Social Development - AP Psychology

Social comparisons are chracteristic of middle childhood when children begin to notice their relative strengths and weaknesses in comparison to their friends and classmates.

Erikson theorized that "basic trust" is a child's sense that the world is predictable and trustworthy. An infant is able to develop basic trust through positive relationships with his or her caregivers.

Generativity vs. despair is not one of the stages of psychosocial development. Generativity vs. stagnation and integrity vs. despair are two stages of Erikson's theory.

The stage known as "intimacy vs. isolation" takes place during the period of young adulthood, roughly encompassing ages 18-35. The young woman in the question falls firmly within this range.

Erikson would say that this boy is at the developmental stage during which he is grappling with his own autonomy. This stage is known as "autonomy vs. shame and doubt," and typically takes place during ages 1-3 years.

Erik Erikson developed the idea behind identity vs. role confusion, which comes from his theory of psychosocial development.

Erikson's theory proposed eight stages: trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame, initiative vs. guilt, competence vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and integrity vs. despair.

Relational aggression typically involves more covert behavior, such as spreading rumors or gossiping about others in an attempt to manipulate one's friendships and faciltation exclusion. This type of aggression is represented in the given question.

Physical aggression involves physical harm to another person, such as hitting, punching, kicking, or even vandalizing or damaging one's property.

There is no such thing as nonverbal aggression.

Reactive aggression is typically an angry, defensive response to provocation, particularly when one is blocked from reaching a goal or is harmed first.

Marcia's theory pertaining to identity development and statuses involves two dimensions: exploration and committment.

Individuals who are actively exploring their options before making a final decision, such as the young man described in this question, are classified in the moratorium identity status.

Individuals who have made a decision after active exploration as classified in the achievement identity status.

Individuals who make a decision without doing any exploration are classified in the foreclosure identity status.

Individuals who do not know what they want to do and who are indifferent to exploring are classiged in the diffusion identity status.

Since adolescence is characterized by various biological, social, emotional and cognitive changes, Erikson would argue that adolescents are attempting to solidify their identity in terms of who they are, what they value, and what their goals are. If adolescents do not resolve their identity crises, they could have role confusion, which has negative psychological implications.

Intimacy vs. isolation characterizes early adulthood.

Industry vs. inferiority characterizes middle childhood.

Initiative vs. guilt characterizes early childhood.

The glass ceiling effect is the phenomenon that occurs when women can no longer advance in their careers for higher-level positions that are typically held by men.

A self-fulfilling prophecy and stereotype threat are very similar in that they typically are the result of stereotypes that negatively impact one's academic performance.

Increase in self-confidence is a distractor item, and does not directly relate to the question.

Men are more likely than women to select mates based on physical attractiveness. According to evolutionary theory, men focus on whether a woman is physically healthy and fit to carry children.

Income level and intelligence are traits that women actually value. Family stability was a distractor item, and does not directly relate to the question.

One's sexuality generally describes interest in sexual partners and experiences, while one's gender identity can be a more personal factor in the definition of self. One might identify as a man, a woman, as genderqueer, or as a number of other gender identities. The terms "agender," "gender neutral," and "genderqueer" all refer to gender identities. In contrast, "asexual" is a term used to describe one's general disinterest in the pursuit of sexual experiences. An asexual individual may still be interested in close emotional relationships and romance.

Infants can distinguish speech from other sounds at as early an age as four months old. Shortly after that, they will begin to babble and coo. By ten months old, they become able to distinguish their own native language from others spoken to them. At 12-18 months old, they begin to use words themselves, and they start to understand prosody between 18 and 24 months of age.

In this experiment, Harry and Margaret Harlow used a cylinder wire “mother” that had a feeding bottle attached to it and a terry cloth “mother” had no feeding source. The dominating theory of the time hypothesized that infants were attached to those that provided nourishment. If this were true, then the monkey would have been expected to cling to the wire cylinder “mother” with the feeding source. The test monkeys were observed and it was noted that they possessed a tendency to cling to the terry cloth surrogate mothers. They not only showed an overwhelming preference for this surrogate but also were visibly distressed when separated from the terry cloth figure. Researchers noticed that the baby monkeys would cling to the soft mother in times of distress or anxiety. Similarly, human children have been observed to use their parents as secure bases when exploring new environments. This experiment led researchers to realize that it was body contact and touch as opposed to nourishment that created the grounds for attachment.

Familiarity is crucial for many animals when forming attachment during the critical period. This period is an optimal period where certain events must take place for proper development. A widely known example is with ducklings and chicks. Their critical periods occur shortly after hatching where they will attach to the first moving object they see—usually their mothers. This process of attachment is known as imprinting; therefore, imprinting would be an incorrect answer.

While human children do not go through the imprinting process, familiarity does still play an important role. Children will become attached and show fondness toward things they already know and have been exposed to.

Nourishment, warmth, and security would be incorrect answers because while they seem logical, they are dimensions of body contact and touch. These were qualities that were identified in the Harlow monkey experiment.

The three parenting types that have been identified are authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive; therefore, “passive” and “aggressive” would be incorrect answers.

“Authoritative” and “authoritarian” may be easily confused because of their similar spelling. The authoritative parenting style is when parents are both demanding and responsive. While they exert control, they also explain and show reason. For instance, parents may set rules but encourage discussion with their children while doing so. Studies have indicated that the authoritative parenting usually has a high correlation with children that possess the highest self-esteem, self-reliance, and social competence rather than the "too hard" or "too soft" approaches that are represented by the other parenting types.

The three parenting types that have been identified are authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive; therefore, “passive” and “aggressive” would be incorrect answers.

“Authoritative” and “authoritarian” may be easily confused because of their similar spelling. The authoritarian parenting style is when parents merely impose rules and restrictions while expecting obedience. While they exert control, they do not explain or show reason. For instance, they may exhibit demands (e.g. "Don't interrupt" or "Why? Because I said so"). Studies have indicated that this "too hard" parenting usually correlates with children with low self-esteem and low social competence, unlike the "just right" and "too soft" parenting styles.

According to Erik Erikson's psychosocial stages, adolescents are faced with how they appear to others (especially same-age peers) and take this time to "try on" different roles to see how others react. This stage is completed when the individual has adopted a comprehensive identity.

The three parenting types that have been identified are authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive; therefore, “passive” and “aggressive” would be incorrect answers.

Permissive is essentially a passive take on parenting. It has also been called the "too soft" parenting method. This is when the parents will submit to their children's desires. There will be very few demands from their child while very little punishment. The parents will make very little effort to exert any kind of control. Research has indicated a correlation with children reared by permissive parents tending to grow up to be aggressive and immature.

Erik Erikson was a theorist who believed each stage of life has its own task to overcome. The stages included: infancy, toddlerhood, preschool, elementary school, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood and late adulthood. He assigned each stage an approximate age range.

In terms of the infancy stage (from birth to one year old), Erikson believed the issue to be resolved was associated with trust versus mistrust. His understanding was that as long as the child's needs are met through being dependent, the infant would be able to develop a sense of basic trust. If needs were not met, then the child would develop a sense of mistrust.

While the other provided options are staged in Erikson's stages of psychosocial development, they each have their own tasks such as initiative versus guilt or identity versus role confusion.