DEV Module, Spring 2017- Developmental Psychology across the life span.

Sonu Dawadi Tilja Kontio Delia Manea Joey Vincentsen Diakonia Ammatikorkeakoulu Kalasatama, 17.03.2017

Introduction

As a team in this DEV module, we (group 1) have chosen to look further into Social Cognition (chapter 6) and Socialization (chapter 8) in an effort to better understand the concepts behind human learning and early childhood development.This decision was a unanimous decision based on several factors playing into our immediate every day, yet the largest two reason for choosing as such is that we, as individuals in the Social Services bachelor studies are having our first intern placement in half a month, and that we have not have had education in early childhood development prior to this, which naturally is a concern for us, the implicated students in group 1.The history, theories and methods described in the given chapters have been the cause for a fair amount of aha-moments, bricks falling into place, but best of all – food for thought, and a healthy amount of discussion.

----

Zone of proximal development (ZPD)

Zone of proximal development was conceptualized by Lev Vygotsky in a response to Jean Piaget’s theories concerning “egocentrism” and “lone learners” Vygotsky believed that children were products of their contemporary socio-cultural environments and that such was the shaping factor of any human being, in the sense of what was being taught down from one generation to another, from a skilled to less skilled person.

For ZPD to be effective it is a prerequisite to be in possession of a common means of communication as this is will function as building bridge to performing coherent and uniform actions and responses.Most common and basic means of communication are verbal and written languages as they already possess predefined boundaries.

ZPD serves as an internalized cognitive tool for an individual to teach and expand another individuals knowledge capacity in a given field to become an efficient problem solverFor example. Mother to child, teacher to student, skilled chess player to a novice.

It takes base in the already solidified knowledge and working to push beyond the comfort zone in a controlled setting to the extent that the less experienced user experiences some degree of challenge in performing the given task, yet still are able to effectively analyze, absorb and internalize and replicate the given expected pattern to a satisfying extent over time - which eventually will turn in to the individual being able to teach the same knowledge on to yet another, thus making a complete circle.

Effectively it could be explained as a “four stage rocket”:Stage 1: Assistance from a more knowledgeable other (capable peer or adult).Stage 2: Assistance from self (prior knowledge and research).Stage 3: Automatization (practice, trial-and-error).Stage 4: De-automatization (recursiveness through prior stages, provide explanation to others).

The base works of ZDP does not take into consideration:-Vagueness regarding processes-The failure to consider developmental aspects-The disregard of children’s individuality-Vagueness concerning the precise means whereby learning is produced

EgocentrismEgocentrism is a concept first studied by the swiss psychologist Jean Piaget. Piaget regarded egocentrism as an inherent part of children’s cognitive stages. It refers to the inability of small children to view things from any other perspective than their own. Hence, it is a failure to differentiate subjective from objective aspects of experience. This occurs usually among children until 6 years of age. After that, they slowly start to understand that their perspective is not the only one, but instead every person has their own.

Egocentrism can be divided into perceptual egocentrism and communicative egocentrism. Perceptual egocentrism refers to a child’s assumption that others see a specific object or scene in the same way as he or she does. The child thinks that a person observing the same scene or object but from the opposite side of the room sees it in the same way as he or she does. Communicative egocentrism is best illustrated by children’s talk on the phone. They might ask the person they’re talking with things such as: “Do you like my new shoes?” without understanding that the other person cannot see those shoes. The conversation between two small kids is often very monologue-like. They keep talking about their own life and experiences, without really minding if the other person is interested or not. Also playing with another child tends to take the form of parallel play rather than joint play. They are completely focused on their own thing. Eventually, when playing with other children they face the need to resolve differences of opinion and goals. Piaget called this “the shock of thought coming into contact with that of others”. Some traces of egocentrism can, however, be found later, especially among adolescents, who might blindly think that their belief or opinion is the only one that exists. Egocentrism should not, however, be confused with

narcissism or egotism. Egotists and narcissists are greatly influenced by the approval of others and they seek external admiration constantly. This does not normally apply to egocentric people.

There has been a strong criticism against Piaget’s theory of egocentrism. Many findings show that children much younger than age 6 or so do possess the capacity for acting in a non-egocentric way. It is now regarded that children become aware of other people’s perspectives and feelings gradually, starting from infancy. Egocentrism cannot, therefore, be seen as a solid truth as individual differences exist.

Also the negative stigma attached to egocentrism has been questioned. It has been shown that anything that individuals can relate to themselves is more meaningful and therefore more likely to be remembered, and this applies especially to young children. Therefore, seen from an evolutionary point of view, egocentrism is beneficial rather than detrimental. In order for children to grow into independent and strong adults, they need to go through this process of first acknowledging their own perspective and experience, and then that of others.

Followed by the concept of egocentrism, emerges the concept of theory of mind (ToM). It was also frequently used by Jean Piaget, although it has its roots far back in time, in the philosophical debate of science of the mind, Descartes being a key figure in this debate. It is the notion that individuals come to understand that not only they possess consciousness, thoughts and feelings, but others do too. In other words, it is people’s intuitive understanding of their own and others’ mental states. As mentioned already regarding egocentrism, the theory of mind can be attained starting usually from around 6 years of age, but in some cases before that. There are concepts such as mind reading linked to the theory of mind, because of the fact that we can actually never know for sure what another person is thinking or feeling, we can only try to interpret it from observable factors such as facial expressions, body language, tone of voice etc. Children aged ~4 start to develop a representational concept of the mind. They begin to understand that mental contents are not a copy of the reality but instead an interpretation of reality, that the mind is capable of creating its own representations of the reality. So, children start to understand that other people may perceive the same experience differently and give it a different meaning. This leads to appearance-reality distinction, in essence, the realization that things may be different from what they appear to be.

There seems to be considerable individual differences concerning ToM development. It has been discovered that usually the children from larger families have a greater rate of ToM development, due to more social interaction with siblings of different ages. Also the talk plays a great role in theory of mind development. In families where there’s more talk about emotions, desires and other mental states, the children are more likely to consider other people’s desires and beliefs too.

Egocentrism and the theory of mind that follows it are guidelines for understanding how and when we develop the ability to view things from other perspectives, accept different beliefs and opinions, and empathize. They are not absolute, as individual differences occur. But they are useful in understanding the changes that take place in our minds.

Socialization

“Life long process of inheriting and disseminating norms, customs, values and ideologies, providing an individual with the skills and habits necessary for participating within.”

Child effects and bidirectionality

This concept describes the effects from child to parents; the influences children exerts on their caretakers by virtue of their particular characteristics.

This bidirectionality shows both parents and children contribution to socialization. According to John Watson, the father of behaviorism, referred to newborn infants as a very lowly piece of unformed protoplasm, ready to be shaped by any family in whose care it is first placed (1928).

To explain the existence of child effects, two concepts - socialization and parent-child interaction have been developed which can be grouped into three categories:

1. Individual attributes-Parents especially the mother respond to their child on the basis of Individual attributes such as child’s gender, physical attractiveness, impulse control, disability and temperament..

2. Discrete behaviors-Parents also response according to brief actions such as smiles, cries, vocalization, gaze and gesture.

3. Age-related characteristics- Behavior of a child changes according to age and parent’s reaction and interaction to the child at the different stages of life will be different.

Parent effects

Various ways in which parent’s behavior affects the development of children. Children’s development depends upon behavior and attribute of their parents.

Four models which are characterized by nature of children and role of their parents play in their development:

1. Laissez-faire model-parents play inactive or passive role and children naturally bear all the essential traits of socialization.

2. Clay moulding model-views parents as determining factor to the socialization of their children. Parents tend to give proper shape to the children.

3. Conflict model-views that children and parents have the conflicting ideas and parents forcefully bring changes in children’s behavior.

4. Mutuality model-based upon the notion that both the parties have equally important role to play. Parents play the role of facilitator or moderator for the socialization of their children.

Child’s socialization or development depends mostly upon parents but other sources such as siblings, the extended family, peers, teachers and the media also influence child’s development.

Parental beliefs

This is a set of ideas that parents hold about the nature of children's socialization. These beliefs make us understand how parents think about their children and themselves. Parental belief is also known as parental cognition, ideas, thoughts, constructs, representation. As much as children grow with them, they can be modified by individuals experience over a period of time. It is believed that parents obtain their ideas from different sources such as their parents or own experience during childhood, opinion expressed by relatives, neighbors, friends and mostly by the media. We can assume child development by learning about parental beliefs. This relationship between parental belief and child rearing practices involves a complex interaction between them in which they mutually modify each other over the course of time. Beliefs exist as a result of the individual’s active construction as determined by multiple influences and its ongoing process. Believes do not exist in isolation from other social cognitive domains. We should therefore understand that beliefs alone are only moderately related to behavior. We also need to adhere to the fact that people behave differently depending on how they have been reared. Parental belief is one of the factors that determine or influence both parental practices and child outcomes.

Shared and Nonshared environmental influences

Research on behavioral genetics showed two kinds of environmental influences on children's development, one is shared influences, referring to those environmental experiences that are common to all children in a given family. Second is nonshared influences, refers to environmental experiences that impinge differently on each child in the same family. Parental alcoholism, divorce, social class and poverty are good examples of sharing the same experience, makes the siblings acting more alike. Nonsharing environmental experiences is more about favoritism towards one child in the family, neglecting the other siblings, will have, most of the time, a negative impact on their development. Plomin and Daniels (1987) wrote in detail about, that genetics are not solely about nature but that is also about contribution to make to our understanding of our nurture, as well as analyses of experiential factors and their relative influence on children. However, as behavioral genetics shows that all psychological characteristics , autism and even schizophrenia which are heavily depended on inherited forces, are influenced by experience too. Plenty of evidence showed that kids raised in same family will develop differently, moreover is seems that siblings will receive different treatment from their parents. It’s clear that both, shared and nonshared influences, are proven to be productive and valuable in child development.

Internalization and Compliance

Socializations aims to ensure that children are adopting the values, rules and standard of conduct of the community in which they are living, this being essential for functioning of society. In our times, failure to socialize still looks like sign of maladaptation. It is now clear that the processes whereby others set certain society standards and values will be adopted by children as their own. In children development is required also compliance, adults are the ones who are caregivers but also teachers, demanding from their children to do as asked and expecting prompt obedience. 1 Internalization and compliance are highly valued qualities in society, children will learn from early stage of their life both of them; of course, these two qualities are difficult to be developed for autistic children, and unfortunately our society still has more to learn when it comes to understating what does it mean to be different.

Moral, Conventional and Personal Conduct Rules

Moral rules are ones expressing the individual’s conception of what is just and what is unjust, of fairness and welfare, right and harm. Conventional rules pertain to the norms where a group of individuals decide upon, in order to regulate the behavior of their members. Conventional rules are found everywhere and their characteristics are determined by authority figures as parents or teachers; they express the custom that they want to follow etiquette, manners; their aim is to produce uniformity and stability of behavior within that group or family; unlike moral rules, conventional rules are not the same, they vary from situation to situation within a group or family.

Personal rules are set by each individual and therefore will have consequences only to the individual. When making choices, we are influenced by actions of others, mostly peers, and it will drastically differ from child to adult; that’s why there is always such a big gap between parents’ values and believes and their children, especially when it comes to young-hood stage.Knowing more about human behavior is very important when working in social services. Having this knowledge as a tool will be handy in our profession, each individual has a certain behavior; being able to analyze it will increase the chances of understanding why that individual is doing what it is doing.