2. Class Exercise
• Take out a piece of paper and describe
yourself.
• You will not turn this in.
• Keep the paper out since we will
discuss this further in a moment.
2-5 Years-of-Age
3. Self-Understanding
• Self-understanding
– The child’s cognitive representation of self,
the substance & content of the child’s selfconception.
• How they think about themselves
2-5 Years-of-Age
4. Self-Understanding
• Self-recognition
– Describe self in concrete & observable
terms:
• Blonde hair
• Green eyes
• Body attributes
– “I’m a taller than Suzie.”
• Material possessions
– “I have a pink bike & she doesn’t.”
• Physical activities
– “I play basketball.”
2-5 Years-of-Age
6. Class Exercise
• How does your self description differ
from a 4-year-olds?
2-5 Years-of-Age
7. Understanding Others
• Ability to understand others varies
– Empathy limited
– Understands others’ statements may be
untrue
• Understands simple jokes
– Describes others in terms of
psychological traits.
• “My daddy is very silly.”
– Research: Kids 3 & up not as egocentric
as Piaget thought.
Chapter 10, ages 2-6
7
9. Emotional Development
• Self Awareness
– Feel more emotions
– Increased ability to talk about one’s
• Own emotions
• Others’ emotions
– More words to describe emotions
2-5 Years-of-Age
10. Regulating Emotions
• Emotion-coaching parents
– Parents observing & explaining:
• “You should think about
Raphael's feelings next time
before you hit him.”
– Children become better at:
» Self-soothing
» Regulate negative emotions
» Fewer behavior problems
2-5 Years-of-Age
12. Emotion & Peer Relationships
– Kids with emotional control
• More popular
– Moody & emotionally negative
children
• Rejected
2-5 Years-of-Age
13. Moral Development
• Moral development
– Development of thoughts, feelings, &
behaviors regarding rules & conventions
about what people should do in their
interactions with other people.
– Hit by a flag.
• Black eye
2-5 Years-of-Age
14. Moral Development
• Freudian theory
– Superego
• Moral element of personality
– Guilt
– Anxiety
3-5 Years-of-Age
15. Moral Development
• Empathy
– Responding to another person’s
feelings with an emotion that echoes
the other’s feelings.
2-5 Years-of-Age
17. Moral Behavior
• Behavioral & social cognitive
approach
– Reinforcement
• Likely to repeat
– Punishment
• Extinguish
2-5 Years-of-Age
18. Situational Behavior
• Behavioral & social cognitive approach
– Behavior is situational
– Honest in one situation but not another.
• Example?
• No
– Totally honest child
– Totally dishonest child
• Ability to resist temptation
– Tied to of self-control
• For life
2-5 Years-of-Age
19. Gender
• Gender
– Social & psychological dimensions of being male or
female
• Gender identity
– Sense of being male or female
– By age 3
• Gender roles
– Sets of expectations prescribe how females or males
should
• Think
• Act
• Feel
2-5 Years-of-Age
20. Gender
• Preschool children act to:
– Match culture's gender roles
– Exhibit sense of gender identity
2-5 Years-of-Age
21. Social Theories of Gender
Development
• 3 main social theories of gender
– 1. Social role theory
– 2. Psychoanalytic theory
– 3. Social cognitive theory of gender
2-5 Years-of-Age
22. Social Theories of Gender
Development
• 1. Social Role theory
– Observation
– Men & women
• Behave differently
• Take on different roles
– Why?
• Societies expectations
– 3 common patterns are:
• Women more domestic tasks
• Different occupational roles
• In occupations
– women often have lower status
2-5 Years-of-Age
23. Social Theories of Gender
Development
• 2. Psychoanalytic Theory
– Freud
• Age 5 or 6
– Oedipus complex
– Resolution?
– Electra complex
» Problems with theory?
• 3. Social Cognitive Theory
– Observing
– Imitating
• Rewarded
• Punished
2-5 Years-of-Age
24. Parental Influence on Gender
Development
• By action & example, parents influence their
children’s gender development
– All cultures mothers & fathers different
roles
– Mothers’ Socialization Strategies
• Obedient
• Responsible
– Fathers’ Socialization Strategies
• More attention to sons
• More activities with sons
• More effort to promote sons’ intellectual
development
2-5 Years-of-Age
25. Peer Influences
• Peers extensively reward & punish
gender behavior
– Reject children who act like opposite
gender especially boys
• “You throw like a girl!”
– Reward cultures appropriate gender
behavior
– Gender molds important aspects of peer
relations
2-5 Years-of-Age
26. Peer Influences
• Gender group composition:
• 3 yrs. same sex play
• Increases until 12
– Group size:
• 5 yrs. boys larger groups
– Group goal
• Girls triads
– Interaction in same sex groups
• Boys rougher, competitive, conflicts, dominance
• Girls collaborative
3-5 Years-of-Age
28. Consequences of Corporal
Punishment
• Corporal punishment associated with:
– higher levels of immediate compliance
– increased aggression
– lower levels of moral internalization
• Why?
– lower levels of mental health
– more adjustment problems
– spanking before age 2
• Related to behavioral problems
– in middle & late childhood
2-5 Years-of-Age
29. Reasons to Avoid Physical
Punishment
• Out-of-control model
– May imitate
• Punishment can instill:
– Fear
– Rage
– Avoidance
• Learn what not to do
• Doesn’t learn what to do
• Punishment can be abusive
2-5 Years-of-Age
30. Coparenting & Alternatives to
Corporal Punishment
• Handling misbehavior:
– Use reasoning
• Explain consequences of behavior
– Ask what they could do next time
• Time out
– Child briefly removed from setting
• Co-parenting
– Parents provide support for one another
2-5 Years-of-Age
31. Child Maltreatment
• 84% abused by parent or parents
– 2002 report
• Laws in many states require reporting
by:
– Physicians
– Teachers
– Therapists
• Many cases go unreported
• Especially those of battered infants
2-5 Years-of-Age
32. Types of Child Abuse
• Physical abuse
• Child neglect
– failure to provide basic needs
• Sexual abuse
– fondling a child’s genitals, intercourse,
incest, rape, sodomy, etc.
• Emotional abuse
– psychological/verbal abuse/mental injury
– acts/omissions that have caused, or could
cause, serious behavioral, cognitive, or
emotional problems
2-5 Years-of-Age
33. Developmental Consequences of
Abuse
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Poor emotion regulation
Attachment problems
Problems with peer s
Difficulty adapting to school
Depression
Delinquency
Difficulty in establishing & maintaining healthy
intimate relationships
• As adults
–
–
–
–
Higher risk for violent behavior toward other adults
Substance abuse
Anxiety
Depression
2-5 Years-of-Age
34. Prevention of Maltreatment
• Recent study
– 2 treatments effective in reducing
child abuse:
• 1. Home visitation that emphasized
– Improved parenting
– Coping with stress
– Increasing support for the mother
• 2. Parent-infant psychotherapy
focused on improving maternal-infant
attachment
2-5 Years-of-Age
38. Consequences of Divorce
• 40% of US children: parent’s divorce
• Children in divorced families more likely:
– Academic problems
– Show externalized problems
• Acting out
• Delinquency
• Internalized problems
– Anxiety
– Depression
–
–
–
–
Less competent intimate relationships
Drop out of school
Sexually active at early age
Use drugs
39. Consequences of Divorce
• Joint custody better adjusted
• Majority of children
– No significant adjustment problems
– New studies say:
• The DEATH of a parent is LESS devastating
to a child than a DIVORCE.
• Should parents stay together for
children?
2-5 Years-of-Age
41. Gay Male and Lesbian Parents
• Parents
– @ 20% of lesbians
– @ 10% of gay
• Many lost custody to heterosexual
spouses after divorce
• Most born in a heterosexual relationship
• Controversial
– Thoughts?
– Just as adjusted as other kids (if 2 parents)
– Mostly heterosexual
2-5 Years-of-Age
42. Television
• Television most influential mass media
affecting children’s behavior
• More time in front of television than
with parents
– Average
• 2 - 4 hours day
– Negative effects?
2-5 Years-of-Age
43. Effects of Television
• Negative influence
–
–
–
–
–
Passive learners
Distracting from homework
Teaching stereotypes
Violent models of aggression
Unrealistic views of world
2-5 Years-of-Age
44. Other Media
• Increased concern: children who play
violent video games
– Especially highly realistic
• May become deeply immersed
– Altered state of consciousness
– Rational thought suspended
– Linked to aggression in M & F
2-5 Years-of-Age
