Early childhood is a time of significant social, emotional, and cognitive development. Children develop social skills through play and interactions with parents, siblings, and peers. Warm parenting that includes affection and reasoning is linked to better social-emotional outcomes in children. Gender roles and differences in behavior begin to emerge in early childhood as children learn from social models and develop gender identity and constancy. Theories suggest both biological factors like brain organization and social influences contribute to the development of gender differences.

1. CHAPTER 8CHAPTER 8
Early Childhood: Social and EmotionalEarly Childhood: Social and Emotional
DevelopmentDevelopment

2. Dimensions of Child RearingDimensions of Child Rearing

3. Dimensions of Childrearing
• Warm parents
– More likely to be affectionate toward their children and less likely
to physically discipline than cold parents
– Children of warm parents are warm, accepting, more likely to
develop internalized standards of conduct and a moral sense or
conscience
– Parental warmth related to child’s social and emotional well-
being
• Cold parents
– May not enjoy their children and may have few feelings of
affection for them
• Childrearing is reflected by imitating parents’ own
upbringing, their parental beliefs, and genetics.

4. Dimensions of Childrearing (cont’d)
• Authoritative parenting style
– Firm, consistent enforcement of rules combined with strong
support and affection
• Permissive parenting style
– Parents supervise children much less; allow children to do what
is “natural,” may also allow children to show some aggression,
intervening only when child is in danger
• If too much “restrictiveness,” meaning physical
punishment, interference, or intrusiveness, the child may
end up disobedient, rebellious, and have lower cognitive
development

6. How Parents Enforce Restrictions
• Inductive methods
– Teach knowledge that will enable children to generate desirable
behavior on their own
– Reasoning or explaining why one behavior is better than another
is the main technique
• Power-assertive methods
– Include physical punishment and denial of privileges
– Rationalize physical punishment due to noncompliance of
children
– The greater the use of this method, the less likely the child is to
develop internal standards of conduct
– Parental rejection and punishment linked with aggression and
delinquency

7. How Parents Enforce Restrictions (cont’d)
• Withdrawal of love method
– Isolating or ignoring misbehaving child
– Loss of love oftentimes more threatening than physical
punishment
– May foster compliance but instill guilt and anxiety
• Preschoolers comply better when asked to do something
rather than to stop doing something.
• Good method is to engage child in something else when
involved in unacceptable activity or behavior

8. Parenting Styles: How Parents Transmit
Values and Standards
• Baumrind (1989, 1991b) developed grid of four parenting
styles based on whether parents are high or low on each
of the two dimensions
– 1. Authoritative
– 2. Authoritarian
– 3. Permissive-indulgent
– 4. Rejecting-neglecting

9. Parenting Styles: How Parents Transmit Values
and Standards (cont’d)
• 1. Authoritative
– These parents are restrictive and demanding, yet communicative
and warm
– They reason with their children and provide them strong support
and feelings of love
– Children of these parents demonstrate self-reliance,
independence, high self-esteem, high levels of activity and
exploratory behavior, and social competence and tend to be
highly motivated to achieve and do well in school

11. Table 8-1, p. 159

12. Parenting Styles: How Parents Transmit
Values and Standards (cont’d)
• 2. Authoritarian
– These parents value obedience with little explanation for their
reasoning
– Do not communicate well with their children
– Do not respect child’s view point
– These parents mostly cold and rejecting
– Highly controlling and use force as enforcement method
– Sons of these parents relatively hostile and defiant
– Daughters low in independence and dominance
– Children are less friendly and less spontaneous in social
interactions
– Have low self-esteem and are low in self-reliance

13. Parenting Styles: How Parents Transmit Values
and Standards (cont’d)
• 3. Permissive-indulgent
– Parents are low in their attempts to control their children and in
their demands for mature behavior
– Parents are easygoing and unconventional
– Permission accompanied by high warmth and support
– Children less competent in school but high in social behaviors
• 4. Rejecting-neglecting
– Parents are low in demands for mature behavior and low in
attempt to control their children
– Low in support and responsiveness
– Outcomes for children include lowest competence, lack of
responsibility, immaturity, and tendency to problem behaviors
– Less competent in school and show more misconduct and
substance abuse

14. Effects of the Situation and the Child on
Parenting Styles
• Parenting styles change due to the situation
• Power assertion more likely to occur when parent
believed the child knew the rules and was capable of
behaving appropriately
• Power assertion likely to occur when dealing with
aggressive behavior
• Stress contributes to parental use of power

15. Table 8-2, p. 160

16. Social BehaviorsSocial Behaviors

17. Social Behaviors and the Influence of Siblings
• During early childhood, children make tremendous advances
in social skills and behavior.
– Positive: learn how to share, cooperate, and comfort others
– Negative: can be aggressive
• Older siblings more likely to be more caring and dominating
than younger ones
• Younger siblings more likely to imitate older siblings and to
accept their direction
• Typical sibling rivalry can contribute to better social
competence, the development of self-identity, and the ability
to rear their own children
• The more parents play favorites, the greater the conflict.

19. Adjusting to the Birth of a Sibling
• Preschoolers may feel stress due to the birth of a sibling
and the changes within the family.
• Older child may feel displaced and resentful due to the
attention given to the new baby.
• Regression to baby-like behaviors, such as increased
clinging, crying, and toilet accidents may occur.
• Some children may show increased independence by
dressing themselves and helping to take care of the
baby.

20. Birth Order
• First-born children
– More highly motivated to achieve than later-born children
– Perform better academically, are more cooperative, more adult-
oriented, and less aggressive than later-born children
– Obtain higher standardized test scores
– First-born and only children show greater anxiety and are less
self-reliant than later-born children
• Later-born children
– May compete for attention by acting aggressively
– Self-concept is lower, but social skills translate into greater
popularity with peers
– Tend to be more rebellious, liberal, and agreeable than first born
– Parents are more relaxed with later-born children

21. Peer Relationships
• Peer groups foster social skills
-Teach how to lead and how to follow
-Help increase physical and cognitive skills through
interactions
-Provide emotional support
• By age 2, children show preference for particular peer
• Not until late childhood and adolescence do friends’ traits
and notions of trust, communication, and intimacy
become important

22. Play: Child’s Play, That Is
• Play is meaningful, voluntary, and internally motivated.
• Play contributes to the development of motor skills and
coordination.
• Dramatic play (trying on new roles) contributes to
development of cognitive qualities such as curiosity,
exploration, symbolic thinking, and problem solving.
• Play may help with children learning to control impulses.

23. Play and Cognitive Development:
Piaget’s Characteristics of Play
• Functional play
– Occurs during sensorimotor stage
– Involves repetitive motor activity like rolling a ball or laughing
• Symbolic play
– Occurs at end of sensorimotor stage
– Involves creating settings and scripts
• Constructive play
– Common in early childhood
– Child uses objects or materials to make something
• Formal games
– Games with rules; may be invented by the child
– Involves social interaction as well as physical activity and rules
– May be played for a lifetime

24. Parten’s Types of Play
• Parten (1932) observed six types of play among 2- to 5-
year-old children.
• Solitary play/onlooker play: nonsocial play; occurs in 2-
to 3-year-olds
• Parallel play/associative play/cooperative play; social
play; associative and cooperative common by age 5;
girls more likely to engage in social play
• Parallel constructive play: demonstrated when
preschoolers play with puzzles or blocks near other
children
• Girls more likely to play with boys’ toys than vice versa

25. Table 8-3, p. 163

26. Gender Differences in Play
• Boys
– In preschool and early elementary school, boys prefer vigorous
physical activities.
– In middle childhood, boys prefer playing in groups of five or more
children engaging in competition.
• Girls
– More likely to stray from stereotypes
– More supervised
– More likely to engage in arts and crafts
– Spend more time playing with one child than with a group
• Play choices determined by environmental influences as
well as biological factors such as strength

28. Gender Differences in Play (cont’d)
• By age 2, children prefer same-sex playmates; tendency
strengthens by middle childhood
• Sex differences may be due to boys preferring play that
is aggressive and rough; may also be due to lack of
response to girls’ polite requests; girls try to protect
themselves from aggression and unresponsiveness by
avoiding boys; boys may avoid girls because they see
them as inferior

30. Prosocial Behavior
• Prosocial behavior
– Altruism; intent to benefit another without expectation or reward
• At preschool and during early school years, children
engage in prosocial behavior.
• Siblings observed helping more than sharing, affection,
and reassuring (Grusec & Sherman, 1991)
• Prosocial behavior linked to development of empathy
and perspective taking

31. Empathy
• Empathy: sensitivity to the feelings of others; connected
with sharing and cooperation
• Infants may cry when another infant cries
• Empathy promotes prosocial behavior and decreases
aggression
– At age 2, many children approach other children and adults in
distress and try to help them
• Unresponsive children more likely to behave
aggressively
• Girls more empathetic than boys

32. Development of Aggression
• Preschoolers’ aggression instrumental or possession
oriented
• Older preschoolers more likely to engage in resolving
conflicts over toys by sharing rather than fighting
• Aggressive behavior causes rejection
• By age 6 or 7, aggression is hostile and person oriented
• Boys more likely to show aggression
• Aggressive 8-year-olds more aggressive than peers 22
years later; more likely to have criminal records, abuse
their spouse, and drive while drunk

33. Theories of Aggression
• Genetic factors may be involved in aggressive behavior
as well as criminal and antisocial behavior.
• MZ twins have high concordance rate for criminality
• Males more aggressive than females, possibly due to
testosterone
• If child believes in legitimacy of aggression, more likely
to engage in aggression when presented with social
provocations
• Aggressive children lack empathy and perspective
taking.
• Reinforcement and observational learning may
contribute to aggression.

34. Media Influences
• Bandura’s Bobo doll study suggested that televised
models influence children’s aggressive behavior
– Children observing adult hitting Bobo in turn hit Bobo sometimes
more aggressively
• Children learn aggression through observational learning
(watching models on TV).
• Television is a fertile source of aggressive models
• Media violence and aggressive video games may
increase level of arousal; humans more likely to be
aggressive under high levels of arousal

35. Fig. 8-1, p. 166

36. Media Influences (cont’d)
• Depictions of violence contribute to violence through
– observational learning
– disinhibition
– increased arousal
– priming of aggressive thoughts and memories
– habituation

37. Personality and Emotional DevelopmentPersonality and Emotional Development

39. Personality and Emotional Development
• Personality development becomes more complex as
children age.
• Children describe themselves in terms of certain
categories such as baby, child, and sex (girl, boy).
• Categorical self
– Self-definitions that refer to concrete external traits
• Preschool children who have good opinions of
themselves more likely to show secure attachment and
have parents who are attentive to their needs

40. Personality and Emotional Development
(cont’d)
• Preschool children make evaluative judgments about
their cognitive and physical competence as well as their
social acceptance by peers and parents.
• Preschoolers do not make distinctions between different
areas of competence such as being good in school but
poor in sports.
• Children become increasingly capable of self-regulation
in early childhood.

41. Initiative versus Guilt
• Children engage in learning new skills on their own.
• Children during this stage strive to achieve
independence from their parents and master adult
behaviors.
• During these years, it is learned that not all dreams can
be realized.
• Fear of violating parental constructs may impede efforts
to master new skills.
• Parents should encourage child to attempt to learn and
explore without being critical and punitive.

42. Fears: The Horrors of Early Childhood
• Number of fears peak between 2 ½ and 4 years old
• Preschool years marked by decrease in fears of loud
noises, falling, sudden movement, and strangers
• Preschool fears include animals, imaginary creatures,
the dark, and personal danger
• Real objects such as lightning, thunder, high places,
sharp objects and being cut, blood, and unfamiliar
people cause fear for their personal safety
• During middle childhood, fears of failure and criticism in
school and social relationships

43. Development of Gender Roles andDevelopment of Gender Roles and
Gender DifferencesGender Differences

44. Development of Gender Roles and Gender
Differences
• Gender roles may be seeped in stereotypes.
– Feminine gender-role stereotypes include traits such as gentleness,
helpfulness, warmth, emotionality, submissiveness
– Masculine gender-role stereotypes include traits such as
aggressiveness, self-confidence, independence, competitiveness, and
competence in business, math, and science
• Children stereotype into traditional roles by ages of 3
and 9 or 10.
• Children and adolescents perceive their own sex in a
better light (e.g., more hardworking, nicer).

45. Gender Differences
• Sex differences in infancy small and inconsistent
• Preschoolers display some differences in their choices of
toys and play activities.
• Boys
– engage in more rough-and-tumble play and are more aggressive
– show greater visual-spatial ability
• Girls
– tend to show more empathy and report more fears
– show greater verbal ability

47. Theories of the Development of Gender
Differences
• Evolutionary psychologists believe sex differences fashioned
by natural selection in response to problems in adaptation that
were repeatedly encountered by humans over thousands of
generations
• Genes that increase the likelihood of an organism’s chances
of survival are most likely to be passed on to next generation
• Males place value on physical attributes in mate selection
• Females place it on personal factors such as financial status
and reliability

48. Organization of the Brain
• Brain organization is largely genetically determined.
– Brain may be female and male differentiated
• Studies on rats and humans have indicated males and
females rely on different parts of the brain when they are
navigating.
– Females rely on the hippocampus in the right hemisphere along
with the right prefrontal cortex
– Males use the hippocampus in both hemispheres when they are
navigating

49. Social-Cognitive Theory
• Children learn masculine or feminine by observing and
imitating models of the same sex.
– Socialization by parents, teachers provide children with
information about expected gender-typed behaviors
• Rewards include smiles, respect, companionship when
“gender-appropriate” behaviors are displayed
• Boys encouraged to roam further from home, to be more
independent than girls
• Primary schoolchildren show less stereotyping if mothers
frequently engage in traditionally masculine household
and childcare tasks.

50. Cognitive-Developmental Theory
• Kohlberg’s (1966) theory maintains the first step in
gender typing is attaining gender identity (2 years).
– Knowing whether you are male or female
• Gender stability (4-5 years)
– Realizing one’s sex is for lifetime
• Gender constancy (5-7 years)
– Changing dress, hair, or wearing an apron does not change your
gender
• Kohlberg’s theory cross-cultural; gender typing occurs in
the same order of stages

51. Gender-Schema Theory
• Gender is used by children as way of organizing
perception of the world
• Gender-schema theory
– Cluster of concepts about male and female physical traits,
behaviors, and personality traits
• Gender identity can inspire “gender-appropriate”
behavior; boys and girls seek information concerning
gender-typed traits and try to live up to them
– Boys show better memory for boy toys, activities, and
occupations
– Girls show better memory for “feminine” toys, activities, and
occupations
• Both biology and social cognition interact to affect most
areas of behavior and mental processes