Chapter 6 Study Guide peers groups of people who are roughly the same age social status or level of functioning boys spend much of their time during adolescence with groups of other boys girls are more likely to divide their time between same age friends and adult female rela tives U S high school seniors spend less than 15 of waking hours with their family Teens spend more time with peers versus adults nearly half of the people they consider impor tant are the same age Peer groups begin to function without adult supervision more contact with peers including op posite sex friends Modernization has led to more age segregation like schools where there is age grading the workplace and the community generation gap the idea that there is a sharp divide between the value systems and goals of adolescents and adults Youth culture the idea that adolescents as a group have customs values and beliefs that sep arate them from the culture of adults Baby boom created an adolescent boom in the early 1960s and 1970s adolescents comprised over 10 of the U S population TODAY U S teen population is about 7 of the total population 3 Types of Generational Relations 1 postfigurative culture a culture in which social change is slow and younger generations need to acquire the knowledge and skills of their elders 2 3 cofigurative cultures a culture in which social change is fairly rapid and both older and younger generations come to have knowledge and skills that the other needs to acquire prefigurative culture a culture in which social change is very rapid and older generations needs to replace obsolete knowledge and skills with those of the younger generation Conformity doing as others are doing or as others urge one to do whether or not it fits with personal inclinations values and beliefs during early adolescence conformity to parents decreases while conformity to peers in creases during later adolescence conformity to peers decreases peers opinions are more influential on day to day matters Two types of social influence 1 scribes doing as others do normative social influence acting like others because there is a social norm that pre 2 informative informational social influence acting like others because of a belief that others have better information about the correct thing to do Peers as reference groups reference group is a set of people that someone looks to for information about what to do and what constitutes doing well as well as evaluative comments and praise social comparison is the process of using a reference group as a standard to evaluate one self self reinforcement involves feeling good or bad about oneself depending on ho such eval uations come out need to belong reason why peers have so much power the drive to be part of the social group and to feel accepted by others the peer orientation of adolescents is connected to the parenting style cross pressures a situation in which someone is subject to competing social influences from different sources such as parents and peers HOWEVER teens share their parents central values and and gravitate towards peers with simi lar orientations teens who have parents who are authoritarian or permissive are mostly influenced by teens from authoritative homes are less susceptible to antisocial peer pressure but more peers especially in anti social situations so to positive peers social preference in nomination studies the degree to which a person is chosen as liked and not chosen as disliked by others in the social group social impact the degree to which a person is chose either as liked or disliked Two typical social groups are the cliques crowds Cliques exact definition a small close knit group of friends generally of the same age sex and social status are small groups defined by common activities or simply a friendship typically made up of people of the same age same race same socioeconomic back ground and same sex during early and middle adolescence 3 important determining clique factors are orientation towards school orientations to wards teen culture and involvement in antisocial activity Changes over time cliques merge and form larger mixed sex groups Crowds exact definition a social category for which membership is based largely on observed character istics reputation and stereotypes are larger more vaguely defined groups normally based on reputation they contribute to the definition of norms like clothing taste in music etc important influences on behavior self concept and identity Change over times crowds become more differentiated and more permeable Changes like this allow the teens to have more freedom to change crowds and possibly enhance their status autonomy an ability to act independently and a willingness to take responsibility for one s ac tions behavioral autonomy the ability to make one s own decisions and take responsibility for them Five Status Categories 1 disliked by few by few liked disliked by many by some Popular a label for those high in social preference and social impact liked by many Rejected low in social preference but high in social impact disliked by many and liked neglected low in social impact and neutral in social preference neither liked or dis controversial high in social impact and neutral in social preference liked by many average in the middle of social preference and social impact liked by some disliked Parental Influence in Friendships parents socialize certain values and traits predispose teens toward certain crowds crowds reward the traits that led them there in the first place Traits become strengthened parents manage friendships Chief determinant of popularity during adolescence is social skills need to act appropriately meet the needs of others be confident but not conceited Two types of Aggression 1 2 Instrumental aggression Reactive aggression boys are more physically aggressive than girls girls engage in relational aggression trying to hurt someone by attacking their personal and social relationship for example through ridicule exclusion and malicious gossip girls ruin a reputation disrupt a friendship exclude people 2 3 4 5 hostile attribution a tendency to assume that ambiguous actions by others are the result of hostile intent and to respond in a hostile fashion plays central role in aggressive behavior of rejected adolescent 3 Types of Unpopular Adolescents 1 2 3 aggressive fights with everyone typically a bully withdrawn shy timid inhibited normally victims of bullies aggressive withdrawn