Chapter 8
Socio-emotional Development
in Early Childhood
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Socio-Emotional
Development
In Early Childhood
Emotional and
Personality
Development
Families
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Peer Relations,
Play, and
Television
Emotional
And Personality
Development
The Self
Emotional
Development
Moral
Development
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Gender
The Self
• Initiative versus Guilt
• Self-Understanding
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Initiative versus Guilt
• Children use their perceptual, motor, cognitive, and
language skills to make things happen.
• The governor of initiative is conscience, as children
begin to hear the inner voice of self-observation.
• Initiative may bring rewards or punishment.
• Widespread disappointment leads to an unleashing of
guilt that lowers self-esteem.
• Leaving this stage with a sense of initiative rather than
guilt depends on parental responses to children’s selfinitiated activities.
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Self-Understanding
• The child’s cognitive representation of self, the
substance and content of the child’s selfconceptions.
• Self-understanding is based on the various roles
and membership categories that define who they
are.
• In early childhood, children usually conceive of
the self in physical terms.
• The active dimension is a central component of
the self, as children describe themselves in
terms of such activities as play.
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Emotional Development
• Among the most important changes in emotional
development are the increased use of emotion language
and the understanding of emotion.
• Between 2 and 3 years, children considerably increase
the number of terms they use to describe emotion.
• Children also begin to learn about the causes and
consequences of feelings.
• At 4–5 years, children show an increased ability to reflect
on emotions.
• They also show a growing awareness about controlling
and managing emotions to meet social standards.
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Shyness
• Robert Copland identified two conditions
among preschoolers who tended to
withdraw from peer actions:
– Conflicted shyness, which refers to high
anxiety towards social interactions.
– Social disinterest, displayed by children who
do not show anxiety while socializing with
peers but simply prefer to be on their own.
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Moral Development
• What Is Moral
Development?
• Piaget’s View of How
Children’s Moral
Reasoning Develops
• Moral Behaviour
• Moral Feelings
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What is Moral Development?
• Involves thoughts, feelings, and behaviours
regarding standards of right and wrong.
• Has an intrapersonal dimension and an
interpersonal dimension.
• The former regulates a person’s activities when
he or she is not engaged in social interaction.
• The latter regulates people’s social interactions
and arbitrates conflict.
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Piaget’s View of Moral
Development
• Heteronomous
Morality
• Autonomous
Morality
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Heteronomous Morality
• The first stage of Piaget’s theory of moral
development occurs from approximately 4–7
years of age.
• Justice and rules are conceived of as
unchangeable properties of the world, removed
from the control of people.
• This stage involves the belief in imminent
justice—the concept that, if a rule is broken,
punishment will be meted out immediately.
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Autonomous Morality
• Piaget’s second stage of moral development,
which begins around age 10 and continues
throughout life.
• At this point, the child realizes that rules and
laws are created by people and that, in judging
an action, one should consider the actor’s
intentions as well as the consequences.
• Children between the ages of 7 and 10 are in
transition and show features of both stages.
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Moral Behaviour
• The study of moral behaviour has been influenced by
behavioural and cognitive theories.
• The processes of reinforcement, punishment, and
imitation are used to explain moral behaviour.
• The social cognitive view believes that moral behaviour
is influenced extensively by the situation.
• Social cognitive theorists also believe that the ability to
resist temptation is closely tied to the development of
self-control.
• They believe cognitive factors are important in the
development of self-control.
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Moral Feelings
• The
Psychoanalytic
Approach
• Empathy
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The Psychoanalytic Approach
• The superego is the moral branch of personality.
• It develops as the child resolves the Oedipus
conflict and identifies with the same-sex parent.
• Through identification with the same-sex parent,
children internalize the parents’ standards of
right and wrong that reflect societal prohibitions.
• Children conform to societal standards to avoid
guilt, brought on by hostility originally directed at
the same-sex parent, now internalized and
directed towards the self.
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Empathy
• Reacting to another’s feelings with an emotional
response that is similar to the other’s feelings.
• Empathy is experienced as an emotional state,
but it also has a cognitive component.
• The cognitive component is the ability to discern
another’s inner psychological states—
perspective taking.
• Emotions such as empathy, shame, guilt, and
anxiety provide a natural base for the child’s
acquisition of moral values.
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Gender
•
•
•
•
•
What is Gender?
Biological Influences
Parental Influences
Peer Influences
Theories
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What is Gender?
• Sex – the biological dimension of being male or
female.
• Gender – the social dimensions of being male or
female.
• Gender identity – the sense of being male or
female.
• Gender role – a set of expectations that
prescribe how males or females should think,
act, and feel.
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Biological Influences
• The 23rd pair of chromosomes in humans either
contains two X chromosomes to produce a
female, or an X and a Y chromosome to produce
a male.
• Estrogens influence the development of female
physical sex characteristics.
• Androgens promote the development of male
physical sex characteristics.
• Some research is exploring possible differences
in aspects of male and female brains.
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Parental Influences
• Both mothers and fathers are psychologically important
in children’s gender development.
• By action and example, they influence their children’s
gender development.
• Fathers are more likely to ensure that boys and girls
conform to existing cultural norms.
• Fathers are more involved in socializing their sons than
their daughters.
• Fathers are more likely than mothers to act differently
towards sons and daughters, thus contributing more to
distinctions between genders.
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Peer Influences
• Children show a clear preference for being with
and liking same-sex peers.
• This tendency becomes stronger during the
middle and late childhood years.
• Boys teach one another the required masculine
behavior and enforce it strictly.
• Girls pass on female culture and congregate
with one another.
• Peer demands for conformity to gender roles
become especially intense during adolescence.
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Theories of Gender
• Psychoanalytic Theory of Gender
• Social Cognitive Theory of Gender
• Cognitive Developmental Theory of
Gender
• Gender Schema Theory
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Psychoanalytic Theory of Gender
• Psychoanalytic theory maintains a
preschool attraction to the opposite-sex
parent ultimately results in identification
with the same-sex parent.
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Social Cognitive Theory of Gender
• Social cognitive theory emphasizes gender
development occurs through observation and
imitation of gender behaviour, and through the
rewards and punishments for genderappropriate and -inappropriate behaviour.
• Critics of this approach argue that gender
development is not as passive as it indicates.
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Cognitive Developmental Theory of
Gender
• This theory says children’s gender typing occurs
after they have developed a concept of gender.
• Once they consistently conceive of themselves
as male or female, children often organize their
world on the basis of gender.
• Children use physical and behavioural clues to
differentiate gender roles and to gender-type
themselves in early development.
• They then select same-sex models to imitate.
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Gender Schema Theory
• States that an individual’s attention and
behaviour are guided by an internal
motivation to conform to gender-based
sociocultural standards and stereotypes.
• “Gender typing” occurs when individuals
are ready to encode and organize
information along the lines of what is
considered appropriate for males and
females in society.
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Gender Schema Theory (cont’d)
• A general readiness to respond to and
categorize information on the basis of
culturally defined gender roles fuels
children’s gender-typing activities.
• This theory acknowledges, like Kohlberg’s
cognitive developmental theory, that
gender constancy is important along with
other cognitive factors.
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Families
Parenting
Sibling
Relationships
and Birth
Order
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The Changing
Family in a
Changing Society
Parenting Styles
• Authoritarian
Parenting
• Authoritative
Parenting
• Neglectful Parenting
• Indulgent Parenting
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Authoritarian Parenting
• A restrictive, punitive style in which parents
exhort the child to follow their directions and to
respect work and effort.
• These parents place firm limits and controls
on the child and allow little verbal exchange.
• Authoritarian parenting is associated with
children’s social incompetence.
• Children of authoritarian parents often are
unhappy, fearful, anxious, fail to initiate activity,
and have weak communication skills.
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Authoritative Parenting
• This style encourages children to be independent but still
places limits and controls on their actions.
• Extensive verbal give-and-take is allowed, and parents
are warm and nurturant towards the child.
• Authoritative parenting is associated with children’s
social competence.
• Children of authoritative parents are often cheerful, selfcontrolled, self-reliant, and achievement-oriented, and
they maintain friendships with peers, cooperate with
adults, and cope well with stress.
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Neglectful Parenting
• A style in which the parent is very uninvolved in
the child’s life.
• It is associated with children’s social
incompetence, especially a lack of self-control.
• Children whose parents are neglectful frequently
have low self-esteem, are immature, and may be
alienated from the family.
• In adolescence, they may show patterns of
truancy and delinquency.
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Indulgent Parenting
• A style of parenting in which parents are highly involved
with their children but place few demands or controls on
them.
• Indulgent parenting is associated with children’s social
incompetence, especially a lack of self-control.
• The result is that children never learn to control their own
behaviour and always expect to get their way.
• Children of indulgent parents may be aggressive,
domineering, and noncompliant.
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Co-Parenting
• Parental cooperation and warmth show
clear ties to children’s prosocial behaviour
and competence in peer relationships.
• Poor coordination with, undermining and
disparagement of the other parent, along
with lack of cooperation and warmth place
children at developmental risk.
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Punishment
• The Supreme Court of Canada (2002) upheld
the provision in the Criminal Code allowing
spanking with nonexcessive force as a form of
punishment.
• Spanking could be used on children between the
ages of 2 and 12.
• Research concluded that corporal punishment
by parents is associated with higher levels of
immediate compliance but lower levels of moral
internalization.
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Child Maltreatment
• The Multi-Faceted Nature and Severity of
Maltreatment
• Family Influences
• Developmental Consequences of
Maltreatment
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The Multi-Faceted Nature and
Severity of Maltreatment
• The public and many professionals use the term
“child abuse” to refer to both abuse and neglect,
developmentalists prefer the term child
maltreatment.
• Different types of child maltreatment include:
–
–
–
–
–
Physical and sexual abuse
The fostering of delinquency
Lack of supervision
Medical, educational, and nutritional neglect
Drug or alcohol abuse
• The most-reported maltreatment is neglect at
40%.
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Family Influences
• To understand abuse in the family, the
interactions of all family members need to be
considered.
• Many parents who abuse their children come
from families in which physical punishment was
used.
• Community support systems are especially
important in alleviating stressful family situations
which could prevent child abuse.
• Cultural values may have an impact on the
likelihood of abuse.
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Developmental Consequences of
Maltreatment
• Developmental consequences of child
maltreatment include poor emotional
regulation, attachment problems, problems
in peer relations, difficulty in adapting to
school, and other psychological problems.
• Physical abuse has been linked to anxiety,
personality problems, depression, conduct
disorder, and delinquency.
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Sibling Relationships and Birth
Order
• Sibling
Relationships
• Birth Order
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Sibling Relationships
• Children’s sibling relationships include helping,
sharing, teaching, fighting, and playing.
• Children can act as emotional supports, rivals,
and communication partners.
• Because of the large number of possible sibling
combinations, it is difficult to generalize about
sibling influences.
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Birth Order
• When differences in birth order are found, they
are usually explained by variations in
interactions with parents and siblings associated
with the unique experiences of being in a
particular position in the family.
• Given the differences in family dynamics
involved in birth order, it is not surprising that
firstborns and later-borns have different
characteristics.
• Birth order alone is often not a good predictor of
behaviour.
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The Changing Family in a
Changing Society
• Working Parents
• Effects of Divorce on Children
• Cultural, Ethnic, and Socio-economic
Variations in Families
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Working Parents
• Because household operations have become
more efficient and family size has decreased in
North America, it is not certain that when both
parents work outside the home that children
actually receive less attention.
• Mothering does not always have a positive effect
on the child.
• The rigid gender stereotyping perpetuated by
the divisions of labour in the traditional family is
not appropriate for the demands that will be
made on children of either sex as adults.
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Effects of Divorce on Children
• Children’s Adjustment in Divorced Families
• Should Parents Stay Together for the Sake
of Their Children?
• How Much Do Family Processes Matter in
Divorced Families?
• What Factors Are Involved in the Child’s
Individual Risk and Vulnerability in a
Divorced Family?
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Children’s Adjustment in Divorced
Families
• Most researchers agree that children from divorced
families show poorer adjustment than their counterparts
in nondivorced families.
• Children in divorced families are more likely to have
academic problems, to act out and be delinquent, and to
experience depression and anxiety.
• They are likely to be less socially responsible, and to
have less competent intimate relationships, as well as
become sexually active earlier.
• They are more likely to take drugs and have low selfesteem.
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Other Findings
• The majority of children in divorced families do
not have these problems.
• The weight of research underscores that most
children competently cope with their parents’
divorce, but that significantly more children from
divorced families have adjustment problems
(20%–25%) than children from nondivorced
families (10%).
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Should Parents Stay Together for
the Sake of Their Children?
• If the stresses and disruptions in family
relationships associated with an unhappy ,
conflictual marriage that erode the well-being of
children are reduced by the move to a divorced,
single-parent family, divorce may be
advantageous.
• If the diminished resources and increased risks
associated with divorce also are accompanied
by inept parenting and sustained or increased
conflict, the best choice for the children would be
for an unhappy marriage to be retained.
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How Much Do Family Processes
Matter in Divorced Families?
• Family process matters a lot.
• When divorced parents’ relationships with
each other is harmonious, and when they
use authoritative parenting, the adjustment
of children improves.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
What Factors Are Involved in the
Child’s Individual Risk and
Vulnerability in a Divorced Family?
•
•
•
•
•
The child’s adjustment prior to the divorce
The child’s personality
The child’s temperament
The child’s gender
The custody situation
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Cultural, Ethnic, and Socioeconomic Variations in Families
• The majority of cultures have discovered that
healthy social development is most effectively
promoted by love and at least some moderate
parental control.
• Low-income parents often place a high value on
external characteristics, like obedience, while
middle- and upper-income families frequently
place a high value on internal characteristics,
such as self-control and delay of gratification.
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Peer Relations, Play
And Television
Peer
Relations
Play
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Television
Peer Relations
• Peers – children of about the same age or maturity.
• The peer group provides a source of information and
comparison about the world outside the family.
• Children receive feedback on their abilities from peers.
• Good peer relations appear to be necessary for normal
social development.
• Children who are rejected by peers are at risk for
depression.
• Aggressive children are at risk for many problems.
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Play
• Play’s Functions
• Parten’s Classic
Study of Play
• Types of Play
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What is Play?
• Play is a pleasurable activity that is
engaged in for its own sake.
• It is exciting and pleasurable in itself
because it satisfies our exploratory drive.
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Play’s Functions
• Increases affiliation with peers and increases the
opportunity for interaction
• Releases tension
• Advances cognitive development due to its
symbolic and make-believe components
• Provides an opportunity to practice roles
children will assume later in life
• Offers the possibilities of novelty, uncertainty,
surprise, and incongruity
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Parten’s Classic Study of Play
• Unoccupied play – the child is not engaging in play as it is
commonly understood.
• Solitary play – the child plays alone and independently of others.
More frequent in 2- to 3-year-olds than older children.
• Onlooker play – the child watches other children play but may still
talk and ask questions.
• Parallel play – the child plays separately from others but with similar
toys or in a manner that mimics their play.
• Associative play – involves social interaction with little or no
organization.
• Cooperative play – involves social interaction in a group with a
sense of group identity and organized activity.
• –
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Types of Play
• Sensorimotor play
• Practice play
• Pretence/symbolic
play
• Social play
• Constructive play
• Games
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Sensorimotor Play
• Sensorimotor play – behaviour engaged in by
infants to derive pleasure from exercising their
existing sensorimotor schemas.
• Sensorimotor play also involves practice
play but is primarily confined to infancy.
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Practice Play
• Practice play – the repetition of behaviour when
new skills are being learned or when physical or
mental mastery and coordination of skills are
required for games or sports.
• Practice play can be engaged throughout
life.
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Pretense/Symbolic Play
• Pretense/symbolic play – occurs when the child
transforms the physical environment into a
symbol.
• Between 9 and 30 months of age, children
increase their use of objects in symbolic play.
• Experts consider the preschool years the
“golden age” of pretense/symbolic play.
• In the early elementary school years, children’s
interest often shift to games.
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Social Play
• Social play – involves social interaction with
peers.
• Parten’s categories are oriented towards social
play.
• Social play with peers increases dramatically
during the preschool years.
• Rough-and-tumble play appears at this time.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Constructive Play
• Combines sensorimotor and practice repetitive
activity with symbolic representation of ideas.
• Occurs when children engage in self-regulated
creation or construction of a product or a
problem solution.
• Increases in the preschool years.
• A frequent form of play in the elementary school
years.
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Games
• Games – activities engaged in for pleasure.
• They include rules and often competition with
one or more individuals.
• Games play a big part in the lives of elementary
school children, with one study finding the
highest incidence of game playing occurred
between 10 and 12 years of age.
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Television
• Television’s Many
Roles
• Amount of Television
Watching by Children
• Effects of Television
on Children’s
Aggression and
Prosocial Behaviour
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Television’s Many Roles
• Negative influences: taking children away from
homework, making them passive learners, teaching
them stereotypes, providing them with violent models of
aggression, and presenting them with unrealistic views
of the world.
• Positive influences: presenting motivating educational
programs, increasing information about the world beyond
children’s immediate environment, and providing models
of prosocial behaviour.
• http://vad.mhhe.com/provided_module.cfm?ModuleID=2
21 (The Child's Social World: “Impact of Media on
Children”)
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Amount of Television Watching By
Children
• In the 1990s, children averaged 11–28 hours of
television-watching per week, which is more
than for any other activity except sleep.
• Considerably more children in the U.S. than their
counterparts in other developed countries watch
television for long periods. Canada is ranked 3rd
highest.
• A special concern is the extent to which children
are exposed to violence and aggression on
television, even in cartoons.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Effects of Television on Children’s
Aggression and Prosocial
Behaviour
• Several studies have demonstrated the relationships
between the amount of violence viewed on television
and subsequent aggressive and violent behaviour.
• These studies are correlational; thus, the only conclusion
can be that television violence is associated with
aggressive behaviour not the cause of aggressive
behaviour.
• Many experts argue that TV violence can induce
aggressive or antisocial behaviour in children.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.
Effects of Television on Children’s
Aggression and Prosocial
Behaviour (cont’d)
• Television can teach children that it is better to
behave in positive, prosocial ways than in
negative, antisocial ways.
• Children who watched episodes of “Sesame
Street” that reflected positive social interchanges
copied the behaviours and, in later social
situations, applied the prosocial lessons they
had learned.
©2005 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.