What Happens Next. . .
During early childhood, children's social and emotional lives develop through two connecting paths; social and personal. As children socialize, it helps them lead toward the standards, values, & knowledge of their society. As they form more personality, children will develop their own unique patterns of feeling, thinking, and behaving.
Personal IdentityChildren face the challenge of initiative vs. guilt, which is the challenge of continuing to declare their autonomy and existence as individuals, well as they also begin to conform moral standards and social roles. Identification is a key essential to socialization. This is when children to try to look, act, feel, and be like significant people in their social environment (Lightfoot, Cole, & Cole, 2013). Caregiver's contribute to children's developing sens of self by helping them create a personal narrative about themselves.
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A New Moral WorldChildren's early ideas of what is good and bad come from the ways in which the significant people in their lives respond to their behavior. At the end of infancy, children acquire sensitivity to adult standards and become frustrated or disappointed when they fail to meet them (Lightfoot, Cole, & Cole, 2013).
Psychodynamic View
According psychodynamic theory we acquire a personal sense of what is right and wrong because we have internalized the moral standards of our parents. A child's internalization of adult standards and rules peek at about the age of 5, in the formation of a superego. In Freud's words, the superego continues to carry on the functions which have been performed by adults. It observes the ego, gives it orders, judges and threatens it with punishments, just like parents do. The emergence of the superego and all of the emotions associated with shame and guilt is fundamental to children's abilities to regulate their behaviors by their personal sense of right and wrong (Lightfoot, Cole, & Cole, 2013). Social Domain View
Young children can distinguish among the three different categories of rules-moral rules, social conventions, and personal sphere rules. Moral rules are most general which are based on principles of justice and the welfare of others. Social conventions are important for social behavior. Personal sphere allows children to make decisions on the basis of their personal preferences (Lightfoot, Cole, & Cole, 2013). |
Cognitive-Development View
When young children reason about moral issues, they tend to focus on the consequences-how much damage is done or whether the person gets caught or in trouble. They call this pattern heteronomous morality. According to Piaget, ones morals judgements are freely and personally chosen, which is known as autonomous morality. Children's moral reasoning moves from a focus on external authority & objective consequences, to a sense of morality as personally chosen. This usually occurs as they transition into middle childhood (Lightfoot, Cole, & Cole, 2013). |
Developing Self Regulation |
The ability to control ones thoughts, behaviors, and emotions is referred to as self-regulation. This is considered to be the cornerstone of a child's development. Infants and young children usually need a great deal of assistance with regulation but as they continue to grow wiser, their regulatory capacities expand & deepen, which is an important part of functioning independently (Lightfoot, Cole, & Cole, 2013). For children to function socially, they must learn to interpret the emotional states of others, manage their own emotions, and mask their feelings when necessary. This is all apart of social competence, the ability to behave appropriately in social situations (Whitebread, Coltman, Jameson, & Lander, 2009). Between the ages of 2 & 6, children develop a number of strategies to help them keep their emotions under control. However, it takes several years for children to learn to control their emotional expressions (Lightfoot, Cole, & Cole, 2013).
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Play is not only important to a child's physical development, but also in their cognitive and social development. Children’s play makes a significant contribution to their development as learners, and that this has implications for the quality of their thinking, problem- solving and creativity (Whitebread, Coltman, Jameson, & Lander, 2009). According to Vygotsky, play is important in the development of self regulation because it requires control of thoughts and actions. In early development, children have difficulty in separating their thoughts and actions from the objects and situations they they think about and act upon (Lightfoot, Cole, & Cole, 2013). Play, particularly pretend or symbolic play, contributes to learning by supporting children’s development of metacognitive or self-regulatory skills, which are in turn crucial in the development of problem- solving and creativity (Whitebread et al., 2009). Sociodramatic play is particularly important in that children must negotiate a shared understanding of the evolving situation and control their thoughts and actions to enact their roles (Lightfoot et al., 2009).
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Understanding AggressionIn order to be accepted to social group, young children must learn to subordinate their personal desires and to regulate their anger. Such anger can lead to aggression & learning to control aggression is one of the most basic tasks in social development for young children. Aggression behavior can take a variety of forms, in which is possible it can take an effect ones development (Lightfoot, Cole, & Cole, 2013)
What Causes and Controls Aggression?Patterns of aggressive behavior often emerge during this age period and becomes more defined along with their personality. Many studies have shown that children who begin to exhibit such problem behaviors at an earlier age, tend to behave in those ways later in life, thus is particular to boys. It is Important to note that behaviors are only defined as aggression when they involve the intent to harm (Murray_Close & Ostrov, 2009). Certain factors can play a role in how aggression begins:
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Types of Aggression
Children’s aggressive behaviors can differ in their function. One important distinction is whether aggression is proactive or reactive in function. Proactive aggression is defined as planned and goal-directed , whereas reactive aggression consists of aggressive displays enacted in anger following perceived negative experiences such as provocation or frustration (Murray-Close & Ostrov, 2009).
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Reference's
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Cole, M., Cole, S., & Lightfoot, C. (2013). The Development Of Children (7th ed.). New York, New York: Worth.
Murray-Close, D., & Ostrov, J. (2009). Child Development. A Longitudinal Study of Forms and Functions of Aggressive Behavior in Early Childhood, 80(3), 828-842. Whitebread, D., Coltman, P., Jameson, H., & Lander, R. (2009). Play, Cognition and self-regulation: What exactly are children learning when they learn through play? Educational & Child Psychology, 26(2), 40-52. |