A. Psychosocial Development

  • Changes in understandings we have of ourselves as members of society; comprehension of meanings of behaviors of others
  • Erik Erikson believed that people pass through eight stages that necessitate resolution of a crisis or conflict that lead us to develop long­lasting ideas about the self.
  • The preschool years largely encompass the initiative­versus­guilt stage, lasting from about ages 3 to 6.
  • kids are in conflict

cooking breakfast for Mom on Mother’s Day kids need to try things themselves

will make them more confident in own abilities

Parents should reinforce idea that decisions have consequences

  • Successful resolution of this conflict leads children to realize that they are persons in their own

right, and they then begin to make decisions that will shape their lives.

B. Self­ Concept in the Preschool Years

  • Sense of identity; beliefs about what we are like
  • overestimates skills/knowledge EX: thinking they can remember 100 words Will fade as they compare themselves to peers b. Culture affects view of self

1) collectivistic orientation= interdependence, blending in, interconnectedness individual expected to sacrifice for good of group

  • Individualistic orientation= personal identity, uniqueness, competition

focus on what sets individual apart and makes them special

Have we overdone the whole “you’re special” thing?

C. Developmental Diversity and Your Life

By 3 or 4, most kids distinguish different races

Starting to understand significance of race in culture

My experience race dissonance= minority kids preferring majority values, people

Reinforced by negative depictions of minorities in media

  • Gender Identity 1. Gender vs. Sex gender differences emerge early

kids form stereotypical expectations re: gender boys= rough, more competitive Girls= are organized/ role­playing games

More time spend time with own sex

Expectations tend to be conservative on what girls should do and what boys should do 2. Biological perspectives= physical characteristics, hormone differences, brain structure differences lead to gender differences

girls who are exposed in unusually high male hormones in utero= more masculine behaviors boys exposed to unusually high female hormones in utero= more feminine behaviors

Evolution of gender differences

Aggression in males= more mates (bread more)

Nurturing in females= more babies survive

Cross­cultural differences

  • Psychoanalytic Perspective= identification kids emulate same sex parent

Problem: see gender­typed behaviors before phallic stages of development

  • Social Learning Approaches= kids learn gender­related behaviors/ expectations from direct training, observation of others

Parents/ authority figures us clear messages

Gender info from various media sources

Can use TV shows/ movies as teachable moments

  • Cognitive Approaches= kids establish gender identity­ perception of self as male or female

Gender Schema= specialized schema for gender info

Develop rules for what is appropriate/ inappropriate

Young kids think gender is based on appearances (such as if boy puts on a dress he will be a girl) 4­5 years old gender constancy= understanding they are permanently male or female

  • Friends and Family
  • The Development of Friendships
  • Age 3 start to develop real friendships

based on companionship/play/entertainment/shared activities

  • Older Preschoolers= see friendship as a stable relationship beyond immediate momenttrust/ support/ shared interests
  • Categorizing Play
  • Functional play= beginning of preschool years= simple, repetitive activities
  • Age 4 constructive play= manipulating objects to produce/ build something cognitive skills/motor skills/ problem solving/cooperation
  • Social Aspects of Play
  • Parallel play= similar toys, but play separately
  • Onlooker play= watching others play
  • Associative play= interaction limited to sharing/borrowing materials, ect.
  • Cooperative play= playing together­ taking turns, negotiating rules, ect. younger preschoolers= more functional, parallel, and on looker play older preschoolers= more constructive, associate, and cooperative play
  • Effective Parenting: Teaching Children Desired Behaviors
  • Diana Baumrind (1980) noted three types of parenting, and these were updated by Maccoby and colleagues. You can think of these parenting styles as different mixtures of demandingness and responsiveness.

Demandingness – rules, expectations; how strict parents are

Responsiveness – warmth, emotional connection; how emotionally attached parents are

  • Authoritarian parents­high in demandingness, low in responsiveness. Want unquestioning

obedience from their kids. Many rules and not willing to discuss rules.

Kids­ become more withdrawn, social difficulties, unfriendly

  • Permissive parents –low in demandingness, high in responsiveness. Not a lot of rules but a lot of love. No responsibility for kids

Kids­ become dependent on other people, moody, lack of self­control and social skills

  • Authoritative parents –high in demandingness and responsiveness. Strict but have a lot of love. Later willing to discuss rules; encourage independence Kids­ become independent, friendly, self­assertive, cooperative
  • Uninvolved parents –low demandingness and responsiveness. Emotionally detached from children. They do only main jobs which is to provide food and shelter.

Kids­ worst off. Feel unloved, low self­esteem, low achievement levels. Physical and cognitive development affected

III. Moral Development and Aggression

A. Developing Morality: Following Society’s Rights and Wrongs

  • Moral development refers to changes in people’s sense of justice and of what is right and wrong, and in their behavior related to moral issues.

2. Piaget’s View of Moral Development

  • a) Heteronomous morality­4­7, rules are unbreakable, beyond influence of people 1) Youngsters in this stage do not take intention into account. You could tell them the story about 2 children who both broke a plate.  Steve accidentally broke a plate while washing dishes.  Jake accidentally broke a plate while trying to steal a cookie.  Someone in this stage would think both boys are wrong. They cant take into account the intentions of each boy

2)     Children in the heteronomous stage also believe in immanent justice­broken rules earn immediate punishment

  • Incipient cooperation stage (from age 7 to 10) – becoming more social, learning rules of games. Still see rules as largely unchangeable
  • Autonomous cooperation stage (beginning at age 10) –rules can be modified if everyone agrees

3. Social Learning Approaches to Morality

  1. a) Social­learning approaches to morality focus on how the environment influences children’s moral behavior, in particular, prosocial behavior­helping behaviors that benefit others 1) In this view, moral conduct is learned through reinforcement and modeling. 2) Children do more than simply mimic modeled behavior.
  • By observing others’ behavior, they begin to learn society’s norms.
  • This leads to abstract modeling­developing more general rules that underlies behaviors. They can then apply the underlying rules to new situations; don’t have to be explicitly shown what to do

B. Aggression and Violence in Preschoolers: Sources and Consequences

  • Aggression­intentional harm to others
  • As children age and improve their language skills, acts of aggression typically decline in frequency and duration. Infants do not aggress­ they have no intentions to hurt another person.

By preschool though­ there will be true aggression. Often related to desired goal

  • Advances in personality and social development contribute to the decline in aggression.Throughout the preschool years, children are increasingly able to engage in emotional selfregulation­capability to adjust emotions to desired state, level of intensity.

­Aggression is a relatively stable characteristic

  • There are gender­related differences in aggression.
    • Boys typically show higher levels of overt aggression than girls. Instrumental aggression – motivated by desire to obtain concrete goal
    • Girls show lower levels of physical aggression, but they engage in relational aggression – non­physical aggression intended to hurt someone’s well­being