Lecture Prepared by: Dr. M. Sawhney

Discussion topics Emotional and Personality Development The Self Emotional Development Moral Development Gender Families: Developmental Changes in Parent child relationships Stepfamilies Peers Schools

The Self During middle and late childhood: Describe themselves in terms of psychological characteristics and traits Children recognize social aspects of the self Social comparison increases Understanding others Perspective taking: Ability to assume other people’s perspectives and understand their thoughts and feelings Children become skeptical of others’ claims

Self-esteem & self-concept Self-esteem: Global evaluations of the self Self-concept: Domain-specific evaluations of the self Children with high self-esteem Do not necessarily perform better in school Have greater initiative (positive or negative)

The Self Self-efficacy: Belief that one can master a situation and produce favorable outcomes Self-regulation Deliberate efforts to manage one’s behavior, emotions, and thoughts Industry vs inferiority

Emotional Development Improved emotional understanding Increased understanding that more than one emotion can be experienced in a particular situation Increased awareness of the events leading to emotional reactions

Moral Development: Kohlberg’s Three Levels and Six States of Moral Development

Moral Development In Europe a woman was near death from a special kind of cancer. There was one drug that the doctors thought might save her. It was a form of radium that a druggist in the same town had recently discovered. The drug was expensive to make, but the druggist was charging ten times what the drug cost him to make. He paid $200 for the radium and charged $2,000 for a small dose of the drug. The sick woman's husband, Heinz, went to everyone he knew to borrow the money, but he could only get together $1,000 which is half of what it cost. He told the druggist that his wife was dying and asked him to sell it cheaper or let him pay later. But the druggist said, “No, I discovered the drug, and I am going to make money from it.” So Heinz got desperate and broke into the man's store to steal the drug for his wife. (Kohlberg, 1969, p. 379)

Influence and Criticism Influences on Kohlberg’s stages Cognitive development Experiences dealing with moral questions/conflicts Peer interaction and perspective taking are crucial Kohlberg’s critics Moral thought and behavior Culture and moral reasoning Families and moral development Gender and the care perspective

Domain Theory Different domains of social knowledge and reasoning: Moral domain Social conventional Personal domains

Gender Gender stereotypes Gender similarities and differences Physical development Cognitive development Socioemotional development

Gender Gender role classification Androgyny Gender in context Traits people display may vary with the situation Usually who is more helpful boys or girls?

Families Developmental changes in parent-child relationships Parents spend less time with children during middle and late childhood Parents support and stimulate children’s academic achievement Parents use less physical forms of punishment as children age

Stepfamilies Remarriages involving children has grown in recent years Types of stepfamily structure Stepfather Stepmother Blended or complex

Peer status Popular children Average children Neglected children Rejected children Controversial children Why do rejected children have social problems?

Social Cognition Social cognition - Thoughts about social matters Important for understanding peer relationships 6 steps in processing social information Attend to social cues Attribute intent Generate goals Access behavioral scripts from memory Make decisions Enact behavior

Bullying Boys and younger middle school students are most likely to be affected 70-80% of victims and bullies are in the same classroom Outcomes of bullying Depression, suicidal ideation, and attempted suicide v=89iFQwaSZSU v=89iFQwaSZSU v=k9Hlxu8W8ss

Schools Contemporary approaches to student learning Constructivist and direct instruction approaches Constructivist approach: Learner- centered approach Direct-instruction approach: Structured, teacher-centered approach Characterized by teacher direction and control

Socioeconomic Status, Ethnicity, & Culture Low-income, ethnic minority students have more difficulties in school More barriers to learning Parents education Fewer resources

Ethnicity in Schools Ethnicity in schools Strategies for improving relationships among ethnically diverse students Turn the class into a jigsaw classroom Encourage students to have positive personal contact with diverse other students Reduce bias View the school and community as a team Be a competent cultural mediator

Cross- Cultural Comparisons Cross-cultural comparisons of achievement Poor performance of American children in math and science is well publicized Asian teachers spend more of their time teaching math than American teachers Mindset: Cognitive view individuals develop for themselves Fixed mindset Growth mindset

Mothers’ Beliefs About the Factors Responsible for Children’s Math Achievement in Three Countries