PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

 A Child’s playing is not sports and should be deemed as their most serious actions.

SELF CONCEPT

Self Concept is our image of ourselves.   It is what we believe about who we are… our total picture of our abilities and traits.

UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONS

Emotions Directed toward Self: Emotions directed toward self such as guilt, shame, and pride develop by the end of the third year.

Simultaneous Emotions: Young children have difficulty in recognizing that

They can experience different emotions at the same time as Isabel Allende did toward her grandfather, both resenting and admiring him.

The picture of self comes into focus in toddler-hood, as infants gradually learn that they are separate from other people and things.

SELF ESTEEM

Young children cannot easily distinguish the difference between the real self and the ideal self.  This is an emotion that develops gradually during early childhood.

Self esteem in early childhood tends to be unrealistic, reflecting adult approval.  If esteem is contingent on success, children may develop a “helpless” pattern of thought and behavior.

Example:

Instead of trying a different way to complete a puzzle, as a child with unconditional self-esteem might do,  “helpless” children feel ashamed and give up, or go back to an easier puzzle they have already done.  They do not expect to succeed, and so they do not try. (Teachers expectation)

When self esteem is high, a child is motivated to achieve.  However, if self-esteem is contingent on success, children may view failure or criticism as an indictment of their worth and may feel helpless to do better.

GENDER ROLES

The main gender difference in early childhood is boys’ greater aggressiveness.  Some cognitive differences appear early; others not until preadolescence or later.

Children learn gender roles (behavior, interest, attitude, skills, and traits that a culture considers appropriate for male or female) at an early age. 

Gender stereotypes (preconceived idea of male or female behavior) peaks during the preschool years.  

Gender constancy (Awareness that one will always be male or female)  This allows the child to adopt what they see as gender appropriate behavior.

CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON GENDER ROLES

“Big Boys don’t Cry”,  “Take it Like a Man”,  Boys will be Boys”;  or “ Girls can’t do Math”,  Sugar and Spice and everything Nice,  “Nice girls know how to keep their mouths shut”.

Why do we buy little boys guns and little girls dolls?

All of the above statements are examples of how our Culture influence gender roles

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT GENDER ROLES?  DO YOU FEEL THAT THERE ARE SPECIFIC ROLES FOR MALES VERSUS FEMALES?

Ann Rinzler made some interesting observations on gender:  Example

Whose hands are warmer?

Usually a man’s because at room temperature healthy men have larger flow of blood to their fingers than do healthy women.

Whose armpits are smellier?

Women! Men perspire most heavily on the upper chest from glands secreting only salts and water.  Women sweat most heavily under the arms from glands that secrete fatty substances in addition to salts and water.  Bacteria digest the fatty substances and the by products make this sweat smellier. 

Whose nose knows this rose from that rose? 

Probably a woman.  The ability to smell, taste and hear is influenced by a variety of hormones but especially the adrenal hormones.  At almost every point in the cycle, a woman’s sense is more acute.  Her sense become even sharper as the monthly production of estrogen increases, peaking at ovulation.

DISCIPLINE

Discipline can be a powerful tool for socialization.

Both Positive reinforcement and prudently administered Punishment can be appropriate tools of discipline.

Corporal Punishment Use of physical force with the intention of causing pain, but not injury to correct or control behavior).

THREE FORMS OF DISCIPLINE

Power assertion (discipline strategy using physical or verbal enforcement of parental control)

Inductive techniques (appealing to a child’s sense of reason and fairness)  

Withdrawal of love (discipline strategy that may involve ignoring, isolating, or showing dislike for a child)

Each of these forms can be effective means of discipline in certain situations.

 Discipline based on induction is generally the most effective.  

Power assertion is the least effective in promoting parental standards.  Spanking can have negative consequences.

PARENTING STYLES

Diana Baumrind’s 1971 research Identified Three Childrearing Styles:

Authoritarian (parenting style emphasizing control and obedience)

Permissive (allowing self expression and self regulation)

Authoritative (respect for a child’s individuality to instill social values)

According to much research, authoritative parents tend to raise more competent children.

AGGRTESSION

(Are boys more aggressive than girls?)

Overt aggression: aggression openly directed at its target (Male)

Relational  aggression: aimed at damaging or interfering with another’s relationship, reputation, or psychological well being (Female)

FAMILIES IN TROUBLE: CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT

Abuse and neglected children are of all ages, but the highest rate are for ages 3 and younger.

Girls are four times as likely as boys to be sexually abused. (NCANDS, 2001).

In almost nine out of ten cases, the perpetrators of abuse are the child’s parents….usually the mother, except in cases of sexual abuse.

Since its peak in 1993 the reported number of abuse and neglected children in the United States has declined.

Still, State child protective services agencies investigated and confirmed some 826,000 cases in 1999.  The actual number may well have been higher since not all cases are reported.

EFFECTS OF MALTREATMENT

Maltreatment includes physical abuse, neglect, sexual abuse and emotional maltreatment.  It can have grave long-term effects.

Maltreatment can interfere with physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development, and its effects can continue into adulthood.  Still many maltreated children show remarkable resilience.