Psychology Chapter 14 Secure Relationships Adulthood Linked Being Sensitive And

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Chapter 14

b. Play is evolved behavior helping children prepare for adulthood

c. Pretend play fosters cognitive, motor, and social skill development

i. Playing contributes to the development of bone density and neural

maturation

D. Peer Acceptance

1. Sociometric techniques – research methods for determining who people like and

dislike within a group (e.g., classmates)

2. Distinct categories of social status

a. Popular – well liked, rarely disliked

e. Average – in middle on like and dislike scale

3. Popularity affected by personal characteristics like physical attractiveness,

intelligence (relatively intelligent children more popular), and who have social

competence—the ability to apply social cognitive skills successfully in initiating

social interactions and resolving interpersonal conflict

4. Rejected children are often highly aggressive, although some are socially isolated,

10. Same type of child may be popular in one culture but not in another (e.g., shy

unpopular in Canada and popular in China)

11. Way of gaining popularity changes with age (e.g., interest in opposite sex

unpopular in childhood but popular in adolescence)

12. Rejection in early childhood due to aggressive behavior is associated with peer

rejection in later grades

a. Rejected children may become more poorly adjusted as a result of the

E. Friendships

1. Unpopular children may have a reciprocated social relationship, while popular

kids may not have any

Checking Mastery

1. Which two of Parten’s types of play is the most socially complex?

➢ Answer: The two most complex of Parten’s six types of play are associative play

2. What are the two main trends in the development of play over the preschool years?

➢ Answer: Over the preschool years, play becomes more social (as associative and

and social pretend play become more common).

3. What are three important influences on popularity or sociometric status in childhood?

➢ Answer: Physical attractiveness, cognitive ability, social competence, and

III The Adolescent

A. Attachments to Parents

1. Continue to need security and support from parents to become independent

a. Adolescents may feel conflicted as they seek greater autonomy from parents

2. Going off to college qualifies as “naturally occurring strange situation”

a. Some separation anxiety normal and adaptive

B. Friendships

1. Early friendships based on enjoying common activities, mutual loyalty and caring

in late childhood, and intimacy and self-disclosure in adolescence

3. Begin to form more cross-sexed friendships

a. Same-sexed tend to be more intimate

b. Girls report more emotional intimacy in cross-sexed relationships

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C. Changing Social Networks

1. Dunphy five stages of evolution of peer groups during adolescence from isolated

unisex cliques to crowd disintegration

a. Stage 1: in late childhood begin with same-sex cliques—small group of

friends—that have little to do with opposite sex

b. Stage 2: boy and girl clique members begin to interact

e. Stage 5: crowds begin to disintegrate into couples

f. Different types of high school “crowds” (e.g., “populars,” “druggies”)

i. Type of crowd a child belongs to is important

ii. “Brains” tend to graduate from college and have high self-esteem

iii. “Basket cases” more psychological problems

D. Dating

1. Basics facts concerning teen dating

a. Many teens (70% of 18-year-olds) involved in “special romantic relationship”

b. Early adolescent dates superficial and short-lived

c. Brown’s phases of adolescent romantic relationships

i. Initiation phase – early focus on self and seeing self as capable of relating

to members of opposite sex

ii. Status phase – middle adolescence status derived from having the right

Checking Mastery

1. What is the difference between a clique and a crowd?

➢ Answer: A clique is a small friendship group, either same sex or mixed sex; a

2. Before they are capable of truly caring romantic relationships, what two things do

young teens seek from dating relationships, according to B. Bradford Brown’s four

phases of dating?

➢ Answer: Young teens seek to establish in early dating relationships that they are

IV The Adult

A. Social Networks

1. Larger social convoys—social networks and support systems—in young

adulthood than in middle or old age

2. Social interaction patterns

a. Young adults busy forming romantic relationships

3. Socioemotional selectivity (Carstenson) – theory that shrinking networks

represent choice to better match emotional needs (sacrifice quantity for quality)

a. Perception by older individuals that there is limited time left prompts them to

put less emphasis on the goal of acquiring knowledge for future use and more

emphasis on fulfilling current emotional needs

Chapter 14

B. Romantic Relationships

1. Mate selection

a. Evolutionary theorists suggest that men are more likely than women to

emphasize physical attractiveness while women are more likely to place

emphasis on a potential mate’s resources and social status

b. Filter theories of mate selection see process as involving a filtering from all

possible partners to one partner

ii. “Birds of a feather” more valid than “opposites attract”

d. Love

i. Sternberg proposed a triangular theory of love based on three key

components: passion, intimacy, and decision/commitment

ii. Passion – sexual attraction, romantic feelings, excitement

C. Adult Attachment Styles

1. Attachment is important component of love relationships

a. Attachments between love partners is biologically adaptive and increases the

odds of having children and the odds that the children will have two parents to

help them survive

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2. Adult attachments related to love and romantic relationships

a. Secure attachment predicts positive relationships

b. Avoidant lovers fear intimacy while resistant individuals tend to be obsessed

3. Adult internal working models predict extent to which adults have confidence and

curiosity to explore and master their environments

4. Internal working models affect adult capacity for caregiving

a. Secure relationships in adulthood linked to being sensitive and responsive

5. Attachment styles have a bearing on adjustment in old age

a. Older people in dismissing-avoidant category express some discomfort with

D. Friendships

1. Important across the lifespan but take on different characters at different ages

a. Young adults typically have more friends than older adults, but even very old

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E. Adult Relationships and Adult Development

1. Quality, not quantity, of social relationships affects well-being

2. Apparent need for confidants—individual to whom one is closely attached and

with whom feelings and thoughts can be shared

3. Key to life satisfaction is whether interacting with close companion is rewarding

or stressful

4. Social supports can have positive impact on psychological and health status

a. Positive impact on cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune systems

(improving body’s ability to deal with illness)

Checking Mastery

1. What qualities does a companionate love relationship have, according to Sternberg’s

triangular theory of love?

➢ Answer: Companionate love involves high levels of intimacy and commitment

2. How would you characterize people with a preoccupied internal working model in

terms of their (1) views of self and others and (2) position on the dimensions of

attachment anxiety and avoidance?

➢ Answer: People with a preoccupied attachment style (1) view other people

and (2) are high in attachment anxiety, low in avoidance.

3. What kinds of relationships contribute most to adult well-being?

➢ Answer: Adult well-being is more strongly related to having at least one

SUGGESTIONS FOR CLASS DISCUSSIONS OR PROJECTS: To develop critical thinking skills

and enhance learning with exercises that support the course learning objectives.

Chapter 14

1. Attachment: In 1993, a 2½-year-old known as “Baby Jessica” was permanently separated

from her adoptive parents after her biological parents succeeded in regaining custody of her.

Many were haunted by the image of a screaming Jessica being driven off in a van from the only

2. Adult Attachment: Hazan and Shaver (1990) have done research on adult attachment.

Students might enjoy seeing the short descriptors of avoidant, anxious/ambivalent, and secure

adults. Do these adult styles seem to map well to the infant styles? How much continuity in

styles would students expect to exist across the lifespan? What experiences after infancy might

alter one’s attachment style? Do these attachments really impact self-concept and mental health

status?

3. Best Friend: Have students complete a “create a best friend” exercise in which they list the

five characteristics that they would instill in a person if they were trying to build a “best friend.”

4. Popularity: What makes someone popular at different points of the lifespan? One way to

explore this question is to have students interview people from across the lifespan and ask these

individuals to describe characteristics that make one popular at their age. After generating the

information, a class discussion could focus on one or more of the following questions:

• What are the characteristics of popular peers at different ages?

• Do these characteristics remain stable across the lifespan?

• Do students expect the “in-crowd” from their high school to still be “in” when they

return for their 10th or 25th class reunion?

5. Friendship Development: To help students think more about friendship development, have

Chapter 14

them reflect on their first friend. Before beginning the class discussion, you might ask for a show

of hands in response to the following questions so that students can assess the diversity in the

classroom:

• How old were the students (preschool, middle childhood, preadolescent, other)?

• Were their friends younger, older, or the same age?

6. Social and Emotional Development: In Chapter 14, students are introduced to cliques and

their impact on social and emotional development during the middle and high school years. In

most cases, cliques are viewed in negative terms and seen as detrimental, but the text points out

7. Seven Types of Love: Sternberg suggested the existence of seven types of love: liking

(intimacy only), infatuation (passion only), empty love (commitment only), romantic love

(intimacy and passion), companionate love (intimacy and commitment), fatuous love (passion