Chapter 3Social Development

Themes of the chapter There are aspects of a relationship that

allow it to be characterized as a high-quality relationship

Social-developmental outcomes include concepts such as psychosocial development, social competence, and moral development

Guiding Questions

What characterizes a high-quality student-teacher relationship?

What are mental models, and why are they important to social development?

How can teachers nurture psychosocial development, especially students’ initiative, competence, and identity?

(See next slide for more questions)

Guiding Questions (continued)

What are the stages of moral development?

How do social competence and aggression develop?

How does self-concept develop throughout the school-age years?

How do students’ special needs interfere with their social development?

Relationships

Mental models – self and others The quality of relationships Culture, diversity, and special needs Trust – the beginning of positive social

development Students’ attachment styles with teachers Attachment for learners with special

needs

Mental Models – Self and Others

Students’ enduring beliefs and expectations about what they are like and what other people are like

High Quality Relationships

Attunement – sensing and reading another’s state of being and adjusting one’s own behavior accordingly

Relatedness – the psychological need to establish close emotional bonds and attachments with other people

(See next slide for more characteristics)

High Quality Relationships (continued)

Supportiveness – an affirmation of the other person’s capacity for self-direction and contribution to help realize his or her self-set goals

Gentle discipline – a socialization strategy that revolves around explaining why a way of thinking or behaving is right or wrong

Low Quality Relationships

Characterized by neglect and abuse Indifference Permissiveness Lack of support Lack of involvement Insensitivity Rejection Hostility

Culture, Diversity, andSpecial Needs

Behaviors sometimes reflect cultural priorities instead of social skills deficits or behavioral disorders

Some special needs children have difficulty in giving love and affection to interaction partners (e.g., autistic and those with emotional difficulties

Trust – the Beginning of Positive Social Development

Aspects of trust Care – an emotional concern and sense of

responsibility to protect or enhance another person’s welfare or well-being

Attachment – a close emotional relationship between two persons that is characterized by mutual affection and the desire to maintain proximity with the other

Issues Related to Mental Models of Self and Others

Trust – Confidence that the other person in the relationship cares, is looking out for your welfare, and will be there when needed

Self-esteem – Trust applied to oneself; an attitude that one is worthy of a positive or negative evaluation

Students’ Attachment Styles with Teachers

Basic attachment related questions What does this person do when I am

upset? Can I trust this person to be available and

responsive in times of need? With this person’s support, what can I

accomplish?

Attachment for Learners with Special Needs

Children with learning disabilities, emotional disturbances, or mild mental retardation are likely to report being dissatisfied with their student-teacher relationship

Psychosocial Development

A broad term to describe the quality of a person’s social development as a function of past relationships in one’s life

Erikson’s Lifespan Developmental Framework

Trust vs. mistrust Infancy Autonomy vs. shame Early childhood Initiative vs. guilt Preschool

confusion school Competence vs. Elementary

Incompetence school(See next slide for more stages)

Erikson’s Lifespan Develop-mental Framework (continued)

Identity vs. Middle/High

role confusion school Intimacy vs. isolation College Generativity vs. Teaching

stagnation career Integrity vs. despair Retirement

years

Initiative, Competence and Identity

Initiative - the child’s capacity to use a surplus of energy to plan and constructively carry out a task

Competence – the psychological need to be effective as one interacts with the surrounding environment

Identity – the sense of being a distinct and productive individual within the larger social framework

Identity Status in Adolescence

Diffused – has not searched, explored or committed to adult roles

Foreclosed – has not explored, yet has committed to adult roles

Moratorium – has explored but has not yet committed to adult roles (identity crisis)

Achieved – has actively explored and made a personal commitment to a way of life

Guidelines for Supporting Adolescents’ Identity

Expand students’ awareness of social opportunities

Support exploration of possible identities

Communicate value and support for school-based clubs and organizations

Support open-ended decision making about possible identities

Your Turn

Lydia is 17 years old and will graduate from high school next year. She has had to work after school every day and on the weekends for the past two years, leaving her with very little free time. She has no idea what she wants to do with her life after high school How might you help her make some decisions? What steps should she take?

Moral Development

Students’ judgments about what is right and wrong and their reasoning as to why one action is right and another is wrong

Stages of Moral Development (Kohlberg’s Theory)

Preconventional – understands neither social convention nor moral rules Stage 1 – Moral judgments are based on a

punishment-and-obedience orientation. What is good or right is that which avoids punishment and defers to authority

Stage 2 – Moral judgments are based on what satisfies one’s own needs. What is right is what I need; what is wrong is what I get punished for

(See next slide for more stages)

Kohlberg’s Theory (continued)

Conventional – Understands and embraces social convention Stage 3 – Moral judgments are based on a good boy-nice girl orientation. What is good or right is what pleases others and gains their approval

Stage 4 – Moral judgments are based on a law-and-order orientation. What is good or right is doing one’s duty, following fixed rules, and acting to maintain the social order

(See next slide for more stages)

Kohlberg’s Theory (continued)

Postconventional – Understands and embraces moral rules Stage 5 – Moral rules are created from socially

agreed-upon standards that have been critically examined and revised to meet the need and values of the society

Stage 6 – Moral rules exist as self-chosen ethical principles, such as justice, equal rights, respect for the individual, fairness, and reciprocity

Ethic of Care

One’s sense of responsibility and compassion extends beyond oneself and one’s in-group to include a general ethic of care

Ethic of Care

Gender Differences in Moral Development

Theories of moral development can be based on both a morality of justice and a morality of care – and this is true for both boys and girls

Character and Social Conscience

Situational compliance – cooperatively carrying out a teacher’s requests to “do this” or “don’t do that” with a sense of obligation rather than a sincere commitment to the action

Committed compliance – cooperatively carrying out a teacher’s request to “do this” or “don’t do that” with an eager, willing, and sincere commitment to the action

Power Assertion

A socialization strategy designed to gain compliance through coercion, pressure, forceful or harsh insistence, and a negative or critical interaction style

Power Assertion in the Classroom

Give examples of how the following individuals assert power in the classroom either verbally or non-verbally Teachers Students Parents

Four Integrated Systems – Development of Character or Conscience

Moral Action

Moral Cognition Moral Cognition Moral Self

Conscience

The capacity to use one’s moral cognition, moral emotions, and moral self to inhibit aggression and to initiate altruism and helping

Aggression

Any intentional behavior designed to harm another person or group physically or psychologically

Video Game Technology and Aggression

Exposure to violence changes how the student thinks

Repeated exposure gives viewers aggressive social expectations and aggressive behavioral script

Students who take these aggressive social expectations and behavioral scripts into the schools will be more aggressive and less helpful than others

Instrumental and Hostile Aggression

Instrumental – strategic behavior to obtain something one desires that results in harm inflicted on another person

Hostile – the anger-driven impulse to inflict intentional harm on another person

Manifestations of Hostile Aggression

Starting fights – unprovoked physical aggression

Verbal protests – verbal aggression directed at teachers

Verbal hurt – verbal aggression directed at peers

How Would You Respond?

Hostile Aggression Starting fights Verbal aggression Verbal hurt

How would you prevent their occurrence?

Social Competence

Social competence – how skilled children and adolescents are at managing the often frustrating and challenging experiences they have with other people Emotional regulation – the capacity to

modulate or calm internal emotional reactivity during stressful situations

Social Competence and Special Education

Teachers rate maintaining self control as the essential social competence for students with special needs

What happens when students lose self-control?

Self-Concept

Set of beliefs the individual uses to mentally represent or understand his or her sense of self

Three patterns govern the development of self-concept over time Greater realism Greater abstraction Greater differentiation

Enhancing Self-Concept

Why? Domain specific self-concept beliefs correlate

positively with academic achievement in that domain and with other positive educational outcomes

How? Intensive intervention programs can boost

students’ domain specific skills and thus change self-concepts

Social Comparisons

The act of comparing one’s personal characteristics, performance, and abilities to the characteristics, performances, and abilities of others

Self-esteem

The evaluation of oneself as a person, partially on the emotional basis of how others treat the self and partly on the basis of one’s competence and achievement in different domains

Self-esteem in Students with Learning Disabilities

Students with learning disabilities score substantially lower on measures of self-esteem than do equally intelligent students who do not have learning disabilities

Guiding Questions Revisited

What characterizes a high-quality student-teacher relationship?

What are mental models, and why are they important to social development?

How can teachers nurture psychosocial development, especially students’ initiative, competence, and identity?

(See next slide for more questions)

Guiding Questions (continued)

What are the stages of moral development?

How do social competence and aggression develop?

How does self-concept develop throughout the school-age years?

How do students’ special needs interfere with their social development?