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Psychological Basis of Communication. Communication skills. The skills needed to use language (spoken, written, signed, or otherwise communicated) to interact with others, and problems related to the development of these skills.
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Communication skills • The skills needed to use language (spoken, written,signed, or otherwise communicated) to interactwith others, and problems related to the developmentof these skills. • Language employs symbols—words, gestures, orspoken sounds—to represent objects and ideas. Communicationof language begins with spoken sounds combinedwith gestures, relying on two different types ofskills. Unanimity ofopinion is extremely powerful in influencing people to goalong with the group.
Languagedisorders • Spoken language problems are referred to by a numberof labels, including language delay, languagedisability,or a specific type of language disability. • Languagedisorders include stuttering; articulation disorders, suchas substituting one sound for another (tandy for candy),omitting a sound (canny for candy), or distorting a sound(shlip for sip); and voice disorders, such as inappropriatepitch, volume, or quality.
Social competence • Mastering the social, emotional, and cognitiveskills and behaviors needed to succeed as a memberof society. • Social competence refers to the social, emotional,and cognitive skills and behaviors that children need forsuccessful social adaptation. • Despite this simple definition,social competence is an elusive concept, becausethe skills and behaviors required for healthy social developmentvary with the age of the child and with the demandsof particular situations.
Importance of social competence • Whereas parents are the primary source of socialand emotional support for children during the firstyears of life, in later years peers begin to play a significantcomplementary and unique role in promoting childsocial-emotional development. Increasingly with age,peers rather than parents become preferred companions,providing important sources of entertainment andsupport. • In the context of peer interactions, young childrenengage in fantasy play that allows them to assumedifferent roles, learn to take another person’s perspective,and develop an understanding of the social rulesand conventions of their culture. • In addition, relationshipswith peers typically involve more give-and-takethan relationships with adults, and thus provide an opportunityfor the development of social competenciessuch as cooperation and negotiation.
Learning of social skills • When children experience serious difficulties in thedomain of peer relations, the development of social competenciesmay be threatened. • Rejection or victimizationby peers may become a source of significant stress tochildren, contributing to feelings of loneliness and lowself-esteem. In addition, peer rejection can escalate in anegative developmental spiral. • That is, when childrenwith poor social skills become rejected, they are oftenexcluded from positive interactions with peers—interactionsthat are critical for the learning of social skills.
The long-term consequences of sustained peer rejection • The long-term consequences of sustained peer rejectioncan be quite serious. Often, deficits in social competenceand peer rejection coincide with other emotionaland behavioral problems, including attention deficits, aggression,and depression. • The importance of social competenceand satisfying social relations is life-long. Studiesof adults have revealed that friendship is a criticalsource of social support that protects against the negativeeffects of life stress. People with few friends are at elevatedrisk for depression and anxiety. • Childhood peer rejection predicts a variety of difficultiesin later life, including school problems, mentalhealth disorders, and antisocial behavior.
Predictorof later mental health problems • Peer rejection proved to be a more sensitive predictorof later mental health problems than schoolrecords, achievement, and IQ scores or teacher ratings.It appears, then, that positive peer relations play animportant role in supporting the process of healthy socialand emotional development. • Problematic peer relationsare associated with both concurrent and future maladjustmentof children, and hence warrant serious attention fromparents and professionals working with children. Whenassessing the possible factors contributing to a child’s socialdifficulties and when planning remedial interventions,it is important to understand developmental processes associatedwith social competence and peer relations.
Family contributions to social competence • Because the family is the primary context for socialdevelopment, there are a number of ways in which familyinteraction patterns may help or hinder the developmentof children’s social competence. • Some researchers havespeculated that the origins of social competence can befound in infancy, in the quality of the parent-child attachmentrelationship. • Studies have shown that babieswhose parents are consistent and sensitive in their responsesto distress are less irritable, less anxious, and betteremotionally regulated.
Child characteristics and social competence • In addition to family interaction patterns and variousaspects of the parent-child relationship, children’sown thoughts, feelings, and attitudes may influencetheir social behavior. Research has revealed that manyrejected children make impulsive, inaccurate, and incompletejudgments about how to behave in social situationsand are lacking in social problem-solving skills. • They may make numerous errors in processing socialinformation, including misinterpretation of other people’smotives and behavior, setting social goals forthemselves that are unrealistic or inappropriate, andmaking poor decisions about their own conduct in socialsituations.
Child characteristics and social competence • For example, aggressive children are morelikely to interpret an accidental push or bump from apeer as intentionally hostile, and respond accordingly. • Similarly, socially incompetent children are often moreinterested in “getting even” with peers for injusticesthan they are in finding positive solutions to social problems,and expect that aggressive, coercive strategies willlead to desired outcomes. • Many children who are rejected by peers have lowerself-esteem, feel lonelier, and are more dissatisfied withtheir social situations than are average or popular children. • These feelings can cause them to give up and avoidsocial situations, which can in turn exacerbate their peerproblems. Interestingly, not all rejected children feelbadly about their social difficulties. Studies have shownthat aggressive-rejected children, who tend to blame outsidefactors for their peer problems, are less likely to expressdistress than withdrawn-rejected children, whooften attribute their problems to themselves.
Socialization • The process by which a person learns to conformindividual behavior and responses to the normsand values of society. • Socialization is a lifelong process that begins duringinfancy in the complex interaction between parent andchild. As parents respond to a baby’s physical requirementsfor food and shelter, they are also beginning toteach the baby what to expect from their environmentand how to communicate their needs. • Consistent, responsive carehelps lead to healthy relationships with others and normalpersonal development. Caretakers who neglect aninfant’s needs or otherwise stifle early attempts at communicationcan cause serious damage to the child’s futuresocial interactions.
Conformity • Adaptation of one’s behavior or beliefs to matchthose of the other members of a group. • Conformity describes the adaptation of behaviorthat occurs in response to unspoken group pressure. Itdiffers from compliance, which is adaptation of behaviorresulting from overt pressure. Individuals conform to orcomply with group behavior in an attempt to “fit in” orto follow the norms of the social group. • As the individualslistened to the descriptions of others, their answersbecame increasingly similar as they unconsciouslysought to establish a group norm.
The ambiguityand unanimity • Although the ambiguityand unanimity of the situation are powerful contributorsto the incidence of conformity, they are not the sole determinants. • Personal characteristics and the individual’sposition within the group play a role as well. Individualswho have a low status within a group or are unfamiliarwith a particular situation are the ones most likely toconform. Thus, new residents toa community are more likely to be affected by the pressureto conform. • Personality traits, such as concernwith being liked or the desire to be right, also play a role. • Cultural factors are also influential. Certain culturesare more likely than others to value group harmony overindividual expression.
Empathy • The capacity to vicariously experience and understandthe thoughts and feelings of another personby putting oneself in that person’s place. • While most forms of psychotherapy require somedegree of empathy on the part of the counselor or therapist,the client-centered therapy pioneered by CarlRogers places particular emphasis on this quality as partof the therapeutic experience. • Throughout each therapy session, the therapist demonstrateswhat Rogers termed “accurate empathetic understanding,”showing sensitivity to the client’s feelingsthrough active listening that shows careful and perceptiveattention to what the client is saying. • Video
Client-centered therapists’ method • The therapistemploys standard behaviors common to all good listeners,making frequent eye contact with the client, noddingin agreement or understanding, and generally showingthat he or she is listening attentively. • One unique way client-centered therapists demonstrateempathy with the client is through a specialmethod called reflection, which consists of paraphrasingand/or summarizing what a client has just said. • Thistechnique lets therapists check the accuracy of their perceptionswhile showing clients that they are paying carefulattention to and are interested in what is being said.
Conscience • The moral dimension of human consciousness, themeans by which humans modify instinctual drivesto conform to laws and moral codes.
The superego • Sigmund Freud viewed the conscience as one oftwo components of the superego, the other being theego-ideal. In this scheme, the conscience prevents peoplefrom doing things that are morally wrong, and the egoidealmotivates people to do things that are consideredmorally right. • This theory suggests that the conscience isdeveloped by parents, who convey their beliefs to theirchildren.
Family size • The size of a family has a significant effect on the interrelationshipsamong its members and can play amajor role in the formation of a child’s personality. • Family size is a significant factor in child development,but must be considered as only one part of a largerpicture, however. • Other factors, such as the parents’ personalitytraits, and the gender and spacing of the children,contribute significantly to the formation of achild’s personality.
Children of large families • Children of large families have agreater opportunity to learn cooperation at an early agethan children of smaller families as they must learn toget along with siblings. • They also take on more responsibility,both for themselves and often for younger brothersand sisters. In addition, children in large families mustcope with the emotional crises of sibling rivalry, fromwhich they may learn important lessons that will aidthem later in life. This factor, however, may also be adisadvantage; either the older child who was “dethroned”from a privileged position or the younger childwho is in the eldest child’s shadow may suffer feelingsof inferiority. • Children in large families tend to adoptspecific roles in order to attain a measure of uniquenessand thus gain parental attention.
Children in small families • Children in small families receive a greater amountof individual attention and tend to be comfortable aroundadults at an early age. • They may also be overprotected,however, which can result in dependence, lack of initiative,and fear of risk, and the increased parental attentionmay also take the form of excessive scrutiny and pressureto live up to other people’s expectations. Researchershave found that only children are often lonersand have the lowest need for affiliation. • They tend tohave high IQs and are successful academically. However,only children have also been found to have more psychologicalproblems than children from larger families.
Learning disability • A disorder that causes problems in speaking, listening,reading, writing, or mathematical ability. • Often, learning disabilities appear together withother disorders, such as attention deficit/hyperactivitydisorder (ADHD). They are thought to be caused by irregularitiesin the functioning of certain parts of thebrain. Evidence suggests that these irregularities areoften inherited (a person is more likely to develop alearning disability if other family members have them). • However, learning disabilities are also associated withcertain conditions occurring during fetal development orbirth, including maternal use of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco,exposure to infection, injury during birth, lowbirth weight, and sensory deprivation.
General behavioral and emotionalfeatures of learning disabilities • In addition tothe preceding signs, which relate directly to school andschoolwork, certain general behavioral and emotionalfeatures often accompany learning disabilities. • These includeimpulsiveness, restlessness, distractibility, poorphysical coordination, low tolerance for frustration, lowself-esteem, daydreaming, inattentiveness, and angeror sadness. • Learning disabilitiesinvolving reading have traditionally been known asdyslexia; currently the preferred term is developmentalreading disorder.
Conflict • The process of defusing antagonism and reachingagreement between conflicting parties, especiallythrough some form of negotiation. Also, the studyand practice of solving interpersonal and intergroupconflict. • “Conflict” from the Latin root “to strike together”can be defined as any situation where incompatible activities,feelings, or intentions occur together.
PEER MEDIATION PROCESS • I. Introduction—The mediator introduces him orherself and explains the rules. The mediator tries tomake the disputants feel comfortable. • II. Identifying the Problem—The mediator listens toeach party describe the problem and writes down anagreed-upon “agenda” that includes all the elements ofa dispute. • III. Identifying Facts and Feelings—The disputantstell their sides of the story to each other. The goal is to“surface” all of the underlying facts and feelings pertainingto the problem. The mediator asks many questionswith the goal of helping to refocus the problem byviewing it differently. • IV. Generating Options—The mediator asks bothparties to brainstorm how they might solve the problem.The mediator writes down all the solutions, marking theones that are mutually agreed upon. If none are forthcoming,participants return to previous steps. Sometimes,individual sessions with each disputant and themediator are necessary. • V. Agreement—The mediator writes a contractusing the solutions to which both parties agree, andeveryone signs it. • VI. Follow-Up—After a period of time the formerdisputants will report back to the mediator on whetherthe contract is being upheld by both parties.
The conflict outcomes • The conflictmay be expressed through verbal denigration, accusations,threats, or through physical violence to persons orproperty. Or the conflict may remain unexpressed, as inavoidance and denial. • A given conflict may be defined in terms of the issuesthat caused it, the strategies used to address it, orthe outcomes or consequences that follow from it. Theissues of the conflict may be varied, ranging from thesimple to the complex. • Strategies for resolving or preventingthe development of conflict can be classified asavoidance, diffusion, or confrontation.
The conflict resolution • The phrase conflict resolution refers specifically tostrategies of diffusion developed during the second halfof the twentieth century as alternatives to traditional litigationmodels of settling disputes. • Based on the idea thatit is better to expose and resolve conflict before it damagespeople’s relationships or escalates into violence,methods of conflict resolution were developed in businessmanagement and gradually adopted in the fields ofinternational relations, legal settings, and, during the1980s, educational settings.
The conflict resolution programs • Most conflict resolution programs employ some formof negotiation as the primary method of communicationbetween parties. • In the negotiation process, parties withopposing interests hold conversations to settle a dispute. • Negotiation can be distributive, where each party attemptsto win as many concessions to his or her own self-interestas possible (win-lose), or integrative, where parties attemptto discover solutions that embody mutual self-interest(win-win).
Responses to a conflict • Withdrawing from a conflict; • Demanding or requesting the opposing party to concede; • Providing reasons the opposing party should concede(appealing to norms); • Proposing alternatives to the opposingparty; and proposing “if” statements, suggestingwillingness to negotiate. • Perspective taking, or articulatingand validating the feelings and thoughts of the otherparty (“I see that you want….”), reflects the higher ordersof conflict resolution skills. Integration of interests • (“We both want…”) reflects the highest level, leading toa consensual settlement of negotiations. • According to theprinciples of conflict resolution, the only true solution toa conflict is one that attempts to satisfy the inherentneeds of all the parties involved.
The level of peer influence • The level of peer influence increaseswith age, and resistance to peer influence often declinesas the child gains independence from the family or caretakers,yet has not fully formed an autonomous identity. • Ideally the child, adolescent, or teen should make decisionsbased on a combination of values internalizedfrom the family, values derived from thinking independently,and values derived from friends and other rolemodels. • In order to achieve this balance, rather than attemptingto minimize peer influence, families and schoolsmust provide strong alternative beliefs, patterns of behavior,and encourage formation of peer groups that engage inpositive academic, athletic, artistic, and social activities.
