Chapter 7

Early Childhood:
Socio-emotional Development

AHBS 1316/AHS 1053 Developmental Psychology for

Health Science
AHSC 1314 Developmental Psychology in Health Sciences
SURIATI SIDEK, PHD
 Learning Goals :

 Discuss sense of self and emotional development in

early childhood.

 Explain how families can influence young children’s

development.

 Describe the roles of peers, play and television in

young children’s development.
 SENSE OF SELF
AND EMOTIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
 INTRODUCTION
1
The self

Developing
4 mind and 2
Gender Emotional
social
awareness development
experiences
produce:

3
Moral
understanding
I)The Self

Initiative Vs Guilt
 Toddlers use their perceptual, motor, cognitive and
language skills to make things happen.
Children who are given Failure to
freedom to do things by initiate activities
their own are more likely may result in
to initiate activities.

INITIATIVE GUILT
I)The Self

 Young children develop in many ways that

enable them to enhance their self-understanding.

 For them, the self can be described by observable

features such as:
Size
Physical • Thin or big
Characteristics size
Gender • Short or tall

• Boy or girl
Age
• A child or
an adult
I)The Self

 They are also able to describe themselves based

on simple psychological traits and emotions:
 “I’m not scared. I’m always happy”.

 A better understanding of emotions in early

childhood help them to develop a more advanced
understanding of others.
I)The Self

 They also understand that other people have

emotions and desires too.

 They begin to perceive others in terms of

psychological traits. For example:
 A 4 years old girl might say, “My teacher is nice”.
 ii) Emotional Development

 Toddlers tend to have rapid mood swings:

 Their emotions can be very intense, however it is more likely to be quite
short-lived.
 For example: You might be stunned at how a toddler can go from
screaming hysterically about a toy he wants at one moment, to sitting in
front of the television quietly watching finding dory just moment later.

 Children at this age can be very possessive and have

difficulty sharing.

 They are heavily influenced by parents’ responses:

 E.g: “You should feel bad about hitting your sister”-> guilty
 Understanding of Emotions

 2 to 4 years old:
 Toddler considerable increase the number of terms they use to
describe emotions.

 4 to 5 years old:
 Children show increased ability to reflect on emotions

 Parents have important role in helping:

 Emotional-coaching: Coach children on how to deal with
emotions effectively.
 Emotional-dismissing: Parents view their role as to deny,
ignore, or change negative emotions
iii) Moral Development Understanding

 It involves thoughts, feelings and behaviors

regarding standards of right and wrong.

 Has an intrapersonal (sense of self) and

interpersonal (interaction with other people)
dimension.

 Reinforcement, punishment and imitation used to

explain moral behavior by children.
 Moral Development Understanding

 Modeling appropriate behaviors is essential->

Observation.
 If toddler sees you sharing, expressing gratitude and
being helpful he will have a good understanding of
how to interact with other people outside the home.
 For example:
 Every time you say "please" or "thank you," you are
demonstrating how you would like your children to behave.
 Most importantly, be sure to offer praise when your
children demonstrate good social behaviors.
 Piaget’s View of Moral Development

 Piaget is interested in how children think about

moral issues.

 He concluded that children 4 to 7 years old has:

 Heteronomous morality (4-7 years)

 Rules are conceived as unchangeable.

 Consequences are important rather than intentions.
 E.g: Breaking 10 cups accidentally is worse that breaking 1 cup
intentionally.
 Thisstage involves the belief in imminent justice-
belief that punishment is inevitable when a rule is
broken.
iv) Gender Awareness

Biological

Influenced
by:

Social Cognitive
 Biological Influences

 Chromosomes: XY are males, XX are females.

 Sex hormones influence physical development.

 Some research suggests genetics help determine:

 Play patterns
 Levels of aggression
 Career goals
 Attitudes about gender roles.
 Social Influences

1. Parental Influences.
2. Peer Influences.
 Parental Influences

 Both mothers and fathers influence their

children’s gender development by action and
example.

 Parents also encourage boys and girls to

engage in different types of play. (e.g : Girls
are more likely than boys to be given a doll).
 Peer Influences

 Children show a clear preferences

for being with and liking same-sex
peers.

 Boys teach one another the

required masculine behavior and
enforce it strictly.

 Girl pass on female culture and

assemble with one another.
 Cognitive Influences

 Cognitive development theory: Gender typing

occurs after children think of themselves as boys and
girls.

 Gender schema theory: Gender gradually

develops as child perceives what is gender-
appropriate or inappropriate in their culture
FAMILIES
 Parenting Styles
Four parenting styles :

 Authoritarian: highly controlling, little discussion (“My

way, or else”).

 Authoritative: limits placed, but also warm, nurturing,

encouraging independence within those limits (“Let’s talk
about it”).

 Neglectful: uninvolved in child’s life.

 Indulgent: highly involved, but with few demands or

restraints.
 Authoritarian Parenting

 A restrictive, punitive style in which parents exhort

the child to follow their directions and to respect
work and effort.

 These parents place firm limits and controls on the

child and allow little verbal exchange.

 Children of authoritarian parents often are unhappy,

fearful, anxious, fail to initiate activity and have weak
communication skills.
 Authoritative Parenting

 This style encourages children to be independent but

still places limits and controls on their actions.

 Extensive verbal give-and-take is allowed and

parents are warm and nurturant toward the child.

 Children of authoritative parents are often cheerful,

self-controlled, achievement oriented, maintain
friendships with peers and cooperate with adults.
 Neglectful Parenting

 A style in which the parents is very uninvolved in the

child’s life.

 Children whose parents are neglectful frequently

have low self-esteem, are immature and may be
alienated from the family.

 In adolescence, they may show patterns of truancy

and delinquency.
 Indulgent Parenting

 A style of parenting in which parents are highly

involved with their children and place a few demands
or controls on them.

 The result is that children never learn to control their

own behavior and always expect to get their way.

 Children of indulgent parents may be aggressive,

domineering and noncompliant.
 Types of Abuse

 Physical abuse: is characterized by

physical injury.

 Child neglect: is characterized by failure to provide for

their child’s basic needs (physical/emotional/educational
neglect or abandonment).

 Sexual abuse: includes rape, intercourse, sodomy and

commercial exploitation.

 Emotional abuse: includes act by parents that have

caused psychological abuse, verbal abuse and mental injury.
 Severity of Abuse

 Less than 1% of maltreated children die.

 11% suffer life-threatening and disabling

injuries.

 Almost 90% of cases suffer temporary

physical injuries, although they tend to be
experienced repeatedly.

 Neglected children, who suffer no physical

injuries, often experience extensive, long-
term psychological harm.
Developmental Consequences of Abuse

Difficulty
in school
and peer
relations

Child victims
Poor show increased
emotional CONSEQUENCES violence in
adult
regulation relationships

Attachment
problems
 SIBLINGS RELATIONSHIPS

 Siblings relationships include:

 Helping

 Sharing

 Teaching

 Fighting

 Playing

 Rivalry

 Factors to consider:
 Age spacing

 Gender

 Birth order
 SIBLINGS RELATIONSHIPS

 3 characteristics of sibling relationships:

Emotional Quality of • It is either positive or negative emotions

the Relationship • Many children have mixed feelings toward their siblings.

Familiarity and • Siblings often know each other well

Intimacy of the • Intimacy suggests they can provide support OR tease and
Relationship undermine each other (depends on situation)

• Some children describe their siblings in warm, affectionate

Variation in Sibling ways
Relationships • Some others may talk about how irritating and mean a
sibling is
 BIRTH ORDER

 When differences in birth order are found, they are

usually explained by variations in interactions with
parents and siblings associated with the unique
experiences of being in a particular position in the
family.

 Given the differences in family dynamics involved in

birth order, it is not surprising that firstborn and
later-born have different characteristics.
 Firstborn versus Later-born
High
expectations
from parents
More adult-
oriented,
helpful, a good
self-controlled
More pressure
on achievement
and
responsibility
More guilty,
anxiety and
difficult in
coping
Their daily
activities are
more likely to get
interrupted by
family tasks
How about the Middle Child?
How about the Only Child?
THE CHANGING FAMILY IN A CHANGING
SOCIETY

Working
Parents How do these
variations in families
affect children?
Divorced
Families
 Working Parents

 Recent research found the type of parents’ job

has more influence than one parent is working.

 Greater risk of problems if:

 Work stress spills into home
 Overtime work
 Stressful work
 No rotation in doing house chores between husband and wife
 Effects of Divorce on Children.

 Most researchers agreed that children

from divorced families show poorer
adjustment than their counterparts in
non-divorced families.

 They are more likely to:

 Have academic problems
 Be delinquent
 Experience depression and anxiety.

 They are likely to be less socially

responsible.
 PEER RELATIONS

 Peers assist a child by :

 Filling unique role in the culture
 Providing information
 Giving feedback and evaluation on their abilities.

 Good peer relations are necessary for social development.

 Withdrawn/ rejected children risk for depression.

 Aggressive children risk for delinquency and dropping

out of school).
PLAY
Parten’s Classic Study of Play
 Parten’s Classic Study of Play
• It is most commonly demonstrated in babies.
Unoccupied They seem to make random movement with
no apparent purpose
• Child plays alone, focus on his own activity
Solitary and not interested in what others are doing

• Child watches others play, but do not

Onlooker participate

• Children are playing next to each other, but

Parallel they are not talking or playing together
• Children are playing with each other,
Associative however they are not doing the same
thing
• Children are playing together in a game to
Cooperative achieve goal. The play is organized, and
participants have assigned role
 Type of Play: An Example

Unoccupied Play Solitary Play Onlooker Play

Parallel Play Associative Play Cooperative Play

 TELEVISION

 Positive influences :
 Presenting motivating educational programs

 Increasing information about the world

 Providing models of pro-social behavior

 Having family time together

 Negative influences :
 Taking children away from homework

 Making them anti-social

 Trying to imitate bad acts/behaviors

 Have a different views of the world

 End of
Chapter 7

It is a kind of
Sedekah
too