1. SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD
Chapter 10
SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. THE DEVELOPING SELF

3. Who Am I? During middle childhood
Children begin to view themselves:
Less in terms of external physical attributes
More in terms of psychological traits

4. Psychosocial Development in Middle Childhood by Erik Erikson
Success in the industry-vs-inferiority stage brings:
feelings of mastery and proficiency
a growing sense of competence
Industry: feelings of mastery and proficiency and a growing sense of competence
Inferiority: feelings of failure and inadequacy
Lasting from roughly age 6 to age 12, the industry-versus-inferiority stage is characterized by a focus on efforts to meet the challenges presented by parents, peers, school, and the other complexities of the modern world.

5. Erik Erikson's middle childhood
Period from 6 to 12
Encompasses the INDUSTRY-Vs-­INFERIORITY STAGE
Characterized by a focus on efforts to attain competence in meeting the challenges of:
Parents
Peers
School
Other complexities of the modern world

6. Understanding One's Self: A New Response to “Who Am I?”
How do school-agers change?
Children realize they are good at some things and not so good at others
Self-concept and self-esteem continue to develop
Children's self-concepts become divided into personal and academic spheres

7. Looking Inward: The Development of Self
As children get older, their views of self become more differentiated, comprising several personal and academic spheres.

8. Social Comparison
Children use social comparison to themselves judge abilities, expertise, and opinions of others
Festinger (1959)
When objective measures are absent children rely on social reality
How others act, think, feel, and view the world
Festinger is known for the Theory of Cognitive Dissonance which suggests a tendency for individuals to seek consistency among their cognitions, and if conflict exists between attitude and behavior, attitude will likely change first.

9. Sometimes… Children Make Downward Social Comparisons
With others who are:
Less competent
Less successful
To raise or protect their self-esteem

10. Self-Esteem: Developing a Positive-or Negative-View of the Self
Develops in important ways during middle childhood
Children increasingly compare themselves to others
Children are developing their own standards
Parent’s influence wanes
Peer influence ascends
Influence of sports stars, movie stars, others
For most children, overall self-esteem improves in middle childhood
As children progress into the middle childhood years, however, their self-esteem is higher for some areas and lower in others. For example, a boy's overall self-esteem may be composed of positive self-esteem in some areas (such as the positive feelings he gets from his artistic ability) and more negative self-esteem in others (such as the unhappiness he feels over his athletic skills).
On the other hand, students with high self-esteem travel a more positive path, falling into a cycle of success. Having higher expectations leads to increased effort and lower anxiety, increasing the probability of success. In turn, this helps affirm their higher self-esteem that began the cycle.

11. Change and Stability in Self-Esteem
Generally, overall self-esteem is high during middle childhood, but it begins to decline around the age of 12
School transition
Chronically low self-esteem for some

12. A Cycle of Low Self-Esteem
Highly under-recognized psychological principle
HFE: Downward spiral of errors
A Cycle of Low Self-Esteem
Because children with low self-esteem may expect to do poorly on a test, they may experience high anxiety and not work as hard as those with higher self-esteem.
As a result, they actually do with high self-esteem have more positive expectations, which leads to lower anxiety and higher motivation.
As a consequence, they perform better, reinforcing their positive self-image.
How would a teacher help
students with low self-esteem break out of
their negative cycle?

13. Breaking the Cycle of Failure
Promoting development of self-esteem
Using authoritative child-rearing style
Authoritarian & indulgent parenting creates low self esteem in children
Providing opportunities for success
Rewarding successful behaviors
Peer group management
Authoritative parents are warm and emotionally supportive, while still setting clear limits for their children's behavior.
In contrast, other parenting styles have less positive effects on self-esteem.
Parents who are highly punitive and controlling send a message to their children that they are untrustworthy and unable to make good decisions—a message that can undermine children's sense of adequacy.
Highly indulgent parents, who indiscriminately praise and reinforce their children regardless of their actual performance, can create a false sense of self-esteem in their children, which ultimately may be just as damaging to children.

14. Race and Self-Esteem
Early research found that African Americans had lower self-esteem than whites
Recent research shows earlier findings were overstated
But there are differences compared to ‘whites’
African Americans: lower but higher around 11
Hispanic Americans: upward curve but below whites
Asian Americans: opposite white
Explanations tortured need research on minorities in other cultures like ‘white’ kids in India, China, Africa
Set of pioneering studies a generation ago found that African American children shown black and white dolls preferred the white dolls over the black ones (Clark & Clark, 1947).
Picture is more complex regarding relative levels of self-esteem between members of different racial and ethnic groups. For example, although white children initially show higher self-esteem than black children, black children begin to show slightly higher self-esteem than white children around the age of 11. This shift occurs as African-American children become more identified with their racial group, develop more complex views of racial identity, and increasingly view the positive aspects of their group membership.
Hispanic children, also show an increase in self-esteem toward the end of middle childhood, although even in adolescence their self-esteem still trails that of whites.
In contrast, Asian-American children show the opposite pattern: their self-esteem in elementary school is higher than whites and blacks, but by the end childhood, their self-esteem is lower than that of whites.

15. Why Does This Occur? Social Identity Theory
Members of a minority group accept negative views held by majority group only if they perceive little realistic possibility of changing power and status differences between groups
Individuals with strong sense of self independent of group membership have more self esteem and more positive self views.
This tends to support Social Identity Theory
If minority group members feel that prejudice and discrimination can be reduced, and they blame society for the prejudice and not themselves, self-esteem should not differ between majority and minority groups.
As group pride and ethnic awareness on the part of minority group members has grown, differences in self-esteem between members of different ethnic groups have narrowed.

16. Are Children of Immigrant Families Well Adjusted?
Tend to have equal or better grades than children with US born parents
Often more highly motivated to succeed and place greater value on education than do children in nonimmigrant families
Show similar levels of self-esteem to nonimmigrant children
Report feeling less popular and less in control of their lives
Depends on:
Age this effect diminishes by adolescence
Ethnic group: Legal vs illegal, country of origin, race etc.
More than 13 million children in the U.S. are either foreign born or the children of immigrants—some one-fifth of the total population of children.
The story is less clear, however, when immigrant children reach adolescence and adulthood.

17. Moral Development: Kohlberg
Proposes series of fixed stages in development of moral reasoning
Uses moral dilemmas to assess moral reasoning
Provides good account of moral judgment but not adequate at predicting moral behavior

18. Kohlberg Stages Preconventional Morality (stages 1 & 2):
people follow unvarying rules based on rewards and punishments
Conventional Morality (stages 3 & 4):
people approach problems in terms of their own position as good, responsible members of society
Postconventional Morality (stages 5 & 6):
universal moral principles are invoked and considered broader than a particular society

19. Kohlberg Criticisms
Based solely on observations of members of Western cultures
Theory initially based largely on data from males
Cross-cultural research finds industrialized, technologically advanced cultures move through the stages more rapidly than nonindustrialized countries.
Nature of morality may differ in diverse cultures
Focus of information: business, religious, < Psych .

20. MORAL DEVELOPMENT IN GIRLS

21. Carol Gilligan
Way boys and girls raised leads to differences in moral reasoning
Boys view morality primarily in terms of justice & fairness.
Girls see morality in terms of responsibility and compassion toward individuals and a willingness to sacrifice for relationships.
Suggests Kohlberg's theory inadequate and places girls’ moral reasoning at lower level than boys’

22. Gilligan's Stages of Morality in Girls
“Orientation toward individual survival” - where females concentrate on what is practical and best for them.
“Goodness as self-sacrifice” - where females think they must sacrifice their own wishes to what others want.
“Morality of nonviolence” - women come to see hurting anyone as immoral, including themselves.
Think back to our discussion of the tactics of power & physical strength
Vs. less powerful and physically weaker

23. Kinds of Aggression from Chapter 8
Effective strategy when bigger stronger
Effective strategy when smaller weaker
Instrumental aggression
Motivated by desire to obtain a concrete goal
Higher in boys than girls
Relational aggression
Intended to hurt another person's feelings through non-physical means
Higher in girls than boys
Instrumental aggression is aggression motivated by the desire to obtain a concrete goal, such as playing with a desirable toy that another child is playing with.
Relational aggression, which is non-physical aggression that is intended to hurt another person's feelings.
A kind of asymmetrical warfare

24. RELATIONSHIPS: BUILDING FRIENDSHIP IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

25. Friends in Middle Childhood
Provide emotional support & help kids handle stress
Teach children how to manage & control emotions
Teach about communication with others
Foster intellectual growth
Allow children to practice relationship skills

26. Damon's Stages of Friendship
Stage 1 (ages 4-7 years)
Children see friends as like themselves
Children see friends as people to share toys and activities with
Children do not take into account personal traits

27. Damon's Stages of Friendship
Stage 2 (ages 8-10 years)
Children now begin to take other's personal qualities and traits into consideration
Friends are viewed in terms of kinds of rewards they provide
Friendships are based on mutual trust

28. Damon's Stages of Friendship
Stage 3 (ages years)
Friendships become based on intimacy and loyalty
Friendships involve mutual disclosure and exclusivity
Secrets (Shh)

29. Likes me…likes me not! 5th & 6th graders
Children develop clear ideas about which behaviors they seek in their friends—and which they dislike. As can be seen in Table 10-3, fifth- and sixth-graders most enjoy others who invite them to participate in activities and who are helpful, both physically and psychologically. In contrast, displays of physical or verbal aggression, among other behaviors, are disliked.

30. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN CHILDREN’S FRIENDSHIP

31. King or Queen of the Hill…Status Hierarchies
Children's friendships show clear hierarchies in terms of status
Status is the evaluation of a role or person by other relevant members of a group

32. High Status Children Form friendships with high status children
More likely to form exclusive and desirable cliques
Tend to play with a greater number of children
Have greater access to resources such as games, toys, books, and information

33. Popular children Popular Children Helpful and cooperative
Good sense of humor
Good emotional understanding
Ask for help when necessary
Not overly reliant on others
Adaptive to social situations
Social problem-solving skill competence

34. Depends on your POV All these descriptive terms are relative.
Relative status
Relative to individual norms
Relative to OTHER’s perspectives
“Annoying” to one person may be teasing or even “attentive” to another person
“Cooperative” may be another’s “suck-up”
Other groupings besides status hierarchy are important
Clicks of all types: Goth, motorheads, dorks, geeks, bookworms, band members, motorcycle owners, ?
Racial/ethnic or wealth or neighborhood or parent’s jobs or hobbies/interests
Family associations, military brats, where you’re from

35. Yah, but…
Generally popular children are friendly, open, and cooperative
one subset of popular boys displays an array of negative behaviors, including being aggressive, disruptive, and causing trouble.
Despite these behaviors, they may be viewed as cool and tough by their peers, and they are often remarkably popular.
This popularity may occur in part because they are seen as boldly breaking rules that others feel constrained to follow.

36. Social Problem-Solving and Information Processing Kenneth Dodge
Children’s problem solving proceeds
through several steps involving different
information processing strategies

37. Low Status Children Form friendships with other lower status children
Tend to play with a lower number of children than higher status children
Are more likely to play with younger or less popular children
Tend to follow the lead of higher status children

38. Unpopular children Unpopular Children Lack social competence
Especially during puberty
Unpopular children
Lack social competence
Immature or inappropriately silly
Overly aggressive and overbearing
Withdrawn or shy
Unattractive, handicapped, obese, or slow academically

39. Unpopular Children Lack of popularity may take two forms
Neglected children
Receive relatively little attention from their peers in the form of either positive or negative interaction
Rejected children
Are actively disliked and their peers may react to them in an obviously negative manner

40. Gender and Friendships: The Sex Segregation of Middle Childhood

41. Boyfriend, girlfriend…any friend?
Avoidance of opposite sex becomes very pronounced during middle childhood
Children's friendships are almost entirely sex-segregated
When sexes interact it is called “border work,” is often romantic, and helps emphasize clear boundaries between sexes

42. Composed of rankings that represent the relative
Boys and Friendship
Larger networks of friends than girls do
Strict dominance hierarchy
Attempt to maintain and improve status in hierarchy
Restrictive play
interactions are interrupted when status is challenged
Composed of rankings that represent the relative
social power of those in a group hierarchy.

43. Girls and Friendships
Focus on one or two “best friends” of relatively equal status
Conflicts solved by compromise, ignoring situation, or giving in
Can be confrontational with other girls not their friends
Language is less confrontational and direct than boys’

44. Gender challenges of adolescence
Hierarchies must be blended in group dating
Social power styles must be interwoven
To the extent this occurs couples gain disproportional social position

45. FAMILY AND SCHOOL: SHAPING CHILDREN’S BEHAVIOR IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

46. Middle Childhood in the 21st Century
In addition to other changes, children experience:
Increasing independence
Co-regulation with parents
Sibling relationships and rivalry
brothers and sisters can provide support, companionship, and a sense of security
they can also be a source of strife.

47. Siblings
Siblings
Children who negotiate well w/ siblings in early childhood
enjoy better relations with their teachers and classmates in middle childhood.
Destructive conflict solving between siblings is associated w/
continued aggressiveness in boys.
Sibling relationships are likely to endure across lifespan
Early relationships between siblings shape how children relate to others and choices made in later life
Older children also can function as role models for their younger sibling, but not always in a positive way.

48. What about children who have no siblings?
Only children are as well-adjusted as children with brothers and sisters
In some ways, only children are better-adjusted, often having higher self-esteem and stronger motivation to achieve
May be more gender impaired if no opposite gender sibling

49. When Both Parents Work Outside the Home: How Do Children Fare?
In most cases, children fare quite well
When parents
Are loving
Are sensitive to their children's needs
Provide appropriate substitute care
Good adjustment of children relates to psychological adjustment of parents, especially mothers
In general, When work provides a high level of satisfaction, then, mothers who work outside of the home may be more psychologically supportive of their children.
Children with mothers and fathers who work full-time spend essentially the same amount of time with family, in class, with friends, and alone as children in families where one parent stays at home.

50. Happy wife – Happy life Applies to kids too
women who are satisfied with their lives tend to be more nurturing with their children.
High satisfaction w/ work may provide better psychological support of kids
According to the book:
Kids with full time working parents spend essentially the same amount of time with family, in class, with friends, and alone as children in families where one parent stays at home.
This can not possibly be true.

51. What do children do all day?
In 1981, 40 percent of a child's day was free time;
by the late 1990s, only 25 percent of a child's day was unscheduled.
What do children do all day?
The activities that take the most time are sleeping and school. The next most frequent activities are watching television and playing, followed closely by personal care and eating.
What has changed is the amount of time spent in supervised, structured settings.
Although the amount of time spent on some activities of children has remained constant over the years, the amount of time spent on others, such as playing and eating, has shown significant changes. What might account for these changes? (Source: Hofferth & Sandberg, 1998.)

52. Of course The previous statistics vary enormously! By region of USA
By ethnicity
By culture
Rural vs. Urban
Suburban vs. inner city
By age
And by gender
So, take the stats with a grain of salt

53. Self-Care Children (Latchkey kids)
Consequences of being a self-care child are not necessarily harmful

54. Good or bad? Self-care children
Youngsters who let themselves into their homes after school and wait alone until their parents return from work
Consequences of being a latchkey child are not all harmful
Some children report being lonely
Some children develop a sense of independence and competence
Some research shows latchkey children have higher self-esteem because they are helping family

55. But The consequences depend to a great extent on:
Personality of the kid
Siblings
Kid’s peer group
Physical surroundings
And so on…

56. The Consequences of Divorce
Only half of children in the U.S. will pass through childhood living with both parents each of whom has been married only once
School-age children tend to blame themselves for the breakup
By the age of 10, children feel pressure to choose sides
They experience some degree of divided loyalty.
For many children, there are minimal long-term consequences.
For many kids there are significant long term consequences

57. After the Break…
Both children and parents may show several types of psychological maladjustments for 6 months to 2 years
Anxiety
Depression
Sleep disturbances
Phobias
Some children suffer PTSD
Consequences depend on a wide variety of factors

58. Rediscovering the Status Quo
After 18 months to 2 years, most children return to their predivorce psychological adjustment
Twice as many children of divorced parents require psychological counseling as do children from intact families
For some children, living in a home with unhappy marriage and which is high in conflict has stronger negative consequences than divorce.
For some kids it doesn’t
How children react to divorce depends on several factors. One is the economic standing of the family the child is living with. In many cases, divorce brings a decline in both parents' standards of living. When this occurs, children may be thrown into poverty.

59. Other Factors How children react to divorce depends on many factors.
One is the economic standing of the family
In many (most) cases, divorce brings a decline in both parents' standards of living.
When this occurs, children may be thrown into poverty.
Mothers almost always see a decline in standard of living
Kids almost always are placed with mother
Therefore, kids almost always see significant
Economic decline
Social status decline
Moms usually must go to work creating a latchkey kid

60. Single Parent Families

61. Single Parents
Almost one-quarter of all children under 18 in the U.S. live with only one parent
Numbers are higher for minority children
60% of African-American children live in single parent homes
35% of Hispanic children live in single parent homes

62. Single Parents In majority of cases, single parent is mother
Consequences of living in single parent home depend on:
Whether other parent ever lived at home
Economic status

63. Single Parent families
Impact of living in a single-parent family is not, by itself, invariably negative or positive. (Probably not true)
Large number of single-parent households has reduced stigma that once existed toward such families
Ultimate consequences for children depend on a variety of factors that accompany single parenthood
economic status of the family
amount of time that the parent is able to spend with the child
degree of stress in the household.
Availability of reliable role model of opposite gender from parent.

64. Multigenerational Families
Opportunity for rich experiences and conflicts
Greater among African Americans than among Caucasians
In some families, cultural norms tend to be highly supportive of grandparents taking an active role
Families where grand parents are forced to step into parent roles again more frequently see contact with LE

65. Yours, mine…ours
Blended families include remarried couple that has at least one stepchild living with them
Experts predict that by 2000, over 50 percent of children born in the last decade will be stepchildren
Living in blended family involves role ambiguity, in which roles and expectations are unclear
Child abuse soars especially where male not biological father of female children

66. Popular press attempts to cover statistics with positive articles.
Not all the news is bad!!
School-age children often adjust relatively smoothly to a blended family
Financial status of family improves
More people to share household chores
More social interaction and attention
But…not all children adjust well, especially if the new relationship is threatening

67. Poverty and Family Life
Poor families
Fewer basic everyday resources
More disruptions in children's lives
Higher likelihood of stress
The stress of difficult family environments, along with other stress in the lives of poor children—such as living in unsafe neighborhoods with high rates of violence and attending inferior schools—ultimately takes its toll.
Economically disadvantaged children are at risk for poorer academic performance, higher rates of aggression, and conduct problems. In addition, declines in economic well-being have been linked to mental health problems.

68. Group Homes…
Term “orphanage” replaced by group home or residential treatment center
Group homes used for youngsters whose parents are no longer able to care for them adequately

69. Anybody home?
The number of children in group care has growth over 50 percent
About three-quarters of children in group homes are victims of abuse and neglect
Most will eventually return home, however, one-fourth will be in group care throughout childhood

70. Good or Bad?
Experts disagree on advantages and disadvantages of group care
Some see them as solution to unwed mothers who become dependent on welfare
Many who work in these homes say they cannot provide adequate love and support as family could
Group homes cost ten times as much as foster care or welfare

71. Closing the Digital Divide: Some Unintended Consequences
Distinction between technological haves and have nots
Unintended consequences
Non-educational use of computers
Much media use unmonitored by parents
Media use drops dramatically with parental monitoring

72. School: The Academic Environment

73. School Daze
During school year, more of day is spent in a classroom than anywhere else
Schools have large influence on children's lives

74. How do children explain academic success and failure?
Attributions
Children attempt to explain their behavior in one of three ways
Whether the cause is internal (dispositional) or external (situational)
Whether the cause is stable or unstable
Whether the cause is controllable or uncontrollable
Attribution theory: theory of motivation based on people's ATTRIBUTIONS, their understanding of the reasons behind their behavior.

75. Attributional Confounds
Race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status have strong influences on attributions of success and failure
African-American children are less likely to attribute success to internal causes, feeling that prejudice and discrimination are to blame
Women tend to attribute failure to low ability and success to luck
In Asian countries, academic success is perceived as being caused by hard work

76. Developmental Diversity: Explaining Asian Academic Success
US attribute school performance to stable, internal causes
Japan, China, and other East Asian countries see temporary, situational factors as cause of their performance
Asian view, which stems in part from ancient Confucian writings, tends to accentuate the necessity of hard work and perseverance.
Asian students tend to assume that academic success results from hard work, they may put greater effort into their schoolwork than American students, who believe that their inherent ability determines their performance.
These arguments suggest that the attributional style of students and teachers in the United States might well be maladaptive.
They also argue that the attributional styles taught to children by their parents may have a significant effect on their future success.

77. Mothers’ Beliefs in Children's Ability
Compared to mothers in Taiwan and Japan, U.S. mothers were less apt to believe that all children have the same degree of underlying, ability.
Subjects responded using a 7-point scale, where 1 =
strongly disagree and 7 = strongly agree. What are the implications of this finding for schooling in the United States?
(Source: Stevenson & Lee, 1990.)

78. Should Schools Teach Emotional Intelligence?

79. What is emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is the skills that underlie the accurate assessment, evaluation, expression, and regulation of emotions.
Daniel Goleman (1995) who wrote a best-seller entitled Emotional Intelligence
He argues that emotional literacy should be a standard part of the school curriculum.

80. Goal of Training
The goal of emotional intelligence training is to produce people who are not only cognitively sophisticated but able to manage their emotions effectively.
Support: Several programs that are effective in teaching students to manage their emotions more effectively. For instance, in one program, children are provided with lessons in empathy, self-awareness, and social skills. In another, children are taught about caring and friendship as early as first grade through exposure to stories in which characters exhibit these positive qualities.

81. Issues
Criticism: Critics suggest that the nurturance of emotional intelligence is best left to students’ families and that schools ought to concentrate on more traditional curriculum matters.
Emotional intelligence to an already crowded curriculum may reduce time spent on academics.
Some critics argue that there is no well-specified set of criteria for what constitutes emotional intelligence, and consequently it is difficult to develop appropriate, effective curriculum materials.

82. Tumbling and Acrobatics? Martial Arts?
Should these skills also be taught?
In less civilized times such skills were part of normal child development
Has western schooling impoverished or enriched children’s development?
Should music (not music ‘appreciation’) be required?
Tumbling, acrobatics, martial arts, tool use?
How do these (or other skills) affect school age children’s development.
2 typed pages w/ references (minimum 3)