CH 10: Social and Emotional Development in Preschool Children

Question 1

Gender Roles (Characteristics)

Answer 1

Gender is a stereotype we rely heavily on (mental shortcuts)
• In North America, males are seen as instrumental, women as expressive.
• Not shared worldwide: US views on gender are extreme and rigid
• Defined socially

Question 2

When Do Gender Stereotypes Begin to Effect Children?

Answer 2

• Gender stereotyping of activities familiar to the child occurs in girls as in young as 24 months, and in boys by 31 months.
• Preschoolers view stereotypes as binding for all boys and girls.
• By the end of the preschool years, children have learned many of the traits stereotypically associated with males and females

Question 3

Instrumental Traits

Answer 3

Personality characteristics that reflect active involvement with and influence over the environment
• stereotypically associated with men

Question 4

Expressive Traits

Answer 4

Personality characteristics that reflect emotional functioning and a focuse on interpersonal relations
• stereotypically associated with women

Question 5

Gender Identity

Answer 5

• starts around 2-3 years
• around 4, child can tell you if their gender is different from their sex
- gender stability
• Perception of oneself as either male or female
- Parents (particularly dads), peers, and media reinforce gender-related behavior.
- Peers are influential, preschoolers critical of peers who engage in cross-gender play
- Enabling versus constricting interactions
• Gender identity develops gradually: gender labelling, stability, consistency, and constancy.
• Some evidence for genetic and hormonal influences.

Question 6

Kholberg’s Theory

Answer 6

Only children who understand gender constancy should have extensive knowledge of gender-stereotyped activities
• 4.5 years old
- gender-typical and gender-atypical activities
- when children begin learning about gender appropriate behaviour and activities

Question 7

Gender Schema Theory

Answer 7

Using gender based info to decide whether an activity or object is worth learning more about
• Children learn about gender by paying attention to behaviors of people who have the same gender as them
• Begin to use gender labels to evaluate toys and activities

Question 8

Cognitive Theories on Gender Identity

Answer 8

• Gender identity develops gradually through:
- gender labelling
- stability,
- consistency and constancy
- gender schema theory
• Some evidence supports biological influences

Question 9

Self-Esteem

Answer 9

• Preschoolers must achieve a sense of purpose (balance between individual initiative and cooperation).
• Preschoolers have positive views of self across many different domains.
• Feelings about personal worth
- At its peak in the preschool years
- Achieve a sense of purpose
- Positive views of self across domains
• Assessed by asking preschoolers to compare themselves to hypothetical children

Question 10

The Family as a System

Answer 10

• Parents influence children directly (i.e. encouraging them to study) and indirectly (i.e. by being generous and kind to others).
• Parents influence each other and both are influenced by outside forces (e.g., work, neighbourhoods, and religous organizations).
• Parents and children influence each other

Question 11

General Dimensions of Parenting

Answer 11

• Warmth and responsiveness
• Control
- balanced approach - based on age-approprate expectations, consistency, and communication - protects against over and under control because it is developmentally approapriate for children and open to change as the child matures
• Mental and physical help of the parents

Question 12

Parenting Styles

Answer 12

• Authoritarian
• Authoritative
• Indulgent-Permissive
• Indifferent-Uninvolved

Question 13

Parenting Behavior

Answer 13

• Parental behavior includes direct instruction, observing and feedback.
• Parents influence development by direct instruction, coaching, and serving as models for their children
- most powerful grouping to teach children
• Parents use feedback to influence children’s behavior

Question 14

Direct Instruction

Answer 14

what to do, when to do it and how to do it

Question 15

Learning by Observation

Answer 15

parents’ modelling, children watching

Question 16

Counterimitation

Answer 16

learning by observation what should not be done

Question 17

Disinhibition

Answer 17

increase in all behaviours like those observed, particularly aggression

i. e. observation of aggression can lead to a general increase in aggression
- sometimes observational learning leads to disinhibition

Question 18

Inhibition

Answer 18

descrease in one or more behaviours
i.e. when a child sees parents punish a sibling, the child is less likely to behave in the ways that led the siblings to be punished

Question 19

Authoritarian Parenting

Answer 19

high control with low levels of warmth
• wish to cultivate hard-work, respect and obedience
• children tend to have lower self-esteem and are less skilled socially
• when youngsters grow up in neighbourhoods with a lot of violence and crime, strict obediance to parents can protect children

Question 20

Punishment

Answer 20

Any action that decreases the likelihood of he response that it follows
• Effective punishment is prompt, consistent, accompanied by an explanation, and delivered by a person with whom the child has a warm relationship
• Suppresses behaviors but doesn’t eliminate them and often has side effects
• Child learns new behaviours to replace the undesirable ones

Question 21

Negative Reinforcement Trap (definition and steps)

Answer 21

Reinforcing the very behaviours that are being targeted for elimination
• Sometimes parents fall into this, inadvertently

Steps:

(1) Mother tells son to do something he doesn’t want to do
(2) Son responds with some behaviour that most parents find intolerable for an extended period of time
(3) Mother gives in, saying that the son needn’t do as she told him initially - to get the son to stop the behavior

Question 22

Time Out

Answer 22

Being required to sit alone in a quiet, unstimulating location or being excluded for a short period of time form a desirable activity
• should occur only in a child-safe environment under continued supervision by an adult
- never in kitchen or bathroom (hazards)
• around one minute for every year of the child’s age
• if a parent is finding child’s behaviour impossible to control, intervention from a clinical psychologist would be advisable in order to determine ways in which the parent and child can interact more effectively together and the parent can regain control

Question 23

Indifferent-Uninvolved Parenting

Answer 23

uninterested, uninvolved parenting
• provides neither warmth nor control
• provides for basic physical needs but little else
• minimize time spent with child
• children tend to have low self-esteem and be impulsive, aggressive and moody

Question 24

Children’s Contributions to Parenting

Answer 24

• Parenting is influenced by characteristics of children themselves (e.g. temperament)
• Families develop routine ways of interacting, which can be harmful if based on negative mutual influences
• Parenting behaviours and styles often evolve as a consequence of the child’s behaviour
• Parents should discuss expectations for appropriate behaviour with their preschoolers

Question 25

Family Configuration

Answer 25

• Compared to North American parents, Chinese parents tend to be more controlling and less openly affectionate
• African-American grandmothers, often live with their daughters, an arrangement that benefits children because grandmothers play an active role in child-rearing
• Gay and lesbian parents are more similar to heterosexual parents than different; their children develop much like children reared by heterosexual couples

Question 26

Children’s Contributions to Parenting

Answer 26

• Parenting is influenced by characteristics and behaviour of children themselves (e.g. temperament)
• Defiance encourages authoritarian parenting
• Families develop routine ways of interacting, which can be harmful if based on negative mutual influences

Question 27

Family Configuration

Answer 27

• Compared to North American parents, Chinese parents tend to be more controlling and less openly affectionate
• African-American grandmothers, often live with their daughters, an arrangement that benefits children because grandmothers play an active role in child-rearing
• Gay and lesbian parents are more similar to heterosexual parents than different; their children develop much like children reared by heterosexual couples
• Multiple adults are important in the lives of children, but who the adults are seems to matter less than how they care for the children.
• Quality of relationships most important factor

Question 28

Sibling Relationships

Answer 28

• Firstborns tend to be more adult- and achievement-oriented; often more intelligent but less popular and innovative
• Only children are generally comparable to children with siblings, but they often excel academically
• Later-borns tend to be more innovative and popular with their peers.
• The birth of a sibling is stressful for children when parents ignore older children’s needs
• Basic pattern of sibling interaction seems to be established early in development and remains fairly stable
• Parents intervening in fights resolves disputes and shows children more sophisticated ways to negotiate

Question 29

Siblings Get Along Best When

Answer 29

(1) they are same sex
(2) neither is emotional
(3) younger enters adolescence
(4) parents don’t show favoritism
- different parenting is okay as long as it appears fair
(5) parents have warm relationship with each other

Question 30

Peer Relationships and Preschoolers’ Play

Answer 30

• Bullying
• Make-believe play
• Cooperative play
- common among preschoolers
• Solitary play
- common and normal unless children just wander aimlessly (watch, don’t participate; signs of high social anxiety, might require intervention)
• Parents’ roles include playmate, mediating disputes, and coaching social skills.
• Sometimes use aggression to solve conflicts
• Can act prosocially (i.e. comfort each other)

Question 31

Developing Self-Control

Answer 31

• Ability to maintain self-control is stable over development.
• Self-control during the preschool years predicts later behaviour, personality, and achievement.
- children have greater self-control when parents show self-control and when parents are not overly strict
- for children to gain self-control, parents must relinquish some control
• First steps towards moral behaviour - must learn that they can’t constantly do whatever tempts them at the moment
• Context in which children form experiences also affects their level of apparent self-control
- adult is reliable or not

Question 32

Parental Influences on Children’s Self-Control

Answer 32

• Parental models are important.
- Children having self-control more likely when parents have control themselves.
- Children who have the best self-control tend to have parents who do not use harsh punishment and who encourage their children to make their own decisions
• Gradually giving children more opportunities to regulate own behaviour fosters self-control.
• Children’s temperament affects parents’ efforts to promote self-control.

Question 33

Improving Self-Control

Answer 33

• Delay of gratification
• Resisting temptation
(a) reminders to avoid looking at the tempting object
(b) reminders of rules against touching a tempting object
(c) activities designed to divert attention from the tempting object, such as playing with other objects
• Children who have a concrete way of handling the situation (with the marshmellow or other candy) are far better able to resist temptation

Question 34

Learning about Moral Rules

Answer 34

• Social conventions versus moral rules
• Preschool children know difference between lies versus mistakes
• Preschool children distinguish moral rules from social conventions, distinguish lies from mistakes, and show signs of guilt

Question 35

Temperamental Influences on Self-Control

Answer 35

• Children who are naturally fearful respond to parents’ requests to comply with rules.
- reminders, increase self-control and behavioural compliance
• Children who are not naturally fearful respond to parents’ requests to cooperate that are based on the attachment relationship between parent and child.
• To improve self-control remind children of the need to resist temptation (e.g., long-term goals more important than short-term goals) and make tempting events less attractive.

Question 36

Social Roles

Answer 36

a set of cultural guidelines for how a person should behave

Question 37

Gender Role (definition)

Answer 37

the culturally prescribed roles considered appropriate for males and females

Question 38

Gender Stereotypes (definition)

Answer 38

beliefs about how males and females differ in personality traits, interests, and behaviours

Question 39

Williams and Best (1990)

Gender Stereotypes

Answer 39

• Most Canadian and virtually all American participants considered men aggressive, but only a slight majority of Nigerian participants did
• North American views of men and women are not shared worldwide
• American’s gender stereotypes are more extreme than those of any other country listed in the study

Question 40

Why do boys often play with boys and girls often play with girls?

Answer 40

• In some cultures adults select playmates for children. However, in cultures where children choose playmates, boys select boys as playmates and girls select girls
• Children spontaneously select playmates of the same gender
• Children resist parents’ efforts to get them to play with members of the opposite sex.
- Girls are often unhappy when parents encourage them to play with boys and vice versa
• Children’s reluctance to play with members of the opposite sex isn’t restricted to gender-typed games (i.e. playing house, etc.)

Question 41

Enabling

Answer 41

interactions that tend to support others and sustain the interaction
• girls interactions with one another are typically enabling - their actions and remarks tend to support others and sustain the interaction
- may find this tactic unhelpful with boys

Question 42

Constricting

Answer 42

interactions that result in one partner threatening, contradicting, or dominating the other
• boys interactions are often constricting - one partner tries to emerge as the victor by threatening, contradicting, or dominating the other
- tend to resist girls attempts to get them to resolve conflicts with discussion

Question 43

Gender Based Play

Answer 43

Helps solidify a child’s emerging sense of gender identity and sharpens the contrast between their own and the other gender

Question 44

TV and its effect on children’s view of gender

Answer 44

Boys:
• Great increase in stereotyped views towards traits (most), behaviours and occupations (a little less)
• Increase in stereotyped views towards peer relations
Girls:
• Large increase in stereotyped views towards traits
• Large decrease in stereotyped views towards behaviours
• Small decrease in stereotyped views towards occupations
• Great increase in stereotyped views towards peer relations

Question 45

Gender Labeling

Answer 45

Learning to name who is a boy and who is a girl
- by age 2 or 3
• Affects how the child is treated by others

Question 46

Gender Stability

Answer 46

Understanding that a person’s natural gender doesn’t change

• during preschool years
• however, also believe that girls who wear their hair like boys will become boys
• around age 4
• test gender to begin to understand constancy and to understand how they feel about their gender

Question 47

Gender Consistency

Answer 47

Understanding that maleness and femaleness don’t change based on situations or personal wishes
- Between 4 and 7 years
- gender is tied to biology
> appearance is not necessarily reality

Question 48

Gender Constancy

Answer 48

The knowledge that gender can be identified, is stable, and remains consistent over time
• Mastering gender constancy comes from understanding
- Gender Labeling
- Gender Stability
- Gender Consistency
• At age 5&6 they see gender as a moral rule and exaggerate the stereotypes
- get upset if people violate it
- later understand that gender is more flexible

Question 49

Biological Influences on Gender Roles

Answer 49

• Very small differences biologically between men and women
• Some biological underpinings that affect gender
- activity levels
- prenatal hormones
• Biological influence on gender roles is shown in twin studies and in the impact of male hormones on female prenatal development
- how expressive of instrumental a child might be depends, in part on heredity
- adrenal glands sometimes malfunction
> females may be exposed to excessive amounts of androgen
> growing up some of these girls prefer masculine activities and male playmates to a much greater extent than girls not exposed to these amounts of androgens

Question 50

Acquiring Gender Roles and Gender Identity

Answer 50

Biology, the socializing influence of people and media, and the child’s own efforts to understand gender typical behaviour all help children to learn gender roles and acquire a gender identity

Question 51

Erikson

Answer 51

claimed that achieving purpose was a normal developmental milestone, just as most infants become attached to caregivers
- by product is the acquiring of self-esteem

Question 52

Harter and Pike (1984)

Answer 52

Picture of child solving puzzle easily or having difficulty
• ask child to point to who they identify with
• measuring self worth in four areas:
(1) cognitive competence
(2) physical competence
(3) acceptance by peers
(4) acceptance by mother
• Virtually all children said they were either a little or a lot like the competent child`

Question 53

Cultural differences in warmth and control.

Answer 53

• European
- favor individualism (happy and self-reliant)
- ideal parenting: warm and exert moderate control
• Asian and Latin American
- favor co-operation and collaboration
- Confucian principles dictate that parents are always right and emotional restraint is key to family harmony

Question 54

Authoritative Parenting

Answer 54

Reasonable control with a lot of warmth and responsiveness to children
• children with these types of parents tend to be responsible, self-reliant, and friendly

Question 55

Indulgent-Permissive Parenting

Answer 55

A lot of warmth and caring but little control

• children are often impulsive and easily frustrated

Question 56

Reinforcement

Answer 56

any action that increases the likelihood of the response that it follows

Question 57

Time Away

Answer 57

being diverted form an activity that was generating conflict to some other, usually quieter activity

Question 58

The Role of Grandparents

Answer 58

Grandparents have many different styles:
• Formal
- express strong interest in the grandchild but maintain a hands-off attitude toward child-rearing
• Fun-seeking
- see themselves as a primary source of fun for their grandchild but avoid more serious interactions
• Distant
- little contact with grandchildren, except as part of holidays or other family celibrations
• Dispensing-family-wisdom
- provide info and advice to parents and granchildren alike
• Surrogate-parent
- assume many of the normal roles and responsibilities of a parent

Question 59

Grandmothers in African American Families

Answer 59

• Approx 1 in 8 African American children live with their grandparents (1 in 25 European American children)
• Frequently adopt surrogate-parent style
• Might become primary caregiver of grandchild if the parent is a teen
- grandmothers tend to be less punitive and very responsive to their grandchildren
- children living with their mothers and grandmothers resemble children living in two-parent families, and tend to be better off than children in single-parent families
• Grandmothers and relatives can ease the burden of child rearing in African American families living in poverty and they also benefit from the added warmth, support, and guidance

Question 60

Assessing the Consequences of China’s One-Child Policy

Answer 60

• Implemented in 1979
• Promoted with billboards that advertised the benefits of having only one child
• Encouraged to use contraceptives to reduce birth rate
• One-child families received many economic benefits
- cash bonuses, better health and child care, and more desirable housing
• Studies comparing only and non-only children in China found no differences between them in terms of prosocial co-operation and personality
- any advantages often goes to only children
• Only children have a harder time caring for their aging parents (financially and psychologically)

Question 61

Make-Believe Play

Answer 61

• Reflects cultural values and promotes cognitive development.
• Early phase - rely on realistic props
• Later phases - can imagine (i.e. that a block is a cup)
• Gradual movement toward more abstract make-believe is possible because of cognitive growth
• Make-believe play promotes cognitive development and lets children explore emotional topics that frighten them (in a non-threatening way)

Question 62

Bullying

Answer 62

unprovoked aggression, which has, as its sole goal, gaining power over another through social, verbal, or physical harassment
• Can see the differences in others at 9 months old and show favouritism

Question 63

Self-Control

Answer 63

the ability to regulate thought, behaviour, and emotional reactions in a planful manner, rather than giving in to impulse
• those who can’t control self are more likely to experience teen pregnancy, go to jail, do drugs, less likely to go to university
• People who are very successful in later life (i.e. career) tend to be very good at self control and arousal regulation

Question 64

Phases of Self-Control

Answer 64

(Phase 1) 1 year–aware that others impose demands.
(Phase 2) 2 years–have internalized some controls imposed by others, capable of some self-control in parents’ absence
(Phase 3) 3 years—can devise ways to regulate their own behaviour, flexible and adaptive, can formulate simple plans for dealing with demands of different situations

Question 65

Kochanska Study

Answer 65

Tested:
• children's fearful temperament 
• parent's use of gentle discipline 
• strength of parent-child attachment
• children's self-control and compliance
• Concluded that parents influence their children's ability to maintain self-control, but the nature of that influence depends on children's temperament

Question 66

Delay of Gratification

Answer 66

the ability to hold off immediate satisfaction in order to obtain a larger reward or more preferable outcome later

Question 67

Mischel and Ebbesen

Answer 67

• 3 to 5 year olds
asked to sit alone in a room for 15 minutes
• if they waited the entire time, they would recieve a desirable reward
• children could call the experimenter back into the room at any time by a prearranged signal - but then they would receive a much less desirable reward

Question 68

Arousal Regulation / Emotional Intelligence

Answer 68

(1) Anger Management
Unable to manage anger
• Toddler - meltdown, tune out, strike
• Adult - physical violence, substance abuse, etc.
• Internally - ignoring anger isn’t good for you, need to deal with it
• Techniques to manage anger - communicate, count to 10, breathe, time out
(2) Soothe Self
(3) Identify Your Own and Others Emotions
(4) Delay of Gratification