Social And Emotional Development Notes

Lecture 1 - History & Themes History of Childhood 1. Before 1600 a. Children 6 & older treated as little adults in Europe i. Dress ii. Work iii. Adult leisure iv. Little child-specific law 2. After 1600 a. Religious leaders advocate i. Schooling (esp. morality) ii. Protecting children from adult activity iii. Curbing stubbornness Theory & scientific testing 1. Psychological theory a. Set of concept and "if/then" propositions that explain why patterns of behaviour occur b. Personal vs. scientific theory i. Test of systematic evidence Controversies in Human Development 1. Initial state: good vs. bad a. Bad: Original sin i. Hobbes, 1600s ii. Child as selfish egoist that must be controlled b. Good: Innate purity / noble savage i. Rousseau, 1700s ii. Intuitive sense of right and wrong, can be misdirected c. Neither: Tabula rasa/blank slate i. Lock, later 1600s 2. Nature vs. nurture a. Depends on aspect of development b. Dynamic interplay 3. Active vs. passive a. Continuous reciprocal interaction between child & environment 4. Continuous vs. discontinuous 5. Universal vs. particularistic / ideographic a. Normative development vs individual differences Lecture 2 - Methods & Designs Self-report 1. Questionaries a. Assess self-perceptions, thoughts, feelings, past experiences, evaluations of hypothetical situations b. Advantages i. Quick, inexpensive ii. Standard c. Disadvantage i. Participants not able to describe experience in own words (loss of richness) ii. Dependent on reading/language ability 2. Interview a. Advantage i. Great depth in short period ii. Participants describe experience in own words b. Disadvantage i. Social desirability ii. Dependent on verbal ability iii. Labour intensive data processing c. Structured / semi-structured i. Standard set of questions ii. Comparable across interviewers d. Unstructured / clinical i. Response determines next question ii. Variation across interviewers iii. Responsive to uniqueness of each individual Observation 1. Advantages a. Behaviour not inferred b. Not dependent on verbal ability 2. Disadvantage a. Observer influence / bias b. Some events too rare to observe c. Some phenomena unobservable 3. Naturalistic a. Good ecological validity b. No controls 4. Structured a. Lack ecological validity b. Controlled environment Case Study Ethnography Evidence of objectivity 1. Reliability a. Measure similar if repeated in short interval or across observers b. Short-term temporal stability i. r = test-retest reliability c. Interrater reliability i. Questionnaires ii. 1. a = Degree that items hang together Observations 1. K = Percent agreement minus chance agreement 2. Validity a. Measure what intended to measure b. Convergent validity i. Agreement (r) amount different type of informant or among different measures or similar construct c. Predictive validity i. Predicts as expected Research Designs 1. Correlational a. Info gathered about relation among variables without manipulation b. Can't infer cause & effect c. Good ecological validity 2. Experimental a. Involve the manipulation of variables (IV) b. Stronger cause & effect arguments c. Poor ecological validity d. Sometimes not possible / unethical 3. Longitudinal a. Same participants studied over time b. Advantages i. Captures individual changes over time ii. Ideal for studying how earlier factors relate to subsequent development c. Disadvantages i. Expensive, slow ii. Selective attrition iii. Practice effects iv. Measures become outdated 4. Cross-section a. Assess children of different ages at once b. Advantages i. Quick, relatively inexpensive ii. Doesn't suffer from selective attrition or practice effects c. Disadvantages i. Doesn't capture individual chage Cohort effect 1. Findings applicable to particular time & place 2. Advantages a. Highlight how particular environments influence development 3. Disadvantages a. Limits generalisability Lecture 3 - Peers Purpose of peer relation studies 1. Peer relation = unique context for development a. Reciprocity i. Shared responsibility of course of interaction ii. Understanding social partner's perspective iii. Presents different social challenges & learning opportunities b. Self development i. Nature of peer relations impacts self appraisals c. Predictive of long-term adjustment & personal relationships Complementary 1. Harlow a. Maternally-reared monkeys without peers i. Immature peer play ii. Avoidance iii. Aggression iv. Little cooperation in adulthood 2. Anna Freud & Sophie Dann a. Group of 6, 3-year old peer-reared orphans from WWII b. Attached & intensely prosocial to each together c. Initially aggressive & wary of caregivers d. Improved with adult care e. Happy, productive as adults 3. Peer relationships [?] attachment 4. Vital for social competence 5. Parent a. Emotional security b. Instruction 6. Peer a. Perspective taking b. Cognitive, moral, social development Connection between parent & peer relations 1. Direct parental influences a. Neighbourhood context i. Effects availability of peers b. Parents arrange play i. Develop larger networks ii. More socially skilled c. Parental advice i. Conflict resolution 2. Indirect parental influences a. Securely attached i. Perceive peers more positively ii. More positive peer interactions iii. Larger peer networks iv. Higher quality friendships b. Authoritative parenting i. Positive peer relations Normative development 1. Infants a. Early forms of social interest & responsivity i. 2 months / earlier 1. Direct smiles/frown at adults ii. 2-4 months 1. Look / touch each other iii. 6 months 1. Direct smiles/frown at peers iv. Observe peers 2. Toddler a. Reciprocal imitation i. Action/reaction ii. Enabled by advances in 1. Locomotion 2. language 3. 3 years onward a. Complementary roles & pretence i. Enabled by advances in 1. Language 2. Knowledge of world Parten's levels of play (2-5 years) 1. Non-social play a. Functional play i. Immature motor action ii. Poor acceptance b. Constructive i. No related to risk c. Unoccupied & onlooker i. Socially withdrawn ii. Reticence 2. Parallel play a. Play near other children b. Play with similar materials c. Don't interact 3. Social play a. Associative play i. Separate activities with mutual comments & toy exchanges b. Cooperative play i. Children orient toward common goal Individual differences: peer acceptance 1. Sociometrics (peer nominations) Positive Negative Social status Social behaviour nomination nomination Popular Many Few Somewhat stable Prosocial Antisocial Rejected Few Many More stable Aggressive Withdrawn Many Unstable Hostile Disruptive Prosocial Controversial Many Neglected Few Few Unstable Maladjustment Average Average Average Peer acceptance & adjustment 1. Peer rejection related to later a. Academic difficulties b. Dropping out of school c. Absenteeism d. Antisocial behaviour e. Delinquency f. Criminality 2. Direction of effect a. Evidence for both directions of effect i. Early temperament & socialisation 1. Cumulative snowballing effect ii. Experience of peer mistreatment 1. Deterioration in adjustment above & beyond early risks Peer mistreatment 1. Peer victimisation a. Frequent target of physical/verbal attacks 2. Peer exclusion a. Being left out of peer activities 3. Risks factors a. Withdrawn-rejected children b. Physical weakness in boys 4. Related to a. |Depressive symptoms b. |Loneliness c. |Anxiety d. |School avoidance 5. Behaviourally vulnerable children a. Less at risk when have friends b. Some friends are more protective i. Withdrawn friends not effective Lecture 4 - Freud, Erickson, Behaviourism Sigmund Freud's Psychosexual (Psychoanalytic) Theory 1. Based on emotionally disturbed adult patients' childhood memories 2. Conflict between biological drive and social expectation a. Learn to curb biological drives (id) by enacting rational plans (ego) that reflects the internationalisation of parent's expectations or conscience (superego) 3. Internalise societal standards a. Undesirable biological drives = repressed in unconscious mind 4. Parents allow too much/too little gratification of child's biological (sexual & aggressive) drives a. Unsuccessful 5. Contribution a. Implications of early experience on later development b. Unconscious mind 6. Criticism a. Lack of child study b. Overemphasis on sex c. Only relevant to Victorian era Erik Erikson's Psychosocial theory 1. Expand Freud's theory a. Emphasised interpersonal and cultural rather than sexual bases for each stage b. Child as active i. Explores and adapts to environment ii. Not passive result of biological urgers and parent modelling c. Proposed 8 psychosocial stages of development that extend over the entire lifespan i. Progression through stages achieved by resolving social "crises" ii. All stages have consequences for child's identity development 2. Psychosocial stages a. Trust vs Mistrust i. 0-1 ii. Can I trust my caregivers to take care of me? b. Autonomy vs Shame & Doubt i. 1-3 ii. Can I make choices and do things myself c. Initiative vs. Cult i. 3-6 ii. Can I imagine or invent who I am d. Industry vs inferiority i. 6-11 ii. Can I learn at school and be accepted by peers e. Identity vs identity diffusion i. Adolescence ii. Can I define who I am inters of adult roles f. Intimacy vs isolation i. Young adult ii. Can I form close relationships g. Generativity vs stagnation i. Middle adult ii. Can I do meaningful work and contribute to next generation h. Integrity vs despair

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