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PSYC 125 HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

7/2/2013 LECTURE 5: Early Childhood:

(~2 – ~6 )

Socioemotional Development

Dr. Bart Moore bamoore@napavalley.edu

Early Childhood Socioemotional development •  Emotional and personality development

–  Emergence of the ‘Self’ –  Emotional development –  Moral development –  Gender awareness

•  Family Life –  Aspects of parenting –  Child maltreatment –  Sibling relationships –  Differences between families

•  Everything else –  Peer relationships –  Play –  Influence of media

Questions? Material? Course business?

Early Childhood Socioemotional development •  Emotional and personality development

–  Emergence of the ‘Self’ –  Emotional development –  Moral development –  Gender awareness

•  Family Life –  Aspects of parenting –  Child maltreatment –  Sibling relationships –  Differences between families

•  Everything else –  Peer relationships –  Play –  Influence of media

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Emotional Development

•  Young children begin to express (and feel) more emotions

–  Pride, shame, embarrassment, and guilt are examples of self-conscious emotions

–  Influenced by parents’ responses to children’s behavior

Emotional Development •  Understanding emotions

–  Children’s increased understanding of emotion is linked to an increase in prosocial behavior

–  Children begin to understand that the same event can elicit different feelings in different people

• Related to theory of mind (mental privacy)

Emotional Development

•  Regulating emotions

–  Parents typically take an emotion-coaching or an emotion-dismissing approach

–  Ability to modulate emotions benefits children in their relationships with peers

–  By age 5 most children can manage emotions according to social standards

Moral Development

•  Moral reasoning

–  Feelings of anxiety and guilt are central to moral development

–  Heteronomous morality: The first stage of moral development in Piaget’s theory, occurring from approximately 4 to 7 years of age

• Justice and rules are conceived of as unchangeable properties of the world, removed from the control of people

–  Autonomous morality: children (10 and older) become aware that rules and laws are created by people

• we should consider the intentions as well as the consequences

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Moral Development

•  Moral behavior develops because of:

• reinforcement,

• punishment,

•  Imitation

•  Various factors are important in the child’s development of self-control

• Cognitive, physical, & emotional

Gender

•  Gender identity: The sense of being male or female, which most children acquire by the time they are 3 years old

•  Gender role: A set of expectations about how females or males should think, act, and feel

•  Gender typing: Acquisition of a traditional masculine or feminine role

•  Gender identity is important for peer relationships

• Gender composition of children’s groups

• Group size

•  Interaction in same-sex groups

Gender: biological influences

•  Biological influences

–  Chromosomes

–  Hormones

• Androgens (testosterone)

• Estrogens (estrogen, estradol)

–  Evolution

• Different genders have different roles for ensuring species survival

Gender: social influences

•  Social influences on gender

• Social role theory: Gender differences result from the contrasting roles of women and men

• Psychoanalytic theory: Preschool child develops a sexual attraction to the opposite-sex parent

• Social cognitive theory: Children’s gender development occurs through observation and imitation of what other people say and do

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Early Childhood Socioemotional development •  Emotional and personality development

–  Emergence of the ‘Self’ –  Emotional development –  Moral development –  Gender awareness

•  Family Life –  Aspects of parenting –  Child maltreatment –  Sibling relationships –  Differences between families

•  Everything else –  Peer relationships –  Play –  Influence of media

Parenting

•  Diana Baumrind’s 4 styles of parenting:

–  AUTHORITARIAN parenting

• Restrictive (my way or else, “because I said so”)

–  Authoritative parenting

•  encourages children to be independent but still respect boundaries (‘do you know what you did wrong?’)

–  Neglectful parenting

• Uninvolved parents

–  Indulgent parenting

• No rules or penalties—freeform

Parenting styles Parenting: punishment

•  Punishment

–  Corporal punishment is linked problems with moral development and mental health

–  Best method is to handle misbehavior by reasoning with the child, especially explaining the consequences of the child’s actions for others

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Child Maltreatment

•  Types of child maltreatment

–  Child neglect

• Failure to provide for basic needs

–  Physical abuse

–  Emotional abuse

• Verbal or psychological abuse

–  Sexual abuse

• Combination of physical and verbal abuse

Child Maltreatment

•  Developmental consequences of abuse

–  Adolescents who experienced abuse or neglect as children are more likely to engage in violent behavior and substance abuse

–  About 1/3 of parents who were abused themselves when they were young go on to abuse their own children

Sibling Relationships and Birth Order

•  Sibling relationships

–  Important characteristics

• Emotional quality of the relationship

• Familiarity and intimacy of the relationship

•  Birth order matters!

–  firstborn children:

• adult-oriented

• conforming

• self-controlled

Changing Family in a Changing Society

•  Working parents

–  Children of working mothers:

• engage in less gender stereotyping

• have more egalitarian views of gender than do children of nonworking mothers

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Changing Family in a Changing Society

•  Children in divorced families

–  Children from divorced families show poorer adjustment

–  Children with a difficult temperament often have problems in coping with their parents’ divorce

–  Income loss for divorced mothers is accompanied by increased workloads, job instability, and frequent moves

–  Frequent visits by the noncustodial parent usually benefit the child

Changing Family in a Changing Society

•  Gay male and lesbian parents

–  Most children from gay or lesbian families have a heterosexual orientation

Family: socioeconomic status

–  Lower-SES parents ($$$$) :

• More concerned that their children conform to society’s expectations

• More likely to be Authoritarian parents

–  Higher-SES parents ($$$$):

• More concerned with developing children’s initiative and delay of gratification

• Less likely to use physical punishment

Early Childhood Socioemotional development •  Emotional and personality development

–  Emergence of the ‘Self’ –  Emotional development –  Moral development –  Gender awareness

•  Family Life –  Aspects of parenting –  Child maltreatment –  Sibling relationships –  Differences between families

•  Everything else –  Peer relationships –  Play –  Influence of media

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Peer Relations

•  Peer relations

–  Provide a source of information and comparison about the world outside the family

–  Good peer relations are usually necessary for normal socioemotional development

Play!

•  Play

–  Important context for the development of language and communication skills

–  Types of Play

• Sensorimotor play

• Practice play

• Symbolic play

• Constructive

• Social play

• Games: Activities that are engaged in for pleasure and have rules

Media consumption by young children

•  Television

–  Many children spend more time in front of the television set than they do with their parents

–  Extent to which children are exposed to violence and aggression on television and video games raises special concerns

–  Television can also teach children that it is better to behave in a positive, prosocial way

Early Childhood Socioemotional development •  Emotional and personality development

–  Emergence of the ‘Self’ –  Emotional development –  Moral development –  Gender awareness

•  Family Life –  Aspects of parenting –  Child maltreatment –  Sibling relationships –  Differences between families

•  Everything else –  Peer relationships –  Play –  Influence of media