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[DAViE]

Perhaps you are going for a morning walk in central park, in this area you notice numerous interactions among the people involved in their owns lives. Among these interactions you notice two mothers with their crying infants and how they handle their infants accordingly. One mother sings and cradles their child, while the other simply ignores the child while talking on the phone tuning out the wails of their infant. How might there be a difference in how these children attach to their parents? The child who is being soothed by their mother is being shown that there is no need to be afraid, that they are safe, they are loved, that they are secure. While the child who is being ignored may feel neglected, unloved, unsafe, and ultimately insecure. In the pearson video "Watch Attachments in Infants" (http://wps.pearsoned.com/passport_intro_psych/165/42259/10818429.cw/content/index.html), we see a similar secure attachment between a mother and her child, and learn the importance of the infant feeling secure so that it feels comfortable in it's place in this world. While also learning of a young woman who had an insecure attachment during her upbringing and the struggles that followed. This leads to the question, how does attachment influence social development?

Considering attachment as apart of the lifespan development is an ethological perspective, they use the attachment theory to hypothesize social and personality development. The attachment theory is the view that infants are biologically predisposed to form emotional bonds with caregivers and that the characteristics of those bonds shape later social and personality development. Psychologist John Bowlby states that infants create different internal models of their relationships with their parents and other key adults (Bowlby, 1969). These internal models shape numerous elements that determine how the child's attachment to care givers will develop. Doe the child feel confident in the reliability of their attachment figure? Does the child expect affection or rebuff? Does the child feel that their attachment figure is a safe base for exploration? All of these questions are answered based on the child's internal models of their relationship with their attachment figure. These models are usually established by age 5 that shape their relationship with their primary caregiver, their self model and future relationships.

But how does the infant attach to their caregiver? John Bolby suggests that there are four distinct phases during the development of an infant's attachment (Bowlby, 1969). According to Bowlby attachment goes through a fixed sequence among all healthy babies during the first 24-36 months of their life. During these four phases, infants display distinct behavioral patterns as attachment intensifies. Phase 1 lasts from birth to 3 months of age. This stage: non-focused orienting and signaling, is a period in which babies use direct signals such as crying, smiling and eye contact in order to gather the attention of all those around them to fufill their needs. The second phase lasts from 3-6 months of age is labeled as focus on one or more figures. During this phase babies start to signal less and less people, typically those who they spend the most time with and become less responsive to those unfamiliar to them. The third phase, the longest phase and the most critical phase lasts from 6 months to 24 months of age. This phase is known as Secure base behavior. It is in this stage when true attachment emerges. Babies cling to their caregivers who they view as safe bases, using proximity-seeking behaviors in order to feel safe, secure, and fufill their needs. They will only go to others for security if the caregiver is absent or neglectful. The final phase of attachment is the internal model stage that continues on from 24 months of age. The internal model of attachment that has been developed allows children to anticipate and imagine the outcome of their interactions with their caregivers as well others throughout life.

As we can see attachment is the emotional tie a child has to their parent, how this develops is heavily reliant on how the parent attaches to their child as well. Ideally the parent will form synchrony, a mutual interlocking pattern of attachment between parent and child. There are two key components to developing synchrony, those are: emotional availability and contingent responsiveness. An emotionally available caregiver is one who is able and willing to form an emotional attachment to the infant. Contingent responsiveness is the parent's sensitivity to the child's cues and the ability to respond appropriately. Contrary to the popular belief that immediate contact between infant and mother after birth is required has proven to be irrelevant when forming a long term bond between the two (Wong, 1993). Instead what is essential is for the child and parent to develop synchrony. A language only the child and caregiver understand, that includes the emotional availability and contingent responsiveness from the parent.

Considering attachment has several variables that come into play during it's development, it is only logical that there can be deviations form the ideal pattern and thus differing variations of attachment may be formed. Variations in the quality of the first attachment relationship are now almost universally described using Mary Ainsworth's category system (Ainworth et al., 1978). Ainsworth developed a procedure to assess a child's attachment, the strange situation. During this procedure a child between 12 and 18 months of age goes through a series of situations involving the interaction between mother, stranger, absence of mother, being alone and reunion with mother. The reactions are recorded and from the analysis she has determined 3 different types of attachment: secure attachment, insecure/avoidant attachment, and insecure/ambivalant attachment. If a child has secure attachment, they are curious and desire exploration. But when threatened retreat and seek their caregiver. When reunited with their caregiver they respond positively and feel soothed and safe. There is a preference for the caregiver above strangers. Insecure/avoidant attachment the child tries to stay away from their caregiver especially after their reunion after the caregiver's absence. The child shows no resistance from the caregiver's attempts to make contact, but the child does not seek the contact either. The child unfortunately shows no preference between a stranger and caregiver. During insecure/ambivalent attachment the child seems especially fearful of the world, displaying no desire for exploration and is greatly upset when separated from the caregiver but shows no sign of security upon the caregivers return or attempts to comfort the child. The child seeks and avoids contact with caregiver at different times, and may even show anger towards the caregiver at the reunion. They also resist comfort and contact from strangers (Ainsworth et al., 1978). Additionally, developmentalists recently suggested a fourth type: insecure/disorganized attachment (Main & Solomon, 1990). This child during the strange situation exhibits confused and apprehensive behavior. They seem unsure of their relationship with the caregiver displaying contradictory behavior patterns when engaging with the caregiver (Carlson & Sroufe, 1995; Main & Solomon, 1990.).

With an understanding of attachment and it's variations, just how does it influence social development? Researchers have examined the links between Ainsworth's classification system and a wide range of other behaviors in infants, children, adolescents, and adults. Dozens of studies show tht children rated as securely attached to their mothers in infancy are later more sociable, more positive in their behavior towards friends and siblings, less clinging and dependent on teachers, less aggressive and disruptive, more empathetic and more emotionally mature in their interactions in school and other settings outside the home (Booth-LaForce et al., 2006; Brumariu & Kerns, 2010; Carlson, Sampson & Sroufe, 2003). Quality of attachment in infancy also predicts sociability through early, middle and late adulthood (Thompson, 2008). Internal model of attachment also affect the parenting style of individuals. Parents with secure attachment display synchonious behaviors with their child, while parents with insecure attachment may view their child negatively.

Essentially attachment influences us well into adulthood. If we were able to successfully securely attach to our parents we will naturally feel safe and secure in the world. Resulting in confidence, sociability, and the ability to rely on ourselves as well as others. Speaking on my personal experience and relating to the woman who had an insecure attachment growing up in the video. I feel I can be classified as having an ambivalent pattern of attachment which is a resultant of when a primary caregiver inconsistent and unreliable. This greatly effected my self esteem growing up, constantly feeling alone, isolated and not sure what to expect from the world. However after some self evaluation, counseling and talking to my mother about how I felt, I can say my view on the world has changed. I am still reluctant to trust openly, but I am extremely social and enjoy the company of others now. Bowlby states that internal models after age 5 become our property, which means in turn that we can control our internal models so long as we become aware of what they are. Just how has your attachment influenced your social development?

[DAViE]

There are a number of things in life which I enjoy. I enjoy fast cars, sporting events, and physical activities, coincidentally, all of my friends who happen to be males, also enjoy these same simple pleasures. I have to wonder, why is that so? Most people would claim that the answer is obvious, that it's because we're men that we enjoy these things. But is the answer really that simple? Is it simply because I am of the male sex, that I enjoy all of these things? Was it a natural attraction to these pleasures because I'm male, or did I learn these concepts? In the Pearson educational video (http://abavtooldev.pearsoncmg.com/sbx_videoplayer_v2/simpleviewer.php?projectID=MPL&clipID=intvw4_denm01.flv&ui=2), Dr. Florence Denmark explains that biological sex known as male and female, have little to do with my gender, which she explains is a social concept. Gender is the psychological and social associates and implications of biological sex. That is to say, that I like the above listed things because of the environmental forces that come with my biological sex, as a male. But just how is gender developed ?Developmentalists have proposed several explanations of gender development.

Beginning with Psychoanalytic theories, Sigmund Freud proposed that gender is acquired through the process of identification. This is when children between ages 3-6 must come to terms with their anxiety stemming from their desires for the opposite sex parent also known as the oediupus/electra conflict during the phallic stage in Frued's psychosexual development theory. This is resolved when the child begins to identify with the same sex parent by learning and conforming to the sex-role concepts through seeing themselves through their same sex parent. Developmentalists argue however that there is difficulty with accepting this theory, considering many children as young as 18 months can accurately label themselves and others as boys or girls.

Social-learning theorists place emphasis on the role parents play during a child's gender development (Bandura, 1977,a Mischel,1966, 1970). This theory places emphasis on reinforcement provided by parents when a child acts according to their gender. This theory has more credibility as it seen that parents reinforce sex-typed activities in children as young as 18 months (Fagot & Hagan, 1991). Boys play with cars and trucks while girls play with dolls and stuffed animals. The differing reinforcement is particularly clear from fathers with their young boys (Siegal 1987). Although this theory does show more promise then the psychoanalytic theory, parents reinforce children's gender based behavior less often then one would assume and not enough to explain the very early gender discriminations children make, as well as preference for same-sex playmates.

Lawrence Kohlberg presents a cognitive-developmental explanation, suggesting that a child's understanding of gender develops in stages (Kohlberg, 1966; Kohlberg & Ullian, 1974). The first stage, gender identity, is the ability to correctly label oneself and others as either male or female. Children can usually determine their own sex by age 2, and within the next 6-12 months, can label others correctly as well. The second stage is gender stability, the understanding that gender is a stable, lifelong characteristic. This stage is tested by researchers by asking children questions such as "When you were a little baby were you a little boy or a little girl?" or "when you grow up, will you be a mommy or daddy?". Most children will be able to correctly understand gender stability by the age of 4 (Slaby & Frey, 1975). The final stage the child goes through is gender constancy, the understanding that gender is a component of the self that is not alter by external appearances. There are numerous studies, including cross-cultural research that supports that most children go through this sequence (Martin & Ruble, 2004; Munroe, Shimmin, & Munroe, 1984). Progression through this sequence, may also be apart of general cognitive development (Trautner, Gervai & Nemeth, 2003). The grounding point made in Kohlberg's theory is gender constancy, arguing that it is through gender constancy that children develop ad understanding of the cultural norms for their gender, and that they adjust their behavior according to these norms. Some developmentalists however, question why it is children have gender based toy preferences before they achieve said gender constancy.

Information-processing theorists approach gender development with aspects of Kohlberg's cognitive-developmental theory with some help of social learning theories as well. Information processing theorists explain gender development through the gender schema theory, which asserts the notion that children use a schema for gender to process information about themselves and others. Schemas are mental frameworks, such as categories, that help humans organize processes such as thinking and remembering. The gender schema begins to develop as soon as the child notices the differences between male and female, knows their own gender and can label the two groups with some consistency, all of which happens at about 2 to 3 years of age ( Bem, 1981; Martin & Ruble, 2002). Theorists believe because gender is an either or category, children can grasp the gender distinction very early leading to a wealth of possible new information and understanding of themselves and others. Once the child establishes even a primitive gender schema theory, many experiences can be assimilated to it. Which may explain why children may show preference for same-sex playmates or gender stereotyped activities (Martin & Little, 1990). As early as preschool do children begin to first learn and expand the distinctions about what activities and behaviors come with their gender by observing their peers and the reinforcement they receive from their parents’. The development of gender scripts, sequences of events that normally associated with a given gender such as “fixing dinner” or “building with tools emerge just as they learn other social scripts by this age (Levy & Fivush, 1993). Between the ages 4 and 6 children learn more subtle and complex set of associations for their own gender, such as what they like and don’t like, how they play, how they talk, and what kinds of people are they associate with. It is only by age 8-10 do children develop an equivalently complex view of the opposite gender ( Martin, Woo, & Little,1990). This can be exemplified when a 4-6 year old boy hands a girl worms as a gift because he thinks it’s “cool”, he wouldn’t be able to grasp until he’s 8-10 that what may be “cool” or appropriate for his gender, may not apply to the opposite.

Finally there is the biological approach, which was dismissed by developmentalists up until recently for the notion that differences between male and female had nothing to do with biology. However reviewing researchers are looking at decades-old experimental studies with animals showing that prenatal exposure to male hormones such as testosterone powerfully influences behavior after birth (Lippa, 2005). This is supported by female animals that are exposed to testosterone, act more aggressively then female animals not exposed to the hormone. Similarly, male animals who had testosterone blocked displayed behavior that was more typical of their female species variation. Hormonal influence seems to have an effect on cognitive development. Some boys who were born with deformed genitalia as a result of a genetic defect years ago were subjected to plastic surgery to make their genitalia appear female. During this time, doctors did not know that the genetic defect only interfered with the testosterone’s effects on the sex organs and that the brains of these fetuses were exposed to normal amounts of testosterone during prenatal development (Roenthal & Gitelman, 2002). The follow up study showed that many of the children subjected to this surgery sought to masculinize their bodies, furthermore those who choose to retain their female identities had many attributes and behaviors that are more typical of males then females (Reiner & Gearhard, 2004). With these findings, one can conclude that the exposure to hormones during prenatal development plays a role in gender development.

So just how is gender developed? As we can see from the theories provided it is clear that gender is multifactorial, deriving from cognitive, social and biological aspects. I personally believe that gender differences, are purely biological. The nature of biological sex differences can be supported by biological means. If animals, male and female, display "gender-stereotypical" behavior, is it really a stereotype? Male lions lead the pride, are aggressive and dominant, female lions, care for the young, prepare the food, and support the male lion. Cross-culturally, men are depicted as aggressive, strong, cruel and coarse. While women are are gentle, appreciative, and soft-hearted. It seems universally in biosphere that the biological sex have set traits towards their demeanor. That would mean, that the idea that these personality traits are socially learned may be incorrect. However while I do believe gender differences may be biologically based, I do believe gender roles are socially and culturally based. It can easily be explained using the information-processing theory that gender roles are provided through the means of scripts, and what "it means" to be your biological sex, from a social point of view. With the natural innate genetic predispostion towards set gender-"sterotyped" traits, these personality traits may be emphasized by reinforcement from the environment, thus gender is developed.

[DAViE]

Joesph Barbato presents the discussion question "Is one parenting style more effective than another"? This question's can be answered in a variety of opinion based answers, based on one's own personal experiences with their parents or their own parenting style. Some may prefer a strict parenting style, some may prefer a more relaxed approach, and others an attentive style. A key variable in shaping a parent's parenting style are grounded by parenting goals (e.g., Cheay & Rubin, 2004). Parenting goals are influenced by cultural values and by the immediate context in which parents are raising their children. Although there may be varying opinions on which style would be most appealing, if the goal of the parent is to develop a well off child in almost all aspects of social development, there is a substantial amount of research indicating that an authoritative parenting style may be the best approach.

Researchers call the differing strategies that parents use to manage their child's behavior, parenting styles. Developmentalist Diana Baumrind offers the most advanced conceptualization of the differing parenting styles. Baumrind identified four key aspects of family functioning: Warmth, clarity, level of expectations, and communication (Baumrind, 1972). Each of these four dimensions have been indepentently shown to be related to various child behaviors as well as impending developmental outcomes in other areas of life. Children with nuturant and warm parents are more securely attached in the first two years of life then those with more rejecting parents; they also have higher self-esteem and are more empathetic and more responsive to others' hurts or distress; they have higher IQs, are more compliant in preschol and elementary school, do better in school and are less likely to show delinquent behavior in adolescence or criminal behavior in adulthood (Maccoby. 1980; Maughan, Pickles & Quinton, 1995; Simons, Robertson, & Downs, 1989; Stormshak, 2000). In addition, high levels of attachment and affection may even possibly buffer a child against the negative effects of otherwise disadvantageous environments. Several studies of children and teens growing up in poor, tough neighborhoods show that parental warmth is associated with both social and academic competence (Masten & Coastsworth, 1998). A parent's level of degree of clarity; that is clear and consistent rules which control the child are quite significant. Parents with clear rules, that are consistently applied, have children who are much less likely to be defiant or non-compliant. These children are much more competent and secure of themselves, and less aggressive (Kurdek & Fine, 1994; Patterson, 1980). How a parent utilizes their form of control is critical as well. The optimal outcome for the child occur when the parents are not overly restrictive, explain things to the child, and avoid the use of physical punishments. This is a parenting strategy known as inductive discipline, when a parent explains to a child why a punished behavior is wrong. Inductive discipline helps most preschoolers gain control of their behavior and learn to look at situations from perspectives other than their own. "Maturity demands" as Baumrind puts it, or rather level of expectations also affect a child's view of themselves. Those children who's parents have a high level of matyruty demands tend to fare better. They have higher self esteem, show more generosity towards others and are independent. Lastly, open and regular communication between parent and child have been linked to more positive developmental outcomes. Parents need to convey to a child that what the child has to say is worth listening to, that their ideas are important and should be considered during family decision making. Children of such parents have been found to be more emotionally and socially mature ( Baumrind, 1971; Bell & Bell, 1982).

Expanding on Baumrind's four aspects of family functioning, developmentalists Eleanor Maccoby and John Martin categorize families on two dimensions: the degree of demand and acceptance versus rejection. The intersection of these two dimensions create four types of of parenting styles, three of which were already identified by Baumrind. Parents who are high in both high in demands and high in acceptance, are defined as authorative parents according to Maccoby and Martin, coincidentally, Baumrind describes these parents as high in all four aspects of family functioning as well. The most consistently positive outcomes have been associated with an authoratative pattern in which the parents are high in both control and acceptance. They set clear limits but also respond to a child's individual needs. Children with authoratative parents typically show higher self-esteem, higher level of independence, are more likely to comply with the parental requests and show more prosocial behaviors. As they advance in school they are more self-confident and achievement oriented and get better grades then children with other parenting styles as well (Crockenberg &Litman, 1990; Dornbusch, Ritter, Liederman, Roberts & Fraligh, 1987; Steignberg, Elmen & Mounts 1989).

To conclude, a parent in order to have optimal social development for their child should properly utilize control through the means of open discussion with the child as well as let them be aware of what is expected of them, while also maintaining a high level of warmth and nurturance, appreciating the child's individuality and expressiveness, strategies implemented by an autoratative parenting style.

[DAViE]

During the final years of our lives the number of roles one occupies begins to dwindle. During late adulthood we begin to face retirement, typically no longer care for our aging parents, and may not even take care of ourselves. Psychologist Erik Erikson termed the last of his eight life criseses the "ego-integrity-versus-despair stage." He believed that the task of achieving ego integrity, the sense that one has lived a useful life, begins in middle adulthood but was most central in late adulthood. To achieve ego integrity the older adult must come to terms with who she is and has been, how her life has been, the choices she has made, the opportunities gained and lost. The process also involves coming to terms with death and accepting it's inevitablity. Erikson hypothesized that failure to achieve ego integrity in late adulthood would result in feelings of hopelessness and despair, because there would be too little time to make changes before death.

How one maintains happiness and a sense of ego integrity ranges from person to person. Gerontologists John Rowe and Robert Kahn have developed the sucessful aging paradigm to descibe the behaviors associated with sucessful aging. Successful aging has consists of good physical health, retentention of cogniitive avilities, and continuing engagement in social and productive activies (Rowe & Khan, 1997, 1998). An additional aspect of successful aging is an individual's subjective sense of life satisfaction. In the pearson education video (http://abavtooldev.pearsoncmg.com/sbx_videoplayer_v2/simpleviewer.php?projectID=Lifespan2008&clipID=MultiGen V4-flv.flv&ui=2), we meet Maria a 68 year old widow, and recently retired woman who now lives with her daughter, her son-in-law and her grandchildren. In the video Maria explains the joy it brings her to be apart of her daughter's household and the roles accompanying her while living there. It may be signifigant during late adulthood to be apart of your children's lives as well as your grandchildren's lives to achieve a sucessful life through social engagement, productivity and life satisfaction which ultimately will result in ego integrity.

There are five components to succesful aging: health, mental activity, social engagement, productivity, and life satisfaction. Most of the component of successful aging contain an aspect that is a resultant of the elderly adult's social life, particularly social engagement, productivity and life satisfaction. Social engagement or social connectedness and participation in productivie activities are clearly important to succesful aging. Nursing home residents report greater satisfaction with their lives when they have frequent contact with family and friends ( Guse & Masesar, 1999). Social engagement provides elderly adults with an opportunity to give and recieve help from their social network. Researchers studying Japanese elders, for example, found that a majority of them say that helping others contributes to their own health and personal sense of well-being ( Krause, Ingersoll-Dayton, Liang & Sugisawa, 1999). Additionally researchers who have asked U.S. nursing home residents to rate various quality of life factors have found that they often give high ratings to "opportunities to help others" (Guse & Masear, 1999). Contributing to a social network is one of the most important aspects towards successful aging. Voultanteerism, performing unpaid work for altrustic reasons, has been linked to succesful aging, as displayed by Maria in the pearson video who essentially plays the role of a third parent to her grand children. A Californian study involving nearly 2000 older adults found that mortality rates were 60% lower among volunteers than among nonvolunteer (Oman, Thoresen, & McMahon, 1999). Life satisfaction, or a sense of personal well-being is also an important componentn of susccessful aging. The most critical aspect to life satisfaction rating in almost all cases is an individual's perception of their life situation, which may be more important than objective measures (Gana, Alphillippe, & Bailly, 2004). Perceived adequacy of social support is critical as well. This is shown in the video through the harmony of Maria and her daughter's relationship is displayed. There is a clear dependence of one another, as well as an equaling social support to each other. Research also suggests that social comparisons, how well the adult thinks they are doing compared to others their age are just as important (Robinson-Whelen & Kiecolt-Glaser, 1997). A majority of older adults, no matter what their personal circumstances, believe that most others their age are worse off than they are (Heckhausen & Brim, 1997). Maria demonstrates this when she says "I know many people my age, you know, living in a community and they are with other people, you know and the same interest and all, but I don't think that I will like that because I always like being with friends or family." She clearly feels that she is better off then other adults her age because of the family support she receives. Developmentalists speculate that the tendency to see others as having more problems is an important self protective psychological device employed by those who are aging successfully (Frieswijk, Buunk, Stererink, & Slaets, 2004).

Part of the regularcontact between elders and their adult children, of course, involves giving aid to or receiving it from the elder person. A great deal of the interaction is social as well as functional, and the great majority of older adults describe their relationships with their adult children in positive terms. Most take pleasure in such contact and a very large percentage describe at least one child as a confidant (Taylor et al., 2006). Some studies indicate that when relationships between elders and adult children are warm and close, they are more important to elders' sense of well-being than any other kind of social relationship (Pinquart & Soerensen, 2000). The results of this study may indicate why elders' levels of distress increase whenever their adult children experience problems with their careers or intimate relationships (Mikie, Bierman, & Schinman, 2008). This type of harmonious relationship is clearly demsontrated between Maria and her daughter.

Interactions between grandchildren and grandparents are beneficial to both parties. Involved grandparenting, that is a type of relationship with grandchildren where the grandparent is directly involved in the everyday care of grandchildren or have close emotional ties with them. Grandparents that display this type of relationship typically live in a three generation household with children and grandchildren, as well as even may have full-time responsibilities of the grandchildren. Maria is an involved grandparent and describes her involvement with her grandchildren as a great pleasure and responsibilities, enjoying the simple times enjoyed with her grandchildren. This may be perhaps as a grandparenthood is shown to increase a sense of self or to an individuals' overall morale.

As Maria visibly displays, perhaps being apart of intergenerational household can lead someone towards a path of successful aging. There is a clear demand for her to maintain a good physical and cognitive activity given the lifestyle she lives, being an involved grandparent, is exhausting, but provides enough social engagement and productivity that it is, rewarding. Like Maria's daughter, my mother also had my grandmother living with us to help raise me and my sister while my mother worked. Having my grandmother around was a huge blessing, as I'm sure it was for my mother as well. As Maria's daughter said it "It couldn't be done without my mother", I'm sure my mother would agree with said statement about my grandmother. The relationship between an intergenerational family is one that benefits all, especially the elder adult. As Maria says "The feeling of always caring for each other is always there and to me that is a big comfort and a good feeling"

[DAViE]

A bully is any individual who uses their physical or social aggression in order to reflect their sense of superiority over their victims. Bullies may out right use physical aggression to seize control or display patterns of aggression. In middle childhoold physical aggresion becomes even less common as children learn the cultural rules about when it is acceptable to display anger or aggression and how much of a display is acceptable. What this means is that anger is increasingly disguised and aggression is increasingly controlled as children get older (Underwood, Coie, & Herbsman). What pschologists have noticed because of the underlying cultural bounds by what direct aggression is acceptable, they have noticed patterns of aggression: relational and retalitory. Relational aggression is aimed at damaging the other person's self-esteem or peer relationships, such as by ostracism or threats of ostracism, cruel gossip, or facial expressions of disdain. Children are genuinely hurt by such indrect aggression, and they are likely to express dislike for others who use this form of aggression a lot ( casa & Mosher, 1995; Cillessen & Mayuex, 2004; Cowan & Underwood, 1995; Crick & Grotpeter, 1995; Rys & Bear, 1997). Retalitory aggression is aggression used to get back at someone who has hurt you. This form of aggression increases among both boys and girls during middle childhood ( Astor, 1994). It's development is related to a child's growing understanding of the difference between intentional and accidental actions. To understand a bully's aggressive behavior and the means used behind their aggressive behavior is imperative in defining the bully.

Research seems to support that aggressive patterns of behavior among boys and girls correlate to higher social status, perhaps because of their ability to manipulate others and control social situations (Cillessen & Mayeux, 2004). This association holds for both physical and relational aggression during early childhood, however as children grow older physical aggression and seems to be less admirable, while relational aggression and perceieved status increases in strength. This may be happen because children by age 11 or 12 regard relational aggression as a more mature form of social manipulation than physical aggression. That is to say, perhaps bullying is a form of seeking and establishing popularity among middle childhood. Social approval may not increase aggressiveness, but it does seem to help maintain it; interventions to reduce aggressive behavior typically have little effect on aggressive boys are who popular (Phillips, chwean, & Saklofske, 1997). Therefore one can assume that once the bully realizes that they are deemed cool, popular or that their aggressive tactics are benefitting them, they are set in their ways.

Research indicates in stable peer groups children tend to take on consistent roles: perpertrator (the bully), victim, assistant to the perpetrator, reinforcing onlooker, nonparticipant onlooker, defender of the victim and so on (Andreou & Metallidou, 2004; Hay, Payne & Chadwick, 2004). A better understanding of a victim may give insight into how a bully using their aggression for social means establishes a sense of percieved power that children seem to fear and admire. Research shows that victims have certain characteristics in common, including anxiety, passivity, senesitivity, low self-esteem, lack of humor, and comparative lack of friends ( Egan & Perry 1998; Hodges, Malone & Perry, 1997, Olweus, 1995). Cross-cultural studies suggest that these characteristics are found among habitual victims across a wide variety of cultural settings (elsea et a, 2004). When a bully prays on those who they percieve as weaker and contain the characteristics of a victim or an easy target, they unleash on the victims to establish power. It is these victims who typically make up the social status known as rejected children, children who are avoided by most other children in a group. Withdrawn/reject children realize that they are disliked by peers (Harrist, Zaia, Bates, Dodge & Pettit, 1997). These children typically experience feelings of loneliness after they give up hope of peer acceptance, and thus a victim-bullying relationship is born. The bully prays on the victim's weakenesses, establishing a sense of power, and social status at the expense of the victim and the victim's social status.

However obtaining and maintaining a sense of higher social status is not always the motive for a bully's aggressive behaviors, some children may suffer from a a form of atypical development. Childhood-onset conduct disorder is a behavior disorder that includes high levels of aggression, argumentativeness, bullying, disobedience, irritability, and threatening and loud behavior that begins before a child is 10 years of age. Those with childhood-onset conduct disorder repetively violate important social rules that may persist into adolesence and adulthood. Children who are diagnosed with childhood-onset conduct disorder typically begin life with a range of vulnerabilities, including difficult temperament, lower intelligence, or both (McCave, Hough, Wood, & Yeh, 2001). In infancy, they are likely to have formed insecure/disorganized or insecure/avoidant attachments ( Lyons-Ruth, 1996). During early childhood these children often throw tantrums and defy parents. With peers, these children exhibit trait aggression, behaving aggressively towards others despite being punished by authority figures. Brain-imaging studies indicate that the brain structures that regulate emotion and planning in children with conduct disorder are less developed than those of children who do not have the disorder (Huebner et al., 2008). There is some indication that childhood-onset conduct disorder has a much stronger biological component then adolescent-onset conduct disorder (Oosterlaan, Geurts, Knol & Sergeant, 2005). Though there may be some biological component, a persisting conduct disorder depends on the interactions between the inborn tendancy and other aspects of a child's life. including the parent's ability to handle the child's early defiance, and the environment in which the child lives (Gottesman & Goldsmith, 1994).

Ultimately it is not aggression that contributes a bully but the source of the aggression that creates a bully. Growing up attending public school, most students are able to quickly decpiher between the two types of bullies described. With bullies concerned with social status, there aggresive behavior is much more intricate, sophisticated, and most of the time teachers and adults are not even aware of it. These are the bullies that go unpunished and are capable of maintaining and establishing control. The second kind of bully, one based on atypical development simply bullies because of. more or less, a lack of control over themselves. These are the bullies that are easily recognizable and the ones that are punished. Ultimately, I believe bullying is not something that can be removed, extinguied or even prevented. It appears as though we may be biologically programmed towards establishing dominance hierarchies. This can be seen as early as age 3 or 4, groups of children arrange themselves in well-understood pecking orders of leaeders and followers (Strayer, 1980). Therefore, perhaps bullying isn't really bullying at all, but a biological tendency to exhibit dominance that we as a society don't really care for. Regardless in my eyes, a bully is a bully.

[DAViE]

Middle aged children are in a period of their lives just before adolescence, a time in which they have a stronger urge to feel like a "big kid" and earn a sense of indepdence they strongly desire. A sense of indepdence, or rather industry, is the main developmetanl task according to Erik Erikson's Psychosocial stages of development. He characterizes middle childhood a s aperiod during which dhilren experience the crisis of industry versus inferiority. During this stage, Erikson said, children develop a sense of their own competnence through the achievement of culturally defined learning goals, through reading, writing, and basic self care. Aside from reading and writing which can be obtained through instructional means, self care is something that must be socially learned through parents and friends. In pearson's educational video wps.pearsoned.com/passport_intro_psych/165/42259/10818459.cw/content/index.html we see a family describe the increasing responsiblities, expectations and pressure they apply to their daughter in order for her to develop a sense of independence, a sense of industry.

Middle childgood is the time when children develop perceptions of the degree to which they are competenent. Albert Bandura defines self-efficacy as an individual's belief in their capacity to cause an intended event to occur or to perform a task (Bandura, 1997). Bandura proposed that peer models are a primary source of self-efficacy beliefs (Bandura, 1997). Thus, social comparisons - the process of drawing conclusions about the self based on comparisions to others - play an integrat role in the degree to which children gain insight into their own self-efficacy from observing peers. Encouragment from souces of information that children value also contributes to self-efficacy.

With a solid sense of self-efficacy the child needs to develop a sense of their valued self, this is measured through level of self esteem. Self-esteem is a global evaluation of one's own worth. Developmental psychologist Susan Harter has found that self-esteem is strongly influenced by mental comparision of children's ideal selve and their actual experiences, a cognitive task that depends upton the advances in information-processing skills. In other words the key to self-esteem is the amount of discrepancy between what the child desires and what the child thinks they have achieved. Thus a child who values education but is a C student will have lower self esteem then another C student who values athleticism over educatioin. Another major influence ona childr's self esteem is the overal support the child feels they recieve from the important people around them, such as parents and peers (Franco & Levitt, 1998). Open discussion between parents similarly displayed in the video, is likely to raise a child's self-esteem.

Attachments to parents continue to be important to middle aged children but as seen in the pearson educational video an increase of self regulating tasks and expectations from the parent increases. This is because parents of 6-12 year olds recognize their children's growing capacity for self-regulation, the ability to conform to parental standards of behavior without direct supervision. As a result, as children get older, parents are more likely to allow them to engage in activities such as bicycle riding, and skateboarding without direct supervision (Soori & Bhophal 2002). This is demonstrated in the video as the parents describe the freedoms the child did not previously enjoy during early childhood that she enjoys now in middle childhood, is with an understand of the child's growing ability to self-regulate that a sense of trust is formed between child and parent.

Ultimately it is through the development of self-efficacy, self-esteem, and self-regulation that a child gains a sense of industry or indepdence during middle childhood. By believing that they are capable of completing a task and making what they want happen, they gain self-esteem which causes them to feel more capable of taking care of themselves and confident from the feed back by their parents of their self-regulation abilities through which a child feels a sense of indepdence. This can be seen by the child in the video who explains that with the added expectations and responsiblities from her parents she feels like she is helping around the house and is an active contiributor to the household. With a sense of industry developed the child gains a sense of acceptance with their own abilities and feels more comfortable exploring themselves and the social world, a sense of industry.

[DAViE]

In Canada, federal budgets are presented annually by the Government of Canada to identify planned government spending, expected government revenue, and forecast economic conditions for the upcoming year. Federal budgets are usually released in February or March, before the start of the fiscal year. All of the provinces also present budgets. Since provincial finances are dependent on money from the federal government, these budgets are usually released after the federal one. On February 11th, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty released the federal budget 2014 outline publically.

"Vague promises and a fourth straight year of federal spending cuts marked Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s 10th federal budget Tuesday, putting him within the margin of error of balancing the books a year ahead of schedule." as CBC Canada reports. Flaherty's conservative fiscal policies are about cutting spending and giving the country time to grow. Updated figures in the budget show the Conservatives with a $2.9-billion deficit, just within the $3-billion contingency Flaherty has built in case of major blows to Canada’s economy. The Finance Department upgraded its projected surplus for next year to $6.4 billion from $3.7 billion.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says the budget has very little vision. "Ultimately there is no plan that is going to respond to the concerns of middle-class Canadians, who are worried about their jobs, worried about their children's future and worried about their retirements," Trudeau said. Liberals critique the plan explaining despite advance hints of consumer-driven measures and help for youth employment, the budget contains mostly vague promises and small programs aimed at big problems, with most spending set to start after 2014.

Opposite to CBC Canada, the Ottawa Citizen praises Flatery's conservative policies, calling it a testament to responsible financial management. "If budget making were an Olympic event, and the judge was named Prudence, Flaherty would get a gold medal". Jim Flaherty’s 10th budget contained no big news, offered no dramatic shift in policy, and will cause not even a ripple on the stock markets. The opposition will claim it’s a do-nothing budget, squeezed into the Olympic calendar by a finance minister who is beyond his best-before date.

In response to the federal budget, the Star's buisness section's main concern was the inability to extinguish the U.S-Canadian price gap that Canadian consumer's must bare through. The federal government promised to address the long-standing U.S.-Canadian price gap issue, but it isn’t ordering an immediate lowering of prices or the elimination of certain tariffs. Rather, it says it will bring in legislation to address price discrimination not justified by higher operating costs in Canada, and will give the Competition Bureau the power to investigate and enforce the issue.

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3. What do you see as the major contributions of Freud to the field? Which of his ideas do you think have made a lasting impact on the way we view personality?
David Rosario
PSY340
Sturman

Psychoanalytic theorist, Sigmund Freud placed emphasis on the internal and unconscious motives and drives that interact dynamically to influence the behaviors of individuals. Freud’s main idea that ultimately lead interest into the subject of psychoanalysis is his idea of what composes the psyche – our mind and our sense of self. He identified three components of the psyche: the id, the ego, and the super ego. The id is present at birth and is the primitive aspect of our selves, this is the unconscious mind – the main focus of psychodynamic theories that operates according to an individual’s pleasure principle. The ego develops out of the id around six months after birth. The ego is mostly conscious to the individual with the pain purpose to address the demands of the environment and reality. The Ego operates according to the reality principle – trying to balance the primitive urges of the id with the reality of the situation. The superego is the final component of the psyche that is present around ages three or four. The superego is the cultural part of the personality, requiring individuals to act according to accepted societal standards, rules and principles. The superego administers thoughts of shame and guilt when an individual engages in unacceptable behavior, thus the superego operates according to the perfection principle.
Freud identified different types of anxiety depending on whether the id, ego or super ego was dominant. If the id is dominant then neurotic anxiety is experienced, if the ego is dominant then realistic anxiety is experienced, and if the super ego is dominant moral anxiety is experienced. Freud theorized neurotic anxiety is the most important form of anxiety as it is addressed through defense mechanisms. Defense mechanisms are unconscious strategies that help the ego ward of anxiety. Operating at an unconscious level, individuals are not able to identify their own defense mechanisms. Considering the focus of psychoanalysis is the unconscious, psychoanalysts place a great deal of interest in defense mechanisms as they may reveal true insight to the individual.
Freud identified a number of defense mechanisms which vary in how adaptive or maladaptive they are. Highly maladaptive defense mechanisms are said to be immature defense, while adaptive defense mechanisms are mature defenses. Adaptive and maladaptive defenses differ not only in maturity but also in terms of their conscious awareness. Less mature defense styles are conceptualized as unconscious responses to life stressors and more mature defenses are accessible in conscious awareness. Researchers have attempted to identify defense styles through self-report questionnaires such as the Defense Mechanism Inventory and Defense Styles Questionnaire.
Freud has left a lasting impression on personality theory, particularly with his study of the unconscious mind. By assessing an individual’s defense mechanisms and bringing it to the individual’s attention may allow the individual to have a better understanding of their strengths, weaknesses, and ultimately themselves.

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4. Which of the psychodynamic assessment techniques (see pages 197-201) do you see as most useful? Explain why. Which of the assessment techniques do you see as having the greatest limitations?

Psychodynamic assessment techniques are based on the projective hypothesis, which theorizes unconscious themes that reveal the self will be projected on to ambiguous stimuli and that differences in responses reflect meaningful individual differences among people.
Dream analysis is a projective technique based on the belief that our defenses are relaxed during sleep so our unconscious conflicts may be expressed through the themes occurring in our dreams. Freud distinguished between a dreams’ manifest content and latent content. Manifest content are the symbols or images in the dream while latent content is the deeper meaning or significance of the dream itself. Dream analysis is based on Freud’s Dream symbolism theory –certain objects in dreams are supposed to represent male and female forms of sexuality. The psychoanalysts’ goal is to interpret the manifest content and tell the dreamer what the dream signifies. Although most psychoanalysts would agree with Freud on the importance of dreams, they all do not necessarily agree with Freud’s interpretation of what dreams do in fact mean. With that said, Dream analysis may have a different meaning depending on the psychoanalyst’s professional opinion. Additionally, there are a number of resources deciphering what dreams mean – outside of psychoanalysis, with that said there leaves little faith in dream analysis as an effective psychodynamic technique as there is not much consistency besides the fact that dreams are an important aspect to the individual’s unconscious.
Psychoanalyst Henry Murray developed the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), which can assess an individual’s personality and self-understanding. The TAT consists of a series of black and white pictures depicting scenes, and respondents are required to provide a story that fits with a picture being shown. The story generated to an ambiguous stimulus allows the person to project his or her personality into conscious awareness. Each scene was selected to represent a specific psychological need identified by Murray. The TAT also has been used to assess individual differences in variables derived from the objects relations theory. Object relations theory emphasizes how people come to view relationships with other people and incorporates such things as our interpersonal wishes and our emotional responses to other people. There are mixed reviews over the validity of the TAT. Supportive evidence includes established links between implicit motives and the ability to recall life events. However there appears to be a low test-retest reliability score. However this may be because of factors which include the psychoanalyst administering the TAT or the respondent’s story not being identical to their original response.
Ultimately as the projective hypothesis theorizes: unconscious themes will be projected on to ambiguous stimuli and that differences in responses reflect meaningful individual differences among people. We must consider that psychodynamic techniques are unique in nature and are more suitable for individual based cases. The TAT does not provide a measure but it does provide motives, which are key components to our personality, having practical use in assessing individuals on a number of levels it still requires more research and empirical evidence however it is the most promising of the psychodynamic techniques.

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