Social and Emotional

Development in Early Childhood

Erik Erikson’s Stage-Initiative
vs. Guilt
 Psychological conflict of Early Childhood
 Resolved positively through play
experiences that foster healthy sense of
initiative and development of conscience
that is not overly strict
 Play is important to preschoolers
Phallic Stage-Freud
 Sexual impulses transfer to genital region of
body
 Oedipus Conflict-boy desires to posses
mother and hostile towards father
 Electra conflict-girl desires to posses father
and feels hostile toward mother
Self Concept
 Sum of total attributes, abilities, attitudes and
values that an individual believes to help define
who he/she is
 Preschoolers-describe self using concrete terms
(name, physical appearance, possession, and
everyday behaviors)
 Can describe emotions, and beliefs and attitudes
by 3 ½.
 Firmer sense of self allows for cooperation
Self-Esteem
 Preschoolers usually rate on abilities as
extremely high and underestimate difficulty
of task.
 Desire to master new skills
 Even a little criticism can undermine a
preschooler’s self-esteem and enthusiasm
for learning
Emotional Development
 Rise in self-conscious emotions such as
shame, embarrassment, guilt, envy and
pride
 Preschoolers can interpret, predict, and
change other’s feeling
 Fears are common
 Vivid imaginations
Empathy
 Begins to develop at this age
 Modeled after parents response to
emotional event
Parten’s types of play
 Nonsocial activity- unoccupied, onlooker behavior
and solitary play
 Parallel play-child plays near other children with
similar materials but does not interact with them
 Associative play-children are engaged in separate
activities but they interact by exchanging toys and
commenting on one another’s behavior
 Cooperative play-occurs when children’s actions
are directed toward a common goal
Sociodramatic play
 Role play and dramatic play
 Common during preschool years
First Friendships
 Important in these years to social emotional
development
 Friendship-pleasurable play and sharing of
toys-no long term enduring qualities at this
time
Discipline
 Positive reinforcement-model appropriate
behavior, consistency with rules, warm and
responsive
 Punishment-can promote momentary
compliance
 Harsh punishment-models aggression,
avoidance of punishing adult, should be
avoided
Alternatives to Punishment
 Time-out
 Withdrawal of privileges
 Positive discipline
Gender Typing
 Developing gender roles
 Age 2 children can label on gender and of
other persons
 Family teachers and peers and television
can influence gender typing with
preschoolers
Parenting Styles
 Authoritative-rational, democratic approach
 Happy, self-confident, and self-control in child

Authoritarian- demanding and low in responsive

to children’s needs.
anxious, withdrawn, and unhappy and hostile
Permissive-undemanding
immature, have difficulty controlling impulses,
overly demanding and depended on adults