Final Exam Study Guide Chapter 12 Annette Lareau o Ethnographer conduct fieldwork in order to gain access to a group and carry out intensive observations over a period of months or years o Interested in how children spend their out of school time and in how social class shapes the content and pace of their daily lives o Observed that middle class children spent much of their time out of school in ways that were preparing them for their roles as high achieving students and for future careers o The lives of the working class children were more relaxed and informal they were less dependent on their parents and their weekends were kin centered o Differences in out of school time was shaped more by social class than by race Socioemotional Accomplishments o Conception of Self In middle childhood the conception has become more balanced and nuanced In one fourth grader s description she describes her strengths and weaknesses in comparison to other kids Accomplishments are important Social relationships are a central part of life Interpersonal terms have replaced the concrete descriptions of the younger child Children are now able to consider two different concepts or dimensions but they can also compare their ideal and real self and compare themselves to others Use higher order generalizations Children s conception of self becomes more multifaceted reflecting the views of their parents and peers Children s self appraisals also reflect their standings and reputation among classmates and teammates By middle childhood children have internalized many of their culture s values Ex physical appearance Becoming more aware of other s perceptions and evaluations may provide a more realistic sense of self but could also lead to greater vulnerability o Industry Versus Inferiority Erik Erikson s fourth stage of psychosocial development in which children develop a view of themselves as industrious and worthy or inferior when they when recognition by producing things beside and with others According to Erikson the danger is that parents and teachers undermine industry by failing to recognize accomplishments and by being overly critical of children s efforts Important to remember that school is not the only setting where this aspect of the development of the self unfolds o Gender Development Gender functions as an organizing principle in middle childhood Provides a framework for children to think about themselves in relation to others A basis for choosing interests activities and friends A guide for behavior and emotions By 8 or 9 children s self concepts reflect gender norms Self descriptions for boys emphasize skill in math and sports Girls highlight verbal and reading ability music and social competence Gender differences in global self esteem appear in mid to late childhood Girls typically exhibit lower self esteem than boys Gender linker personality traits become more apparent during this period Instrumentality characterized by a focus on action and accomplishments can do orientation Expressivity marked by a caring orientation a focus on communication collaboration and conciliation Gender segregation intensifies during this period Neither sex wants much to do with the other Each sees his or her own sex as the in group and the other sex as the out group Exaggerate the similarities among members of their own group and the differences between them and the other sex leading to the notion of the opposite sex In group identity echoed in gender stereotypic preferences in reading and media Gender schemas the conceptualization of what it means to be male or female become more complex In general girls are more flexible about gender norms and sex roles than boys By the end of middle childhood both boys and girls find boy type activities especially sports more interesting than girl type activities BUT that doesn t mean they play together Meta analysis a statistical technique that combines the findings of multiple studies taking into account the number of children in each of the individual studies and the magnitude of the effect reported in each one Helps us to be more confident that the findings are robust and reliable Indicates in sex differences that boys are more active and more physically aggressive than girls have better spatial abilities and have better large motor skills while girls have better verbal skills and are better at reading emotions Janet Hyde cautioned that meta analyses reveal a lot of overlap o Boys have a slight edge in self esteem but there is an 85 o Girls have a slight average on verbal abilities but still with an overlap 85 overlap Moral Reasoning Prosocial Behavior and Aggression o 67 overlap in areas like physical activity o School age children involved in multiple groups Propel moral development Provide contexts for behaving kindly and for behaving aggressively o Moral Reasoning Kohlberg s theory dominated the study of moral reasoning Researchers assessed children s level of moral reason by examining responses to hypothetical moral dilemmas about real world situations According to Kohlberg the reasoning behind the answer is more important than the actual answer Theorized that individuals reasoning about moral issued becomes more sophisticated with development 3 levels o Preconventional reasoning that focuses on the rewards and punishments associated with different courses or action not social standards o Conventional reasoning that focuses on receiving the approval of others or maintaining the social order o Postconventional reasoning guided by principles such as justice fairness and sanctity of life Many studies have confirmed Kohlberg s belief that moral reasoning becomes more principled over the course of childhood and adolescence According to Kohlberg development into higher stages of moral reasoning occurs when the child is developmentally ready and when he is exposed to the more advanced type of reasoning by others Carol Gilligan argued that girls and women employ a morality of care emphasizing nurturance and compassion as opposed to the morality of justice which is more evident in boys Kohlberg s work has been criticized because he focused on moral reasoning and not on actions or behaviors Prosocial behaviors voluntary actions such as sharing cooperating helping and comforting that are intended to benefit another person Increase from the preschool period through middle childhood Increases occur because school age children are better able to read and understand emotions as