Chapter 9
Understanding the
Reasons Positive and
Negative Behavior
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Defining Problem Behavior
• Adult-centered definitions of misbehavior focus
on effect child’s behavior has on the adult
• Child-centered definitions of misbehavior…
– Consider appropriateness or inappropriateness of
actions
– Focus on ability level, motives and long-term wellbeing
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Children misbehave because
they…
—Are bursting with energy and joy
—Do not understand what we expect
—Cannot do what we expect
—Feel bored, tired or miserable
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Children misbehave because
they…
(Continued)
—Are desperate for attention
—Are overwhelmed by frustration
—Are angry or resentful
—Feel totally hopeless or helpless
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Dysfunctional Behavior
• Compulsive, inappropriate, or selfdestructive behavior
• Uncooperative social interactions
• Hazardous actions
• Improper use of environment
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Inappropriate Behavior
–Behavior not desirable in a specific
situation
–It does not suggest fault or blame
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Inappropriate behavior is…
—Not in the best interest of the child
—Troublesome
—Sometimes unsafe
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Functional Behavior
• Appropriate actions that serve some
productive or positive function
• Cooperative social interactions
• Safety-conscious actions
• Proper use of environment
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Socialization
• The process by which children learn
acceptable behavior
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Components of Moral
Development
•
•
•
Empathy
Conscience
Altruism
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Methods to support children’s
moral development
•
•
•
•
Provide nurturing and support
Set limits
Model appropriate behavior
Teach democratic decision-making and
discussion
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Stages of Moral Development
• Morality
– ability to distinguish right from wrong and act
accordingly
• Moral development
– process by which human beings learn to monitor their
own actions
– deciding whether a tempting behavior is appropriate or
inappropriate
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Stages of Moral Development
(continued)
• Moral affect
– Internalization of moral values from adult role models
– Feelings associated with guilty or clear conscience
• Moral reasoning
– Thinking processes for deciding what is or is not
moral behavior
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Stages of Moral Development
(continued)
• Preconventional morality
• Lawrence Kohlberg’s first stage of morality
– Children perceive right and wrong in terms of what the behavior
will do for them.
• “Will action get what I want?”
• “Will action avoid what I don’t want?”
– Explaining reasons for rules fosters moral development.
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Stages of Moral Development
(continued)
• Conventional morality
• Kohlberg’s second stage of morality
– Develop self-control and learn to get along with others
– Focus on simplistic perceptions of goodness and
badness
– Desire to please others
– Try to follow rules of family and community
– Begin to adopt ethical standards of important role
models
– Attachment, love and respect trigger internalization of
values
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Stages of Moral Development
(continued)
• Postconventional morality
• Kohlberg’s highest stage of morality
– Older children and adults develop internal
conscience
– Conscience hinges on internalized principles
and values that guide behavior
– Focus on being responsible part of cooperative
society
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Justice Orientation
• Perspective in which integrity tends to be
the dominant “moral compass” for making
autonomous, independent and selforiented ethical and principled decisions
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Responsibility Orientation
• Perspective in which sensitivity to others,
interpersonal involvement and ethical and
moral decision-making reflect…
– Loyalty
– Responsibility
– Self-sacrifice
– Peacemaking
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Judging
• The process of using perceptions to create
conclusions and value judgments
• Some adults judge children’s behavior
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Induction
• The process of stimulating children’s
understanding of the reasons for choosing
one behavior over another
• The process of thinking about the impact a
behavior will have
• Some adults use inductive reasoning to
help children learn self-control
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Guidance
• Positive child guidance focuses on…
– Child’s ability level
– Severity and intent of behavior
– Possible reasons for behavior
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Underlying Causes of
Problem Behavior
• Inappropriate
expectations
• Misunderstood
expectations
• Immature selfcontrol
• Gleeful abandon,
group contagion
• Boredom
• Fatigue and
discomfort
• Desire for recognition
• Discouragement
• Frustration
• Rebellion
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Temperament
– Three main types:
• Easy
• Difficult
• Slow to warm up
– Emotions are felt, but reactions to the
emotions are learned.
– Appropriate responses to an emotion need to
be taught.
Temperament
Children are born with their natural style of interacting with or reacting to
people, places, and things—their temperament
•
•
•
•
•
•
Biological Predisposition
Rhythmical functioning
Circadian rhythmicity
Interest in novelty
Approach to new situations, curiosity
Inclination to “outside’ or “inside”
Goodness of fit
• Relationship with caregiver’s style:
• Good fit, or poor fit
• Parent adapts caregiving to child’s
unique characteristics
• Parent modifies expectation
Temperament
Chess & Thomas
• Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess began a
classic longitudinal study in the 1950s regarding
infant temperament.
• The study focused on how temperamental
qualities influence adjustment throughout life.
• Chess and Thomas rated young infants on a
variety of characteristics, such as activity level,
mood, sleeping and eating patterns, and
attention span.
Temperament
Chess & Thomas
• The found that most babies could be
categorized into one of three groups:
– Easy
– Difficult
– Slow to warm-up
• About one third of all infants tested were
characterized as average babies because they
did not fit neatly into one of these three
categories (Thomas & Chess 1977).
Temperament
• Easy babies readily adapt to new experiences, generally
display positive moods and emotions and also have
normal eating and sleeping patterns.
• Difficult babies tend to be very emotional, irritable and
fussy, and cry a lot. They also tend to have irregular
eating and sleeping patterns.
• Slow-to-warm-up babies have a low activity level, and
tend to withdraw from new situations and people. They
are slow to adapt to new experiences.
• Thomas and Chess found that these broad patterns of
temperamental qualities are remarkably stable through
childhood.
Temperament
• Most experts agree that temperament does have
a genetic and biological basis; but researchers
also agree that environmental experiences can
modify a child's temperament.
• Adults can encourage new behaviors in children,
and with enough support a slow-to-warm-up
child can become less shy, or a difficult baby
can become more emotionally stable.
