journal

Chapter 10

Emotional and Social Development

in Early Childhood

Social Development

ERICKSON’S THEORY

(2-6 yrs)

1. Trust –Mistrust

2. Autonomy-Shame (2 years)

3. Initiative–Guilt(2-6 years)

Autonomy & Initiative:

“I do it MINE self!!!!”

“No! I won’t!”

Erikson’s theory

• The basic conflict of early childhood:

initiative versus guilt is resolved

positively through play experiences that:

– fosters a healthy sense of initiative and develops a conscience that is not overly strict.

– develops new skills.

• Play permits preschoolers to try new skills and cooperate with other children to achieve

common goals.

Cooperation vs. Isolation

“a firmer sense of self also permits children to cooperate for the first time in playing games,… and

resolving disputes over objects” (Berk, 2016, p. 249)

SELF-DEVELOPMENT

Foundations of Self-concept

a few definitions

• Self-concept is the sum total of attributes, abilities, attitudes, and values that an individual

believes defines who he or she

• Your answer to the “Who am I?” question

– What is your sense of self based upon? (friends, work/school, weight & shape,

activities, work, morality, personality, etc.)

• Preschoolers usually describe themselves with concrete terms such as their name, physical

appearance, possessions and everyday behaviors.

• By age 3 ½ children can also describe themselves in terms of typical beliefs, emotions and

attitudes.

– “I’m 4. I’m a boy. Got this new T-shirt. I can brush my teeth. I have a new doll.”

• Children’s struggle over objects seems to be positive efforts at forming boundaries between the

self and others – mine

• A firmer sense of self also permits children to cooperate with others for the first time

Self-esteem is an aspect of self-concept that involves judgments about one’s own worth and the feelings

associated with those judgments.

Evaluations about our own competence is affected by emotional experiences - future behavior and long-

term psychological adjustment.

Preschoolers usually relate their own ability as extremely high and underestimate the difficulty of a task.

Emergence of Self-Esteem

Self-esteem

Sense of self-worth

Competencies affect emotions, behavior, and adjustment.

Preschoolers usually rate own ability high.

High self-esteem initiative

Criticism undermines self-esteem.

“I can’t do it!! I can’t do anything!!”

Fostering a healthy self-image

If think you “are worth it” you will avoid disrespectful relationships.

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Understanding Emotion

Gains in representation, language, and self-concept support emotional development.

By 4-5 years children correctly judge the causes of many basic emotions (“sad because he misses his

mommy”), yet stress external factors. Since the preschooler has experienced emotions and the external

factors causing the emotion.

Language contributes to preschoolers’ improved emotional self-regulation, or the ability to control the

expression of emotion.

Understanding Emotions

Preschoolers know that emotions can be blunted by restricting sensory input, talking to yourself, or

changing the goals.

Because of the increased use to these self-regulating strategies, intense emotional outbursts become

less frequent over the preschool years.

Emotional self-regulation - intense emotional outbursts decrease

parents can:

-model strategies used to cope with stress

-use adult-child coping conversations - internalized

-prepare children for difficult experiences

-children’s vivid imaginations in addition to difficulty in separating appearance from reality

makes fears common among preschoolers

e.g., going into hospital for some surgery

Helping children manage common childhood fears

-Be creative: flashlights that melt monsters.

-Empathy

-altruism: actions that benefit another without any expected reward for self

-In the preschool years, empathy becomes an important motivator of prosocial or altruistic

behavior.

Empathy does not always yield to acts of kindness and helpfulness.

In some children, empathizing with an upset peer or adult can escalate into distress.

Focuses on self rather than on person in need

Likely to react to the suffering of others in the same way that their parents and caregivers respond to

the suffering of others – modeling.

PEER RELATIONS

parallel play

Peer Sociability

Parten’s Stage of Social Interaction

Advances in Peer Sociability: Mildred Parten, 1932, observing 2 to 5 year olds, concluded that social

development proceeds in a three step sequence

1 - Nonsocial activity - unoccupied, onlooker behavior and solitary play

2 - Parallel play – is a form of limited social participation in which the child plays near other children with

similar materials but does not interact with them.

3 - Highest level = Social Interaction

Associative play

Engaged in separate activities, but interact

Cooperative play

Actions are directed toward a common goal

Peer Sociability

Parten’s Stage sequence?

Preschoolers engage in two forms of true social interaction

Associative play – children engage in separate activities, but they interact by exchanging toys and

commenting on one another’s behavior

Cooperative play – children’s actions are directed toward a common goal

Peer Sociability

Play emerges in Parten’s order.

Layer-cake model of development vs. stages.

Type, not just amount, of social activity changes.

Most play is positive and constructive - teachers foster by setting out puzzles, art supplies, etc.

Sociodramatic play is common.

Supporting cognitive and social development

-act out and respond to one another’s pretend feelings

-exploring fear-arousing experiences when pretend to search for monsters