Chapter 13 Emotional and social development in middle childhood Erikson s theory industry versus inferiority o Erikson Combination of adult expectations and children s drive toward mastery sets the stage for psychological conflict of middle childhood Industry vs inferiority o Resolved positively when experiences lead children to develop a sense of competence at useful skills and task Sense of industry Positive but realistic self concept Pride in accomplishment Moral responsibility Cooperative participation with agemates o Beginning of formal schooling Marks the transition to middle childhood Literacy training Prepares children for a vast array of specialized careers Self understanding o Self concept 8 11 yrs Emphasize competencies o Ex good cellist or I do so so In my studies Social comparisons Judgments of their appearance abilities and behavior in relation to those of others Can compare multiple individuals including themselves o Cognitive social and cultural influences on self concept Cognitive development Affects the changing structure of the self Gain a clearer understanding that traits are linked to specific desires and are causes of behavior Ex generous person wants to share Changing content of self concept is a product of George Mead Cognitive capacities Feeding back from others Perspective taking skills o An improved ability to infer what other people are thinking Crucial for developing a self concept based on personality traits Become better at reading others messages and internalizing their expectations From an ideal self o Self esteem Elaborate parent child conversations about past experiences Construct a rich positive narrative about the self A hierarchically structured self esteem 6 7 yrs old o Have formed at least 4 broad self evaluations Academic competence Social competence Physical athletic competence Physical appearance Physical appearance correlates mores strongly with overall self worth than does any other self esteem factor Changes in level of self esteem Self esteem declines during the first few years of elementary school o Children receive more competence related feedback as their performances are increasingly judged in relation to those of others 4th grade on o Influences on self esteem o Self esteem rises for the majority of young people Academic self esteem predicts how important useful and enjoyable children judge school subjects to be their willingness to try hard and their achievement Children with favorable self esteem Tend to be well adjusted sociable and conscientious Better liked by classmates Low self esteem Linked to anxiety Depression Antisocial behavior Culture Profoundly affect self esteem Asian children o Rely less on social comparisons to promote their own self esteem o Reserved about judging themselves positively but generous in their praise of others End of middle childhood o Girls are less confident than boys about physical appearance and athletic abilities Boys overall sense of self worth is much higher than girls African American children o Tend to have slightly higher self esteem Child rearing practices Parent uses Authoritative child rearing style o Child feels good about themselves Controlling parents Indulgent parenting o Communicate a sense of inadequacy to children o Correlated with unrealistically high self esteem Undermines development Children lash out at challenges to their overblown self images Achievement related attributions Attributions o Common everyday explanations for the causes of behavior o Ex why did I or another person do that Mastery orientated attributions o Crediting their successes to ability a characteristic they can improve by trying hard and can count on when faced with new challenges o Those with high academic self esteem and motivation o Focus on learning goals Seeking info on how best to increase their ability through effort Incremental view of ability o Influences the way mastery oriented children interpret o Attribute failure to factors that can be changed and negative events controlled Insufficient effort or a difficult task Learned helplessness o Attribute their failures not their successes to ability o When they succeed they are likely to say that luck was a factor o Hold a fixed view of ability Cannot be improved by trying hard o Focus on performance goals Obtaining pos and avoiding neg evaluations of their fragile sense of ability Influences on achievement related attributions Adult communication Girls more than boys attribute poor performance to lack of ability American focus more on success because failure indications where corrective action is needed o Opposite for Asian s Fostering a mastery oriented approach Attribution retraining o Encourages learned helpless children to believe they can overcome failure by exerting more effort o Ex You can do it if you try harder after succeeding they are given additional feedback so they can attribute their success to both ability effort o Best used in middle childhood Encourage low effort children to focus less on grades and more on mastering a task Emotional development o Self conscious emotions Pride and guilt become governed by personal responsibility Ex I tried hard on that task and it paid off pride or I made a mistake and now I have to deal with it guilt Pride Guilt Motivates children to take on further challenges Prompts them to make amends and to strive for self improvement o Emotional understanding 6 12 yrs Children become more aware of circumstances likely to spark mixed emotions o Ex I was happy I got something from my mother but I am a little sad because it was not what I wanted Allows them to understand that peoples expressions may not reflect what they are actually feeling Children improve sharply in ability to distinguish pride from happiness and surprise Understand that pride combines 2 sources of happiness o Joy in accomplishment and joy that a significant person recognized that accomplishment o Emotional self regulation 2 strategies for managing emotion o 1 problem centered coping Appraise situation as changeable identify the difficulty and decide what to do about it o 2 Emotion centered coping 6 7 yrs 8 9 yrs 10 yrs Internal private and aimed at controlling distress when little can be done about an outcome Development of emotional self regulation Acquire sense of emotional self efficacy o Feeling of being in control of their emotional experience o Favorable self image o Optimistic outlook Culture influences emotional self regulation o
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