MIDDLE

CHILDHOOD-
SOCIAL AND
PERSONALITY
DEVELOPMENT
 FREUD’S THEORY ABOUT
PSYCHOSEXUAL
DEVELOPMENT
• Latent Stage (6 to 12 years)
- At this point in time, Freud believed that sexual desires
would be sublimated and would reemerge in the teenage
years.
- Sexual feelings remain repressed.
- Focus is on development of social, intellectual and other
cultural skills.
 ERIKSON’S THEOY
ABOUT PSYCHOSOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT

• Industry vs. Inferiority stage – period

from ages 6 to 12 characterized by a
focus on efforts to attain competence in
meeting the challenges presented by
parents, peers, school, and the
complexities of the world.
Industry

• Children really begin to learn and play by

rules;
• concern for how things work, how things are
made, and what things actually do
• Children who are encouraged to make
things, do things or build things will develop
a sense of industry.

Inferiority

• Parents who see their child as mischievous

or as messy will help the child develop a
sense of inferiority.
• School plays a critical role during this
period. Friends and teachers play an integral
role in development it is in this stage that
lifelong academic failure can begin.
 THE TRAIT AND SOCIAL-
COGNITIVE THEORY
• Trait - is a stable pattern of responding to situations.
• By middle childhood, trait theorists argue, the various
dimensions of temperament have evolved into the five
dimensions of personality. These traits are known to the
development of feelings of competence.
THE BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS
 • Bandura proposed that the personal,
behavioural, and environmental
components interact in a pattern he
termed reciprocal determinism.
Bandura hypothesized that the
Bandura’s relationship between behavior and
Reciprocal environment was bi-directional,
meaning that both factors can
Determinism influence each other. In this theory,
humans are actively involved in
molding the environment that
influences their own development and
growth.
 SELF CONCEPT

• Psychological self- It is a person’s

understanding about his or her
enduring psychological characteristics.
Between 6-12, children construct a
psychological self. As a result, their
self-descriptions begin to include
personality traits such as intelligence
and friendliness, along with physical
characteristic.
PERSONALITY 6-year-old 10-year-old
TRAITS child self child self
description: description:
• Children describe “Smart” “I am smarter
their own than most
personalities with “Dumb” other kids.”
increasing degrees of “I am not as
precision across the talented to
middle childhood art as my
years. friend.”
 SELF-EFFICACY

• Bandura defines self-efficacy as an

individual’s belief in her capacity to cause an
intended event to occur. He proposed that
peer models are primary source of self-
efficacy beliefs. However, social
comparisons play an integral role.
• Social Comparisons- conclusions drawn
about the self based on comparisons to
others.
 SELF-CONCEPT:
The Psychological Self
 Psychological self: a person’s understanding of
his or her enduring psychological characteristics

• More complex
• Comparisons in self-descriptions
• Less tied to external features
 Social comparisons
Self-efficacy:
an individual’s
belief in his or
her capacity Encouragement from
to cause valued sources
intended
events

Actual experiences
 SELF- Discrepancy between
what one desires and
Perceived support from
important people
Direct experience with
success or failure
perceived achievement
CONCEPT
Self-
Esteem
Labels and judgments The value a child
from others attaches to some skill or
quality is affected by
peers’ and parents’
attitudes
 Focuses on internal
The Child as traits and
Psychologist: motivations of
others
ADVANCES
IN SOCIAL
COGNITION:
Self-Concept Better
Less emphasis on understanding that
external appearance same person plays
different roles in life
 SELF-CONCEPT • Moral reasoning: Judgments about
the rightness and wrongness of
Moral Reasoning: specific actions
Piaget
• Moral realism: They believe that the
rules of games can’t be changed
because they come from authorities,
such as parents, government officials,
or religious figures
 Moral
relativism

• in which they learn

that people can
agree to change
rules if they want
to. They realize
that the important
thing about a game
is that all the
players follow the
same rules,
regardless of what
those are.
 ENCOURAGING MORAL
REASONING
• Parents and teachers can support this development in 6-
to 12-year-olds in a variety of ways:
• Require decisions for what is wanted.
• Praise utilization of social conventions.
• Couple punishment with explanations.
• Teach about reciprocity.
• Provide meaningful choices.
• Encourage obedience based in love and respect, not fear.
• Challenge egocentrism.
• Encourage charitable projects.
Developmentalists measure popularity
and rejection by asking children to list
peers they would not like to play with
or by observing which children are
sought out or avoided on the
playground. These techniques allow
researchers to group children
according to the degree which they are
accepted by peers.
• Attractive and physically larger
• Take turns in conversation
Popular
• Explain things children
• Regulate strong emotions
• Perceptive and empathetic
2 types of rejected
children
• WITHDRAWN/ REJECTED CHILDREN – they realize that
they are disliked by peers. After repeated attempts to gain
peer acceptance, these children eventually give up and
become socially withdrawn
• AGGRESSIVE/REJECTED CHILDREN – often disruptive,
uncooperative, bossy, and usually believe that their peers
like them. They interrupt their play partners more often
and fail to take turns in a systematic way
Influences beyond family
and peers
Children in poverty:
• more often ill
• lower average IQ scores
• perform poorly in school
• exhibit more behavior problems
 • Exposed to street gangs and street violence
Children of • In over-crowded homes
inner city • Subject to more abuse and drug use
poverty may • Witnessing or becoming victims of more
violent crimes
grow up…… • Subject to PTSD
 HOMEWORK #3

This will be the 5th article in your blog.

• Describe your personality during elementary years using
OCEAN (Big Five Traits).
• What was your favorite memory during elementary
years? Why was it memorable for you?