Worked out answers (INTRODUCTION, body and CONCLUSION) for possible exam questions for the course PYC4805. These essays will provide all the necessary information to prepare yourself for the exams. I wrote my exam in 2020 and received a distinction for all assignments as well as my final grade. The...
Developmental Psychology (Child) Exam Prep
Question 21
“ ... children display a strong desire for group belonging. They form peer groups,
collectives that generate shared values and standards for behaviour and a social
structure of leaders and followers” (Berk, 2013, pp. 622-625).
Discuss this statement by referring to relevant research findings on group formation
in middle childhood and adolescence. Refer to the peer group, clique and crowd.
Peer Groups: Values and Norms
Peer groups can be described as collectives that generate unique values
and standards for behaviour and a social structure of leaders and followers
Normally, near the end of middle childhood, children gravitate to group
belonging
In these groups they find the opportunity to practice
cooperation
leadership
followership
and loyalty to the group’s collective goals
This is where children experiment with + learn about the functioning of social
organisations
At first, informal peer groups = organised on the basis of
o Proximity (same classroom)
o Similarity (in sex, culture + popularity)
When groups = tracked between 3-6 weeks, membership
changes very little
When followed for a year or longer, substantial change can
occur (depending on whether children were reshuffled into diff
classrooms)
When children remain together, 50-70% of groups consist
mostly of the same children from year to year
o These social networks often provide social support (eg – coping with
emotional stress + adjustment difficulties)
Customs + practices that lead to a “peer culture” – is evident in:
Specialised vocab
Dress code
Place to ‘hang out’ or meet
These customs = what bind peers + create a sense of group identity
Dress codes + beh become influential + children who deviate are in danger of
being rejected by the group members
Peer rejection
Deviation from a groups expectation often results in rejection or exclusion
Various tactics = implemented to cause the rejection
, o Sometimes exclusion = achieved with hostile tactics
Peer rejection = particularly hard on children
o And finding a new group can be difficult -> esp when a child has the
reputation of being rejected for some reason
Peer rejected children often turn to other low status peers for group belonging,
thereby reducing their opportunity to learn socially competent beh
Desire for group belonging can also be satisfied through formal group ties
(scouting, church, etc)
o These groups allow children to gain social + moral maturity while working
on joint projects + helping their community
o Rejection or exclusion from these groups = controlled + based on formal
rules
Cliques + Crowds
In early adolescence, peer groups become increasingly common and more
tightly structured
o They are organised into cliques groups of about five to eight
members who are friends and, therefore, usually resemble one another
in family background, attitudes, values, and interests
The organisation of peer groups = changes with age
Clique membership is more NB to girls who use it as a context for
expressing emotional closeness
During early adol cliques = limited to same sex members
By mid-adolescence, mixed-sex cliques become common
Adol peer groups = more structured than those of middle childhood
Crowds
Involve several cliques with similar values from a larger and more loosely organised
group. Membership in a crowd = based on reputation + stereotype.
Well known crowds include:
The brains (non-athletes who enjoy academics)
Jocks (involved in sports)
Populars (class leaders, highly social)
Partyers (value socialising but care little about school work)
Burnouts (skip school + get into trouble)
Etc
How adol get sorted into cliques + crowds
Crowd affiliations = linked to strengths in adolescents’ self concepts which
reflect their abilities + interests
Ethnicity also plays a role
o Minority teenagers who associate with an ethnically defined crowd,
may be motivated by discrimination in their school or neighbourhood
Family factors also play a role a study found:
o Authoritative parents = children often part of brain, jock or poulars
, o Permissive parents = children often joined partyer or burnout group
Many peer-group values are extensions of values acquired at home
Once adolescents join a clique or crowd, it can modify their beliefs and
behaviours
o As interest in dating increases, boys’ and girls’ cliques come together
o Mixed-sex cliques provide boys and girls with models for how to
interact with the other sex
By late adolescence, when boys and girls feel comfortable enough about
approaching each other directly the mixed-sex clique disappears
Crowds also decline in importance
o As adolescents settle on personal values + goals, they no longer feel a
need to broadcast who they are
Peer pressure + conformity
Conformity
Complying with rules, standards, laws + societal norms
Peer conformity varies with age, situation + approval + culture
Most pressure to conform with:
o Dress code
o Grooming
o Participation in certain social activities
o Show pro-adult beh (co-operation + getting good grades)
Peer pressure
Adol don’t just do what others ask
Resistance to peer pressure strengthens with age
Characteristics that help with resisting:
Feeling competent + worthwhile
Little need for approval
Good decision making
Possessing these characteristics makes a child less likely to engage in early
sex, delinquency, drug use and abuse
, Developmental Psychology (Child) Exam Prep
Question 20 a
By referring to the social learning and cognitive-developmental views, discuss the
emergence of the development of gender identity in early childhood and the further
path of gender identity development through middle childhood and adolescence.
Refer in your discussion to the differences between boys and girls regarding gender
identity.
Draw a link between the process of identity development and the development of
gender identity in adolescence.
Gender identity a person’s perception of the self as relatively masculine or
feminine in characteristics
o Gender identity is a good predictor of psychological adjustment
Early Childhood
How do children develop a gender identity?
According to social learning theory, behaviour comes before self-perceptions
o Pre-schoolers first acquire gender-typed responses through modelling +
reinforcement
o and only later organise these behaviours into gender-linked ideas about
themselves
In contrast, cognitive-developmental theory maintains that self-perceptions
come before behaviour
o Over the preschool years, children acquire a cognitive appreciation of the
permanence of their sex
o They develop gender constancy —a full understanding of the biologically
based permanence of their gender, which combines three understandings:
gender labelling - children can label their own sex and that of others
correctly
gender stability - slightly older pre-schoolers have a partial
understanding of the permanence of sex, in that they grasp its
stability over time
and gender consistency - During the late preschool and early
school years, children understand that sex is biologically based and
remains the same even if a person dresses in “cross-gender”
clothes or engages in nontraditional activities
Children use this knowledge to guide their behaviour.
Middle Childhood
During middle childhood, boys’ and girls’ gender identities follow different paths
Between Gr 3-6 boys strengthen their identity with “masculine” role + girls id
with “feminine” characteristics declines
Girls tend to become more androgynous than boys
o These changes = due to social + cognitive forces
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