Chapter 9: Theories of Social Development (Part 1)

Q: What does social development involve in children?

A: Development of children's understanding of:

• others' behaviours, attitudes, and intentions

• relationships between the self and others

• how to behave and interpret their social world

Q: Who developed the theory emphasizing the influence of the unconscious on people's experiences?

A: Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)

Q: According to Freud, how are people's experiences often influenced?

A: By underlying psychological drives, often in weird, metaphorical ways (e.g., dreams)

Q: What are the three components of personality in Freud's theory?

A: Id, Ego, and Superego

Q: What is the Id according to Freud?

A: Unconscious pleasure-seeking drives

Q: What is the Ego according to Freud?

A: Conscious, rational, problem-solving

Q: What is the Superego according to Freud?

A: Internalized morality standards

Q: What happens to children as they age according to Freud's psychosexual theory?

A: They begin to seek pleasure from different 'erotically sensitive areas' called erogenous zones

Q: How many psychosexual stages did Freud propose, and what do they represent?

A: Five stages, each with a different source of pleasure

Q: What is the oral stage and its source of pleasure?

A: Oral stage (0-1 years): mouth (sucking, eating)

Q: What is the anal stage and its source of pleasure?

A: Anal stage (1-3 years): defecation

Q: What is the phallic stage and its source of pleasure?

A: Phallic stage (3-6 years): genitalia

Q: What is the latent stage and its characteristic?

A: Latent stage (7-11 years): period of calm, desires hidden

Q: What is the genital stage and its characteristic?

A: Genital stage (12+ years): full-blown sexual maturation

Q: How should we approach Freudian ideas encountered today?

A: Be skeptical of Freudian ideas; many are controversial, wacky, and empirically unsupported

Q: Despite controversy, what contributions did Freud make to thinking about development?

A: Introduced new language and new ways of thinking about development

Q: What important idea did Freud introduce about consciousness?

A: Not everything is consciously apparent to us; human motivations are complex

Q: What important idea did Freud introduce about early experiences?

A: Early experiences matter, e.g., impact of childhood trauma

Q: What important idea did Freud introduce about sexuality?

A: Sexuality should be understood from a developmental perspective

Q: How many stages and "crises" are there in Erikson's psychosocial theory?

A: Eight developmental stages, eight "crises"

Q: What is the focus of the Trust vs. Mistrust stage of Erikson's psychosocial theory?

A: trust in intimate relationships

Q: What is the focus of the Autonomy vs. Shame/Doubt stage of Erikson's psychosocial theory?

A: fostering of independence

Q: What is the focus of the Initiative vs. Guilt stage of Erikson's psychosocial theory?

A: healthy conscience development

Q: What is the focus of the Industry vs. Inferiority stage of Erikson's psychosocial theory?

A: "can I contribute to the world?"

Q: What is the focus of the Identity vs. Role-Confusion stage of Erikson's psychosocial theory?

A: "who am I? where do I fit in?"

Q: What key contributions did Erikson make to developmental theory?

A: Introduced many important ideas, influenced later theorists, and was among the first to note adolescence as an important period of development

Q: What is the definition of learning?

A: Any durable change in behaviour or knowledge due to experience

Q: Give an example of learning from studying or memorization.

A: Studying and memorizing a new definition

Q: Give an example of learning from experience with a cat.

A: A cat comes running when it hears the can opener

Q: Give an example of learning from physiological responses.

A: Heart starts racing when you hear a tattoo needle

Q: Give an example of behaviour that is not considered learning.

A: Pulling your arm back when you get burned (instinctive reflex)

Q: Does instinctive reflexive behaviour count as learning?

A: No, instinctive reflexive behaviour does not equal learning

Q: What is classical conditioning?

A: Learning an association between two previously unrelated stimuli (e.g., Pavlov's dogs)

Q: What is an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)?

A: A stimulus that naturally evokes a behaviour without previous conditioning

Q: What is an unconditioned response (UCR)?

A: The response to an unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

Q: What is a neutral stimulus (NS)?

A: A stimulus that initially doesn’t elicit any response

Q: What is a conditioned stimulus (CS)?

A: A stimulus (previously NS) that now evokes a conditioned behaviour

Q: What is a conditioned response (CR)?

A: The response to a conditioned stimulus (CS) that wouldn’t have occurred prior to conditioning

Q: How did John Watson view children?

A: As blank slates, waiting to be conditioned by parents, teachers, and society

Q: According to Watson, do children have innate temperaments?

A: No, he believed there were no innate temperaments (nature)

Q: According to Watson, what shapes a child’s development?

A: Experience is everything (nurture)

Q: In the "Little Albert" study, what was the neutral stimulus (NS)?

A: The white lab rat, which initially caused no fear

Q: What was the unconditioned stimulus (UCS) in the "Little Albert" study?

A: The loud gong sound

Q: What was the unconditioned response (UCR) in the "Little Albert" study?

A: Fear in response to the loud gong sound

Q: What was the conditioned stimulus (CS) in the "Little Albert" study?

A: The white lab rat after being paired with the loud gong

Q: What was the conditioned response (CR) in the "Little Albert" study?

A: Fear in response to the rat

Q: What phenomenon did Albert display when he became fearful of similar stimuli (rabbit, fur coat, Santa Claus mask)?

A: Stimulus generalization – CR extends to other stimuli similar to the original CS

Q: What likely happened to Little Albert as a result of the study?

A: He was probably traumatized by the experience

Q: How did Little Albert's fear manifest beyond the original experiment?

A: His fear probably "generalized" to everything

Q: How is the "Little Albert" study viewed in terms of ethics and scientific impact?

A: It was totally unethical and isn’t even considered formative

Q: What did B.F. Skinner advocate for in parenting and teaching children?

A: Using operant conditioning – reward good behaviours, punish bad ones

Q: What is a potent reinforcer for children according to Skinner?

A: Attention

Q: Why might kids act out in school or at home?

A: Often as a bid for attention

Q: How can yelling at a child unintentionally affect their behaviour?

A: Getting yelled at is better than being ignored, so the behaviour can be reinforced even though the adult thinks they are punishing it

Q: What does encouraging more positive behaviour in children require?

A: A lot more than a loud voice

Q: What is a common attempted application of Skinner’s operant conditioning in children?

A: Time outs

Q: How effective are time outs according to Skinner's perspective?

A: Not always that effective

Q: In parenting, why are consequences for bad behaviour important?

A: Consequences for bad behaviour are incredibly important

Q: What is also important to consider besides the consequence itself?

A: How children are punished

Q: Does being forced to stare at a wall or be by yourself teach a child why their behaviour was wrong?

A: No, it sucks, but you don’t learn much about why what you did is bad or how to be better next time

Q: What needs to accompany consequences for bad behaviour to be effective?

A: Other-Oriented Induction

Q: What is Other-Oriented Induction?

A: Explicitly highlighting how the child’s behaviour affects the feelings of others

Q: What are intermittent schedules in Skinner’s operant conditioning?

A: Reinforcing or punishing only some of the time

Q: What is the effect of intermittent schedules on behaviour?

A: Increases resistance to extinction

Q: What is positive reinforcement?

A: Increases the target behaviour by adding something desirable

Q: What is negative reinforcement?

A: Increases the target behaviour by taking away something aversive

Q: What is positive punishment?

A: Involves the addition of an aversive stimulus to decrease behaviour

Q: What is negative punishment?

A: Involves the removal of a desirable stimulus to decrease behaviour

Q: What is a powerful reinforcer for children?

A: Attention

Q: How can conditioning occur unintentionally?

A: Conditioning can occur by accident

Q: What does intermittent reinforcement teach the learner?

A: To keep the behaviour up until they get a reaction

Q: What type of learning is most human learning?

A: Social in nature

Q: Besides directly receiving reinforcement and punishment, how else can humans learn?

A: Through observation and imitation

Q: What does observational learning involve?

A: Witnessing reinforcement/punishment administered to another organism and altering one's own behaviour accordingly

Q: What is a famous demonstration of observational learning?

A: Bandura's Bobo Doll studies

Q: What did preschool kids watch in the Bobo Doll studies?

A: An adult assaulting a Bobo doll

Q: What was group 1 in the Bobo Doll studies?

A: saw adult rewarded

Q: What was group 2 in the Bobo Doll studies?

A: saw adult punished

Q: What was group 3 in the Bobo Doll studies?

A: saw no consequences

Q: How did children from group 1 and 3 behave when left alone with Bobo?

A: acted more violently

Q: How did children from group 2 behave when left alone with Bobo?

A: acted less violently

Q: What is vicarious reinforcement?

A: Learning from someone else being rewarded or punished

Q: What happened when children were offered a prize to reproduce what they saw in the Bobo Doll studies?

A: All groups acted violently

Q: What does this finding show about learning in children?

A: Even kids who didn’t spontaneously act violently had learned from their observations

Q: What was the age range of children in the study on exposure to gun violence in movies?

A: 8–12 years old

Q: What was the first group in the study?

A: watched a movie containing guns

Q: What was the second group in the study?

A: watched a movie with no guns

Q: What behaviours were measured when children played in pairs with disabled handguns?

A:

• Time spent holding the gun

• Trigger pulls (recorded via sensor)

• Aggressive play (coded from a random subset)

Q: How did children who saw the violent movie behave with the guns?

A: They spent more time playing with the gun and pulled the trigger more often

Q: What kind of language did kids in the gun movie group use?

A: Aggressive language, e.g., "I told you don't mess with me b----!" "Are you dumb as f---?"

Q: What kind of language did kids in the no-guns movie group use?

A: Restrained language, e.g., "uh-uh, uh-uh, no, no, no"

Q: What do meta-analyses say about the effects of video games on children's behaviour?

A: They are currently divided; the effect sizes are usually small

Q: In studies showing significant effects of video games, what outcomes were typically measured?

A: Small-scale, short-term outcomes rather than long-term outcomes like violent crime

Q: Why must we be cautious in interpreting the relationship between violent video games and aggression?

A: Correlation does not equal causation; children who are higher in aggression gravitate more to violent games

Q: What should we consider when evaluating the effects of violent video games on children?

A: Tons of underlying factors, contextual variables, and outcomes; we can’t just jump to conclusions

Q: How have Trump and the GOP explained recent mass shootings?

A: By blaming video games and the internet

Q: What do most studies find about the relationship between media consumption and actual criminal violence?

A: Most studies find no relation

Q: Why do people often draw connections between media and behaviour?

A: People are quick to draw unempirical connections, often reflecting their own biases and desires rather than truths about human psychology

Q: What is the empiricist approach to claims about media and behaviour?

A: “Show me the data!”

Q: Are children “doomed” by exposure to violent media or behaviour?

A: No! It’s a complex issue; kids do learn from what they see, and we should be mindful, but not exaggerate the effects