PSYC 200: Chapter 10 - Socioemotional Development in Early Childhood

which of Erikson’s stages are early childhood children in?

initiative vs. guilt

what is self-understanding?

representation of self

what is self-understanding like in early childhood?

• use physical body characteristics, material possessions, and physical activities to recognize themselves apart from others

• use a mix of negative and positive emotions to describe how they feel later on, but mainly positive bcuz cant distinguish between what they want to feels vs. what they actually feel

  ex: i feel happy (doesnt actually feel happy, but says bcuz wants to feel happy)

what is perspective taking?

social cognitive process involving assuming the perspective of others and understanding their thoughts and feelings

stepping into another person’s shoes

how do these children understand others?

• perspective taking by using executive functions: cognitive inhibition (controlling their thoughts to consider perspectives of others) and cognitive flexibility (seeing situations in different ways)

• understand that others make false beliefs to get away w/ things

• joint commitments (understanding their partner has the same goal in a project/task)

• trust nicer ppl over meaner ppl

• socially sensitive instead of egocentric; social interactions (relational catalysts) w/ others helps them understand others and recognize themselves

how are emotions for these children?

• express self-conscious emotions when they’ve developed self-awareness

• understand the effects pf emotions in situations

what is emotion-coaching parenting?

• tracking children’s emotions

• viewing their negative emotions as an opportunity to help them regulate/deal w/ them

• linked to more social competence and less behavior problems

what is emotion-dismissing parenting?

• deny, ignore, or change children’s negative emotions

• linked to less social competence and more behavior problems

what is moral development?

development of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors regarding rules and conventions abt what ppl should do in their interactions w/ other ppl

which moral feelings influence moral development?

• Sigmund Freud - conscience. it makes child feel guilty by punishing them for behaviors that their parents disapprove of

• positive emotions like empathy and sympathy and negative emotions

how is moral reasoning for them?

• Piaget believes they go thru 2 stages of moral development:

  • heteronomous moreality (4-7 yrs old) - they think justice and rules cannot be changed. they are constant and dont know what purpose they serve

    • also believe in immanent justice (if a rule/law is brooken, u will be punished immediately)

  • autonomous morality (10 ys old and older) - they’re aware that justice and laws are used by people and have consequences for following/violating them

how is cognitive behavior for them?

• behavioral and social cognitive theory of child development - processes of reinforcement, punishment, and imitation explain the development of moral behavior

• behaving one way in a situation doesnt mean that they will behave that way in another situation

  ex: a child who doesnt cheat on an exam cheats in a game

• what a child does is influenced by other children

  ex: a child donating cards to another child prompts another child to do the same

how can caregivers/parents contribute to children’s moral development?

• younger children: distract them from activities that dont fit parents’ values

• older children: talk to them abt parents’ values

what is gender identity?

involves a sense of one’s own gender including knowledge, understanding, and acceptance of being a boy/man, girl/woman, or another gender

what are gender roles?

• sets of expectation that dictate how girls/women or boys/men should think, act, and feel

• during preschool years, most children act in wats that match their gender roles

what is gender typing?

acquisition of a traditional masculine/feminine role

what are the biological influences of gender development?

• chromosome and hormones:

  • chromosomes -

    • XX = females

    • XY = males

  • hormones:

    • estrogen (like estradiol) = promote development of female genitals and secondary physical sex characteristics

    • androgen (testosterone) = promote development of male secondary physical sex characteristics

• social influences:

  • social role theory - psychological gender differences result from contrasting roles of women and men

  • psychoanalytic theory of gender - preschool child develops a sexual attraction to opposite-sex parent by adopting same characteristics as same-sex parent

    • not used today because children still become masculine or feminine despite same-sex parent not being in the family

  • social cognitive theory of gender - children’s gender development occurs thru observing and imitating what other ppl say and do

• parental influences:

  • mother’s socialization strategies - mother socialize their daughters to be more obedient and responsible than their sons in many culturers

  • father’s socialization strategies - fathers show more attention to sons than to daughters, engage in more activities w/ sons, and put more effort to promote son’s intellectual development

• peer influences:

  • peers reward and punish gender behavior

  • gender composition of children’s groups - favoring spending more time w/ same-sex groups/people

  • group size - boy groups are bigger and do more games together, while girl groups are less

  • interaction in same-sex groups - boys are more likely to engage in more physical activities, while girls are more likely to talk together more

• cognitive influences:

  • gender schema theory - gender typing emerges as children gradually develop gender schemas of what is gender-appropriate and gender-inappropriate in their culture

what is the evolutionary psychology view in terms of gender development?

• natural selection favored men who adopted short-term mating strategies

• natural selection favored women who devoted effort to parenting and chose successful, ambitious mates who could provide their offspring with resources and protection

• criticisms;

  • ppl today might not follow this behavior

  • pays little attention to cultural and individual variations in gender differences

what are Diana Baumrind’s 4 types of parenting styles that exist in many cultures and countries?

• authoritarian parenting

  • overcontrolling parents are rageful, demanding, and my spank their child

  • child feels negative emotions, socially incompetent, and associated w/ higher level of aggressive behavior problems

• authoritative parenting

  • less controlling, expects child to behave, allows child to be independent, warm and supportive to child

  • positive emotions and socially competent

• neglectful parenting

  • parent isnt involved/engaged in child’s life as if their life is more important than theirs

  • child is socially incompetent, struggle w/ being independent, low self-esteem, not showing up to school, delinquent

• indulgent parenting

  • highly involved w/ child and allow them to do whatever they want w/ few demands/controls

  • child cant control their own behavior, rarely respect others, egocentric

what are the thoughts on parenting styles?

• fail to capture the bi-socialization relationship between child and parent (they socialize each other)

• parents may use different styles for certain situations, not just one for all

• concept is too broad and needs more research

what are reasons to avoid spanking/similar punishments?

• child may imitate behavior

• child may cause them to avoid being near the parent and to fear parent

• doesnt give feedback on what to do

• parent may become abusive

what is child maltreatment?

• refers to both abuse and neglect of chlld

• types:

  • physical abuse: may not be intentional (could be from too much physical punishment)

  • child neglect: failing to provide child’s basic needs

  • sexual abuse

  • emotional abuse

what are the developmental consequences of childhood maltreatment?

• poor emotion regulation

• attachment problems

• problems in peer relations

• difficulty adapting to school

what do parents do when siblings have conflict?

• intervene and try to help them resolve conflict by encouraging resolution thru communication

• ignoring and intentionally not intervening so that they work it out on their own

• telling them to physically stand up to each other

what are important characteristics of sibling relationships?

• emotional quality

• familiarity and intimacy

• variation

what is emotional security theory?

• proposed by E. Mark Cummings and his colleagues

• marital conflict is associated w/ children’s sense of security and safety in the fam

what are Ellen Galinksy’s and Judy David’s guidelines for communicating w/ children abt divorce?

• explaining separation

• explain separation is not child’s fault

• explain that it may time to feel better

• keep door open for further discussion

• provide as much continuity as possible (continue life w/ few distractions and setting reasonable limits)

• provide support for children and yourself

how are peer relations for them?

• important for providing source of info and comparison abt world outside fam

• more likely than older children to have friends who are of different gender and ethnicity

how is play for them?

• helps master anxieties and conflicts because relieves tension

• important for cognitive development

  • Daniel Berlyne = play is exciting and pleasurable in itself because it satisfies our exploratory drive

what are the types of play?

• sensorimotor: play involving using sensorimotor schemes

  ex: selecting toys to play with

• practice play: repeating new learned skills

  ex: running on a playground

• pretense/symbolic play: transforming physical aspects of environment into symbols

  ex: treating a chair as a horse like they’re riding it

• social play: involves interactions w/ peers

• constructive play: combines sensorimotor play/practice play w/ symbolic representation

• games: for pleasure and have rules