guide for exam

1. 1
Short Notes
Family and Society
Unit 1
Introduction to Change and Children
1.1: Socialisationand Child Development
Objectives:
1. Define socialisation
Introduction
Socialisation - procedure whereby people learn new knowledge, skills, values and behaviours
that contribute towards them becoming valuable and productive members of the community
or the society.
It is a continuous process whereby a member of the society acquires the basic norms, values,
and behaviours commonly practised by the society.
When not positively socialised, he may not be able to become a fully functioning member of
that society.
Example:
A Malaysian Muslim visit another Muslim by beginning with “Assalamualaikum”.
A younger individual will kiss the hands of their elders to show respect.
People in Japan greet with a slight bow of the head.
In Texas, a cultured man greets a lady by removing his hat, looking into her eye, and say
“Hello, ma’am, it’s nice to meet you”.
The socialisation process is initiated by our elders (child learn how to dress, how to eat
properly, how to treat the elders, and how to establish contact with others).
2. Explain how socialisationis a unique human process
Socialisation as a unique human process
George Mead (1934) expressed that humans possess the power of language, which makes
them vastly different from animals.
Therefore, socialisation in humans is unique as language is used to disseminate information
and to share ideas and thoughts.

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Concepts related to socialisation:
a. Internalisation – values and ideals of society are adopted and become part of the
individual’s practices.
The individual no longer carries out the values and ideals just to please others.
Through language, we can cultivate our skills in rationalisation and our own unique
behaviour pattern.
Once we possess rationalisation and behaviour, we can “internalise” other people’s
emotions.
Advantage - helps us to function well in society by having expectations of appropriate
behaviour.
b. Self-regulation - happens when a child is independent enough to refrain himself from
executing behaviours that are not permitted by parents or other adults.
Self-regulation provides the basis for learning the established rules, norms and values
of society.
It covers all aspects of growth (physical, social, cognitive or emotional).
Example – by thinking (cognitive) the danger of electrical sockets, should have the
feeling (emotional) to stop from touching it (physical).
c. Concept of inhibitory control - children are aware to refrain from committing
unwanted actions that may lead to disastrous results.
Benefit – it helps the child to act in accordance with the wishes of their parents or
other adults.
Kochanska et al. (1995) conducted a study to see how conscience was derived between
mothers and their toddlers from age 2.
Through this study, the concepts of committed compliance and situational compliance were
introduced.
Committed compliance - the willingness of the children to follow directions given by their
mothers to do something in a right way.
Situational compliance - children will be encouraged to follow given directions, closely
monitored by their mothers.

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Children who practised committed compliance have proven to be internalised (practiced)
with the rules, norms and values established by parents at home.
Therefore, children having committed compliance already possess an understanding of the
values, rules and norms established at home.
Children can either possess situational or committed compliance as young as 13 months of
age.
Committed compliance is more suitable for young toddlers of 8 to 10 months whom
understand the meaning of “no!”, to prevent the toddler to do any unwanted act.
Committed compliance increases, while situational compliance decreases as the child gets
older.
3. Explain the reciprocaland dynamic process ofsocialisation
Socialisation as a reciprocal dynamic process
A reaction in one person will produce a reaction in another person.
The process usually starts in the home environment of the child before moving out to other
social-related influences.
Example - A child will bring along biological abilities to adapt and change through
maturation, the parents’ genes to determine his biological make up, and his temperament (all
these elements will influence how a child responds to his environment and in return makes
his environment respond back).
Maturation
Infants only wish to be fed, have their diapers changed and bond with their mothers. As they
grow older, these needs evolve and become less dependent.
The way our society brings up our infants is how these infants are socialised to one day
become a part of society.
How we care for our children?
Parents or caregivers will feed, bathe and clothe their young. Bring them for medical check-
ups. Infants are provided with toys to stimulate their development, physically, socially and
emotionally.
How adults express their approval and disapproval towards their children? how they respond
to their children’s needs? and who the adults entrust their children with? (such as
grandparents, nannies and so on) are the foundation we socialise and stimulate the
development of our children.
Maturation process:
Babies will cry to be fed, but as they get older, they become increasingly independent. At
school-going age, they can prepare their own meals.

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How does this happen?
Children will know gradually that certain actions bring about certain reactions in their
parents.
Example - in order to avoid confrontations with his mother, a child learns to speak politely in
bringing about positive effects towards himself and others around him.
Genes
a. Children inherit genetic materials from their parents. Here, a child has no choice of
who his parents would be. This genotype-environment interaction is termed as
passive.
Example - a child born to parents who are highly gifted in music. The parents will raise him
in an environment filled with music. Thus, the environment will greatly contribute to the
child’s genotype as a musically inclined person.
b. Another genotype-environment interaction is termed evocative.
Example - a toddler who is sociable will spread his endearing qualities to the people in his
environment and will therefore have pleasant experiences in his growing up years.
c. The active genotype-environment interaction will make a person to search
surroundings that are most suitable to his own qualities.
Example - a friendly child prefers to play with others rather than engage in solitary (alone)
play since young. Hence, he will grow up to become a person who yearns to make
connections with others.
Temperament
Defined as the inborn qualities that affect how sensitive the child is towards certain
occurrences and how receptive he is towards making connections with others.
Babies’ temperaments are distinct from one baby to another (how easily they are distracted,
become active and adapt to new conditions and to varying dispositions).
Temperament of children can be classified as “easy”, “slow-to-warm-up” or “difficult”. See
the table below.
If a child’s temperament is compatible with the adults, the child is considered as having
goodness of fit and the good development of socialisation.

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Example - a child who is careful takes longer time to complete a task. If his parents make
quick decisions, the child’s temperament will not fit well with those of his parents.
However, if the parents understand the child’s temperament, the child will certainly progress
well in terms of socialisation.
In the development of children, children will embrace wisdom, abilities, manners, beliefs,
ethics, lessons, preferences, pursuits and other aspects that will shape them as individuals in
the society.
From the perspective of society, individuals are nurtured to possess the “social identity” of
the society.
From individual perspective, one’s “personal identity” can be developed and attained through
socialisation.
A child who was raised in a village among cows, goats and chickens definitely has different
experiences than a child who was raised in an apartment in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.
Example - in school, children attain knowledge and skills but all children from the same
school will have different perceptions regarding socialisation (different liking in school
subjects, outdoor / indoor activities, social activities, etc.).
It is important for children to be socialised and nurtured to take up areas where their interests
and abilities lie.
State the difference betweenintentional socialisationand unintentional
socialisation
Intentional and unintentional socialisation
Intentional socialisation
Intentional socialisation happens when parents consciously impart certain beliefs, principles
or ideals to the child, in order to help the child practise these.
Give praises and rewards for practising the beliefs, principles or ideals.
Punishment may be used for not complying with the wishes of the parents / adults.
Unintentional socialisation
The outcome of relations with others or through watching others establish connections.
This form is not planned, without any intention to convey specific skills and knowledge to
others.
Example - when a child watches his parents greet their friends with a handshake / hug, the
child may be reinforced with this move every time he watches.
Therefore, he will imitate.
The purpose of socialisation may be intentional for the parents, but not for the child.

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Example – in the case of toilet-train toddlers, which is considered intentional on the part of
the parents, but not for toddlers (cannot assume that all toddlers will grasp the concept of
toilet-training).
If a toddler is able to be toilet-trained, then the socialisation has served its intention.
However, a toddler who has been successfully toilet-trained may return to wetting himself -
after seeing his new-born sibling gains the attention of others for wetting his diapers, the
toddler will try to do the same (this situation may bring unintentional socialisation).

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1.2:Socialisation, Changeand Challenge
Objectives:
1. Explain child development through the Bronfenbrenner biological
model
Introduction
Agents of socialisation play an important role in socialising our young.
Agents of socialisation - child’s parents, brothers and sisters, the child’s grandparents, aunts,
uncles and cousins, the child’s teachers, friends, neighbours and spiritual leaders - directly or
indirectly socialise the child to function well in society.
Theory applied in the process of socialisation of children
Bio-ecological model of human development introduced by psychologist Urie
Bronfenbrenner (1979, 1989 and 1995).
Bronfenbrenner developed the ecological systems theory to explain how everything in a child
and the child's environment affects how a child grows and develops.
This model reflects the progressive quality of science by incorporating existing and previous
understanding of a certain topic and at the same time prepare the model for integration with
the latest studies on the topic.
Bronfenbrenner labelled different levels of the environment that influence children's
development (microsystem, the mesosystem, the exo-system, and the macro-system).
Microsystem - is the small, immediate environment the child lives in (immediate
relationships - immediate family or caregivers and their school or day care).
How these groups interact with the child will have an effect on how the child grows.
Mesosystem- describes how the different parts of a child's microsystem work together for
the sake of the child.
Example - if a child's caregivers take an active role in a child's school (going to parent-
teacher conferences), this will help ensure the child's overall growth.
In contrast - if the child's caretakers, mom with step-dad, disagree how to best raise the child
and give the child conflicting lessons, this will hinder the child's growth.
Exosystem - includes other people and places (parents' workplaces, extended family
members, the neighbourhood, etc) connected with the child’s life.
Example - if a child's parent gets demoted at work, will have negative effects on the child if
her parents are unable to pay rent or to buy groceries.
However - if her parent receives a promotion at work, will have positive effects on the child
as the parents be able to fulfil the needs of the child.

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Macrosystem – is the largest and most remote set of people and things which has great
influence over the child (relative freedoms permitted by the national government, cultural
values, the economy, wars, etc.).
2. Identify the four constructs in Bronfenbrenner’s EcologicalTheory
of human development
Refer above.
3. Explain the impacts of changes in human ecologyon the process of
socialisation
Examining socialisation in an ecological context
Ecology refers to the interwoven connection between people and their surroundings that
involves the resulting procedures in the psychological, social and cultural aspects.
Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological theory introduces four constructs, which are the
microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosystem and the macrosystem, as mentioned above.
In each of these constructs, connections and interrelations occur to produce configurations
that influence our development.
How these four constructs relate to one another? (see diagram below):

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Detailed explanation on microsystem, the mesosystem, the exo-system, and the macro-system
Microsystems
As micro indicate small, the microsystem comprises of interrelations with people close to us
(family, the school, the group of friends of similar age (peer group) and the neighbourhood.
1. Family - The family is the most basic unit in which humans are raised and taught.
Family are the main agents of socialisation in the child’s life. Children who grew up without
proper guidance and nurturance (abusive families) - will not have good development.
Children who are not exposed to activities that will enrich their lives (toys, observing positive
mannerisms, listening to meaningful verbal communication will be left behind when they
begin formal schooling.
This will affect their development at home or school, will be difficult to progress further
2. School - The school is the first official environment where children learn how to
function in society.
The school provides a subjects for children to practise what they have been taught at home
(languages, mathematics, history, geography and science, etc.) in order to survive in different
environments.
Teachers have great impact on the lives of children (showing good behaviour and conduct,
giving encouragement to achieve greater results).
However, today, parents put pressure on teachers to perform better (Parents excessively
demand schools to expand the intelligence and academic capabilities of their children).
This can be seen through the introduction of highly academic oriented kindergartens and
enrichment centres and scholarly after-school programmes for children as young as infants
This has worried child psychologists on how this over-emphasis on performance-based
education will impact child development in general.
3. Peer group - Children will create closer bonds with their peer groups.
Within the peer group, children are given opportunities to exercise their autonomy and
individuality as they are generally accepted by their peers regardless of their behaviour and
abilities.
They also expose children to the importance of teamwork and responsibility of certain roles.
4. Community - The community may be the child’s neighbourhood.
This is where children are provided the opportunity to gain knowledge and exposure to the
real world by functioning within the community (eg. - utilising the infrastructure that the
community provides)
A community must make sure the safety of its members, provide good quality childcare
centres, schools and institutions, expose its members to people of diverse origins and
backgrounds, provide places of worship for all races and religions, libraries, markets, food
and shopping outlets, places of business, etc.

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5. Media - Although Bronfenbrenner did not classify media as one of the microsystems,
television, radio, cinema, audio visual equipment, reading materials, computers and
the Internet and games consoles are environments involving children.
The media can educate our children in many aspects.
Mesosystems
“Meso” carries the meaning intermediate.
It means the relationship between two microsystems (family and the peer group or among the
school, the peer group and the media).
When a child begins school and school provides support for student involvement in its
activities, students seemed to perform better academically and also behave well at home.
The more interconnections between the microsystems of the child, the more impactful it is on
the child’s process of socialisation.
Mesosystems reinforce the occurrences within the microsystems.
Exosystems
The exosystem (“exo” denotes outside).
It means the environment in which the child is not directly involved (municipal council, the
parents’ employers and the school’s parent-teacher association (PTA).
How the exosystems influence the socialisation process of children?
Example - when a parent’s employer is restrictive, the parent may mirror these qualities and
will impose them on his children (impact how the children are socialised).
Macrosystems
“Macro” indicates large.
It represents the “society” or the smaller culture or population the child lives in.
Our country Malaysia is a macrosystem.
Other examples of macrosystems - Malays, Indians or Chinese, the upper class or the lower
class, the urban or the rural areas, or Buddhism or Hinduism. Thus, macrosystems govern our
exosystems, mesosystems and microsystems.

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Other Examples
Political ideology of democracy practised by countries around the world influences how
companies (exosystem) hire employees based on the employees’ ability to do the job rather
than their race, religion or gender.
Schools and families (mesosystem) conduct meetings to improve the facilities and policies of
the school and how schools are able to serve families better.
Democracy has bearing on what children learn in schools (microsystem) - children are taught
on how Malaysians choose their leaders via voting process.
People who belong to the macrosystem of democracy may also belong to other macrosystems
like ethnicity and culture.
Ethnicity is defined as assigned characteristics belonging to groups of people whose members
are from a similar place of origin or a similar way of life, ethnic group or faith.
Culture is the guidelines (rules, customs, traditions, language, values) that govern people’s
lives based on their “social environment”.
Ethnic and culture is differentiated by dialects and traditions.

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1.3:The Conceptof Childhood
Objectives:
1. Illustrate the changes in the definition of childhood from the
Renaissance era up until the present day
Renaissance
The Renaissance (“reborn”) period (between 14th and 17th centuries) is described as a time
when cultural and political movement spread from Italy to Europe. Historical evidences show
revival of classical art, architecture, and literature. Children of the Renaissance age were
basically treated like miniature adults (Philippe Aries 1962). They were subjected to the same
rules as adults and punishment was meted out for criminal offences as one would for adults.
Labour laws pertaining to children were non-existent, hence children were required to work
to earn their keep. Their clothes were no different from those of adults and their leisure
activities would also include drinking at pubs and socialising, just like adults (Berns 2010).
Printing press
In the era of the Printing Press (circa the 15th century), the definition of childhood is
differentiated from the definition of adults based on their literary. Children are those who are
illiterate while adults are people who are literate. Preceding this era, childhood ended at seven
years old and after that adulthood immediately began, without any transitional period in
between, related Postman through studies in 1985 and 1994 (Berns 2010). Postman (1985)
added that the function of the school was to educate adults who were able to read, thus
school-going children were dubbed “unformed adults”, possibly because of their literacy at a
young age. Berns (2010)
believed that this is the onset of the term “childhood” as it is used today. It is the transitional
period between babyhood, where the child is totally dependent on adults, and adulthood,
where they are totally independent.
Industrial Revolution
The increasing complexity of society has encouraged the growth of education to equip
children to face adulthood. During the Industrial Revolution (18th and 20th centuries),
countries in the West advocated for education to be made mandatory by passing laws
pertaining to it. In schools, children were taught their roles as contributing members of
society (Berns 2010). In addition, during this era, there existed awareness that children must
be protected. The rights of children were acknowledged and they were no longer allowed to
work extra hours in horrid circumstances in manufacturing plants. By the 19th and 20th
centuries, labour laws were already in place, restricting the age of children allowed to work
and outlining their working conditions. Therefore, from the Renaissance era up until this
point, the period of childhood had been prolonged and children were increasingly
acknowledged as needing care and protection from adults (Berns 2010).
Today

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Surprisingly, the current understanding of childhood seems to be the loss of it (or the lack
thereof). This was expressed by various researchers, namely Elkind in 1994, Garbarino in
1986, Kluger and Park in 2001 and Weissbourd in 1996 (Berns 2010). Nowadays, childhood
is subjected to greater stresses, coming from the demands to attain endless goals, to be
accepted by peers, to stay away from substance abuse, violence, mental disorders, vices,
crimes and other present challenges. This issue was highlighted by the Children’s Defense
Fund in 2007 and Elkind in 1994. Thus, it is evident now that, as society evolves, the period
of childhood is becoming shorter and shorter (Berns 2010).
For our children, everything is within reach. Drugs can be easily obtained, sex is available by
turning on the television or the Internet, and violence is everywhere around them. This reality
is affirmed by the Children’s Defense Fund in 2007, Elkind in 1994 and Weissbourd in 1996.
Today’s children are indeed customers that manufacturers try very hard to please (Berns
2010). They are able to create supply and demand for thousands of products on the market as
they are influential buyers. With just a little amount spent on advertising, once children are
hooked on a particular product, their peers will follow suit. This begins a chain effect or trend
where every child wishes to own the product. The creators or manufacturers will have a field
day!
Elkind (1994), Garbarino (1995) and Weissbourd (1996) added that more and more of
today’s children are continuously pushed to become independent and self-sufficient without
possessing the competence to survive (Berns 2010). Children are rushing to become adults
although they do not possess the maturity to become one. This contributes to the onset of
various health problems, for example, stomach aches, headaches, light-headedness, wheezing
and chest pains. Psychological problems are also on the rise such as depression, anxiety,
taking drugs and alcohol, being anorexic and/or bulimic, and having suicidal tendencies or
even committing suicide, as expressed by Hewlett and West in 1998 and Zill and Schoenhom
in 1990 (Berns 2010).
Sounds like a tough job ahead for today’s parents! So what shall we do about the present
condition of our children? This seems like the price we have to pay for the rapid changes in
our daily lives. Berns (2010) reminded that it is crucial for us to comprehend how children
are socialised when they were young and how they obtain the knowledge and skills to
become part of society. We should also find out how influential change is on socialisation.
The bottom line is, as adults, we must make wise decisions on how to equip our children with
the skills to confront the trials and tribulations of their future.
2. Describe how socialisationcanhelp children adapt to changes in the
modern era
Socialisation and adaptation
As mentioned earlier, we need to comprehend how our children are socialised in order to
assist them in embracing changes. This is the beauty of socialisation; it is a wide-ranging and
far-reaching process, whatever we teach our young will contribute to their future
development. It includes shared events and occurrences, interconnections and settings that
have an impact on development. We basically need to feed our young with the appropriate

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“input” to produce a desired “output” to ensure the competencies they are being socialised
with will produce exceptional characteristics in our children (Berns 2010).
For instance, “input” could be “setting standards”, “reinforcement” and “learnby-doing”,
whereas the corresponding “output” can be in the form of “attitudes”, “self-regulation of
behaviour” and “motives and attributions” (Figure 1.4). This situation of the “input”
influencing the outcome or “output” is called intentional socialisation. However, we have to
remind ourselves that our children are all created differently and that what they grasp and
what they relate to in their environment is different from others, thus the output may also
vary. Therefore, it can be said that children hold the key to their own process of socialisation
(Starr 1992), rendering intentional socialisation a complicated process (Berns 2010).
In actuality, individuals experience a wide range of situations and settings where countless
unique interrelations and occurrences, deliberate or accidental, happen. As a result, they
utilise their genetic qualities and the competencies that they have been socialised with
(Bugental and Grusec 2006, Collins et al. 2000, as cited in Berns 2010).
The transformation of children must come with alterations to the socialisation processes.
Socialisation must remain dynamic or continuously changing to accommodate the changes in
children and should be reciprocal, in that it can go one way or the other (Sameroff 1987, as
cited in Berns 2010). In an ideal situation, as children grow, they should be increasingly in
command of their mannerisms. They would start off as being somewhat dependent on adults
during infancy and toddlerhood. When they begin kindergarten, they should be able to
accomplish certain tasks by themselves and are able to regulate some of their behaviours.
Adults
only need to encourage and perhaps direct children at school-going age while teenagers, if
they have been socialised well by caring and attentive adults, will be able to govern their own
behaviour to reflect their independence, with some adult supervision (Berns 2010).

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1.4:The Chronosystem
Objectives:
1. Define the chronosystem.
Introduction
Chronosystem is defined as changes over time in ecological systems or within one’s lives
(ecological systems or individuals change over the year, which produce changes that
influence development).
Example:
a. School shootings in the US has increased awareness for heightened security in schools
and educational institutions (installation of metal detectors, employment of security
personnel and amendment of safety of student policies).
b. Losing a parent will introduce an element of change in a child’s chronosystem.

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2. Describe how the change in chronosystemimpacts the microsystem,
mesosystem, exosystemand macrosystem
Impact of significant historical events
Historical events like Great Depression affected most national economies in the world
throughout the 1930s.
A study was conducted to examine the lives and development of 167 children in the state of
California who were born during the period of the Great Depression.
From the study, fathers who are unemployed have direct impact on the exosystem.
As a result, fathers suffered from stress and emotional problems and they took out on their
children, thus influencing the microsystem.
Fathers were more intolerant towards their teenage daughters, boys became closer to their
peers and girls helped out around the house while boys went out to look for jobs.
How does this study impact the chronosystem? Look at 2 scenarios:
a. Great Depression - During this time, children who had not reached teenage years were
less successful academically and started to work.
Families’ economical disadvantaged caused parents to neglect their parenting skills and
influenced the development of their children.
However, adults who were teenagers during that time were more successful academically.
The ability to cope with shortcomings during childhood will make children stronger.
Therefore, the Great Depression has socialised children into having to work to provide for
their family members.
This study has proven that changes in environment over time have influenced how children
were socialised.
b. Traumatic events or natural disasters - impacts of 2004’s tsunami in Banda Aceh to a
child’s ecology.
A child affected by the event would quickly need to adjust to the immediate changes
following the tsunami (would have probably lost a parent or parents, or peers, or loved ones).
Without the support of their elders, adjustment would be harder.
Impact of ongoing events
It is crucial for parents and other agents of socialisation to equip children to face a future of
both constancy (imparting traditions, values and the state of affairs that they are presently in)
and uncertainty.

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How to equip children to face future constancy and uncertainty?
1. Education - conventional method of child education involves children attending
school sessions from morning to the afternoon.
Assessments of the child’s performance aim to evaluate the ability of the child to retain the
knowledge contents of a particular subject.
The emphasis is on developing moral values, enhancing personalities, while providing
physical, mental and spiritual development of the child.
Example:
a. The contents of the curriculum should not only focus on the attainment of knowledge,
but also encourage creativity and innovation.
b. In Malaysia, the Permata Negara Project is one of the initiatives to equip the future
generation with such qualities.
3. Identify measures that reflect the welfare of children in general
Refer above.
4. Identify and discuss current societaltrends that influence the
socialisationprocessofchildren
Contemporary ecology
How the current inclinations in society influence the future lives of children and families?
1. Biotechnology
The usage of biotechnology in altering our genetic make-up may be able to reduce the
suffering from certain illnesses.
It may even lead humans to “play God” to produce children with desirable qualities such as
intelligence and physical prowess.
However, problems may arise when people who contributed their egg and sperm to produce a
child, may encounter disputes as to who can legally raise the child.
2. Re-conceptualisation of societal and individual responsibilities
Example:
a. In US, the government has moved from a “paternalistic” stance (powerful
organisation helps less fortunate organisation) towards an “empowerment” stance,
whereby any person can be trained to fend for themselves.
Thus, there seems to be changes in responsibility from societal to individual.

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b. In Malaysia, the National Social Policy (2003) aims for individuals in the society to
develop healthy social environment based on the qualities of unity, resilience,
democracy, morality, tolerance, progress, care and fairness.
The shift is has allowed the individuals be “empowered” to better themselves.
3. Information technology
Consumers and businesses are able to achieve more with the usage of information technology
(IT).
By enabling parents to work from home via Internet, childcare costs will be greatly reduced.
IT may provide users with all the information they would possibly need to accomplish many
tasks.
4. Globalism/nationalism
Being globally or nationally connected may bring advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages of globalism:
a. products can be produced in one country, marketed in another and distributed in yet
another country.
b. provides a freer market with lesser trade barriers.
c. safer travel around the world.
Disadvantages of globalism:
a. with the absence of barriers, there will be loss of local government, economy and
sovereignty.
b. offers homogenisation of all people at the cost of losing one’s culture and uniqueness.
Advantages of nationalism:
a. brings the sense of patriotism and national pride.
b. children being cultured with this will come up strong in terms of cultural upbringing
and respect for others.
Disadvantage of nationalism:
a. too much of self-pride can breed bigotry and intolerance.
b. claiming superiority in one’s own race, religion, creed will lead to oppression of
others.
5. Shift in decision-making responsibility
As people are becoming more aware and well-informed, decision-making responsibility has
shifted to us. Therefore, we must be equipped to handle information from all areas.

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6. Information intermediaries
Businesses take advantage of the information overload by providing services that will reap
benefits for them (having their products endorsed by well-known celebrities, give rewards for
choosing their products and consumers choose a product not because it is effective but
because of rewards).
US government has produced a guideline to give an indication of how American children
fare.
Here, many sectors involving children can be improved and needs of children can be fulfilled.
The indicators are:
a. Family and social environment indicators - Records the population of children in
comparison to the general population and on the basis of their races, ethnicity and
languages, their family composition and who mainly looks after them, etc.
b. Economic circumstance indicators - Identifies whether children live in deprivation
and whether they have access to fundamental needs such as food, clothing and shelter.
c. Health care indicators - Determines whether they produce healthy bodily functions
and whether their welfare is being taken care of.
d. Physical environment and safety indicators - Examines whether children live in safe
environments free from pollutants and health issues and safe from criminal activities
and physical dangers.
e. Behaviour indicators - Identifies those that are involved in unlawful act (substance
abuse, criminal activities and having an active sexual life).
f. Education indicators - Records achievements in education.
g. Health indicators - Examines infant mortality rates (whether they have emotional,
behavioural or learning difficulties, obesity levels and hereditary illnesses).
In Malaysia, several indicators for quality of life have been introduced (communication,
culture, education, environment, family, health, housing, income distribution, entertainment,
safety, social involvement, transportation, and career environment).

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