Social Development

in Early Childhood
The Development of Children (5th ed.)
Cole, Cole & Lightfoot

Chapter 10
Social Development: Two-Sided

Personality
Socialization
Development
Acquire the standards, Develop unique
values, and knowledge patterns of feeling,
of society thinking, and behaving

Integrated
Integrated into
into Differentiated
Differentiated
the
the larger
larger social
social as
as distinctive
distinctive
community
community individuals
individuals
Overview of the Journey

 Acquiring a Social
and Personal Identity
 Moral Development
 Developing
Self-Regulation
 Aggression and Pro-
social Behavior
Identification
 Psychological process in
which children try to look,
act, feel, and be like
significant people in
their social environment
 Essential to the process of
socialization
 Sex Role Identification
 Girls want to be like the
parent they are closes to
 Boys want to be different
than the parent they are
closest to
How do children learn to be
who they are?
 Three theories
 Freud: Psychodynamic view
 Bandura: Social Learning view
 Kohlberg: Cognitive view
Psychodynamic View (Freud)
 Boys: Identification through differentiation
from mother and affiliation with father
 Oedipus complex: Desire to take father’s place
in mother’s affection (resolution = sexual identity)
 Girls: Identification through affiliation only
 Woman’s psychological makeup never becomes
as independent of its emotional component as
does a man’s
Social-Learning View (Bandura)
 Identification through
observation & imitation
 Adults not only provide
models for children to
imitate, but also reward
gender-appropriate
behavior and punish
Parental
encouragement
cross-gender behavior
is one reason  Girls and boys are
boys assume
traditional differently rewarded for
masculine roles engaging in gender-
appropriate behavior
Cognitive View (Kohlberg)
 Identity formation as
conceptual development
 “I am a boy; therefore I want
to do boy things and doing
boy things (and gaining
approval for doing
them) is rewarding.”
 Identity is formed as a
result of the child’s
actively structuring
his/her experience
Cognitive View (Kohlberg)
Three stages:
 Basic sex-role identity: By 3 years
old, children can label themselves
as “boy” or “girl”
 Sex-role stability: During early
childhood, they begin to understand
that gender roles are stable over
time
 Sex-role constancy is completed
when they understand that their
gender remains the same no matter
what the situation
Ethnic & Racial Identity
 Children are aware of their
ethnic group and racial
differences by the time
they are 4 years old
 Young children of parents
who were active in
promoting (Native
American) cultural
awareness and social rights
more often chose dolls
representing their culture.
Personal Identity: how children
describe themselves
 Early childhood: Focus on specific, concrete
characteristics
 physical attributes “I am a girl with brown hair”,
 what they can do “I can run fast”,
 their possessions “I have a cat”,
 social relations “I have a big brother”,
 preferences “My favorite color is red”)
 tend to be unrealistically positive (“I know all my
ABCs”)
 Adults assist in identity formation through the
recall and interpretation of events, such as
family stories or going through a family scrapbook
Moral Development
Learning about
Right and Wrong
Role of Internalization
Learning about Right and Wrong
Three levels of rules
 Moral rules: Most general; based on
principles of justice and the welfare of
others; cannot be transgressed
 Social conventions: Important for
social coordination; includes school
rules, forms of address, attire and
appearance, sex roles, etiquette
 Personal rules: Children can make
decisions based on personal
preference; are able to develop
individual uniqueness
Internalization
External culturally-organized experiences
 internal psychological processes
 organize how people behave
 Id: Present at birth; is unconscious, impulsive, and
concerned with the immediate satisfaction of bodily drives
 Ego: The first phase of self-regulation; serves as the
intermediary between the demands of the id and the
demands of the social world, which are often at odds with
each other
 Superego: Formation of the conscience occurs around
age 5; results from children’s internalization of adult
standards, rules and warnings
  Conscience emerges once
children have generalized
and internalized standards
for the way they behave
 Involves self-observation,
self-guidance, and self-
discipline
 Child develops a capacity
for feelings of shame and
guilt

In essence, children must have both

the ability and the desire to behave in
socially acceptable ways
Self-regulation and
Self Control
Self-Control
Regulating Thought
and Action
Regulating Emotions
Self-Control
 Ability to inhibit initial
impulses by stopping and
thinking before acting;
 Balancing personal desires
and social standards
 Movement (“Simon says”)
 Emotions (deciding not to cry
when they fall down)
 Choice (delayed gratification is
being able to wait for the
reward)
 Regulating Thoughts Leads to
Making Healthy Decisions
 The child selects and maintains a
mental representation that
directs her behavior
 “I need to hold up the string and
put the end through the hole in
the bead.”
 Monitors her own progress
 “I got one on right; now I’ll try
another.”
 Modifies her problem-solving
strategies
 “This bead won’t go on; I need
one with a bigger hole.”
Regulating One’s
Own Emotions
 Babies: Suck on their fingers or pacifier
or rock themselves to self-calm
 Ages 2-6: Avoids or reduces emotion
by closing their eyes, turning away, or putting their
hands over their ears
 Uses language (self talk) to reassure and encourage
themselves (“I’m a big girl; big girls can do it”)
 Use active engagement to focus their attention on
something else to control their interest in a forbidden toy
 Preschool children who display characteristics
of socio-emotional competence are better liked
by both their peers and teachers
 Aggression and
Pro-social Behavior
Development and Causes
of Aggression
Controlling Aggression
Understanding Others’ Emotions
Developing Pro-social Behavior
Development of Aggression
 Aggression: Committing acts
intended to hurt another
 Instrumental aggression:
Directed at obtaining
something (hitting
another child to
obtain a toy)
 Hostile aggression:
Intentionally hurting
another person as a
means of establishing dominance (bullying)
Development of Aggression
Changes in aggression
 Between ages of 1 & 2: Rapid increase in
instrumental aggression due to new sense of self
 Age 2: Begin to notice “ownership rights”
 boys become physically aggressive
 girls display relationship aggression
 Ages 3-6: Physical tussles over possessions
decrease, while verbal aggression increases and
hostile aggression (bullying) makes its appearance
 Causes of
Aggression
1. Aggressors are rewarded
 Victim gave in or retreated,
resulting in “victory”
 Adults provided positive
reinforcement by paying
more attention, laughing,
signaling approval, or
simply by stopping
coercing the child
Causes of Aggression
2. Children imitate the
behavior of older
role models
 Physical punishments,
particularly with anger,
may teach children to behave aggressively
 Research: Aggressive behavior of children who had
observed adult aggression was substantially higher
than that of children who had watched non-
aggressive interactions; made little difference
whether the adult models were live or filmed…
Individual Differences
Research findings
 Environment:
Poverty associated
with increased
aggression (parents are likely to
use harsh and inconsistent
discipline, perhaps due to
increased stress)
 Cognition: Aggressive children
more often misinterpret social
interactions in negative ways
http://meero.worldvision.org/news_article.php?newsID=339
that foster aggressive
responses
4 Ways to Teach Children
How to Control Aggression
 Model self-control
 Punish the child
 Reward non-aggressive behaviors
 Talk it over to so child cognitively
understands
1. Adults Model Self-control
Help children learn self
control by giving them ways
to vent negative feelings in a
“safe way” before they
explode violently
 Children will practice selecting
and using socially acceptable and
non-acceptable ways of venting
anger and frustration
 Adults and older children who
show self-control of emotions will
give children a positive role model
2. Children are punished
 Children become more likely to suppress aggressive
behavior when the child identifies strongly with the
person administering the punishment, and it is
employed consistently
 When used inconsistently punishment is likely to
provoke children to further aggression
 Attempts to control children’s behavior by means of
physical punishment, or by threats to apply raw
power, also increase aggressiveness
3. Children are rewarded for
non-aggressive behavior
 Since young children sometimes become aggressive in
order to gain attention, one strategy is to ignore it and to
pay attention to children only when they are engaged in
cooperative behavior
 For example, an adult may step in between
the children involved and pay attention only
to the victim (comfort the child, give the child
something interesting to do)
 Side benefit: Other children may have
observed that it is appropriate to be
sympathetic to the victim of aggression
4. Children Express
Cognitive Understanding
 Short, individual discussion
with the aggressor focusing on
 Aggression hurts another person
and make that person unhappy
 Aggression does not solve problems
and only causes resentment in the other child
 Children can often resolve conflicts by sharing and
taking turns
 In essence, helping children to become aware of
the feelings of others (empathy) decreases
aggression
Table Talk
 Review the 4 ways of controlling aggression
to be sure you understand each method
 Discuss as a group:
 What ways did you learn to control aggression?
 What were some of the positive outcomes?
 What were some of the negative outcomes?
 As a teacher, what would you do to help children
control aggression?
 Pro-Social Behavior:

Deciding to act in ways

that builds trust
and healthy relationships

This requires empathy and

self-control
Empathy:
Understanding Others’ Emotions
 6-7 months: Babies can “read” their mothers’ faces
as a guide to how they should feel about a situation
 2 years old: Know that other people feel bad when
you hit them and that giving them
something nice makes them feel good
 3 years old: Usually interpret other
children’s emotions correctly
 5-6 years old: Agreed with adult
assessment of others emotional
states and of the events likely to
have caused them more than 80% of the time
 Empathy – the sharing of another person’s
emotions and feelings – is foundational; includes
sharing, helping, caregiving, showing
compassion, altruism
 Four stages
 Neonates: Babies as young as 2 days
become stressed and cry at the sound
of another infant’s cries
 Second Year: Seek to comfort others,
although some of their attempt to help
may be inappropriate
 Early Infancy: Empathize with people
they have never met
 Ages 6-9: Interest in social/political
issues (poverty, oppression, illness)
Developing Pro-social Behavior
 Strategies
 Reward: Not very effective
(4-year-olds most
likely to act pro-socially
were those who received no
recognition for their pro-social acts)
 Explicit modeling: Increased pro-social behavior
as long as 2 weeks later
 Induction (adults give explanations of what needs
to be done/why): 12-year-old children displayed
higher levels of empathy and pro-social behavior
Table Talk
 Discuss with a partner
 Why are pro-social skills important to the family?
 Why are pro-social skills important to the
community?
 How can teachers teach pro-social skills to
children?