Social Development

For many years students who took courses in social development had no text available for their use. Those of us who instructed them had to rely on assigning journal articles to be read and providing an overview and syn­ thesis of the area in our lectures. In the last few years, the situation has changed markedly. There are now several very good textbooks that fill the void, reflecting an increasing interest in this area of research and theory. Here is one more. There are many ways to tell a story. Our book, we think, tells it dif­ ferently enough to have made it worth the writing. As we began to talk, some time ago, about undertaking this project, we found we had a mutual interest in trying to present the study of social development from a histori­ cal point of view. The field has changed dramatically from its inception, and we have both been in it long enough to have witnessed first-hand a number of these changes. Modifications of theoretical orientations and the de­ velopment of increasingly sophisticated and rigorous methodology have brought with them the stimulation of controversy and growth, as social developmental psychologists argued about the best ways of going about their business. Certainly the same things have happened in other areas of psychology, but the arguments seem to have been particularly vigorous in our own domain.

I Historical, Theoretical, and Methodological Considerations.- 1 Historical and Theoretical Foundations.- Developmental Theories in Historical Context.- The Concept of Childhood and Its Nature.- Theories of Social Development.- Psychoanalytic Theory.- Social Learning Theory.- Cognitive Developmental Theory.- Evolutionary Approaches.- Current Themes and Issues.- Thought, Affect, and Behavior.- Biology and Environment.- The Person and the Situation.- Social Interactions.- Individuals and the Social System.- Knowledge and Application.- Summary.- 2 Methodology: History and Issues.- Changing Fashions in Methodology.- Early Studies of Social Development.- The 1930s: Observational Studies.- 1940s to 1960s: Correlational Studies of Parent Effects.- Experimental Studies of Social Development.- Early Studies.- Laboratory Analogues of Reality.- The Onset of Discontent.- Some Conclusions.- New Methods.- The Field Experiment.- Passive Observation: Description and the Return to Correlational Assessment.- Varieties of Setting and Control.- The Problem of Causal Inference.- Conclusion.- Summary.- II The Foundations of Development.- 3 Genetic and Biological Bases of Social Behavior.- Evolution and Biological Adaptedness.- Evolution.- Biologically Adapted Behavior and Its Modification.- Genetic Influences.- Behavior Genetics.- Genetic and Environmental Mechanisms.- Genetic Studies of Personality and Temperament.- Comments on Genetic and Environmental Influences on Personality Traits.- The Biological Environment.- Risk Factors in Pregnancy and Birth.- Pharmacological Influences on Behavior.- Summary.- 4 The Origins of Social Behavior.- Temperament.- Definition.- History.- Measurement.- Continuity of Temperament.- Temperament and Its Correlates.- Difficult Temperament.- Attachment.- History of Investigation.- Ethological Theory of Attachment.- Ainsworth’s Typology.- What Follows Secure Attachment?.- Attachment to Father and Others.- Mother-Infant Bonding.- Other Early Social Behaviors.- Mother-Infant Social Interactions.- Play and Peer Relations.- Social Referencing.- Fears.- Wariness of Strangers.- Summary.- 5 Socialization and the Family.- Tasks of Human Socialization.- Child Rearing in Philosophical and Historical Perspective.- Philosophical Views.- Swings of the Pendulum in Child Rearing.- The Scientific Study of Socialization.- Parents’ Socialization Practices and Attitudes.- Restrictiveness (Control)-Permissiveness.- Punishment.- Induction.- Warmth.- Situational Influences on Parenting Practices.- Converging Evidence on Parents’ Practices.- Child Processes.- Identification and Imitation.- Attributions.- Bidirectional Influences.- Child Effects on Parents.- Parental Effects on the Child.- Reciprocal Influences and Transactional Effects.- The Family as a System: Mothers, Fathers, and Children.- Mothers’ and Fathers’ Child-Rearing Characteristics.- What are Mothers’ and Fathers’ Specific Influences on the Child?.- The Family as a System.- Parents’ Shifting Roles.- Androgynous Parents.- Influences on Parents’ Child-Rearing Practices.- Parental Characteristics.- Contextual Factors in Child Rearing.- Cultural Influences.- Child Abuse.- The Causes of Abuse.- Summary.- 6 Widening Social Networks and Their Influences.- Peer Relations and Social Competence.- Growing Away From the Family.- The Growth of Social Competence.- Peer Groups and Their Socializing Influence.- The Pull of Parental Versus Peer Influences.- Cross-Cultural Perspectives.- Peer Relations and Behavior Disorders.- Schools as Social Institutions.- Schools as Settings for Socialization.- The School as a Moral and Responsible System.- Relations to Others.- Summary.- III The Content of Development.- 7 Social Cognition.- Origins of Interest in Social Cognition.- The Contribution of Cognitive Developmental Theory.- The Contribution of Social Psychology.- Do We Think in the Same Way About the Physical and Social Worlds?.- Differences Between Thinking About the Physical and Social Worlds.- The Development of Social Cognition.- Knowledge of Others.- The Sources of Age-Related Changes in Social Cognition.- Knowledge of Self.- Summary.- 8 The Development of Self-Control and the Problem of Aggression.- Self-Control and Self-Regulatory Processes.- Self-Control Versus Self-Regulation.- Internalization of Values and Learning of Skills.- The Acquisition of Self-Control Skills.- Mechanisms of Self-Control.- Self-Control as a Personality Trait.- Aggression.- Defining Aggression.- The “Problem” of Aggression.- Historical and Theoretical Approaches to the Study of Aggression.- Biological Determinants of Aggression.- The Beginnings of Aggression.- Aggression as a Personality Trait.- Emotional and Cognitive Mediators of Aggression.- The Socialization of Aggression.- Summary.- 9 Morality and Altruism.- The Nature of Morality.- Morality and Altruism.- A History of Research on Morality and Prosocial Behavior.- The Development of Morality.- The Development of Moral Thinking.- Some More Thoughts on the Relationship Between Moral Thought and Moral Conduct.- Morality: Constructed and Transmitted.- The Development of Prosocial Behavior.- The Roots of Altruism.- Mood and Sharing.- Reasoning About Prosocial Behavior.- Consistency and Continuity of Altruistic Behavior.- Summary.- 10 Sex Differences and Sex Roles.- History and a Point of View.- Areas of Sex Differences.- Research Integration.- Division of Labor.- Cognitive Abilities and Achievement.- Social Behavior.- Researcher Bias?.- Origins and Explanations of Sex Differences.- Environmental Aspects.- Biological Aspects.- Androgyny.- A Synthesis.- Summary.- IV Some Social Issues.- 11 Divorce and Its Aftermath.- The Effects of Divorce.- An Ecological Perspective on Divorce.- Divorce or Not Divorce: The Effects of Marital Discord.- A Structural Versus Family Process Approach.- Variables Affecting a Child’s Response to Parent Separation.- A Note on Custody Arrangements.- Remarriage and Reconstituted Families.- Problems in Reconstituted Families.- Summary.- 12 Threats to Secure Attachment.- Disruption of Attachment Bonds.- Children Reared in Institutions.- Factors Modifying the Effects of Institutional Rearing.- Causes of Adverse Effects.- Reversibility of Adverse Effects.- Day Care.- History.- Is Security of Attachment Affected by Day Care?.- Social Development.- Cognitive Development.- Effects on the Family.- Group Day Care Versus Day-Care Homes.- Parameters of Quality.- Conclusions.- Summary.- References.- Author Index.