1. The Play Years: Psychosocial Development
Part III
Chapter Ten
The Play Years: Psychosocial Development
Emotional Development
Parents
Becoming Boys and Girls
Prepared by Madeleine Lacefield Tattoon, M.A.

2. The Play Years: Psychosocial Development
2 to 6-year-old transformation
maturation and motivation are crucial; so are emotion and experiences.
psychosocial development is multifaceted, involving genes, gender, parents, peers, and culture

3. Emotional Development
Learning when and how to express emotions is the preeminent psychosocial accomplishment between the ages of 2 and 6 years
Emotional Regulation
the ability to control when and how emotions are expressed

4. Emotional Development
Initiative Versus Guilt
Erickson’s third psychosocial crisis
children begin new activities and feel guilty when they fail
Self-esteem
how a person evaluates his or her own worth, either in specific (e.g., intelligence, attractiveness) or overall
Self-concept
a person’s understanding of who he or she is
includes appearance, personality, and various traits

5. Emotional Development
Pride
typical 3 – 5-year-olds have immodest and quite positive self-concepts, holding themselves in high self-esteem.”
longer attention span—they have a purpose for what they do
self-esteem and concentration are connected with maturation (but are not the cause)
feeling proud of oneself is the foundation for practice and then mastery

6. Emotional Development
Guilt
people blame themselves because they have done something wrong
Shame
people feel that others are blaming them
Guilt and shame often occur together, but don’t necessarily go hand in hand

7. Emotional Development
Intrinsic Motivation
goals or drives that come from inside a person, such as the need to feel smart or competent
this differs with external motivation, the need for rewards from outside, such as material possessions or someone else’s esteem

8. Emotional Development
Psychopathology
illness or disorder (-pathology) that involves the mind (psycho-)
the first signs in children usually involve emotions that seem to overwhelm the child
emotional regulation begins with impulse control

9. Emotional Development: Balance
Externalizing problems
difficulty with emotional regulation that involves outward expression of emotions in uncontrolled ways
Internalizing problems
difficulty with emotional regulation that involves turning one’s emotional distress inward, as by feeling excessively guilty, ashamed, or worthless

10. Emotional Development
Neurological damage in development
Prenatally
If a pregnant woman is stressed, ill, or a heavy drug user
Infancy
if an infant is chronically malnourished, injured, or frightened
extensive stress can kill some neurons and stop others from developing properly

11. Emotional Development
early care can prevent or worsen innate problems with emotional control
the harm of poor caregiving is evident in maltreated 4 – 6-year-olds.
if neglect or abuse occurs in the first few years it is more likely to cause internalizing or externalizing problems

12. Emotional Development
Empathy
the ability to understand the emotions of another person, especially when those emotions differ from one’s own
Antipathy
feelings of anger, distrust, dislike, or even hatred toward another person

13. Emotional Development
Prosocial behavior
feelings and acting in ways that are helpful and kind, without obvious benefit to one self
Antisocial behavior
feelings and acting in ways that are deliberately hurtful or destructive to another person

14. Emotional Development
Aggression
“The gradual regulation of emotions and emergence of antipathy is nowhere more apparent than in the most antisocial behavior of all, active aggression, which occurs when a child’s dislike erupts into action."

15. Emotional Development
Instrumental aggression
hurtful behavior that is intended to get or keep something that another person has
Reactive aggression
an impulsive retaliaton for another person’s intentional or accidental actions, verbal or physical
Bullying aggression
unprovoked, repeated physical or verbal attack, especially on victims who are unlikely to defend themselves

16. Emotional Development
Bullying
not always physical; can be verbal or relational when the goal is to disrupt a child’s friendship
physical aggression declines over the preschool and school-age years, but verbal attacks may increase

17. Parents
the primary influence on the young child’s emotions--including brain maturation and culture
parents differ a great deal in what they believe about children and how they act with them

18. Parents differ on four important dimensions
Parenting Style
Parents differ on four important dimensions
expressions of warmth
strategies for discipline
communication
expectations for maturity

19. Parenting Styles Authoritarian parenting Permissive parenting
high behavioral standards, punishment of misconduct, and low communication
Permissive parenting
high nurturance and communication but rare punishment, guidance, or control
Authoritative parenting
the parents set limits but listen to the child and are flexible

20. Parents Discipline and Punishment
discipline varies a great deal from family to family, culture to culture
ideal parents anticipate misbehavior and guide their children towards patterns that will help them lifelong
disciplinary techniques do not work quickly or automatically to teach desired behavior

21. Parents Discipline and Punishment first step is clarity
what is expected
each family needs to decide its goals and make them explicit for the child
second step is to remember
what the child is able to do
parents forget how immature children’s control over their bodies and minds is

22. Parents Discipline and Punishment time-out withdrawal of love
induction

23. Parenting: Media The Importance of Content
most young children spend more than three hours a day using some sort of media

24. Parenting: Media Content
“What do children see?”
Attempts to limit or restrict children’s watching have limited success
Evidence from every perspective confirm that violence is pervasive
Children who watch violence on television become more violent

25. Becoming Boys and Girls
Sex differences
biological differences between males and females, in organs, hormones, and body type
Gender differences
differences in the roles and behavior of males and females that originate in the culture

26. Becoming Boys and Girls
Psychoanalytic Theory
Phallic stage
Freud’s third stage of development, when the penis becomes the focus of concern and pleasure
Oedipus complex
the unconscious desire of young boys is to replace their father and win their mother’s exclusive love

27. Becoming Boys and Girls
Behaviorism
virtually all roles are learned and therefore result from nurture, not nature
gender distinctions are the product of ongoing reinforcement and punishment

28. Becoming Boys and Girls
Cognitive Theory
focuses on children’s understanding
children develop concepts about their experience
developing a gender schema, a type of cognitive schema or general belief—the understanding of sex differences

29. Becoming Boys and Girls
Sociocultural Theory
traditional cultures enforce gender distinctions with dramatic stories, taboos, and terminology
adult activities and dress are strictly separate by gender, girls and boys attend sex-separated schools and virtually never play together

30. Becoming Boys and Girls
Sociocultural Theory
Androgyny
a balance, within a person,
of traditionally male and
female psychological
characteristics

31. Becoming Boys and Girls
Epigenetic Theory
that our traits and behaviors are the result of interactions between genes and early experiences
gender differences based in genetics are supported by recent research in neurobiology
there are dozen of biological differences between the male and female brain

32. Becoming Boys and Girls
Gender and Destiny
lead in two opposite directions…
gender differences are rooted in biology
biology is not destiny--children are shaped by their experiences
given nature and nurture, both these conclusions are valid