Chapter 4: Middle Childhood

1. Chapter 4: Middle Childhood Module 4.3 Social and Personality Development in Middle Childhood

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 237

4. Psychosocial Development in Middle Childhood Industry Versus Inferiority • Industry = feelings of mastery and proficiency and a growing sense of competence • Inferiority = feelings of failure and inadequacy 237

5. Erik Erikson’s middle childhood • Encompasses the INDUSTRY-VERSUS­INFERIORITY STAGE • Period from ages 6 to 12 years of age • Characterized by a focus on efforts to attain competence in meeting the challenges related to: • Parents • Peers • School • Other complexities of the modern world 237

6. 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 238

7. Children look to others who are similar to themselves

8. SELF-ESTEEM Develops in important ways during middle childhood • Children increasingly compare themselves to others • Children are developing their own standards 238

9. For most children… • Self-esteem increases during middle childhood 238

10. Breaking the Cycle of Failure • Promoting development of self-esteem • Using authoritative child-rearing style Why do you think this style is recommended? 239

11. Race and Self-Esteem • Early research found that African Americans had lower self-esteem than whites • More recent research shows these early assumptions to be overstated • African Americans • Hispanic Americans • Asian Americans 239

12. 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 239

13. Developmental Diversity 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 240

14. 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 241

15. Kohlberg Stages • Preconventional Morality (stages 1 & 2): people follow unvarying rules based on rewards and punishments • Conventional Morality (stages 3 & 4) is where people approach problems in terms of their own position as good, responsible members of society • Postconventional Morality (stages 5 & 6) is where universal moral principles are invoked and considered broader than a particular society 241

16. Moral Development—Kohlberg’s Levels and Stages PRECONVENTIONAL LEVEL Stage 1: punishment-obedience orientation Stage 2: instrumental-exchange orientation CONVENTIONAL LEVEL Stage 3: good child orientation Stage 4: law-and-order orientation POSTCONVENTIONAL LEVEL Stage 5: social-contract orientation Stage 6: universal ethics orientation

18. Moral Development • Lawrence Kohlberg contended that moral thinking likewise proceeds through a series of stages • from a preconventional morality of self-interest (gains rewards, avoids punishment) • to a conventional morality that cares for others and upholds laws and rules (gains approval, does duty; obeys because rules exist) • to (in some people) a postconventional morality of agreed-upon rights or basic ethical principles.

19. Preconventional (birth to adolescence) • Stage 1- punishment and obedience orientation • Self-centered • Rewards, punishment • Will not admit intentionality • Stage 2- instrumental-exchange orientation • Aware of perspective of others • Reciprocal-exchange of favors

20. Conventional (adolescence to young adulthood)- other focussed • Stage 3- good child orientation • Being nice to gain approval • People judged by intentions of their behavior • Stage 4- law-and-order orientation • Takes into account larger perspective- society • One’s duty to respect law and order

21. Postconventional (adulthood)- develop own standards of right and wrong/abstract • Stage 5- social-contract orientation • Appreciate underlying purposes of laws • Interests in majority versus individual • OK to steal drug to save a life • Stage 6- universal ethics orientation • “right” is determined by universal ethics • Human dignity, nonviolence, freedom, equality • Regardless of whether agree, will conform

22. Kohlberg Criticisms • Based solely on observations of members of Western cultures • Theory initially based largely on data from males 241

23. MORAL DEVELOPMENT IN GIRLS

24. Carol Gilligan • Way boys and girls raised leads to differences in moral reasoning • Suggests Kohlberg’s theory inadequate and places girls’ moral reasoning at lower level than boys’ 243

25. Gilligan’s Stages of Morality in Girls 243

26. Review and Apply REVIEW • According to Erikson, children at this time are in the industry-versus-inferiority stage. • In the middle childhood years, children begin to use social comparison and self-concepts based on psychological rather than physical characteristics. 244

27. Review and Apply REVIEW • According to Kohlberg, moral development proceeds from a concern with rewards and punishments, through a focus on social conventions and rules, toward a sense of universal moral principles. Gilligan has suggested, however, that girls may follow a somewhat different progression of moral development. 244

28. Review and Apply APPLY • Kohlberg and Gilligan each suggest there are three major levels of moral development. Are any of their levels comparable? In which level of either theory do you think that the largest discrepancy between males and females would be observed? 244

29. RELATIONSHIPS: BUILDING FRIENDSHIP IN MIDDLE CHILDHOOD

30. Friends in Middle Childhood • Provide emotional support and help kids to handle stress • Teach children how to manage and control their emotions • Teach about communication with others • Foster intellectual growth • Allow children to practice relationship skills 244

31. 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 245

32. 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 245

33. Damon’s Stages of Friendship Stage 3 (ages 11-15 years) • Friendships become based on intimacy and loyalty • Friendships involve mutual disclosure and exclusivity 245

34. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN CHILDREN’S FRIENDSHIP

35. 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 246

36. 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 246

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 246

38. What Personal Characteristics Lead to Popularity?

39. 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 246

40. Unpopular Children • Lack social competence • Immature or inappropriately silly • Overly aggressive and overbearing • Withdrawn or shy • Unattractive, handicapped, obese, or slow academically 246

41. 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 246

42. Teaching Social Competence • Several programs teach children set of social skills that underlie general social competence 247

43. Bullying SCHOOL- THE BULLY • 160,000 U.S. schoolchildren stay home from school each day because they are afraid of being bullied • About 10 to 15 percent of students bully others at one time or another. • About half of all bullies come from abusive homes. 247

44. Bully SCHOOL – BULLIED • Some 90 percent of middle-school students report being bullied at some point in their time at school, beginning as early as the preschool years • Characteristics • Loners who are fairly passive • Often cry easily • Lack the social skills that might otherwise defuse a bullying situation 248

45. When the Pink Princess Becomes a Bully! Relational Aggression Among Girls • Odd Girl Speaks Out: Girls Write about Bullies, Cliques, Popularity, and JealousyRachel Simmons • Mean Chicks, Cliques, and Dirty Tricks: A Real Girl's Guide to Getting Through the Day With Smarts and StyleErika V Shearin Karres • GirlWise: How to Be Confident, Capable, Cool, and in ControlJulia Devillers • The Bully, the Bullied, and the Bystander: From Preschool to High School--How Parents and Teachers Can Help Break the Cycle of ViolenceBarbara Coloroso 248

46. Do bystanders contribute to bullying?

47. Sex Segregation of Middle Childhood

48. 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 248

49. Boys and Friendship • Larger networks of friends than girls do • Strict DOMINANCE HIERARCHY • Attempt to maintain and improve status in hierarchy • Restrictive play 248

50. 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’ 248