Do as I do: the circle of parenting and socialization

Camping Magazine, Sept-Oct, 2003 by Christopher A. Thurber

Big Questions

Perhaps no question weighs more heavily on the minds of parents, teachers, and camp staff than "Will this child do what I ask?" Sadly, there is no magic formula for obedience. So, this question is perennial; its answer elusive. Sure, we try to manage children's behavior. A keyword search for books on parenting yields 23,096 titles. There is no shortage of advice. But as any parent will tell you, there is a chasm between child behavior theory and practice. As Bill Cosby said, "Parenting can be learned only by people who have no children."

The three studies reviewed in this article revolutionized our understanding of how parenting and socialization influence children's behavior. Previous articles in this series have highlighted children's own influence on their caregivers and the reciprocal interactions that promote healthy development. Now we shift our focus to how caregivers shape children's development through their own example and through the environments they select for children.

Coastal Perspectives

During the 1950s and 1960s, parenting research was dominated by the behaviorist concept that rewards and punishments shape behavior. Harvard University psychologist B. F. Skinner championed the notion that the proper contingencies could teach a normally developing human Lo do almost anything, from gymnastics to brain surgery.

On the other side of the country, Stanford University psychologist Albert Bandura made a keen observation--unless a particular behavior happens, it cannot he shaped by rewards and punishments. In other words, you cannot reward or punish a behavior that a child has not yet performed. So, how can you teach a new child new tricks? Bandura's answer to the limitations of behavioral learning theory was "social learning theory." Children learn by imitating others.

Sock Him in the Nose

In his brilliant 1961 study, Bandura and his colleagues exposed seventy-two boys and girls aged three to five to three situations. In the first, each child sat in a playroom with an adult who either played peacefully in the corner or who aggressively beat a five-foot inflatable clown doll named Bobo. In the aggressive condition, the adult model who beat Bobo struck him with a mallet, sat on him and punched him, and yelled things like, "Sock him in the nose!" Next, each child followed the experimenter to a second playroom where he or she was intentionally frustrated. The child was allowed to play with some attractive toys for two minutes, and then was told, "These are my very best toys. I don't let just anyone play with them. I'm saving them for the other children. However, you can play with any of the toys I have in the next room." The child was then escorted to a third room and left to play alone for twenty minutes. Each child's behavior was carefully recorded in five-second intervals. Among the toys in this experimental room was a three-foot inflatable Bobo doll.

Children who had been exposed to the nonaggressive situation generally played peacefully. They were rarely aggressive toward Bobo. However, those who had witnessed aggression often imitated that aggression. Like the adult models, boys and girls in the aggressive condition beat and yelled at Bobo. Compared to the children in the nonaggressive condition, these children also spent 50 percent less time sitting and playing quietly.

Covert Operations And Sex Differences

Bandura's conclusion was that learning had occurred covertly. No particular behavior had been reinforced or punished. However, after some delay, children imitated the behavior they had witnessed. Because all the children had been frustrated, Bandura also concluded that most children in the nonaggressive condition had been able to inhibit aggressive urges and play peacefully. Thus, both aggressive and nonaggressive adult models had influenced children's behavior.

Bandura and his colleagues also noted some interesting sex differences. Whereas boys in the aggressive condition imitated more physical aggression than girls, boys and girls in this group did not differ in the amount of verbal aggression they directed at Bobo. There was also some evidence that the gender of the adult model made a difference. The most physically aggressive boys were those who had observed an aggressive male role model; the most verbally aggressive girls were those who had observed a female role model. Overall, both boys and girls imitated more of the aggressive male's behavior than the aggressive female's behavior.

All in the Family

Ten years after Bandura's study was published, University of California psychologist Diana Baumrind published the results of her extensive field research. Unlike Bandura's experimental setting, Baumrind sought answers to questions about how adults influence children's behavior in natural settings, such as schools and homes. Over a period of several months, Baumrind and her team studied 150 mostly white, middle-class families with five-year-olds who attended Berkeley-area preschools.

Baumrind's goal was to categorize parenting styles, categorize children's behavior, and then see which style of parenting was associated with which behaviors. Her team studied children's behavior at school and at home, and measured parenting style with self-report questionnaires and home observations from dinner time until after each child's bed time. Mealtime and bedtime were judged to be good opportunities to observe parenting style.