What Is Social Functioning And Peer Relationships?

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Social functioning has been defined as the ability to construct representations of the relations between oneself and others, and to use those representations flexibly to guide social behavior (Adolphs, 2001). Social functioning and peer relationships in children are of great importance; everything that happens in their peer group has an impact on multiple aspects of their life. For instance, peer relationships and social acceptance have influence on family life and the community, social and emotional functioning and school performance (Grifford-Smith & Browenell, 2003). Social acceptance in school is related to adult health later in life (Galobardes et al., 2004). Lower social acceptance is related to a lowered chance of reaching higher education (Almquist, Modin & Östberg, 2010), but also to an increased risk of adult unemployment and health issues like mental health problems (Almquist, 2009). Peer social rejection is linked to early school dropout (Coie, Dodge & Kupersmidt, 1990) and positive peer relationships are of important influence on learning and successful adaptation in school (Wentzel, 2003). Also, social
In large part, the increased collaboration between social psychology and neuroscience is due to the development of more accurate measures of psychological changes (Franzoi, 2006). These neural processes find their basis in the human nervous system, or more specific: the brain. The most important cells of our nervous system are the neurons. Communication between neurons takes place through synaptic transmission: transmission of a message from one neuron to another. An important role in this process is played by neurotransmitters, which carry the messages between two adjacent neurons through the synapse. The neurotransmitter influences electrical activity in the receiving cell (Kolb & Wishaw,

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