This chapter discusses theories of social and personality development in early childhood. It covers psychoanalytic perspectives from Freud and Erikson, and social-cognitive perspectives on person perception, understanding rules and intentions. Gender development is examined through psychoanalytic, social-cognitive and information processing lenses. Parenting styles including authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and uninvolved are defined. The impacts of family structure such as single parenting, divorce and ethnicity on development are also explored, along with peer relationships, aggression, prosocial behavior and friendships.
3. Theories of Social and Personality
Development
Psychoanalytic Perspectives
Freud: gain control over bodily functions and
renegotiate parent relationships
Anal Stage
Phallic Stage
4. Theories of Social and Personality
Development
Psychoanalytic Perspectives
Erikson: agreed with Freud with added focus
on social skill development
Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt
Initiative versus Guilt
5. Theories of Social and Personality
Development
Social-Cognitive Perspectives
Person perception: increasing ability to
classify others
Use category trait labels.
Describe others’ behavior patterns of
others.
Categorize based on observation
characteristics.
6. Theories of Social and Personality
Development
Social-Cognitive Perspectives
Understanding Rule Categories
Social conventions
Moral rules
Differentiation of response
Increased cognitive capabilities and adult
emphasis
7. Theories of Social and Personality
Development
Social-Cognitive Perspectives
Understanding Others’ Intentions
Children do understand intentions to some
degree:
Punishment is for intentional acts.
Actors’ intentions matter.
Choices bound by consequences.
8. Theories of Social and Personality
Development
Social-Cognitive Perspectives
Racism in Preschool Classroom
Early judgments reflect ego thinking and
cognitive immaturity, not true racism.
Judgment of others related to race schemas.
Understanding of cultural racial stereotypes
and prejudices slowly acquired.
9. True or false?
Children know more about intentions than
Piaget theorized but still have limited
ability to base their judgments entirely
on intentions.
10. Figure 8.1 A Test of Children’s
Understanding of Intentionality
FIGURE TO COME
11. Personality and Self-Concept
A Brief Overview
Gains in social environment understanding
contribute to emergence of distinctive
personality.
Self-concept becomes more complex.
Exercise of greater control over behavior is
aided.
12. Personality and Self-Concept
Transition from Temperament to Personality
Personality represents combination of
temperament at birth and knowledge about
temperament-related behavior during
childhood.
Social rewards encourage impulse control
and behavior is modified.
15. Gender Development
Gender Concept Sequence
Gender understanding develops in stages:
Gender identity
Gender stability
Gender constancy
16. What is this five-year-old conveying
about her understanding of gender?
“This is
how I will
look when I
grow up.”
Figure 8.2 Gender Stereotyping in a Child’s
Drawing
17. Gender Development
Information-Processing Approach
Gender schema theory: development of
gender schema underlies gender
development and occurs with recognition of
gender differences
Schema organization
First primitive gender schema and
assimilation
20. Figure 8.3 Gender and Playmate
Preferences
How would you
structure
preschooler play
opportunities?
21. Family Relationships and Structure
Attachment
Securely attached preschoolers exhibit
fewer behavior problems.
Insecurely attached children display more
anger and aggression at daycare and
preschool.
By age 4, children form goal-corrected
partnerships.
24. Family Relationships and Structure
Parenting Styles: Authoritarian
Parenting Characteristics
High levels of demand and control
Low levels of warmth and communication
Child Consequences
Good school performance
Lower self-esteem and less peer interaction
skills
Some subdued; others highly aggressive
25. Family Relationships and Structure
Parenting Styles: Permissive
Parenting Characteristics
High in warmth and communication
Low in demand and control
Child Consequences
Poor adolescent school performance
More aggressive and immature
Less responsible and independent
26. Family Relationships and Structure
Parenting Styles: Authoritative
Parenting Characteristics
High in warmth and communication
High in demand and control
Child Consequences
Higher self-esteem, independence, and
altruism
More parental compliance
Self-confident and achievement-oriented
Better school performance
27. Family Relationships and Structure
Parenting Styles: Uninvolved
Parenting Characteristics
Low in levels of demand and control
Low in levels of warmth and communication
Child Consequences
Disturbances in social relationships
More impulsive and antisocial in adolescence
Less competent with peers
Much less achievement-oriented in school
29. Family Relationships and
Structure
Effects of Parenting Styles: Overview
Authoritative Parents
More likely to be involved in child’s school
Often use inductive discipline
Not equally effective for all children
30. Family Relationships and Structure
Effects of Parenting Styles: Spanking
Most parents believe spanking effective if
used sparingly
Short-term effects
Long-term effects
Premack’s principle
31. Ethnicity, Socio-Economic Status and
Parenting Styles
Authoritative pattern
Positive outcomes seen in all ethnic
groups
More common in white families and
middle class
Usually more common among intact
families
Least common among Asian Americans
33. Ethnicity, Socio-Economic Status and
Parenting Styles
Authoritarian pattern in Asian American
families
High levels of school achievement in
Asian American children
Economic success
Maintenance of ethnic identity
34. Ethnicity, Socio-Economic Status and
Parenting Styles
Authoritarian pattern in African American
families
Enhances children’s potential for self-
control and success
Prepares children to deal with social
forces such as racism that impede social
success
Reduces use of substance abuse
35. What kind of parenting style was used to raise
you? What effects did it have on your
development? What style will you use as a
parent?
What can single parents do to improve the
developmental progress of their children?
Questions To PonderQuestions To PonderQuestions To PonderQuestions To Ponder
36. Family Relationships and Structure
Family Structure: Diversity in Two-Parent and
Single-Parent Families
Only 70% of U.S. children lived with both
biological parents in 2007.
Many children from two-parent families
have experienced single-parenting.
2% of U.S. children live with custodial
grandparents.
37. Ethnicity and U.S. Family Types
Figure 8.7 Ethnicity and Family Structure
38. Family Structure and Ethnicity
Single Parents
Family Structure: Single-Parent Families
More common among African Americans
and Native Americans
Single mothers are less likely to marry.
Grandparents and other relatives
traditionally help support single mothers.
Some single mothers are financially secure.
39. Family Relationships and Structure
Other Types of Family Structures
Custodial Grandparents
Aging and parenting stress cause anxiety
and depression.
Gay and Lesbian Parents
No expressed social or cognitive
developmental differences between the
children of gay and lesbian parents and
the children of heterosexual couples.
41. True or False?
When considering the psychological effects on
children, the optimal family structure has two
biological parents.
Use information from your text to support your
answer.
42. Family Relationships and Structure
Understanding Results from Psychological
Research
• Parenthood or divorce reduces financial and
emotional resources available to a child
• Any transition involves upheaval
• Authoritative parenting likely diminishes
during upheaval
• Extended family networks mitigate impact
44. Peer Relationships
Group Entry and Play
Poor group entry skills
Lead to aggressive behaviors
Optimize peer rejection
May change with social skills training to
help gain acceptance for rejected children
45. Can you define two types of
aggression?
Aggression: Behavior intended to hurt
another or object
Instrumental
Hostile
Under what circumstances would you most
likely observe each kinds of preschool
aggression?
47. Peer Relationships
Development of Aggression
Aggression Theories
Aggression-frustration hypothesis
Reinforcement and modeling hypothesis
(Bandura)
Trait aggression (genetic base)
Environmental influence
48. Prosocial Behavior and Friendships
Prosocial behavior: Actions that benefit or
help another person
Development of prosocial behavior
increases during preschool years.
Parental influences affect children’s
empathy.
49. Prosocial Behavior and Friendships
Friendships
18 months: some toddlers express
friendships
3 years: 20% of preschoolers have stable
playmate
4 Years: 30% of time spent with another
child
Early friendships become more stable with time,
but are still primitive by adult standards.
Notas do Editor
Freud: Gain control over bodily functions and renegotiate parent relationships
Anal Stage
Toilet training battles
Control over bodily functions
Phallic Stage
Oedipus or Electra Complex
Identification with the same sex parent
Freud and Erikson saw the changing role of the parent as the child exerts more control on the environment.
Freud and Erikson did not talk about peers or their significance in development.
Erikson: agreed with Freud with added focus on social skill development
Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt
Centered around toddler’s new mobility and desire for autonomy
Initiative versus Guilt
Ushered in by new cognitive skills
Developing conscience dictates boundaries
Preschoolers’ perceptions are inconsistent because they base them on their most recent interactions with individuals.
Preschoolers categorize based on race, gender, and age.
Cross-race effect – individuals are more likely to remember faces of people of their own race than those of a different race.
Preschoolers talk about “big kids” and “little kids.”
Preschoolers self-segregate by gender and this begins as early as 2. They also sometimes segregate themselves according to race. Cross race effect phenomena by 5 years
Social conventions
Rules that serve to regulate behavior
Moral rules
Regulations based on individual or society’s sense of right and wrong
Preschoolers respond differently to social rules and moral rules between 2 and 3
Understanding develops on basis of increased cognitive capabilities and adult emphasis of moral transgressions
A child saying, “It was an accident . . . . I didn’t mean to do it,” when about to be punished indicates an understanding that intentional wrongdoing is punished more severely than unintentional transgressions of the rules.
Recent research suggests that children do understand intentions to some degree.
Understand that punishment is for intentional acts
Can make judgments about actors’ intentions when faced with abstract problems and with punishment
But still can be bound by consequences in their judgments
Early judgments reflect ego thinking and immature cognitive structures versus true racism
Understanding of cultural racial stereotypes and prejudices slowly acquired-age 5
True
Playmate “good” if failed to hit other child with ball
Suggest children know more about intentions than Piaget thought
Self-Concept
Categorical Self
Focus on visible characteristics
Emotional Self
Acquisition of emotional self-regulation
Associated with peer popularity
Lack of control associated with aggression
Ability to obey moral rules
Associated with emergence of empathy
Social Self
Child sees self as player in social games
Learns many social scripts, which provide appropriate situational behaviors
Personality begins to replace temperament as children interact with peers and family.
Control of emotions shifts from parental control to the child.
Children begin to internalize the values of the parent.
Parents who expect age-related behaviors increase the switch to self control.
Psychoanalytic Explanations
Identification with same sex parent
Social-Cognitive Explanations
Linked to gender-related behavior
Becomes motivated to exhibit same-sex behaviors
Parents shape sex role behaviors and attitudes
Gender Schema Theory
Learn gender scripts
Learn likes and dislikes of own gender
Develops a complex view of other gender
Gender understanding develops in stages:
Gender identity
Child’s ability to label his or her own sex correctly
Gender stability
Understanding that you are the same gender throughout life
Gender constancy
Recognition that someone stays the same gender even though appearances may change with clothing
Gender schema theory: development of gender schema underlies gender development and occurs with recognition of gender differences
Schema organize process of thinking and remembering
First primitive gender schema is assimilation of experiences
Women associated with gentleness, weakness, appreciativeness, and soft-heartedness
Men associated with aggression, strength, cruelty, and coarseness.
Children learn these stereotypes by 3 or 4
Can assign stereotypical behaviors to jobs, toys, and activities
By age 5, children begin to associate personality traits with gender
Develops earlier than ideas about gender
18 – 24 months – children prefer sex-stereotyped toys
Age 3 – children prefer same-sex friends
Learn from older same-sex children
Sex-typed behaviors are learned differently.
Girls use an enabling style
Supporting a friend, expressing agreement, making suggestions
Boys use a constricting or restrictive style
Derails inappropriate interactions, bringing them to an end
Securely attached preschoolers exhibit fewer behavior problems
Insecurely attached children display more anger and aggression at daycare and preschool
By age 4, children form goal-corrected partnerships
Relationships continues to exist even when the partners are apart
Internal model of attachment begins to generalzie
Diana Baumrind
Focused on 4 dimensions
Warmth or nurturance
Clarity and consistency of rules
Maturity of expectations and demands
Communications between child and parent
Three parenting styles
Authoritarian
Permissive
Authoritative
Maccoby and Miller add uninvolved, neglecting
Maccoby and Martin expanded on Baumrind’s categories
Traits last well into high school
Most consistently positive outcomes
Maccoby and Martin add the Uninvolved Type
Most consistently negative outcomes
Making the grade
Grades varied with parenting style in Steinberg and Dombusch’s Study. Can you think of a way to explain this?
Authoritative Parents
More likely to be involved in child’s school
Inductive discipline
Strategy in which parents explain to the child why a punished behavior is wrong
Helps children in preschool to gain control of their behavior and gain perspective of other’s feelings
ST: works; temporarily reduces undesirable behavior
LT: models infliction of pain; associates spanking parents with physical pain; leads to family climate of emotional rejection; higher levels of aggression between children who are spanked and those who are not
Premack’s principle: Any high-frequency activity can be used as a reinforcer for any lower-frequency activity.
See Figure 8.4, page 206.
Teenagers raised in and authoritative household showed more self-reliance and less delinquency in whites and Hispanics.
Strong connections between authoritarian pattern and school performance and social competence appear for Asian Americans and African Americans.
Key variables may be parenting goals rather than ethnicity
Parenting style may be related to style which enhances child’s potential for success
More common among poor families
Estimate of 3 family types among white, African American, Asian American, Native American, and Hispanic American children in U.S.
More common among African Americans and Native Americans
These groups have higher rates of births to single mothers
Single mothers are less likely to marry
Grandparents and other relatives traditionally help support single mothers
Look at Figure 8.5
Look at Figure 8.6
Concerns about children’s sex-role identity and orientation are not supported by research
Children in step-parent families have higher rates of delinquency, more behavior problems, and lower grades
Divorce
Creates financial hardships.
Transitions create upheaval lasting several years.
Parenting patterns shifts away from authoritative.
Extended families can mitigate some difficulties with divorce.
Supports suggestion that optimal family structure is two biological parents
Single parenting when poverty is an issue correlates with negative effects on development
Children of single parents
Twice as likely to drop out of high school
Twice as likely to have a child by 20
Less likely to have a steady job
Preschoolers are less cognitively and socially advanced
Solitary play
All ages of children
Parallel play
14 – 18 months
Cooperative play
3 – 4 years old
3-year-old girls engage in more parallel play.
3-year-old boys tended to be aggressive and rejected.
Social skills training helps to gain acceptance for rejected children
Poor group entry skills display differently in boys and girls
Girls spend more time in parallel rather than cooperative play
Boys use tend to use aggression when rejected
Poor group entry skills put children at risk for development of high risk internal working model of relationships
Initial aggression in 2 – 3-year-olds
Hitting and throwing things
Instrumental – intended to obtain something a child wants
Older children
Hostile aggression – used to hurt another or to gain advantage
With good verbal skills comes verbal aggression
Physical aggression declines as dominance hierarchies emerge
Dominance hierarchies – arrangements of children into pecking order of leaders and followers.
Aggression-frustration hypothesis
Declines with communication skills
Reinforcement and modeling of aggression
Trait aggression
Personality style that develops as a way of life
May have genetic basis
Seen in abusive families
Lack of affection in families
Aggressive children lag behind in understanding other children’s intentions, can improve with training
Aggression-frustration hypothesis
Declines with communication skills
Reinforcement and modeling of aggression
Trait aggression
Personality style that develops as a way of life
May have genetic basis
Seen in abusive families
Lack of affection in families
Aggressive children lag behind in understanding other children’s intentions, can improve with training
Development of Prosocial Behavior
Evident at 2 – 3 years of age
Some behaviors increase with age
Children who show altruistic behaviors are popular with peers
Parental Influences
Loving and warm family climate
Explain consequences clearly to children
Provide prosocial attributions – positive statements about the underlying cause for helpful behavior
Become more stable with time
Early friendships related to social competence