Psychology Assignment Sample

Introduction of Psychology Assignment

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The Cinderella effect is one of the evolutionary Psychology states of the phenomenon of higher incidences. This effect generally relates to child abuse. This also relates to the mistreatment by the stepparents of the child. This mistreatment often comes from non-biological parents. The biological parents do not abuse their children in that way. The Cinderella effect got its name from the story that takes a character that is Cinderella. This fairytale is about a girl who has been mistreated by her stepmother. The lack of interest in stepchildren has brought this effect into action. No obvious benefits are expected from raising a stepchild. This is the reason they are mistreated. The children do not carry the stepmother or stepfather's genetic material, which is the reason they are abused.

2. Cinderella Effect

When the psychological pinning of the parent care gets evolved by natural selection, the process continues to be good. Individuals often get to assume that abusive people always mistreat everyone (Daly, 2021). There is some discrimination present in the abuse. The effect is termed as the phenomenon of Cinderella. In this, a single child in a family gets highly abused. He or she is singled out but the other children are treated properly. A Canadian psychology professor named Martin Daly came up with this name. He stated that its effect is for those small or adolescent children who face day-to-day abuse from their stepparents. This effect generally occurs to most of the stepmothers rather than the stepfathers. The concept of stepparent and the adolescent needs more contact in this world.

In evolutionary psychology, the Cinderella effect has the phenomenon of various higher incidences regarding different forms of child maltreatment and abuse. The step-parents abuse them more than the biological individuals. Cinderella affects the stepfathers more than the stepmothers. The reason that evolutionary psychologists have stated is that the stepfathers have a lack of interest in their stepchildren (Faust, 2021). Whereas, a stepmother remains a mother and mothers do have a soft heart and have a complexity towards children. Some instances are there in which children at a very young age are told that they are the biggest problem in their father's life. He wished that the stepchild was dead. Worryingly, according to academic research, kids are not only the ones suffering from stepfathers.

In early 1980, this theory arose between the stepchildren and the stepparents. The theory was called child maltreatment. Now for around 40 years different data and analyses have been carried out. These analyses helped in checking the validity of the Cinderella effect. This also made the readers understand that a wealth of pure evidence regarding the relationship with stepparents and children was an issue (Schacht, 2021). More powerful evidence came out when it was found that this effect was effective. Parents that had biological children, as well as stepchildren, were more prone to this phenomenon. They often spare their genetic child and abuse the step ones.

Adding to that, the displaying of higher rates of negative behavior as in abuse towards those step-children grew day by day. An example, it is seen that most of the stepparents take care of their biological children. They are well-fed; their health statuses are kept up to the mark. They are provided with each and everything that is needed by a child. They are given proper ethics and training. Most importantly they are loved by their parents. Most importantly, the stepchildren are neglected deliberately. There are even some stepparents that do not even provide proper food to the non-biological children.

Risk factors

Keeping in mind the risk factors that stepchildren have to face in their day-to-day life due to their stepfathers are raising graphically. Stepfathers are often abusive to their stepchildren, as they won't yield any profit from them (Erez, 2020). A lecturer in criminology at Birmingham City University states that stepparents abuse children and there are many prices for that puzzle. The risk factors include high poverty and violence history. The most important key red flag is the relationship between the genetic parents and the incoming partner.

 Survival chances of stepchildren and biological children

(Source: Statista)

Evolutionary Psychology theory: This theory has been proposed by two different individuals. Martin Daly and Margo Wilson are those people that proposed this theory. They stated that the Cinderella effect is a direct consequence of modern theory related to evolution. The theory of inclusive fitness is present in it (Chastine, 2019). Critical evaluation of Cinderella affecting stepfathers more than stepmothers will be explained. The explanation of Daly and Wilson is purely evolutionary. They have proposed the disparity of dramatic sense rates in child homicides. Most important is the theory of parental investment theory. They have stated as well as argued that a human child and the rearing is way more prolonged. Parental psychology shapes natural selection, which cannot be discriminated against. They even stated that the research concerned about the social behavior of animals provides a proper rationale for the expecting parents.

This happens because stepfathers lack the genetic relatedness with the stepchild. This is the reason they are slightly less invested in them than the biological fathers are. The stepfathers are often more prone to frustration and irritation relating to the stepchildren. Different surveys have been carried out that helped in understanding the accurate estimation (Nobes, 2019). The theory of inclusive fitness talks about a criterion that is selective for the evolution of social traits. Social behavior is a costly thing to a specific individual and can emerge, as there is a statistical likelihood. This leads to lashing them the stepchildren way more than stepmothers. A marked disparity was seen between the rate of child homicides by biological and stepfathers. Biological fathers have increased the number from nearly five to one. Those statistical likelihoods are interconnected to the benefits regarding social behavior (De Proost, 2020). About 1% of children acquire stepfathers every year. Children up to age group five falls under the study of Daly and Wilson (De Proost, 2020). These conditions increase the reproduction of such social traits in the future generation as a result. The presentation towards the theory of including fitness focuses on the making of different arithmetical cases.

These arithmetical cases make the possibility of social evolution clear. The possible mechanisms are also speculated in which a social trait can achieve the Correlation between the different bearers. Around two different possibilities are considered. The first one is in which a social trait can reliably operate straightforwardly. The process can be carried out via different contexts in the social field. In this, the genetic relatives are possibly concentrated in a specific local home in which they were born. The other theory relates to the detection of different genetic mechanisms (Aledo, 2019). This might emerge and possibly go beyond the prospect of statistical correlations. This reliably helps in detecting the genetic biweekly actors that are social using the aspect of direct kin recognition. The relative place is generally two different broad types regarding the social mechanisms. Many biologists have stated that kin recognition is an important mechanism possibly. Whereas Martin Daly and Margo Wilson followed mechanism number two. They expect that the parents discriminate to favor their young children. This means they discriminate to favor the active genetic children.

 Different Parenting styles

(Source: Researchgate.org)

Research by Daly and Wilson: Stated that all organisms have different factors of trade-offs. They have their specific way of managing their time. They possibly decide when, where, and how to spend their time and energy. The risks that are needed to be taken are also decided by them (Hycnar, 2021). An individual child that is a non-biological child will expect greater responsiveness from the parent. The parents often show their offspring more and more affection. The stepchildren get away from them because of this. When a step-parent is good towards his or her stepchild, they can feel the attachment.

It has been clear that the stepmothers are often cruel to their stepchildren. They can even love their stepchildren as their own. Some mothers are there that do not discriminate among their genetic and non-biological children. Whereas there are some cases, mostly 90% of women as stepmothers abuse children (Gonçalo, 2021). A lot of negativity comes out from them, which cause problems in the children's life. Appropriate time and comfort should be provided by a stepmother to eradicate the issue from its roots. Less than 4% of the children live with their stepfathers. Following closer inspection, it is found that biological children are not as likely to be killed as stepchildren are. These findings are quite hard to square with the explanation of the evolutionary aspect of stepfathers' lack of relatedness genetically. Another important cause is that stepfathers are younger than biological fathers, which make them more abusive (Mendoza, 2018). Few things are there that a stepmother should never do to the stepchildren. First of all, they should never forget that every child wants to be loved. They should provide enough support and life to those children whether they are stepchildren or the real ones. A stepmother should always encourage the child. She should not behave as if that child will be unable to get through hard things.

Most importantly, the population surveys sparsely include cohabitation fathers, related to the homicide index. It is known that most of the perpetrators do not live with their actual victims. According to a survey, there are more labeled stepfathers for the disparity rate in child homicides. The differential mistreatment is known as the Cinderella effect. According to a study it has been stated, that stepfathers have the Cinderella effect 130 times greater than stepmothers do (Gonçalo, 2021). Most importantly, the highest majority of deaths by a specific stepparent have been reported as the genetic mother's boyfriend or sudden stepfather. The rate is higher and most related with the statistics, which shows most children belong from various divorced or broken families.

Methods: Some methods are introduced by Daly and Wilson regarding this Cinderella syndrome (Richardson, 2021). They possibly classified the different living arrangements. These living arrangements consist of two natural parents and one parent that is step-parent. This depends on the age of the child. A survey via telephone was administered to understand the method that is produced by them. The specific records of child abuse from the aids organization of children stated that there are various runaways present. Various juvenile offenders are also present which helps in determining the children's loving style. The victims of abuse that are present in a specific area are also demonstrated properly. This helps in understanding the results that indicate the significant correlation towards the increase of the aspect of child abuse (Kamleitner, 2019). The rates often run away and the crimes are possibly comparable for the children. The rate of abused children is much more. They even examined the several potentials that are present for maintaining the variables that are co Founded. All these include the aspect of socioeconomic status as a whole. Some minor differences are present between the parent that is natural and the parent that is step-parent. The factors were appropriately found by then. The abuse rate was found to be higher in the case of stepparents. Apart from that, it is even stated that the research concerned about the social behavior of animals provides a proper rationale for the expecting parents (DeDe, 2020). The stepmothers are also abusive towards the stepchildren but comparatively, stepfathers are way more abusive and follow the Cinderella effect. Different theories can be established to measure the abusive nature of stepmothers. Those parents discriminate against those stepchildren for all the love and care. The theory of inclusive fitness talks about a criterion that is selective for the evolution of social traits.

Many the concept of evolutionary psychology can be used for identifying the effect of the Cinderella phenomenon leading to higher incidences regarding different forms of child abuse and child maltreatment. More than 20% of the step-parents are abusive and children get maltreated (Ozturk, 2021). Various misunderstandings are also present regarding the case of the stepmother abusing the child. It is argued that the evolutionary psychological account does not properly explain the majority of those step-parents that do not abuse their child. The most important thing that could be noticed in a specific stepmother is low self Esteem. This low self Esteem often cites in child abuse literature as an abusive parent characteristic. The references are solemnly based on different individual cases.As stated earlier there are even stepmothers that are good to their non-biological children. They treat their genetic child and the non-biological child the same. They both are provided with the proper amenities required for a healthy lifestyle (Reame, 2020). This further fosters the companionship and communication between the stepparent and stepchild. It is most likely that stepmothers will be having a higher percentage with abusive traits than fathers will. In this assignment, the abusive traits of stepfathers are illustrated with proper incidences.

 Apart from all of these, stepparents do not have such legal rights but still, the risk factors are present. Lastly, both stepfathers and stepmothers can have extreme apprehensiveness and vigilance. They might also contain aggression which can be pronounced or some sort of passivity (Khrisna, 2020). Another indicator of abuse from stepfathers is being flinched early. The stepparents are only to supplement a relationship. Relating to the occurrence of Cinderella effect in stepfathers than stepmothers, theories and models can be used for illustrating the topic. Lastly, Parental psychology shapes natural selection, which cannot be discriminated against. They even stated that the research concerned about the social behavior of animals provides a proper rationale for the expecting parents.

Mitigation process: Most non biological children face issues related to their stepmother. To resolve that issue, some actions can be followed. The step first needs to focus on them and should eradicate all the unnecessary negativity. They can even bring some serious changes in themselves (Lee, 2020). This will help them to adapt themselves to their stepmother. Stepmothers are often more abusive as they have a second thought. They are way more protected towards their biological child. They feel that being friendly with the stepchild can cause problems for her biological child. Often it has been noticed when the stepmother utters a bad word towards the stepchild they get angry. Various theories and cases have been stated for understanding the Cinderella effect (Dornyei, 2019). The occurrence of this effect on stepmothers has been stated appropriately for the reader to understand. Certain rejection from stepmothers and psychological maladjustment arises generally amongst the stepdaughter than the stepsons. They are often abused a lot in their life.

Social self-theory: The theory of social self was discovered by the educational psychologist George Hebert mead. They stated that the concepts of self, me, and I help in providing perception for an individual regarding self-drive. This theory also works for the looking glass self. The social self-theory is generally based on the perspective that helps in self emergence through different interactions in society (Psypost. org, 2022). Appropriate interaction is also maintained to understand the external opticians that are internalized. The social aspect is one of the most crucial parts of distinction as it is based on inherited traits. Thus psychologists even stated, the self is not from birth, whereas it depends on the time factor. Slowly the social activities and experiences change them.

Three different activities are present for the development of self. The activities are playing games and learning languages. Generally, there are two different types of self sides. This is the theory of the development of self. The social self-theory is also maintained due to this. It is also stated, the concept of stepparent and the adolescent needs more contact in this world (Psychreg.org, 2022). The child and the step-parent need to spend a lot of time together when the biological parent is not around. Two scientists named Baron and Kenny stated the need for an approach to test the medications. The test provided results that showed mediation has revealed the social competence of a partial mediation between the Stepdaughters After they spend proper time with each other, they will be able to have a good connection. Robert Martin's famous social structure and another theory: Merton has one of the most important works regarding structural theory. Robert Merton has an appropriate contribution to psychology (Apa.org, 2022). He is best known for the different theories of deviance. He even mentioned some developments regarding the concepts of self-fulfilling prophecy. This concept is directly related to child abuse.

3. Conclusion

This current study has evaluated the mediating role of the social competence between the stepchildren and stepmothers. Various samples were drawn from the different public as well as private schools for carrying out the technique of sampling. Stepdaughter even stated that they perceived that the stepmothers were less rejecting. They even showered lesser psychological maladjustment. Children present in a stepfamily have less interaction with their stepmothers. This problem is faced by most of the girl children in the family. Parental acceptance or rejection has been conceptualized within the framework of the acceptance and rejection theory. Various dimensions are present that help in personality disposition. Various reviews and studies have been performed. These studies have helped in understanding the inside out of this Cinderella phenomenon related to psychology. According to different studies, it has been studied that girls are prone to abuse by stepmothers.

References

Books

Faust, K. and Manning, S., 2021. Them Before Us: Why We Need a Global Children’s Rights Movement. Post Hill Press.

Perrault, C., 2021. Cinderella or the little glass slipper. Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing.

Journals

Aledo, J.C., 2019. Methionine in proteins: The Cinderella of the proteinogenic amino acids. Protein Science, 28(10), pp.1785-1796.

Chastine, V. and Darmasetiawan, N.K., 2019. Cinderella complex on working women. Advances in Social Science, Education, and Humanities Research, 308, pp.103-106.

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Daly, M. and Perry, G., 2021. A Cinderella effect in the childcare assistance provided by European grandparents. Evolution and Human Behavior, 42(4), pp.343-350.

De Proost, L., Ismaili M’hamdi, H., Verhagen, A.A.E., Reiss, I., Geurtzen, R. and Verweij, E.J., 2020. On the limits of viability: toward an individualized prognosis-based approach. Journal of Perinatology, 40(12), pp.1736-1738.

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Dornyei, Z., 2019. Towards a better understanding of the L2 Learning Experience, the Cinderella of the L2 Motivational Self System. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 9(1), pp.19-30.

Erez, E., Jiang, J. and Laster, K., 2020. From Cinderella to consumer: How crime victims can go to the ball. In Victimology (pp. 321-357). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Gonçalo, M., 2021. Chronic urticaria-From'Cinderella'to a'Rock star'in 30 years. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, 35(11), pp.2259-2260.

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Kamleitner, B., Thürridl, C. and Martin, B.A., 2019. A Cinderella story: How past identity salience boosts demand for repurposed products. Journal of Marketing, 83(6), pp.76-92.

Khrisna, D.A.N., 2020, October. The Fairy Tales’ Stepmothers: They are not Evil, They are just Insecure (Portraying the Character of Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and Snow White’s Stepmothers from the Appraisal Framework). In Proceedings of the First International Conference on Communication, Language, Literature, and Culture (pp. 1-13).

Lee, S. and Afriana, A., 2020. AN ANALYSIS OF DIRECTIVE SPEECH ACTS IN “CINDERELLA” MOVIE. SCIENTIA JOURNAL: Jurnal Ilmiah Mahasiswa, 2(1).

Madhavarajan, K. and Selvamalar, J., 2021. NARRATIVE STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH FAIRY TALES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO “THE SNOW-WHITE AND SEVEN DWARFS” AND “CINDERELLA”. ?????? (?????), 48(10).

Mendoza, K.A., 2018. Counselors’ perceptions of storytelling, fairytales, and sandplay in working with traumatically abused children (Doctoral dissertation).

Moosa, R., 2018. World university rankings: Reflections on teaching and learning as the Cinderella function in the South African higher education system. African Journal of Business Ethics, 12(1).

Nobes, G., Panagiotaki, G. and Russell Jonsson, K., 2019. Child homicides by stepfathers: A replication and reassessment of the British evidence. Journal of experimental psychology: general, 148(6), p.1091.

Ozturk, E. and Erdogan, B., 2021. Betrayal trauma, dissociative experiences and dysfunctional family dynamics: Flashbacks, self-harming behaviors and suicide attempts in post-traumatic stress disorder and dissociative disorders. Medicine, 10(4), pp.1550-6.

Purnamasari, R., Sudadi, U. and Santosa, D.A., 2021, July. A Review: Is Cinderella’s story of self-DNA extracellular effect towards plant growth real?. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 824, No. 1, p. 012026). IOP Publishing.

Reame, N.K., 2020. Estetrol for menopause symptoms: the Cinderella of estrogens or just another fairy tale?. Menopause, 27(8), pp.841-843.

Richardson, J.D., Dalton, S.G., Greenslade, K.J., Jacks, A., Haley, K.L. and Adams, J., 2021. Main concept, sequencing, and story grammar analyses of cinderella narratives in a large sample of persons with aphasia. Brain sciences, 11(1), p.110.

Schacht, R., Meeks, H., Fraser, A. and Smith, K.R., 2021. Was Cinderella just a fairy tale? Survival differences between stepchildren and their half-siblings. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 376(1827), p.20200032.

Websites

Apa.org, Available at https://www.apa.org/ [Accessed on 24th march]

Psychreg.org, Available at https://www.psychreg.org/best-psychology-websites/ [Accessed on 24th march]

Psypost.org, Available at https://www.psypost.org/2016/09/top-best-psychology-websites-articles-information-44974 [Accessed on 24th march]