Chapter 12 - Parents, Peers and Social Relationships Flashcards
(42 cards)
What view does the ecological systems theory have about development?
Development is the result of the relationships between people and their environments
What are the five layers of relationships that influence a child’s development?
Microsystem Mesosystem Exosystem Macrosystem Chronosystem
What interactions are present in the microsystem?
Relationships with direct contact with the child -> ie variables that the child is DIRECTLY exposed to: family, peer groups, school, neighbours, religious systems
What does the child learn/develop in the microsystem?
Behaviour - most of the child’s behaviour is learned in the microsystem
What kind of influences is present in the microsystem?
Bidirectional influences
Explain how bidirectional relationships work.
Bidirectional relationships are the foundation for a child’s cognitive and emotional growth.
- Parent would actively shape the development of their child.
- Child actively shapes their environment
- Their personal attributes influences responses from others
- Children would also actively select and avoid specific environments
What does the mesosystem consist of?
Interconnections between the microsystems
Eg: Interactions between the family and teachers
Relationships between the child’s peers and family
What does the exosystem consist of?
Institutions of society that indirectly affect a child’s development
Eg: Parent’s workplace, funding for education.
Explain how the exosystem influences a child’s development and give an example.
The exosystem influences structures in the microsystem
Eg: Parent’s workplace (institution of society) indirectly affects a child’s development through his parents (structure in microsystem)
- Parent works in a low-quality (?) and stressful job that features low pay, little autonomy, inflexible hours with little to no benefits
- Inflexible hours = difficult to find time to spend with the child
- Low pay + little to no benefits = likely to place child in inadequate childcare
What does the macrosystem influence?
It influences the micro, meso and exosystems by providing the values, beliefs, customs and laws of the culture in which a child grows up
Basically, it provides the cultural context in which the child grows up in.
How do the influences of the macrosystem work?
Influence:
- How parents, teachers and others raise a child
- The societal values, legislation and financial resources provided by a society to help families function
- The interactions of all other layers
What does the chronosystem include?
Major life transitions, environmental events, and historical events that occur during development
These specific events tend to change/transition how the child interacts with the rest.
According to the ecological systems perspective, to change the behaviour of a troubled child, what must you change, and why?
The family system
Each family member and family subsystem influence, and are influenced by each other’s members and subsystems. Cooperative or hostile/antisocial behaviour may have widespread effects on the system as a whole.
Explain how the above mechanism works for:
- Cooperative behaviour
- Antisocial behaviour
- Cooperative
- Parents who have a good relationship with each other are more likely to be caring and supportive of their children. - Antisocial
- Parents in unhappy marriages are more likely to behave in an irritable manner to their children.
- As a result, children exhibit antisocial behaviour, which was modelled after their parents.
- Children’s antisocial behaviour might then intensify problems in the relationship.
What qualities are present in a well-functioning family system?
Achievement of equilibrium/homeostasis
Adaptability
Suitably permeable/vulnerable boundaries (determines how vulnerable a family is to outside influences)
Why is it important for a family to achieve equilibrium/homeostasis in their functioning, and to become resistant to forces that might alter this balance?
Routine and rituals help to establish a sense of family history, identity and tradition. This makes interactions easier and more comfortable
How does the lack of adaptability manifest itself in a less functional family? Explain using an example.
(4 stages)
Trigger: Parental dissension occurs
Routine: Negative pattern of interaction
Lack of adaptability/Resistance to change manifests itself in:
- Lack of attempts to communicate rationally
- Lack of efforts to defuse anger
- Lack of attempts to protect others or solve problems
What does the lack of adaptability cause?
- Becomes locked in a pattern of interactions that sustains maladaptive behaviour
- Prevents recognition of problems, and family members might even push all blame to one single child
- Child becomes the target of blame
Explain how boundaries work in maintaining family systems in well-functioning families.
They have permeable boundaries that allow members to maintain satisfying relationships both within and outside the family itself
What are the consequences of having boundaries that are too rigid?
- Members might have difficulty disengaging appropriately from the family (eg during adolescence, starting college, marriage)
- Inability to make use of resources outside the family
- Few positive community contacts and social support, thus family might be more inclined to view their child negatively and be punitive and inconsistent with them
What are the consequences of having too permeable boundaries in a family system?
Family might become vulnerable to disruptions by external forces (eg intrusive in-laws, peer groups whose behaviours are at odds with the family’s standards)
What paradigm can be used to test parental attachment?
Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation Paradigm -> 5th and 8th episodes are important
How do parents attempt to teach their children social norms and rules?
Reinforcement and modelling
What is the key difference between reinforcement and modelling?
Reinforcement is knowingly used by parents -> requires conscious effort to reward/punish children for their behaviour
Modelling can occur by chance -> your children might learn something from the behaviour you exhibit, even though you may not have the intention to teach him that at that point in time
How does reinforcement work?
Parents will explain acceptable standards of behaviour
They will then praise/discipline their children depending on whether they conform to/violate these rules.
