Chapter 10 Outline
The Play Years: Psychosocial Development
I. Self & Social World
A. Initiative vs. Guilt ~ Erik Erikson= 8 crises of psychosocial development, in which the preschool child eagerly begins new projects and activities and feels guilt when his or her efforts result in failure or criticism
B. Self-Concept and Social Awareness
1. just prior to preschool years, their ability to compromise gradually evolves
2. they feel older, stronger, and more skilled than younger children, they become aware
C. Emotional Regulation
1. most important emotional development
2. ability to direct or modify one’s feelings, particularly feelings of fear, frustration and anger
3. Because of brain maturation, emotional regulation becomes more possible during preschool years
4. Learning, also crucial to emotional regulation
a. parents teach kids to moderate anger or other negative emotions
b. also works in opposite direction = phobia = an irrational fear that is strong enough to make a person try to avoid the feared object or experience
5. Attached and Emotional Regulation
a. Secure attachment- tend to react to other children’s emotions
b. Insecure attachment-children who failed to develop secure attachment, within first two years are excessively friendly at age 4 or 5
II. Antisocial and Prosocial Behavior
Anti: hitting, insulting, lying about, or taking from another person intending to harm someone else
Pro: sharing, cooperating, sympathizing, performed to benefit other people
A. Aggression = form of antisocial behavior that is of particular concern
1. instrumental aggression — aggressive behavior whose purpose is to obtain or retain an object desired by another
2. reactive aggression — aggressive behavior that is an angry retaliation for some intentional or accidental act by another
3. relational aggression — aggressive behavior that takes the form of insults or social rejection
4. bullying aggression — aggressive behavior in the form of an unprovoked physical or verbal attack on another person
B. Learning Social Skills through Play ~ during childhood play is the most productive and adaptive activity children can undertake
1. Rough and Tumble Play- wrestling, chasing, hitting —mimics aggression but actually occurs purely in fun, no intent to harm
a. universal
b. occurs among children with higher social experiences
2. Sociodramatic Play ~ pretend play in which children act out various roles and themes in stories of their own creation
a. provides children to:
* explore and rehearse the social roles they see being enacted around them
* test their own ability to explain and convince others of their ideas
* regulate their emotions through imagination
* examine personal concerns in a nonthreatening manner
b. girls engage in sociodramatic play more than boys
C. Parenting Patterns ~ very influential
1. Diana Baumrind ~ researcher on parenting patterns that found that parents differed on 4 important dimensions
a. warmth or nurturance
b. communication
c. maturity
d. discipline
2. On the basis of these dimensions, Baumrind round 3 basic styles
a. Authoritarian parenting:
-warmth = low
-discipline = strict, often physical
-expectations of maturity = high
-communication= parent to child - high child to parent — low
b. Permissive parenting:
-warmth = high
-discipline = rare
-expectations of maturity = low
-communication = parent to child — low child to parent — high
c. Authoritative parenting:
-warmth = high
- discipline = moderate, with much talk
-expectations of maturity = moderate
-communication = parent to child — high child to parent- high
D. Punishment ~ integral part of parent style
1. varies between family and culture
a. Japanese mothers use reasoning, empathy, and expressions of disappointment more than North American mothers
b. U.S. mothers are more likely to encourage emotional expressions including anger
2. physical punishment?
a. popular and seems to work sometimes
b. spanking- boomerang effect ~ sometimes more aggressive effect
III. Boy or Girl: so what?
A. Sex (Biological) difference vs. Gender (Culture) difference
B. Developmental Progression of Gender Awareness
1. at age 3, understanding that male and female distinctions are lifelong
2. at age 4, children convinced that certain toys (such as dolls and trucks) and certain roles (nurses and soldiers) are appropriate for one gender and not the other
3. when given choice, children play with children of their own sex
4. by age 6, children have well-formed ideas (and prejudices)
C. Theories of Gender — Role Development
1. psychoanalytic theory — Freud
a. phallic stage
b. Oedipus complex
c. identification
d. superego
e. Electra complex
2. Learning Theory
a. all roles are learned and are the result of nurture
b. gender distinctions that are so obvious by age 5 are evidence of years of ongoing reinforcement and punishment, rather than a product of any specific stage
c. also learn by observation, example: watch mother cooking and cleaning
3.Cognitive theory: focuses on children’s understandings probably static and egocentric views on gender
4. Sociocultural Theory — notes the pervasive influence of culture patterns
5. Epigenetic Systems Theory ~ points out the biological tendencies that are inherited through genetic transmission and explains how these tendencies may affect the child’s brain patterns as well as other aspects of behavior
D. 2 Conclusions: Gender and Diversity
1. Gender differences are not simply cultural or learned: The biological foundation for gender differences is far more pervasive than the minor anatomical difference between boys and girls.
2. Biology is not destiny: Children are shaped by their experiences