Educational Psychology: Peer Groups, Friendships, and Social Development

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering educational psychology topics including parenting styles, sibling relations, group dynamics, Tuckman's stages, friendship development levels, and peer versus parental influences.

Parenting Styles (Baumrind)

A typology of child-rearing categorised into three distinct styles: authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive.

Parenting Styles (Maccoby and Martin)

A four-part classification of parenting styles that expands on earlier models: authoritarian, authoritative, indulgent, and neglectful.

Sibling Subsystem (Dunn, 1988)

The family interaction system in which children spend more time with their siblings than with their parents, experiencing differences in their educational environments despite marked environmental similarities.

First-born Children

Children who typically demonstrate a higher strive for achievement and are more sociable; boys in this position exhibit higher rates of behavioural problems, whereas girls tend to be more obedient and responsible.

Hartup's Predictor of Adult Adjustment

The principle stating that the single strongest predictor of adult adjustment is not intelligence, schooling, or classroom behaviour, but a child's ability to relate to others.

Peer Group

A social group whose members share common interests, social positions, and age, defined by interactions, relations, common goals, communication, and structure.

Informal Group

A group type based on the history of its formation that develops somewhat naturally among individuals rather than through an official structure.

Formal Group

A structured group developed out of a specific need with an established organisation and framework.

Primary Group

A group characterised by close-knit, intimate, and long-lasting relationships that significantly impact the individual.

Secondary Group

A large, impersonal, and short-scale group characterised by formal or task-oriented relationships.

Reference Group

Any group to which individuals compare themselves to evaluate their own behaviours, attitudes, and social identity.

Comparative Function

The role of a reference group in serving as a standard or benchmark against which individuals measure their own behaviours and attitudes.

Normative Function

The role of a reference group in guiding behaviour and attitudes and assisting an individual in identifying social norms.

Bruce Tuckman's Model of Group Development

A universal model proposed in 1965 initially comprising four stages—forming, storming, norming, and performing—to which a fifth stage, adjourning, was added ten years later.

Forming Stage

The initial group stage marked by anxiety, uncertainty, and a desire for acceptance, where conflict is actively avoided and members focus on orienting to one another and their purpose rather than on work.

Storming Stage

The group development stage where conflict and competition peak, dominant members emerge, and questions concerning leadership, rules, and responsibilities arise.

Norming Stage

The stage of group development in which members acknowledge one another, build respect and trust, remain focused on group purpose, and actively attempt to prevent conflict.

Performing Stage

The group stage characterised by mutual trust, high role clarity, direct energy investment into goal attainment, and a shared sense of belonging among members.

Adjourning Stage

The final stage of group development involving the dissolution of the team once the task is finished, which may bring positive feelings of achievement alongside stress or anxiety about disbanding.

Level 0: Momentary Playmates

The stage of friendship (ages 3–6) marked by egocentrism, where friends are defined simply as those peers with whom the child plays most frequently.

Level 1: One-Way Assistance

The stage of friendship (ages 5–9) where friends are defined as those whose actions please the child, often involving gender-segregated play and attempts to bribe or coerce others to secure companionship.

Level 2: Two-Way, Fair-Weather Cooperation

The stage of friendship (ages 7–12) where children acknowledge both viewpoints, trade favours, exhibit peak conformity, form paired relationships, and display pronounced possessiveness and jealousy.

Level 3: Intimate, Mutually Shared Relationships

The stage of friendship (ages 8–15) characterized by an ongoing relationship with shared goals, mutual emotional support for personal problems, and deep absorption in one another.

Level 4: Mature Friendships

The highest stage of friendship (ages 12+) where psychological and emotional closeness are primary, possessiveness decreases, and friends accept independent activities and differences.

Social Isolation (Peer Context)

A persistent social status that increases the risk of missing key peer interactions and predicts externalising and internalising outcomes like loneliness, delinquency, bullying, and lower academic achievement.

Grounding Influence

The primary impact of family cultural and social values through which adults introduce and socialise children into their wider societal culture.

Continuity/Cognitive Model

The theoretical framework proposing that peer relationships function as an extension of earlier relationships formed with adults, with balanced support from both fostering psychosocial well-being.

Compensatory/Competition Model

The theoretical framework proposing that peer support serves to compensate for deficient or unsatisfactory relationships with adults and parents.

Electronic Media Communication (EMC)

Digital interactions (such as texting and social media) that offer 24/7 connectivity, promoting self-expression and social confidence via anonymity, while carrying potential risks for compulsive use and mental health distress.