Social Development in Early Childhood

1. Social Development in Early Childhood The Development of Children (5th ed.) Cole, Cole & Lightfoot Chapter 10

2. Social Development: Two-Sided Personality Development Socialization Acquire the standards, values, and knowledge of society Develop unique patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving Integrated into the larger social community Differentiated as distinctive individuals

3. Overview of the Journey • Acquiring a Social and Personal Identity • Moral Development • Developing Self-Regulation • Aggression and Pro-social Behavior

4. Identification • Psychological process in which children try to look, act, feel, and be like significant people in their social environment • Essential to the process of socialization • Sex Role Identification • Girls want to be like the parent they are closes to • Boys want to be different than the parent they are closest to

5. How do children learn to be who they are? • Three theories • Freud: Psychodynamic view • Bandura: Social Learning view • Kohlberg: Cognitive view

6. Psychodynamic View (Freud) • Boys: Identification through differentiation from mother andaffiliation with father • Oedipus complex: Desire to take father’s place in mother’s affection (resolution = sexual identity) • Girls: Identification through affiliation only • Woman’s psychological makeup never becomes as independent of its emotional component as does a man’s

7. Social-Learning View (Bandura) • Identification through observation & imitation • Adults not only provide models for children to imitate, but also reward gender-appropriate behavior and punish cross-gender behavior • Girls and boys are differently rewarded for engaging in gender-appropriate behavior Parental encouragement is one reason boys assume traditional masculine roles

8. Cognitive View (Kohlberg) • Identity formation as conceptual development • “I am a boy; therefore I want to do boy things and doing boy things (and gaining approval for doing them) is rewarding.” • Identity is formed as a result of the child’s actively structuring his/her experience

9. Cognitive View (Kohlberg) Three stages: • Basic sex-role identity: By 3 years old, children can label themselves as “boy” or “girl” • Sex-role stability: During early childhood, they begin to understand that gender roles are stable over time • Sex-role constancy is completed when they understand that their gender remains the same no matter what the situation

10. Ethnic & Racial Identity • Children are aware of their ethnic group and racial differences by the time they are 4 years old • Young children of parents who were active in promoting (Native American) cultural awareness and social rights more often chose dolls representing their culture.

11. Personal Identity: how children describe themselves • Early childhood: Focus on specific, concrete characteristics • physical attributes “I am a girl with brown hair”, • what they can do “I can run fast”, • their possessions “I have a cat”, • social relations “I have a big brother”, • preferences “My favorite color is red”) • tend to be unrealistically positive (“I know all my ABCs”) • Adults assist in identity formation through the recall and interpretation of events, such as family stories or going through a family scrapbook

12. Moral Development Learning about Right and Wrong Role of Internalization

13. Learning about Right and Wrong Three levels of rules • Moral rules: Most general; based on principles of justice and the welfare of others; cannot be transgressed • Social conventions: Important for social coordination; includes school rules, forms of address, attire and appearance, sex roles, etiquette • Personal rules: Children can make decisions based on personal preference; are able to develop individual uniqueness

14. Internalization External culturally-organized experiences  internal psychological processes  organize how people behave • Id: Present at birth; is unconscious, impulsive, and concerned with the immediate satisfaction of bodily drives • Ego: The first phase of self-regulation;serves as the intermediary between the demands of the id and the demands of the social world, which are often at odds with each other • Superego: Formation of the conscience occurs around age 5; results from children’s internalization of adult standards, rules and warnings

15. Conscience emerges once children have generalized and internalized standards for the way they behave • Involves self-observation, self-guidance, and self-discipline • Child develops a capacity for feelings of shame and guilt In essence, children must have both the ability and the desire to behave in socially acceptable ways

16. Self-regulation and Self Control Self-Control Regulating Thought and Action Regulating Emotions

17. Self-Control • Ability to inhibit initial impulses by stopping and thinking before acting; • Balancing personal desires and social standards • Movement (“Simon says”) • Emotions (deciding not to cry when they fall down) • Choice (delayed gratification is being able to wait for the reward)

18. Regulating Thoughts Leads to Making Healthy Decisions • The child selects and maintains a mental representation that directs her behavior • “I need to hold up the string and put the end through the hole in the bead.” • Monitors her own progress • “I got one on right; now I’ll try another.” • Modifies her problem-solving strategies • “This bead won’t go on; I need one with a bigger hole.”

19. Regulating One’s Own Emotions • Babies: Suck on their fingers or pacifier or rock themselves to self-calm • Ages 2-6: Avoids or reduces emotion by closing their eyes, turning away, or putting their hands over their ears • Uses language (self talk) to reassure and encourage themselves (“I’m a big girl; big girls can do it”) • Use active engagement to focus their attention on something else to control their interest in a forbidden toy • Preschool children who display characteristics of socio-emotional competence are better liked by both their peers and teachers

20. Aggression and Pro-social Behavior Development and Causes of Aggression Controlling Aggression Understanding Others’ Emotions Developing Pro-social Behavior

21. Development of Aggression • Aggression: Committing acts intended to hurt another • Instrumental aggression: Directed at obtaining something (hitting another child toobtain a toy) • Hostile aggression: Intentionally hurting another person as a means of establishing dominance (bullying)

22. Development of Aggression Changes in aggression • Between ages of 1 & 2: Rapid increase in instrumental aggression due to new sense of self • Age 2: Begin to notice “ownership rights” • boys become physically aggressive • girls display relationship aggression • Ages 3-6: Physical tussles over possessions decrease, while verbal aggression increases and hostile aggression (bullying) makes its appearance

23. Causes of Aggression 1. Aggressors are rewarded • Victim gave in or retreated, resulting in “victory” • Adults provided positive reinforcement by paying more attention, laughing, signaling approval, or simply by stopping coercing the child

24. Causes of Aggression 2. Children imitate the behavior of older role models • Physical punishments, particularly with anger, may teach children to behave aggressively • Research: Aggressive behavior of children who had observed adult aggression was substantially higher than that of children who had watched non-aggressive interactions; made little difference whether the adult models were live or filmed…

25. Individual Differences Research findings • Environment: Poverty associated with increased aggression (parents are likely to use harsh and inconsistent discipline, perhaps due to increased stress) • Cognition: Aggressive children more often misinterpret social interactions in negative ways that foster aggressive responses http://meero.worldvision.org/news_article.php?newsID=339

26. 4 Ways to Teach Children How to Control Aggression • Model self-control • Punish the child • Reward non-aggressive behaviors • Talk it over to so child cognitively understands

27. 1. Adults Model Self-control Help children learn self control by giving them ways to vent negative feelings in a “safe way” before they explode violently • Children will practice selecting and using socially acceptable and non-acceptable ways of venting anger and frustration • Adults and older children who show self-control of emotions will give children a positive role model

28. 2. Children are punished • Children become more likely to suppress aggressive behavior when the child identifies strongly with the person administering the punishment, and it is employed consistently • When used inconsistently punishment is likely to provoke children to further aggression • Attempts to control children’s behavior by means of physical punishment, or by threats to apply raw power, also increase aggressiveness

29. 3. Children are rewarded for non-aggressive behavior • Since young children sometimes become aggressive in order to gain attention, one strategy is to ignore it and to pay attention to children only when they are engaged in cooperative behavior • For example, an adult may step in between the children involved and pay attention only to the victim (comfort the child, give the child something interesting to do) • Side benefit: Other children may have observed that it is appropriate to be sympathetic to the victim of aggression

30. 4. Children Express Cognitive Understanding • Short, individual discussion with the aggressor focusing on • Aggression hurts another person and make that person unhappy • Aggression does not solve problems and only causes resentment in the other child • Children can often resolve conflicts by sharing and taking turns • In essence, helping children to become aware of the feelings of others (empathy) decreases aggression

31. Table Talk • Review the 4 ways of controlling aggression to be sure you understand each method • Discuss as a group: • What ways did you learn to control aggression? • What were some of the positive outcomes? • What were some of the negative outcomes? • As a teacher, what would you do to help children control aggression?

32. Pro-Social Behavior: Deciding to act in ways that builds trust and healthy relationshipsThis requires empathy and self-control

33. Empathy:Understanding Others’ Emotions • 6-7 months: Babies can “read” their mothers’ faces as a guide to how they should feel about a situation • 2 years old: Know that other people feel bad when you hit them and that giving them something nice makes them feel good • 3 years old: Usually interpret other children’s emotions correctly • 5-6 years old: Agreed with adult assessment of others emotional states and of the events likely to have caused them more than 80% of the time

34. Empathy – the sharing of another person’s emotions and feelings – is foundational; includes sharing, helping, caregiving, showing compassion, altruism • Four stages • Neonates: Babies as young as 2 days become stressed and cry at the sound of another infant’s cries • Second Year: Seek to comfort others, although some of their attempt to help may be inappropriate • Early Infancy: Empathize with people they have never met • Ages 6-9: Interest in social/political issues (poverty, oppression, illness)

35. Developing Pro-social Behavior • Strategies • Reward: Not very effective (4-year-olds most likely to act pro-socially were those who received no recognition for their pro-social acts) • Explicit modeling: Increased pro-social behavior as long as 2 weeks later • Induction (adults give explanations of what needs to be done/why): 12-year-old children displayed higher levels of empathy and pro-social behavior

36. Table Talk • Discuss with a partner • Why are pro-social skills important to the family? • Why are pro-social skills important to the community? • How can teachers teach pro-social skills to children?