PSYB20H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10: Social Rejection, Social Emotions, Parenting Styles
Psychosocial Development in Early Childhood
● The years from ages 3 to 6 are pivotal ones in children’s psychosocial
development.
○ A child’s emotional development and sense of self are rooted in the
experiences of those years
The Developing Self
● Our comprehension of the self is informed by self-concept, self-esteem, and
our ability to understand and regulate emotions.
The Self-Concept and Self-Definition
● self-concept
○ our total picture of our abilities and traits that determines how we feel
about ourselves—who we think we are.
○ It also has a social aspect that incorporates children’s growing
understanding of how others see them.
■ a child who is chronically rejected by other children might form
a self-concept of herself as unlikable.
Changes in Self-definition
● Children’s self-definition
○ the way they describe themselves—typically changes between about
ages 5 and 7
○ The way Jason (only 4) describes himself is typical of Canadian
children his age. He talks mostly about concrete, observable
behaviours; external characteristics, such as physical features;
preferences; possessions; and members of his household.
■ He mentions a particular skill (climbing) rather than general
abilities (being athletic)
Cultural Differences in Self-Definition
● Culture helps shape the understanding of the self.
○ In primarily individualistic cultures like Canada, individuals are seen in
general as separate from one another, and independence and self
reliance are highly valued.
○ In collectivistic cultures, such as India and China, individuals are seen
in general as fundamentally interrelated, and group harmony and
cohesiveness take precedence over individual concerns
● Parents transmit, often through everyday conversations, cultural ideas and
beliefs about how to define the self.
○ e.g. Chinese parents tend to encourage interdependent aspects of the
self, such as compliance with authority, appropriate conduct, humility,
and a sense of belonging to the community
○ e.g. European parents tend to encourage independent aspects of the
self: individuality, self-expression, and self-esteem.
● children absorb such differing cultural styles of self-definition as early as age
3 or 4, and these differences increase with age
Self-Esteem
● self-esteem
○ the evaluative part of the self-concept, the judgment children make
about their overall self-worth.
○ based on children’s growing cognitive ability to describe and define
themselves.
Developmental Changes in Self-Esteem
● Before about 5 to 7 years of age, young children’s self esteem is not
necessarily based on reality
○ They tend to overrate their abilities
○ e.g. despite coming in last in a race, 4-year-old Mateo might still
believe himself to be the best and fastest runner
● Moreover, like the overall self-concept, self-esteem in early childhood tends to
be all-or-none: “I am good” or “I am bad.”
○ Not until middle childhood does it become more realistic, as personal
evaluations of competence based on internalization of parental and
societal standards begin to shape and maintain self-worth
Contingent Self-Esteem
● Children whose self-esteem is contingent on success tend to become
demoralized when they fail.
○ Often, these children attribute failure to their personality deficiencies,
which they believe they are unable to change.
○ sometimes referred to as “learned helplessness
■ e.g. p. For example, a child who was unable to complete a
puzzle, rather than persevering, might instead throw down the
pieces in frustration, saying, “I’m no good at puzzles.”
● Children with non-contingent self-esteem, in contrast, tend to attribute failure
or disappointment to factors outside themselves or to the need to try harder
○ If initially unsuccessful or rejected, these children persevere, trying new
strategies until they find one that works
Understanding and Regulating Emotions
● The ability to understand and regulate, or control, one’s feelings is one of the
key advances of early childhood
○ Children who can understand their emotions are better able to control
the way they show them and to be sensitive to how others feel
● Preschoolers can talk about their feelings and often can discern the feelings
of others, and they understand that emotions are connected with experiences
and desires
○ They understand that someone who gets what he wants will be happy,
and someone who does not get what she wants will be sad
● Emotional understanding becomes more complex with age
○ Part of understanding emotions involves developing a grasp of what
conflicting emotions and social emotions mean.
*** study → boy is after his ball on the street
- The 4- and 5-year-olds tended to believe that the boy would be happy if he
got the ball— even though he would be breaking a rule—and unhappy if he
didn’t.
- The older children, like the adults, were more inclined to believe that
obedience to a rule would make the boy feel good and disobedience would
make him feel bad
Understanding Conflicting Emotions
● One reason for young children’s confusion about their feelings is that they do
not understand that they can experience contrary emotional reactions at the
same time.
○ a child might have difficulty identifying that she is both excited about
and scared of starting a new school
● Individual differences in understanding conflicting emotions are evident by
age 3.
○ Most children acquire a more sophisticated understanding of conflicting
emotions during middle childhood
Understanding Social Emotions Social emotions are emotions that involve a
● Social emotions
○ emotions that involve a comparison of oneself or one’s actions to
social standards.
○ These emotions are directed toward the self and include guilt, shame,
and pride
■ They typically develop by the end of the third year, after children
gain self-awareness and accept the standards of behaviour their
parents have set
○ However, even children a few years older often lack the cognitive
sophistication to recognize these emotions and what brings them on
