Early Childhood: Socioemotional Development

Early Childhood Studies - Socioemotional Development

Lucía G. Medina, MA.
HDFS 2400

Today’s Plan

  • 1. Quiz #1 feedback

  • 2. The Self

  • 3. Emotions: expression, understanding, regulation, and emotion socialization

  • 4. Moral development

  • 5. Family context

  • 6. Play

  • 7. ICA #6

Quiz #1 – Feedback

Areas of Strength:

  • Understanding and application of Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory.

  • Delivery of a practical and comprehensive letter in the assessment.

Areas of Improvement:

  • Need to avoid common sense explanations that lack theoretical backing.

  • Importance of reading the entire prompt before answering questions.

The Self

Initiative vs Guilt

  • This stage represents the third psychosocial stage according to Erikson.

  • Key concepts involve the tension between power/control and play/social interactions.

    • Initiative:

    • Defined as a sense of confidence, leadership, and purpose.

    • Guilt:

    • Associated with fears regarding attempts, leading to dependence and inhibition.

  • Role of Caregivers:

    • Important for fostering curiosity and offering support to children.

Self-Understanding

Developmental Stages:

  • Early development (0-3 years): Focuses on physical attributes (size, shape, color, abilities).

  • Age 4-5 years: Transitioning to recognition of psychological traits and emotions.

Language Terms:

  • SER: Refers to inherent characteristics of the self, denoting what someone fundamentally is.

  • ESTAR: Expresses the state of being or feelings of an individual at a specific moment.

Understanding Others

  • Recognition of other’s psychological traits.

    • Individuals do not always provide accurate reports about their beliefs.

  • The influence of modeling behavior:

    • Variance in understanding due to individual differences among caregivers.

Expressing Emotions

Developmental Milestones:

  • @18 months: Development of self-conscious emotions.

  • @2-3 years: Recognition of behavioral expectations and their implications.

    • Violation of standards may present through unique body postures leading to feelings of shame.

Emotional Responses:

  • Signs of withdrawal and freezing may be observed in emotionally charged situations.

  • Attempts to repair damage or rectify situations following emotional involvements.

Understanding Emotions

Theory of Emotion (Campos and Barrett):

  • Stimulus: Initial trigger for emotional reaction.

  • Appraisal: Assessment of the stimulus (low-level understanding).

  • Emotion expression: The physiological reaction following the stimulus.

  • Action tendency, feelings: Behavioral responses stemming from the emotional appraisal.

Regulating Emotions

Components of Emotion Regulation (Gross's Model, 1998):

  • Processes involved:

    • Situation Selection: Choosing contexts that influence emotion.

    • Situation Modification: Altering the situation to change emotional outcomes.

    • Attention Deployment: Focusing attention in a way to influence emotions.

    • Cognitive Change: Reappraising or altering perception to manage emotion.

    • Response Modulation: Managing physiological and physical responses to emotions.

  • Important skills include Inhibitory Control, Working Memory, and Executive Function, Cognitive or Mental Flexibility.

Caregiver’s Emotion Socialization

Supportive Approach:

  • Acknowledge and validate emotions.

  • Provide comfort and guidance through emotional experiences.

  • Utilize teachable moments for emotional lessons.

  • Serve as role models for emotional expression.

Unsupportive Approach:

  • Tend to dismiss, punish, or minimize emotions.

  • Discourage healthy expression of feelings.

  • Provide limited emotional support and modeling.

Moral Development – Foundations

Developmental Benchmarks:

  • 3 months: Awareness of helpful vs. non-helpful behaviors in puppets.

  • 8-12 months: Demonstration of empathic behaviors, such as comfort in distress (i.e., attention, vocalization, and mirroring facial expressions).

  • 2-3 years: Initial capability for instrumental help.

  • 4-5 years: Demonstration of Theory of Mind (ToM) understanding.

Moral Reasoning

Stages:

  • Heteronomous Morality (ages 4-7):

    • Characterized by rigid adherence to rules and justice, alongside concepts of immanent justice.

  • Transition Period (ages 7-10): Movement between heteronomous and autonomous perspectives.

  • Autonomous Morality (10+):

    • Understanding that rules and laws are created by people, with no inherent immanent justice believed.

Think-Pair-Share Activity

  • Discuss and analyze how a child's moral thinking might evolve within the contexts of:

    • (a) Piaget's heteronomous stage

    • (b) Piaget's autonomous stage

Moral Behavior

Influential Frameworks:

  • Integrates behavioral and social cognitive approaches.

  • Key elements influencing behavior include reinforcement, punishment, and imitation.

Parenting Styles

Authoritative Parenting:

  • Characteristics include expressing warmth and nurturance.

  • Encourages independence while applying fair and consistent discipline.

  • Results in enhanced self-regulation and social competence:

    • Greater emotional understanding.

    • Higher tendencies for cooperative behaviors.

Authoritarian Parenting:

  • Often leads to anxiety, fear, and lower self-confidence in children.

  • Children may strictly follow rules but struggle with independent decision-making.

  • Risks include heightened anger or tendencies towards social withdrawal.

Indulgent Parenting:

  • Typically marked by high levels of love and nurturing.

  • Minimal attempts at disciplining children, resulting in few rules and structure.

  • Associated challenges include:

    • Difficulty in self-regulation.

    • Issues in adhering to rules, along with a tendency towards demanding behavior.

Uninvolved Parenting:

  • Often results in poor emotion regulation and behavioral problems.

  • Children struggle in forming healthy relationships due to lack of support and engagement.

Sibling Relationships

Developmental Dynamics:

  • Children experience the transition of becoming a sibling distinctly:

    • When under < 18 months, the disruption is generally minimal.

    • Interestingly, preschool-age boys may exhibit unique responses to sibling interactions.

Contributions of Siblings to Development:

  • Serve as a secure base for emotional and social development.

  • Through conflicts, children gain insights into understanding others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions.

  • Experience gained assists in enhancing their competence in social interactions.

Birth Order and Personality

Middle Child Syndrome:

  • Features include:

    • High sense of independence.

    • Feelings of alienation and competitiveness.

    • Tendency towards risk-taking behavior.

    • Generally strong social skills and sharing behaviors.

    • Often teetering between roles as peacemakers and struggling with low self-esteem.

    • Demonstrates flexibility and adeptness in forming friendships.

Factors Influencing Birth Order Effects:

  • The effects of birth order can diminish when accounting for:

    • Parental sensitivity and responsivity, parenting styles, bonding/attachment variations.

    • Individual temperament differences.

    • Family size dynamics and socioeconomic status (SES).

The Role of Play

Developmental Functions:

  • Cognitive Functions:

    • Enhance symbolic thinking, encourage executive function development, promote language development.

  • Socioemotional Functions:

    • Aid in understanding and regulating emotions; improve peer relationship skills.

  • Physical Functions:

    • Facilitate gross and fine motor skills, enhance body awareness.