What is WEIRD?
Most educational research based on Western Education Industrialised Rich Democratic
What influences our social development?
Family, friends, school environment, social media
What is the bioecological model?
microsystem: family, friends, teachers
mesosytem: interactions among microsystem elements
exosystem: social setting that affect child
macrosystem: larger society
chronosystem: time period of one’s development
Children do not develop in isolation but in context, ecosystems that int
What does the bioecological model criticise?
Studies of development as “the study of strange behaviour of children in strange situation for the briefest period of time”
Strengths of this model
Integrates multiple influences on child development
Does not provide detailed mechanisms
More research needed
Western-centric
Dated
What is family and attachment theory?
Forming an emotional bond, first attachment between child and caregiver has implication for further bonds
Key theorists: John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth
Mary Ainsworth, three forms of attachment
Secure, ambivalent, avoidant
Peers and friends
Peers become influential from around 4 years old, cliques are small groups that are friendship based, crows large, less intimate
Five standings in peer groups
Popular, rejected, controversial, neglected, average (common)
Identity
General sense of oneself
Erik Erikson developed theory of psychosocial identity development
Erikson’s 8 Stages of Development
Viewed it as an interdependent series of stages
Each stage presents a developmental crisis
Each crisis resolved productively or unproductively
Emphasises emergence of self, search for identity
Erikson’s Stages
Stages 1 and 2
- trust vs mistrust
- autonomy vs shame/doubt
Stages 3 and 4
- initiative v guilt i.e independence
- industry v inferiority i.e school
Stages 5 and 6
- identity v role confusion, adolescence
- intimacy v isolation, young adulthood
Stages 7 and 8
- generativity v stgnation
- ego integrity v despair
Doesn’t really explain developmental mechanisms
Development of self-concept
Who do you think you are
- Evolves in a social and cultural context
- Evolves through constant self-evaluation
- Not necessarily accurate
- Linked to wide range of accomplishments
Gender differences established early in self-concept due to society
Self esteem
Self esteem: value each of us places on our own characteristics
Permanent internal feeling but can slowly change over time. Differs to self efficacy which depends on performance at the end
Can school improve students self-esteem?
Too much praise not good
Sets lead to a lack of motivation and confidence as people in lower sets feel disinterested.
Moral development
Operates a societal and individual level i.e. culture specifies code of conduct
Reflects cognitive, emotional and behavioural components
Process of internalisation is essential to moral development
Piaget’s Theory of Moral Development
- premoral stage
- moral realism - rules as unchanging and inflexible
- moral relativism - rules can be arbitrary and sometimes be changed
Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development
- inspired by Piaget
- three levels broken into six stages sequentially
- not all may get to highest level
- movement occurs when a person notices inadequacies in their moral dilemma
Very male, western view of morality
Haidt’s Social Intuitionist Model of Moral Psychology
- Intuition comes first, reasoning second (this is now a commonly held view in all sorts of theory of decision making – dual process model)
- There is more to morality than fairness and harm (i.e., non-WEIRD)
- Morality binds and blinds
Moral choices involve more than reasoning
Teaching moral behaviour
- Three influences on moral behavior
- Modeling: Child exposed to models of moral beliefs and behaviors
- Internalization: Child adopts beliefs/behaviors as own
- Self-concept: Child integrates moral values into sense of self
What is theory of mind?
- understanding of people being their own person, with their own minds, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, etc.
- related to social cognitive development
- key issue in autistic children
Devlopemtn of ToM
2 Years Old:
- speech evidences mental state talk - desires and intentions (desire theory)
3 Years Old:
- Wellman proposes child has belief-desire psychology
- complex predicitions about behaviour
- ability to relate a person’s actions to beliefs and desires
4 Years Old:
- child begins to understand that beliefs can be false and considers misrepresentation
A child teaching another child must have theory of mind.
Stages in understanding - easy to hard:
- Understanding wanting : Others have diverse desires, and to get what they want, people act in different ways.
- Understanding thinking: Others have diverse beliefs about the same thing, people’s actions are based on what they think is going to happen.
- Understanding that seeing leads to knowing: Others have different knowledge, if someone hasn’t seen something they need extra information to understand.
- Understanding false beliefs: Others may have false beliefs that differ from reality.
- Understanding hidden feelings: Others can hide their emotions and can feel a different emotion from the one they display.
Parten’s play with preschoolers
Cooperative play
Includes playing formal games, social pretend play where the child takes on a pretend role, constructive play where children build models together (e.g. Lego)
Associative play
Where children talk to one another and share the same materials in their play but do not take on different roles within the same imaginary context or work towards completing a joint project
Parallel play
When children play beside others and not with them. Using the same materials but not interacting
Solitary play
Where a child plays alone but in a different way to those around
Onlooker behaviour
Where the child observes but does not join in
Unoccupied play
Where the child simply watches whatever interests them
