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Preschool Years

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Children Learn What They LiveIf 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 YearsSociocultural 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 FeelingsJoy AngerAffection FearPride Anxiety

JealousyFrustrationPain

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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

• Identification Projection

• Denial Reaction Formation

• Displacement Regression

• Rationalization Repression

• Withdrawal

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Emotion RegulationClaire 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)

• Compliance

• Autonomy

• Mastery and Competence

• Guilt

• Shame

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• Guilt

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.

• Shame

Associated with the desire to undo aspects of the self

Shame leads the feeling of helplessness

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Erik EriksonResolving 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 EriksonResolving 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 Play2- 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 PlayImaginary 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 SkillsUnpopular 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?

• 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

• 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 ExpectanciesBoys 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 Female

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

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

Age

Characteristics of Behavior

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 PerspectiveThrough 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 identityGender 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

• 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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YesThey 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 SocietiesCollective 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 SocietiesIndividualistic 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 self-restraint.

• In a few months, she should have developed enough self-control to arrest such impulses

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MoralityPiaget

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 DynamicsParenting 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

AUTORITARIAN

Tend to produce children who are:

WithdrawnFearful

DependentMoody

UnassertiveIrritable

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Effects of Different Parenting Styles

PERMSSIV

Tend to produce children who are:

RebelliousAggressive

Self-indulgentSocially inept

CreativeOutgoing

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Effects of Different Parenting Styles

AUTHORITATIVE

Tend to produce children who are :

Self-reliantSelf-controlled

Socially competentWith high self-

esteemDo better in school

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Effects of Different Parenting Styles

INDIFFERENT

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-esteemIsolationPsychological problemsAggressionLack of trustFear of exploitationSchool-related problemsSuicideDepressionFollowing 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- Ignore2- Suspend privileges3- Logical consequences4- Rearrange space or place5- Redirect behavior6- Grandma’s rule7- Fines8- Work detail9- Model10-Time out