Developmental Psychology Unit

1. Developmental Psychology Unit Social-Interaction Development

2. Social-Interaction Development Social interaction behaviors are broken down into one of two categories: • Altruism - selfless concern for the welfare of others that leads to a helping behavior. • More often seen in females • Increases as we get older • Aggression - any behavior that is intended to hurt someone, either physically or verbally.

3. Social-Interaction Development • The amount of aggressive behaviors tends to be related to age and moral development in most children. • Aggressive behaviors tend to decrease as we get older.

4. Social-Interaction Development Aggressive behavior is broken down into two types: • Instrumental aggression - intended to achieve some goal such as retrieving a toy. • Most common in young children. • Hostile aggression - intended solely to hurt another. • Can be physical or verbal.

5. Social-Interaction Development With the increase of age, we see a trend of less physical aggression and more verbal aggression. • Altruism & Aggression seem to be influenced by: • Genetic predisposition • Parental modeling • Most influential, as shown by research • We do what we see, not what we are told • Portrayals of role models in the mass media • TV, movies, video games, books, internet, etc.

6. Social-Interaction Development • Children watch an estimated 3 ½ hours of TV a day • Children’s shows average 25 incidents of violence an hour. • It is estimated that the typical child has vicariously witnessed 15,000 television murders by age 16. • CSI, Psych, House, Law & Order, etc.