The Developing Person: Through Childhood and Adolescence Kathleen Strassen Berger

1. The Developing Person: Through Childhood and Adolescence Kathleen Strassen Berger Unit III: Chapter 10 The Play Years Psychosocial Development

2. Emotional Development • Initiative vs. Guilt: children begin new activities and feel guilty when they fail • Erikson’s third “crisis” • Self-esteem: the belief in one’s own ability • In specific areas and overall • Confidence and independence

3. Emotional Development • Self-concept: a person’s understanding of who he or she is • Appearance • Personality • Various traits

4. Emotional Development • Protective optimism (Lockhart et al., 2002) : preschoolers naïve predictions for success in prohibitively difficult or impossible situations • Puzzles • Long word lists • Changing undesirable traits • Controlling dreams

5. Motivation • Intrinsic: goals or drives that arise from inside a person • Extrinsic: the need for rewards from outside

6. Motivation • Substantial rewards can undermine intrinsic motivation when promised ahead of time • Praise works for work that is completed • Must be genuine • Must be specific

7. Emotional Regulation • The ability to inhibit, enhance, direct, and modulate emotions (Eisenberg et al., 2004) • Competence across life in every culture • Emotion expected to be managed varies with culture

8. Psychopathology • Externalizing problems: outward expression of emotion in uncontrolled ways • Lashing out impulsively in anger • Attacking others • Destroying things • “Undercontrolled”

9. Psychopathology • Internalizing problems: turning one’s emotional distress inward • Excessive feelings of guilt, shame, & worthlessness

10. Psychopathology • Contributing factors • Genes – evidenced by persistent brain differences • Maturation • Boys externalizing problems persist, girls do not • Girls internalizing problems persist • Socio-cultural influences • Early care • Sex differences

11. Empathy & Antipathy • Empathy: the ability to understand the emotions of another person, especially when those emotions differ from one’s own • Prosocial behavior: feeling and acting in ways that are helpful and kind without obvious benefit to oneself

12. Empathy & Antipathy • Antipathy: a dislike, or even hatred, of other people • Feeling and acting in ways that are deliberately hurtful or destructive to another person • Antisocial behavior: deliberately injuring someone or destroying something that belongs to another

13. Empathy & Antipathy • By age 4 or 5, most children act deliberately prosocial or antisocial • Brain maturation • Theory of mind • Interactions with caregivers

14. Aggression • Instrumental: hurtful behavior that is intended to get or keep something that another person has • Increases during play years • Involves objects more than people • Egocentrism, not antisocial behavior

15. Aggression • Reactive aggression: an impulsive retaliation for a hurt • Can be verbal or physical • Characteristic at age 2

16. Aggression • Relational: actions aimed at harming the victim’s friendships • Insults or social rejection • Destroys self-esteem • Injures social networks

17. Aggression • Bullying: unprovoked, repeated physical or verbal attach, especially on victims who are unlikely to defend themselves • A sign of poor emotional regulation on both ends • Adults need to intervene early

18. Play • Parten (1932) • Each kind of play is more social than the previous one • Solitary • Onlooker • Parallel • Associative • Cooperative

19. Play • Functional: simple repetitive muscular activities • 2-3 years • Motor & coordination skills improve • Physical: repetitive muscular activities, but more vigorous than functional play • 3-4 years • Motor and coordination skills improve

20. Play • Constructive: children make or build something • Ages 3 to 6 • Communication skills improve • Fantasy or pretend: children pretend to be someone or somewhere else • Ages 3 to 6 • Social and emotional understanding improve

21. Play • Rule play: sports & board games • School years • Social and cognitive functioning improve

22. Parents • Good parents • There is no single “best” way • Specifics depend • Cohort • Culture • Child

23. Parenting Style • Baumrind (1967, 1971) • Nursery school observation • Self control, independence, self-esteem • Parent interview • Parent-child observation • Home • Lab setting

24. Parenting Style • Baumrind (cont’d) • Parents differ on 4 dimensions • Expressions of warmth • Strategies for discipline • Communication • Expectations for maturity

25. Parenting Style • Baumrind identified 3 styles • Authoritarian • Low warmth • Strict discipline – often physical • High expectations of maturity • Communication mainly parent to child • Outcomes: Internalize, conscientious, self-blame, rebellion

26. Parenting Style • Baumrind identified 3 styles • Permissive • High warmth • Rare discipline • Low expectations of maturity • Communication mainly child to parent • Outcomes: least happy, lack self-control, inadequate emotional regulation, immaturity, remain dependent longer

27. Parenting Style • Baumrind identified 3 styles • Authoritative • High warmth • Moderate discipline – with discussion • Moderate expectations of maturity • Communication equal in both directions • Outcomes: success likely, articulate, intelligent, happy with self, generous with others, well-liked; advantages grow over time

28. Parenting Styles • Recent research • Child’s temperament interacts with parenting style • Different children have different needs • Culture & community influence child’s perception of parenting • Determines impact

29. Punishment • Goal: the child internalizes parents’ standards for behavior • Self-regulation, not just obedience • Be clear about expectations (varies by culture) • Relate punishment to development • Theory of mind – increase prosocial behavior • Self-concept – when an how to protect self • Language explosion & fast-mapping • Lack of logic – do they connect consequence to behavior?