Early Childhood Psychosocial Development PDF

Chapter 7:Early Childhood Psychosocial Development Learning Objectives: Early Childhood Psychosocial Development 1. Explain emotional development in early childhood. 2. Describe the attachment system in early childhood. 3. Explain how the caregiving system relates to prosocial behavior. 4. Explain the dominance system and aggression in early childhood. 5. Describe gender identity development in early childhood 6. Explain self-development and bodily awareness in early childhood. 7. Explain the development of conscience. 8. Explain self-regulation and how it develops. 9. Describe types of play and the importance of play. 10. Explain the importance of quality childcare and preschool. 11. Discuss the field of infant mental health. Emotional Development in Early Childhood Vulnerability Factors Figure 7-1. Cognitive behavioral model of emotions (adapted from (Rathus & Miller, 2014). In Chapter 5 you learned the names of the primary emotions and their connection to motivational systems. Now we present the cognitive behavioral model of emotions that applies to children, adolescents, and adults. Emotions are motivational states that arise in response to the situations individuals encounter. Remember that motivational states reflect the goals of the individual, both social and nonsocial. By motivational state we mean what the individual is trying to achieve in each situation. In simple animals that lack a brain, situations directly trigger action. Although it might seem to people like situations trigger actions, it is individuals’ appraisal of 164 situations that lead to action urges then action decisions. Appraisals are evaluations and judgments about the nature and meaning of a situation (Davis et al., 2023); they can be either conscious or nonconscious. Appraisals answer the question, “What is going on here?” then appraisals trigger: 1) body changes that prepare individuals to act and 2) emotional expression. Emotional awareness provides individuals with information about their appraisal of situations; for example, maybe that feared stranger is truly dangerous. Emotional expression provides information to others relevant to the threats and rewards that may be present in a situation. At about age 2, children demonstrate knowledge of the relationship between situations and emotions as applied to themselves and others. Children then learn that appraisal of situations with respect to desires, determines how they and others feel about a situation. In other words, typically developing 3-year-old children understand that an emotion indicates the meaning of a situation to an individual. Typically developing 4 and 5 year old children learn that in addition to desires, individuals’ beliefs about situations determine emotional responses (Harris, 2000). For example, a person who likes sweets might be happy to be given a cookie, but they also might be unhappy if they believed they were supposed to get chocolate cake. Four- year-old children can understand why the person who just got the cookie is unhappy. By at least age 5 children understand the link between thoughts and feelings (Lagattuta et al., 1997) and so should be able to participate in adapted cognitive behavioral therapy. Notice that details can be added to Figure 7-1 to diagram how a person responded to a given situation. The name for the emotion involved would be placed in the center of the diagram. Psychologists use the term “emotional scripts” to refer to common situations that elicit specific emotions. Some preschool children’s knowledge of emotion scripts is surprisingly sophisticated, and children develop increasing understanding of emotions between 3 and 6 years of age. Emotion words are used to represent the categories of experiences that can be diagramed in Figure 2 and described in “emotion scripts.” Children who learn emotion words then have a name to place in the diagram that represents the script. “Happy” is the first emotion word learned at 23 months; sad, mad, and scared are learned between 26 and 28 months (on average). Analysis of transcripts of mother-child interactions indicates that children learn more emotion words when mothers speak about emotions (Ogren & Sandhofer, 2021). Emotions are talked about in some families a lot more than in others. Some parents frequently name their child’s emotions and discuss situations associated with emotions. Children with this practice at home have a better understanding of emotion scripts (Harris, 2000; Ruba & Pollak, 2020). Children who score high in emotional understanding relative to peers at age 3 continue to score high at age 6 (Brown & Dunn, 1996). The stability of relative emotion knowledge is due in part to the stability of family styles. 165 Development of Pride In prior sections we emphasized that simple positive emotions like pleasure and/or joy go with activities that increase skills and grow the brain. All people have a need for competency and the satisfaction of this need, along with the appraisal, “I did it!” leads to pleasure and joy. Infants and toddlers show this joy of accomplishment that could be equated with pride. But it is not until after children use the words that indicate self- development (I, me, and mine) that appraisals associated with pride develop. The emotion pride signifies an appraisal of self, not just an appraisal of an action (Stipek, 1983). Preschool age children tend to overestimate their own control over events. They do not distinguish between their efforts and abilities, and they lack full understanding that a behavior or outcome leads to social approval. The experience of pride depends on these three cognitive developments, 1) judgement of control over events; 2) judgements regarding effort vs. ability and 3) judgements regarding behaviors that lead to social approval. Therefore, although preschool children express pride and can identify pride in others, this pride is not yet fully associated with social status; but it is associated with self-evaluation. Preschool children experience what emotion researchers call “authentic pride” that shows Source intrinsic motivation to gain skills as opposed to motivation to gain status (Stipek, 1983; Tracy & Robins, 2007). In sum, preschool children feel pride when they gain skills. Development of Embarrassment One form of embarrassment happens when people become aware they are the focus of others’ attention. This kind of embarrassment is similar to coyness and the facial expression shows a smile (Reddy, 2003). In one study, the majority of children under 24 months that showed embarrassment at being the object of another’s attention passed the mirror recognition test; but there were some young toddlers who showed embarrassment and did not pass the test (Lewis et al., 1989). In line with this finding more recent research documents facial expressions and behaviors consistent with embarrassment in infants under 6 months in response to attention from others (Reddy, 2003). Infants’ Source emotional reaction to being the focus of another’s attention is not surprising given the adaptive value of being able to attract the attention of caring adults. 166 During the preschool years children gain experience with whether being the object of other people’s attention is rewarding or punishing. At this time, self-evaluative embarrassment develops as an unpleasant emotion (Miller, 2007). Evaluative embarrassment indicates the child is aware of making unwanted impressions on others; and when evaluative embarrassment is triggered, preschool children show increases in stress hormones (Lewis & Ramsay, 2002). The Development of Shame and Guilt Shame and guilt develop last because the appraisals associated with these emotions require awareness of the minds of others and memory for standards of behavior. The important difference between shame and guilt is that shame stems from a negative evaluation of the self. Whereas guilt stems from a negative evaluation of a behavior. Shame causes people to feel less than, worthless, and powerless; and it makes them want to hide. Guilt on the other hand causes people to want to make amends and repair the wrong done (Tangney, 1995). Guilt can be thought of as a beneficial emotion because anticipation of guilt causes people to abide by their moral standards. Children who, due to temperament Source are more punishment sensitive or inhibited and fearful, easily develop guilt. Whereas children who are fearless and exuberant are at risk to develop insufficient guilt to restrain their behavior (Kochanska & Thompson, 1997). Guilt appears to arise from the BIS. Preschool children whose mothers are excessively punitive and not affectionate or encouraging experience more shame (Alessandri & Lewis, 1996). Preschool children with depression also experience increased shame. Furthermore they have guilt without motivation to repair the wrong and so their guilt is dysfunctional, like that of depressed adolescents and adults (Luby et al., 2009). Development of Jealousy and Envy The emotions we are discussing in this section are all powerful forces in people’s lives over the lifespan. This is no less true for envy and jealousy than it is for pride, embarrassment, shame, and guilt. Envy is different from jealousy. An envious person wants what another person has, whereas a jealous person is concerned about losing a loved one to a rival. Envious people want what they do not have, while jealous people are motivated to protect relationships they do have. To make appraisals that lead to envy a child must understand ownership of property and be able to recognize when another child has more. The desire for what the other child has is accompanied by a social comparison and feelings of inferiority and ill will. Recent cross cultural research identified envy in children as young as 3 (Quintanilla & de López, 2013). Preschool 167 children also show joy when listening to stories where an envied character loses the possession over which they were envied (Quintanilla & de López, 2013). Jealousy occurs in a triadic relationship between a jealous person, a beloved person and a rival. For children, jealousy is most often evoked when mother and/or father pay attention to a sibling or another child. Experimental studies show that infants as young as 8 months show this form of jealousy (Volling et al., 2010). Jealousy of a newborn sibling has been reported to occur in first born children over the age of 14 months. Some children are more prone to jealousy than others. Factors increasing jealousy include negative temperament, poor self-regulation and discord between mother and father. Sibling relationships are discussed further below. Social Behavioral Systems in Early Childhood You might notice here that the terms attachment system and caregiving system could refer to the relationship between a child and each caregiver. In this section we are using these terms and the terms dominance system and sexual system to refer to the child’s mind and behavior. The schemas or internal working models that are part of each of these systems are acquired through relationships with caregivers. In previous chapters we explained that the brain has circuits devoted to attachment, caregiving, dominance, and sex. As children gain life experiences, they develop mental models or schemas of the way they experience each of these life domains. Mental models lead to attachment styles, degree of prosocial orientation (caregiving style), dominance styles and during the preschool period, gender identity (the sexual system internal working model applied to self). We present a brief overview of how these systems develop and function in the preschool period. In later chapters we discuss stability and change in these systems over the lifespan. Social Cognition The ability to observe, describe and predict other people’s behavior grows by leaps and bounds during early childhood in accordance with brain development and social experiences. The “leaps” occur around age 4 when children demonstrate what researchers call theory of mind. Clinicians use the terms mentalization and reflective function to discuss and measure this same ability. Here, we describe how these concepts are defined and measured. While empathy and sympathy are emotions linked to the caregiving system, theory of mind is a cognitive capacity that impacts the working models and behavioral decisions 168 central to all four social behavioral systems. Theory of mind is the understanding that others have intentions, desires, beliefs, perceptions, and emotions different from one’s own and that these intentions, desires, and so forth affect people’s actions and behaviors (APA Dictionary of Psychology, n.d.). Three-year-old children think that others see, think, and feel the way they do. Piaget was the first to describe this phenomenon he called egocentrism. Although the common use of this term implies callousness or lack of empathy, egocentrism here refers only to cognition and not Figure 7-2. Mountain Test. emotions. Theory of mind can be assessed using the Mountain Test (Figure 7-2). The child is shown a 3-dimensional model of a mountain and asked, “What does the doll see?” Four-year-old children appreciate that the doll’s perspective of the mountain is different from their own, whereas 3-year-old children do not. Theory of Mind Component Definition Diverse desires Understanding that two people may have different desires regarding the same object. Diverse perspectives Understanding that two people may see an object differently depending on their location relative to the object. Diverse beliefs Understanding that two people may hold different beliefs about an object. Knowledge access Understanding that people may or may not have access to information. False belief Understanding that someone might hold a belief based on false information. Table 7-1 Components of Theory of Mind. Table 7-1 lists the components of theory of mind. The Mountain Test assesses whether children appreciate that objects look differently to different people who are positioned differently. Modern researchers study theory of mind using various false belief tasks. Figure 7-3 shows an example of a false belief task. Sally’s ball is moved to Anne’s basket when Sally is out of the room. When Sally comes back where will she look for the ball? These tasks ask children to predict or explain someone’s behavior when this behavior results from mistaken beliefs about: “(a) the location of an object that is moved while the (individual was absent), (b) the unexpected contents of a prototypical container, (c) the deceptive identity of an object, or (d) the erroneous beliefs of another individual” (Devine & Hughes, 2014). Most children can perform false belief tasks by age four. Performance on false belief tasks correlates with social competence (Razza & Blair, 2009). 169 Clinicians describe mentalization as the “ability to interpret the meaning of others’ behaviour by considering their underlying mental states and intentions, as well as the capacity to understand the impact of one’s own affects and behaviours on others. The terms mentalization and reflective function (RF) are used interchangeably, although RF was initially considered to refer to the measurement of mentalization as manifested within narratives regarding attachment relationships” (Tessier et al., 2016). Because RF is demonstrated through narrative descriptions, RF tasks depend on verbal ability. Whereas theory of mind tasks assess children’s perceptions of others’ perceptions of objects; in contrast, RF measures are more concerned with how others’ emotions are understood and explained. The ability to understand and mentally represent others’ emotions (mentalization) is thought to develop “in the context of primary attachment relationships, namely that between a mother and her child. Within this relationship, the mother transmits mentalization skills” which are dependent on the mother’s mentalization ability (Tessier et al., Figure 7-3. Sally–Anne task to test children’s ability to infer false beliefs 2016). Although maternal sensitivity and mentalization are correlated, they also independently predict infant attachment security (Zeegers et al., 2017). Attachment System Changes The mother-infant system changes over the first six years of life as the infant goes from complete dependence to being able to separate and retain a feeling of security. Remember, the purpose of the attachment system is to promote a feeling of safety― “all is OK; there is no basis for wariness, alarm, hesitation or reserve” (Greenberg et al., 1993, p. 473). At first security is obtained only through proximity to the caregiver. In early childhood the attachment relationship is “transformed into a goal directed partnership” (McConnell & Moss, 2011, p. 66, emphasis added). In this partnership, shared attention to interesting objects and events promotes a feeling of “we-ness.” Recent research has discovered just how important shared attention and shared fun are to toddler development (Serve and Return, n.d.). Shared activities teach the child that fun and exploration are things people do together. Assessment of attachment after 18 months considers shared attention and the quality of interactions between caregivers 170 and children as discussed below (McConnell & Moss, 2011). Without we-ness children learn to have fun alone and they do not come to value relationships as much. Infants and toddlers who feel safe explore the environment and grow their brains. As all children grow, they develop other sources of security. The behavioral inhibition system (BIS) comes to be regulated through self-regulation strategies and through rewards. Even young infants regulate distress through enjoying sucking a pacifier, exploring some part of their body, or looking at something interesting. Some toddlers are very driven to explore, these infants tend to be relatively fearless and so their reliance on caregivers for security is less. Other toddlers are more inhibited and rely on caregivers more. Beyond security, the mother-infant system teaches the young child the reward value of people. Security may be the first reward, but mothers and others are also fun and satisfy affiliative needs that extend beyond security (Leedom, 2014). An infant who develops “trust” can obtain security through being with people and will not rely as much on other strategies. The infant will also feel deep love for parents. Infants and toddlers who are distrustful and insecure have difficulty relying on caregivers to be a secure base or safe haven. These toddlers must cultivate other sources of security. All individuals try to regulate fear because it is an unpleasant state. The BIS (fear) can be regulated two ways: 1) through self-regulation strategies and 2) through engagement of other reward systems including attachment. Although many caregivers want their children to be “independent” and “self-reliant,” for some these apparent strengths come at the expense of valuing people. Children who do not value their parents enough are not motivated to follow parental directions. They may also try to control their parents to make sure their needs are met. It is important for students, clinicians, and caregivers to understand that the way to promote healthy independence is for the adults in the child’s life to be a source of reward rather than a source of fear/anxiety. Toddlers who intensely explore, learn to ignore their fear or they just don’t have much fear (due to temperament). To these toddlers people are less rewarding for two reasons: 1) people do not satisfy security needs and 2) people are not as much of a source of joy/fun. Here we are talking about how young children come to value people versus things; the balance of valuing is a continuum (higher to lower) that shapes personality. Young children who value things are more likely to compete for things. Hence, they practice dominance behaviors and strategies from an early age. Also remember that the caregiving system including empathy develops from the attachment system. Toddlers with less empathy have less motivation to restrain dominance strategies. The end result is that some young children learn to obtain security and reward through social dominance and resource control (Hilburn- Cobb, 2004; Johnson et al., 2012; Leedom, 2006). 171 How can attachment be assessed after age 2? The relationships infants have with their caregivers are clearly different from those of children in early childhood because the child’s needs change dramatically over the first 6 years of life. Attachment researchers have therefore adjusted the definition of attachment classifications to fit more mature relationships. The original Strange Situation protocol that includes separations of 3 minutes can only be used until 18 months because distress at separation decreases (Solomon & George, 2008). Protocols for preschool include longer separations and assess the quality of the “goal directed partnership”. These include the Cassidy-Marvin system, the Preschool Assessment of Attachment, and the Main-Cassidy system (Solomon & George, 2008). In addition to these laboratory or clinic assessments, the Attachment Q-sort is used to assess behavior in the home. This tool consists of 90 items that describe behaviors consistent with the four attachment classifications. How stable is attachment classification between 9 and 72 months? Although the Strange Situation measure of attachment is reliable and valid over the first 18 months of life, the connection between this measure and preschool measures of attachment is not clear. For example, preschool children categorized with avoidant and disorganized attachment show dominance behavior toward the caregiver (Solomon & George, 2008). Attachment researchers have not yet integrated their observations with findings regarding dominance styles and so measures of attachment also measure dominance. It is better to view measures of attachment in preschool as measures of the quality of the relationship. Although important maternal behaviors such as sensitivity and responsiveness predict attachment security during the first two years, mothering can change as lives become stressful or as mothers grow emotionally. Because people and circumstances change, attachment classifications change (McConnell & Moss, 2011). The most stability seen in studies is 84%, though some studies have found near zero stability. Students and clinicians should not regard attachment related behavior to be an unchanging part of a child’s developing personality. Instead, it is useful to find strategies to help caregivers increase warmth, sensitivity, and responsiveness, if these are low; and to increase confidence for caregivers who are not assertive enough with limits. Parent child relationships allow children to practice the difficult task of balancing me-ness with we-ness. Caregiving System: Capacities, Internal Working Models and Behaviors The caregiving system enables altruism in humans― caring for others at a cost to the self (Preston, 2013). Emotional empathy, a component of this system is present in the first year of life and continues to develop throughout preschool. To review, empathy occurs when a person feels similarly to what another person is feeling. If the other feels pain or distress, then the perceiver may be overwhelmed by their own emotional reaction and unable to respond (Eisenberg, 2010). Empathy responding then depends on self-regulation. Sympathy is different from empathy. A sympathetic person feels 172 sorry for or concerned about the other’s distress. Sympathy develops after age two as children become increasingly aware of other people and their feelings. Although sex differences in emotional empathy are not pronounced in the infant-toddler period they begin to appear during early childhood (Eisenberg & Lennon, 1983). The cause of sex differences in empathy is likely an interaction between biology and experience. Caregivers tend to reinforce emotional capacities in girls more than in boys. Measurement of empathy is difficult because caregiver reports likely reflect the parent- child relationship and empathy tasks require cognitive development (Howe et al., 2008). Prosocial or helping behavior is easier to measure than empathy per se. Keep in mind that children who fail to help others in an experiment or preschool setting, may experience empathy but feel overwhelmed and/or not know what to do. Prosocial behavior Prosocial behaviors are voluntary acts that benefit others (Eggum et al., 2011). Empathy and sympathy motivate prosocial behavior which increases steadily between 2 and 6 years of age (Fabes & Eisenberg, 1998). A norm of helping is established for the majority of children by age 5 (Paulus et al., 2020). In other words, most five-year-old children will say that they should help another person who is in need. Individual differences in empathy, sympathy, and prosocial behavior are also evident throughout the preschool period. Genetic influence on prosocial behavior is found beginning at age three. On a group level, 30-40% of individual differences are linked to genetics and the remainder to non- shared environmental influences (Knafo-Noam et al., 2018). This means that individual relationships and other experiences children have influence prosocial emotions and behavior more than the general family or community environment. Prosocial behaviors can be categorized as helping, sharing, and comforting. While helping behavior is strongly influenced by non-shared environment, sharing and comforting show a stronger genetic effect (Knafo-Noam et al., 2018). It is important to recognize that environmental influence on all of these is considerable. Maltreatment by caregivers during the preschool period decreases prosocial behavior even among children who were not maltreated in the infant-toddler period (Jaffee & Maikovich-Fong, 2011). The early sensitive period for emotional and social development extends at least to age six. Caregiving Behavior and Prosocial Orientation Prosocial orientation describes individuals’ capacity for empathy and sympathy along with their performance of prosocial behaviors (Eggum et al., 2011). Figure 7-4 summarizes important determinants of prosocial orientation. Caregiver warmth is measured by smiling, affectionate touch and tone of voice as well as encouraging words. Warmth facilitates prosocial orientation by helping children learn how to be happy and enjoy other people (warmth promotes we-ness). The opposite of warmth is 173 negativity. Negativity includes harsh discipline, expressed disappointment and criticism. Warmth and negativity for mothers and fathers is only somewhat stable throughout early childhood; and at any given time point mothers’ warmth and negativity tend to correlate with fathers’ warmth and negativity (Daniel et al., 2016). Warmth and negativity at a given time point predict children’s prosocial behavior (warmth increases, negativity decreases prosocial behavior). Figure 7-4. Experiences and strengths that contribute to individuals’ prosocial orientation Those who work with families should be aware of the importance of parental warmth and help promote positive attitudes toward children. Similarly, daycare and preschool staff should be trained to be warm and supportive. Self-reflection on one’s own warmth can assist parents and professionals. Minding the Baby™(MTB) and Circle of Security ParentingTM (COSP) are interventions that promote caregiver and practitioner self-reflection. MTB and COSP also target caregiver sensitivity and responsiveness. Sensitivity means empathizing with the child’s experience and knowing what the child needs. Responsiveness means following through with providing for the child’s needs. Sensitive and responsive parenting predict prosocial orientation (Spinrad & Gal, 2018). Parents and other caregivers can also support prosocial orientation by teaching emotion knowledge. This teaching includes supporting child perspective taking, teaching emotion words and discussing emotion scripts (Eggum et al., 2011). The caregiving practices in Figure 7-4 (warmth, sensitivity and responsiveness, and emotion teaching) directly increase prosocial behavior. Beyond this direct effect, positive caregiving also supports child strengths including self-regulation, empathy/sympathy and emotion 174 understanding. These strengths independently predict prosocial orientation (Spinrad & Gal, 2018). Dominance System Changes and Continuity Behavioral systems organize behavior so that individuals can achieve their goals. The attachment system organizes behavior that enables children to get their emotional and physical needs met through others who are bigger, stronger, and wiser. Working models of the attachment system that lead to trust include schemas of caring by more powerful others. Hierarchy is therefore represented in the attachment system such that the child is subordinate. The dominance system organizes the behaviors that individuals use to get what they want from others in competitive situations. In the second year, children begin to learn that they can get their needs met with various forms of aggression so they may step out of their subordinate position. Prosocial orientation and self-regulation skills act to restrain domineering behavior and aggression towards caregivers and others. Temper Tantrums Temper tantrums are episodes of shouting, screaming, crying, falling to the floor, flailing extremities, hitting, kicking, and throwing items that may last 15 minutes or more. During episodes children may also head bang or hold their breath to the point passing out (Daniels et al., 2012). Adults react negatively to these episodes that typify what some refer to as “a spoiled child.” Caregivers may justify withholding of care as a means of preventing spoiling. If you have followed our discussion of development so far you may immediately see a problem with the spoiled child concept. When caregivers do not sufficiently meet young children’s needs, children do not learn schemas of care, nor do they develop a prosocial orientation. Without prosocial orientation, children may have little motivation to restrain anger and aggression and the result may be temper tantrums. Temperamental traits including reward responsiveness and low inhibitory control (Chapter 5) may also contribute to tantrums. Frequent tantrums do not necessarily reflect parenting. About 5%–7% of children between 1 and 3 years of age have temper tantrums three or more times per week; 20% of 2-year-olds, 18% of 3-year-olds, and 10% of 4-year-olds have at least one temper tantrum every day. Temper tantrums normally decline over early childhood as children develop self-regulation skills (Daniels et al., 2012). Figure 7- 1 presents the model of emotions that can be used to understand temper tantrums. Vulnerability factors including being tired, hungry, or ill, are important to the cause of tantrums because these decrease the child’s ability to regulate emotions. Tantrums occur in situations where children are prevented from doing what they want, asked to do something they don’t want to do, or are trying to get the parent’s attention. The best way to deal with tantrums is to prevent them from happening. Caregivers should reduce vulnerability factors and try to avoid the situations that 175 trigger their child. If a tantrum starts, the best thing to do is ignore it, otherwise the caregiver risks reinforcing the tantrum. Children can be gently held until they are calm to prevent injury to self or others. The goal is to teach the value of emotion regulation and emotion regulation skills. Verbal and physical aggression directed toward the child do not serve that goal. Further evaluation is indicated when tantrums occur in school, after age 5, or are associated with injury to the child or property. It is also important to consider whether the child has sleep problems, aggression issues or excessive anxiety (Daniels et al., 2012). Oppositional and Defiant Behavior Oppositional Behaviors "Often" Defined Often loses temper 2–3 times/day Often argues with adults 2 times/week Often actively defies 5 times/week Often deliberately annoys people 5 times/week Often blames others Once a week Often touchy or easily annoyed Once in 3 months Often angry and resentful Once a day Often spiteful or vindictive 3 times/3 months Table 7-2. Behaviors of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) along with frequency needed to diagnose this disorder in preschool children (Egger & Angold, 2006). Temper tantrums can occur in the context of a pattern of oppositional and defiant behavior (Egger & Angold, 2006). Table 7-2 shows oppositional and defiant behaviors that can warrant the diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) in preschool children. These behaviors occur occasionally in every child; “disorder” is diagnosed when behaviors occur more frequently than in 90% of children of this age. Arguing with and defying caregivers is part of early childhood as children are learning to assert themselves within the context of loving relationships―they are learning to balance “me- ness” with “we-ness.” When defiant behaviors occur too much, they indicate a problem with the “goal directed partnership” that should define relationships with caregivers. Notice that anger and mood instability co-occur with defiance in ODD suggesting that emotion dysregulation can play a role in defiance. Most children do respect and listen to their parents and other caregivers. Excessive dominance is a sign that the child has not developed enough of a prosocial orientation. Figure 7-4 teaches us that children showing excessive dominance require warm, sensitive, and responsive caregiving and teaching of emotion knowledge. They also benefit from learning self-regulation skills. Parents and preschool teachers may have difficulty sympathizing with the defiant child enough to appreciate the child’s need for warmth and affection. Although oppositional children do need caregivers to be 176 bigger, stronger, and wiser, they also need caregivers to be kind. Caregivers who are kind model the prosocial orientation the child needs to learn. Dominance Behavior with Peers Among two peers, social dominance results when one child can control a valued resource. Children who are larger or more assertive may be able to take things from other children by intimidation or aggression (coercive strategies). If children are more evenly matched, prosocial strategies for control include asserting, sharing, and helping. Resources such as admirable abilities, attractiveness, family status, friends, and alliance partners are sources of leverage. These resources cannot be taken by force, but some may be cultivated. Sources of leverage can enable children to better assert themselves and reduce the need for coercive strategies. Preschool children can use both dominance and leverage strategies to gain power (Hawley et al., 2007). Preschool children have schemas of their own and others’ abilities to take resources by force. They understand that larger children and those with alliance partners have more power (Roberts et al., 2020). Studies of preschool children reveal that power differentials are an important part of social relationships even at this age. On beginning a new school year children use more coercive strategies to achieve resource control. Then once children become familiar with each other and the hierarchy is established, rates of aggression decline, and children use more prosocial strategies. Dominant children also use reconciliation behaviors to repair relationships damaged by aggression. Dominant children tend to be described as well-liked by peers (Roseth et al., 2007). During preschool there are no sex differences in dominance. In one study (Hawley, 2002), preschool teachers identified children they believed to be dominant. These children controlled valued toys in over 70% of observed interactions using both prosocial and aggressive strategies. Dominant children used prosocial strategies twice as often as aggressive strategies. Hawley (2002, p. 173) offers the following story to illustrate preschooler use of prosocial resource control: At the onset of an observed play session, a child announced to her play partner that they should take turns catching fish and that she would begin. With some effort she caught a fish and then delivered the fishing rod to the other child at his urging. After a few seconds, she began to physically guide his hand (i.e., unsolicited help) until she commandeered the fishing rod altogether. She eventually caught a fish and announced, ‘‘we caught your fish, now it’s my turn’’. After she caught a fish she offered in a friendly manner to catch ‘‘his’’ fish for him, and so on. In this way, she occupied the primary role 80% of the time. In preschool settings, five dominance styles can be distinguished: bistrategic controllers use both prosocial and coercive strategies at high frequency; prosocial controllers use a high frequency of prosocial strategies; coercive controllers use a 177 high frequency of coercive strategies; typical controllers use prosocial and coercive strategies at low frequency; and non-controllers do not try to control resources (Hawley et al., 2007). While coercive controllers are often rejected by peers, bistrategic controllers who show the same level of aggression are prominent and liked by peers. Teachers also judge children who are bistrategic controllers to be more attractive than they appear to others who don’t know them. Teachers rate coercive controllers as unattractive (Hawley et al., 2007). These results indicate that even in preschool, prosocial behaviors create good will that masks the negative impact of aggression used in competition. The use of aggressive strategies leads to peer rejection only for individuals who fail to use prosocial strategies. Aggression Decreases in Early Childhood In the second year of life children begin to use physical aggression to defend themselves or to compete for resources. At this early age children have not yet learned prosocial strategies for resource control, and they may lack the ability to inhibit their own aggressive urges. Parents were asked how frequently their child bites, kicks; fights; and bullies other children (Tremblay, 2002) (Figure 7-5). While the most aggressive toddlers tend to remain the most aggressive preschoolers, data collected from nearly 20,000 Canadian families indicates that aggression peaks at age 2 years and then declines throughout preschool. Higher rates of aggression are seen in children who have siblings, and who had a history of difficult temperament and coercive parenting. “If Figure 7-5. Rates of Aggression by age. children normally learn not to be physically aggressive during the preschool years, then one would expect that interventions that target (young children) who are at high risk of chronic physical aggression would have more of an impact than interventions 5 to 10 years later, when physical aggression has become a way of life” (Tremblay et al., 2004, p.e50). Deception Deception is one way to gain an advantage in the competition for resources. Lying individuals have power over others if they are believed (Leedom, 2017). While a three- year-old child might try to deny they did something that was forbidden (no I did not eat the cookie), they cannot engage in more sophisticated deception. It is not until age 4 or 5 that children have the theory of mind skills required for deception. To see a video that demonstrates the connection between deception and theory of mind skills visit YouTube Theory of Mind- Inhibition and TOM Tasks. 178 Sexual System Term Definition Sex Physical attributes associated with maleness and femaleness Gender The cultural, social, and psychological meanings associated with masculinity and femininity Gender Constancy Sense of the permanence of categorical sex. Gender Identity A person’s sense of self as a member of a particular gender. Gender Schemas The beliefs and knowledge that individuals form about gender Gender Stereotypes Generalized view or preconception about attributes, or characteristics that are or ought to be possessed by women and men or the roles that are or should be performed by men and women. Gender Roles The expectations regarding activities and interests associated with being male or female. Table 7-3. Terms associated with sexual development. Early childhood is the time in life when individuals learn about gender and apply gender concepts to themselves. From birth, children are surrounded by maleness and femaleness as categories. Children also actively seek out information as they construct schemas of their world, including gender schemas. They observe regularities in dress and behavior that go along with other physical aspects of males and females. Around the second birthday, children can label people as male or female; this labeling shows they have acquired rudimentary gender schemas. Toy preferences that correspond to sex assigned at birth increase dramatically between ages 2 and 3. Between ages 3 and 4 children learn that gender is a stable characteristic of people and by the end of early childhood they understand this stable quality is unchanging as applied to themselves (I am a girl/boy and I will always be a girl/boy). Once children realize that gender is a stable characteristic, they apply gender stereotypes to themselves and acquire gender identity. By age 3 many children strongly prefer clothing that accentuates gender differences. For example, girls insist on wearing pink dresses and bows in their hair. This gendered behavior is an expression of the development of gender identity which also coincides with same sex imitation, same sex activity, and attention to same sex models. During preschool, both boys and girls tend to have positive attitudes toward their own gender. Although children perceive the power differential between men and women, this power differential does not appear to affect their attitudes until later in development. At the start of preschool, children show a play preference for same sex partners. Segregation into same sex play groups is thought to be biologically based because segregation occurs in other primates (monkeys and apes) and all human societies. By preschool, children spend most of their time with same sex peers. Large gender differences in play and play group behavior are also observed as discussed below. 179 Caregivers Behave Differently with Boys and Girls A trip to the department store proves that boys and girls may be provided different furniture, bedsheets, toothbrushes, combs and hairbrushes, cups and plates, and toys. These items targeted at preschool age children often provide aggressive models to boys and sexualized models to girls. Typically, fathers encourage gender-typed activities and play during early childhood when gender identity is developing. But both parents play and speak differently to boys and girls. Caregivers talk more with girls and are more physical with boys. When only certain types of toys and play are allowed, children’s development may be “channeled” in a way that limits them. For example, if girls are not provided with opportunities to use blocks or Legos their spatial skills may not fully develop. Alternatively, boys may be deprived of opportunities to practice caring behaviors and gain emotional knowledge. Self-Development In Chapter 3 you learned that the first behavior is reflexive, and that self-awareness gradually develops over the first two years of life. Toddlers can recognize themselves in the mirror and then express self-referential emotions of pride, embarrassment, shame and guilt. Self-awareness, self-concepts, self-esteem, and self-regulation become more sophisticated during early childhood due to growth of parts of the cerebral cortex and children’s social experiences. Remember one principle of early development is that the brain grows and then its structure is shaped by experiences. Recent research findings show that caregivers can do a great deal to assist children with self- development. Bodily Self-Awareness “The feeling of inhabiting a body is fundamental for self-experience” (Gottwald et al., 2021, p. 351). Individuals attend to, observe, and perceive the world around them. They can also attend to, observe, and perceive their own body. Notice that selective attention enables perception of both the environment and the body. Just as sense organs enable vision, hearing, touch, taste, and smell; sense organs within the body enable individuals to monitor their own bodies. These sense organs encode information regarding body position and movement, thirst, 'air hunger,' affective touch, itch, pain, genital stimulation, coolness, warmth, muscle fatigue, heartbeat, and distension of the bladder, esophagus, stomach, and rectum (Craig, 2009). Affective touch is a special kind of touch, with receptors located on the external surface of the body that connect to a part of the brain called the insula. In fact, all the 180 sense organs that encode body information project to the insula which is now known to be the site of interoceptive awareness (Craig, 2009). Affective touch provides information about the external boundary of the body and is also connected to the experience of pleasure with affectionate touch (Löken et al., 2009). In addition to processing sensory information about the body, the insula is critical to the experience of emotion (Lamm & Singer, 2010). Review Figure 7-1 and notice that interoceptive awareness is part of emotional experience. Clinical and educational interventions aimed at increasing interoceptive awareness in preschool children have been developed and are even being promoted by the Department for Education, South Australia (Goodall, 2020). But there is very little research investigating how interoception functions in young children. Two research groups have developed methods for studying young children’s heartbeat awareness and these studies show individual differences in this capacity that correlate with self-regulation (Schaan et al., 2019; Yang et al., 2022). Figure 7-6. Preschool Australian One goal of yoga is to improve interoceptive awareness child practicing Yoga. and yoga can be adapted for preschool classrooms (Figure 7-7). In preliminary studies Yoga increased interoceptive awareness, interpersonal behavior and self-regulation in preschool children (Wengrovius, 2022). A recent meta- analysis found 10 randomized controlled studies of Yoga and/or bodily awareness interventions for preschool children. Overall, the interventions were effective in improving children’s self-regulation (Sun et al., 2021). Dr. Emma Goodall has developed materials for use by early childhood educators (see Interoception as a proactive tool to decrease challenging behavior) she also operates a YouTube Channel. Body Self-Concepts The self-concept is a consistent representation of the self. Body self-concept means a mental picture of the body relative to other people’s bodies and other objects. Although 90% of children recognize themselves in the mirror at 24 months, they do not yet have accurate body concepts. Parents are often amused by toddlers who try to sit on toy furniture or put on doll clothes. These children are not trying to be funny; they do not accurately perceive and represent the relative size of their own bodies relative to these objects. Brownell, Zerwas, and Ramani (2007, p.1436) studied children’s use of small objects in the laboratory and observed that children “would try different ways to fit into the doll-size car or through the too small door, first with their head, then with a hand (or arm), and finally with a foot (or leg). Children also often removed their shoes when their first attempts to slide down the doll-size slide or to slip into the small car foot-first didn’t work.” The ability to reflect on one’s own body as an object in relation to other objects in the world develops by about 30 months. 181 Researchers have created and validated illustrations that show young boys and girls with differing levels of body fat. These pictures can be used to assess how preschool children think and feel about their own bodies. Studies using these pictures demonstrate that young children do not accurately estimate their own bodies. There is no trend for either gender in over as opposed to under estimation of body fat (León et al., 2021; Tatangelo et al., 2016). Although children may report dissatisfaction with their bodies, this is usually because they wish they were bigger (more grown up) (León et al., 2021). Overweight children are not more likely to be dissatisfied with their own bodies (Tatangelo et al., 2016). Even though young children want to be bigger, many express negative attitudes toward obese people. Preschool girls may already equate being thin with beauty (Tatangelo et al., 2016). Other Self-Concepts Preschool children’s experiences with their own reactions and actions enable them to develop other self-concepts. Caregivers also assist children with development of self- concepts as they talk about their observations and memories of the child (Q. Wang et al., 2010). Preschool children have self-concepts they apply to their capacities and skills including academic, athletic, and peer competence (Marsh et al., 2002). However, these self-concepts may not be accurate due to the cognitive immaturity of this age. Self- concepts affect motivation to do things because people try to live up to their self- concepts. Those who believe they are good at things are more likely to want to do those activities. Skills then improve with practice. For this reason, understanding how children feel about themselves is important. Children with low motor competence and physical fitness may have negative athletic self-concepts which may decrease their engagement in physical activity (Duncan et al., 2018). Children’s academic self-concepts also correlate with their academic achievement (Mantzicopoulos, 2006). Children’s concepts regarding their own peer competence do not always correlate with measures of their actual competence. Boys who consistently overrate their academic and peer competence are more at-risk to develop behavior problems (Mathias et al., 2011). By age 5, children demonstrate self-concepts related to their psychological characteristics including emotional disposition, and tendency toward anxiety or depression (Measelle et al., 1998; Sticker et al., 2021). Researchers have developed the Berkeley Puppet Interview to ask Figure 7-7. Iggy: I have lots of friends. Ziggy: I don’t have lots of friends young children questions about the way they feel Iggy: How about you? about aspects of themselves and their lives. With this method two puppets (Iggy and Ziggy (Figure 7-8)) talk about themselves then ask children questions in a nonthreatening way. This has turned out to be a valid and 182 reliable method for finding out how young children experience not only themselves but also symptoms of anxiety, depression, and aggression (Ringoot et al., 2013). “Self-esteem has been defined as the positive or negative attitudes about the self, the degree of liking of or satisfaction with the self, and one’s feeling of perceived worth as compared with others” (Davis-Kean & Sandler, 2001, p. 888). Young children’s reported self-evaluations tend to be global, positive and optimistic (Mantzicopoulos, 2006). Measuring self-esteem in young children has proven difficult (hence the need for puppets) and studies are lacking; self-esteem in children is discussed for middle childhood in Chapter 10 (Davis-Kean & Sandler, 2001). By that age children can self- report more reliably using Likert scales. Development of Conscience― The Moral Self Understanding of moral development is important to criminal justice and health sciences students because problems with moral development predict criminal offending and externalizing disorders. Conscience is a psychological construct defined as an individual’s emotional and cognitive sense of right and wrong. For conscience to develop, children must learn standards of conduct and make these standards part of their self-concept. (“I am a good person because …”) Psychologists use the terms socialization and internalization to refer to the process by which children adopt the standards and values of their parents and community. Grazyna Kochanska along with her students at the University of Iowa has contributed much to scientific understanding of conscience development in early childhood (Kochanska & Thompson, 1997). She considers conscience to be a function that organizes “four components” including 1) moral emotions (shame, guilt, remorse, pride, embarrassment) and empathy/ sympathy; 2) self-control capacities; 3) motivational processes; 4) cognitive understanding of behavioral standards. In our view, self-control is part of self-regulation and enables individuals to behave in accordance with their conscience. We consider self-regulation to be an independent developmental domain and describe it in the next section. Kochanska, citing Maccoby (1984) considers the motivational component of conscience to be the child’s “enduring stance toward the caregiver’s values and standards, or their receptiveness to (parental influence)” (1997, p. 53). We believe that this motivational component simply reflects the child’s love for parents and others. We note that researchers have referred to aspects of this same motivation as prosocial orientation. To assist students in thinking about the domains of development, we use the phrase Ability to Love to refer to children’s love for caregivers and others that also includes their degree of prosocial orientation. It follows that we (and others) define conscience as the combination of moral emotions and cognitive understanding of standards of conduct (Thompson et al., 2006). Together moral emotions and moral cognitions as applied to the self, form the moral self-concept. 183 Standards of Conduct Philosophers and researchers have identified three important moral principles: care, equity (fairness), and justice. For all principles emotions develop first and then thoughts about moral actions. For example, empathy and sympathy lead to helping and sharing behavior. Children that share and feel good about sharing learn a social rule, “people should share.” Once they have learned the rule, they object when others break it and they may feel guilty if they break it. The presence of guilt indicates a child has learned moral rules. Older human development textbooks emphasize moral reasoning ability and so greatly underestimate moral behavior in young children. Moral emotions clearly develop before moral reasoning and many studies link moral emotions to the development of moral reasoning (Malti et al., 2016). Care, Equity, and Justice: Perceptions and Schema Ideas about care and helping derive from empathy and sympathy and so develop first. As discussed eariler, two-year-old children offer help. Toddlers help others they have witnessed having something taken from them even when that person does not express sadness (Vaish et al., 2009). They are also more likely to provide rewards to a puppet previously observed as helpful and to take rewards from a puppet who had previously acted harmfully (Thompson et al., 2006). These studies can be interpreted as indicating that at age two, children can judge the actions of others as harmful or helpful and they have emotional reactions that go along with these judgements. Even though three-year- old children do not perform well in theory of mind experiments, they do understand the concept of others’ intentions. They judge harmful actions as wrong if individuals do them intentionally more than when the same action happens by accident (Núñez & Harris, 1998). There are two ways to look at fairness. Equality says that resources should be shared equally whereas equity says that resources should be distributed according to deservingness based on effort or need. Four and five year old children more frequently endorse equal distributions whereas older children understand equity and deservingness (Smith & Warneken, 2016). Although the emotions of most children between 2 and 6 shape their cognition about care and fairness, children of this age do not have cognitive understanding of justice (Riedl et al., 2015). Social Domain Theory Is wearing pajamas to school just as wrong as taking another child’s cookie? According to Social Domain Theory, the first rule (about appropriate clothing) is a conventional rule, and the second rule (about taking) is a moral rule. Conventional rules consist of manners and ways of doing things like how a person dresses, grooms and eats. These rules tend to vary with culture and don’t involve protecting others’ welfare. Moral rules involve care, equity and justice and vary less by culture. Parents talk about both conventional rules and moral rules with preschool children. Talk of moral rules is often accompanied by pointing out the impact of breaking the rule on others, “John felt bad when someone took his cookie.” The observation that even preschool children know the 184 difference between conventional and moral rules shows that moral emotions, especially empathy and sympathy are important to the development of moral cognition. Moral Self-Concepts In common with other self-concepts, moral self-concepts develop as children gain experience interacting with others. These schema result from memories of how individuals thought, felt, and behaved during morally relevant situations. They are also shaped by discussions with parents and other caregivers (Kochanska & Thompson, 1997). Around age 4 children experience a stage-like increase in their ability to self- reflect that corresponds with their understanding of other people’s perspectives and their own ability to use deception (Allen & Bickhard, 2018). This enhanced ability to self-reflect, enables the development of more sophisticated self-concepts, especially the moral self-concept by age 5 (Sticker et al., 2021). Three distinct types of prosocial behavior have been identified 1) helping (in response to perceived need), 2) comforting (in response to perceived distress) and 3) sharing (in response to perceived need). Research using the Berkeley Puppet Interview in combination with laboratory tasks shows that a child’s moral self-concept predicts comforting and sharing behavior but not helping behavior (Sticker et al., 2021). These results support the idea that helping can be a prosocial dominance strategy as well as a caring strategy (Hawley, 1999). Sharing and comforting behaviors are caregiving strategies. As we explore the lifespan you will see that some adults adopt a purely prosocial dominance strategy of which helping behaviors are prominent. Individuals that achieve social prominence using prosocial strategies avoid the moral conflicts that can arise with resource control. Self-Regulation Development of a range of self-regulation skills during early childhood enables children to function in school and with peers because they can behave in accordance with social norms. Self-regulation skills have been studied by different researchers under different names using different methods (Table 7-4). Students and clinicians not familiar with the terms used may have trouble putting all the findings together. Studies that have used multiple methods find that self-regulation constructs overlap and so correlate. Executive function and effortful control have similar definitions but are measured differently and may be different terms for the same capacities (Rothbart et al., 2007). Compliance is the degree to which the child uses self-regulation to accomplish tasks when requested to do so. Compliance measures both ability and motivation to use the ability in response to adult requests. A non-compliant child may lack self-regulation skills or may be dominant and resistant to authority. 185 Self-Regulation Definition and Measurement Constructs Emotion Regulation Strategies for managing emotions; Caregiver report and laboratory tasks Executive Functions (Cool) Processes that enable individuals to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and manage tasks; Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) Test Executive Attention The ability to regulate to regulate attention in situations that present conflicting demands; Stroop Test, HTKS Working Memory The ability to retain information in mind and manipulate it in some manner; Digit Span Test Inhibitory Control The ability to suppress a thought, action, or feeling Executive Function (Hot) Suppression of impulses to pursue immediate reward; Delay of gratification; Marshmallow Test Effortful Control Part of temperament, includes inhibitory control, the ability to focus and shift attention, and sensitivity to, and pleasure in, low-intensity stimuli; Measured by caregiver report Compliance Use of learned standards of conduct to help regulate behavior when asked; Clean-up Tasks, Caregiver report Table 7-4. Terms used in studies of self-regulation Emotion Regulation Emotion regulation is the term used for all the strategies individuals use to manage their emotions so they can accomplish their goals. These strategies may be automatic or intentional and can increase, decrease, or sustain positive or negative emotions. There are two phases in the lifespan where the balance between emotion and cognition is tipped in favor of emotions― early childhood and then adolescence. During these life phases individuals experience strong emotions that can be overwhelming. Those with good emotion regulation skills are more successful during all phases of life but skills are especially important during early childhood and adolescence. Look again at Figure 7-1 to consider when and how strategies can be used to regulate emotions (Table 7-5). Strategies can be applied before a situation starts. Individuals can avoid vulnerability by getting enough sleep, eating well, getting exercise, and resting when they are ill. Individuals can also avoid triggering situations (Gross, 1998). The term co-regulation rather than self-regulation applies during early childhood because young children need caregivers to help them reduce vulnerability and use other strategies. Individuals can alter responses to triggering situations by changing their thoughts about the situation. They can also practice awareness of themselves and their 186 urges enough to tolerate the emotion and make effective decisions about urges. It helps to understand that emotions are temporary states of mind that tend not to last long. Strategy Name Definition Self-Care Sleep, diet, exercise, and illness behavior Avoidance Avoid situations that evoke strong emotions Comforting Self-soothing and seeking support from others Instrumental Using words and actions to manage the emotion Distractions Attention to an alternative stimulus Cognitive Reappraisal Changing thoughts about the situation Table 7-5. Emotion regulation strategies (Stansbury & Sigman, 2000). From age 2 through 6 children’s use of emotion regulation skills increases and children use more advanced emotion regulation skills. Early on self-soothing and seeking support from others are the primary strategies used. By 6 years of age children become more competent at changing their thoughts about situations to change their emotions. One function of emotion is communication of one’s goal state. Early in life children learn that this communication might be either not socially appropriate or not to their advantage. Display rules dictate when, where and with whom one should display or hide an emotional reaction (Misailidi, 2006). There are two classes of display rules, prosocial (not upsetting someone else) and self-protective (avoiding unwanted social attention). Knowledge and use of display rules begins between 5 and 6 years of age. At this time many children possess sufficient emotion-regulation skills to hide their feelings (Misailidi, 2006). In early childhood, up to 43% of individual differences in emotion regulation can be traced to genetic factors; the remainder of the variability is due to non-shared environmental factors (M. Wang, 2013). Intelligence, emotion knowledge and verbal skills correlate with emotion regulation skills. Emotion regulation skills in turn predict peer skills and academic performance (Harrington et al., 2020). Children as young as 3 and 4 are aware of skills used to regulate emotions and can identify skills for use with particular emotions (Dennis & Kelemen, 2009). Methods for Enhancing Emotion Regulation in Early Childhood Three methods are used to enhance all self-regulation skills. These are influence, model, and teach. Influence refers to the family and school environment. Is it calming and peaceful or overstimulating? Influence can be through the lighting and general environment and through books and electronic media the child is exposed to. One study found that second hand smoke and TV noise predict emotion dysregulation (Oloye & Flouri, 2021). Model refers to adults children are exposed to. Do these individuals model effective emotion regulation, effective emotional expression, and emotion regulation strategies? Teach refers to direct teaching of emotional scripts and emotion 187 regulation strategies. Parenting education programs emphasize five aspects of emotion coaching 1) increasing children's emotional awareness; 2) supporting children who are emotionally dysregulated; 3) teaching names for emotions; 4) validation of emotional experience; 5) helping children problem-solve during emotional experiences (Moltrecht et al., 2020). Executive Function and Effortful Control Skills Before reading further click on Figure 7-9 and watch the video on the HTKS Test. Watching the video will help you appreciate the three components to “cool” executive functions: inhibitory control, working memory and cognitive flexibility. “Hot” executive function is defined as the child’s ability to inhibit an impulse (such as grabbing a toy) in order to do something Figure 7-8. Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders (HTKS) else (such as taking turns). Delay of Test. https://youtu.be/CVT6FQ9czoc gratification tasks like the Marshmallow Test (also illustrated in the video) assess hot control. Hot and cool tasks correlate with activity in different brain circuits. Performance on both kinds of executive function tasks predict academic success and school readiness (Denham et al., 2012; Willoughby et al., 2011) and emotion regulation (Gagne et al., 2021). Low hot regulation is associated with hyperactivity (Willoughby et al., 2011). Methods to Increase Self-Regulation Skills Perhaps the most important question for parents and preschool teachers is, how do we help children gain self-regulation? Most people believe the way to respond to children’s lapses in self-regulation is to use “discipline.” Many adults view dysregulated preschoolers as “spoiled” and perhaps in need of a “spanking.” Currently a public health revolution is underway to change the way people of all ages view self-regulation. We are also rethinking strategies for responding to the self-regulation lapses of children, teens, and adults. We will demonstrate that self-regulation is like any other ability in that it is influenced by genetics, but that can improve with practice. Spanking children does not assist them with learning self-regulation skills any more than it helps them to learn their letters and numbers. To be most effective with difficult situations parents and teachers should hold the following dialectics in mind: 1) children are doing the best they can; and 2) children may need to learn how to do better. Our motto, Influence, Model and Teach also applies to self-regulation skills. Home and school environment can influence the development of self-regulation. One study found that disorganization negatively influenced and quiet and calm positively influenced self- regulation (Oloye & Flouri, 2021). Parents and teachers also model self-regulation or lack thereof. “When parents use more guiding, teaching, and encouragement to control 188 their child, children are more likely to have higher levels of self-regulation. The use of more power-assertive controlling strategies is associated with a lower level of self-regulation in children” (Karreman et al., 2006, p. 571, emphasis added). The Center for the Developing Child at Harvard University operates a public education website to encourage positive parenting practices. Visit their page explaining self- regulation and watch their YouTube Video. Many interventions aimed at preschool settings have been developed and are being tested. From a Self-Determination Theory perspective, the most effective interventions increase the child’s autonomy and belief in their own competency. Although relatedness is an important need it is not as important to self-regulation interventions (Day et al., 2022). A complete review of interventions from an SDT perspective is available free online. The findings in this review are consistent with the idea that more dominant children struggle most with self-regulation and this group responds best to interventions that support choices. Trying to overcome child dominance with power assertion is not effective. Play Category Description Unoccupied Play Children’s behavior seems more random and without a specific goal. This is the least common form of play. Solitary Play Children play by themselves, do not interact with others, and do not engage in similar activities as those around them. Onlooker Play Children observe other children playing. They may comment on the activities and even make suggestions but do not directly join the play. Parallel Play Children play alongside each other, using similar toys, but do not directly interact with each other. Associative Play Children interact with each other and share toys but do not work toward a common goal. Cooperative Play Children interact to achieve a common goal. They may take on different tasks to reach that goal. Pretend Play Children take on roles, assign meaning to objects, and transform their reality into a world of its own. Rough and Play that involves vigorous contact with others, such as Tumble Play wrestling and mock fighting. Table 7-6. Types of Play described by Parten; Also included are pretend play and rough and tumble play. 189 Play is critical to children’s growth and learning. Parten (1932) observed two to five-year-old children and noted six types of play: Three labeled as non-social play (unoccupied, solitary, and onlooker) and three categorized as social play (parallel, associative, and cooperative). Table 7-6 describes each type of play. Younger children engage in more non-social play; by age five associative and cooperative play are Figure 7-9. Pretend play. Grace plays with her kitten. the most common forms of play https://www.instagram.com/irisgracepainting/?hl=en https://www.boredpanda.com/thula-therapy-cat-autistic-artist-iris- (Dyer & Moneta, 2006). Pretend play grace and rough and tumble play are two specific forms of play not described by Parten. Pretend Play Pretending is a favorite activity during early childhood. A toy has qualities beyond the way it was designed to function and can now be used to stand for a character or object unlike anything originally intended. A teddy bear, for example, can be a baby or the queen of a faraway land. Piaget (1962) and Erickson (1972) observed that children pretend to gain mastery over emotionally significant experiences. The link between pretend play and emotions is also important to play therapy. Piaget believed that children’s pretend play helped children solidify new schemata they were developing cognitively. This play, then, reflected changes in their conceptions or thoughts. However, children also learn as they pretend and experiment. Their play does not simply represent what they have already learned (Berk, 2007). Rough and Tumble Play Rough and Tumble play “is a specific form of physical play, characterized by aggressive behaviors such as wrestling, grappling, jumping, tumbling, and chasing, in a play context” (Flanders et al., 2009, p. 286). During rough and tumble play individuals practice dominance behavior that is needed to establish social hierarchies. This behavior is more common in males of all species but does occur in females (Marley et al., 2022). Fathers frequently interact with their children through rough and tumble play. This play peaks in the preschool years when it accounts for up to 8% of father child interactions (Flanders et al., 2009). Rough and Tumble play with father is associated with peer competence, emotion-regulation, and popularity. This play also elicits high levels of positive feelings during play sessions (Flanders et al., 2009). 190 Children and Media Children view far more television today than in the 1960s; so much that they have been referred to as Generation M for Media. Most American families have at least one TV set, and half own three or more (Nielsen Company, 2009). Two-thirds of children under 6 watch television every day, usually for two hours (Rideout & Hamel, 2006). The television may be on nearby even when children are involved in other activities, such as playing (Christakis, 2009; Kirkorian, Pempek, & Murphy, 2009). Research has consistently shown that too much television adversely affects children’s behavior, health, and achievement (Gentile & Walsh, 2002; Robinson, Wilde, & Navracruz, 2001). Young children are less able to focus on active, hands-on play while the television is Background TV can negatively affect cognitive and language development and passive television viewing is linked to attention problems later in childhood (Schmidt, Pempek, & Kirkorian, 2008; Courage, Murphy, & Goulding, 2010). An additional concern is the amount of screen time children are getting with smart mobile devices. While most parents believe that their young children use mobile devices for a variety of activities, the children report that they typically use them to play games (Chiong & Schuler, 2010). Young children who use mobile devises two or more hours per day show more externalizing behaviors (aggression, tantrums) and inattention (Tamana, et al., 2019), shorter sleep durations and a higher risk of behavioral problems (Wu, 2017). They may also fail to meet developmental milestones in fine and gross motor skills, language, and problem-solving (Madigan, Browne, Racine, Mori, & Tough, 2019). Based on research findings, the AAP (2016) suggests that prior to the age of two children should be engaged in hands-on exploration and social interaction with the real world, rather than the virtual one. The immaturity of the cognitive functions in infants and toddlers make it difficult for them to learn from digital media as effectively as they can from caregivers. For instance, it is often not until 24 months of age that children can learn new words from live-video chatting (Kirkorian, Choi, & Pempek, 2016). Between the ages of 2 and 5 the AAP (2016) suggests that children should be limited to no more than one hour per day of high-quality programs that are co-viewed with a caregiver to help children to understand what they are viewing. The AAP also strongly suggests that parents avoid using mobile media to soothe their children. The concern is that using media as a strategy to distract or soothe the child may make it difficult for parents to limit the child’s use of the devices and may inhibit children’s ability to use other self- regulation skills. Sibling Relationships Siblings spend a considerable amount of time with each other and offer a unique relationship that is not found with same-age peers or with adults. Siblings play an important role in the development of social skills. Cooperative and pretend play interactions between younger and older siblings can teach empathy, sharing, and 191 cooperation (Pikeet al., 2005), as well as, negotiation and conflict resolution (Abuhatoum & Howe, 2013). However, the quality of sibling relationships is often mediated by the quality of the parent-child relationship and the psychological adjustment of the child (Pike et al., 2005). For instance, more negative interactions between siblings have been reported in families where parents had poor patterns of communication with their children (Brody, Stoneman, & McCoy, 1994). Children who have emotional and behavioral problems are also more likely to have negative interactions with their siblings. However, the psychological adjustment of the child can sometimes reflect the parent-child relationship. Thus, when examining the quality of sibling interactions, it is often difficult to tease out the separate effect of adjustment from the effect of the parent-child relationship. While parents want positive interactions between their children, conflicts are going to arise, and some confrontations can be the impetus for growth in children’s social and cognitive skills. The sources of conflict between siblings often depend on their respective ages. Dunn and Munn (1987) revealed that over half of all sibling conflicts in early childhood were disputes about property rights. By middle childhood this starts shifting toward control over social situations (such as what games to play), disagreements about facts or opinions, or rude behavior (Howe, Rinaldi, Jennings, & Petrakos, 2002). Researchers have also found that the strategies children use to deal with conflict change with age, but this is also tempered by the nature of the conflict. Abuhatoum and Howe (2013) found that coercive strategies (e.g., threats) were preferred when the dispute centered on property rights, while reasoning was more likely to be used by older siblings and in disputes regarding control over the social situation. However, younger siblings also use reasoning, frequently bringing up the concern of legitimacy (e.g., “You’re not the boss”) when in conflict with an older sibling. This is a very common strategy used by younger siblings and is possibly an adaptive strategy for younger siblings to assert their autonomy (Abuhatoum & Howe, 2013). Several researchers found that children who can use non-coercive strategies are more likely to have a successful resolution, whereby a compromise is reached and neither child feels slighted (Ram & Ross, 2008; Abuhatoum & Howe, 2013). Not surprisingly, friendly relationships with siblings often lead to more positive interactions with peers. The reverse is also true. A child can also learn to get along with a sibling, with, as the song says, “a little help from my friends” (Kramer & Gottman, 1992). 192 Childcare Figure 7-10. Time mothers spend with children. Source: https://www.economist.com/graphic- detail/2017/11/27/parents-now-spend-twice-as-much-time-with-their-children-as-50-years-ago In 2018, 71.5% of mothers of school-aged and 65.1% percent of mothers of preschool aged children in the United States worked outside the home (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). How has employment impacted the amount of time mothers spend with their children? The Economist Data Team (Figure 7-11) analyzed data from of ten countries (United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain) and estimated that the average mother spent 54 minutes a day caring for children in 1965, but 104 minutes in 2012. Only mothers in France spent less time in 2012 than in 1965. Men spend less time with children than women at 59 minutes per day in 2012, but they provide more care than in 1965 when they averaged only 16 minutes a day. Education and income impact the amount of time mothers spend with children. In 1965 mothers with and without a university education spent about the same amount of time on childcare. By 2012 the more educated mothers were spending half an hour more per day. See Figure 7-11 for the difference between mothers in the United States who were university educated (dark blue line) and those who were non-university educated (light blue line). 193 To evaluate how early childcare affects children’s development, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2006) conducted a longitudinal study. This study is considered the most comprehensive childcare study to date, and it began in 1991 when the cohort was one month old. The study included an economically and ethnically diverse group of 1364 children assessed at 10 sites around the country. By design the study included single parents, and parents with diverse ethnic and educational characteristics. Childcare was defined as “any care provided on a regular basis by someone other than the child’s mother” (p. 4). A regular basis included more than 10 hours per week. Childcare arrangements included: care from the father or another relative, care from a caregiver not related to the child in the child’s home, small group care in the home, and center-based care. Overall results indicated that children cared for by their mothers did not develop differently than those who were cared for by others. Parent and family characteristics were stronger predictors of child development than participation in childcare. Specifically, children with educated mothers had greater cognitive, language and social competence. The quality of childcare does make a difference. Higher quality care, as measured by adult-to-child ratios, group size, and caregivers’ educational and training levels, resulted in higher cognitive performance, better language comprehension and production, and higher levels of school readiness. Lower quality care predicted more behavioral problems and poorer cognitive, language, and school readiness. Preschool The distinction between daycare and preschool may not always be clear. Preschool is staffed by specialists in early childhood education whereas daycare is often provided by untrained people. Providing universal preschool has become an important lobbying point for federal, state, and local leaders throughout the US. In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Obama called upon congress to provide high quality preschool for all children. He continued to support universal preschool in his legislative agenda, and in December 2014 the President convened state and local policymakers for a White House Summit on Early Education (White House Press Secretary, 2014). Many studies have determined that quality preschool improves cognition and social competence. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is a professional organization of specialists in early childhood. This group developed 10 standards for high quality preschool. 1. Positive relationships among all children and adults are promoted. 2. A curriculum that supports learning and development in social, emotional, physical, language, and cognitive areas. 3. Teaching approaches that are developmentally, culturally and linguistically appropriate. 4. Assessment of children’s progress to provide information on learning and development. 194 5. The health and nutrition of children are promoted, while they are protected from illness and injury. 6. Teachers possess the educational qualifications, knowledge, and commitment to promote children’s learning. 7. Collaborative relationships with families are established and maintained. 8. Relationships with agencies and institutions in the children’s communities are established to support the program’s goals. 9. The indoor and outdoor physical environments are safe and well- maintained. 10. Leadership and management personnel are well qualified, effective, and maintain licensure status with the applicable state agency. The guide gives preschool programs standards to abide by and parents criteria for choosing the best program for their child. For families that can afford private preschool many innovative programs have been developed. Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, High Scope, Parent Co-Ops and Bank Street are preschool programs that adopt Piaget’s philosophy that children learn best through discovery (Zachry, 2013). Head Start We include this section to encourage students to be cautious when interpreting research on the effectiveness of the Head Start Preschool Program. Head Start has been providing preschool education to disadvantaged children since 1965 when it began as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s war on poverty. It currently serves nearly one million children and annually costs approximately 7.5-10 billion dollars ($7,500- $10,000/student). Reporting of research on this program is tainted by political and racial bias. Students should be aware that at the time the program started, poor children did not attend preschool. The program enables children to go to preschool whose families would not otherwise be able to afford it. The question is no longer, is Head Start effective? It is, should there be universal preschool? Head Start might not be a better program than other preschools but it is better for all children to attend quality preschool. Comparison studies indicate the difference between children who attend Head Start and those that stay home are large, but the differences between those who attend Head Start or another preschool are small or none (Shager et al., 2013). Some argue that the government should provide grants to low-income families so they can choose their own program. That strategy would be effective if the choice involved NAEYC accredited programs. Others argue that the benefits of Head Start are not sustained (Lee et al., 1990). As you will see in Chapter 11 educational inequality causes many poor children to fall behind after they start first grade. Interested students can review these discussions: History of the Head Start Program (US Government); Is Head Start a Failure? Lillian Mongeau, Hechinger Report; Does Head Start Work? Lauren Bauer, Brookings Institute; Head Start: A tragic waste of money, Andrew J. Coulson, CATO Institute. 195 Infant Mental Health Infant Mental Health is defined as the developing capacity of the child from birth through age five to: experience, regulate, and express emotions; form close, secure interpersonal relationships; and explore his/her environment and learn–all within the context of family, community, and cultural expectations (Zero to Three Infant Mental Health Task Force Steering Committee, 2001). Many different professionals including physicians, nurses, counselors, social workers, early childhood educators and paraprofessionals are engaged in promoting infant mental health. As you have read the material in this book describing development between birth and age 7 you learned that most brain development occurs during this time. You also saw that the foundation for all academic and social behaviors is laid down during this time. It is likely that birth to age 7 is a sensitive period for social, language and sensory development and that opportunities lost may not be able to be replaced. You are encouraged to explore the CT Infant Mental Health Website to learn more about Infant Mental Health and training opportunities. See also the Alliance for the Advancement of Infant Mental Health https://www.allianceaimh.org/ a national organization. References Alessandri, S. M., & Lewis, M. (1996). Differences in Pride and Shame in Maltreated and Nonmaltreated Preschoolers. Child Development, 67(4), 1857–1869. https://doi.org/10.2307/1131736 Allen, J. W. P., & Bickhard, M. H. (2018). Stage fright: Internal reflection as a domain general enabling constraint on the emergence of explicit thought. Cognitive Development, 45, 77–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2017.12.005 APA Dictionary of Psychology. (n.d.). Retrieved December 6, 2022, from https://dictionary.apa.org/ Brody, G. H., Stoneman, Z., & McCoy, J. K. (1994). Forecasting sibling relationships in early adolescence from child temperament and family processes in middle childhood. Child Development, 65, 771-784. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1994.tb00782.x Brown, J. R., & Dunn, J. (1996). Continuities in Emotion Understanding from Three to Six Years. Child Development, 67(3), 789–802. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467- 8624.1996.tb01764.x Brownell, C. A., Zerwas, S., & Ramani, G. B. (2007). “So big”: The development of body self-awareness in toddlers. Child Development, 78(5), 1426–1440. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01075.x Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2019). Employment characteristics of families-2018. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/famee.pdf 196 Chiong, C., & Shuler, C. (2010). Learning: Is there an app for that? Investigations of young children’s usage and learning with mobile devices and apps. New York: The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. https://clalliance.org/wp- content/uploads/files/learnin

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