PSC 140 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Moral Relativism, Realistic Conflict Theory, Moral Realism
● The Rise of Peer Influence
○ Between 6 & 12 years, children spend about 40% of waking hours with peers
○ Increasing opportunities to interact with friends without adult supervision
■ Content of peer activity changes
■ Forms of social control change
● Peer Relationships
○ Measuring social status
○ 3 sociometric techniques
■ Nomination procedure
■ Rating scale
■ Paired - comparison
○ Sociogram = graphic representation of friendships in a group
● Categories of Social Status
○ Popular
■ Actively liked
○ Rejected
■ Actively disliked
○ Neglected
■ Ignored
○ Controversial
■ Receive both + and - nominations
○ Victimized
■ Actively harmed by part of group
○ Bullies
■ Act aggressively to dominate the group
● Predictors of popularity
○ Popular kids
■ Physically attractive
■ Strong social skills
● Good at initiating & maintaining interactions
● Good at resolving conflicts
■ Smart
■ Often athletic / coordinated
■ React well to teasing
■ Friendly
● Predictors of Rejection
○ Rejected kids
■ Often aggressive (biggest factor)
■ Some extremely shy
■ Low skills in entering group play
● Disrupt play
● Call attention to themselves
● Inappropriate behaviors
■ Overreact to teasing
■ Often have problems in perspective taking
● Ex: hostile attribution bias
■ Physically unattractive
● Bullying & Victimization
○ Bullies = aggressive without provocation
■ Often have social knowledge but use it “antisocially”
■ Some male bullies are “popular” among pre - adolescent boys
○ Victimized kids
■ Targets of aggressive behavior
■ Often have many social difficulties
● Immature
● Have difficulty controlling emotions
● Poor social skills
■ Boys more likely to be bullied physically, whereas girls more likely to be
bullied relationally by rumor - spreading or being made fun of
■ Much of bullying takes place before or after school
■ Typically not just one bully, but several children “ganging up” on a victim
■ The group bullying is becoming more prevalent in recent years due to
social media
● Forming a “bad reputation”
○ “Rejected” status often stable over many years
○ Why?
■ Peers develop biased interpretation of rejected children’s actions (view as
more negative than objectively true)
■ Children become desensitized to rejected child’s feelings over time
● Bystanders to bullying
○ Peer witnesses are present in nearly all bullying episodes
○ When bystanders interfere on behalf of the victim the bullying episode usually
ends
○ But, other children
■ Help less than 20% of the time
■ Assist the bully about 30% of the time
■ Stand by & watch or leave the scene (most common reaction)
○ Why?
■ Negative feelings about victim
■ Fear retaliation or victimization
● Influence of social status on self - concept
○ Rejected - shy children are aware of their social failure & report feeling lonelier, &
more distressed about their lack of friends
○ Controversial & neglected children not overly concerned by their lack of social
success
■ Often have a few good friends
● Influence of social status on mental health
○ Peer rejection & victimization can have long - lasting effects
■ Depression
■ Self - harm
■ Substance abuse
■ Delinquency
■ Suicidal thoughts or actions
○ These negative effects are reduced if other children sometimes intervene on their
behalf during bullying incidents
● Cross - cultural predictors of sociometric status
○ Similarities
■ Across many cultures aggression is largest predictor of peer rejection
○ Differences
■ Shyness is not a predictor of neglected status in many Asian culture s
● Associated with popularity
● Interventions with rejected children
○ Status as rejected highly stable over time without intervention
○ Successful interventions
■ Modeling and reinforcement
■ Training of social skills & social problem - solving
■ Training in academic skills
● Friendship
○ Relationship of affection, reciprocity, & commitment
○ Developmental functions
■ Provide context to develop social skills
■ Source of knowledge / information
■ companionship/ fun
■ Mutual assistance
■ Models of intimate relationships
● Developmental changes in descriptions of “friends”
○ < age 6/7 years focus on physical attributes and preferences
■ Friends are people who are nice to you & who you like to play with
○ > age 7 see friendship as an enduring relationship
■ Increasingly focus on issues of loyalty & intimacy
● Causes of friendship
○ Proximity / closeness
○ Opportunities to play
○ Degree of similarity to each other in age, gender, values, interests (Esp. like to do
the same activities), skills
○ Stability of friendship increases with age
■ And is affected by changes in the environment
● Robbers Cave Experiment
○ Sherif et al. (1961)
Document Summary
Between 6 & 12 years, children spend about 40% of waking hours with peers. Increasing opportunities to interact with friends without adult supervision. Sociogram = graphic representation of friendships in a group. Often have social knowledge but use it antisocially . Some male bullies are popular among pre - adolescent boys. Poor social skills bullied relationally by rumor - spreading or being made fun of. Boys more likely to be bullied physically, whereas girls more likely to be. Much of bullying takes place before or after school. Typically not just one bully, but several children ganging up on a victim. The group bullying is becoming more prevalent in recent years due to social media. Rejected status often stable over many years. Peers develop biased interpretation of rejected children"s actions (view as more negative than objectively true) Children become desensitized to rejected child"s feelings over time. Peer witnesses are present in nearly all bullying episodes.
