childhood. How do young children learn to understand and control their emotions? Do they experience the same complex emotions that older children and adolescents experience? What is the role of parents in children’s emotional and social development? What is the function of play in development? In this chapter, we explore children’s experience and understanding of their social and emotional world and how socioemotional development changes over the early childhood years.
Learning Objectives
8.1 Discuss young children’s emerging sense of initiative, self-concept, and self-esteem.
8.2 Summarize the development of emotional understanding, regulation, and behavior in early childhood.
8.3 Identify four parenting styles and their associations with child outcomes.
8.4 Compare biological, cognitive, and contextual theoretical explanations of gender role development.
8.5 Explain the function of play and the form it takes during early childhood.
Emerging Sense of Self
When assigned a task, such as dusting off a bookcase shelf, 3-year-old Shawna calls out, “I’ll do it!” After completing the task, she proudly proclaims, “I did it!” The autonomy that Shawna developed during the toddler years has prepared her to master the psychosocial task of the preschool years: developing a sense of initiative (Erikson, 1950).
Psychosocial Development in Early Childhood
During Erikson’s third psychosocial stage, initiative versus guilt, young children develop a sense of purpose and take pride in their accomplishments. As they develop a sense of initiative, young children make plans, tackle new tasks, set goals (e.g., climbing a tree, writing their name, counting to 10), and work to achieve them, persisting enthusiastically in tasks, whether physical or social, even when frustrated (Lambert & Kelley, 2011).
Much of the work of this stage occurs through play. During play, young children experiment and practice new skills in a safe context and learn to work cooperatively with other children to achieve common goals. Children in all societies practice adult roles in play, such as mother, father, doctor, teacher, and police officer (Gaskins, 2014). For example, Hopi Indian children pretend to be hunters and potters, and the Baka of West Africa pretend to be hut builders and spear makers (Roopnarine, Lasker, Sacks, & Stores, 1998). The sense of pride that children feel from accomplishment fuels their play and fosters curiosity. Children become motivated to concentrate, persist, and try new experiences, such as climbing to the top of the monkey bars. Through play, children also learn how to manage their emotions and develop self-regulation skills (Goldstein & Lerner, 2018). Cultures differ in their expectations for children and the opportunities by which children can develop a sense of initiative and pride, as discussed in the Cultural Influences on Development feature.
During early childhood, children come to identify with their parents and internalize parental rules. Young children feel guilt when they fail to uphold rules and when they fail to achieve a goal. If parents are controlling—not permitting children to carry out their sense of purpos—or are highly punitive, critical, or threatening, children may not develop high standards and the initiative to meet them. Instead, children may be paralyzed by guilt and worry about their inability to measure up to parental expectations. They may develop an overly critical conscience and be less motivated to exert the effort to master new tasks.
Children who develop a sense of initiative demonstrate independence and act purposefully. Their success in taking initiative and the feeling of competence and pride that accompanies it contribute to young children’s developing sense of self.
Cultural Influences on Development
Children’s Participation in Household Work
Societies differ along many dimensions that have implications for children’s socioemotional development. Children in collectivist societies that foster group orientation tend to show more other-oriented behavior than do children in more individualist societies. For example, Israeli children from kibbutz communities, which typically emphasize communal living and high cooperation to meet shared goals, have been shown to display more prosocial, cooperative, and otherwise other-oriented behaviors compared with their urban-dwelling peers.
In a groundbreaking study of children in six cultures, Whiting and Whiting (1975) observed that children’s prosocial behavior varied with culture. Children in Mexico and the Philippines were more often observed offering help and support (e.g., by offering food, toys, and information) than were children in Okinawa, India, and the United States. Children in rural Kenya, the most traditional society of those studied, demonstrated the most pronounced levels of helpful behavior. The differences in prosocial behavior are influenced by cultural and contextual differences, such as the tendency for people to live together in extended families. The most prosocial children lived in cultures where the female role was important to the family’s economic well-being, and children were assigned chores and responsibilities at an early age and were expected to contribute to the family’s well-being.
Cultures vary widely in the degree to which children are expected to aid the family by participating in household and economic work—activities that offer opportunities for prosocial development (Lancy, 2008; Ochs & Izquierdo, 2009). Although Western industrialized societies tend to conceptualize childhood as an innocent, playful period free from labor, children in many societies participate extensively in household and economic labor. In these societies, adults naturally scale down responsibilities to match children’s developmental stage and capabilities (Lancy, 2008). Participation in work often begins by children simply being present and watching adults’ activities (Paradise & Rogoff, 2009). Young children and toddlers might perform simple tasks in close proximity to adults and later on their own (Ochs & Izquierdo, 2009). For example, Tarong parents express strong expectations for prosocial behavior and expect children as young as 3 or 4 years of age to contribute to household and wage labor by performing simple tasks such as pushing a baby’s hammock or helping string tobacco leaves (Guzman, Do, & Kok, 2014). Alternatively, children might engage in work alongside adults but be expected to produce less, as in the case of Mikea children in Madagascar who forage for edibles as part of adult groups but are not expected to accomplish the same level of success (Tucker & Young, 2005). Compared with able-bodied adults, children might gather younger tubers that are easier to dig for or gather and carry fewer nuts and fruits. Older Tarong children, at 6 or 7 years of age, are expected to participate in more sophisticated ways, such as tending to animals or helping to gather weeds, prepare food, or clean the home (Guzman et al., 2014). From these examples, we can see that cultures and economic environments vary dramatically in their expectations for children’s behavior, with implications for their development.
What Do You Think?
1 In your view, what role does participation in household work or responsibility play in prosocial development?
2 To what extent and in what ways should parents and other adults require children to participate in household work? What expectations are appropriate, in your view?
Participating in household work is one way in which children develop initiative, a sense of purpose and pride in their accomplishments.
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