11. Middle Childhood - Social and Personality Development

Society of childhood

_____________ - Children make up their own social rules that differ from those of adult society — Universal phenomenon

• Practice social competence by making up own rules instead of only through imitation

• Creating and enforcing rules helps children learn cooperation and how to see things from other people’s perspective

• Cognitive development is basis for engaging in rule-governed activity

Freud

Psychoanalytic perspectives

______________ - Focus of middle childhood years is to move beyond emotional bonds developed with parents in infancy and early childhood to form bonds with peers

• Research on peer rejection and other emotional features of middle childhood is grounded in Freud’s approach

Erikson

Psychoanalytic perspectives

_____________ - Agreed with Freud’s belief about the critical role of peer relationships and accompanying emotions

• Step further: crisis of industry vs. inferiority – 4th4th psychosocial stage

• Children who are not very successful in school can develop industry by participating in culturally valued pursuits outside of academics

• Research on need to feel competence aligns with Erikson’s theory

Traits in middle childhood

____________ - stable pattern of responding to situations

Middle childhood: temperament traits have evolved into Big Five dimensions of personality

• Big Five contribute to development of feelings of competence

• Traits cluster into four personality types: average, reserved, self-centered, and role model

1) Openness to Experience

Big five (OCEAN)

____________ - Wide range of interests, artistic, curious, imaginative, original, insightful

• Possible temperament components: Approach new situations and people, low inhibition

2) Conscientiousness

Big five (OCEAN)

________________ - Organized, reliable, responsible, efficient, prudent

• Possible temperament components: Effortful control/task persistence

3) Extraversion

Big five (OCEAN)

_____________ - Outgoing, assertive, active, enthusiastic

• Possible temperament components: High activity level, sociability, positive emotionality, talkativeness

4) Agreeableness

Big five (OCEAN)

______________ - Forgiving, generous, affectionate, trusting, kind, sympathetic

• Possible temperament components: Potentially high approach/positive emotionality, effortful control

5) Neuroticism/negative emotionality

Big five (OCEAN)

_____________ - Tense, anxious, worrying, touchy, self-pitying, unstable

• Possible temperament components: Negative emotionality, irritability

Self-concept

________________ - Understanding of own personality shifts greatly over course of middle childhood

• Two new components: psychological self and valued self

  • Self-efficacy

  • Spiritual self

Psychological self

Self-concept

_____________ - understanding of own enduring psychological characteristics

• First appears during transition from early to middle childhood; becomes increasingly complex as adolescence approaches

• Includes basic information about own unique characteristics, and self-judgements of competency

• Describe own personalities with increasing precision

Spiritual self

Self-concept

_________________ - is distinct from religiosity

Research typically focuses on cognitive and social aspects without examining subjective and experiential components

• Seems to play a role in daily lives, including helping with decision-making, providing guidance, helping with coping, and heightening gratitude

• Strong sense of spirituality may shape understanding of meaning of life ➔ can impact mental health and well-being and influence challenges faced in adolescence

• Education strategies can help strengthen development of spiritual self and promote effective coping strategies

Valued self

Self-concept

_______________ - Value of yourself as an individual

• Self-esteem

• Level of self-esteem = degree of discrepancy between what child desires and what they think has been achieved

• Social support from valued others also highly influential

  • High self-esteem requires sense of being liked and accepted by family

  • Also need to develop friendships

• Criteria by which children evaluate themselves varies from society to society

• Internal model of self-esteem not fixed – can change to an extent based on judgements of others and personal experiences of success and failure

Self-efficacy

Self-concept

_____________ - Individual’s belief in their capacity to cause an intended event to occur

• Peer models are key in the development of self-efficacy beliefs → social comparison is critical

• Encouragement from knowledgeable people that the child values and respects also contribute

• Biggest influence: child’s real-life experiences

Self-esteem

Self-concept → valued self

____________ - global evaluation of one’s own worth

• Strongly influenced by mental comparisons of ideal self with actual experiences

• Children value various components differently → degree to which mental comparisons influence self-esteem depends on how much various components are valued

Social-cognitive perspectives

______________ - Broader – believe psychoanalytic and trait theorists only focus on one component

• Bandura: three interactive components: personal factor, behavioural responses, and environmental influences and pressures

• Reciprocal determinism

• Bandura called self-perceived competence self-efficacy

Reciprocal determinism

Social-cognitive perspectives → Bandura

________________ - pattern in which the three factors — personal, behavioural responses, environmental influences/pressures— interact

Advances in social cognition

_____________ - End of middle childhood: broader understanding of others and preliminary understanding of moral aspects of social relationships

• Look beyond appearances and search for deeper consistencies to help interpret own behaviour and behaviour of others

Understanding of others

Advances in social cognition

_____________

At 6-7 years:

• Focus on external features

• Use global terms when making internal or evaluative descriptions

• Do not see such qualities as lasting or general traits

At 7-10 years:

• Focus on internal traits

• Assume consistency across situations

• Better understanding of family roles and relationships

Moral reasoning

Advances in social cognition → morals

____________ - process of making judgements about the rightness or wrongness of a specific act

• 2-6 years: discriminate between intentional and unintentional acts

Increased understanding of internal experiences of others helps them think about how they and others consider moral implications of actions

Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development

Advances in social cognition → morals

_____________ - Two stages:

1. Moral realism stage: children believe rules are inflexible; rule violations result in punishment

2. Moral relativism stage: rules can change through social agreement; punishment only happens if caught; shift to considering intentions more than consequences when making moral judgements

Moral reasoning still very egocentric

Social relationships

Advances in social cognition

______________ - Growing ability to understand others impacts their social relationships

• Becoming more independent while still attached to parents

• Relationships with peers more stable and may develop into long-term friendships

• Quality of peer relationships in this stage have significant long-term impacts

Relationships with parents

Advances in social cognition

______________ - Association between relationships with parents and competency with peers. Growing capacity for self-regulation → increasing independence

• Sex differences: parents offer same type of guidance while giving boys more autonomy over behaviour and holding daughters to a higher standard of accountability for failure

• Parenting variables:

  • Own ability to self-regulate

  • Degree of self-regulation expected

Friendships

Advances in social cognition

_______________ - Increasing importance of peers, especially close friends

• BFFs play an important role in social development

• “Best friend” relationships = universal

  • Important indicator of overall social development and competence

  • Emphasis caused by increasing understanding of the nature of friendship

• Reciprocal trust: becomes key concept sought in friendships at ~10 years

• Understanding of friendship: relationship between understanding of friendship and quantity and quality of friendships

• Developmental purpose of friendships: provides way to learn how to manage conflicts

Gender self-segregation

_________________ - Peer group interactions are very segregated – universal

Gender = most powerful categorical variable in selection of friends during middle childhood

• Preference for same-sex friendships increases across this period and is unrelated to sex differences in parenting

• Ritualized “boundary violations” between the two groups

  • Overall, active avoidance and negative stereotyping of the opposite gender

• Differing qualities:

  • Boys: more accepting of newcomers, outdoors or in larger areas; friendships more focused on competition and dominance

  • Girls: pairs or small, fairly exclusive groups; indoors or near home or school; more agreement, compliance, and self-disclosure in friendships

• Cooperative and collaborative exchanges = most common forms of communication across gender

Patterns of aggression

________________ - Children who did not go to daycare in early childhood were less physically aggressive in early-middle childhood, but became equally aggressive within two years

• Levels of physical aggression decline across children by age 8 years; indirect aggression increases

  • Boys: show more physical aggression and assertiveness within friendships and in general across ages

  • Girls: may be just as aggressive; it simply manifests differently

• Relational aggression:

• Sex differences may be based in biology (testosterone, males diminish over time to become more cognitive and relational aggression

Cognitive variables contribute to both forms of aggression— Misinterpreting intentions

SES and familial factors

___________________ - Socio-economic status.

Retaliatory aggression increases during middle childhood. Associated with increased understanding of the difference between intentional and unintentional acts

Most children will retaliate – those who do not are likely to be seen as socially incompetent and to be bullied by peers in future

• Peers may approve; most parents and teachers do not and children can be taught alternative, nonaggressive techniques

• Aggressive interactions are not an inevitable aspect of development

SES

• Boys of lower SES: higher incidence of physical and indirect forms of aggression, appeared earlier, and persisted throughout childhood

• Girls of lower SES: more physical and indirect aggression

  • Childhood aggression adversely affects upward mobility

  • Intergenerational risk for aggression and related social disadvantage

  • Parents who experienced childhood adversity place their children at high risk

  • Interventions that provide economic and social support for high-risk young parents can help break this cycle

Social status

________________- Individual child’s classification as popular, rejected, or neglected. Many determining characteristics are outside the child’s control

Most important: social behaviour

• Tend to be less aggressive, more cooperative, regulating emotions + assessing others

  • Children who are both aggressive and rejected are more likely to have their aggressive behaviour become a stable characteristic

Gender differences: aggression among girls leads to rejection; among boys may lead to popularity or rejection

• More forgiving of peers whose aggression is primarily retaliatory and who also engage in prosocial behaviour

  • Child not ALWAYS aggressive, but can still have positive interactions

• Social approval helps maintain aggression

• Neglect less stable than rejection

• Prolonged neglect can lead to depression and loneliness

VIDEO: What can we learn from children’s peer relationships?

Self-care children

________________- Children who are at home alone for one or more hours/day. Impacts hard to research

Effects on development depend on behavioural history, age, gender, neighbourhood, maturity, parental monitoring during self-care, and duration and frequency of this care

• Children younger than 10 years do not have necessary cognitive abilities to deal with emergencies/evaluate risks

• Children who start before 10 years at greater risk for negative outcomes

• Children older than 10 still benefit from well-supervised after-school programs

• Most important factor: parental monitoring

Media influences

________________ - Canadian children spend ~7+ hours/day in front of a screen

• TV:

  • Children 2-11 years spend ~21 hours/week watching TV

  • Educational TV shows do have positive effects

  • Too much time appears to negatively affect academic performance

  • Bandura’s Bobo doll study → imitated adult in film

  • Viewing violent TV in early childhood associated with range of negative socioemotional and academic outcomes

Relational aggression

Patterns of aggression

____________ - aggression aimed at damaging another person’s self-esteem or peer relationships