approach to moral reasoning and attempted to go be-
yond the concrete rules and laws and deal with more
abstract principles and rights. These adolescents ac-
knowledged the relativist nature of any given law yet
emphasized the need for contractual agreements to
protect the rights of individuals.
Political Reasoning
A similar progression in reasoning about political
institutions has been identified. Joseph Adelson and
Robert O’Neil asked participants to imagine that a
large group of disgruntled people decided to move to
a deserted island to establish a new government. They
were then questioned about the pros and cons of vari-
ous social rules, authority structures, and political
processes. Young children thought about political
processes in concrete, egocentric, absolutist terms.
They focused on specific, present-oriented activities
and self-serving issues. For example, they were willing
to grant authorities unrestricted, unilateral power to
ensure nothing went wrong. Adolescents were more
likely to shift away from a concrete, authoritarian
stance; some expressed concern about the rights of
individuals as well as the collective welfare. They were
more idealistic and they reasoned in a relativistic
manner, attempting to envision possibilities and sce-
narios that might occur in the future. For instance,
they considered the need to limit governmental pow-
ers because of the possibility that some leaders might
become capricious or corrupt.
Conclusion
From these examples one might get the impres-
sion that social-cognitive reasoning in adolescence
and beyond should be complex, logical, and rational.
Research reviewed by Susan Fiske and Shelly Taylor
demonstrates, however, that because of limited cogni-
tive resources and motivational biases people may fre-
quently become ‘‘cognitive misers’’ who expend as
little deliberate mental effort as possible in social situ-
ations. As a result, social cognition in adulthood may
be marked by numerous distortions and biases, espe-
cially when reasoning is automatic rather than inten-
tional and conscious. For instance, adults often
reason in a self-serving fashion (they take more credit
than they deserve for successes, and vice versa when
it comes to setbacks), overgeneralize and stereotype
in social situations, and engage in biased searches for
information that will confirm existing expectations.
See also: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Bibliography
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Case, Robbie. Intellectual Development: Birth to Adulthood. New York:
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Elkind, David. ‘‘Strategic Interactions in Early Adolescence.’’ In Jo-
seph J. Adelson ed., Handbook of Adolescent Psychology. New
York: Wiley, 1980.
Fiske, Susan T., and Shelly E. Taylor. Social Cognition, 2nd edition.
New York: McGraw Hill, 1991.
Flavell, John H. Cognitive Development, 2nd edition. Englewood
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Flavell, John H., and Patricia H. Miller. ‘‘Social Cognition.’’ In Wil-
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and Robert S. Siegler. New York: Wiley, 1998.
Kohlberg, Lawrence. ‘‘Moral Stages and Moralization: The Cogni-
tive-Developmental Approach.’’ In Thomas Lickona ed.,
Moral Development and Behavior: Theory, Research, and Social Is-
sues. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1976.
Livesley, William J., and Dennis B. Bromley. Person Perception in
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tice-Hall, 1980.
Michael D. BerzonskySOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
By nature, people are social creatures—it is evolutio-
narily adaptive that, during all periods of life, interac-
tion with others occurs. From infancy to adulthood,
however, the way in which the interaction takes place,
as well as with whom, changes. During infancy, inter-
actions occur primarily with parents and family mem-
bers. During childhood the frequency of interactions
with same-age peers increases, though parental sup-
port is still important. Adolescence marks the in-
creased centrality of interactions with peers and the
emergence of romantic relationships. Both of these
events forecast the progression into adulthood, dur-
ing which individuals become autonomous from par-
ents and often begin families of their own.
The developing person is affected by multiple so-
cializing forces, including biological, parental, peer,
and cultural factors. The results of these forces in-
clude one’s views of the self and others, one’s person-
ality, and one’s behaviors (e.g., aggression) when
interacting with others. Moreover, these socializing
forces and the complex array of outcomes show both
normative trends and interindividual variability
across development.
Biological and familial factors are important so-
cializing agents in infancy, while peer relationships
become more important in childhood and adoles-
cence. This is not meant to imply, however, that other
socializing agents play no role during certain periods
of development. Similarly, the focus in this article on
particular topics during only one period of develop-
ment should not be taken to mean that these topics
are not salient aspects of social development during
other periods.376 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT