Advanced Developmental

Psychology

PSY 620PApril 14, 2015

Social Equity Theory and Racial-Ethnic Achievement GapsClark McKown

2013

N. Sun-Suslow

Introduction

School readiness + academic achievement Asian Americans > White Americans > Black and Latinos (Jencks & Phillips,

1998; Lee, 2002; Reardon & Galindo, 2009)

Black-White achievement gaps Gap appears to grow over time (Farkas, 2003; Fryer & Levitt, 2004, 2005;

Phillips, Crouse, & Ralph, 1998)

Influences SES, future jobs, health (Levin, 2009; Reardon & Robinson, 2007; Adler, Boyce, Chesney, & Cohen, 1994)

What causes racial differences? Genetics (Jensen, 1969)

SES and family (Brooks-Gunn, et al. 2003)

Academic stereotypes (Steele & Aronson, 1995)

Degree of match between home and school environment (Brice-Heath, 1983) N. Sun-Suslow

Social Equity Theory (SET)

1. makes specific commitments about social processes that are relevant to understanding the achievement gap

2. offers casual explanatory framework to explain racial-ethnic achievement gap

3. generates specific, falsifiable hypotheses

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Social Processes

Transactions between individuals (verbal and nonverbal communication)

Communications between individuals and social settings; communicates something of social consequence apart from (interpersonal interactions)

Civil rights poster

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1. 2 classes of social processes influence racial-ethnic achievement gaps:

1. Direct influences – social processes that support achievement.

2. Signal influences – cues that communicate negative expectations about a child’s racial-ethnic group.

SET propositions :: origins of racial-ethnic achievement gaps

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2. Signal influences depend on children’s ability to detect cues signaling a stereotyped expectation. This ability increases during elemental grades.

3. Social processes affecting achievement gap operate across a limited range of key developmental settings. Relevant settings change lawfully with age.

4. Relevant direct and signal influences across developmental contexts account for achievement gap.

SET propositions :: origins of racial-ethnic achievement gaps

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Direct influences

Social processes that promote academic achievement similarly for all children in all racial-ethnic groups. SET unequal distribution gap

Direct influences (parenting)

HOME

• WHITES: “authoritative” parenting (high supportiveness + high demandingness) better academic, social, and emotional outcomes (Baumrind & Black, 1967)

• BLACKS: Higher overall neighborhood distress + strict parenting = positive academic outcomes (Baldwin et al., 1990)

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optimal parenting for the development of academic outcomes may be different for children from different racial-ethnic groups and in different contexts.

Direct Influences (parenting)

SES accounts for some, but not all, of the Black-White test score gap among children. Maternal warmth and engagement accounted for much of the

gap after SES was accounted for (Brooks-Gunn et al., 1996)

Direct Influences (School)

High-quality instruction and positive student-teacher relationships are more available for White than Black students. Between Schools: Black students attend schools where

instructional quality and teacher skills are, on average, lower (Clotfelter et al., 2004).

Within Schools: Black students are assigned to less experienced teachers than White and Asian peers (Lett & Burkam, 2002).

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Direct Influences (Peers)

Stigma associated with academic ambition and White culture can contribute to Black underachievement (Austen-Smith & Fryer, 2005).

Black students are more likely than White peers to report withholding academic effort because of concern about how others might view them (Ferguson 2008).

Some minority students value low-performing peers more than high-performing peers (Grahm, 2001).

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Direct Influence (neighborhood)

Higher neighborhood cohesion, better students performed in school (Cook et al., 2002).

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Signal Influences

Social events that signal to members of negatively stereotyped groups that are devalued because of their group membership (Inzlict & Ben-Zeev, 2000).

Example: Standardized testing

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Signal Influences (Routine signal events)

Characterizing a test as diagnostic of natural ability (McKown & Strambler, 2009)

Telling participants directly that members of their group routinely perform worse than other members of other gouprs (Aronson et al. 1999)

Teacher expectations – expect more from Whites and Asians better academic performance

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Signal Influences and Interpretive Skill

White teacher who is nervous interacting with Black student example.

Cultural stereotypes.

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Beyond Childhood…..

Development depends on a person’s interactions and transactions with many levels of environment

▪ These interactions continue throughout the lifespan

Development

Individual change over time Reorganizes

▪ Multiple systems (entire person) Successive, sequential

▪ Crawl before you walk

Non-reversible (stable)▪ You can’t go back

Normative▪ Everyone’s doing it -- but what if everyone’s not doing it?

▪ Continued education (or earlier employment)▪ marriage, divorce, childrearing, ▪ immigration

Continues over lifespan?

Key principles and concepts Life-span perspective is necessary

Development includes content of emotions and social relationships, as well as capacities

Timing/nature of experience will likely influence impact Effects of neural structure/function Psychological sensitivities and vulnerabilities

emerging at that time (e.g., separation) Non-normative times (e.g., teen pregnancy)

Biological perspective on intrinsic and experiential influences (e.g., puberty)

Key principles and concepts Continuities and discontinuities are to be

expected How are change and levels related?

Abnormal and normal development have dissimilarities and similarities (e.g., heavy drinking & schizophrenia)

Heterotypic and homotypic continuities How are form and process related?

Transitions occur during the course of development What transitions are important now? What factors of negotiation should we look at?

Key principles and concepts Individual differences in meaning

of/response to transitions Risk and protective factors (and their

interactions; e.g., the great depression) Importance of indirect effects, as well

as direct effects Processes and mechanisms involved in

indirect/direct effects How does self-esteem develop?

Age is an ambiguous variable

Psychopathological continuities

Conduct disturbances exhibit substantial continuity Heterotypic? Conduct Drugs/Alcohol/Anti-social Conduct Emotional disorders

What factors are important? Hyperactivity, poor peer relationships,

aggression How might early upbringing

experiences alter these pathway(s)?

Psychosocial pathways

Focus on both risk and protective factors

Adolescent planful competence predicts positive outcomes

occupational success

marital success

Possible Mediating Factors for C/D

Genetics (e.g., autism) Altered biological development (e.g.,

pregnancy/birth complications schiz.)

Behavior/experiences in childhood shape environment experienced in adult life

▪ Selection of environments and relationships▪ Elicitation of interactions with others▪ Elicitation of societal/cultural responses

Shyness: Mediating factors?

What are the mechanisms?

Direct and indirect effects on development▪ Idea of chains of events or cascading effects

Cognitive/Social Skills: Another Mechanism Mechanisms promoting continuity

into adulthood = Mediating factors (cont) Cognitive Skills

▪ IQ as protective factor

Self-related cognitions▪ Self-Esteem▪ Self-Efficacy

Habits, cognitive sets, coping styles

E. Prince

Emerging Adulthood

• Young Adulthood from 18 to 40• Median ages of marriages

have risen• Twenty-somethings change

jobs frequently and pursue post-secondary education

• Premarital sex and cohabitation are more common

• Emerging Adulthood is distinct• Age of identity explorations• Age of instability• Self-focused age• Age of feeling in-between• Age of possibilities

• These are not universal, but more

common than in other ages

E. Prince

Is Emerging Adulthood the best term?

Late adolescence Young Adulthood Transition to Adulthood Youth

“Emerging Adulthood is a new term for a new phenomenon” Do you consider yourself an emerging adult? Do you think it is a positive or negative

experience for most people? Do you think it is good for society?

E. Prince

E. Prince

Struggles and Benefits of Emerging Adulthood

• “Quarter-life crisis”?• Is growing up harder now?

• Identity crises can be stressful• Finding a job can be stressful• Mental health issues can arise

• Substance use• Major depression

• Vulnerable populations at greater risk

• Decline in depressive symptoms• Increase in self esteem• Growing cognitive maturity

Emerging Adults & Society

Ambivalence toward taking on adult roles Adults are boring, have no new possibilities in life Adults have too many responsibilities

Emerging adults have very high expectations True love, amazing job

Emerging adults engage in riskier behaviors

Very few fail to grow up By age 30….. 75% Married, 75% 1+ Child, nearly all

employed and financially independent, living alone from their parents

Extended time to pursue education and job trainingE. Prince

Questions

Can we make a biological argument for this developmental stage?

Arnett says several times that cross-cultural evidence is limited. Do you expect that this stage is universal?

Robert Epstein argues in “The Case Against Adolescence” that a culture of lowering expectations for teens has robbed them of their natural abilities to behave like adults. Do you think expectations are lower for emerging adults than they were before?

E. Prince

Arnett (2007)

Emerging Adulthood: The age period from the late teens through at

least the mid-20s (approximately age 18 – 25) Previously “young adulthood,” “transition to

adulthood”Why do we need a new paradigm?

Erikson conceptualized “young adulthood” as lasting from the late teens to age 40!

More appropriate when most people were married and in a stable job by the early 20s—no longer the case in industrialized societies.

Emerging Adults are now…

Getting married later Changing jobs frequently Pursuing postsecondary and

graduate education Having sex before marriage Living together before marriage But, they are still…

Accepting responsibility for oneself Making independent decisions Becoming financially dependent

(eventually)

The Psychology of Emerging Adulthood (Arnett)

The Psychology of Emerging Adulthood (Arnett)

The Psychology of Emerging Adulthood (Arnett)

The Psychology of Emerging Adulthood (Arnett)

Average age at marriage

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/22/marriage-map_n_4326504.html http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/popfacts/PopFacts_2011-1.pdf

% married by 15 & 18

The biology of mammalian parenting and its effect on offspring social developmentRilling & Young

What biological mechanisms are implicated during birth and postnatal bonding? Parent-infant relationship affects brain

development and social regulation

What can we learn from rodents? How does that differ from humans?

Ehrlich

Rodent Moms and Dads Virgin rodents (and other species) find infant

stimuli aversive Postpartum rodent moms demonstrate a switch

in the valence of infant stimuli One study demonstrated that blood transfusions

from a pregnant to a virgin rodent resulted in increased maternal responsiveness

Why? estrogen and progesterone during pregnancy +

progesterone at birth maximizes brain sensitivity to oxytocin and prolactin

Rodent Moms and Dads

Rodents v. Sheep Oxytocin

Implicated broadly in social bonding and parenting Is released centrally during birth, plays a role in

transitioning toward approach behavior in mothers Rodents are promiscuous parents Sheep form selective mother-infant bonds

Oxytocin signaling at play

Human Moms and Dads fMRI studies demonstrate activation in

mesolimbic dopamine system VTA Nucleus accumbens Medial orbitofrontal cortex

Evident for both mothers and fathers Different from rodents

Nonparents activate these regions as well Nulliparous women: nucleus accumbens activation

directly related to baby cuteness

Glocker et al., 2009

Human Moms and Dads Infant crying triggers neural responses

Mesolimbic dopamine system Anterior insula (empathy) Prefrontal cortex (emotion regulation)

Human Moms and Dads Oxytocin:

Is positively correlated with affectionate contact and positive engagement

Studied via intranasal administration in fathers Genetic studies demonstrate oxytocin’s

relationship to parenting

Paternal Care Rats are absentee dads

Little attention paid to oxytocin in nonhuman dads Mixed evidence surrounding testosterone Some mammals: increase in vasopressin

Paternal Care Men and their testosterone

Higher testosterone implicated in mating effort, associated with Less sympathy for other people’s crying babies Lower paternal caregiving Lower responsiveness to infants

Testosterone decreases when men become fathers, associated with Increased empathy Increased frustration tolerance Decreased sexual motivation (that could compete with

parenting effort)

Social Development Licking and grooming (L&G)

Rats reared by low L&G moms demonstrate low L&G when they become mothers Effects seen in mesolimbic dopamine pathway through

adulthood

Later-life pair bonding Disrupted by repeated neonatal social isolations Oxytocin neurons stimulated pharmacologically

facilitate better later-life pair bonding Paternal Care

Prairie voles raised with absentee dads show impairments in pair bonding behavior and less L&G

Social Development Research on children raised in orphanages Focus on amygdala and prefrontal cortex

Postinstitutionalized children demonstrate Larger amygdala volumes Increased amygdala response to fearful faces Altered connectivity between amygdala and medial

prefrontal cortex

Social Development Oxytocin

Girls who experience childhood neglect or abuse show lower oxytocin in cerebrospinal fluid as adults

Implicated in attachment High levels of oxytocin in securely attached parents

might facilitate more affectionate behavior toward child, who then becomes more securely attached.

Insecurely attached mothers have lower oxytocin response to their children

Discussion What are some practical implications of this

sort of research? How can this information be applied to our

understanding of developmental concepts like maternal sensitivity, coparenting, etc.?

Are we doomed by our upbringings?