PSYC2002 Study Guide - Final Guide: John Bowlby, Social Change, Social Identity Theory
Social Development
• The acquisition of attitudes, feelings, and behaviours that enable individuals to relate to one another
and function appropriately in society.
• A process that occurs through socialisation: process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customers
and ideologies.
• Leading to social competence: one's ability to achieve personal goals while maintaining social
relationships.
Bandura's
social
cognitive
approach
• Social development is strongly influenced by direct disciplinary experiences (behaviourism).
• Children also engage in observational learning - learn through modelling.
• Bandura doll experiment
Social
information
processing
theory
• Mechanisms of social learning
• Skilful processing of information during 5 independent steps afford greater competence
1. Selective encoding of internal and external cues, eg: facial expressions
2. Interpreting these cues
3. Clarifying goals or desired outcomes
4. Recalling or generating possible response strategies
5. Deciding on a strategy and enacting it
• Chick et al. (1996) - physically aggressive children
o Attend to cues of hostility
o Formulate aggressive responses
o Anticipate favourable outcomes of aggression
• Nelson and Chick (1999) - prosocial adolescents
o Less likely to attend to hostile cues
o Negatively evaluate aggression
o Endorse peaceful solutions when provoked
• Processing of social stimuli is influenced by attentional biases (a cognitive effect).
Attachment
• An innate characteristic that motivates babies to seek closeness with a significant other.
• Children's first attempts to form interpersonal relationships.
• John Bowlby (an ethologist): attachment bonds between mothers and their infants exist because they
aid species survival.
• Attachment bonds develop
Bowlby's Stages of Attachment
Pre-attachment
0-2mo
• Infants don't discriminate one person from another.
• Do’t id beig left with ufailiar adults.
Attachment in the
making
2-6mo
• Infants direct signals to a particular person.
• Recognise their parents but no separation anxiety.
Clear-cut
attachment
6mo-4yrs
• Separation anxiety
Goal-oriented
partnership
4yrs+
• Understand parents come and go and predict their return.
• Separation protests decline.
• Development course of attachment appears common, but the quality of attachment differs.
Attachment Styles
• Seen in Strange Situation procedure
Secure
(70%)
• May or may not be distressed by separation.
• On reunion they actively approach their parent for comfort and support, reducing
distress.
Avoidant
(15%)
• Usually not distressed by separation from parent.
• On reunion are slow to seek comfort from parent.
Ambivalent
(15%)
• Usually distressed by separation.
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• On reunion they approach parent for support but display anger and resistance to
comforting.
Disorganised
(unclear)
• Display greatest amount of insecurity.
• On reunion show confused behaviours such as looking away while parent holding
them or dazed facial expressions.
Correlates of attachment
• Bohin et al. (2000) - securely attached infants are more
o Socially active
o Positive and popular at school
o Report less social anxiety than insecurely attached
o Ambivalent and avoidant types not different from one another
• These associations appear only to hold for mother-child attachment.
• Grossman et al. (2002) - mothers and father tend to play different roles in development.
o Mothers - safe and secure base for children (hence strong influence of attachment).
o Fathers - sensitive, supporting, and gently challenging companion for exploration and play.
Attachment and Adulthood
• Hazan and Shaver (1987) - attachment styles in adulthood
Adult Romantic Relationships
Effect of Break-up
Secure
Show trust in reliability of romantic partners; find it easy to demand
and be dependent on by others.
Moderately upset
Ambivalent
Fear abandonment and often distrust their romantic partners'
availability and commitment; jealous and preoccupied with
emotional closeness.
Surprise, greater
depression
Avoidant
Avoid emotional dependence and deny attachment needs. Have
difficulty developing intimate relationships.
Relief
Gender Identity
• Children recognise the difference between males and females at 3-4 months.
• Bandura's social-cognitive theory: gender identity is a result of complex interactions between i) Child,
i.e. cognitive states, ii) Behaviour, i.e. activity, iii) Environment, i.e. social influences.
Criteria
3-4yo
5-7yo
8-11yo
Gender
identity
Identify gender on basis of physical
appearance, eg: long hair. Believe
one can change gender by
changing physical appearance.
Gender constancy develops.
Closely related to Piaget's
conservation stage of
development.
Increasingly flexible knowledge
of gender, eg: both genders are
capable of anything.
Toy
preference
Prefs emerge by 1yo. At 3, girls
more likely to play with dolls; boys
with cars, trains.
Sex diffs maintained with
emerging preference for neutral
objects, eg: scone-cutter.
Strong preference for age-
appropriate sex-typed toys.
Playmate
preference
Pref for same-sex playmates.
Gender segregation becomes
stronger; general avoidance of
opposite sex playmates.
Pref for same-sex playmates is
strongest (95%).
Play style
Boys = active R&T play; girls tend to
talk to each other more and prefer
social role play.
Play style continue to diverge.
Dominance and status important
to boys; girls prefer horizontal
social relationships.
Boys: competitive games in large
groups. Girls: spend more time
with close friends, sharing
intimate secrets.
Biological Influences
• Congenital adrenal hyperplasia - genetic disorder involving deficiency in enzyme needed to produce
cortisol.
o Children born with ambiguous genitalia.
o Typically reconstructed to resemble their genetic gender.
• Golombok & Hines (2002): Girls with CAH show reduced satisfaction with gender identity and reduced
preference for female playmates. Not the case for boys.
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Document Summary
The acquisition of attitudes, feelings, and behaviours that enable individuals to relate to one another and function appropriately in society: a process that occurs through socialisation: process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customers and ideologies. Leading to social competence: one"s ability to achieve personal goals while maintaining social relationships. Social development is strongly influenced by direct disciplinary experiences (behaviourism). Children also engage in observational learning - learn through modelling: bandura doll experiment, mechanisms of social learning. Skilful processing of information during 5 independent steps afford greater competence. Interpreting these cues: selective encoding of internal and external cues, eg: facial expressions, clarifying goals or desired outcomes, recalling or generating possible response strategies, deciding on a strategy and enacting it. Chick et al. (1996) - physically aggressive children: attend to cues of hostility. Formulate aggressive responses: anticipate favourable outcomes of aggression, nelson and chick (1999) - prosocial adolescents.
