Chapter 10: Emotional And Social Development In Early Childhood

Parents of fearless, impulsive children can best foster conscience development by ensuring a secure attachment relationship and firmly correcting misbehavior. A secure attachment relationship provides a safe and nurturing environment for the child, allowing them to develop trust and empathy. Firmly correcting misbehavior helps the child understand the consequences of their actions and encourages them to develop a sense of right and wrong. This approach promotes the development of a strong conscience and helps the child internalize moral values.

The correct answer is pleasurable play and sharing of toys. This is because children between the ages of four to seven see friendship as a fun and enjoyable experience where they can engage in play and share their toys with their friends. At this age, they may not yet fully understand abstract qualities like fairness or the concept of enduring, long-term qualities in friendships. Instead, they focus on the immediate pleasure and enjoyment they get from playing and sharing with their friends.

Time out is a disciplinary technique that involves removing children from the immediate setting until they are ready to act appropriately. This means that when a child misbehaves or breaks the rules, they are temporarily removed from the situation and placed in a designated area where they can calm down and reflect on their behavior. The purpose of time out is to teach children self-regulation and to give them an opportunity to think about their actions and make better choices in the future.

A child with a strong sense of self is likely to be cooperative because they have a clear understanding of their own identity and value, which allows them to confidently engage with others and work together towards common goals. They are secure in themselves and do not feel the need to compete or dominate others, making them more inclined to collaborate and cooperate in various situations.

The correct answer suggests that the time spent watching violent TV programming in childhood and adolescence is a predictor of aggressive behavior in early adulthood. This means that individuals who watch a significant amount of violent TV programming during their formative years are more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior as young adults. This finding implies that exposure to violent media at a young age can have long-term effects on an individual's behavior and may contribute to the development of aggression in adulthood.

Parents are most likely to rely on punishment or physical restraint when they want immediate compliance from their child. This means that they expect their child to obey their instructions or requests immediately, without any delay or resistance. Punishment or physical restraint is often used as a means to enforce this immediate compliance, as it can be seen as a way to exert control and discipline over the child. This approach prioritizes the parent's desire for immediate obedience rather than focusing on long-term behavior change or building a strong emotional bond with the child.

Preschoolers' self-concepts are concrete. This means that their understanding of themselves is based on observable, tangible characteristics such as physical appearance, abilities, and preferences. They have a limited ability to think abstractly or understand complex concepts about themselves. Their self-concepts are not amorphous (lacking shape or definition), abstract (based on ideas rather than specific examples), or ill-defined (lacking clear boundaries or meaning).

The effect of parental influence on children's peer sociability suggests that mothers' play has a stronger impact on daughters' competence, while fathers' play has a stronger impact on sons' competence.

Preschoolers' difficulty grasping the permanence of sex may be due to cognitive immaturity. At this age, children are still developing their cognitive abilities, including their understanding of abstract concepts. The concept of sex can be complex and abstract for young children to fully comprehend, leading to difficulty in understanding its permanence. This difficulty is not necessarily related to social experience, in-group favoritism, or psychoanalytic misunderstandings, but rather reflects the typical cognitive development of preschool-aged children.

Social learning theory suggests that individuals learn through observation and imitation of others, including their behavior and attitudes. It emphasizes the role of social factors, such as cultural values, in shaping moral behavior. On the other hand, cognitive-developmental theory focuses on the development of thinking and reasoning abilities, which play a crucial role in moral decision-making. It emphasizes how individuals' cognitive processes, such as their ability to understand and evaluate moral dilemmas, influence their moral behavior. Therefore, the correct answer is "moral behavior; thinking and reasoning."

According to Erikson's theory of psychosocial development, once children have a sense of autonomy, they gain a sense of purposefulness and are eager to tackle new tasks. This is because autonomy is the stage where children develop a sense of independence and control over their own actions. With this newfound sense of autonomy, children feel more confident in their abilities and are motivated to explore and take on new challenges. They develop a sense of purpose and are eager to engage in activities that help them grow and learn.

Children who have difficulty with peer relations often hold biased social expectations and misinterpret others' behavior. This means that they may have preconceived notions about how others should behave and may misinterpret their actions based on these biases. This can lead to misunderstandings and difficulties in forming and maintaining friendships with their peers. It suggests that their difficulties with peer relations are not due to a lack of social skills or unpleasant experiences with other children, but rather a cognitive bias in their understanding of social interactions.

Preschoolers who engage in positive and constructive solitary activities are likely to have the necessary social skills to play with peers. This suggests that their independent playtime is beneficial for their development and helps them acquire the skills needed for social interaction.

Preschoolers have an impressive ability to interpret, predict, and change others' feelings. This suggests that they are capable of understanding and empathizing with the emotions of those around them. They can accurately interpret the emotions of others, predict how certain actions or events may affect these emotions, and even have the power to influence or change these emotions. This ability highlights their growing emotional intelligence and social awareness, indicating that they are developing important skills for navigating social interactions and relationships.

Most cultures teach children to communicate positive feelings and inhibit unpleasant ones in order to promote good social relations. This is because expressing positive feelings helps to create a friendly and welcoming atmosphere, while inhibiting unpleasant ones prevents conflict and maintains harmony in social interactions. By encouraging children to communicate positive emotions and control negative ones, they learn to navigate social situations effectively and build stronger relationships with others.

Parents and teachers can reduce preschoolers' gender stereotyping by pointing out exceptions to stereotypes in the community. This means highlighting examples where individuals do not conform to traditional gender roles or expectations. By doing so, children are exposed to a broader range of possibilities and are encouraged to challenge stereotypes. This can help them develop more open-minded and inclusive attitudes towards gender.

During early childhood, children tend to engage in more instrumental aggression, which is aggression used to achieve a specific goal or obtain an object. However, as they enter middle childhood, the use of instrumental aggression tends to decline. On the other hand, hostile aggression, which is aggression driven by anger or intended to harm others, tends to rise during this period.

Maltreating parents often attribute their child's misdeeds to a bad disposition. This means that when their child behaves badly, they believe it is because their child has a naturally bad or problematic personality. This explanation suggests that the parents are not taking responsibility for their own actions or considering external factors that may be influencing their child's behavior. Instead, they are placing the blame solely on the child's inherent character, which can perpetuate a cycle of abuse and neglect.

Collectivist societies prioritize the well-being of the group over individual needs, and this extends to play activities as well. In these societies, children are encouraged to engage in play that promotes group harmony and cooperation. On the other hand, individualistic cultures tend to prioritize individual achievement and independence, which may result in a greater emphasis on individual play. Thus, the statement that collectivist societies stress group harmony during play is true in the context of cross-cultural studies of children's peer sociability.

Three- and 4-year-olds typically judge moral violations as more wrong than social-convention violations. This means that young children have a basic understanding of right and wrong, and they prioritize moral rules over rules that are based on social conventions. They are more likely to view actions that harm others or violate moral principles as being more morally wrong compared to actions that go against social norms or conventions. This suggests that even at a young age, children have an innate sense of morality and are able to differentiate between different types of rule violations.

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. In early childhood, empathy serves as an important motivator of altruistic behavior. When children are able to empathize with others, they are more likely to engage in acts of kindness and help others without expecting anything in return. Altruistic behavior refers to selfless actions that benefit others. Therefore, empathy plays a crucial role in fostering altruism in early childhood.

Sex hormones affect human play styles. This explanation suggests that the preference for playing in pairs or larger groups is influenced by the levels of sex hormones in individuals. It implies that the different play preferences observed between girls and boys can be attributed to the hormonal differences between them. This explanation aligns with Maccoby's argument that biological factors, such as sex hormones, play a role in shaping play behaviors in children.

The correct answer is "the child's misdeeds." This is because the question states that in a cross-cultural comparison of personal storytelling, Chinese parents more often told stories about the child's misdeeds. This suggests that Chinese parents focus more on highlighting the misbehavior or mistakes of their children in their storytelling.

The correct answer is nonsocial activity, parallel play, and associative play. Parten's three-step sequence of peer sociability among 2- to 5-year-olds starts with nonsocial activity, where children play independently without any interaction with others. This is followed by parallel play, where children play alongside each other but without any real interaction or coordination. Finally, children engage in associative play, where they start to interact and share materials with each other, although they may not have a common goal or organized activity. This sequence reflects the progression of social skills and interaction among young children.

Children start making gender-stereotyped game and toy choices before the age of 2. This means that even at a very young age, children begin to show preferences for toys and games that are typically associated with their gender. This early development of gender-stereotyped choices suggests that gender roles and stereotypes are learned and internalized at a very young age.