CHAPTER 7

NOTES AND TEST

Expanding Social Horizons

Family Relationships

1.     Dimensions and Styles of Parenting

a.      One of the key factors in parent-child relationship is warmth

b.     Control should not be overwhelming, or too little

c.     Power assertion is an ineffective and harmful form of punishment for  children

d.     There are four styles of parenting:

1.     -authoritarian parents are controlling but uninvolved

2.     -authoritative parents are fairly controlling but are also responsive to their children

3.     -indulgent-permissive parents are loving but have little control

4.     -indifferent-uninvolved parents are neither warm nor controlling

e.   the best parenting style is the authoritative style, for both the cognitive and social delevopement of the child.

2. Siblings

a.      The birth of a sibling is usually stressful for the older children

b.     Siblings get along better when they are of the same sex, believe that their parents treat them equally, and have parents who get along well

c.     Most parents have higher expectations for first-born children, which is an explanation to why these children are more intelligent and are more likely to go to college

d.     On the other hand later-born children are more popular and more innovative

Divorce and Remarriage

1.     Right after a divorce, mothers are less affectionate, accept less mature behavior from their children, and have more difficult time controlling them

2.     About two years after the divorce the mother-child relationship improves

3.     A divorce harms a child in a number of domains such as achievement in    school to adjustment

4.     The affects of a divorce are similar to boys and girls and appear to be more harmful to school-age children and adolescents

5.     Children of divorced parent are more likely to become teenage parents and to divorce themselves

6.     The impact of divorce is derived from the loss of role model and source of support, financial hardship and conflict between the parents

7.     Children whose parents have joint custody or live with the same sex parent seems to benefit more

8.     When a mother remarries,  daughters sometimes have difficulty adjusting

9.     A father’s remarriage can also cause problems

Parent-Child Relationships Gone Awry:

1. Child Abuse

a.      Factors that contribute to child abuse include:

          1. -Cultural factors

          2. -Parental factors

3. Child factor

b. Abused children  often fall behind in cognitive and social

     development

c:  The risk of child abuse can be reduced by teaching families better

      copying and parenting skills and providing parents with social

      supports

Peers

1. Friendships

a.  In preschoolers friendships are based on common interests

b.  Later are based on loyalty, trust and intimacy

c.  Friends are usually of the same sex, race, age and attitudes

e.      Friendships help children to be more skilled socially and better adjusted

2.Groups

a.  Older children usually form cliques

b.  Some groups have higher status than others

c.     Common factor in some groups is a hierarchy with a leader at the top

d.     With older children hierarchies are based on skills that are important to the group

e.  Peer pressure is neither totally powerful nor totally evil

3.Popularity and Rejection

a.      Children that are popular are socially skilled.  They share, cooperate and help others. 

b.     Children that are rejected by others are rejected because they are too aggressive.  They are usually unsuccessful in school and have behavioral problems.  Their aggressive style is often linked to parents who are belligerent or combative and who are inconsistent in their discipline

Television

1.  Influence on Attitudes and Social Behavior

a.      Children who watch televised violence often are aggressive.  On the other hand children who watch prosocial television are more socially skilled

b.     Children who watch distorted views of women, minorities and older people often adapt those distorted views

2.  Influences on Cognition

a.      Preschool children who watch programs like Sesame Street frequently show an  improvement in their academic skills and adjust easier in school

Understanding Others

1.  Describing Others

a.      When young children describe others focus  on concrete features.

b.     Older children focus more on psychological properties

2.     Understanding what others Think

a.      According to Selman, children go through five stages of perspective taking.

b.     Children that are more advanced on the cognitive level have more advanced stages in perspective taking

3.     Prejudice

a.  When preschool children identify with a group they begin to show prejudice, and they attribute positive traits to they group and negative ones to the other groups

b.  A decline in prejudice is apparent during the elementary school years and adolescence as they begin to understand that groups consist of all different kinds of people