,Developmental PsychologyProfessor SpikesTOPIC: Early Childhood (Socioemotional Development)

I. Initiative Versus Guilt (Eriksons Psychosocial Development)

Refer to Table 1

Conscience: The governor of moral goodness and blame worthiness Initiative may bring to them reward or punishment if theyre attached to reward, healthy socioemotional development. Attached to punishment, child will feel unnecessary guilt Whether a child leaves this stage with initiative or guilt depends in large part on how parents respond to his/her initiated activities 1) give the child freedom and opportunity to initiate, 2) support their initiatives by answering their questions, 3) do not make them feel as if their initiatives are bad/annoying/stupid If you do this on a consistent basis, they will feel guilt that will linger into adulthoodSummary: allow children to make choices and give them frequent opportunities to

II. Self-Understanding: The childs Self-Perception

Based on various roles and membership categories based on appearance, involvement etc in early stages and then turns into stereotypes as the age

Begins with self-recognition at around 18 months old

Research on self-understanding in childhood is not limited to visual self-recognition as it was during toddlerhood and preschool Very verbal, can conceive of themselves in physical and mental terms, can distinguish themselves from others

III. Emotional Development

Young childrens Emotional Language and Understanding

They move beyond just terms and to causes and consequences of feelings. Also, learn to control and manage feelings to meet social standards. Can reflect on emotions, can understand that the same event can elicit different feelings in different people

Self-Conscious Emotion

Examples Shame, guilt, embarrassment, pride Appears to develop in the last half of the second year of life. Especially influenced by parents responses to childrens behavior Do not make a child feel negative emotions unnecessarily

IV. Moral Development/Reasoning (Perspective Taking)

Referenced to behavior that is consistent with laws and social conventions Piaget proposed that moral reasoning develops in two stages:Majorly impacted by parents, caregivers, role models but also the childs degree of self control which refers to the childs ability to delay gratification First: Heteronomous Moralitybased on obedience to authority, as well as centered around egocentrism 1) Rules are handed down by authority and are unchangeable (moral reasoning), 2) focus on consequences of behavior and not intentions of the actors, 3) abide by imminent justice, if rules are broken punishment is inevitableoccurs at 4-7 years of age Second: Autonomous Moralitycharacterized by more flexibility and autonomy, as well as centered around equal treatment for all 1) punishment is socially mediated and therefore not inevitable 2) focus more on intentions of the acters and not primarily of consequences of act-ers behavior 3)rules are changeable10 years old or older, thinking is not as rigid Children between 7-10 are in a transition stage and show features of both

V. Lawrence Kohlbergs Stages of Moral Understanding

See Reflection 1

VI. Moral Behavior

Influenced by the process of reinforcement, punishment, and imitation. Also influenced by the situationweak relationship between what children do in different situations

VII. Moral Feelings

Positive feelings contribute to the childs moral development empathy, passion; positive feelings contribute to a childs moral developmentrequires child be able to identify a wide range of emotional state

VIII. Gender: socially constructed behavior that is deemed appropriate for being male or female

Gender Identity sense of being male or female, children know by age 3 Gender Role activities and expectations that imply how females and males should think/act/feel Social Influence school, culture, media, parents most important Parental Influences important because they have control over impact of other influences, provide earliest discrimination of gender roles/development, fathers are more likely than mothers to act differently to sons and daughters Peer Influence: children have preference for sex appropriate activities, cross sex activities tend to be criticized by peers (stronger in middle-late childhood)

IX. Parenting Styles (Diane Baumrind, 1971)

See Table 2Neglectful: things/other people are more important than them, will act in immature manner and feel alone, have significant problems in adolescence (social ineptness, poor self controlIndulgent parenting: children can do whatever they want, never learn to control behavior, lack of respect, non-compliant lac of self controlAuthoritarian: many rules/little control and little verbal exchange, children social incompetence, unhappy, fearful of others, fail to initiate activitiesAuthoritative: best outcome, encourage constructive behavior, expect them to show age appropriate behaviors/maturity/independent, achievement oriented

X. Punishment

Use of corporal punishment72-90% of parents have spanked their children

Few studies unethical to do experiments, can only do correlations with information presented

When parents show strong emotional support of the child, the link between spanking and child problems are reduced. Want child to know why and not go overboard Reasons why spanking and other forms of intense punishment with children should be avoided child may comply and not aggress, but may not learn any improved morality revolving around why they were spanked, may instill fear/rage/avoidance, tell child what to do as opposed what not to do, can become unintentional abuse (never spank when angry)

The best way to handle childrens misbehavior [as per the recommendation of psychologists] reasoning with the child, explaining consequences

XI. Child Abuse

Reporting cases doctors and teachers are mandated reporters

How do most people respond to parents who abuse their child? Also, what do the experts say about the response? They respond with outrage and anger, abuser is seen as bad/monstrous because they caused a child to suffer, Experts say they do not want us to think and feel in such a manner because it deters us from being cognoscente of different levels of abuse (low, moderate, severe) 2) deters from awareness that it occurs across different SES, many people think its low class people who abuse/neglect 3) deters us from realization that it is partially caused by individual personality characteristics of the parents

The most common kind of abuser? Overwhelmed, single mother in poverty who neglects her child

The use of the terms child maltreatment as opposed to (or in place of) the terms child abuse child maltreatment doesnt have same emotional impact as child abuse but maltreatment acknowledge how maltreatment includes several different conditions

Fostering delinquency Lack of supervision Medical/educational neglect PSEM abuse

Cultural context media, televisionhow might it be encouraged? Many abusing parents report they do not have sufficient resources/help from others

Family influences many abusers come from families where physical punishment was used (not necessarily abuse) but many of them were abused themselves as children

Developmental Consequences poor emotion regulation, long term relationship problems/peer relations, difficulty adapting to school, many will be depressed, anxiety, show violence toward others (consistent maltreatment)