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Social Development

The changing nature of relationships with others

over the life span

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What Are the Issues ?

Individuals develop socially. How do social relationships develop?

What factors drive social development? biological cultural cognitive

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Erikson’s Theory

Biological in belief that there are innate drives to develop social relationships and that these promote survival (Darwinism)

Divided life span into eight psychosocial stages, each associated with a different drive and a problem or crisis to resolve

Outcome of each stage varies along a continuum from positive to negative

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Stage 1 (birth - 1)Trust vs. Mistrust

Infants must rely on others for careConsistent and dependable caregiving

and meeting infant needs leads to a sense of trust

Infants who are not well cared for will develop mistrust

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Stage 2 (1-3 years) Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

Children are discovering their own independence

Those given the opportunity to experience independence will gain a sense of autonomy

Children that are overly restrained or punished harshly will develop shame and doubt

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Stage 3 (3-5 years)Initiative vs. Guilt

Children are exposed to the wider social world and given greater responsibility

Sense of accomplishment leads to initiative, whereas feelings of guilt can emerge if the child is made to feel too anxious or irresponsible

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Stage 4 (5-12 years) Industry vs. Inferiority

Stage of life surrounding mastery of knowledge and intellectual skills

Sense of competence and achievement leads to industry

Feeling incompetent and unproductive leads to inferiority

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Stage 5 (adolescence)Identity vs. Confusion

Developing a sense of who one is and where s/he is going in life

Successful resolution leads to positive identity

Unsuccessful resolution leads to identity confusion or a negative identity

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Stage 6 (young adulthood)Intimacy vs. Isolation

Time for sharing oneself with another person

Capacity to hold commitments with others leads to intimacy

Failure to establish commitments leads to feelings of isolation

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Stage 7 (middle adulthood)Generativity vs. Stagnation

Caring for others in family, friends and work leads to sense of contribution to later generations

Stagnation comes from a sense of boredom and meaninglessness

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Stage 8 (late adulthood to death)Integrity vs. Despair

Successful resolutions of all previous crises leads to integrity and the ability to see broad truths and advise those in earlier stages

Despair arises from feelings of helplessness and the bitter sense that life has been incomplete

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Bronfenbrenner’s Social Ecology Theory

Network of interactions and interdependencies among people, institutions and cultural context

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Infant Attachment

Intense emotional bond between infant and caregiver

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Harlow’s Study of Attachment

Infant rhesus monkeys were placed with two surrogate mothers, one made of wire and one covered with soft cloth

Milk-producing nipple was attached to either the wire or the cloth mother

Attachment was based on “contact comfort” rather than feeding

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Ainsworth’s Strange Situation

Mother-child dyads were observed in a playroom under four conditions: initial mother-child interaction mother leaves infant alone in playroom friendly stranger enters playroom mother returns and greets child

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Forms of Attachment

Securely attached - explores the room when mother is present, becomes upset and explores less when mother is not present, shows pleasure when mother returns

Avoidantly attached - a form of insecure attachment in which child avoids mother and act coldly to her

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Forms of Attachment

Anxious resistant attachment - a form of insecure attachment where the child remains close to mother and remains distressed despite her attempts to comfort

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Hoffman’s Categories of Discipline

Power assertion - use of rewards and real or threatened punishments to control children’s behavior

Love withdrawal - expressing disapproval of child rather than action

Induction - verbal reasoning in which parent induces child to think about harmful consequences of actions

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Baumrind’s Parenting Styles

Authoritarian - value obedience and use a high degree of power assertion

Authoritative - less concerned with obedience, greater use of induction

Permissive - most tolerant, least likely to use discipline

Neglectful - completely uninvolved

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Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development

Assessed moral reasoning by posing hypothetical moral dilemmas and examining the reasoning behind people’s answers

Proposed five stages, each taking into account a broader portion of the social world

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Levels of Moral Reasoning

Preconventional - moral reasoning is based on external rewards and punishments

Conventional - laws and rules are upheld simply because they are laws and rules

Postconventional - reasoning based on personal moral standards

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Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Orientation

A focus on direct consequencesNegative actions will result in

punishmentsPositive actions will result in rewards

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Stage 2: Self-Interested Exchanges

Reflects the understanding that different people have different self-interests, which sometimes come in conflict

Getting what one wants often requires giving something up in return

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Stage 3: Interpersonal Accord and Conformity

An attempt to live up to the expectations of important others

Positive actions will improve relations with significant others

Negative actions will harm those relationships

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Stage 4: Law-and-Order Morality

To maintain social order, people must resist personal pressures and follow the laws of the larger society

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Stage 5: Human-Rights and Social-Welfare Morality

A balance is struck between respect for laws and ethical principles that transcend specific laws

Laws that fail to promote general welfare or that violate ethical principles can be changed, reinterpreted, or abandoned