• Question: Do you think social skills develop differently depending on how someone was raised?

    Asked by anon-184169 to Tom, sarahhodge, Owen, Nathan, Lorna, Abbie on 7 Nov 2018.
    • Photo: Abbie Jordan

      Abbie Jordan answered on 7 Nov 2018:

      Yes as a broad answer. We know that modelling is some critical for young children. So as young children we watch how those around us behave and typically mimic that. That’s usually parents of course and other brothers and sisters. Think about the Bandura experiment with the bobo doll as an example of modelling and how influential that was for behaviour (I know that it was not parents).

      So yes, I do think it is very important but there are always individual factors. Modelling can’t explain everything but it is a big important factor.

      Nice question! What do you think?

    • Photo: Nathan Hook

      Nathan Hook answered on 8 Nov 2018:

      A good way to think about questions like this is to try to see if you can argue each side.

      For example, if someone says ‘no’ here, they are actually saying that how someone is raised has absolutely zero effect on his social skills develop. That is clearly absurd, so the answer to this question is yes.

      Some extreme cases psychologists think about are ‘feral children’ – children who ended up raised in the wilderness by animals (like the character Tarzan) and how well those children cope when found. Another example would be apes like Washoe that have been taught sign language.

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