Psych 142 - Final

essentialist bias

In other words, preschool and young gradeschool children display an essentialist bias, assuming that biological status as a girl will determine what she will become. Only the 9- to 10-year-olds in this study showed any] awareness that Chris's masculinizing environment might influence her activities, aspirations, and personality characteristics.

6. What are the characteristics that distinguish effective schools from other schools?

In sum, the effective school environment is a comfortable but businesslike setting in which academic successes are expected and students are motivated to learn. And in many ways, effective teachers are like authoritative parents—caring and concerned but firm and controlling (Wentzel, 2002), and research consistently indicates that children and adolescents from many social backgrounds prefer authoritative instruction and are more likely to thrive when treated this way than students taught by more authoritarian or more permissive instructors (Arnold, McWilliams, & Arnold, 1998; Lewin, Lippitt, & White, 1939; Wentzel, 2002). The Scholastic Atmosphere of Successful Schools So what is it about the learning environment of some schools that allows them to accomplish so much? Reviews of the literature (Eccles & Roeser, 2005; National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2004; Rutter, 1983) point to the following values and practices that characterize effective schools: ✦ Academic emphases. Effective schools have a clear focus on academic goals. Children are regularly assigned homework, which is checked, corrected, and discussed with them. ✦ Classroom management. In effective schools, teachers waste little time getting activities started or dealing with distracting disciplinary problems. Lessons begin and end on time. Pupils are told exactly what is expected of them and receive clear and unambiguous feedback about their academic performance. The classroom atmosphere is comfortable; all students are actively encouraged to work to the best of their abilities, and ample praise acknowledges good work. ✦ Discipline. In effective schools, the staff is firm in enforcing rules and does so on the spot rather than sending offenders off to the principal's office. Rarely do instructors resort to physical sanctions (slapping or spanking), which contribute to truancy, defiance, and a tense classroom atmosphere. ✦ Challenging and culturally relevant curricula. Effective schools made an effort to promote students' interest, attention, effort, and attendance by providing at least some learning materials that emphasize their culture and history as well as the developmental issues they are currently facing. By contrast, content that does not challenge students, or that they don't feel they can personally relate to, can undermine academic achievement and alienate students from school (Eccles & Roeser, 2005; Jackson & Davis, 2000). ✦ Teamwork. Effective schools have faculties that work as a team, jointly planning curricular objectives and monitoring student progress, under the guidance of a principal who provides active, energetic leadership.

3. Do individual differences in aggression remain relatively consistent from childhood to adulthood? Or do they change substantially with increasing age?

Individual differences in aggression tend to be consistent from childhood to adulthood

4. Describe how a social learning theorist would explain how children become aggressive. How would (s)he explain why there are sex differences in aggression?

So how do children become aggressive? Social learning direct experience (reinforcement of aggression) observational learning (imitating aggressive models) sex differences in aggression the influence of television . . .

3. What are the parenting practices that contribute to the development of altruistic behavior in children?

Social-learning theorists have assumed that adults who encourage altruism and who practice what they preach will affect children in two ways. By behaving altruistically, the adult model may induce the child to perform similar acts of kindness. In addition, regular exposure to the model's altruistic exhortations provides the child with opportunities to internalize principles such as the norm of social responsibility that should contribute to the development of a prosocial orientation. Children who are committed to performing prosocial acts often have parents who have encouraged altruism and who have practiced what they preach.

9. Explain how the following family environment characteristics can lead to the development of aggressive behaviors: a. parental disciplinary approaches b. marital conflict c. coercive home environments

coercive home environments: parents and children mutually reinforce hostility and aggressive behavior

Coercive home environment

coercive home environments: parents and children mutually reinforce hostility and aggressive behavior

hostile attributional bias

tendency to view harm done under ambiguous circumstances as having stemmed from a hostile intent on the part of the harm-doer; characterizes reactive aggressors

Aggression-related beliefs & expectations Hostile attribution bias Social problem-solving skills Reinforcement trap

tendency to view harm done under ambiguous circumstances as having stemmed from a hostile intent on the part of the harm-doer; characterizes reactive aggressors a bias towards attributions that are hostile diminished social problem solving skills how you are interpreting the social cues how you are interpreting or inferring the goals of other people negative reinforcement of hostility "reinforcement trap" mother telling her son to clean his room example

young children understand that people are different from objects:

that they cause their own actions and respond to you (3-4 months)

role taking

the ability to assume another person's perspective and understand his or her intentions, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

joint attention

the act of attending to the same object at the same time as someone else; a way in which infants share experiences and intentions with their caregivers.

gender typing

the process by which a child becomes aware of his or her gender and acquires motives, values, and behaviors considered appropriate for members of that sex.

What is gender typing? Why is it important to the development of an understanding of self?

the process by which a child becomes aware of his or her gender and acquires motives, values, and behaviors considered appropriate for members of that sex. Children are "often well aware of gender-role stereotypes and are displaying gender-typed patterns of behavior long before they are old enough to go to kindergarten" It is important b/c gender roles teach ppl how males and females are expected to behave, and reflect the stereotypes by which we categorize and respond to members of each sex Gender influences the way that ppl/parents interact with and respond to their child

What is meant by a sense of "personal agency"? When does it develop? How is it relevant to the development of self?

the recognition that one can be the cause of an event or events. 0-1 years old at about 2 months is starts Personal agency is when 2 month old infants understand that THEY are responsible for at least some of the events that fascinate them. It develops around 2 months. It is relevant to the development of the self because this is when infants realize that they are responsible for at least some of the events..as in they are the cause.. and once they know that they are...they exist, they can begin to find out who or what they are.

Identify the importance of the "social clock," individual choices, and "selective optimization with compensation."

the social clock - the idea is that we all experience social expectations for the timing of major adult life transitions

belief-desire theory

theory of mind that develops between ages 3 and 4; the child now realizes that both beliefs and desires may determine behavior and that people will often act on their beliefs, even if they are inaccurate.

belief-desire theory

theory of mind that develops between ages 3 and 4; the child now realizes that both beliefs and desires may determine behavior and that people will often act on their beliefs, even if they are inaccurate.

public self (or me)

those aspects of self that others can see or infer.

private self (or I)

those inner, or subjective, aspects of self that are known only to the individual and are not available for public scrutiny.

Prosocial motivation thus arises from the development of ...

• A compassionate, human connection to others • An awareness of how to help, and why • The support and example of other people • A personal identity as a moral person

young children understand that people act according to their intentions

(15-18 months)

physical self-recognition

(18-24 months) the ability to recognize oneself in a mirror or a photograph, coupled with the conscious awareness that the mirror or photographic image is a representation of "me." rouge test test of self-recognition that involves marking a toddler's face and observing his or her reaction to the mark when he or she is placed before a mirror.

Self that makes things happen

(2 to 3 months) at about 2 to 3 months we get the self that makes thing happen - babies encounter experiences that they can make happen or make stop

Categorical self

(24-36 months) categorical self a person's classification of the self along socially significant dimensions such as age and sex the categorical self - i am big, I am a big girl, i run fast, i am tall I have brown hair becoming aware of their growing abilities, refusing assistance, a sense of possession, verbally expressing desires, needs and states, i am hungry, or i am tired. Fatigue, desires, wants. Sense of themselves as physical beings insisting on their own way

Belief-desire psychology

(4 years)

Psychological self

(5-7 years) The psychological self - if you ask a seven year old to talk about themselves they will focus on their abilities how they like to play, a sense of who they are, whether they like themselves Kids begin to perceive themselves, internal sense of who they are, shy, don't like high places, describe themselves in term of their dominant mood, who they are and the kind of people that they are

Interpretive psychology

(6 year olds) • children understand that the mind itself shapes understanding: expectations, prior knowledge, and biases are used to interpret experience and the knowledge that results • children begin to use their mental processes for intended purposes (such as to concentrate on learning spelling words)

Interpretive psychology

(6 years)

Psychology of individual differences

(7-8 year olds) • children begin to notice that people act consistently in different situations, and they make comparisons of people they know • consequently, children begin to understand how behavior derives from stable differences in psychological traits

Psychology of individual differences

(7-8 years)

Differentiated self

(8-12 years) the differentiated self - when children not ony see their strengths and weaknesses and skills but see themselves in rolls, as students, as friends, pretty good at one thing, not so good at another, differentiating skills and abilities good friend not good at soccer. using social comparison

But they are sensitive to how people evaluate them -- especially parents -- which contributes to pride as well as guilt, shame, embarrassment

They are very sensitive to the reactions of others, making them vulnerable when what they do and who they are is derived

Characteristics of the mastery-oriented and learned-helplessness achievement orientations.

Mastery-oriented children and adolescents attribute their successes to stable, internal causes (such as high ability), their failures to unstable causes (lack of effort), and they retain an incremental view of ability. children with a learned helplessness orientation often stop trying after a failure because they display an entity view of ability and attribute their failures to a lack of ability that they feel they can do little about. Children who are often criticized for their lack of ability and who feel pressured to adopt performance goals rather than learning goals are at risk of becoming helpless.

Motivational View of Achievement

high "need-achievers" have learned to take pride in their ability to meet or exceed high standards, and it is this sense of self-fulfillment that motivates them to work hard, to be successful, and to try to outperform others when faced with new challenges McClelland argues that the sense of personal pride stemming from one's high accomplishments is reinforcing (and will sustain achievement behavior in the future) because it satisfies an intrinsic need for competence or achievement.

How does children's behavior become gender typed?

Development of gender identity • In middle childhood, children continue to self-segregate insex-specific groups that develop their own social interaction styles, communication patterns, and forms of intimacy • In adolescence, self-segregation diminishes as gender identity intensifies and gender norms become even more influential

growth mindset

people believe that their talents, abilities, and other qualities can be developed through effort and hard work they devote effort to exercising and developing those talents

learning goal

state of affairs in which one's primary objective in a achievement context is to increase one's skills or objectives.

performance goal

state of affairs in which one's primary objective in an achievement context is to display one's competencies (or to avoid looking incompetent).

Four kinds of identity status:

• Identity diffusion (no search; no commitment) • Foreclosure (no search; commitment) • Moratorium (search; no commitment) • Identity achievement (search; commitment)

We see, then, that parents of youngsters high in achievement motivation possess three characteristics:

(1) They are warm, accepting, and quick to praise the child's accomplishments; (2) they provide noninvasive guidance and control by setting reasonable standards for the child to live up to and then monitoring her progress to ensure that she does; (3) they permit the child some independence or autonomy, allowing her a say in deciding how best to master challenges and meet their expectations. Diana Baumrind (1973) calls this warm, firm, but democratic authoritative parents

Desire psychology

(2-3 years)

Autobiographical self

(3-4 years) the dawning of the autobiographical self - children begin remembering specific memories...the ability to see yourself how they were told and retold changes our autobiographical memory

Desire psychology

(2-3 years) • people act according to their feelings desires, and intentions • children understand how people have subjective experiences • children are interested in identifying and understanding people's feelings won't realize that Sally doesn't know that the cookies have been moved to the blue box and will check the red box

Causes of our failures and successes (causal attributions) Can be categorized according to . . . These influence achievement motivation

Can be categorized according to . . . • Locus of control (internal or external to me) • Stability (will this remain the same or change?) • Controllability (can I affect this cause?)

How does gender identity develop throughout childhood and adolescence?

In middle childhood, children continue to self-segregate in sex-specific groups that develop their own social interaction styles, communication patterns, and forms of intimacy In adolescence, self-segregation diminishes as gender identity intensifies and gender norms become even more influential

Moratorium:

Persons in the status are experiencing what Erikson called an identity crisis and are actively asking questions about life commitments and seeking answers. Example: "I'm evaluating my beliefs and hope that I will be able to describe what's right for me. I like many of the answers provided by my Catholic upbringing, but I'm skeptical about some teachings as well. I have been looking into Unitarianism to see whether it might help me answer my questions." individuals still searching and have made no commitment. They acknowledge that they are still searching

What are the two essential features of identity development in adolescence?

Search ? - that is the consideration of alternatives and options what options might exist for me Commitment ? - identifying yourself with a role and making a commitment

extrinsic orientation

a desire to achieve in order to earn external incentives such as grades, prizes, or the approval of others.

intrinsic orientation

a desire to achieve in order to satisfy one's personal needs for competence or mastery.

HOME inventory

a measure of the amount and type of intellectual stimulation provided by a child's home environment.

categorical self

a person's classification of the self along socially significant dimensions such as age and sex.

desire theory

an early theory of mind in which a person's actions are thought to be a reflection of her desires rather than other mental states such as beliefs.

theory of mind

an understanding that people are cognitive beings with mental states that are not always accessible to others and that often guide their behavior.

Why is it important to consider both locus of causality and stability to classify causal attributions?

because each of these judgments has different consequences. According to Weiner, it is the stability dimension that determines achievement expectancies: Outcomes attributed to stable causes lead to stronger expectancies than those attributed to unstable causes. To illustrate, a success that you attribute to your high ability leads you to confidently predict similar successes in the future. Had you attributed that same success to an unstable cause that can vary from situation to situation (such as effort or luck), you should not be quite so confident of future successes. Conversely, failures attributed to stable causes we can do little about (such as low ability or task difficulty) also lead to strong expectancies—this time to negative expectancies that lead us to anticipate similar failures in the future. By contrast, attributing a failure to an unstable cause (such as not trying very hard) allows for the possibility of improvement and hence a less negative expectancy.

gender schema theory

children who have established a basic gender identity construct "in-group/out group" and own-sex gender schemas, which serve as scripts for processing gender-related information and socializing oneself into a gender role. Schema-consistent information is gathered and retained, whereas schema-inconsistent information is ignored or distorted, thus perpetuating gender stereotypes that have no basis in fact.

present self

early self-representation in which 2- and 3-year-olds recognize current representations of self but are largely unaware that past self representations or self-relevant events have implications for the future.

extended self

more mature self-representation, emerging between ages 3½ and 5 years, in which children are able to integrate past, present, and unknown future self-representations into a notion of a self that endures over time.

Competence attributions:

most likely to result in doing things that contribute to your future success -- Success and failure each attributed to effort Incompetence attributions:

rouge test

test of self-recognition that involves marking a toddler's face and observing his or her reaction to the mark when he or she is placed before a mirror.

Self-esteem

• Preschool children are optimistic about their own capabilities • But they are sensitive to how people evaluate them -- especially parents -- which contributes to pride as well as guilt, shame, embarrassment • Self-esteem dips in the school years as children begin to see themselves more realistically, and social comparison influences self-evaluation • In adolescence, self-esteem continues to decline, and is based on one's competence in things that are personally important

Causal attributions are important because they . . .

• help us predict (and thus anticipate and possibly influence) future outcomes • influence our feelings about success and failure • motivate (or undermine motivation for) future success

incompetence attributions of learned helplessness

• low expectations of success • poor persistence (give up easily) • acceptance of failure

So what influences self-esteem ?

• parent-child relationship • peer relationships • gender • developmental transitions • family stress • parent-child relationship • peer relationships - the ways they experience acceptance in peer groups • gender - females have lower self-esteem • developmental transitions - early maturing girls have it harder, late maturing boys have it harder -school transitions: keep going to larger schools that are less intimate and teachers are not as nice • family stress - economic stress etc has negative affect on self-esteem securely attached children do much better at age four mother depression was a huge factor in how

What are the major influences by which this occurs?

• parental modeling and instruction • peer influences • children's conceptual growth and understanding (self-socialization) • cultural values and beliefs about gender, conveyed in many ways (including media)

In the first two years, even very young children understand . . .

• people are different from objects: they cause their own actions and respond to you (3-4 months) • what people are paying attention to affects their mental state -- and this later leads to social referencing (9-10 months) • people act according to their intentions (15-18 months)

Why does the child develop as an intuitive psychologist?

Mental modules in the brain mature to influence children's understanding - modularity theory humans have a mental module that gives them privileged understanding of other's international psychological qualities based on experience Children as theorists ("theory of mind") children as natural theorists Children simulate mental states during play with peers (especially pretend play) -simulation theory - children simulate mental states to see how they work Children learn about mental states during conversations with parents and other adults - children do not gain this knowledge by themselves they get significant assistance from others

How mothers talk to their young children about the psychological world is important . . .

children whose mothers talk more about mental states (like desires, thoughts, and feelings) better understand people's thoughts & feelings children whose mothers are more elaborative (provide rich detail about events) are more advanced in psychological understanding children also learn much about mental states from conversations with peers

6. What are the parenting practices that contribute to moral maturity in offspring?

(2) induction seemed to foster the development of all three aspects of morality—moral emotions, moral reasoning, and moral behavior (Hoffman, 1970). Table 10.6 summarizes the relationships among the three patterns of parental discipline and various measures of children's moral maturity that emerged from a later review of the literature, which included many more studies (Brody & Shaffer, 1982). Clearly these data confirm Hoffman's conclusions: Parents who rely on inductive discipline tend to have children who are morally mature, whereas frequent use of power assertion is more often associated with moral immaturity than with moral maturity. The few cases in which induction was not associated with moral maturity all involved children under age 4. First, it provides children with cognitive standards (or rationales) that children can use to evaluate their conduct. Second, this form of discipline helps children to sympathize with others and allows parents to talk about other moral affects such as pride, guilt, and shame that are not easily discussed with a child who is made emotionally insecure by love withdrawal or angry and resentful by power-assertive techniques. Finally, parents who use inductive discipline are likely to explain to the child (1) what he or she should have done when tempted to violate a prohibition and (2) what he or she can now do to make up for a transgression.

Belief-desire psychology

(4 year olds) • people sometimes act according to false belief: understanding may be different from reality • understanding of the appearance-reality distinction • beginnings of social deception, emotional display rules, privacy of personal experience child will know that the other child doesn't know that the cookies have been moved to the blue box representation can be different from reality representation is not a carbon copy of reality - may look like a tiger but isn't

Psychology of person-situation interaction

(adolescence)

True self (ideal self vs. real self) • discovering the true self

(adolescence) Not only diversity of goals, but who is the real me? The true self - the gap between the ideal self and the real self. the person that they want to be and the person that they actually see themselves confronting who you are the true self and also being able to accept who you are are real issues in the adolescent transition

Psychology of person-situation interaction

(adolescence) • young adults recognize that behavior derives from an interaction of one's psychological characteristics with the demands and incentives of circumstances

Controllability

(can I affect this cause?) controllable/uncontrollable

Identity diffusion

(no search; no commitment) identity status characterizing individuals who are not questioning who they are and have not yet committed themselves to an identity. Persons classified as "diffuse" have not yet thought about or resolved identity issues and have failed to chart future life directions, Example: "I haven't really thought much about religion, and I guess I don't know exactly what I believe."

Stability

(will this remain the same or change?) stable/unstable stability dimension. Ability and task difficulty are relatively stable or unchangeable. If you have high verbal ability today, you'll have roughly the same high ability tomorrow; and if a particular kind of verbal problem is particularly difficult, similar problems are also likely to be difficult. By contrast, the amount of effort one expends on a task or the workings of luck are variable, or unstable, from situation to situation. So Weiner classifies the four possible causes for successes and failures along both a locus of causality and a stability dimension, as shown in Table 7.2.

do children go through these stages as expected Do children proceed through the stages of Kohlberg's theory as he described? Which stages are the exceptions?

- generally yes. we see changes of expectations in change six and in post-conventional morality. Stage six ghandi, MLK etc is more an ideal than a trend

Incompetence attributions:

-- Success attributed to luck or an easy task; failure attributed to (low) ability (learned helplessness)

The myths reconsidered . . . • Self-consciousness

-- a form of "adolescent egocentrism" may derive from the belief that others are as concerned with your appearance and behavior as you are! !-- self-consciousness may be a natural result of so many simultaneous changes in physical appearance, social roles, and relationships!

young children understand what people are paying attention to affects their mental state

-- and this later leads to social referencing (9-10 months)

The myths reconsidered . . . • Relentless conflict with parents

-- conflict is strongest on lifestyle issues (clothing, hair, music, etc.) -- on core moral, religious, political values, adolescents tend to agree with their parents -- why? Youth and their parents share many features of life experience -- conflict also depends on the quality of the parent-youth relationship, but adjusting mutual expectations is often necessary

The myths reconsidered . . . • "Sexuality rears its ugly head" owing to "raging hormones"

-- the psychological effects of puberty may: (a) arise directly from biological changes; (b) be unrelated to biological changes; or (c) arise from an interaction between biological changes and personal expectations or anxieties, parental reactions, or sociocultural values concerning adolescent sexuality!

Kohlberg's theory of moral judgment

-levels of moral judgment: Preconventional - what is moral advances my own goals Conventional - expectations of society are taken into account one might argue that heinz should not steal, breaking the law is wrong and get heinz into trouble Post conventional - morality of prinipals, primarily principles of justice Post-conventional morality - Reasoning at a post conventional level the individual might respond to heinz's level that it was wrong for the druggist to deny Heinz's wife medication, or that Louise should not narc on her sister because the greater good is at stake

3. What are the social information-processing steps identified by Dodge and his colleagues (these are like the social problem-solving steps we discussed in class)? In what order do they occur?

1. Encode social cues 2. Interpret social cues 3. Formulate select a response social goals 4. Generate problem solving strategies 5. Evaluate the likely effectiveness of strategies and select a response 6. Enact a response 7. Peer evaluation and response Child's mental state • Past social experiences • Social expectancies • Knowledge of social rules • Emotionality/Emotional regulation skills Dodge's social information-processing model of the steps children take when deciding how to respond to harm-doing or other social problems. The boy whose creation is destroyed by the other boy's nudging the table must first encode and interpret the social cues (in other words, did he mean it or was it accidental?) and then proceed through the remaining steps to formulate and enact a response to this harmdoing. Dodge's social-information processing theory extends Bandura's cognitive emphasis, describing six information processing phases that children may display as they interpret harm done and formulate a response. This model has helped us to discriminate proactive aggressors, for whom aggression is usually a means to other ends, from reactive aggressors, who display a hostile attributional bias and quickly retaliate after real or imagined provocations.

A new myth . . . • The immaturity of the adolescent brain results in

A new myth . . . • The immaturity of the adolescent brain results in impulsive, sensation-seeking behavior with poor self-control -- brain development in adolescence remains incomplete, but it is hard to know what are its behavioral implications! !-- use of hard drugs, sexual risk-taking, and delinquency characterizes the behavior of only a very small proportion of adolescents! partly this is true, brain development is incomplete the prefrontal areas that govern self regulation. The tricky thing is knowing what its behavioral implications are things like shoplifting and substance abuse part of the problem here is that the behaviors that we are trying to predict, hard drugs, sexual risk taking and delinquency you do find a rise that coincides with teenage years

What are "gender schemas"? How are they relevant to the development of gender identity in childhood?

According to Martin and Halverson's gender schema theory, children who have established a basic gender identity construct "in-group/out group" and own-sex gender schemas, which serve as scripts for processing gender-related information and socializing oneself into a gender role. Schema-consistent information is gathered and retained, whereas schema-inconsistent information is ignored or distorted, thus perpetuating gender stereotypes that have no basis in fact.

According to Selman's role-taking theory, why does interpersonal understanding grow throughout childhood and adolescence?

According to Selman (1980; Yeates & Selman, 1989), children will gain much richer understandings of themselves and other people as they acquire the ability to discriminate their own perspectives from those of their companions and to see the relationships between these potentially discrepant points of view. Role-taking skills have been described as one's theory of mind in action (Blair, 2003). Simply stated, Selman believes that in order to "know" a person, one must be able to assume his perspective and understand his thoughts, feelings, beliefs, motives, and intentions—in short, the internal factors that account for his behavior. If a child has not yet acquired these important role-taking skills, she may have little choice but to describe her acquaintances in terms of their external

3. Why do researchers believe that adult personality tends to remain fairly stable over time?

Adults create lives for themselves -- choosing partners and friends, work, recreational activities, and settings -- that are consistent with how they perceive themselves and their needs

How does a belief-desire theory of mind emerge in early childhood? What are some of the important influences on its development?

Between ages 3 and 4, most children develop a belief-desire theory of mind in which they recognize, as we adults do, that beliefs and desires are different mental states and that either or both can influence one's conduct (Wellman, Cross, & Watson, 2001). So a 4-year-old who has broken a vase while roughhousing may now try to overcome his mother's apparent desire to punish him by changing her mental state—that is, by trying to make her believe that his breaking the vase was unintentional ("I didn't mean to, Mama—it was an accident!"). Origins of a Belief-Desire Theory of Mind Very young children may view desire as the most important determinant of behavior because their own actions are so often triggered by desires and they may assume that other people's conduct reflects similar motives. In addition, 3 year-olds have a very curious view of beliefs, thinking that they are accurate reflections of reality that everyone shares. They don't seem to appreciate, as older children and adults do, that beliefs are merely interpretations of reality that may differ from person to person and may be inaccurate. Consider children's reactions to the following story—a false-belief task that assesses the understanding that people can hold incorrect beliefs and be influenced by them, wrong though they may be: Sam puts some chocolate in a blue cupboard and goes out to play. In his absence, his mother moves the chocolate to the green cupboard. When Sam returns, he wants his chocolate. Where does he look for it? 4- to 5-year-olds display a belief-desire theory of mind: They now understand that beliefs are merely mental representations of reality that may be inaccurate and that someone else may not share; thus, they know that Sam will look for his chocolate in the blue cupboard where he believes it is (beliefs often influence behavior, even if they are false) rather than in the green cupboard where they know it is (Wellman, Cross, & Watson, 2001). Once children understand that people will act on the basis of false beliefs, they may use this knowledge to their own advantage by lying or attempting other deceptive ploys (Talwar, Gordon, & Lee, 2007). For example, 4-year olds (but not 3-year olds) who are playing hide-the-object games will spontaneously generate false clues, trying to mislead their opponent about the object's true location (Sodian et al., 1991). Notice that these 4-year-olds are now making a clear distinction between public and private self, for they recognize that their deceptive public behavior (the false clues) may lead their opponent to adapt a belief that differs from their own private knowledge about the object's location. This is the theory of mind that emerges between the ages 3 and 4, this is when the child now realizes that beliefs and desires are different mental states and that can determine behavior and that people will often act on their beliefs even if they are inaccurate. It emerges with social interaction. · Some important influences are that it is the foundation for all later social-cognitive development. If children didn't have theory of mind then they would be incapable of drawing meaningful psychological inferences and their own behavior or others. · Conversations with parents and other adults may contribute to an emerging theory of mind in two ways. they foster general language development and the better their performances. · Belief desire theory is not universal at age 4 for all cultures. (farmers exp → pg 179..cultural influences)

research's finding on children being premoral

But research shows that: young children have an intuitive sense of right and wrong based on their sensitivity to others' goals, feelings, and desires capacities for empathy, as well as guilt, provide incentives to moral conduct preschoolers are motivated to cooperate to maintain good relationships with caregivers, not just to avoid punishment

• Hedonistic:

By aiding earthquake victims, others might assist me if I need it later

5. What does the research show concerning possible gender and cultural biases in Kohlberg's theory? How is social experience important to developmental changes in moral judgment?

Cultural Bias Although research indicates that children and adolescents in many cultures proceed through the first three or four of Kohlberg's stages in order, we have seen that postconventional morality as Kohlberg defines it simply does not exist in some societies. Critics have charged that Kohlberg's highest stages reflect a Western ideal of justice and that his stage theory is therefore biased against people who live in non-Western collectivist societies or who otherwise do not value individualism and individual rights highly enough to want to challenge society's rules (Mascolo & Li, 2004; Shweder, Mahapatra, & Miller, 1990). People in collectivist societies that emphasize social harmony and place the good of the group ahead of the good of the individual may be viewed as conventional moral thinkers in Kohlberg's system but may actually have very sophisticated concepts of fairness and justice (Li, 2002; Snarey & Keljo, 1991; Turiel, 2006), including a strong respect for individual rights and such "democratic" principles as decision by majority rule (Helwig et al., 2003). Although there are some aspects of moral development that do seem to be common to all cultures, the research presented in Box 10.2 indicates that other aspects of moral growth can vary considerably from society to society. Cross-cultural studies suggest that postconventional moral reasoning emerges primarily in Western democracies and that people in rural villages in many nonindustrialized countries show no signs of it (Harkness, Edwards, transactive interactions verbal exchanges in which individuals perform mental operations on the reasoning of their discussion partners. People in these homogeneous communities may have less experience with the kinds of political conflicts and compromises that take place in a more diverse society and so may never have any need to question conventional moral standards. By adopting a contextual perspective on development, we can appreciate that the conventional (mostly Stage 3) reasoning typically displayed by adults in these societies— with its collectivist emphasis on cooperation and loyalty to the immediate social group—is adaptive and mature within their own social systems (Harkness, Edwards, & Super, 1981; Turiel, 2006). In sum, Kohlberg has described an invariant sequence of moral stages and has identified some of the cognitive factors and major environmental influences that determine how far an individual progresses in this sequence. Yet critics have offered many reasons for suspecting that Kohlberg's theory is far from a complete account of moral development. Gender Bias Critics have also charged that Kohlberg's theory, which was developed from responses provided by male participants to dilemmas involving male characters, does not adequately represent female moral reasoning. Carol Gilligan (1977, 1982, 1993), for example, has been disturbed by the fact that, in some early studies, women seemed to be the moral inferiors of men, typically reasoning at Kohlberg's Stage 3 while men usually reasoned at Stage 4. Her response was to argue that differential gender typing causes boys and girls to adopt different moral orientations. According to Gilligan, the strong independence and assertiveness training that boys receive encourages them to view moral dilemmas as inevitable conflicts of interest between individuals that laws and other social conventions are designed to resolve. She calls this orientation the morality of justice—a perspective that approximates Stage 4 in Kohlberg's scheme. By contrast, girls are taught to be nurturant, empathic, and concerned about others—in short, to define their sense of "goodness" in terms of their interpersonal relationships. So for females, morality implies a sense of caring or compassionate concern for human welfare--a morality of care that may seem

When do children begin distinguishing between domains?

Children as young as 3 can distinguish between domains of conduct, regarding moral violations as "more bad" and less revocable.

4. Can computers assist in promoting learning and cognitive growth? If so, how?

Computer Programming and Cognitive Growth Under the guidance of a properly trained instructor, it seems that teaching students to program (and thus control ) a computer can also have such important benefits as fostering mastery motivation and self- efficacy, as well as promoting novel modes of thinking that are unlikely to emerge from computer-assisted academic drills

Children as mindreaders . . .

DBIPidPsi Desire psychology (2-3 years) Belief-desire psychology (4 years) Interpretive psychology (6 years) Psychology of individual differences (7-8 years) Psychology of person-situation interaction (adolescence)

ch 10 1. How is role-taking relevant to the development of altruistic behavior in children?

During middle childhood and preadolescence (or Piaget's concrete-operational stage), children are becoming less egocentric, are acquiring important role-taking skills, and should now begin to focus on the legitimate needs of others as a justification for prosocial behavior. This is the period when children begin to think that any act of kindness that most people would condone is probably "good" and should be performed. It is also the phase at which sympathetic responses should become a more important contributor to altruism.

How does Dweck distinguish between children's performance goals vs. learning goals in achievement situations? Which kinds of goals are better for children to seek?

Dweck argues that person (or trait) praise may prove harmful in the long run. If children are often told that they are "good at this" or "smart" when they succeed at tasks, they may become more interested in performance goals than in new learning when faced with challenges. That is, they may hope to do well primarily to show how smart they are! A subsequent failure quickly undermines this performance goal, perhaps causing the child to conclude "I'm not so smart after all" and to give up and act helpless. By contrast, Dweck argues that children who receive process praise when they succeed—feedback that praises the effort they have expended at formulating effective problem-solving strategies—should become more interested in learning goals. That is, they may come to view the prospect of improving their competencies (rather than displaying their smarts) as the most important objective when faced with novel challenges. A subsequent failure at a new problem does not immediately undermine a learning goal. It simply informs the child that she "needs to work harder and devise a more effective strategy"—in other words, to be persistent—if she hopes to master the task and increase her abilities.

parenting influences on achievement

Early independence training and achievement training promote achievement motivation, particularly if parents warmly reinforce successes and are not overly critical of occasional failures. Parents who combine all these practices into one parenting style (authoritative parenting) tend to raise children who achieve considerable academic success. Parents' perceptions of their children's abilities affect children's own competency appraisals and their achievement behavior, thus creating self-fulfilling prophecies. Negative competency appraisals by parents can seriously undermine a child's academic performance if parents themselves are entity theorists, thereby implying to the child that his or her shortcomings are stable and unchangeable.

3. What do we know about the effects of televised (a) social stereotypes, (b) commercials, and (c) educational programs? On balance, is television a benefit or an evil for children -- or does it depend (if so, on what?)?

Educational Television and Children's Prosocial Behavior Many TV programs— especially offerings such as Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, broadcast on public television—are designed in part to illustrate the benefits of such prosocial activities as cooperation, sharing, and comforting distressed companions. Available research reveals that young children who often watch prosocial programming do become more prosocially inclined

9. Why do we help other people? Provide an explanation involving each of the following processes described in lecture: a. emotional b. cognitive c. behavioral d. social

Emotional: Empathy for another's distress motivates prosocial behavior Cognitive: We understand another's need (role-taking; prosocial reasoning) Behavioral: We follow the example of people who matter to us Social: We respect social norms for prosocial conduct (norm of social responsibility)

negative identity

Erikson's term for an identity that is in direct opposition to that which parents and most adults would advocate.

Ethnic identity

Ethnic identity - sense of belonging to an ethnic group and committing to oneself to that group's traditions or cultures Not always easy to identify with a minorities' ethnic identity, especially if want to affiliate self with majority group (with most status in society) It isn't until around 8 years old do children fully understand which ethnic labels apply to them, what they mean, and that an ethnicity is a lifelong attribute Hard to form a positive ethnic attribute during young adolescence - youth usually identify to ethnic groups b/c parents/group members influence them to do so (foreclosure status) That is what they are and they haven't given the issue much thought (diffusion status) By 15 - 19, many minority youth have moved to moratorium or achievement phase of ethnic identity Once ethnic identity is achieved, youth tend to display higher self-esteem, better academic adjustment, better relationships with parent, and more favorable assessments of peers of other ethnicities than minorities in diffused/foreclosed groups

1. What do "instinct theories" (such as those of Freud and Lorenz) claim to be true about the origins of aggressive behavior?

Freud proposed that humans are driven by a destructive instinct, the Thanatos, which he considered responsible for the generation of aggression impulses. Ethologists describe aggression as a fighting instinct triggered by certain eliciting cues in the environment. Thus, both schools of thought view humans as instinctively aggressive.

What are the changes that occur in the development of gender identity throughout childhood and adolescence?

Gender segregation - children's tendency to associate with same-sex playmates and to think of the other sex as an out-group young children and middle age kids (10-11 year olds) tend to identify with their gender roles and exclude members of different gender when they cross gender "boundaries" boys tend to play more with boys and girls tend to play more with girls by 18-24 months, children tend to only play with their gender-specific toys children act more negatively to different-sex peers than same-sex peers This separation tends to diminish once kids turn to adolescence and begin puberty Gender segregation may occur b/c of children's play styles (Eleanor Maccoby - 1998) boys have more androgen → leading to more active, rambunctious behavior when in room with either same sex or mixed sex kids, children played more with same sex kids. → boys too rambunctious for girls Show that boys like working in same sex groups Girls like working/playing in same sex dyads girls expected to play quietly, unlike boys Gender intensification - a magnification of sex differences in early adolescence associated with increased pressure to conform to traditional gender roles as one reaches puberty Moms help daughters, dads help sons; parent may take primary responsibility for properly socializing children of the same sex Peers are even more important

5. What have the longitudinal studies concluded about the impact of viewing violent TV programs on children's aggressive behavior? What are the behavioral and cognitive influences from viewing this kind of televised content?

How does television viewing increase aggressive conduct? enhanced preference for televised violence learning specific violent acts from televised models desensitization to violence changed perceptions of the world: we live in a violent society ("mean world belief")

Influences on achievement motivation

How is achievement motivation affected by: -children's success and failure experiences and the causes to which they attribute them parenting practices - warmth and support and high expections - praising effort, criticizing lack of effort - provide independence as well as guidance socioeconomic opportunities - socioeconomic differences - have to do with experiences that they have, poor schools, poor teachers, and not having experiences that connect their effort with their success culture - finally there are cultural differences - the motivational reasons that they succeed

• Internalized values:

I have a responsibility to help other human beings when they are in need

CULTURAL AND SUBCULTURAL INFLUENCES ON ACHIEVEMENT

Individualistic versus Collectivistic Perspectives on Achievement There is now ample evidence that a child's cultural heritage affects his or her orientation toward achievement. In individualistic societies such as the United States, Canada, and the countries of Western Europe, child-rearing practices promote self-reliance and individual assertion, and children are given a great deal of freedom to pursue personal (and often highly creative) objectives. By contrast, collectivist societies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America emphasize the importance of maintaining social harmony and pursuing goals that are considered honorable by other members of one's social network and/or that maximize social welfare

Influences on achievement motivation . . .

Influences on achievement motivation . . . • Children's success and failure experiences, and the causes to which they attribute them • Parenting practices, including (a) warmth and support for child's accomplishments, (b) high expectations, and (c) providing the child with independence along with guidance • Socioeconomic opportunities, especially as these influence the family environment • Culture, especially individualistic vs. collectivistic cultural values

• Approval orientation:

It's important to do the right thing in this situation

How does Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental theory explain gender-role development?

Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental theory claims that children are self-socializers who must pass through basic gender identity and gender stability before reaching gender consistency, the point at which they begin to selectively attend to same-sex models and become gender typed. However, research consistently reveals that gender typing begins much earlier than Kohlberg thought and that measures of gender consistency do not predict the strength of gender typing.

postconventional morality

Kohlberg's term for the fifth and sixth stages of moral reasoning, in which moral judgments are based on social contracts and democratic law (Stage 5) or on universal principles of ethics and justice (Stage 6).

preconventional morality

Kohlberg's term for the first two stages of moral reasoning, in which moral judgments are based on the tangible punitive consequences (Stage 1) or rewarding consequences (Stage 2) of an act for the actor rather than on the relationship of that act to society's rules and customs.

conventional morality

Kohlberg's term for the third and fourth stages of moral reasoning, in which moral judgments are based on a desire to gain approval (Stage 3) or to uphold laws that maintain social order (Stage 4).

Kohlberg's view on children being premoral

Kohlberg's view is that they are ("punishment and obedience" orientation)

need for achievement (n Ach)

McClelland's depiction of achievement motivation as a learned motive to compete and to strive for success in situations in which one's performance can be evaluated against some standard of excellence.

mother - child influences on self-esteem?

securely attached children do much better at age four mother depression was a huge factor in the child's self-esteem

KOHLBERG'S THEORY

LEVEL I. PRECONVENTIONAL Stage 1:Punishment and obedience orientation Morality is defined as whatever avoids punishment and is rewarded by obeying the demands of authorities, while still acting in self-interest. Stage 2: Self-interested exchange Morality is whatever serves one's own interests while also letting others do the same. The person is concerned with what is fair, an equal exchange: "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours." LEVEL II. CONVENTIONAL Stage 3: "Good-boy" morality of maintaining good relations and approval Morality is defined as "being good": doing what others expect of you. This includes showing concern for others (Golden Rule), valuing trust, loyalty, respect, and having good intentions. Stage 4: Law-and-order morality to maintain social order Morality is fulfilling your duty to uphold the laws of society, which are important to keeping society going ("what if everyone did it . . . ?") LEVEL III. POSTCONVENTIONAL MORALITY Stage 5: Morality of social contract and individual rights Morality consists of our mutual obligation to rules that ensure the welfare of all and maintain the greatest good for the greatest number ("social contract"). Laws that fail this should be changed by the people. Stage 6: Morality of individual principles of conscience Morality is following universal ethical principles: valuing human life, justice, equality, respect for others, etc.

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Judgment

Level 1: Preconventional Morality Rules are truly external rather than internalized. The child conforms to rules imposed by authority figures to avoid punishment or obtain personal rewards. Morality is self-serving: What is right is what one can get away with or what is personally satisfying. Stage 1: Punishment-and-Obedience Orientation The goodness or badness of an act depends on its consequences. The child will obey authorities to avoid punishment but may not consider an act wrong if it will not be detected and punished. The greater the harm done or the more severe the punishment is, the more "bad" the act is. The following two responses reflect a "punishment-and-obedience" orientation to the Heinz dilemma: Stage 2: Naive Hedonism A person at this second stage conforms to rules in order to gain rewards or satisfy personal objectives. There is some concern for the perspective of others, but other-oriented behaviors are ultimately motivated by the hope of benefiting in return. "You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" is the guiding philosophy. Level 2: Conventional Morality The individual now strives to obey rules and social norms in order to win others' approval or to maintain social order. Social praise and the avoidance of blame have now replaced tangible rewards and punishments as motivators of ethical conduct. The perspectives of other people are clearly recognized and given careful consideration. Stage 3: "Good Boy" or "Good Girl" Orientation Moral behavior is that which pleases, helps, or is approved of by others. Actions are evaluated on the basis of the actor's intent. "He means well" is a common expression of moral approval at this stage. As we see in the responses below, the primary objective of a Stage 3 respondent is to be thought of as a "good" person. Stage 4: Social-Order-Maintaining Morality At this stage, the individual considers the perspectives of the generalized other—that is, the will of society as reflected in law. Now what is right is what conforms to the rules of legal authority. The reason for conforming is not a fear of punishment, but a belief that rules and laws maintain a social order that is worth preserving. As we see in the following responses, laws ultimately transcend special interests Level 3: Postconventional (or Principled) Morality A person at this third level of moral reasoning now defines right and wrong in terms of broad principles of justice that could conflict with written laws or with the dictates of authority figures. Morally right and legally proper are not always one and the same. Stage 5: The Social-Contract Orientation At Stage 5, the individual now views laws as instruments for expressing the will of the majority and furthering human values. Laws that accomplish these ends and are impartially applied are viewed as social contracts that one has an obligation to follow; but imposed laws that compromise human rights or dignity are considered unjust and worthy of challenge. Notice how distinctions between what is legal and what is moral begin to appear in the following Stage 5 responses to Heinz's dilemma:

Dweck's theory identified two contrasting achievement orientations.

Mastery-oriented children and adolescents attribute their successes to stable, internal causes (such as high ability), their failures to unstable causes (lack of effort), and they retain an incremental view of ability. Consequently, they feel quite competent and will work hard to overcome failures. By contrast, children with a learned helplessness orientation often stop trying after a failure because they display an entity view of ability and attribute their failures to a lack of ability that they feel they can do little about. Children who are often criticized for their lack of ability and who feel pressured to adopt performance goals rather than learning goals are at risk of becoming helpless. Helpless children can become more mastery-oriented if they are taught (through attribution training) that their failures can and often should be attributed to unstable causes, such as a lack of effort, that they can overcome by trying harder. Parents and teachers can help to prevent learned helplessness by praising children for their accomplishments, although process praise is likely to be much more effective than person praise. Fortunately, maladaptive entity theories of ability that can place children at risk academically can be modified by relatively simple interventions.

How does Money and Ehrhardt's biosocial theory explain gender-role development?

Money and Ehrhardt's biosocial theory emphasizes biological developments that occur before birth and influence the way a child is socialized. Genes contribute to some extent to gender-typed toy and activity preferences and to masculine and feminine self-concepts. The behavior of androgenized females implies that prenatal androgen levels also contribute to sex differences in play styles and activity preferences. Yet the development of some children raised as members of the other sex (for example, those with testicular feminization syndrome) and cross-cultural comparisons illustrate that social labeling and gender-role socialization play important roles in determining one's gender identity and role preferences. A recent psychobiosocial model explains how biological and social influences might interact to produce sex differences in behavior.

2. How does the "felt responsibility" hypothesis explain the association between empathy and altruistic behavior?

One possibility is that a child's sympathetic empathic arousal causes him to reflect on altruistic lessons he has learned—lessons such as the Golden Rule, the norm of social responsibility, or even the knowledge that other people approve of helping behavior. As a result of this reflection, the child is likely to assume some personal responsibility for aiding a victim in distress (see Figure 10.1) and would now experience some shame, guilt, or remorse for callously ignoring that obligation (Chapman et al., 1987; Williams & Bybee, 1994). Notice that this "felt responsibility" hypothesis is reflected in Eisenberg's higher levels of prosocial moral reasoning (see Table 10.2) and may help to explain why the link between empathy and altruism becomes stronger with age. Because older children are likely to have learned (and internalized) more altruistic principles than younger children, they should have much more to reflect on as they experience empathic arousal. Consequently, they are more likely than younger children to feel responsible for helping a distressed person and to follow through by rendering the necessary assistance.

6. Describe the "incompatible-response technique" as a parenting strategy for controlling children's aggressive behavior.

One proven method that she might use is the incompatible-response technique—a strategy of ignoring all but the most serious of Lennie's aggressive antics (thereby denying him an "attentional" reward) while reinforcing such acts as cooperation and sharing that are incompatible with aggression. Teachers who have tried this strategy find that it gradually produces an increase in children's prosocial conduct and a corresponding decrease in their hostilities Proactive aggressors can benefit when adults rely on such control procedures as the time-out and the incompatible-response technique, which teaches them that aggression doesn't pay and that nonaggressive means of problem solving are better ways to achieve their objectives. And all aggressive youngsters, particularly hot-headed reactive aggressors, can benefit from social-cognitive interventions that help them regulate their anger and become more skilled at empathizing with and taking others' perspectives, thus becoming less inclined to attribute hostile intents to other people.

8. According to Kohlberg, are young children "premoral"? How does his answer compare with the conclusions of current research on early conscience development, emotion understanding, and early helping behavior?

Oriented primarily to their own interest But research shows that children may have an intuitive sense of right and wrong and respond in a fairly non-egocentric way have empathy and altruism to other's needs Young children are motivated to cooperate to maintain positive relationships with caregivers

• Needs oriented:

Other people need help!

Moral rules

Rules that apply in all situations and cannot be changed by an authority!

Social conventional:

Rules that apply in some situations but not others, and can be changed by parents and other authorities!

Personal:

Rules that are self-initiated and are not under the control of others

Adolescent egocentrism

Self-consciousness -- a form of "adolescent egocentrism" may derive from the belief that others are as concerned with your appearance and behavior as you are! they use the term adolescent ego centrism this is a period of time of a lot of changes occurring over a short period of time with the changes that are occurring to other people this myth actually turns out to be more true than not

4. How do coercive home environments contribute to the development and maintenance of aggressive conduct?

Strife-ridden homes appear to be breeding grounds for aggression and violence. Parental conflict at home increases the likelihood that children will have hostile, aggressive interactions with siblings and peers. Many highly aggressive youngsters live in coercive home environments in which such hostile behaviors such as bickering and fighting are negatively reinforced. Children who are influenced most by a coercive family climate are those with impetuous and fearless temperaments who cannot regulate negative emotions and who often evoke hostile, coercive responses from family members. Family therapy is often necessary to help these out-of-control children, who otherwise are at risk of alienating teachers and peers, falling in with deviant peers, and becoming increasingly antisocial—sometimes to the point of joining gangs and graduating to violence and other serious forms of delinquency.

1. What is "television literacy" and why is its development important to the effects of televised content on children?

Television literacy refers to one's ability to understand how information is conveyed on the small screen. It involves the ability to process program content to construct a story line from characters' activities and the sequencing of scenes. It also involves an ability to interpret the form of the message—production features such as zooms, fade-outs, split-screens, and sound effects that are often essential to understanding a program's content. Prior to age 8 or 9, children are most captivated by visual production features on TV programming and may have difficultly inferring characters' motives and intentions or reconstructing a coherent story line. However, cognitive development and experience watching television leads to increases in television literacy during middle childhood and adolescence. ✦ Three lines of evidence—correlational surveys, laboratory experiments, and field experiments—converge on the conclusions that heavy exposure to televised violence can instigate aggressive behavior, cultivate aggressive habits and mean world beliefs, and desensitize viewers to instances of realworld aggression. Taken together, this evidence supports the social-learning viewpoint on the effects of televised violence and provides no support for the catharsis hypothesis. ✦ In addition to the potentially harmful impacts of televised violence, commercial TV programs also present negative stereotypes that influence viewers' beliefs about minority groups and gender issues, and children are easily manipulated by TV commercials that push products that parents are reluctant to purchase. What's more, excessive TV viewing restricts physical activity and contributes to obesity and related health problems.

The myths reconsidered . . . • A difficult "identity crisis" as youth try to find themselves

The myths reconsidered . . . • A difficult "identity crisis" as youth try to find themselves -- adolescence is a period of identity formation, but not necessarily of stressful crisis! !-- the difference between the "ideal self" and the real self in adolescence, and realizing that one plays different roles in different contexts, can lead to a search for the "true self"

• Empathic orientation:

The suffering of others motivates helping

Are Kohlberg's stages of moral judgment apparent in different cultures?

There is a concern about bias, especially postconvential but even stage 3 (more communal) and 4 (more individualistic

3. How does proactive aggression compare with reactive aggression?

This model has helped us to discriminate proactive aggressors: aggression is usually a means to other ends reactive aggressors display a hostile attributional bias and quickly retaliate after real or imagined provocations.

2. How do the reasons for aggression change with age? In other words, what are the changing motives for aggressive behavior? Does physical aggression increase or decrease with age? Does relational aggression increase or decrease?

Thus the reasons for aggression are more complex with increasing age . . . • achieving a goal (instrumental aggression) • self-defense against perceived threat from another (hostile and retaliatory aggression) • ensuring social status (hostile and relational aggression) • ingroup solidarity (relational aggression) . . . consistent with children's growing psychological sophistication The kind of aggression is also changing with increasing age . . . • physical aggression decreases • relational aggression increases . . . consistent with children's growing psychological sophistication

Distinguish misconceptions about the characteristics of effective schools from conclusions for which there is research evidence.

What makes a school effective is not the precise amount of money spent per pupil, average class size, or whether schools practice ability tracking or mixed-ability instruction. School Climate Students' perceptions of the school climate, including how safe they feel and how much emotional support and encouragement they receive from teachers and other school personnel, also affects school effectiveness (Hamre & Pianta, 2005; Loukas & Robinson, 2004). When children feel secure and teachers create a positive and supportive emotional climate in the classroom, students achieve more academically, are more likely to enjoy classroom activities, and experience fewer emotional problems (Eccles & Roeser, 2005; Gazelle, 2006; Hamre & Pianta, 2005).

7. Describe an example of the hostile attribution bias. How is it relevant to understanding aggressive behavior?

a bias towards attributions that are hostile ie he said no because he hates me, not he didn't have time

learned helplessness orientation

a tendency to give up or to stop trying after failing because these failures have been attributed to a lack of ability that one can do little about.

mastery orientation

a tendency to persist at challenging tasks because of a belief that one has the ability to succeed and/or that earlier failures can be overcome by trying harder

Summarize the examples given in lecture that highlight the importance of distinguishing between each domain: a) How parents respond to moral and social conventional violations b) Children's view on the appropriate use of parental authority in each domain c) Parent-child conflict during adolescence

a) How parents respond to moral and social conventional violations Moral wrongdoing relates to human welfare Social conventions relate to social order b) Children's view on the appropriate use of parental authority in each domain Parental authority CAN enforce moral or conventional rules but CANNOT regulate personal conduct. c) Parent-child conflict during adolescence arises over which domains are moral, social conventional, or personal

Fixed mindset

avoid challenges worry about your failure belief that important qualities like intelligence are fixed and unchangable causes people to simply try to demonstrate their talents rather than try and improve upon them, avoid challenges, do easy things, and worry about failure, not good for growth and success

incremental view of ability

belief that one's ability can be improved through increased effort and practice.

entity view of ability

belief that one's ability is a highly stable trait that is not influenced much by effort or practice.

5. How is the concept of "catharsis" relevant to preventing or deterring aggressive conduct?

catharsis hypothesis the notion that aggressive urges are reduced when people witness or commit real or symbolic acts of aggression. cathartic technique a strategy for reducing aggression by encouraging children to vent their anger or frustrations on inanimate objects. Contrary to the catharsis hypothesis, cathartic techniques are not effective means of reducing children's hostilities. Creating "nonaggressive" play environments is a more fruitful approach.

own-sex schema

detailed knowledge or plans of action that enable a person to perform gender-consistent activities and to enact his or her gender role.

2. What is the "frustration-aggression hypothesis"? How was it later revised by Berkowitz?

early learning theory of aggression, holding that frustration triggers aggression and that all aggressive acts can be traced to frustrations. the frustration/aggression hypothesis (Dollard et al., 1939). This model had two basic propositions: (1) Frustration (the thwarting of goal-directed behavior) always produces some form of aggression, and (2) aggression is always caused by some form of frustration. From the early and rather simple frustration/aggression hypothesis sprang other learning theories of aggression. Berkowitz's revised frustration/aggression theory contends that frustration as well as provocations and previously acquired aggressive habits increase one's readiness to aggress. But aggressive responses may not occur unless aggressive cues are present to evoke them. Berkowitz (1965) contends that frustration merely makes us angry and creates only a "readiness for aggressive acts." He adds that a variety of other causes of anger—events such as being provoked or attacked, and even previously acquired aggressive habits—may also heighten a person's readiness to aggress. Finally, Berkowitz argues that aggressive responses will not occur, even given

Causal Attributions:

effort ability difficulty of task luck

What aspects of moral development does Kohlberg's theory seek to explain? In other words, what does he focus on?

focuses on principals of judgement • reason he focused on moral judgement is that when children are reasoning in a more moral manner then moral judgement is at the root of moral behavior and moral judgement analyzes responses to moral dilemmas how they are thinking through

Preschool children are optimistic about their own capabilities

give a child a puzzle and despite failing each time they will think that they can do it. They confuse abilty with effort simply by trying hard they will succeed. this is a very healthy attitude to have, but it can lead them to be unrealistic they simply enjoy accomplishment for its own sake, some kids enjoy the puzzle for its own sake young children are thinking about themselves rather than can I run faster than joey they think I can run faster than I used to be able to

identity achievement

identity status characterizing individuals who have carefully considered identity issues and have made firm commitments to an occupation and ideologies. Identity-achieved individuals have resolved identity issues by making personal commitments to particular goals, beliefs, and values. Example: "After a lot of soul-searching about my religion and other religions too, I finally know what I believe and what I don't."

foreclosure

identity status characterizing individuals who have prematurely committed themselves to occupations or ideologies without really thinking about these commitments. Foreclosure: Persons classified as "foreclosed" are committed to an identity but have made this commitment without experiencing the "crisis" of deciding what really suits them best. Example: "My parents are Baptists and so I'm a Baptist; it's just the way I grew up." sometimes a pastor's child becomes an atheist or an educators child drops out

The "premoral" child

in Piaget's theory, the first five years of life, when children have little respect for or awareness of socially defined rules. According to Piaget, preschool children show little concern for or awareness of rules. In a game of marbles, these premoral children do not play systematically with the intent of winning. Instead, they seem to make up their own rules, and they think the point of the game is to take turns and have fun.

Locus of control

internal/external to me locus of control Individuals with an internal locus of control assume that they are personally responsible for what happens to them. If they received an A grade on an essay, they would probably attribute the mark to their superior writing ability or their own hard work (internal causes). Individuals with an external locus of control believe that their outcomes depend more on luck, fate, or the actions of others than on their own abilities or efforts. They might say that an A grade was due to luck ("The teacher happened to like this one"), easy grading, or some other external cause. Crandall proposed that an internal locus of control is conducive to achievement: Children must necessarily believe that they can produce positive outcomes if they are to strive for success and become high achievers. Children with an external locus of control were not expected to strive for success or to become high achievers, because they assume that their efforts do not necessarily determine their outcomes.

8. What are the steps of social problem-solving that children use with their peers? Can you describe each of these steps in the order in which they occur? How are aggressive children deficient in these social problem-solving skills?

interpreting cues identifying goals considering alternative responses & likely consequences deciding how to respond evaluating consequences of response, and what to do now

In adolescence, self-esteem continues to decline, and is based on one's competence in things that are personally important

self esteem continues to dip in adolescence and doesn't begin to rise until the end of high school years in adolescence your self esteem is based on how good you are at the things that are important

Self-esteem dips in the school years as children begin to see themselves more realistically, and social comparison influences self-evaluation

self esteem is not long lasting dips in school years with social evaluation, in grade school children begin to understand that they have limited abilities

Why do large numbers of sexually active adolescents fail to use contraception?

largely because they are (1) uninformed about reproductive issues, (2) too cognitively immature to take seriously the possibility that their behavior could have serious long-term consequences, and (3) concerned that other people (including their partners) will think negatively of them if they appear prepared and thus "ready" to have sex (Coley & Chase-Lansdale, 1998). Peer influences are also important. When friends perceive few costs associated with having sex and engage in unprotected sex, sexually active adolescents become more inclined to have unprotected sex themselves (Henry et al., 2007). Of course, such unsafe sex places them at risk of experiencing two serious consequences: sexually transmitted disease and teenage pregnancy.

Mean world belief

mean world belief - the world is a mean place and develop more aggression prone expectations

Domains of conduct:

moral social conventional personal

4. What is a "mutually responsive orientation" and how is it relevant to conscience development?

mutually responsive orientation parent/child relationship characterized by establishment of comfortable routines, harmonious patterns of communication, mutual responsiveness to each other's needs and goals, and shared positive affect. Kochanska and her colleagues believe that toddlers who enjoy such warm, responsive relationships will generally come to display committed compliance—an orientation in which they are (1) highly motivated to embrace the parent's agenda and to comply with her rules and requests, (2) sensitive to a parent's emotional signals indicating whether they have done right or wrong, and (3) beginning to internalize these parental reactions to their triumphs and transgressions, coming to experience the pride, shame, and guilt that will help them to evaluate and regulate their own conduct By contrast, aloof and impatient parents who rely more on power assertion to resolve conflicts and who have failed to establish a mutually responsive orientation with their toddlers are likely to promote situational compliance— generally nonoppositional behavior that stems more from parents' power to control the child's conduct than from the child's eagerness to cooperate or comply. ✦ Develop easily flowing routines at meals, bed time, or play. ✦ Show harmonious patterns of communication as both parties become highly proficient at reading each others' social signals and seem to truly enjoy the back and forth exchange of information that promotes their sense of connectedness. ✦ Display a willingness and even an eagerness to cooperate with each other. Conflicts that arise rarely escalate and are quickly resolved. ✦ Often express joy, mutual affection, and humor, while quickly dampening whatever negative affect may arise.

gender identity

one's awareness of one's gender and its implications.

"in-group/out-group" schema

one's general knowledge of the mannerisms, roles, activities, and behaviors that characterize males and females.

False belief

one's understanding that people can hold inaccurate beliefs that can influence their conduct, wrong as these beliefs may be. thinking that the boy will know about the chocolate not being in the blue box, even though he didn't see his mother remove it

gender schemas

organized sets of beliefs and expectations about males and females that guide information processing.

7. How is moral judgment related to moral behavior?

some are great at judgement not behavior and vice versa moral judgement does make a difference but so do a lot of different factors, maybe a small difference compared to influence of peers People reasoning at one particular level does not mean that they will act in a consistent way

The myths reconsidered . . . • Rebellious, delinquent peer influences lead to violence,

substance abuse, etc. !-- peer relationships are very important to adolescents, but parents remain important! !-- but most peer groups support, rather than reject, the values of the adult world! !-- adolescents tend to select peers whose views and values are concordant with their own!

5. Should preschoolers attend school? What does the research evidence indicate?

overemphasizing academics during the preschool period after all. On the other hand, preschool programs that offer a healthy mix of play and child-initiated discovery learning can be very beneficial to young children, especially to disadvantaged children (Stipek, 2002; Gormley & Gayer, 2005). Although most children who attend preschool classes are no more or less intellectually advanced than those who remain at home, disadvantaged preschoolers who attend child-centered programs designed to prepare them for school do display more cognitive growth and achieve more later success in school than other disadvantaged youngsters who do not attend these programs (Campbell et al., 2001; Magnusson et al., 2003; Reynolds & Temple, 1998; and see Chapter 7), due in part to increasing involvement by parents in the program participants' education (Reynolds & Robertson, 2003). So as long as preschool programs allow plenty of time for play and for skill building in the context of group social interactions, they can help children from all social backgrounds acquire social, academic, and communication skills, as well as an appreciation of rules and routines, that will smooth the transition from individual learning at home to group learning in an elementary school classroom.

What are the major influences on the development of gender identity during this period?

peers physical changes cause gender identity to intensify self-segregation diminishes to cross the gender divide socialization

On what basis do children learn to distinguish between these domains?

peers society parents? (guess)

person (or trait) praise

praise focusing on desirable personality traits such as intelligence; this praise fosters performance goals in achievement contexts.

process praise

praise of effort expended to formulate good ideas and effective problem-solving strategies; this praise fosters learning goals in achievement contexts.

What are the different forms of "self" that emerge throughout infancy, childhood, and adolescence?

present self early self-representation in which 2- and 3-year-olds recognize current representations of self but are largely unaware that past self representations or self-relevant events have implications for the future. extended self more mature self-representation, emerging between ages 3½ and 5 years, in which children are able to integrate past, present, and unknown future self-representations into a notion of a self that endures over time. categorical self - a person's classification of the self along socially significant dimensions such as age and sex. public self (or me) those aspects of self that others can see or infer. private self (or I) those inner, or subjective, aspects of self that are known only to the individual and are not available for

Weiner's Attribution Theory

proposed an attributional theory of achievement that claims that a person's achievement behavior depends very critically on how he interprets prior successes and failures and on whether he thinks he can control these outcomes. Weiner believes that human beings are active information processors who will sift through the data available to them and formulate explanations, or causal attributions, for their achievement outcomes. Causal Attributions: Weiner argues that people are likely to attribute their successes or failures to any of four causes: (1) their ability (or lack thereof ), (2) the amount of effort expended, (3) the difficulty (or easiness) of the task, (4) the influence of luck (either good or bad). Notice that two of these causes, ability and effort, are internal causes, or qualities of the individual, whereas the other two, task difficulty and luck, are external, or environmental, factors. This grouping of causes along an "internal/external" dimension follows from

Appearance-reality distinction

representation can be different from reality representation is not a carbon copy of reality - may look like a tiger but isn't

What are the parenting practices that best contribute to children's achievement success?

secure attachments to parents promote mastery behaviors authoritative parenting HOME inventory a measure of the amount and type of intellectual stimulation provided by a child's home environment parents who stress independence training—doing things on one's own—and who warmly reinforce such selfreliant behavior will contribute in a positive way to the growth of achievement motivation; importance of collaborative learning, parents had carefully scaffolded their efforts, allowing them to successfully master challenges that would have been impossible without such gentle parental guidance, were the ones who felt most comfortable and most motivated in achievement contexts one year direct achievement training—setting high but attainable standards for children to meet and stressing the objective of doing things well—also fosters achievement motivation. Children may need a helpful hint now and then (that is, a little parental scaffolding) to work to the best of their abilities and reach lofty objectives. Yet it is important for their child to believe that it was she who actually mastered the challenge, rather than the parent the patterns of praise (or punishment) that accompany the child's accomplishments are also important. Children who seek challenges and display high levels of achievement motivation have parents who praise their successes and are not overly critical of an occasional failure; by contrast, children who shy away from challenges and are low in achievement motivation have parents who are slow to acknowledge their successes (or who do so in a "matter-of-fact" way) and are inclined to criticize or punish their failures (Burhans & Dweck, 1995; Kelly, Brownell, & Campbell, 2000; Teeven & McGhee, 1972). We see, then, that parents of youngsters high in achievement motivation possess three characteristics: (1) They are warm, accepting, and quick to praise the child's accomplishments; (2) they provide noninvasive guidance and control by setting reasonable standards for the child to live up to and then monitoring her progress to ensure that she does; (3) they permit the child some independence or autonomy, allowing her a say in deciding how best to master challenges and meet their expectations. Diana Baumrind (1973) calls this warm, firm, but democratic parenting an authoritative parenting style let's also note that the parents have expectancies for their children as well—expectancies that can affect their child's achievement cognitions and achievement behavior. How well parents expect a child to perform in a particular achievement domain (for example, mathematics) does depend in part on the child's earlier performances. So parents whose children do well in subjects such as math or English come to view their children as more competent in those domains and expect more of them than will parents whose children have performed poorly in these subjects parents who perceive their child to be an academic star are likely to provide the materials and opportunities to hone her intellectual skills, thereby fostering academic achievement. what parents think about their child's talents (or lack thereof ) strongly affect the child's self-perceptions, achievement motivation, and achievement behavior, thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

10. What are some of the explanations that children offer for acting prosocially? Distinguish explanations with a hedonistic orientation, needs orientation, interpersonal approval orientation, empathic orientation, and internalized values orientation.

• Hedonistic: By aiding earthquake victims, others might assist me if I need it later • Needs oriented: Other people need help! • Approval orientation: It's important to do the right thing in this situation • Empathic orientation: The suffering of others motivates helping • Internalized values: I have a responsibility to help other human beings when they are in need

Prosocial behavior:

• Hedonistic: By aiding earthquake victims, others might assist me if I need it later • Needs oriented: Other people need help! • Approval orientation: It's important to do the right thing in this situation • Empathic orientation: The suffering of others motivates helping • Internalized values: I have a responsibility to help other human beings when they are in need Prosocial moral reasoning develops from hedonistic to internalized orientations with increasing age

Hostile aggression

• Hostile aggression emerges late in the preschool years, and has the intent of deliberately harming another person as its central purpose

Incidental aggression

• Incidental aggression emerges in infancy, and has no deliberate intent to harm another

1. Describe the five forms of aggression and give an example of each. At what approximate age does each emerge?

• Incidental aggression emerges in infancy, and has no deliberate intent to harm another • Instrumental aggression arises after age 2, and the purpose of aggression is to achieve a goal • Hostile aggression emerges late in the preschool years, and has the intent of deliberately harming another person as its central purpose • Retaliatory aggression appears in grade school, and is elicited by real or imagined provocations • Relational aggression threatens another's self- esteem, friendships, or social status

Aggression is not just one thing. There are different forms of aggression in childhood . . .

• Incidental aggression emerges in infancy, and has no deliberate intent to harm another • Instrumental aggression arises after age 2, and the purpose of aggression is to achieve a goal • Hostile aggression emerges late in the preschool years, and has the intent of deliberately harming another person as its central purpose • Retaliatory aggression appears in grade school, and is elicited by real or imagined provocations • Relational aggression threatens another's self- esteem, friendships, or social status

Instrumental aggression

• Instrumental aggression arises after age 2, and the purpose of aggression is to achieve a goal

Challenges of adult development

• Intimacy: developing close companionship and vulnerability (marriage?) • Caring: nurturing and being responsible for offspring and (later) grandchildren • Generativity: achieving success and satisfaction with one's life work and pursuits • Perspective: making sense of one's life and experiences

2. What are the challenges of adult social and personality development with respect to: a. intimacy b. caring c. generativity d. perspective

• Intimacy: developing close companionship and vulnerability (marriage?) • Caring: nurturing and being responsible for offspring and (later) grandchildren • Generativity: achieving success and satisfaction with one's life work and pursuits • Perspective: making sense of one's life and experiences

How are gender schemas important to the development of gender identity?

• One reason is that children begin acquiring gender schemas (organized beliefs and expectations about boys and girls) that guide their thinking about themselves and steer their behavior into gender-typed activities. Young children increasingly seek further information about their gender.

Relational aggression

• Relational aggression threatens another's self- esteem, friendships, or social status

Myths of adolescence

• Relentless conflict with parents • Rebellious, delinquent peer influences lead to violence, substance abuse, etc. • A difficult "identity crisis" as youth try to find themselves • "Sexuality rears its ugly head" owing to "raging hormones" • Self-consciousness What are some of the myths of adolescent development: relentless conflict with parents: during the adolescent period there is a upsurge of disagreement between parent and adolescent over privilege and rights Rebellious: whatever else peers do to shape fellow adolescents a difficult... comes from Erickson. Identity youth and crisis- young people are trying to find themselves in a world that is not for them another part of this myth is the idea that sexuality rears its ugly head, that adolescents are driven by the myth of raging hormones. Changing how you are functioning psychologically Self-consciousness: where young people believe that other people are constantly scrutinizing you not that all the myths are wrong or that there isn't a kernel of truth to them rather that reality is much more complex

Retaliatory aggression

• Retaliatory aggression appears in grade school, and is elicited by real or imagined provocations

Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Judgment

• moral judgment develops from social experience and advances in cognitive abilities • primarily focuses on moral judgment (rather than behavior or emotion) • emphasis on how children reason, rather than the outcomes they favor • focuses on principles of justice • analyzes responses to moral dilemmas

Influences on adult development

• the "social clock" -- being "on time" or "off time" • the intersection with other lives • historical events • individual choices • selective optimization with compensation • declines in some abilities; emergence of new others selectively optimizing skills that are important for you and compensating for skills that are less sharp e.g. bad memory so you compensate by writing things down that is how adult development adapts, you don't multitask as you used to ignored to live declines in some abilities - especially when related to health with health related difficulties becoming paramount

2. What can we conclude about the effects of televised violence on children's aggression? When it is influential, what are some of the reasons? What are the cautions that must be kept in mind when interpreting the research evidence?

✦ Three lines of evidence—correlational surveys, laboratory experiments, and field experiments—converge on the conclusions that heavy exposure to televised violence can instigate aggressive behavior, cultivate aggressive habits and mean world beliefs, and desensitize viewers to instances of realworld aggression. Taken together, this evidence supports the social-learning viewpoint on the effects of televised violence and provides no support for the catharsis hypothesis. Second, the suggestion that parents help their young non-TV-literate viewers to evaluate what they are watching is particularly important. One reason that younger children are so responsive to aggressive models on TV is that they don't always interpret the violence they see in the same way adults do, often missing subtleties such as an aggressor's antisocial motives and intentions or the unpleasant consequences that perpetrators may suffer as a result of their aggressive acts (Collins, Sobol, & Westby, 1981; Slaby et al., 1995). What's more, young children's tendency to strongly identify with aggressive heroes whose violence is socially reinforced makes them even more susceptible to the instigating effects of TV violence—a fact that parents need to know (Huesmann et al., 2003). When adults highlight the information children miss, while strongly disapproving of a perpetrator's conduct, young viewers gain a much better understanding of media violence and are less affected by what they have seen—particularly if the adult commentator also suggests how these perpetrators (or violent heros) might have approached their problems in a more constructive way (Collins, 1983; Liebert & Sprafkin, 1988). Unfortunately, this may be an underutilized strategy, for as Michele St. Peters and her associates (1991) have noted, parent/child co-viewing at home most often occurs not during action/adventure shows or other highly violent fare, but during the evening news, sporting events, or prime-time dramas— programming that is not particularly captivating for young children.