1. Chapter 8
Socioemotional Development in
Middle and Late Childhood
6-11 Years-of-Age
PowerPoints developed by Jenni Fauchier,
Butchered by Professor Carney
6-11 Years-of-Age
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3. The Development of SelfUnderstanding
• Increasingly describe selves with
psychological characteristics & traits
– Ex:
• Popular
• Nice
• Smart
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4. The Development of SelfUnderstanding
• More likely:
– Recognize social aspects of self
• Include groups they belong to
– Girl Scouts
– Christian
– What do I do in comparison to others?
• Previous stage
– What I do or don’t do
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5. Self-Esteem & Self-Concept
• Personal perceptions match reality?
• Maybe
• Self-concept
– Self-evaluate in many areas
• Academic
• Athletic
• Appearance
– How might this affect a child?
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6. Self-Efficacy
• Self-efficacy
– Belief that one can master a situation
& produce favorable outcomes
• Low self-efficacy for learning
– May avoid many learning tasks,
especially challenging ones
• Math: know it when I grow up
• High-self-efficacy for learning
– Eagerly work at learning tasks
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8. Developmental Changes in
Emotion
• Better understanding of emotions
• Can experience more than 1 emotion at a
time.
– Angry sister broke your toy
– Sad you don’t have toy
• Increased awareness of events leading to
emotional reactions
– “She hit me so I smashed her toy.”
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9. Developmental Changes in
Emotion
• Ability to suppress or conceal
– Negative feelings
• Strategies for redirecting feelings
– Self-soothing after upset
• Play with favorite toy
• Capacity for genuine empathy
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10. Kohlberg Stages
• Based on Piaget
• 6 stages of
moral
development
• Believed
universal
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14. Kohlberg Stages
• 3 Levels
– Level 1: Preconventional reasoning
– Level 2: Conventional reasoning
– Level 3: Postconventional reasoning
• 6 Stages
– 2 stages in each level
– (Need to keep in mind the 3 levels only)
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15. Preconventional Reasoning
– Early childhood
development
– Interpret good &
bad in terms of
(behaviorism)
• External rewards
• Punishments
– Egocentric
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16. Conventional Reasoning
• Middle school
• Apply certain
standards
– Standards set by
others
• Parents
• Government
• Learn to conform
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17. Postconventional Reasoning
• Usually college years
• Recognize alternative
moral courses
– Explore options
– Decide on personal
moral code
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18. Kohlberg Stages Research
• Moral stages appeared later than
Kohlberg envisioned.
• Reasoning at Stage 6 rare.
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19. Physical Development
• Females
• Males
– Longer life
expectancy
– Less likely to develop
• physical disorders
• mental disorders
– 10% taller
– 2X’s risk of
coronary disease
– Hormones
– More depression
– Hormones
• Stop growth of long
bones at puberty
6-11 Years-of-Age
• Promote growth of
long bones
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20. Physical Development
• Females
• Males
– Brain smaller
– Larger
• More folds
– Portions of corpus
callosum larger
– Areas involved in
emotional
expression show
more activity
6-11 Years-of-Age
• Part of
hypothalamus
related to sex
• Area of parietal
lobe larger
– Visuospatial
skills
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21. Cognitive Development
• Males better
– Math
– Visuospatial skills
• Females better
– Verbal abilities
• Later studies
– Verbal differences between females & males
virtually disappeared
– Math & visuospatial differences still existed
• Have cognitive differences between females & males
been exaggerated?
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23. Socioemotional Development
• Aggression:
– Boys more physically aggressive
– Girls more verbally aggressive
• Spread malicious rumors
• Ignoring someone when angry
• Boys more likely to hide
– Negative emotions
• Girls less likely to express
– Disappointment that might hurt others’ feelings
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24. Gender Differences in Prosocial Behavior
• Prosocial behavior
– Acting to help another person, particularly
when only goal is to help.
• Females
– View selves as more prosocial & empathic
– Across childhood & adolescence, engage in more
prosocial behavior
• Biggest gender difference occurs for kind &
considerate behavior
• Smaller difference in sharing
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25. Developmental Changes
in Parent-Child Relationships
• Parents
– spend less time with children
– continue to be important
– support & stimulate academic achievement
• Children
– less physical discipline than they did as
preschoolers
– more self-regulation
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26. Developmental Changes in Peer
Relations
• Peers
– Socializing time increases
– Group size increases
– Less supervision
– Same-sex groups preferred
• Until age 12
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27. Being Popular
• Popular children
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
reinforce others
listen
open lines of communication with peers
happy
control negative emotions
show enthusiasm
show empathy
self-confident , not conceited
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28. Other Statuses
• Neglected children
– Low rates of interaction with peers
– Described as shy by peers
• Rejected children
– Often more serious adjustment
problems than those neglected
– Some are aggressive
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29. Bullying
• Bullied children
– Reported
• More loneliness
• Difficulty making friends
• Victimized
– Anxious & socially withdrawn children
• Non-threatening & unlikely to retaliate
– Aggressive children
• May be targets because their behavior is irritating
to bullies
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30. Bullying Cont.
• Victims
– more headaches
– more abdominal pain
– sleeping problems
– tired
– more depression
• Bullies
– More likely to have a poor academic record
– Smoke
– Drink alcohol
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33. Socioeconomic Status & Ethnicity
• Schools in low-income areas are
more likely to have:
– more students with low achievement test
scores
– low graduation rates
– small % of students going to college
– young teachers with less experience
– encourage rote learning
– buildings & classrooms old & crumbling
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