Extrafamilial InfluencesTelevision, Schools, and Peers

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Chapter 16

• Extrafamilial Influences-Television, Schools, and
  Peers
• Dr. Pelaez

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The Early Window Impacts of Television on
Children and Adolescents

• Now more than 98 of American homes have one or
  more TV sets, and children between ages 3 and 11
  watch an average of 3 to 4 hours of TV a day.

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Are increases in television viewing good or bad?

• Children are substituting TV viewing for other
  leisure activities.
• Moderate amounts of TV viewing do not seem to
  negatively impact cognitive, academic, or the
  amount of time spent with peers.
• A longitudinal study by Anderson and colleagues
  (2001) found that children may actually learn
  from educational programs.
• Potential to do both good harm (depends on what
  is being watched and ability to interrupt it).

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Development of Television Literacy

• A childs age influences television literacy.
• Young children (8 or 9) process TV programs in a
  piecemeal fashion. They tend to remember actions
  of characters rather than motives of characters,
  and may perceive fictional events as accurate
  events.
• Television literacy dramatically increases in
  middle childhood when a child is able to draw
  inferences about scenes.
• Lack of television literacy increases the
  likelihood of a child imitating behaviors see on
  TV.

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Potential Undesirable Effects of TV

• Violence
• The National Television Study reported repeated
  acts of overt aggression, and perpetrators who
  experienced no remorse or consequences for their
  actions was common.
• Positive correlation between TV viewing of
  violence and hostile/aggressive behaviors of
  children.
• Reciprocal Relationship (Watching TV violence
  increases childrens amount of aggression, which
  promotes their fascination with violent TV
  shows).
• May foster mean-world beliefs (world is a
  dangerous and frightening place) and
  desensitization (viewing violence may make people
  less aroused by it).

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Potential Undesirable Effects of TV

• Social Stereotypes
• Gender-role stereotyping (traditional vs.
  untraditional roles of men and women).
• Stereotypes of minorities (Although African
  Americans appear more frequently and in more
  positive roles than previously, other minorities
  are still underrepresented and often portrayed
  negatively).
• Commercials (may promote potentially harmful
  products in a positive light).

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Effective Strategies for Regulating Childrens
Exposure to Television
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Television as an Educational Tool

• () Promoting Prosocial Behavior. (e.g. TV.
  Programs such as sesame street illustrate the
  benefits of prosocial behaviors such as
  cooperation, sharing, and comforting distressed
  companions).
• () Contributor to Cognitive Development. (e.g.
  cognitive skills such as counting, recognizing,
  and discriminating numbers and letters, ordering
  and classifying objects, and solving simple
  problems).
• (-) Passive Activity (e.g. may replace reading
  active learning)

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Computer-Assisted Instruction (CAI)

• Students tend to do more and enjoy more!
• Guided tutorials in combination with simple
  drills are best.
• May promote
• 1) Communication Writing (Word Processor)
• 2) Thinking in new ways (Computer Programming)
• 3) Peer Interactions (Collaborative problem
  solving)

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CAI Concerns

• Video games (may promote aggression because
  players are actively involved in aggressive acts
  and are reinforced for aggressive acts)
• Social Inequalities (usage may be more prevalent
  in economically stable homes and with boys)
• Internet exposure (pornographic web sites, cults,
  and hate websites)

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Schools As a Socialization Agent

• Schools promote academic, social, emotional,
  cognitive development.
• Effective schools allow for teaching and
  application of formal and informal curriculum,
  regardless of the students background.
• Require qualified teachers and reasonable support
  (not just )
• Small class size in primary grades ()
• Larger schools vs. smaller schools
• Ability Tracking (may widen gap between high
  low achievers)

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Effective Schools

• Composition of student body (the more highly
  motivated capable students the better)
• Goodness of Fit between school student
• Aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI) what is good
  for some students isnt good for others.
• Consider ability and culture
• Scholastic Atmosphere
• Academic emphasis (clear academic goals)
• Classroom Management (clear expectations)
• Discipline (rules enforced by teachers)
• Teamwork (collaboration of staff)

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Educational Experiences of Minorities

• Achievement differences.
• Minority parents may be less involved in
  sponsored activities.
• Minority parenting styles may differ.
• Peer influences (minority peers may not support
  devotion to studies)
• Teacher expectations (stereotyping)

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Educating Students with Special Needs

• Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975)
• Inclusion or mainstreaming (including special
  needs students into general ed. classrooms)
• Cooperative Learning Methods (all students work
  together as a team to complete common goals)

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Cross-Cultural Comparison

• Asian students have higher achievement.
• American children do just as well on IQ tests and
  test of general information.
• Asian students spend more time on core academic
  subjects, time on tasks, and hours in school than
  American students.
• Parental student involvement (Asian
  commitment)
• Shared responsibility (Asians)

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Peers

• Same-Age Contacts equal status and power
  (appreciating others perspectives achieving
  common goals)
• Mixed Age Contacts imbalance often helps
  younger children gain social competencies.
• Peer interaction time and gender segregation
  increases with age.
• Harlows monkey research Freud and Danns
  observations of war infants suggest that both
  peers and parents have unique influences on
  development.

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Development of Peer Sociability

• Getting along is important too!
• Sociability (willingness to interact seek
  approval)
• Babies (start interacting during the middle of
  the 1st year of life ?)
• Preschool years (increasing complexity)
• 1) Nonsocial activity children watch other
  play
• 2) Parallel Play Children play side by side
• 3) Associative Play Children now share toys
  and swap materials
• 4) Cooperative Play Children now act out
  make believe themes

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Development of Peer Sociability

• Middle Childhood Adolescence
• Sophistication of play (use of rules)
• Formation of peer groups and cliques
• Influenced by genotypes and parenting
• Parents
• () warm accepting
• () teach model
• () monitor nonintrusively
• () authoritative
• Measured using sociometric techniques (children
  may be popular, rejected, neglected,
  controversial, or of average status)

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Factors Related to Childrens Popularity

• Parenting styles (warm sensitive)
• Temperamental characteristics(- irritable,
  impulsive passive)
• Cognitive Abilities ( role taking skills)
• Attractiveness (beautiful is good)
• Behavior (warm, cooperative, compassionate with
  prosocial behavior)

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Neglected Children
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Friendships

• lt 8 yrs of age based on common activity
• 8-10 yrs old see friend as psychologically
  similar (can be trusted, loyal sensitive)
• Adolescents focus on reciprocal emotional
  commitments and view friends as imitate
  associates who understand them.
• Chemistry (friends are more similar than
  acquaintances in personality and prosocial
  behaviors ? sense of mutuality regard)
• Stable, but friendship networks may decrease in
  size as children enter adolescence.

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Advantages of Friends

• Provide security and social support
• Contribute to social problem-solving skills
• Help prepare for adult love relationships
• Quality of friendships matter

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Parents Peers

• Peers set norms (rules about how group members
  should look, dress, think act)
• Peer Conformity (Thomas Berndt -1979)
• Peaks _at_ age 15 for antisocial behavior
• May be a sign of developing autonomy
• Similar levels of adolescent misconduct are
  consistent across cultures.
• Cross-pressures (conflicts created from different
  values of parents and peers) tend not to be an
  issue.
• Parents peers influence different domains.
• Parents influence who their children hang out
  with.