Chapter 14 Family Relationships 14.1 Parenting – Flashcards
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What is the common goal of all families?
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All families have a common goal: nurturing children and helping them become full-fledged adult members of their culture.
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Why did the family concept develop?
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Because children are unable to care for themselves for many years, the family structure evolved as a way to protect and nurture young children as they develop.
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How did early psychological theories view parents as?
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Early psychological theories viewed parents as "all powerful".
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Which perspective do most theorists today view families from?
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From a contextual perspective.
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What is the main idea behind viewing families from a contextual perspective?
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The main idea is that families form a system of interacting elements in which parents and children influence each other. And families are part of a much larger system that includes extended family, friends, teachers, as well as institutions that influence development (i.e. schools).
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Who is Bronfenbrenner and what did he develop?
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Urie Bronfenbrenner was an American developmental psychologist who developed the Ecological Systems Theory.
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What does Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems theory suggest?
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Bronfenbrenner's theory suggests that the developing child is embedded in a series of complex interactive systems.
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According to Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory the environment is divided into five components. What are they?
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1. Microsystem 2. Mesosystem 3. Exosystem 4. Macrosystem 5. Chronosystem
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Microsystem
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Consists of the people and object in an individual's immediate environment. These are the people closest to the child, such as parents or siblings. Microsystems strongly influence development.
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Mesosystem
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Microsystems are connected to create the mesosystem. The mesosystem represents the fact that what happens in one microsystem is likely to influence what happens in others. ex: what happens in school can influence the dynamic at home.
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Exosystem
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Refers to social settings that a person may not experience firsthand, but that still influence development. Ex: a mother's work environment is part of her child's exosystem, because depending on the dynamic of her workplace it can positively or negatively affect how she parents her child.
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Macrosystem
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This is the broadest environmental context, it is the subcultures and cultures in which the microsystem, mesosystem, and exosystem are embedded. It includes cultural values and attitudes of different cultural groups, as well as laws, and social conditions.
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Chronosystem
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Consists of time and history, the idea that all systems change over time. This dimension reminds us that the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macro system are not static but are constantly in flux. ex: When an older sibling leaves home for college a child's ecosystem changes.
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Is it true that parents influence their children and children mutually influence their parents?
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Yes
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How do children influence their parents?
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By their behaviors, attitudes, and interests, children affect how their parents behave toward them. ex: When children resist discipline parents may become less willing to reason with them and more inclined to use force.
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How are families systems of interacting elements?
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The family itself is embedded in other social systems, such as neighborhoods and religious institutions.
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Describe how parenting can be described in terms of general dimensions similar to that of personality traits.
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Just like personality traits, parenting represents stable aspects of parental behavior and aspects that remain across different situations.
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What are the two general dimensions of parental behavior?
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1. Degree of warmth 2. Control a) Psychological control b) Behavioral control
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What are the two degrees of warmth?
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1. Warm/affectionate parents 2. Uninvolved/hostile parents
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Warm/affectionate parents
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These parents are involved with their children, respond to their emotional needs and spend much time with them.
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Uninvolved/hostile parents
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Often seem more focused on their own needs than those of their children.
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What degree of warmth do children benefit from?
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Children benefit from warm and responsive parenting.
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What are the two forms of control?
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1. Psychological control 2. Behavioral control
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Psychological control
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Refers to parents' efforts to manipulate their children's emotional states, by withdrawing their love or making children feel guilty.
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Behavioral control
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Refers to parents efforts to set rules for their children and to impose limits on what children can or cannot do.
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What are dictatorial parents?
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Parents who try to regulate every facet of their children's lives, like a puppeteer controlling a marionette.
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What kind of control is best for children?
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What's best for children is minimal psychological control combined with an intermediate amount of behavioral control in which parents set reasonable standards, expect their children to meet those standards, and monitor their children's behavior.
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What are the four prototypic styles of parenting that are created when warmth and control are combined?
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1. Authoritarian parenting 2. Authoritative parenting 3. Permissive parenting 4. Uninvolved parenting
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Authoritarian parenting
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Combines high control with little warmth. These parents lay down the rules and expect them to be followed without discussion.
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Do authoritarian parents consider children's needs or wishes?
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No
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Authoritative parenting
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Combines high parental control and high warmth. These parents explain rules and encourage discussion.
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Permissive parenting
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Combines high warmth with little parental control. These parents generally accept their children's behavior, they seem to be okay with everything and punish them infrequently. Ex: Regina's mom from Mean Girls
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Uninvolved parenting
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Provides neither warmth nor control. These parents try to minimize the amount of time spent with their children and avoid becoming emotionally involved.
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Which parenting style does research consistently show is best for children?
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Authoritative parenting, thus children typically thrive on a parental style that combines control, warmth, and affection.
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Are views about the proper amount of warmth and the proper amount of control consistent through cultures?
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No, views vary by culture.
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What do parents in China view as the proper amount of warmth and control?
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In China emotional restraint and obedience are seen as the keys to family harmony. Consequently, parents often rely on authoritarian style in which they are infrequently affectionate and expect their children to obey without question.
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What do Americans view as the proper amount of warmth and control?
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Americans want their children to be happy and self reliant and believe that these goals are best achieved when parents are warm and exert moderate control.
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What kind of parenting style do parents with lower socioeconomic status tend to adopt?
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Because of lower income, parents with lower socioeconomic status tend to adopt an authoritarian approach in means of protecting their children from their harsh living conditions.
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How are families and parenting useful adaptations?
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Genes linked to behaviors that make for effective parenting (such as being nurturing) were more likely to be passed on because they increased the likelihood that children would reach maturity.
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How does research on twins as parents show the impact of genetics on parental style?
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It shows that parental warmth and parental negativity is influenced by heredity.
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What is a parental style?
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It is a broad characterization of how parents typically behave.
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Does a parent's style tell us about how parents behave in specific situations and how these behaviors influence their child's behavior?
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No, a parent's style does little to tell us about how parents behave in specific situations and how these behaviors influence their child's behavior.
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What are the three behaviors that parents use to influence their children?
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1. Direct Instruction/Coaching 2. Modeling 3. Feedback
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Direct instruction/Coaching
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Telling a child what to do, and why. Children who receive this sort of parental coaching tend to be more socially skilled.
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What is counterimitation?
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Learning what should not be done.
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How does observational learning contribute to intergenerational continuity?
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Observational learning contributes to intergenerational continuity as parental behavior is passed down from generation to generation.
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How is feedback helpful?
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By giving feedback, parents indicate whether a behavior is appropriate and should continue or is inappropriate and should stop.
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What are the two forms of feedback?
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1. Reinforcement 2. Punishment
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Reinforcement (Positive feedback)
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Any action that increases the likelihood of the response that it follows. ex: rewards and praises
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Punishment (Negative feedback)
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Any action that discourages the reoccurrence of the response that it follows. ex: grounding
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What do psychologists know about rewards and punishments that parents don't already know?
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Psychologists know that parents often unwittingly reinforce the very behavior they want to discourage.
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Negative Reinforcement Trap
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A situation in which parents often unwittingly reinforce the very behavior they want to discourage; particularly likely between mothers and sons.
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What are the three steps to the negative reinforcement trap?
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1. Mother tells her son to do something he doesn't want to do, for example clean his room. 2. The son responds with some behavior that most parents find intolerable, such as whining or arguing. 3.The mother gives in, saying that the son needn't do as she told him, simply to get the son to stop the behavior that was so intolerable.
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When does punishment work best?
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1. It is administered directly after the undesired behavior occurs. 2. An undesired behavior always leads to punishment, rather than occasionally. 3. Punishment is accompanied by an explanation and how it can be avoided in the future. 4. The child has a warm, affectionate relationship with the person administering the punishment.
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What are some drawbacks of punishment
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- The impact of punishment is temporary if children do not learn new behaviors to replace those that were punished. -Children who are upset often miss the feedback that punishment was meant to convey. -Spanking often leads to aggressiveness, as well as harsher forms of physical punishment leading to mental health problems.
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Is it true that many countries have banned physical punishment?
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Yes, such as Costa Rica, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Spain.
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What happens in time out?
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A child who misbehaves must briefly sit alone in a quiet, unstimilating location.
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Why is time out so effective?
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First it retains the best features of punishment but avoids it's shortcomings. Secondly, after time out ends, a parent can talk with the child and use reasoning to explain why the punished behavior was wrong and what the child should do instead.
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Is chronic parental conflict harmful for children?
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Yes
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What are the three ways in which parental conflict harms children?
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1. Seeing parents fight leads a child to feel that the family is unstable and may lead to a child feeling anxious, frightened, and sad. 2. Chronic conflict between parent's often disturbs the parent-child relationship. 3. Parent's invest too much time into fighting are often too preoccupied to invest themselves in high quality parenting.
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Do most parents resolve conflict in a constructive or destructive manner?
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Constructive
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Do all parents work well together?
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No
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Which outside forces influence parenting and child development?
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- A parent's job security - Work related stress
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How does parenting change as children grow?
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Parenting changes as children grow are evident in warmth and control: - As children grow often the enthusiastic hugging and kissing that delights toddlers embarrasses adolescents. -Also as children grow parents gradually relinquish control.
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How does a child's temperament influence parental behavior?
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Parenting styles often evolve as a consequence of a child's behavior: For example a modest amount of control may be adequate for a moderately active child. But for a child who is highly active, a parent may need to be more controlling.
