Forming Attitudes to Disability by Children - Essay Example

?The Development of Children’s Attitudes towards Disability Introduction Evidence about how children’s view of disability develops over time would enhance our knowledge of their attitude towards disabled people. The findings of several scholars have strengthened the belief that an accurate awareness of children’s understanding and attitudes towards disability is fundamental not just to the improvement of interactions between nondisabled and disabled children but to the planning of educational programmes as well that will productively foster helpful attitudes towards disabled individuals (Fishbein 2002). Frances Aboud, a developmental psychologist and the focus of this essay, is one of the pioneers of the social-cognitive developmental theory that explains the growth of children’s prejudice. Overview of Aboud’s Social-Cognitive Developmental Theory Cognitive scholars in the 1980s presented a new model of prejudice whose underlying hypothesis was that prejudice is a result of ‘common’ mechanisms that stimulate individuals’ psychological complex to structure the world into groups (Ram 2007). The social-cognitive developmental theory emerged from these wide-ranging beliefs, and beginning at the latter part of the 1970s a number of scholars have used the Piagetian model of cognitive development as a way of explaining children’s prejudice. As argued by Aboud, various kinds of prejudice emerge at different ages due to cognitive development (Shaffer 2008). This development results in distinct ways of interpreting the world. Hence, children’s inadequate skills to sort out diverse categories and to quickly divert their attention are the foundation of their prejudiced views and inflexible stereotypes of out-group and in-group members (Killen & Rutland 2011). Nevertheless, according to Killen and Rutland (2011), even though the theory claims that the cognitive strengths and weaknesses of children establish the constitution of prejudice, it argues as well that various social factors, such as peers, family, etc., either push the child to retain prejudices or prevent the child from keeping them. According to Aboud, “Children who think about other people in terms of stereotypes are more likely to have a prejudice against those people; people who are prejudiced define all members of a group not just as similar but also as bad” (Parke & Clarke-Stewart 2010, 199). Fascinatingly, parents usually think that their children are mostly unaware of ethnicity or disability and that bigoted thoughts and actions in other children surface when their prejudiced parents instil to them their own narrow-minded beliefs. Nevertheless, studies show the contrary, for the ethnic behaviours of children normally have slight connection to their peers or parents (Smith, Cowie, & Blades 2003). In fact, children display great tendencies to organise individuals into groups and to relate to and favour the group to which they fit in. For instance, children aged 3 to 5 who are grouped into ‘blue’ and ‘red’ eventually developed much more positive outlooks towards their own group. Moreover, first-graders at the time favour committed in-group members who prefer to have fun only with buddies of their own ethnic background (Martin & Fabes 2009). Categories representing ethnic groups encourage children to assume that members of different ethnic groups will vary in major ways (Smith et al. 2003). Hence, according to Levy and Killen (2010), the roots of prejudice could be cognitive instead of social, revealing the inclination of self-centred young individuals to inflexibly label individuals by ethnic background or physical/intellectual ability and to rigidly prefer their own group, without unavoidably being too unfriendly toward individuals of other ethnic groups. There is a certain extent of disagreement about the development of prejudice past the preschool stage. While children go through the phase of concrete operations or grow to be more open in their judgment, explicit prejudice normally weakens (Ram 2007). According to Martin and Fabes (2009), this strengthened open-mindedness of children aged 8 to 9 reveals a more practical assessment of social groups wherein their own group is perceived a bit less positively and out-groups more positively than was the case throughout the preschool period. Moreover, it shows a slight self-presentation, since these children are gaining higher awareness and gradually becoming obedient to standards promoting the regulation of prejudicial attitudes. However, hidden signs bigoted outlooks are somewhat noticeable throughout middle childhood, and youngsters aged 7 to 9 may all of a sudden detest individuals belonging to other groups if their own group is solid and exclusive and they are somewhat intimidated by an out-group (Augoustinos & Reynolds 2001). Even so, according to Levy and Killen (2010), the in-group prejudice that these young individuals show is mostly in-group preference instead of out-group loathing or ridicule. In the Context of Disability Attitudes are described as “cognitive schema or ideas characterising either groups or individuals that may incorporate some degree of positive or negative evaluation” (Dyson 2005, 95). In a social context, children’s attitudes influence whom they prefer as buddies. Roberts and Smith (1999 as cited in Dyson 2005) reported that children’s attitudes determined their facility to relate to their disabled peers. According to Aboud, even though preschool children have an inadequate knowledge of physical disabilities, children aged 4 to 7 can differentiate behavioural and physical variations in other people (Parke & Clarke-Stewart 2010). Moreover, still according to Parke and Clarke-Stewart (2010), the preschool period is the moment when children start to express unconstructive attitudes towards people who are not like them. Aboud argued that preschool children were more inclined to prefer peers without impairments over children with physical disability (Shaffer 2008). According to Guralnick and colleagues (1996 as cited in Dyson 2005), children with slight disabilities were less preferred as peers than preschool classmates without disabilities. Another study reported that throughout the elementary years, children’s attitudes towards people with impairments become more and more unconstructive (Dyson 2005). These findings hence argue that a child’s understanding of disability arises and enlarges throughout the latter part of the preschool period. Studies have additionally suggested that unconstructive thoughts about disabled individuals may arise throughout the preschool period and heighten through the playschool phase (Dyson 2005). Therefore, according to Aboud, as mentioned by Smith and colleagues (2003), the kindergarten or playschool period could be the decisive stage upon which a child’s knowledge and unconstructive views of disability become more evident. As stated by Piaget, children aged 5 to 6 are situated within the final phase of the preoperational stage of thinking and on the point of going through concrete operational thinking. Even though children’s thinking at this stage advances over that of the preceding phase, their reasoning skill remains limited by concrete behaviours and intuitive experience (Shaffer 2008). According to Aboud and other researchers, as cited in Parke and Clarke-Stewart’s (2010), very young children distinguish between their peers based on external attributes, like gender and racial affinity, and very young children react to recognisable physical prompts in an attempt to recognise their disabled peers. As reported by Lewis (1993 as cited in Dyson 2005), physical features arise notably in the manner children aged 7 below give a description of other people. Hence, due to their cognitive development phase, the knowledge playschool children have of impairments is probably governed by actual, observable features. The findings from the studies of playschool children that are available hence have showed that children are conscious of the existence of disabilities but this consciousness is related particularly to physical features (Dyson 2005). Moreover, these empirical works indicated that preschool children have a normally unconstructive outlook towards people with disabilities. One aspect that may impact children’s knowledge of and thoughts about disability is personal interaction (Ram 2007). According to Favazza and Odom (1997 as cited in Dyson 2005), constant, intended interaction with disabled children, alongside exercises planned to encourage recognition and approval, enhances the growth of a constructive outlook towards people with impairments. Okagaki and colleagues (1998 as cited in Dyson 2005) discovered that the outlooks of preschool children towards disabled children were associated with the regularity of ‘real’ interaction with disabled classmates: in other words, the more regular the interaction, the more constructive the attitudes. Hence studies have shown that interaction with disabled individuals, planned or unplanned, can foster the growth of constructive attitudes towards people with disabilities. Studies on the knowledge and attitudes of children towards disabled individuals normally drew out reactions through the use of toys, a mixture of toys and pictures, both of which portrayed figures with physical impairments. These attributes would expectedly divert children’s focus to physical impairments, usually to the dismissal of other forms of impairments (Dyson 2005). A slightly controlled kind of articulation, without this particular motivation as a toy or picture, would enable more unrestrained articulation of a child’s ideas of disability (Ram 2007). Indeed, since unrestrained articulation without the help of visual aids is apparently more usual to the everyday experiences of children, this technique would more exactly reveal their interpretation of and behaviour towards disability. More direct techniques, such as interviews, that enable unrestrained articulation have the capacity to produce a rich ensemble of evidence about the ideas children have about disability (Dyson 2005) and thus may help advance research on their understanding and behaviours towards disability. Conclusions Aboud’s social-cognitive developmental theory has shown that preschool children are conscious that disabilities could create several physical restrictions, and this awareness may intensify or diminish as these children mature. This critical opinion does not essentially imply that preschool children are showing prejudice against children with disabilities, but it could be an indication of realistic thinking that children without disabilities have less difficulties performing tasks that those with impairments. It was proposed that, with more accurate knowledge of the actual restrictions created by physical impairments, children may grow to be less narrow-minded towards people with disabilities. This transformation in feelings and thoughts would have a major effect on the sense of worth of children with disabilities. References Augoustinos, M. & Reynolds, K. (2001) Understanding Prejudice, Racism, and Social Conflict. London: Sage Publications Ltd. Dyson, L. (2005) “Kindergarten Children’s Understanding of and Attitudes toward People with Disabilities” Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 25(2), 95+ Fishbein, H. (2002) Peer Prejudice and Discrimination: The Origins of Prejudice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Killen, M. & Rutland, A. (2011) Children and Social Exclusion: Morality, Prejudice, and Group Identity. UK: Blackwell Publishing. Levy, S. & Killen, M. (2010) Intergroup Attitudes and Relations in Childhood through Adulthood. New York: Oxford University Press. Martin, C. & Fabes, R. (2009) Discovering Child Development. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. Parke, R. & Clarke-Stewart, A. (2010) Social Development. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Ram, S. (2007) Psychology and Child Growth. New Delhi: Sarup & Sons. Shaffer, D. (2008) Social and Personality Development. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Smith, P., Cowie, H. & Blades, M. (2003) Understanding Children’s Development. UK: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Read More