HDE 103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Judith Rich Harris, Behavioural Genetics, Demographic Transition
11 Jun 2018
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I. Lecture 7: Peer Cultures (May 7, 2018)
A. Major Changes
1. Major changes in child development coincide with their move outside the family
a. The movement from family into society varies across time and culture
2. Peers are the cohort of similar aged children who spend time together on a daily basis (e.g., siblings,
neighborhood, schools)
a. We are going to focus on micro peer cultures that are local and are day-to-day, face-to-face (i.e., the
new microsystem/mesosystem)
b. Somewhat taking the place of the family; peer groups growing more importance
B. Moving away from a functionalist view
1. Much work on peer groups focus on outcomes (i.e., the function) of the peer group on development
a. Functional view sees culture as a shared internalized view of the world, culture, society, and its norms
that guide behavior
2. In line with the previous section of class, we should challenge that and break away
a. First, because to study and understand children and their behavior with other children is important as a
thing-in-itself
b. Second, culture is not something children ***carry around*** in their heads, but it is public,
performative, and collective
i. A stable set of routines that produce a space for shared interaction
C. Peer cultures and Interpretive Reproduction
1. Recall, with adults, children maintain a sub-ordinate position
a. Their collective involvement in cultural routines with adult-child interactions are often ambiguous,
often confused, can be hurtful – because adults have more power and control
2. With peers, children often hold more equal social positions
a. They have similar levels of power as their peers, at least for a time
b. They are generally situated in neighborhoods and schools with similar class children
i. But children still have different preferences and deference (i.e., status)
3. Important! Parent-Child, Adult-Child, and Child-Child, or Peer-Peer-Group interactions are equally
important for development from a cultural perspective
D. Parental Effects called into question
1. Passive, Evocative, and Active gene/environment interactions spell out why it is difficult to and where it is
difficult to associate/attribute the role parents play on child behavior
2. 50% of adult personality is attributed to genetic factors, and the remaining 50% to the environment
a. Comparing siblings then should find that they are more similar than different except…
b. Siblings were less similar than people thought they should be (parental effects = home effects)
3. Behavioral genetics, anthropology, and sociology built a body of research showing:
a. Shared family entertainment had little or no effect on adult personalities of siblings
b. Birth order has little significant impact
4. So, what environmental factors are they discussing?
a. Cliques, Facebook groups – emotions from peer group interactions
b. You’re choosing to interact with peers and interact with those emotions that come about
E. Judith Rich Harris’ critique
1. She argued that children’s peer groups have a more significant impact on adult personality and behavior
than parents
a. Not equal, but more
b. What do you think?
i. Parents passed on the moral qualities, foundational things, deep core values, narratives,
relationship dynamic/expectations (going to college, morals, etc.)
ii. But peers contributed to more day-to-day, common things (like slang, tech skills, etc.)
2. She did say parental effects have an impact on behavior within family contexts
a. They showed/argued (perhaps convincingly or not) that those impacts had little relation or significant
impact on personality and behavior outside of family contexts
i. **This is an important concept that should frame all your studies within from this point forward
in this class
F. Initial Peer Cultures
1. Doesn’t mean families and parents are not important
2. From an interpretive reproductive perspective, we know that children actively participate in their culture
routines
a. Children’s first participation in culture is mediated by parental scaffolding and structures
b. Most of these Adult-Child routines occur within the family, within the home, or limited access to
cultural spaces (think about the Orb Web and Bronfenbrenner models here)
3. Children begin their early peer interactions in adult structured activities, prepared with routines and scripts
to help navigate those relationships
a. Although, very quickly different relationships emerge in their lives that their family could not fully
prepare them for the range of relationships peer worlds create
G. Family Influence
1. Parents decide when and where children begin interacting with society and other peers
a. Ex: extended family, neighborhoods, daycares, schools
2. All of these decisions are based on norms, ideals, and rules (macrosystem) and the availability of
institutions and spaces (exosystem)
a. Throughout history, we saw this could mean “little monsters” or older siblings, daycare centers,
learning centers, or informal neighborhood groups of related, or unrelated peers
b. 3-5 year olds differ from 5-7 year olds because the older group is exposed to more culture outside of
the home
3. In WEIRD societies that are in the demographic transition, where mothers, who are therefore responsible
for home care, now went to work outside the home
a. A greater need for professional daycare was needed (began in the 1960s)
H. The Rise of Day Care
1. Since 1960s, 90% of 3-5 year olds in Italy are raised in government sponsored childcare institutions
a. In 1986, more than 96% (virtually all) are in childcare today
2. Until recently, in the 1990s, in the United States, most experts and parents felt that 3-5 year old children
were best raised at home
a. Since the 1990s, a majority of children are raised in professional out-of-home settings
b. Many other factors, including early education and training, play a role in a Western parent’s decision
to send their child to daycare
i. Despite the shift in acceptance, the United States still lags behind in early childhood care,
support, and education
c. This changed because of how people’s beliefs towards education and early childhood life changed
3. This differs for who has access to high quality care
a. Those in higher SES have more access to the higher quality daycare/childcare institutions
I. Daycare, Childcare prepare
1. Children in daycare are exposed to adult, non-parental, structuring – which prepares them for school
2. Not uncommon to hear Head Start, Daycare, or Childcare professionals talking with children, preparing
them for their immediate futures
a. “You’re doing great now in art, but next year you’ll be a first grader”
b. “Next year you will be a second grader and you will need to…”
c. Again, preparing children within a functional culture for the next step rather than focusing on what’s
important right now
d. Phrases like these put pressure on children on their lives; takes away from their enjoying the moment
they’re in right now
J. Emotional Influences
1. Children’s interactions with and emotional influences from parents shape their early interactions and
emotional relations with other adults
a. They seek the emotional bond with teachers, coaches, counselors, that mimics their bond with their
parents
2. This striving for recreating this bond and the narratives within the home (read: actively creating an
emotionally stable and consistent environment) forms the basis of friendships
a. Children extend their notion of sharing and joint activity with their peers, as structured by adults
b. Ex: something belongs to you, something belongs to children, some things belong to specific children,
and some things belong to adults
c. *They learn that sharing is temporary and ownership remains after the dynamic with a peer is over
d. This lays down the foundation for working and interacting with other people
