Preschool Years
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Children Learn What They Live
If a child lives with criticism,
He learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility,
He learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule,
He learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame,
He lives to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance,
He learns to be patient
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If a child lives with encouragement,
He learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise,
He learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness,
He lives justice.
If a child lives with security,
He learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval,
He learns to like himself.
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The Preschool Years
Sociocultural and Personality Development
• Developmental Issues and Coping
Patterns
• Aggression and Personal Behavior
• Peers Play and Development of Social
Skills
• Understanding Self and Others
• Family Dynamics
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I- Developmental Issues and
Coping Patterns
Children Ages 2-6 must learn to manage a wide
range of feelings and emotions:
Positive Feelings
Negative Feelings
Joy
Anger
Affection
Fear
Pride
Anxiety
Jealousy
Frustration
Pain
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Fear and Anxiety
• Fear is a response to a specific situation.
A child may fear the dark or the sound of
thunder.
• Anxiety is a generalized emotional state.
A child may experience regular and
continuous feelings of unease, often
without knowing why.
What are the Causes of Fear and
Anxiety?
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How Can We Help Children Cope
with Fear and Anxiety?
• Modeling by parents
• Reduce unnecessary stress
• Professional help (systematic
desensitization)
• Participant modeling
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How Do Children Cope with Fear & Anxiety?
Defense Mechanisms
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Identification Projection
Denial
Reaction Formation
Displacement Regression
Rationalization Repression
Withdrawal
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Emotion Regulation
Claire Kopp (1989)
Dealing with emotions in a socially
acceptable ways
Western societies expect children to inhibit
the display of some emotions such as:
anger and distress
affection and joy
sensuality and sexual curiosity
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Developmental Conflicts
(Autonomy vs. Shame)
(Initiative vs. Guilt)
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Compliance
Autonomy
Mastery and Competence
Guilt
Shame
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• Guilt
• Shame
Involves the desire to
undo certain
behaviors.
It is distinct from the
self.
It shouldn’t affect the
person’s core
identity
Guilt may lead to the
feeling of remorse.
Associated with the
desire to undo
aspects of the self
Shame leads the
feeling of
helplessness
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Erik Erikson
Resolving the Conflicts
Autonomy-vs.-Shame
Early Part of Preschool Years
(18 months – 3 years)
Children either become more independent
and autonomous if their parents
encourage exploration and freedom.
They can experience shame and self-doubt
if they are restricted and overprotected.
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Erik Erikson
Resolving the Conflicts
Initiative- vs.-Guilt
(age 3-age 6)
Children view of themselves undergoes major
change as they face conflicts between the desire
to act independently of their parents and the
guilt that comes from the unintended
consequences of their actions.
Parents who react positively can help their children
avoid experiencing guilt.
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II- Aggression and Prosocial
Behavior
• Hostile Aggression is behavior that is
intended to harm another person
• Instrumental Aggression is behavior that
is not intended to harm, but instead is
incidental to gaining something from
another person
• Assertiveness refers to standing up and
defending one’s rights
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Causes for Aggression
• Frustration-Aggression-Hypothesis
(Discredited)
• Punishment
• Modeling and Aggression
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Prosocial Behavior
• Reward and Punishment
• Role Playing (acting out roles to see things
from the other person’s point of view)
• Induction (children are given reasons for
behaving in a positive way)
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Madsen and Shapiro
Prosocial behavior and such as cooperation
change with age.
Children become less cooperative and more
competitive as they grow older.
Older children are more likely to cooperate
in cultures that emphasize group goals
(Mexican, Israeli)
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Madsen’s Game
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III- Peers, Play, and Development
of Social Skills
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Gender and Play
• Girls
Organized games and
role-playing
Verbal Interaction with
peers
Having conversations
with dolls
• Boys
Rough-and tumble play
Produce a lot of noise
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Five Developmental levels of Social
Interaction Through Play
Parten (1932-33)
1- Solitary Play
2- Onlooker Play (child observes other
children)
3- Parallel Play (play alongside each other,
but not directly interact)
4- Associative Play (share materials and
interact, but don’t coordinate activities)
5- Cooperative Play (engage in a single
activity together such as building blocks)
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Make-Belief Play
Imaginary Companions
• They help children deal with fears , provide
companionship during periods of loneliness, and
provide reassurance.
• Research indicates that 65% of young children
have imaginary companions.
• They seem to help children social skills and
practice conversations.
• Children who are adept at imagination may be
better at mastering symbolic representation in
the real world.
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Popularity and Social Skills
Unpopular Children
• Children who are rejected by their peers
in early childhood are likely to be rejected
in middle childhood as well.
• They are also more likely to have adjusting
problems in adolescence and adulthood.
• Rejected children may be aggressive or
withdrawn.
• They may be out of sync with their peers’
activities and social interaction.
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Why Do Some Children Lack the Social
Skills that make Others Popular?
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Abuse and neglect during the early years
Being sheltered
Allowed little interaction with peers
Being singled out as “different” by peers
Simply getting off a bad start when first
entering a group
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Characteristics of Popular
Behavior in Kindergarten
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Initiate activity
Sensitive to the needs of others
Don’t force themselves on other children
Content to play alongside other children
Possess strategies for maintaining friendships
Show helpful behavior
Are Good at maintaining communication
Are good at sharing information
Are responsive to suggestions
Possess strategies for conflict resolution
They are less likely to use aggression
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VI- Understanding Self and
Others
Self Concept
• Children develop a self-concept, their
identity, or their set of beliefs.
• These are like dispositions- ways of
being- that are consistent through time.
• Their view of the future is quite rosy.
• Their positive thoughts and feelings about
the self are referred to as self-esteem.
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Self-Concept
• Young children tend to describe
themselves in terms of their physical
characteristics, possessions, or activities.
• The tendency to describe themselves in
terms of social connections increases.
• If a child is called “Bad Buster,” he is going
to make a conscious effort to maintain his
reputation (fitting into the label)
• Children tend to imitate their parents.
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Fitting into the Label
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Louis Sander (1975)
Self-Constancy and Self-Esteem
Challenging the parents’ rules
Feeling Guilty
Achieving Harmony with parents
This experience Louis Sander called
A Sense of Self-Constancy
The self endures despite temporary disruptions in
relationships
Example: A child breaks the rules and then
restores harmony by saying sorry.
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Components of Self-esteem
• 1- Self-awareness
Who Am I?
• 2- Self-worth
What Can I Do?
• 3-Socialization
Are They Going to Like Me?
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How Do You Enhance Self-Esteem?
Praise – Encouragement
Give responsibility
Allow them to explore their potential freely.
Don’t inhibit their creativity.
Show them unconditional love (firm but kind)
Don’t set very high expectations
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Setting High Expectations
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Self and Gender
• Gender, the sense of being a male or
female, is well established by the time
children reach the preschool years.
• Sex is genetically determined and
biological
• Genetics and culture may each set limits
on gender roles-what is appropriate for a
male or a female to be and do
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Gender Roles and Expectancies
Boys
Girls
Are more apt to have
traits involving:
Competence
Independence
Forcefulness
competitiveness
Are viewed as more
likely to have traits
such as:
Warmth
Expressiveness
Nurturance
submissiveness
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Male
Are born slightly longer and
heavier
As toddlers, boys are more
aggressive
There are no consistent
difference in sociability,
self-esteem, analytical
skill, or motivation to
achieve
Female
Newborn girls have slightly
more mature skeletons
They are a bit more
responsive to touch
Have a single edge in verbal
abilities
Actual differences
between boys and girls
are actually small, and
there is considerable
overlap between the
sexes.
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The Development of Gender
Schemes
Level of
Schemes
Approximate Characteristics of Behavior
Age
Gender
Identity
2 to 5
years
Children can label people as boys
or girls; are confused about the
meaning of gender; believe that
gender changes by changing
appearance
Gender
Constancy
5 to 7
Years
Can understand that gender is
constant and stable; boys grow up
to become daddies or men; girls
grow up to become mommies or
women
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Different Perspectives on
Gender
1- Biological Perspective
2- Psychoanalytic Perspective
3- Social Learning Perspective
4- Cognitive Approaches
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1- Biological Perspective
Inborn biological factors produce gender
differences
Androgens (male hormones)
Corpus Callosum (the human brain)
Sex-Linked Disorders
Klinefelter Syndrome (males XXY, XXXY, XXXXY)
Superfemal Syndrome (females XXX, XXXX, XXXXX)
Supermale Syndrom (in males XYY, XYYY, XYYYY)
Turner’s Syndrome (in females XO)
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2- Psychoanalysis Perspective
Gender development is the result of
moving through a series of stages
related to biological urges.
Phallic Stage
Oedipal Complex
Identification
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3- Social Learning Perspective
Children learn gender-related behavior
and expectations from their
observation of others’ behavior
Reward when conforming to the norm
Observing gender-related behavior as
represented in books, media, and TV
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4- Cognitive Perspective
Through the use of gender schemas, developed early
in life, preschoolers form a lens through which they
view the world. They use their increasing cognitive
abilities to develop rules about what is appropriate
for males and females.
Gender schema/gender identity
Gender consistency (ages 4-5)
Sandra Ben likes to encourage children to be
androgynous (A state in which gender roles encompass
characteristics thought typical of both sexes)
Is it a good idea?
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How We Normally Bring Up Boys
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Don’t be a cry baby!
Don’t be soft. You have to be tough.
Don’t be a sissy!
Don’t play with dolls.
How does that affect boys in their relationship
with girls when they grow up?
Are there any drawbacks to this upbringing?
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Yes
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They Try Not to Get in Touch with
Their Feminine Side
They suppress their feelings
They avoid being nurturing
They avoid showing warmth and affection
They become poor listeners
Getting angry for them is easier than
saying, “I am hurt.”
• They get angry and fall into the pattern of
abuse
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Culture and the Self
In Western cultures we say,
“the squeaky wheel gets the grease.”
Indicating that one should seek attention of others
by standing out and making one’s needs known.
The Asian perspective says,
“the nail that stands out gets the pounding.”
Indicating that individuals should refrain from
making themselves distinctive.
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Asian Societies
Collective Orientation
• Asian Societies tend to have collective
orientation, promoting the notion of
interdependence.
• People in these cultures tend to see
themselves as parts of a larger social
network in which they are interconnected
with others.
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Western Societies
Individualistic Orientation
• Children in Western cultures are more
likely to develop an independent view of
self, reflecting an individualistic
orientation that emphasizes personal
identity and the uniqueness of the
individual.
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Social Concepts and Rules
• At first, children imitate verbal patterns: A
2-year-old says, “No, no!” as she marks on
the wall with crayons.
• Here, she shows the beginning of selfrestraint.
• In a few months, she should have
developed enough self-control to arrest
such impulses
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Morality
Piaget
Heteronomous Morality is the initial stage of
moral development in which rules are seen as
invariant and unchangeable.
From age 4-7, children play games rigidly,
assuming that there is one, and only one way to
play.
Example: “Daddy invented the game of
marbles
At this stage, children do not take intention into
account. They believe in immanent justice, a
notion that broken rules earn immediate
punishment.
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Hetronomous morality is replaced
by 2 later stages of morality
1- Incipient cooperation Stage lasts from
7 to 10. Children’s games become more
clearly social. Children play according to
the formal rules of the game.
2- Autonomous cooperation stage begins
about age 10. Children become fully
aware that formal game rules can be
modified if the people who play them
agree.
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V- Family Dynamics
Parenting Styles
1- Authoritative Parents
2- Authoritarian Parents
3- Permissive Parents
4- Indifferent Parents
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Parenting Styles
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Permissive Parents
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Authoritarian parent
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Effects of Different Parenting Styles
A
U
T
O
R
I
T
A
R
I
A
N
Tend to produce
children who are:
Withdrawn
Fearful
Dependent
Moody
Unassertive
Irritable
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Effects of Different Parenting Styles
P
E
R
M
S
S
I
V
Tend to produce
children who are:
Rebellious
Aggressive
Self-indulgent
Socially inept
Creative
Outgoing
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Effects of Different Parenting Styles
A
U
T
H
O
R
I
T
A
T
I
V
E
Tend to produce
children who are :
Self-reliant
Self-controlled
Socially competent
With high selfesteem
Do better in school
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Effects of Different Parenting Styles
I
N
D
I
F
F
E
R
E
N
T
They produce children
who are:
The child feels free to
give rein to the most
destructive impulses
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Child Abuse
1- Physical Abuse
2- Psychological Abuse
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Forms of Psychological Abuse
1- Rejection
2- Denial of Emotional Responsiveness
3- Degradation
4- Terrorization
5- Isolation
6- Exploitation
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Effects of Child Abuse
Damaged self-esteem
Isolation
Psychological problems
Aggression
Lack of trust
Fear of exploitation
School-related problems
Suicide
Depression
Following the same pattern
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Explanation of Abuse
• Psychiatric Explanations
• Sociological Explanations
• Situational Explanations
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Discipline and Self-Regulation
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Discipline
• Rules
• Following Through
• Consequences
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Mild Social Disapproval
1- look at child
2- move close to child
3- serious facial expression
4- Brief negative verbalization about the
behavior
5- calm and serious voice
6- nonverbal gesture consistent with
disapproval
7-Immediate delivery
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10 Things to Do Instead of Spanking
1- Ignore
2- Suspend privileges
3- Logical consequences
4- Rearrange space or place
5- Redirect behavior
6- Grandma’s rule
7- Fines
8- Work detail
9- Model
10-Time out
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