Chapter 10: Middle Childhood:
Social and Personality Development
Development Across the Lifespan
Social & Personality Development:
Understanding Oneself in Middle
Childhood

Children in middle childhood
are struggling to understand
who they are, and continue to
explore answers to the
question “Who am I?”
The Developing Self
~ During middle childhood, children begin to
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view themselves less in terms of external
physical attributes and more in terms of
psychological traits.
Children realize they are good at some
things and not so good at others.
Their self-concepts become divided into
personal and academic spheres…
As children get older, their views of self become
more differentiated.
(The Developing Self, continued)
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Children use SOCIAL COMPARISON, comparing
themselves to the abilities, expertise, and opinions
of others.
Festinger proposed that when objective measures
are absent, people rely on social reality to evaluate
themselves (understanding that comes from
studying how others act, think, feel, and view the
world).
Children look to others who are similar to
themselves.
(Social comparison, continued)
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Sometimes children make downward social
comparisons with others who are obviously less
competent or successful to raise or protect their
self-esteem.
This explains why some students in elementary
school have very high self esteem in spite of the
fact that are in special education classes
 Big fish in a small pond
Psychosocial Development: Industry
versus Inferiority
According to Erik Erikson, middle childhood
encompasses the INDUSTRY-VERSUSINFERIORITY STAGE, the 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 other
complexities of the modern world.
(Psychosocial Development: Industry
versus Inferiority, continued)
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Success in this stage is evidenced by feelings
of mastery, proficiency, and confidence.
Difficulties lead to feelings of failure and
inadequacy, and to withdrawal from
academics and socialization with peers
Attaining a sense of industry during middle
childhood has lasting consequences!
 High levels of childhood industry associated
with adult success (more so than
intelligence and family background!)
Self esteem: Evaluating the self
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Children evaluate themselves in terms of
physical and psychological characteristics,
but they also think of themselves as being
good or bad (involves emotions)
SELF-ESTEEM, an individual's overall and
specific positive and negative selfevaluation, develops in important ways
during middle childhood.
Self esteem develops in important ways
during middle childhood…
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Children increasingly compare themselves
to others.
Children are developing their own internal
standards.
Self-esteem, for most children, increases
during middle childhood.
Children with low self-esteem may become
enmeshed in a cycle of failure that is difficult
to break.
A cycle of Low Self-Esteem
If a child has low
self-esteem and
expects to do poorly
on a test, she may
experience anxiety
and not do as well,
which confirms the
negative self view.
Parents can break
this cycle a warm
and supportive style.
Self esteem, continued…
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Early research showed that the self-esteem of
minority groups was lower than majority groups'
due to prejudice and discrimination.
Tajfel (French psychologist) showed that if
minority groups do not accept the views of their
group by the majority group, their self-esteem will
not suffer.
Societal attitudes favoring group pride, ethnic
awareness, and sensitivity have resulted in more
similar levels of self esteem in members of
different ethnic groups
Self efficacy:
Building expectations of the self
“Will I do well in the spelling bee?”
 “I wonder if I would be good at playing the
flute?”
 “Do I have a chance at winning the award for
best science project?”
~ These type of questions resemble those that
children commonly ask themselves during the
elementary school years. The way children
answer is based on their levels of self
efficacy.
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(Self efficacy, continued)
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SELF-EFFICACY refers to the learned
expectations that one is capable of carrying out a
behavior or producing a desired outcome in a
particular situation.
Self-efficacy is crucial to children's success
because it motivates greater effort and
persistence in the face of a challenging task.
High self-efficacy is related to success in
academics and athletics.
Observing others' success, failure, praise, and
encouragement are other sources of self-efficacy.
Social & Personality Development: Morals in
Middle Childhood
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Different theories of moral
development exist
Moral development is often used
as a measure of social &
personality development in middle
childhood, albeit in different
ways…
An Overview
Morals in Middle Childhood

Moral Dilemmas
 Cancer drug question in text
 Should you steal the drug?
Developmental psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg
asserts that the way that children answer this
question reveals central aspects about their
morality and sense of justice.
 Information about stage or moral development
 Information about cognitive developmental level
Lawrence Kohlberg
Born: 1927, Bronxville, NY
Died: 1987, Boston, MA
Education: PhD, U. of Chicago
Accomplishments: Major
contributor to the field of
moral development and
reasoning; Published major
work in 1981, Essays on
Moral Development.
Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning
 Lawrence Kohlberg suggests that people
pass through a series of stages in the
development of moral reasoning. (summary
in text table)

Preconventional Morality (stages 1 & 2) is
where people follow unvarying rules based
on rewards and punishments (children in
MIDDLE CHILDHOOD are at this level!)
(Kohlberg’s stages of moral reasoning,
continued)
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Conventional Morality (stages 3 & 4) is
where people approach problems in
terms of their own position as good,
responsible members of society.
Postconventional Morality (stages 5 &
6) is where universal moral principles
are invoked and considered broader
than a particular society.
Some key points related to Kohlberg’s theory
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Kohlberg assessed people's moral
reasoning using moral dilemmas.
According to Kohlberg, people move
through these stages in a fixed order.
Middle childhood is at stage 1 & 2, the
preconventional stage, because of the
limits of children's cognitive abilities.
(key points related to Kohlberg’s theory, continued)
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Kohlberg's theory is a good
account of moral judgment but not
adequate at predicting moral
behavior.
Another problem: the theory is
based on data from males, and is
inadequate in describing the moral
development of females!
Moral Development in Girls
Carol Gilligan’s theory of moral development
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Carol Gilligan suggests that the way boys and girls
are raised in our own society leads to differences in
moral reasoning.
Kohlberg's theory is inadequate and places girls'
moral reasoning at a lower level than boys'.
Boys view morality primarily in terms of justice and
fairness.
Girls see morality in terms of responsibility and
compassion toward individuals and a willingness to
sacrifice for relationships.
Carol Gilligan
Born:
1937- New York
Current:
Professor of Gender Studies,
Harvard University
Education
Ph.D., Harvard University
Achieve
ments:
Challenged Lawrence Kohlberg's
theories of moral development on the
basis of gender bias; Pioneer in the
research on moral development of
women; One of Time Magazine's 25 most
influential people of 1996.
 Gilligan sees morality in girls developing in 3
stages.
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Orientation toward individual survival - where
females concentrate on what is practical and
best for them.
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Goodness as self-sacrifice - where females think
they must sacrifice their own wishes to what
others want.
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Morality of nonviolence - women come to see
hurting anyone as immoral, including
themselves.
~The highest levels of morality are represented by
compassionate concern for the welfare of others
Relationships in Middle Childhood: Building
Friendships

Children’s development is seriously
effected by the formation of
friendships in middle childhood
~~ Friendships influence children's
development in several ways.
The influence of friendships on children’s
development, continued
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Friends provide information about
the world and other people.
Friends provide emotional support
and help kids to handle stress.
Friends teach children how to
manage and control their emotions.
The influence of friendships on children’s
development, continued
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Friends teach about communication
with others.
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Friends foster intellectual growth.
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Friends allow children to practice
relationship skills
Status among school age children
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Children's friendships show clear hierarchies in
terms of STATUS, the evaluation of a role or
person by other relevant members of a group.
High status children have greater access to
resources such as games, toys, books, and
information.
High status children tend to form friendships with
high status children and low status children form
friendships with other lower status children
Status among school age children, continued
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Lower status children tend to follow the lead
of higher status children.
Popularity is a reflection of a child's status.
High status children are more likely to form
exclusive and desirable cliques and tend to
play with a greater number of children than
lower status children.
Lower status children are more likely to play
with younger or less popular children.
During the middle childhood period, children’s ideas
about friendship undergo changes…
 According to developmental psychologist William
Damon, children's friendships go through three
stages.

Stage 1 - ages 4-7.
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Children see friends as like themselves.
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Children see friends as people to share toys
and activities with.
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Children do not take into account personal
traits.
Damon’s 3 stages of friendship, continued
Stage 2 - ages 8-10.
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Children now begin to take other's
personal qualities and traits into
consideration.
Friends are viewed in terms of the kinds
of rewards they provide.
Friendships are based on mutual trust.
Damon’s 3 stages of friendship, continued
Stage 3 - ages 11-15.
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Friendships become based on intimacy
and loyalty.
Friendships involve mutual disclosure
and exclusivity.
Children also develop clear ideas about the
behaviors they seek in friends…
Behaviors favored in friends during middle
childhood
Most-liked
Least-liked
 Sense of humor
 Verbal aggression
 Nice/friendly
 Dishonesty
 Helpful
 Critical
 Complementary
 Greedy/bossy
 Sharing
 Teasing
 Loyalty
 Physical aggression
Table in text
What makes a child popular during middle
childhood?
Popular children have SOCIAL
COMPETENCE, the collection of
individual social skills that permit
individuals to perform
successfully in social settings.
More characteristics common
to popular children
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They are helpful and cooperative.
They have a good sense of humor.
They have good emotional
understanding.
They ask for help when necessary.
They are not overly reliant on others.
They can adapt to social situations.
Popularity issues in development, continued
 Lack of popularity may take two forms.
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NEGLECTED CHILDREN receive
relatively little attention from their peers in
the form of either positive or negative
interaction.

REJECTED CHILDREN are actively
disliked and their peers may react to them
in an obviously negative manner.
Some characteristics of
unpopular children…
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Unpopular children lack social competence.
They may act immature or inappropriately
silly.
They may be overly aggressive and
overbearing.
They may be withdrawn or shy.
They may be unattractive, handicapped,
obese, or slow academically.
Popularity issues in development, continued
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Another factor that relates to children's
popularity is skill at SOCIAL PROBLEM
SOLVING, the use of strategies for solving social
conflicts in ways that are satisfactory both to
oneself and to others.
Developmental psychologist Kenneth Dodge
argues that successful social problem solving
proceeds through steps that correspond to
children's information-processing strategies:
Dodge’s social problem solving steps
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Find and identify relevant social cues.
Interpret and evaluate the social cues.
Determine possible problem-solving
responses.
Evaluate responses and their possible
consequences.
Choose a response.
Knowing these steps allows adults to
intervene and target a child's specific
deficits.
Problemsolving Steps
Children’s
problemsolving steps
proceed
through
several steps
involving
different
information
processing
strategies
(Dodge, 1985)
Several programs have been developed to
teach children social skills.
Skills in holding a conversation
 Decoding facial expressions to increase
sensitivity to others’ emotions and
moods
 These programs have led to more
acceptance by peers and improved skill
at making friends and getting along
with teachers
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Gender & Friendships in Middle Childhood
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Avoidance of the opposite sex
becomes very pronounced
during middle childhood.
Children's friendships are
almost entirely sex-segregated.
(Gender & Friendships in Middle Childhood,
continued)
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When the sexes interact it is called "border work",
 often romantic
 helps emphasize the clear boundaries between
the sexes
 Lays the groundwork for future interactions
during adolescence
 Girls threatening to kiss boys
 Boys luring girls into chasing them
The nature of boys' and girls' friendships
are different.
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Boys have larger networks of friends
than girls do.
Boys have a strict DOMINANCE
HIERARCHY, which is composed of
rankings that represent the relative
social power of those in a group
hierarchy.
(The differing nature of boys' and girls'
friendships, continued)
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Boys attempt to maintain and improve
their status in the hierarchy, which
makes for a style of play known as
restrictive play where interactions are
interrupted when status is challenged.
Girls focus on one or two "best friends"
of relatively equal status.
(The differing nature of boys' and girls'
friendships, continued)
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Conflicts among girls are solved by
compromise, ignoring the situation, or
giving in.
Girls, however, can be confrontational
with other girls not their friends or with
boys.
Girls' language is less confrontational and
direct than boys'.
Promoting Cross-race friendships
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Children's closest friends tend largely to be with
others of the same race.
Research supports the notion that contact between
majority and minority group members can reduce
prejudice and discrimination.
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Contact must occur in equal status settings.
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Contact is enhanced through cooperative activities
that are important.
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The contact must promote equality and disconfirm
negative stereotypes.
The Family and School: Shaping Children in
Middle Childhood

The structure of the family has been
changing dramatically over the past
several decades with serious implication
for the development of children!
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Increase in the # of parents working
outside the home
Rise in single parent families
Societal environment
Escalating divorce rate
The Consequences of Divorce
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Only 1/2 of children in the U.S. will pass through
childhood living with both parents, each of whom has
been married only once!
School-age children tend to blame themselves for the
breakup.
Both children and parents may show several types of
psychological maladjustments for 6 months to 2 years
after a divorce.
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anxiety
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depression
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sleep disturbances
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phobias
More about the impact of divorce on school age
children…
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Most children will live with their mother and the
mother-child relationship may decline
temporarily.
After 18 months to 2 years, most children return
to their predivorce psychological adjustment.
Twice as many children of divorced parents
require psychological counseling as do
children from intact families.
(impact of divorce on school age
children, continued)
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Divorce brings a decline to both
parents' standard of living—
especially the mother’s!
For some children, living in a home
with an unhappy marriage and
which is high in conflict has stronger
negative consequences than a
divorce.
For many children, the aftermath of divorce includes
remarriage of 1 or both parents
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BLENDED FAMILIES include a remarried
couple that has at least one stepchild living
with them.
Experts predict that by 2000, over 50 % of
children born in the last decade will be
stepchildren.!
Living in a blended family involves role
ambiguity, in which roles and expectations are
unclear
More about BLENDED FAMILIES
School-age children often adjust relatively
smoothly to a blended family.
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financial status of family improves
more people to share household chores
more social interaction and attention
~ Some children do not adjust well,especially if the
new relationship is threatening.
(have to share parent’s attn with a stepsibling)
When both parents work,
how do children fare?
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In most cases, children whose parents both work fulltime outside the home fare quite well.
Women who are satisfied with their lives tend to be
more nurturing at home.
Research shows that children whose parents both
work spend essentially the same amount of time with
the family, in class, with friends, and at home as
children who have a parent at home.
Children may spend more time with their father if their
mother works.
How Kids Spend Their Time
The amount of time kids spent on some activities has remained
constant over the years, and others have changed significantly. Think
about what might account for these changes.
Children’s success in families where
both parents work is often based on the
quality of substitute care. For many
children, no care is available when they
return home from school

SELF-CARE CHILDREN are youngsters who let
themselves into their homes after school and
wait alone until their parents return from work,
previously known as latchkey children (but now
not because of negative connotations).
SELF-CARE CHILDREN, continued
The consequences of being a latchkey
child are not necessarily harmful.
 Some children report being lonely.
 Some children develop a sense of
independence and competence.
 Some research shows latchkey children
have higher self-esteem because they are
helping the family.

Single parent families…
Almost one-quarter of all children
under 18 in the U.S. live with only one
parent.
Numbers are higher for minority
children.
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60% of African-American children live in
single parent homes.
35% of Hispanic children live in single
parent homes.
Single parent families, continued
In the majority of cases, the single
parent is the mother.
The consequences of living in a single
parent home depend on:
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whether the other parent ever lived at
home
economic status
Increase of Single Mothers, 1940-1993
The number
of mothers
without
spouses has
increased
significantly
over the last
50 years.
The consequences of group care:
Orphanages in the 90’s
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The term "orphanage" has been replaced by group
home or residential treatment center, which are group
homes used for youngsters whose parents are no
longer able to care for them adequately.
The number of children in group care has grown over
50 % since 1987.
About three-quarters of children in group homes are
victims of abuse and neglect.
Orphanages in the 90’s, continued
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Most will eventually return home, however, onefourth will be in group care throughout childhood.
Experts disagree on the advantages and
disadvantages of group care.

Some see them as a solution to unwed mothers
who become dependent on welfare.

Many who work in these homes say they cannot
provide adequate love and support as a family
could.

They cost ten times as much as foster care or welfare
(e.g., $40,000/yr.).
School: The Impact of the Academic Environment on
Development in Middle Childhood
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During the school year, more of the day is
spent in a classroom than anywhere else and
schools have a large influence on children's
lives.
Bernard Weiner proposed a theory of
motivation based on people's ATTRIBUTIONS,
their understanding of the reasons behind their
behavior.
Weiner’s theory of attributions…
People attempt to explain their
behavior in one of three ways.
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Whether the cause is internal
(dispositional) or external (situational).
Whether the cause is stable or unstable.
Whether the cause is controllable or
uncontrollable.
The attributions children make about their successes
and failures in school have important implications for
their performance.
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If success is internal, children feel
pride.
If failure is internal, children feel
shame.
If success or failure is attributed to
stable characteristics, children can
expect similar results in the future.
The implications of children’s attributions,
continued
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If success or failure is attributed to
unstable characteristics (such as luck),
their expectations for the future are
unknown.
If children feel failure was within their
control, they feel anger.
If children feel failure was due to
uncontrollable reasons, they fell sadness
or pity.
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Race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status have
strong influences on attributions of success
and failure.
African-American children are less likely to
attribute success to internal causes, feeling
that prejudice and discrimination are to
blame.
Women tend to attribute failure to low ability
and success to luck.
In Asian countries, academic success is
perceived as being caused by hard work.
Mothers’ Beliefs in Children’s Abilities
Compared to mom’s in
Taiwan & Japan, U.S.
moms were less likely to
believe that all kids have the
same degree of inborn
ability. Think about how this
affects schooling.
Subjects responded to a 7
point scale, where 1 was
equivalent to strongly disagree
and 7 was strongly agree.
How expectancies influence children’s
behavior…

Research suggests a TEACHER
EXPECTANCY EFFECT, the cycle of
behavior in which a teacher transmits
an expectation about a child and
thereby actually brings about the
expected behavior.
Teacher expectancy is an instance of self-fulfilling
prophecy, in which a person's expectation is
capable of bringing about an outcome.
 Teacher's expectations are conveyed to the child by
complex verbal and nonverbal cues.

Classroom social-emotional climate.

smiling

warmth

feedback

more positive feedback to high expectation
children

more criticism to low expectation children
Teacher's expectations and their influence on
the classroom climate, continued
Input to children
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more opportunities to perform well for high
expectation children
more difficult material for high expectation
children
Output from teachers
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more contact with high expectation children
more opportunities to respond in class for
high expectation children.
Teacher Expectation and its Effect on Student
Performance
Educators in many elementary schools in the united
states are setting a new educational trend: working
to improve students emotional abilities
 Schools are beginning to teach techniques
to increase students‘ EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE, the set of skills that
underlie the accurate assessment,
evaluation, expression, and regulation of
emotions.
Critics suggest that nurturance of
emotional intelligence is best left to
students‘ families and that schools
should concentrate on the basics.
 Most consider emotional intelligence
worthy of nurturance.
~What do you think? Should schools teach
emotional intelligence?
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Don’t forget to keep up with your
reading!