CHAPTER 8 Early Childhood Social and Emotional Development

CHAPTER 8 Early Childhood: Social and Emotional Development

Dimensions of Child Rearing

Dimensions of Childrearing • Warm parents – More likely to be affectionate toward their children and less likely to physically discipline than cold parents – Children of warm parents are warm, accepting, more likely to develop internalized standards of conduct and a moral sense or conscience – Parental warmth related to child’s social and emotional wellbeing • Cold parents – May not enjoy their children and may have few feelings of affection for them • Childrearing is reflected by imitating parents’ own upbringing, their parental beliefs, and genetics.

Dimensions of Childrearing (cont’d) • Authoritative parenting style – Firm, consistent enforcement of rules combined with strong support and affection • Permissive parenting style – Parents supervise children much less; allow children to do what is “natural, ” may also allow children to show some aggression, intervening only when child is in danger • If too much “restrictiveness, ” meaning physical punishment, interference, or intrusiveness, the child may end up disobedient, rebellious, and have lower cognitive development

How Parents Enforce Restrictions • Inductive methods – Teach knowledge that will enable children to generate desirable behavior on their own – Reasoning or explaining why one behavior is better than another is the main technique • Power-assertive methods – Include physical punishment and denial of privileges – Rationalize physical punishment due to noncompliance of children – The greater the use of this method, the less likely the child is to develop internal standards of conduct – Parental rejection and punishment linked with aggression and delinquency

How Parents Enforce Restrictions (cont’d) • Withdrawal of love method – Isolating or ignoring misbehaving child – Loss of love oftentimes more threatening than physical punishment – May foster compliance but instill guilt and anxiety • Preschoolers comply better when asked to do something rather than to stop doing something. • Good method is to engage child in something else when involved in unacceptable activity or behavior

Parenting Styles: How Parents Transmit Values and Standards • Baumrind (1989, 1991 b) developed grid of four parenting styles based on whether parents are high or low on each of the two dimensions – 1. Authoritative – 2. Authoritarian – 3. Permissive-indulgent – 4. Rejecting-neglecting

Parenting Styles: How Parents Transmit Values and Standards (cont’d) • 1. Authoritative – These parents are restrictive and demanding, yet communicative and warm – They reason with their children and provide them strong support and feelings of love – Children of these parents demonstrate self-reliance, independence, high self-esteem, high levels of activity and exploratory behavior, and social competence and tend to be highly motivated to achieve and do well in school

Table 8 -1, p. 159

Parenting Styles: How Parents Transmit Values and Standards (cont’d) • 2. Authoritarian – These parents value obedience with little explanation for their reasoning – Do not communicate well with their children – Do not respect child’s view point – These parents mostly cold and rejecting – Highly controlling and use force as enforcement method – Sons of these parents relatively hostile and defiant – Daughters low in independence and dominance – Children are less friendly and less spontaneous in social interactions – Have low self-esteem and are low in self-reliance

Parenting Styles: How Parents Transmit Values and Standards (cont’d) • 3. Permissive-indulgent – Parents are low in their attempts to control their children and in their demands for mature behavior – Parents are easygoing and unconventional – Permission accompanied by high warmth and support – Children less competent in school but high in social behaviors • 4. Rejecting-neglecting – Parents are low in demands for mature behavior and low in attempt to control their children – Low in support and responsiveness – Outcomes for children include lowest competence, lack of responsibility, immaturity, and tendency to problem behaviors – Less competent in school and show more misconduct and substance abuse

Effects of the Situation and the Child on Parenting Styles • Parenting styles change due to the situation • Power assertion more likely to occur when parent believed the child knew the rules and was capable of behaving appropriately • Power assertion likely to occur when dealing with aggressive behavior • Stress contributes to parental use of power

Table 8 -2, p. 160

Social Behaviors

Social Behaviors and the Influence of Siblings • During early childhood, children make tremendous advances in social skills and behavior. – Positive: learn how to share, cooperate, and comfort others – Negative: can be aggressive • Older siblings more likely to be more caring and dominating than younger ones • Younger siblings more likely to imitate older siblings and to accept their direction • Typical sibling rivalry can contribute to better social competence, the development of self-identity, and the ability to rear their own children • The more parents play favorites, the greater the conflict.

Adjusting to the Birth of a Sibling • Preschoolers may feel stress due to the birth of a sibling and the changes within the family. • Older child may feel displaced and resentful due to the attention given to the new baby. • Regression to baby-like behaviors, such as increased clinging, crying, and toilet accidents may occur. • Some children may show increased independence by dressing themselves and helping to take care of the baby.

Birth Order • First-born children – More highly motivated to achieve than later-born children – Perform better academically, are more cooperative, more adultoriented, and less aggressive than later-born children – Obtain higher standardized test scores – First-born and only children show greater anxiety and are less self-reliant than later-born children • Later-born children – May compete for attention by acting aggressively – Self-concept is lower, but social skills translate into greater popularity with peers – Tend to be more rebellious, liberal, and agreeable than first born – Parents are more relaxed with later-born children

Peer Relationships • Peer groups foster social skills -Teach how to lead and how to follow -Help increase physical and cognitive skills through interactions -Provide emotional support • By age 2, children show preference for particular peer • Not until late childhood and adolescence do friends’ traits and notions of trust, communication, and intimacy become important

Play: Child’s Play, That Is • Play is meaningful, voluntary, and internally motivated. • Play contributes to the development of motor skills and coordination. • Dramatic play (trying on new roles) contributes to development of cognitive qualities such as curiosity, exploration, symbolic thinking, and problem solving. • Play may help with children learning to control impulses.

Play and Cognitive Development: Piaget’s Characteristics of Play • Functional play – Occurs during sensorimotor stage – Involves repetitive motor activity like rolling a ball or laughing • Symbolic play – Occurs at end of sensorimotor stage – Involves creating settings and scripts • Constructive play – Common in early childhood – Child uses objects or materials to make something • Formal games – Games with rules; may be invented by the child – Involves social interaction as well as physical activity and rules – May be played for a lifetime

Parten’s Types of Play • Parten (1932) observed six types of play among 2 - to 5 year-old children. • Solitary play/onlooker play: nonsocial play; occurs in 2 to 3 -year-olds • Parallel play/associative play/cooperative play; social play; associative and cooperative common by age 5; girls more likely to engage in social play • Parallel constructive play: demonstrated when preschoolers play with puzzles or blocks near other children • Girls more likely to play with boys’ toys than vice versa

Table 8 -3, p. 163

Gender Differences in Play • Boys – In preschool and early elementary school, boys prefer vigorous physical activities. – In middle childhood, boys prefer playing in groups of five or more children engaging in competition. • Girls – – More likely to stray from stereotypes More supervised More likely to engage in arts and crafts Spend more time playing with one child than with a group • Play choices determined by environmental influences as well as biological factors such as strength

Gender Differences in Play (cont’d) • By age 2, children prefer same-sex playmates; tendency strengthens by middle childhood • Sex differences may be due to boys preferring play that is aggressive and rough; may also be due to lack of response to girls’ polite requests; girls try to protect themselves from aggression and unresponsiveness by avoiding boys; boys may avoid girls because they see them as inferior

Prosocial Behavior • Prosocial behavior – Altruism; intent to benefit another without expectation or reward • At preschool and during early school years, children engage in prosocial behavior. • Siblings observed helping more than sharing, affection, and reassuring (Grusec & Sherman, 1991) • Prosocial behavior linked to development of empathy and perspective taking

Empathy • Empathy: sensitivity to the feelings of others; connected with sharing and cooperation • Infants may cry when another infant cries • Empathy promotes prosocial behavior and decreases aggression – At age 2, many children approach other children and adults in distress and try to help them • Unresponsive children more likely to behave aggressively • Girls more empathetic than boys

Development of Aggression • Preschoolers’ aggression instrumental or possession oriented • Older preschoolers more likely to engage in resolving conflicts over toys by sharing rather than fighting • Aggressive behavior causes rejection • By age 6 or 7, aggression is hostile and person oriented • Boys more likely to show aggression • Aggressive 8 -year-olds more aggressive than peers 22 years later; more likely to have criminal records, abuse their spouse, and drive while drunk

Theories of Aggression • Genetic factors may be involved in aggressive behavior as well as criminal and antisocial behavior. • MZ twins have high concordance rate for criminality • Males more aggressive than females, possibly due to testosterone • If child believes in legitimacy of aggression, more likely to engage in aggression when presented with social provocations • Aggressive children lack empathy and perspective taking. • Reinforcement and observational learning may contribute to aggression.

Media Influences • Bandura’s Bobo doll study suggested that televised models influence children’s aggressive behavior – Children observing adult hitting Bobo in turn hit Bobo sometimes more aggressively • Children learn aggression through observational learning (watching models on TV). • Television is a fertile source of aggressive models • Media violence and aggressive video games may increase level of arousal; humans more likely to be aggressive under high levels of arousal

Fig. 8 -1, p. 166

Media Influences (cont’d) • Depictions of violence contribute to violence through – – – observational learning disinhibition increased arousal priming of aggressive thoughts and memories habituation

Personality and Emotional Development

Personality and Emotional Development • Personality development becomes more complex as children age. • Children describe themselves in terms of certain categories such as baby, child, and sex (girl, boy). • Categorical self – Self-definitions that refer to concrete external traits • Preschool children who have good opinions of themselves more likely to show secure attachment and have parents who are attentive to their needs

Personality and Emotional Development (cont’d) • Preschool children make evaluative judgments about their cognitive and physical competence as well as their social acceptance by peers and parents. • Preschoolers do not make distinctions between different areas of competence such as being good in school but poor in sports. • Children become increasingly capable of self-regulation in early childhood.

Initiative versus Guilt • Children engage in learning new skills on their own. • Children during this stage strive to achieve independence from their parents and master adult behaviors. • During these years, it is learned that not all dreams can be realized. • Fear of violating parental constructs may impede efforts to master new skills. • Parents should encourage child to attempt to learn and explore without being critical and punitive.

Fears: The Horrors of Early Childhood • Number of fears peak between 2 ½ and 4 years old • Preschool years marked by decrease in fears of loud noises, falling, sudden movement, and strangers • Preschool fears include animals, imaginary creatures, the dark, and personal danger • Real objects such as lightning, thunder, high places, sharp objects and being cut, blood, and unfamiliar people cause fear for their personal safety • During middle childhood, fears of failure and criticism in school and social relationships

Development of Gender Roles and Gender Differences

Development of Gender Roles and Gender Differences • Gender roles may be seeped in stereotypes. – Feminine gender-role stereotypes include traits such as gentleness, helpfulness, warmth, emotionality, submissiveness – Masculine gender-role stereotypes include traits such as aggressiveness, self-confidence, independence, competitiveness, and competence in business, math, and science • Children stereotype into traditional roles by ages of 3 and 9 or 10. • Children and adolescents perceive their own sex in a better light (e. g. , more hardworking, nicer).

Gender Differences • Sex differences in infancy small and inconsistent • Preschoolers display some differences in their choices of toys and play activities. • Boys – engage in more rough-and-tumble play and are more aggressive – show greater visual-spatial ability • Girls – tend to show more empathy and report more fears – show greater verbal ability

Theories of the Development of Gender Differences • Evolutionary psychologists believe sex differences fashioned by natural selection in response to problems in adaptation that were repeatedly encountered by humans over thousands of generations • Genes that increase the likelihood of an organism’s chances of survival are most likely to be passed on to next generation • Males place value on physical attributes in mate selection • Females place it on personal factors such as financial status and reliability

Organization of the Brain • Brain organization is largely genetically determined. – Brain may be female and male differentiated • Studies on rats and humans have indicated males and females rely on different parts of the brain when they are navigating. – Females rely on the hippocampus in the right hemisphere along with the right prefrontal cortex – Males use the hippocampus in both hemispheres when they are navigating

Social-Cognitive Theory • Children learn masculine or feminine by observing and imitating models of the same sex. – Socialization by parents, teachers provide children with information about expected gender-typed behaviors • Rewards include smiles, respect, companionship when “gender-appropriate” behaviors are displayed • Boys encouraged to roam further from home, to be more independent than girls • Primary schoolchildren show less stereotyping if mothers frequently engage in traditionally masculine household and childcare tasks.

Cognitive-Developmental Theory • Kohlberg’s (1966) theory maintains the first step in gender typing is attaining gender identity (2 years). – Knowing whether you are male or female • Gender stability (4 -5 years) – Realizing one’s sex is for lifetime • Gender constancy (5 -7 years) – Changing dress, hair, or wearing an apron does not change your gender • Kohlberg’s theory cross-cultural; gender typing occurs in the same order of stages

Gender-Schema Theory • Gender is used by children as way of organizing perception of the world • Gender-schema theory – Cluster of concepts about male and female physical traits, behaviors, and personality traits • Gender identity can inspire “gender-appropriate” behavior; boys and girls seek information concerning gender-typed traits and try to live up to them – Boys show better memory for boy toys, activities, and occupations – Girls show better memory for “feminine” toys, activities, and occupations • Both biology and social cognition interact to affect most areas of behavior and mental processes