:

A psychological crisis over identity believed to occur between the ages of 35 and 45, the age range of most adolescents' parents

3) Your next-door neighbor tells you she is getting divorced and is planning to remarry as soon as the divorce is final. She has two teenagers, a son and a daughter, and is worried about how they are going to deal with the divorce and her remarriage. She wants to make the transition as easy as possible for them and asks your advice on how to do that. Describe to her what you know about a) the effect of divorce on adolescents. b) the effect of remarriage on adolescents

A) The effect of divorce is small among adolescents. What is more important is the quality of the relationship that the young person has with the important adults in his or her life. Additionally, it is the process of going through the divorce, not the resulting family structure, that matters most for adolescents mental health. Give them some time to adjust to the divorce. B)Adolescents who grow up in step families-- especially if remarriage occurred during early adolescence-- often have more problems than their peers. One reason is the adolescent is having difficulty adjusting to parental remarriage.

Relational aggression:

Acts intended to harm another through the manipulation of his or her relationships with others, as in malicious gossip.

Comprehensive high school:

An educational institution that evolved during the first half of the twentieth century, offering a varied curriculum and designed to meet the needs of a diverse population of adolescents

Generational dissonance:

Divergence of views between adolescents and parents that is common in families of immigrant parents and American-born adolescents

Changes in cliques

Early adolescence: same-sex Middle: composed entirely of mixed-sex cliques LAte: sets of couples.

5) The head of the local high school PTA wants to know whether and why rejected/unpopular adolescents are at risk for behavioral and emotional problems. She also wants to know if anything can be done to help unpopular adolescents. What would you tell her?

First: There are three types of rejected/unpopular: aggressive, withdrawn (shy, anxious), and aggressive & withdrawn (problems controlling hostility, tend to be nervous about initiating friendships) Aggressive adolescents are at risk for conduct problems and antisocial activities. Withdrawn adolescents more susceptible to depression, anxiety, emotional problems. The risk for different problems is related to what caused the rejection in the first place. Additionally, those high in rejection sensitivity show different brain activity than those who are not. Brains become more wired to be sensitive to rejection. Second: You can help rejected adolescents by telling them to ignore the bullies, joining social competence training problems and joining social problem solving programs.

A legislator has introduced a bill that would allow adolescents in her state to hold after-school jobs, but that would limit the number of hours that adolescents can work in such jobs to 10 hours per week or fewer. There is a group in the legislature who oppose the bill: they believe that adolescents should be allowed to hold after-school jobs with no restrictions placed on hours worked per week, and that adolescents should work at least 20 hours every week in order to build character. Based on what you know about employment and adolescent development, which of these positions would you support? Why do you support this position over the other? Which type of jobs help adolescents feel more mature, competent and dependable?

Given what I know about employment and adolescence, I would support the bill that limits number of hours that adolescents can work because working long hours may be associated with increased aggression, school misconduct, minor delinquency, and sexual activity. Types of jobs that help adolescents feel more mature, competent and dependable are jobs where they can learn genuinely useful skills.

Peer group:

Groups of individual of approximately the same age

Premature affluence:

Having more income than one can manage maturely, especially during adolescence

Perceived popularity:

How much status or prestige an individual has

Crowds:

Large, loosely organized groups of young people, composed of several cliques and typically organized around a common shared activity

Shared environmental influences:

Nongenetic influences that make individuals living in the same family similar to each other

Parental responsiveness:

One of the two important dimensions of parenting, responsiveness refers to the degree to which the parent responds to the child's needs in an accepting, supportive manner

Cliques:

Small, tightly knit groups of between 2 and 12 friends, generally of the same sex and age

causation :

The correlation b/t two things vary systematically with each other

Self-fulfilling prophecy:

The idea that individuals' behavior is influenced by others' expectations for them

Social capital:

The interpersonal resources available to an adolescent or family

Nonshared environmental influences:

The nongenetic influences in individuals' lives that make them different from people they live with

Tracking is an important and controversial issue in today's classrooms. Define this issue and describe two problems with tracking and two benefits of tracking.

Tracking is a method that separates students with different academic abilities into different levels of classes. Two problems is students in remedial classes receive poorer-quality education and tracking placements may discriminate against poor and ethnic-minority students. Two benefits of tracking is teachers can develop more finely-tuned curricula and advanced students can move to more challenging topics.

Instrumental aggression:

aggressive behavior that is deliberate and planned

Reactive aggression:

aggressive behavior that is unplanned and impulsive

Junior high school:

an educational institution designed during the early era of public secondary education, in which young adolescents are schooled separately from older adolescents

Middle school:

an educational institution housing 7th- and 8th grade students along with adolescents who are 1 or 2 years younger

Confidence:

an internal sense of overall positive self-worth and self-efficacy; one's global self-regard, as opposed to domain-specific beliefs

Familism:

an orientation toward life in which the needs of one's family take precedence over the needs of the individual.

Sibling rivalry:

competition between siblings, often for parental attention

New media:

digital media typically accessed via computers, smart-phones, or other internet-based devices

Purpose of crowds

locate adolescents within the social structure of the school, to channel adolescents into associations w/ some peers and away from others, to reward certain lifestyles and discourage others -Can be members of more than one crowd simultaneously: ½ students= 1 crowd. 1/3 = 2 or more crowds. 1/6 = no crowd.

Parental demandingness:

one of two important dimensions of parenting, demandingness refers to the degree to which the parent expects and insists on mature, responsible behavior from the child

Gangs:

organized peer groups of anti-social individuals

Reverse causation:

relationship in which the correlation b/t two things is due not to the first thing causing the second, but to the second causing the first.

Spurious causation:

relationship in which the correlation b/t two things is due to the fact that each of them is correlated with some third factor

Character:

respect for societal and cultural rules, possession of standards for correct behaviors, a sense of right and wrong (morality), and integrity.

Gifted students:

students who are unusually talented in some aspects of intellectual performance

Schools within schools:

subdivisions of the student body within large schools created to foster feelings of belongingness