Social Development and Social Change Lab
This is what we study:
Social, moral and emotional development from childhood to early adulthood (social cognition, moral cognition and moral emotions such as empathy and sympathy)
Development of understanding and thinking about social inequality and social mobility
Social responsibility and civic engagement
Development of positive peer relationships at school and social participation of pupils from minority groups (e.g. ethnic, linguistic or sexual minorities and children with disabilities)
Physiological and behavioural indicators of group processes in the classroom
Potential of digital technologies to promote socio-emotional competences and positive group processes (virtual reality, interactive anti-bias robots, app-based diagnostic and training tools for teachers to promote positive social interactions in school classes)
Conditions for success for inclusive schools (systemic / interactional perspective)
Preventing violence at schools (especially indirect forms of violence such as bullying and social exclusion)
Development and evaluation of interventions for schools to promote social learning, well-being and social involvement of children and young people
– Current News –
Participation at the 27th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development
16. - 20.06.2024 - From June 16-20, 2024, our lab members attended the 27th Biennial Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development in Lisbon, Portugal. Representing our team were Carmen Barth, Stephanie Farah, and Andrea Weber, who shared some of the latest research findings from our Friendship Project and Social Development and Social Change Project during the symposia and poster sessions.
Carmen Barth presented insights into the role of teacher-student relationships and responsibilities in classroom social dynamics, highlighting their impact on promoting inclusivity among students.
Stephanie Farah shared preliminary results from a study looking at how children distribute resources and reason about fairness after witnessing peer exclusion.
Andrea Weber discussed how Nepalese youth perceive political participation as a means of driving social change, presenting results from a longitudinal questionnaire study conducted between 2020 and 2023.
Carmen, Stephanie, and Andrea returned from the conference with new impressions, connections, and ideas that will undoubtedly enrich our ongoing projects.
Find out more about our The Friendship Project - An Intervention for Schools and Social Development and Social Change.
Related Conference Proceedings:
Barth, C., Krukowski, E., & Grütter, J. (2024, June 16 – 20). Promoting Peer Inclusivity in the Classroom: The Role of Teacher-Student Relations and Responsibility for Classroom Social Dynamics. In A. Hitti & L. Elenbaas (Chairs), The role of authority figures in supporting children’s and adolescents’ intergroup interactions [Symposium]. 27th Biennial Meeting of the ISSBD, Lisbon, Portugal.
Farah, S. & Grütter, J. (2024, June 16 – 20). Resource allocation following peer inequalities: balancing desire for fairness with concerns about peer status. [Poster session]. 27th Biennial Meeting of the ISSBD, Lisbon, Portugal.
Weber, A., Rai, N., Bhatta, P. & Grütter, J. (2024, June 16 – 20). Civic beliefs and participation in an evolving democracy: a longitudinal study on Nepalese adolescents. In S. Gönültaş (Chair), Youths’ Power in Societies: Exploring Factors Related to Youth’s Civic Engagement in Political and Social Contexts [Symposium]. 27th Biennial Meeting of the ISSBD, Lisbon, Portugal.
© www.pexels.com/de-de/suche/konferenz/, free of charge, 24.07.2024
Participation in the workshop "Behavioral Dynamics in Social Interactions" in Krakow, Poland
02.05. - 04.05.2024 - From May 2nd to May 4th 2024, Jeanine Grütter and Bernadette Denk participated in the workshop “Behavioral Dynamics in Social Interactions” in Krakow, Poland. The workshop included keynotes, hands-on workshop sessions, and group discussions to establish cooperation. A poster session provided us with the opportunity to share and discuss findings from the Social Development and Social Change Project.
The workshop set out to highlight the social and interactive components of human behavior within a dynamical systems theoretical framework. We discussed the quantification of behavior during interactions, e.g. caregiver-infant interactions. Interpersonal coordination, cooperation, and biobehavioral synchrony were in focus as well.
Jeanine Grütter presented a poster titled “Affective and action synchrony in children’s dynamic peer interaction”, investigating preliminary data on mutual smiling in the Social Development and Social Change Project. The authors investigated mutual smiling between children (ages 10 to 12) in the context of an emotionally evocative story and following discussion on the topic of social exclusion. They found that children did engage in mutual smiling, however, there were inter-individual differences.
Bernadette Denk presented a poster about “Heart rate synchrony and dyadic relationships in children”. Here, the authors investigated whether children synchronize their heart rate during the same task as in Jeanine Grütter’s poster. However, they did not find synchrony beyond chance in their limited sample analysis, nor an association between synchrony and friendship.
© www.istockphoto.com/de/foto/multiethnische-schulkinder-diskutieren-im-klassenzimmer-gm1312423530-401233757, free of charge, 12.07.2024
Are inclusive classroom norms related to children’s reasoning and expectations about the inclusion of peers with learning difficulties?
02.05.2024 – The study investigates whether inclusive classroom norms predict children's reasoning and expectations about the inclusion of peers with learning difficulties from different perspectives.
It was shown that children expected less inclusion from their friends or from an unfamiliar story protagonist. In addition, individuals who perceived higher inclusive norms than the classroom average were less concerned that the inclusion of the child with learning difficulties would threaten the successful functioning of the group.
In order to promote the inclusion of children with learning difficulties, school psychologists can promote classmates’ perceptions of inclusive norms and pay attention to individual differences in norm perception.
Related Publications:
© www.pexels.com/de-de/foto/schreibtisch-sitzung-sitzen-schule-5427874/, free of charge, 19.07.2024
Learning Support for Children with Special Educational Needs - from the Perspective of Parents and Teachers
15.12.2023 – The study focusses on the cooperation between parents and teachers for the learning and social participation of children with special educational needs (SEN). The study shows that parents consider the learning support of their child with SEN as high, if they are actively involved in the planning and support of their child’s learning by the teacher.
Related Publications:
Psycho-education in Nepalese schools - How can we build resilient adolescents?
14.12.2023 – Since 16 years, Prof. Jeanine Grütter has been voluntarily working for a non-governmental organization that aims to reduce societal and educational inequalities through the means of inclusive education in Nepal. In October, she conducted a training with multiple schools on how teachers can promote resilience among adolescence and how psycho-education could be implemented in the curriculum of secondary education.
Jeanine Grütter is part of the Jacobs Foundations Research Fellowship Programme and the JacobsResearchFellows
06.12.2022 - As part of the Jacobs Foundations Fellowship, Jeanine Grütter wants to develop new empirical methods to gain insights into how classroom dynamics change at different stages of development and how these can be shaped by adaptive teaching methods. She is also investigating the use of virtual reality to promote perspective-taking and is planning a diagnostic tool for teachers to better understand social relationships among children. The knowledge gained will be used to improve an interactive learning programme for positive group interaction and the prevention of social exclusion among children.
Conference: Evidence-based promotion with social-emotional learning
26.11.2022 - As part of the conference ‘Evidence-based support with social-emotional learning’ at the HfH Zurich, Jeanine Grütter organised the workshop ‘Promoting social learning and positive relationships in heterogeneous school classes’. You can find more information about the event here.
Talk in the Schule Aktuell series at Gebhardschule
07.11.2022 - On 7 November, Jeanine Grütter presented relevant research findings on social dynamics in classroom communities as part of her talk on dealing with heterogeneity in school classes at the Gebhard Community School.
A few days later, she organised a workshop for school teachers in which content from the friendship project was discussed in greater depth. Further information on the talk can be found here.
Article ‘Inclusion checklist - how to work together successfully’ by Prof Dr Jeanine Grütter
11.10.2022 - The article, written by Prof Dr Jeanine Grütter, presents the ‘Inclusion checklist’, which teachers can use to help ensure that all pupils can participate positively in lessons and in the social life of the classroom. You can access the full article here .
School Diversity and Democratic Beliefs among Teachers Promote Inclusion Readiness among Students in Nepal
12.07.2022 – The study conducted with children and adolescents examined the influence of school diversity and teachers' democratic beliefs on peer interactions in school.
605 children and adolescents (age: 9 to 18 years) were presented with a hypothetical scenario in which a protagonist and their friend are looking to complete their group with an additional student in order to solve a difficult math’s task. The participating students stated their expectations as to whether the protagonist from the story would rather choose a child with low or high socio-economic status and gave reasons for their considerations.
The study showed, that students attending mixed SES schools were more likely to expect inclusion of a low SES character than were students attending high SES schools. With age, high SES participants attending mixed SES schools increasingly expected the inclusion of the low SES character. Moreover, teachers' democratic beliefs in high SES schools predicted inclusive expectations. Teacher beliefs and school diversity play a significant role for fostering students' inclusivity in educational contexts.
The study thus underscores the potential of inclusive schools with high socioeconomic diversity to reduce biases related to social status. When this is not possible, teachers with high democratic beliefs can make a difference.
Related Publications:
© University of Konstanz
Are there generational differences in the development of civic competences among adolescents?
16.05.2022 – The study analysed two cohorts of Swiss adolescents, representing two generations, to investigate whether the development of civic competences has changed from middle adolescence to early adulthood (15-18 years).
The cohort born in 1991 did not differ from the cohort born in 2000 (N = 930) when it came to whether adolescents were critical of social inequality. In addition, 15-year-olds in both cohorts rated social justice as an important social aim. However, when it came to feeling politically confident, adolescents of the younger generation ranked themselves lower than previous generations. In addition, the younger cohort showed a delayed development of everyday prosocial behaviour. Consequently, it would be important not only to practise recognising and evaluating social issues in school education, but also to encourage and support young people to participate politically and socially in society in order to make a difference.
Related Publications:
© University of Konstanz
The importance of perceived support from teachers, parents and friends for the psychological well-being of adolescents during COVID-19 related school closures
12.05.2022 – The study investigated the extent to which the COVID-19-related school closures posed a risk to the mental well-being of adolescents. The question of whether social support services act as a protective factor was also investigated.
This study investigated whether school closures and health-related uncertainties at the beginning of the pandemic were risk factors for the mental well-being of adolescents. Secondly, the question of whether perceived social support from teachers, parents and friends acted as protective factors for mental well-being was investigated. The results, based on 1,562 adolescents surveyed with an average age of 16 years, showed three resilience profiles with different levels of school and health-related concerns, perceived support and psychological well-being. These are to be understood as profiles with low (19%), medium (47%) and high (34%) adolescent resilience. Lower resilience went hand in hand with higher education-related worries, lower perceived support and lower psychological well-being.
Overall, the results indicate that one out of five pupils reported a high level of stress during the school closures, felt little support and also showed a low level of well-being and higher depressive symptoms. Education-related worries in particular represented a significant risk factor for young people's mental well-being. It was equally clear that perceived parental support in such a time of crisis can have a protective effect on the mental well-being of adolescents. However, as this source of support was not available to all adolescents, targeted support for adolescents with risk profiles is recommended as a supplement to school-based measures.
Related Publications: