2.2 Social Contexts & Socioemotional Development

Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory

• Focuses on the social contexts in which people live and the people who influence their development.

• Critic: paying too little attention to biological and cognitive factors.

Erikson’s Life-Span Development Theory

• Development proceeds in stages.

• Each stage is characterized by a psychosocial challenge or crisis.

• Stages reflect the motivation of the individual.

Erikson's Psychosocial Stages (Summary)

• Infancy: $0 \text{ to } 18 \text{ months}$

  • Basic: Trust vs. Mistrust

  • Important Events: Feeding / Comfort

  • Key Question: Is my world safe?

  • Outcome: Trust develops when caregivers provide reliability, care, and affection; lack of reliability leads to mistrust.

• Early Childhood: $2 \text{ to } 3\,\text{ years}$

  • Basic: Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

  • Important Events: Toilet Training / Dressing

  • Key Question: Can I do things by myself?

  • Outcome: Autonomy; success leads to independence, failure leads to shame and doubt.

• Preschool: $3 \text{ to } 5\,\text{ years}$

  • Basic: Initiative vs. Guilt

  • Important Events: Exploration / Play

  • Key Question: Can I explore and take initiative?

  • Outcome: Initiative; success leads to a sense of purpose, disapproval or over-control can produce guilt.

• School Age: $6 \text{ to } 11\,\text{ years}$

  • Basic: Industry vs. Inferiority

  • Important Events: School / Activities

  • Key Question: Am I competent?

  • Outcome: Industry; success leads to competence, failure leads to feelings of inferiority.

• Adolescence: $12 \text{ to } 18\,\text{ years}$

  • Basic: Identity vs. Role Confusion

  • Important Events: Social Relationships / Identity

  • Key Question: Who am I and where am I going?

  • Outcome: Identity; success leads to strong sense of self, failure leads to role confusion.

• Young Adult: $19 \text{ to } 40\,\text{ years}$

  • Basic: Intimacy vs. Isolation

  • Important Events: Intimate Relationships

  • Key Question: Am I loved and wanted?

  • Outcome: Intimacy; success leads to loving relationships, isolation results in loneliness.

• Middle Adulthood: $40 \text{ to } 65\,\text{ years}$

  • Basic: Generativity vs. Stagnation

  • Important Events: Work and Parenthood

  • Key Question: Will I provide something of real value?

  • Outcome: Generativity; success leads to usefulness and contribution, stagnation leads to shallow involvement.

• Maturity: $65 \text{ to death}$

  • Basic: Ego Integrity vs. Despair

  • Important Events: Reflection on life

  • Key Question: Have I lived a full life?

  • Outcome: Ego integrity; success leads to wisdom, despair leads to regret.

Social Context of Development

• Let’s look deeper at how family, peers, and schools influence you (and others).

• Family, peers, and schools are central social contexts that shape development.

Reflection Prompt

• Page prompts: Consider your parents’ parenting styles, differences between caregivers, and how these styles may have affected your academic performance.

Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

• Baumrind identifies four parenting styles based on two dimensions: responsiveness (care, warmth) and demandingness (control, expectations).

• Dimensions:

  • Responsiveness: High (warm, supportive) vs. Low (distant, unresponsive)

  • Demandingness: High (clear expectations, structure) vs. Low (few rules, lenient)

• Styles:

  • Permissive: Responsiveness High, Demandingness Low

  • “Whatever you want!”

  • Few rules; indulgent; lenient; warm; avoids confrontation.

  • Authoritative: Responsiveness High, Demandingness High

  • “Let’s discuss this.”

  • High expectations; clear standards; assertive; democratic; flexible; warm.

  • Authoritarian: Responsiveness Low, Demandingness High

  • “Because I said so!”

  • Rigid; Punishment; limited warmth.

  • Neglectful (Uninvolved): Responsiveness Low, Demandingness Low

  • “I really don’t care.”

  • No expectations; few rules; absent; passive; neglectful; uninvolved.

Parent Involvement in Children’s School & Achievement

• Coparenting

• The changing family in a changing society

• Working parents

• Divorced family

School–Family Linkages

• Provide assistance to families

• Include families as participants in school decisions

• Communicate effectively with families about school programs and their child’s progress

• Encourage parents to be volunteers

• Involve families with their children in learning activities at home

• Coordinate community collaboration

Peers and Social Context

• Research findings:

  • Children who play well with others and have at least one close friend adjust better during school transitions and have better mental health.

• Important function of peer groups:

  • Provide information and comparison about the world outside the family

• Peer statuses (types of peers):

  • Popular children

  • Average children

  • Neglected children

  • Rejected children

  • Controversial children

Friendship and Peer Statuses

• Qualities of a good friend (discussed in class)

• Peer statuses help explain social dynamics in classrooms.

Schooling: Early Childhood Education and Montessori

• Developmentally Appropriate Education (age- and individual-appropriateness)

• The Montessori approach:

  • Freedom and spontaneity in choosing activities

  • Movement between activities as desired

School Transitions

• Elementary: transition to elementary brings new significant others; new relationships develop

• Middle or Junior High: transition can be stressful due to multiple developmental changes

• High School: schools should create multiple pathways to help students achieve an identity

Socioemotional Development: The Self and Identity; Moral and Emotional Development

• The Self and its development encompass self-concept and self-esteem, identity formation, morals, and emotions.

The Self: Self-Concept and Self-Esteem

• Self-concept: a cognitive appraisal of our social, physical, and academic competence.

• Self-esteem: the affective emotional reaction to one’s self-concept.

• Domains often considered: Academic, Social, Cognitive, Physical

Identity Development

• Core questions: “Who am I? What am I all about? What am I going to do with my life?”

• Marcia’s Four Statuses of Identity

  • Identity diffusion

  • Foreclosure

  • Moratorium

  • Identity achievement

• Note: Marcia’s framework links exploration and commitment to these statuses (summary definitions provided for study).

Kohlberg’s Levels and Stages of Moral Development

• Level 1: Preconventional (No Internalization)

  • Stage 1: Heteronomous Morality

  • Individuals pursue their own interests but let others do the same. What is right involves equal exchange.

  • Stage 2: Individualism, Purpose, and Exchange

  • Children obey because adults tell them to obey. Moral decisions are based on fear of punishment.

• Level 2: Conventional (Intermediate Internalization)

  • Stage 3: Mutual Interpersonal Expectations, Relationships, and Interpersonal Conformity

  • Individuals value trust, caring, and loyalty to others as a basis for moral judgments.

  • Stage 4: Social System Morality

  • Moral judgments are based on understanding of the social order, law, justice, and duty.

• Level 3: Postconventional (Full Internalization)

  • Stage 5: Social Contract or Utility and Individual Rights

  • Values, rights, and principles undergird or transcend the law.

  • Stage 6: Universal Ethical Principles

  • Moral judgments are based on universal human rights; when law conflicts with conscience, a personal conscience guides actions.

• Note: Figure 6 illustrates Kohlberg's three levels and six stages of moral development.

Kohlberg’s Critics: Care vs. Justice Perspectives

• Justice perspective focuses on rights of individuals.

• Care perspective emphasizes relationships and concern for others.

Educational Implications for Moral Development

• What is the best way to educate students to develop better moral values?

• Approaches discussed:

  • Hidden Curriculum

  • Character Education

  • Values Clarification

  • Cognitive Moral Education

  • Service Learning

  • Integrative Approach

Emotional Development Across Ages

• Early Childhood (2–4 years):

  • Increased terms to describe emotions

  • Increased ability to reflect on emotions

  • Increased ability to identify emotions and coping strategies

• Middle & Late Childhood:

  • Increased understanding and management of emotions

  • Increased ability to suppress negative emotion reactions

  • Increased ability to redirect feelings

  • Develop genuine empathy

• Adolescence:

  • Increased emotional highs and lows; moodiness is a normal aspect

• Emotion: definition

  • Feelings, or affect, that occur when an individual is engaged in an interaction that is important to him or her, especially to his or her well-being

Socioemotional Education Programs

• Programs: SECOND STEP; CASEL (Pre K–8th Grade)

• Program structure:

  • PreK: self-regulation, executive function (improve attention and behaviour control)

  • K–5: making friends, emotion regulation, problem solving

  • 5–8: communication, stress-coping, decision making

• Targets (PreK–12): 5 socio-emotional learning domains:

  • Self-awareness

  • Self-management

  • Social awareness

  • Relationship skills

  • Responsible decision making

Strategies for Helping Students Cope with Stress

• Encourage children to talk about disturbing or confusing feelings

• Listen with patience (allow them to retell events)

• Reassure children of their safety and security

• Protect from re-exposure to stress

• Help make sense of events with a realistic understanding