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Ecology of the Peer Group - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Much documentation has been accumulating regarding the connection between social development and cognitive development (Ladd, 2005; Rubin et al., 2006). This connection is referred to as social cognition—conceptions and reasoning about people, the self, relations between people, social groups' roles and rules, and the relation of such conceptions to social behavior (Shantz, 1983).
      - Social Cognition in the Preoperational Stage. Young children ages 2 to 7 are in the stage of cognitive development that Jean Piaget (1952) termed preoperational. The preoperational stage is characterized by intuitive, rather than logical, thought. Preoperational children are poor at understanding relationships between objects, events, and people.
      - Social Cognition in the Concrete Operational Stage. Young children ages 7 to 11 are in the stage of cognitive development that Piaget termed concrete operational (1952). The concrete operational stage is characterized by the ability to apply logical, systematic principles to help interpret specific or tangible experiences, but also by the inability to distinguish between intangible assumptions, or hypotheses, and facts, or reality.
      - assumptive reality a theory about reality assumed to be true without examining or evaluating contradictory data
        cognitive conceit Elkind's term for children in Piaget's stage of concrete operations who put too much faith in their reasoning ability and cleverness
      - Social Cognition in the Formal Operational Stage. From about age 11 and on, children are in the stage of cognitive development that Piaget termed formal operational (1952). The formal operational stage is characterized by the ability to think logically about abstract ideas and hypotheses, as well as concrete facts; one can now construct all the possibilities of a proposition—the ones related to fact and the ones contrary to fact.
      - reality testing testing assumptions against facts
        imaginary audience the beliefs that others are as concerned with one's behavior and appearance as one is oneself
- - - - Still another way in which children influence each other is through punishment—teasing, physical aggression, or rejection by the group. Such behavior begins in preschool (Crick, Casas, & Ku, 1999). Criteria for rejection will be discussed later. An extreme of such punishment is being a victim of bullying. Victims are usually withdrawn, passive, shy, insecure, and have difficulty asserting themselves in a group. Bullies are usually dominant, aggressive, impulsive, angry, and have a low frustration tolerance. Bullying and victimization require adult intervention strategies, to be discussed later (Coloroso, 2003; Olweus, 1993, 2003).
      - Sometimes children are rejected or punished by peers because of physical characteristics (being overweight, for example) or behavioral characteristics (bragging, dominating, or criticizing, for example) (Adler & Adler, 1998; Coie, Dodge, & Kupersmidt, 1990; Parkhurst & Asher, 1992). The consequence of being punished by exclusion and teasing by the peer group is described in the box “Peers, Power, Pecking Order, and Punishment.” The social dynamics of inclusion, exclusion, and social hierarchies are discussed later.
      - 8-5d Apprenticeship
        
        Yet another way peers influence each other is through apprenticeship, in which someone with more expertise (the expert) helps someone with less (the novice). Examples of apprenticeship referred to in this chapter are peers having introduced you to popular music, having taught you to dance, or having “educated” you about sex.
        
        Lev Vygotsky (1978) postulated that a more knowledgeable person, such as a teacher or an expert peer, initially guides the learner's, or novice's, activity. Gradually, the two begin to share problem-solving functions, with the novice taking the initiative and the expert peer correcting and guiding when the novice falters. Finally, the expert peer cedes control and acts as a supportive audience.
        
        Peer groups in schools are manifested in the formation of cliques—friends who view themselves as mutually connected and doing things together—and crowds—loosely organized reference groups of cliques. Cliques and crowds are significant contributors to children's and adolescents' quests for identity.
- - - - The development of morals (distinguishing right from wrong) and values (determining what is worthwhile) occurs in a social setting. By interacting with others, the child comes to know what is and is not acceptable behavior. Children learn morals and values from parents and other adults through instruction, reasoning, modeling, reinforcement, and punishment; they learn morals and values from peers through real experiences (learning by doing).
      - Rules as a Moral Component
        Understanding rules is part of moral development in that both involve rule formulation, rule following, cooperation, limit setting, division of roles, and territoriality: “Consciousness of rules cannot be isolated from the moral life of the child as a whole” (Piaget, 1965, p. 50). Rules are related to morals in that both have to do with established guides for conduct. In the peer group, common rules based on common experience begin to develop (Howe, 2010).
      - Types of Morality
        Piaget (1965) contrasts two types of morality. One type, heteronomous morality or morality of constraint, consists of behavior based on respect for persons in authority. It is imposed by a prestigeful and powerful source, usually the parent or another adult. This type of morality fosters the ideal that to obey the will of the authority is good; to obey one's own will is bad. Such morality is fostered in the family and in school.
      - morality of constraint behavior based on respect for persons in authority
        morality of cooperation behavior based on mutual understanding between equals
      - 8-6c Learning Appropriate Sociocultural Roles
        
        Although the family imparts sociocultural roles, such as independence and interdependence, the peer group gives the child opportunities to try out roles learned at home (Greenfield et al., 2006). The child gains an understanding of the individual's responsibility in a group situation. For example, does one exercise autonomy and respect peers' right to free choice (“I want to play Scrabble; what game do you want to play?”); or does one exercise empathy, anticipating the desires of peers (“I know you like to play chess, so let's play that”)? Does one communicate in a direct, assertive manner (“I want to try your new bike”) or in an indirect, passive manner (“That's a nice new bike you got”)? Does one compete with peers for individual recognition or cooperate with peers for group recognition? Does one confront conflict or avoid it?
        
        Sex and Gender Roles
        Sex is abroad term encompassing (1) an individual's biological characteristics, (2) the psychological construct of appropriate male/female behavior (gender role), (3) sex education, and (4) sexual activity.
        
        Gender Role. Gender role is sociocultural in that children learn from their peers what is culturally acceptable and admirable for boys and girls (Best, 1983; Ruble, Martin, & Berenbaum, 2006; Thorne, 1993).
        
        Sex Education. The peer group is often the imparter of information about sexuality. Children and adolescents share their knowledge with each other—knowledge they may have gained from their families, from the media, from school, or from friends. With their limited cognitive ability, they often have an incomplete understanding of normal sexual development, which, combined with their friends' incomplete understanding, distorts the total picture of sexuality.
        
        8-6d Achieving Personal Independence and Identity
        
        As discussed earlier, peer groups enable children to become increasingly independent of adults. “Individuals juggle different and often conflicting images of self between the childish self shown to their families and the maturing self shown to their peers” (Adler & Adler, 1998, p. 198). In addition, as children get older, peers become increasingly important as social support (Jackson & Warren, 2000; Rubin et al., 2006).
        
        Social support refers to the resources (tangible, intellectual, social, emotional) provided by others in times of need. Tangible support includes sharing toys, clothes, and money. Intellectual support includes giving information or advice. Social support involves companionship. Emotional support involves listening and empathy. Boys' and girls' use of social supports differs (Jackson & Warren, 2000). Boys tend to have more extensive social supports and girls, more intimate ones. Boys look to their social supports for affirmation; girls look to theirs for help to solve a problem.
        
        8-7〉 Chronosystem Influences on the Peer Group: Play/Activities
        
        Chronosystem influences on the peer group refer here to changes in structure, activities, and relationships as peers grow and develop psychologically, socially, and cognitively Because child-initiated play is the main activity that occurs in peer groups, it is discussed first; adult-initiated play is discussed later.
        
        8-7a The Significance and Development of Play
        
        “Play is behavior that is enjoyed for its own sake” (Evans & McCandless, 1978, p. 110). It is significant to development for many reasons. Play is the way children learn about their environment, because its interactive nature allows for construction of knowledge (Piaget, 1962). Vygotsky (1978) and others (Berk & Winsler, 1995; Scarlett, Naudeau, Salonius-Pasternak, & Ponte, 2005) describe play to be an imaginary situation governed by social rules.
        
        Play contributes to development in that it enables the child to separate thought from actions and objects. It also enables the child to move from impulsive activity to planned goals and self-regulation (instead of taking a desired toy, the child asks permission to play with it).
        
        Years ago, in a classic study based on observations of nursery school children at “free play,” Mildred Parten (1932) examined developmental changes in their social play according to type of social interaction: solitary, onlooker, parallel, associative, and cooperative.
        
        Solitary. The child plays alone and independently. The child seems to concentrate on the activity rather than on other children who may be nearby. Solitary play is typical of infant/toddlers.
        
        Onlooker. The child watches other children playing and may initiate conversations with them. Though there is no actual engagement in the play being observed, the child is definitely involved as a spectator. Two-year-olds engage in a considerable amount of onlooker play.
        
        Parallel. The child plays alone, but with toys like those that other children are using, or plays in a manner that mimics the behavior of playing children. Parallel play is common among 2- and 3-year-olds, but diminishes as the child gets older.
        
        Associative. Social interaction and communication are involved in associative play but with little or no organization. Children engage in play activities similar to those of other children, but appear to be more interested in being associated with each other than in the tasks at hand. Associative play is common among 3- and particularly among 4-year-olds.
        
        Cooperative. Social interaction in a group characterizes cooperative play. The activity is organized, and the group has a purpose—for example, a group building a fort together, a group playing “store,” or a game of baseball. Cooperative play is the prototype for the games of middle childhood. Cooperative play begins to be exhibited by 4- to 5-year-olds.
        
        Contemporary research shows that these play forms emerge in the order suggested by Parten, but earlier forms may coexist with later forms, rather than being replaced by them (Howes & Matheson, 1992). However, the complexity of the form does change with age (Rubin & Coplan, 1992). Children will combine type of activity with type of social interaction (what Parten classified as “stage of play”).
        
        Imitative play. During the first year of life, the baby imitates the parent. During the second year of life, the child can put together parts of acts already imitated or observed in new combinations. In the third year, children imitate whole roles, such as mother or father. Most of this early imitative play consists of imitation of the important and powerful people in children's lives.
        
        ♦ Exploratory play. In the first year, the child explores—touches, tastes, and manipulates. In the second year, the child also empties, fills, inserts, puts in and out, pulls, stacks, and rolls. In the third year, the child arranges, heaps, combines, transfers, sorts, and spreads. Novel manipulations are a delight to the child and can be manipulations of objects or of words.
        
        Testing play. In many types of play what children are actually doing is testing themselves. During the second year, children test their motor skills. They pull wagons, lift objects, climb, run, and jump. As children get older, they test themselves in games. They compete with others to measure their skills, both physical and intellectual. They also test their emotions, such as fear and anger.
        
        Model-building play. About age 4, model-building play becomes explicit, when blocks are organized into buildings, trucks into highway traffic, dishes into tea parties. Children begin to put elements of their experiences together in unique ways.
        
        Young children often engage in rough-and-tumble play. This type of play involves fighting, wrestling, and/or chasing. It is viewed more as “mock” aggression than “real” aggression (Hughes, 2010). Children in many cultures exhibit it, as do young animals. Thus, it may have evolutionary survival roots to develop protective skills in the young.
- - - - Cognitive influence. Game patterns change with cognitive development, as children become more capable of handling complex rules and strategies. According to classic studies by Sutton-Smith (1972), children ages 6 to 9 enjoy simple games with dramatic content (cops and robbers). Older children like games requiring strategy, such as checkers or chess, as well as organized team sports.
      - Psychological influence. Games also change with children's psychological development. For example, their self-concepts change. Sutton-Smith (1972) points out that in younger children's games, such as Simon Says or Giant Steps, the person who is “it,” operating from a home base, is safe and has power to control the moves of the others.
      - Sociocultural influence. Children's games reflect the culture in which they live. For example, according to Parker (1984), competitive games, such as soccer, basketball, or football, offer practice in territorial invasion. Card games offer practice in bluffing and calculating odds.
      - 8-7e Adolescent Peer Activities
        
        Adolescents like to “hang out”—talk, watch TV, listen to music, play video games, be seen, see who else is “hanging” with whom, wait for something to happen (Steinberg, 2010). In early adolescence, most activities occur with same-sex peers, whereas in later adolescence, activities that attract and include the opposite sex are favored, such as parties, sporting events, and concerts. Adolescents, when not engaged in organized school, sports, or community activities, spend a lot of time on their appearance—clothing, makeup, jewelry, body art—and connecting with friends via cell phones and computers.
        
        Peer Group Interaction
        
        The relationships children form when interacting with peers, as well as why some children are successful in making friends, vary based on a variety of factors, such as ability to make friends and acceptance, neglect, or rejection by the group.
        
        8-8a Development of Friendship
        
        Like other activities children engage in as they develop, their social relationships and friendships also become more complex. With age, friendships become more distinctive, longer-lasting, and closer. They encompass acquaintances, “just friends,” “good friends,” and “best/close friends” (Berndt & McCandless, 2009).
        
        Early Childhood
        Most children under age 4 and some older ones are in the first stage—momentary playmateship. They are unable to consider the viewpoint of another person and can think only about what they want from the friendship. Friends are defined by how close they live (“He's my friend; he lives next door”) or by their material possessions (“She's my friend; she has a dollhouse and a swing set”).
        
        Early to Middle Childhood
        The second stage is one-way assistance. From about age 4 until about age 9, children are more capable of telling the difference between their own perspectives and those of others. However, friendship is based on whether or not someone does what the child wants that person to do (“He's not my friend anymore; he didn't want to play cars”).
        
        Middle Childhood
        In the third stage—two-way, fair-weather cooperation—children 6 to 12 acknowledge that friendship involves give-and-take. However, they see friendship as mutually serving individual interests rather than mutually cooperating toward a common interest (“We are friends; we do things for each other”).
        
        Middle Childhood to Adolescence
        The fourth stage is one of intimate, mutually shared relationships. Children between 9 and 15 can view a friendship as an entity in itself. It is an ongoing, committed relationship that incorporates more than just doing things for each other; it tends to be treasured for its own sake and may involve possessiveness and jealousy (“She is my best friend. How can she go to the movies with Susan?”).
        
        Adolescence to Adulthood
        Finally, there is the fifth stage of autonomous, interdependent friendships. About age 12, children are capable of respecting their friends' needs for both dependency and autonomy (“We like to do most things together and we talk about our problems, but sometimes Jason just likes to be by himself. I don't mind”).
- - - - Techniques known collectively as sociometry, as discussed earlier, have been developed to measure patterns of acceptance, neglect, and rejection among members of a group. Sociometry was originally used in school classrooms but is now widely used in other settings, such as recreational, work, and prison environments. Contemporary researchers typically use sociometry to identify the extent to which children prefer to be with certain peers (Cillesen, 2009; Parkhurst & Asher, 1992).
      - sociotherapy an intervention to help children who have trouble making and keeping friends learn to relate to others
      - Peer Group Dynamics and Social Hierarchies
        
        The peer group is a microsystem with dynamic roles and relationships affecting its participants. Unlike the microsystems of family, school, and community, the peer group is generally unencumbered by adult guidance. The peer group uses informal social mechanisms to develop norms, statuses, alliances, consequences, and feelings about self (Thompson, Cohen, & Grace, 2002). These social mechanisms are illustrated in the box “Peers, Prestige, Power, and Persuasion.”
        
        8-10a Clique Inclusion and Exclusion
        
        Adler and Adler (1998), who studied groups of boys and girls ages 8 to 12 (tweens) in a predominantly white, middle-class community for 8 years, found dynamics in peer cliques to include techniques of inclusion (recruitment of new members, treatment of wannabes, friendship realignment, ingratiation) and exclusion (out-group subjugation, in-group subjugation, compliance, stigmatization, expulsion).
        
        Clique Inclusionary Techniques
        Recruitment of a new member into a clique is usually by invitation; if a member meets and likes someone, that individual is afforded “probationary” status until the other members agree to include him or her (Adler & Adler, 1998; Wiseman, 2009). Wannabes sometimes gain entry by doing nice things for members of the clique or by doing something to gain their respect, such as helping the school team win.
        
        Clique Exclusionary Techniques
        Out-group subjugation, such as teasing, picking on, and being mean to those outside the clique, serve to solidify the cohesiveness of the group and assure the strength of the group's position with other groups (Adler & Adler, 1998; Wiseman, 2009).
        
        8-10b Bullies and Victims
        
        An extreme example of the dynamics and social hierarchies in peer groups is bullying. Bullying is aggressive behavior intended to cause harm or distress. It occurs repeatedly over time in an unbalanced relationship of power or strength. It can occur in many forms, including physical violence, teasing and name-calling, intimidation, and social exclusion (APA, 2005; Klein, 2013; Salmivalli & Peets, 2009).
        
        According to Giannetti and Sagarese (2008), because cyberbullying is a relatively new phenomenon, school and law enforcement officials are still sorting out legal issues. Most of what is done online is protected as “free speech.” Internet service providers (ISPs) contend they are merely conduits for individuals to post information, so they generally won't get involved in using their technology to trace the perpetrator unless it is a legal matter.
        
        Antisocial Behavior: Gangs
        
        A gang is a group of people who form an allegiance for a common purpose and engage in unlawful or criminal activity (Jackson & McBride, 2000). Gangs are of concern not only because of their antisocial activities, but also because of their increase (Goldstein, 1991; National Gang Center [NGC], 2013). Gangs usually consist of males, although there are female gangs; they are not co-ed.
        
        Gangs usually consist of males, although there are female gangs; they are not co-ed. Gang members identify themselves through names, clothes, tattoos, slang, sign language, and graffiti. The problem of gangs is spreading throughout our society like a plague. They are present in neighborhoods and schools, affecting businesses, recreation, and education (Landre, Miller, & Porter, 1997; NGC, 2013). Gang violence has tragic consequences; gangs deal drugs, steal, hurt, and kill. Innocent bystanders are often victims (NGC, 2013).