Socioemotional Development in Middle Childhood

Achievement Motivation

Willingness to persist at challenges.

Growth Mindset

Belief that skills/characteristics are malleable.

Fixed Mindset

Belief that characteristics are enduring/unchangeable.

Mastery Orientation

A belief that success stems from trying hard and that failures are influenced by factors that can be controlled.

Learned Helplessness Orientation

A fixed mindset and the attribution of poor performance to internal factors.

Contextual Influences

Factors such as parents' own attitudes, socioeconomic status, and types of praise that affect motivation.

Person Praise

Focusing on the quality of the individual, e.g., 'You're so smart! You did it!'

Process Praise

Focusing on the role of effort, e.g., 'Great job! You studied hard and your performance shows it!'

Moral Development

Changes in how children understand rules/fairness arising from moral development.

Autonomous Morality

Children begin to see rules as products of group agreement and tools to improve cooperation.

Heteronomous Morality

Understanding of rules as fixed and unchangeable.

Distributive Justice

Reasoning about sharing and division of goods as a moral problem.

Moral vs Conventional Rules

Moral: right/wrong, e.g., 'do not kill'; Conventional: social norms, e.g., 'what should I wear to my interview?'

Gender Differences

High degree of overall similarity between boys and girls with minor cognitive differences.

Gender Stereotypes

beliefs about personality and achievement that develop in children about gender

Gender Constancy

Awareness that gender does not change.

Perceived Same-Gender Typicality

Beliefs about similarity to peers of own gender.

Perceived Other-Gender Typicality

Beliefs about similarity to peers of the other gender.

Gender Contentedness

Satisfaction with birth gender, leading to positive outcomes.

Perceived Pressure to Conform to Gender Roles

Pressure to avoid other-gender behavior with negative effects of high perceived pressure.

Friendship

Close friendships are associated with positive well-being and are rooted in similarity.

Stable Friendships

Friendships that usually last from middle childhood into adolescence.

Peer Acceptance

The degree to which a child is viewed as a worthy social partner by his or her peers.

Popular kids

play well, cooperate, maintain interactions with social conversation.

Controversial kids

more overtly friendly than popular, but made aggressive comments, annoying sounds and were unpredictable.

Popularity

Children who are socially skilled and valued by their peers.

Aggressive Popular Children

A minority of popular children who are socially skilled yet show antisocial and aggressive behavior.

Peer Rejection

Children who are often disliked and shunned by their peers.

Aggressive-rejected

Confrontational, hostile toward other children, impulsive, and hyperactive.

Withdrawn-rejected

Socially withdrawn, passive, timid, anxious, and socially awkward.

Similarities Among Rejected-Aggressive and Withdrawn Children

They both misinterpret other children's behaviors and motives.

Similarities Among Rejected-Aggressive and Withdrawn Children

Have trouble understanding and regulating their emotions.

Bullying

Refers to an ongoing interaction in which a child repeatedly attempts to inflict physical, verbal, or social harm on another child.

Characteristics of Boys who Bully

Above average in size, Use physical aggression, Target both boys and girls.

Characteristics of Girls Who Bully

Verbally assertive, Target other girls,

Use relational aggression.

Characteristics of Bullying Victims

Inhibited,

Frail in appearance,

Younger than their peers.

Response to Bullying

Victims of bullies engage in avoidance behaviors (not going to school).

Reactive aggression

An aggressive response that is preceded by an insult, confrontation, or frustration.