Social Development in Early Childhood I. (Chapter 8) Flashcards
Gender-typing
-Socialization process whereby children learn appropriate gender roles
Developmental Patterns
-Age 2: gender awareness and gender identify; gender-related preference in toys
-Age 3: gender stability which leads to gender segregation
-Age 4: gender constancy, awareness of gender roles, gender-typed behavior
Gender Stability
-A girl realizes that she will grow up to be a woman and a boy to be a man
Gender Constancy
-Awareness that one will always be male or female
Gender Differences
-Temperament: inhibitory control may differ between genders
-Verbal Fluency: females tend to excel in verbal fluency
-Spatial Ability: males tend to outperform females in tasks involving spatial ability, like 3-D rotations
-Externalizing Behavior Problems: m>f,
-Internalized Problems: during puberty and later f>m; age 2: no gender differences; age 3-6: increased gender differences
-Preference: toys; playmates
-Gender Typed Behaviors: rigid gender-typed behaviors and preference: m>f
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory Basic Perspectives
-Humans have inborn biological drives that need redirections
-Personality develops in stages
-Focus on psychosexual development
Freud’s Psychosexual Stages
-Oral (birth-18 moths)
-Anal (18 months- 3 years)
-Phallic (3-6 years): a child becomes attached to parent of other sex and later identifies with same-sex parent
-Latency (6 years-puberty)
-Genital (puberty through adulthood): reemergence of sexual impulses of Phallic stage, channeled into mature adult sexuality
Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: Phallic Stage
Children become attach to the opposite-sex parent
-experience jealous
- incestuous and murderous impulses buried in the unconscious
-cope with guilt and fear by IDENTIFICATION with same-sex parent
Problems with Freud’s Theory
-Limited empirical research support
-Multiple interpretations for the same observations
Cognitive Approach
-Children understand their gender and use it to shape their behaviors
-Gender Schema
Gender Schema
mental network of information about what it means to be male and female in their culture
Socialization Approach
children learn gender roles through socialization
Socialization Approach Mechanism
-Learn by observing models (e.g., parents, siblings, peers, media)
-Learn through reinforcement (e.g., feedback, teaching, rewards, disapproval)
Socialization Approach (Family and Peer Influence)
-Father’s role
boys tend to be more gender-socialized than girls (boys receive more disapproval for opposite-gender roles)
-Sibling influence, especially older siblings impacting younger ones
-Gender segregation: socialization within each gender
Socialization Approach (Culture Influences)
-Every society has powerful gender roles and every culture teaches these to the young
-Gender stereotypes (e.g., “boy’s don’t cry”
-tv, books, toys, costumes and customs
Biological Approach (Brain Differences)
Corpus Callosum
-structure for left-right brain coordination
-females>males
Biological Approach (Hormone Influence)
-Prenatal Sex Hormones: hormones before birth affecting gender development
-Example: male sex hormones on female fetus
-Impact on brain development
Biological Approach (Research on Gender Socialization)
Gender Identify and Biological Sex
-sometimes, they match
-but not always in individuals with differing socialization
Evolutionary Theory (Natural Selection)
-Process where advantageous traits are passed on through generations
Evolutionary Theory (Sexual Selection)
Different roles in reproduction
-females invest more in caring for the offspring
-females can have limited numbers of offsprings
Different selective pressure
-females: choosing mating partners, selected on reproductive potential
-males: compete for females: selected on access to resource
Evolutionary Theory
-Sexual selection shapes gender differences
-Impacts biological, cognitive, psychosocial, and behavioral aspects
-Defines roles in family, peer, groups, etc
-Influenced by society’s expectations about males and females
Different Perspectives on Gender Development
-Biology influences gender differences
-Experience and socialization also shape gender
-Gender isn’t solely determined by biology
Children’s Play Categories
-Unoccupied: no focused play
-Onlooker: watching others play
-Solitary Independent Play
-Parallel Play
-Associative Play: similar play, no common goal
_cooperative or organized supplementary play: play together with a shared gaol and assigned roles
Pretend Play
-Emerges by the end of the 2nd year, increases in early childhood, then decreases during elementary school years
Self Concept in Early Childhood
-age 4: focus on concrete behaviors, external traits, and relationships
-by age 7: begin to include general traits like being smart or good at sports
-age 3-6: high self-concept and self-esteem; tend to overrate their abilities
Self Concept
-Understanding of oneself, describing abilities and traits
