1 Chapter 2: Reviewing Your Childhood and Adolescence

 Core task: Develop sense of trust in self and others  Erikson’s core struggle: trust versus mistrust  Critical importance of sense of being loved during infancy  Infancy provides the foundation for later development 2 Chapter 2: Reviewing Your Childhood and Adolescence

 Secure pattern : characterized by feelings of intimacy, emotional security, and physical safety when the infant is in the presence of an attachment figure  Anxious-avoidant pattern: results from being consistently rejected by attachment figures and entails the use of disconnection or avoidance as a defense  Anxious-ambivalent pattern: characterized by intense distress at caretaker’s departure and an inability to be comforted upon return of the caretaker Chapter 2: Reviewing Your Childhood and Adolescence3

 Temperament includes both regulatory and reactive components  Some children are outgoing, whereas others stay in the background; some are quickly irritated, whereas others are rarely in a bad mood; some respond aggressively, whereas others have a gentle nature  The fit between a child’s innate traits and a parent’s temperament and personality affects the quality of their relationship and the child’s ability to establish secure attachments and develop positive coping skills Chapter 2: Reviewing Your Childhood and Adolescence4

 Resiliency is a topic of great interest to developmental psychologists  Innate and environmental factors —such as intelligence, temperament, socioeconomic status, and level of parental involvement—work together to influence the extent to which children develop resilience  With support from others and significant choices on our part we can grow in healthy ways despite negative early experiences Chapter 2: Reviewing Your Childhood and Adolescence5

 Erikson’s core struggle: autonomy versus shame and doubt  Central task is to begin the journey toward autonomy  A time for learning what it means to be interdependent  Importance of developing emotional competence 6 Chapter 2: Reviewing Your Childhood and Adolescence

 Erikson’s core struggle: initiative versus guilt  A time for learning basic attitudes regarding sexuality  A time for increasing the capacity to understand and use language  Importance of learning to accept the full range of one’s feelings 7 Chapter 2: Reviewing Your Childhood and Adolescence

 Authoritarian parents: Extremely strict, high demands, control with threats of punishment  Authoritative parents: Accepting, set high goals for children, encourage exploration  Permissive parents: Few demands, indulge children’s desires  Neglectful parents: Neither accepting nor involved, may or may not meet children’s basic needs 8 Chapter 2: Reviewing Your Childhood and Adolescence

 Authoritarian parents- - produce children with fear, apprehension, passivity, vulnerability to stress, moodiness, and a lack of purpose  Authoritative parents- - produce children with self- reliance, self-control, good coping skills, purposeful behavior, an achievement-orientation, a cooperative attitude, and a curiosity about life  Permissive and neglectful parents- - produce children with characteristics of rebellion, low self-reliance and self-control, impulsivity, aimlessness, and low achievement 9 Chapter 2: Reviewing Your Childhood and Adolescence

 Erikson’s core struggle: industry versus inferiority  Increasing understanding of self --- gender, race, culture, abilities  Relationships are a major focus during middle childhood  A time for developing the self-concept 10 Chapter 2: Reviewing Your Childhood and Adolescence

 Psychological strategies we use to protect our self-concept  We use ego defenses at various stages of life to soften the blows of reality  Ego defenses help us cope with anxiety  These defenses have adaptive value if they are not excessively used to avoid facing reality 11 Chapter 2: Reviewing Your Childhood and Adolescence

 For girls, pubescence generally occurs between the ages of 11 and 13; for boys it is between the ages of 12 and 14  During this phase, boys and girls experience major physical, psychological, and sexual changes  Preadolescents are not treated as mature adults, yet they are often expected to act mature  Much of preadolescent rebellion is an attempt to declare their uniqueness and to establish a separate identity Chapter 2: Reviewing Your Childhood and Adolescence12

 Erikson’s core struggle: identity versus role confusion  A critical period in the development of personal identity that is characterized by paradoxes  A key task is individuation or psychological separation from parents  Psychological moratorium: a time for experimentation with different roles before making major commitments 13 Chapter 2: Reviewing Your Childhood and Adolescence

 Many adolescents connect with their peer groups via their cell phones and the Internet. Some potential problems include:  Cyberbullying : a contributing factor in altercations that occur on school campuses that can lead to physical, social, and emotional problems  Sexting : a more recent trend that entails sending nude images via cell phone texting  Reduced time for schoolwork and face-to-face social activities as well as socially-induced attention problems Chapter 2: Reviewing Your Childhood and Adolescence14