Janet Belsky’s Experiencing the Lifespan, 2e

1. Janet Belsky’sExperiencing the Lifespan, 2e Chapter 6: Childhood Socioemotional Development Meredyth Fellows, West Chester University of PA

2. Setting the Challenge • Emotional Regulation • Maturing frontal lobe contributes to development of self-regulation abilities • Important for social and emotional success • Problematic temperamental tendencies • ____________ tendencies • ____________ tendencies

3. Personality • 7- to 8-year-old children entering the Concrete Operational Stage: • Understand inner states (theory of mind) • Become less ______________ • Understand others have different perspectives from their own • No longer believe they are the center of the universe • Become more _____________ • Self-reflect and compare themselves to others

4. Personality • Changes in self-awareness • 3-year-old self descriptions focus on ______________. • Self descriptions of 4th grade child: • __________________________________ • Anchored in feelings, abilities, and inner traits • Self-esteem develops • Declines during early elementary school

5. A Deeper Look at Self-Esteem:Erikson’s Industry vs. Inferiority Stage

6. Self-Esteem Distortions

7. Self-Esteem Distortions • Low self-esteem— internalizing problems • Overly self-critical • Inflate failures • See failure when it doesn’t exist • _____________________ • Feels incapable of affecting the outcome of events and gives up trying • Common in those with internalizing problems

8. Interventions: Promoting Realistic Self-Esteem • Enhance ______________ • Feelings of competence • Route to self-esteem • Promote realistic self-perceptions • Set realistic goals • When child fails, gently give accurate feedback • Consider person-environment fit

9. Prosocial Behavior • Sharing, helping, and caring actions • Appears as early as preschool; more frequent in elementary school • More sophisticated upon reaching Concrete Operations (perspective- taking skills) • May be a stable characteristic • Motivations may vary (self-aggrandizement versus genuine altruism)

10. Prosocial Behaviors: Decoding Altruism • _________(caring, selfless acts) • Acting altruistically depends on transforming empathy into a sympathetic response • ________(attempting to feel the emotions of another person) • Sympathy (feeling upset for a person who may need help)

11. Interventions: Socializing Children to be Prosocial • Attend to your child’s prosocial behaviors • Compliment your child when he/she demonstrates acts of empathy, sympathy and altruism (address child’s personality) • Avoid creating shame (humiliation) • Use guilt instead • Intervene when your child behaves in a hurtful, negative way • Model prosocial behaviors

12. Aggression • Any hostile or destructive act • Peaks at about age 2 ½ • Declines with onset of emotional regulation (maturing frontal lobes) • Types: • ____________ • ______________ • ____________

13. Factors Contributing to Aggression • Difficult (exuberant) temperament evokes _________________disciplinary techniques • Rejection from teachers and peers • Child possesses a hostile attributional style • Boys more likely than girls to be labeled aggressive (externalizing problems)

14. Value of Pretend Play • Practice adult roles • Allows child a sense of control • Furthers understanding of social norms • Offers the adult world insights into what children may be thinking

15. Gender Segregated Play • Gender segregated play is firmly entrenched by elementary school • Differences • _______________ • Calm, more subdued play • Nurturing themes • Play collaboratively; relate one-to-one • _____________ • Rambunctious play • Superhero, warrior themes • Dominance and competition • Rigid gender-specific rules for play

16. What Causes Gender-Stereotyped Play? • Biological underpinnings • Role of testosterone • Socialization of gender-specific behaviors • Traditional gender roles • Impact of cognitions • ___________________

17. Focus on a Topic: Bullying • A situation in which one or more children (or adults) harass or target a specific child for systematic abuse. • Reaches peak in late elementary school and early adolescence. • Occurs most often in cafeteria (cited in middle school research) • Chronic victims of bullying: • ____________________________________________________________ • Cyberbullying

18. Interventions for Bullying • Administrators working with students form a school-wide norm of intolerance of bullying. • Teach prosocial behaviors • Anti-cyberbullying Web sites • Social skills training for targeted children with externalizing disorders • Teach emotional regulation skills and reattribution of biases • Minimize power assertion • Connect temperamentally shy children with friends