Talented Teens - Researching Method

Experience sampling

Talented Teens

Mihaly Csikszentmihaly 

Associated Factors 

1

1. skills = must be useful in culture

Talented Teens

Mihaly Csikszentmihaly 

Associated Factors 

2

Talented Teens

Mihaly Csikszentmihaly 

Associated Factors 

3

3. Learned habits for cultivatiing talents

- Less time socializing, more time alone and with family

- modulate attention

- happy when productively engaged

Talented Teens

Mihaly Csikszentmihaly 

Associated Factors 

 4

4. conservative sexual attitudes, aware of conflict between productive work and peer relations

Talented Teens

Mihaly Csikszentmihaly 

Associated Factors 

 5

5. Has family support and challenge

- Ryan et al. work on intrinsic motivation of academic activities

- Family is seen as a unit

Talented Teens

Mihaly Csikszentmihaly 

Associated Factors 

6

6. Favors teachers who are supportive and model involvement in field.

Talented Teens

Mihaly Csikszentmihaly 

Associated Factors 

7

7. Developemt process requires expressive and instrumental rewards

Talented Teens

Mihaly Csikszentmihaly 

Associated Factors 

8

8. talent will be development if it produces optimal experiences (flow, enjoyment), skills and challenges are perceived to be high

1. Heightened concentration of tasks

2. Contracted perceptual field (unaware of things you normally notice)

3. Feeling of control leads to elation (things come more naturally with less effort)

4. Loss of self-awareness

5. Feeling that activity is worth doing

Achievment Orientation - Dweck's Theory of Learned Helplessness

 (Theory)

1. Focus on attribution patterns of cildren and their impactof later achievement behavior

2. Mastery-oriented reactions to achievement 

- attribute success to high ability but externalize blame for failures on unstable causes (i.e. more effort)

- Persist despite failure believing increased effort will allow success. 

- competencies seen as mealeable: can be improved by trying harder

- highly motivated to master challenges

-

Achievment Orientation - Dweck's Theory of Learned Helplessness 

(Orientation)

1. Attribute success to unstable or temporary factors such as luck/hard work.

- don't see themselves as highly competent and don't experience heightened pride/self-esteem 

2. Child attributes failures to stable internal factors (lack of ability)

- low expectations for future success, frustration, acts helpless, "have no control", feel depressed 

3. Learned helplessness can also develop in high-ability children.

1. Do not praise child for working hard then question their ability when they fail

2. Set classroom goals: emphasize learning goals instead of performance goals

Achievement Orientation - Influence of Significant Others

(Familial influences)

1. Independence training

2. direct achievement training

3. practice authoritative control - provide opportunity to participate in family's decision making

4. Gender differences

- boys: more intense socialization is better (warmth, demand achievment, AUTHORITATIVE discipline)

- girls: less intense socialization is better (moderate warmth, AVOID AUTHORITATIVE discipline)

5. differences in parents demands for achievement based on gender

- expect more academic achievment in boys than girls

- daughter's performance = hard work

- son's performance = high ability

**Most effective when child is encouraged to do their best. Reward success, respond to failure with neutrality

1. "goodness" and moral behavior is based upon guilt and anxiety

2. Determined by the superego

Prosocial Behavior - Theoretical Explanations -

 Cognitive-Developmental

(Piaget & Kohlberg)

1. "goodness" is based on maturity

- child grows and interacts with environment - primitive notions of morality change and develop into highly sophisticated ones. 

- concept of egocentrism 

Prosocial Behavior - Theoretical Explanations -

Behavioral/Social Learning

1. "goodnes" is based on the way that warmth and discipline are administered. (4 types)

a. High warmth/High discipline

- Child: accepts authority, shows little hostility, well-controlled, responsible

b. High warmth/Low discipline

- Child: self-confident, self-reliant, shows initiative

- Risk: high conformity, low self-confidence 

c. Rejection/High discipline 

- Compliance with authority, has underlying hostility (can't be expressed)

d. Rejection/Low discipline 

- weak compliance with rules and authority, relies on peers

- Common delinquency

Proper administration: Best done through modeling

1. Warmth: high use of (+) reinforcement, respond to child's request for support/attention

2. Discipline: Use authoritatve method

Prosocial Behavior - Theoretical Explanations -

Behavioral/Social Learning

(Socializing responsible behvior based on gender)

Boys: undersocializing = main danger

Girls: oversocializing = main danger

Moral Development - Piaget's Theory

(overview)

- Reseaching method: participant observation and naturalistic observation

- Moral maturity implies respect for rules and sense of social justice

Stages: Premorial Period, Stage of Moral Reasoning: heteronomous morality (age 6-10), Moral relativism/autonomous morality

Moral Development - Piaget's Theory

(Premorial Period)

1. Preschoolers: Little concern and awareness of rules

2. 4-5 yrs: more aware of rules from watching older children but don't understand rules rep. a cooperative agreement about how games are played

Moral Development - Piaget's Theory 

(Stage of Moral Realism: Heteronomous Morality: 6-10yrs)

1. Strong respect for rules is developed

- rules must be obeyed at all times and are sacred and unalienable.

2. Focus is on the objective consequences of actions rather than intent. 

3. Favors punishment for it's own sake w/ no concern for its relation to the forbidden act.(i.e. spanking for any misbehavior)

4. Belief that any injustice will always be punished. 

Moral Development - Piaget's Theory 

(Moral Relativism/Autonomous Morality: no specific age)

1. realizes that social rules are arbitrary agreements that cna change by consent of the people who govern.

2. Feel that rules can be violated in service of human needs (i.e. speeding to the hospital)

3. considers intent rather than objective consequences of an action

4. Favors punishments that fit the offense 

Moral Development - Piaget's Theory 

(Movement from Heternonomous to Autonomous Morality)

1. Decline in egocentrism

2. Dev. of role-taking skills through cognitive maturation and social experiences

- includes equal status contact with peers

Moral Development - Piaget's Theory 

(Research Scrutiny)

1. Research supports Piaget's claims that children view rules as absolute, believe in immanent justice, and focus on act's objective consequences 

2. Other research finds: IQ is correlated with moral maturity, peer participation and being "popular" facilitates moral dev.

3. Piaget underestimated when chidlren could recognize other's intentions, and the consequences of actions. 

4. Children recognize difference between moral rules and social conventional rules earlier than Piaget thought.

5. Not all children show internal consistency in moral reasoning (differs from Piaget's claim)

Moral Development -

Kohlberg's Stage Model of Moral Reasoning

(Level I: Preconventional)

Stage 1: Heteronomous Morality

"Morality from power and authority"

Social 

- egocentrism: can't understand another person's perspective, assume their feelings are shared by everyone.

Moral content

- same as Piaget's moral realism stage. 

- focus is on physical and objective characteristics of situation.

- morality is defined by authority figures

Stage 2: Individualism and Instrumental Purpose

"Morality means look out for yourself"

Social

- understands that others have different needs and POV's, but still cannot empathize. 

Moral content

- Morality is seen as valuable if it serves their own interests

- Obey rules based on what they receive in return

Moral Development -

Kohlberg's Stage Model of Moral Reasoning

(Level II: Conventional)

Stage 3: Interpersonal conformity

"Morality = doing what makes you liked"

 Social

- People can view situations from other's POV's

- interpersonal agreement are seen as more important than personal interest

Moral content

- Focus is on conformity of what is known to be "right"

- Rules are obeyed for approval from people they like

- relationships are based on golden rule

Stage 4: Law and Order

"What's right is what's legal"

Social

- Morality is viewed from social system perspective

- Personal needs are not as important maintaining social order

Moral content

- Morality is based on strictly obeying laws

- Rules are seen to apply to everyone and are the resolution to interpersonal problems

Moral Development -

Kohlberg's Stage Model of Moral Reasoning

(Level III: Postconventional)

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

(Programs for reducing youth/school violence)

- focus on developing and understanding social/emotional skills along with basic life skills

- focus on prevention (i.e. Steve Danish's "Going for the goal program" - leadership manual)

- Learning tecniques for resolving conflicts (i.e. STAR system)

- Use of peer mentoring

S = Stop and chill out

T = Think of all your choices

A = Anticipate consequences

R = Respond with best choice

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

(Bullies and prevention)

- Recomendations of Dan Olweus for bully intervention

- Principles: Fostering awareness program, getting people involved in dealing with the problem

- Use authoritative control practices in school setting: monitoring students

- To be effective: all school personel must be involved

1. Increase awareness and knowledge of bullying

2. Create active involvement of all school personel

3. Develop clear rules about bullying

4. Provide support and protection for victims

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

(Sex differences in Agression)

Males: more directly physically aggressive than females

Females: more likely to engage in relational aggression (aimed at damaging other's self-esteem, friendships, social status) than males. 

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

(Aggression vs Violence)

Aggression: intentional injury of another (physical, psychological, verbal)

Violence: Action where there is a deliberate attempt to do serious physical harm

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

(Blurton-Jones Observational Research on children's aggression)

- Aggression indicator: frown, hit, push, tugging, taking, grabbing

- Rough play indicator: laughing, play faces, running, jumping, wrestling

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

(Hostile vs instrumental aggression)

Hostile aggression: intent to harm/injure another

Instrumental aggression: seeking to attain desired goals through aggressive behavior (i.e. acting aggressive to get food)

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

(Reactive vs Proactive Aggressors)

Reactive Aggressors

- children who display high levels of hostility, anger, retaliation

- They overattribute hostile intent to others, can't control anger long enough to use a positive solution for a problem.

Roots: often a response to early life where anger, fear, and hyperactivity was common. Possibly from abuse or trauma

Proactive Agressors

- Highly aggressive children who find aggressive acts easy to perform

- rely on aggression to solve social problems or achieve personal goals.

Roots: Stems from reinforcement for aggressive behavior, coercive child (using aggression to get what they want)

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

(Peer Reactions to proactive and reactive aggressors)

5-6 yrs: peer rejection is associated with reactive aggression

6 yrs: dominant children are the most popular (proactive aggression still used)

9 yrs: both proactive and reactive aggressors are rejected by peers (proactives are seen as the most disruptive)

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

(Instinct Theories)

1. Freudian

-death instinct (thanatos)

2. Lorenz's ecological theory

- aggressive instinct is there to ensure survival of the species.

(Both are more descriptive than explanatory and hold catharsis position - not supported by research)

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

(Learning Theories)

Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis - Dollard et al.

Frustration-aggression hypothesis
- Frustration always leads to some form of aggression

-Problems: too generalized for all people, more support in animal kingdom

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

(Learning Theories)

Revised Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis - Berkowitz

-Revision of Dollard's hypothesis

Focus: role of aggressive cues within environment

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

(Learning Theories)

Bandura's Social Learning Theory

Focus

- role of modeling and reinforcing

- learning vs performance distinction

Support

- Classic Bobo Doll studies support cutting down on media violence

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

Dodge's Social Information-Processing Theory

Focus: 6 steps children take when responding to harm-doing and social problems

1. encode social cues

2. interpret social cues

3. formulate social goals (to resolve incident)

4. generate problem solving strategies

5. evaluate best response strategy and select response

6. enact a response

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

Research related to Dodge's Theory

(Slaby & Guerra - Study of cognition and prefered responses of aggressive teens)

Slaby & Guerra 

- Study of cognitions and prefered responses of 3 types of adolescents in different scenarios

type I: antisocial aggressive teens

type II: high aggression, not antisocial teens

type III: low aggression teens

Results

Aggressive teens:

- perceived hostile intent more often

- needed fewer facts to solve a problem

- saw fewer consequences to an aggressive choice

- chose less effective solutions

Gender:

- Similar results for males and females

- Highly aggressive girls: perceived less hostility than boys

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

Research related to Dodge's Theory

(Slaby & Guerra - intervention study with violent adolescent offenders)

Method

1. some received coaching in skills such as:

- looking for nonhostile cues associated with harmdoing

- controlling impulses/anger

- generating nonaggressive solutions to solve conflicts

Results - the training/coaching worked

- improved social problem-solving skills

- less likely to endorse and use aggression as a solution with authority figures and inmates

- trained inmates were only slightly more likely to stay "clean"

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

Research related to Dodge's Theory

(Rejected & Neglected Children)

- More likely to attribute hostile intentions to others even when acts were prosocial or accidental

Debate

- Does this behavior lead to their rejection/neglect or does their rejection/neglect lead to this behavior?

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

Myths vs Reality of agression expression and management

Pepler & Rubin book - "The Development and Treatment of Childhood Aggression"

- questionaire 

Aggression & Antisocial Behavior

Frequency of physical and verbal aggression based on age

(2-4 yrs & 4-8 yrs)

2-4 yrs 

Physical: peak

Verbal: rare at 2, increase as verbal skills improve

Form of aggression: mostly instrumental

Occasion for aggression: often after conflicts with parents

4-8 yrs

Physical: declines over period except boy-boy

Verbal: large percent is verbal

Form of aggression: more hostile

Occasion for aggression: often after conflict with peers