Overarching Themes: Integrating Social Development

Student Study Guide

Chapter 14

Chapter Outline

WHAT WE KNOW: SOME TAKE-HOME PRINCIPLES

VIEWS OF THE SOCIAL CHILD The Child Is Socially Competent from an Early Age The Child’s Social Behavior Is Organized The Child’s Social Behavior Becomes Increasingly Sophisticated The Child Is Embedded in Levels of Social Complexity Children’s Interactions with Other People Are Reciprocal and Transactional

ORGANIZATION AND EXPLANATION OF CHILDREN’S SOCIAL BEHAVIOR Aspects of Development Are Interdependent Social Behavior Has Multiple Interacting Causes All Causes Are Important

SOCIAL AGENTS AND CONTEXTS FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Social Behavior Is Influenced by Social Agents in Social Systems Social Behavior Varies across Both Situations and Individuals Social Development Occurs in a Cultural Context Social Development Occurs in a Historical Context Some Aspects of Social Development Are Universal

PROGRESS AND PATHWAYS OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Development May Be Gradual and Continuous or Rapid and Dramatic Early Experience Is Important, But Its Effects Are Not Irreversible There Is No Single Pathway to Normal or Abnormal Development Tracing Both Normative Pathways and Individual Pathways Is Important Development Is a Lifelong Process GLIMPSING THE FUTURE: METHODOLOGICAL, THEORETICAL, AND POLICY IMPERATIVES METHODOLOGICAL IMPERATIVES Questions Take Priority over Methods No Single Method Will Suffice No Single Reporter Will Suffice No Single Sample Will Suffice

THEORETICAL IMPERATIVES No Single Theory Will Suffice No Single Discipline Will Suffice

POLICY IMPERATIVES Research on Social Development Can Inform Social Policy Social Policy Can Inform Research on Social Development One-Size-Fits-All Social Policies Are Inadequate Social Development Is Everyone's Responsibility

2 Learning Objectives

1. Summarize the take-home principles including that children are socially competent from an early age, display socially organized behavior, display increasingly sophisticated social behavior are embedded in levels of social complexity, and have interactions with others that are reciprocal and transactional. 2. Understand that social development is associated and interdependent with other areas of development and that all causal factors (e.g., biology, environment) are important. 3. Describe the agents of socialization and the social systems in which socialization occurs. 4. Understand that social behavior varies across individuals and situations, and that while social development occurs in cultural and historical contexts, some aspects of social development are universal. 5. Discus the process of social development as both continuous and discontinuous, as influenced but not determined by early experience, and following many normative and individual pathways across the lifespan. 6. Understand that good research in social development requires that we first have good questions. 7. Describe the benefits of multiple methods, reporters, and samples for the study of social development. 8. Understand the importance of collaboration across areas and perspectives of psychology and across disciplines for the future of social development research. 9. Describe the important bidirectional relationship of policy and research. 10. Describe what is meant by one-size-fits-all policy and the shortcomings of this approach. 11. Recognize that social development is everyone’s responsibility. Student Handout 14-1

Chapter Overview

What We Know: Some Take-Home Principles

Views of the Social Child

The Child Is Socially Competent from an Early Age  Infants are competent and active beings who possess a wide range of social and emotional capabilities  Newborns can use their sensory, perceptual, and motor capacities to respond to social signals and communicate their needs  By age 1 infants can use social referencing to guide their behavior in uncertain situations and can produce social signals to alert others to interesting events  By age 2 infants can infer that other people have thoughts, feelings, and intentions

The Child’s Social Behavior Is Organized  Crying, smiling, and looking are organized response patterns that enable even very young infants to interact with others  Infants develop working models of their social world that guide interactions with others  Across development children use social information in increasingly organized and strategic ways

The Child’s Social Behavior Becomes Increasingly Sophisticated  As children develop they demonstrate social competence in more mature forms and under more challenging conditions Social development is not only acquiring social skills but also being able to deploy these skills in circumstances involving more abstract tasks and in the face of competing demands

The Child Is Embedded in Levels of Social Complexity  Dyadic, triadic and group interactions  Social relationships  Social groups  Social networks  Society or culture

Children’s Interactions with Other People Are Reciprocal and Transactional  Children influence the behavior of other people around them and are influenced by the reactions of these other people in return  Difficult vs. easy infants elicit different responses from social partners  Pattern of mutual modification over time is best described as transactional

Organization and Explanation of Children’s Social Behavior

4 Aspects of Development are Interdependent  Shifts in other domains, including motor skills, language abilities, and cognitive functions, play a role in social development Social development is a “package deal” that is fueled by advances in other areas

Social Behavior Has Multiple Interacting Causes  Biological factors  Genetics, brain organization, and hormonal levels  Environmental factors  Parents’ behavior, peer relations, school experiences, cultural background, mass media Systems theory approaches, which emphasize the interplay among biological and environmental influences, help to organize the multiple causes of social development coherently

All Causes Are Important  No single set of causes is more “real” or more important than another  It is our task to figure out how different causal factors work together to facilitate or hinder children’s social development

Social Agents and Contexts for Social Development

Social Behavior Is Influenced By Many Social Agents in Multiple Social Systems  Family system  e.g., parents, siblings  Larger social systems  e.g., schools, communities, media, and society Need to specify how exposure to these agents who are embedded in multiple social systems alter social development over time

Social Behavior Varies Across Both Situations and Individuals  Although children behave differently in different situations, this does not mean that child behavior is determined only by the situation  Children’s individual characteristics also matter Our goal is to determine how individual differences among children modify the degree and form of their reactions to different situations

Social Development Occurs in a Cultural Context  In different regions of the world and communities within a country children have different experiences  Children require different social skills to become productive and accepted members of their cultural group Observing the socialization of children across a variety of cultures and subcultures can be a source of insights about social development and a way to increase tolerance of cultural and ethnic diversity

Social Development Occurs in a Historical Context  Experiences differ across history according to  Economic conditions, lifestyle patterns, employment practices, and immigration demographics  Technological advances Need to update our understanding of social development as the social world of children of different cohorts morphs over time

Some Aspects of Social Development are Universal  Social development is affected by universally shared achievements  Learning to walk and talk  Emotional expression  Biological preparedness for social interaction Determining which aspects of social behavior are universal and which are culturally determined is a continuing challenge

Progress and Pathways of Social Development

Development May Be Gradual and Continuous or Rapid and Dramatic  Both gradual and rapid changes contribute to social development  Rapid biological changes include  Growth spurts, changes in the brain (e.g., prefrontal cortex), onset of puberty  Environmental changes that contribute include  School transitions, increased responsibilities (e.g., voting, driving)  Nonnormative experiences (divorce, natural disasters) also contribute

Early Experience Is Important, But Its Effects Are Not Irreversible  Evidence from resilience and recovery research suggests the effects of early adverse experiences can be overcome  Continuity of problems from childhood to later years is most likely to result from continued adversity throughout childhood, not from early adverse experience alone The longer and more severe the adverse conditions, the more difficult it is to overcome negative effects

There Is No Single Pathway to Normal or Abnormal Development  Tracking abnormal developmental patterns (e.g., autism) can teach us about certain aspects of social development  Understanding social development in normal children can give us insights into how children with social problems cope and how we can help them

Tracing Both Normative Pathways and Individual Pathways Is Important  Age-related norms of social development are useful guides for knowing what to expect of children at certain ages  Recognizing and tracking the variety of individual developmental trajectories is important as well

Development Is a Lifelong Process

6  Goals in studying lifespan development  To identify the types of childhood experiences that account for successful or not-so- successful adult development  To understand how adult development of parents and others with whom the child interacts affects children’s development

Glimpsing the Future

Methodological Imperatives

Questions Take Priority over Methods  Without a sound and sensible question, even great methodological creativity will not advance our understanding of social development Pursuing a meaningful question with a less optimal method is better than investigating an unimportant question with a more sound method

No Single Method Will Suffice  To provide a complete and definitive answer to any research question, using a variety of methods to collect data is important  Using multiple methods to look at facets of social development from different angles will provide broader and deeper understanding

No Single Reporter Will Suffice  Different reporters provide unique perspectives on children’s social behavior  To get the “full scoop” on social development, collecting information from many reporters is desirable and perhaps even necessary

No Single Sample Will Suffice  Using a variety of samples will capture the cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic richness of children’s development, both within the United States and throughout the world  New strategies that combine representative sampling with detailed examination of processes in a subset of individuals from the large sample offer a promising approach

No Single Theory Will Suffice  At present, no single theory provides a full and complete explanation of all domains of children’s social development  The complex nature of social development requires explanations of smaller pieces of the developmental puzzle (i.e., aggression ,attachment) rather than a single theory that is all encompassing Challenge for the future: to integrate mini theories into a coherent overarching theory of the “whole child”

Theoretical Imperatives

No Single Discipline Will Suffice  A number of scientific disciplines besides psychology contribute in important ways to our understanding of children’s social development  It takes a village of disciplines to understand the complexities of social development

Policy Imperatives

Research on Social Development Can Inform Policy  Sharing knowledge of research findings helps policy makers design scientifically based intervention and prevention programs aimed at improving the social lives of children

Social Policy Can Inform Research On Social Development  Social policy decisions are natural experiments and provide rich opportunities for researchers to track the consequences of policy changes on the lives of children and families

One-Size-Fits-All Social Policies Are Inadequate  Because families and communities are diverse, there is a need to provide social policies and services tailored to meet the needs of different cultural groups

Social Development Is Everyone’s Responsibility  All citizens have a responsibility to encourage and support social policies in the best interest of children

8 Practice Exam Questions

Answers are given at the end of the questions. Pages in the text relating to each question are given in parentheses () at the end of the question.

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

1. In terms of methodological advice, what would you suggest to the next generation of social development scholars? (a) find a good method and stick to it (b) you have to rely exclusively on quantitative methods (c) the only method that is worthwhile is the sequential design (d) embrace a variety of methodological approaches (430-431) 2. Explaining social development requires that we recognize the following: (a) genetics is the primary explanation (b) Freud was right and mothers are the primary socializing agents (c) Watson was right and the environment rules (d) none of the above (428) 3. Biological preparedness reminds us that: (a) culture is important (b) historical change is critical (c) genetic factors do not matter (d) there are universals in social development (429)

ESSAY QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the lessons you have learned in this course about the interface between research and policy making. (432) 2. How should we view the role of the child in social development? (427) 3. Discuss the view that social development is becoming a biologically driven area of study. (428)

Multiple choice answers: ddd