1. Chapter 10: Social Behaviour and Personality in Preschool Children
MODULES
10.1 Self
10.2 Relationships with Parents
10.3 Relationships with Siblings and Peers
10.4 Moral Development: Learning to Control One’s Behaviour
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Module 10.1 Self
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand gender stereotyping and how it may differ for boys and girls.
Explain how adults, children, and biology contribute to children’s learning of gender roles.
Recognize whether preschool children have high self-esteem.
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Gender Roles
In North America, males are seen as instrumental, women as expressive.
Not shared worldwide: US views on gender are extreme.
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.
Cross-cultural Data on Gender Stereotypes
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Gender Identity
Parents (particularly dads), peers, and media reinforce gender-related behavior.
Gender identity develops gradually: gender labelling, stability, consistency, and constancy.
Some evidence for genetic and hormonal influences.
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5. Effects of TV on Gender Stereotyped Views
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Self-Esteem
Preschoolers must achieve a sense of purpose (balance between individual initiative and cooperation).
Preschoolers have positive views of self across many different domains.
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7. Module 10.2 Relationships with Parents
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Describe a systems view of family dynamics.
Name the primary dimensions of parenting.
Identify what parental behaviours affect children’s development.
Explain the ways children help determine how parents rear them.
Recognize the role the family configuration plays in children’s development.
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The Family as a System
Parents influence children directly and indirectly.
Parents influence each other and both are influenced by outside forces (e.g., work).
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9. Parenting Behavior, Dimensions and Styles
Two primary dimensions: warmth and control.
Styles: authoritarian, authoritative, indulgent-permissive, and indifferent-uninvolved.
Cultural differences in warmth and control.
Parental behaviour includes direct instruction, observing and feedback.
Direct instruction: telling children what to do, when, and why.
Observing: children learn from watching others, including parents and their treatment of siblings.
Feedback: reinforcement useful but parents often unknowingly reinforce behaviours they want to prevent.
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10. Children’s Contributions
Parenting is often influenced by children’s behaviour.
Defiance encourages authoritarian parenting.
Parenting varies depending upon individual characteristics of children.
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Family Configuration
Grandparents have many different styles: formal, fun-seeking, distant, dispensing-family-wisdom, and surrogate-parent.
Children of gay and lesbian parents resemble children of heterosexual parents.
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.
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12. Module 10.3 Relationships with Siblings and Peers
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand how first born, later-born, and only children differ.
Understand what determines how well siblings get along.
Recognize how preschool children play together and how parents influence their play.
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13. Sibling Relationships
Firstborns and “onlies” tend to be more adult- and achievement-oriented; laterborns tend to be more innovative and popular with their peers.
Siblings get along best when (1) they are same sex, (2) neither is emotional, (3) younger enters adolescence, (4) parents don’t show favoritism, and (5) parents have warm relationship with each other.
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14. Peer Relationships and Preschoolers’ Play
Make-believe play: reflects cultural values and promotes cognitive development.
Solitary play: common and normal unless children just wander aimlessly.
Parents’ roles include playmate, mediator, and coach.
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15. Module 10.4 Moral Development: Learning to Control One’s Behaviour
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Identify when self-control begins and how it changes as children develop.
Describe how parents influence their children’s ability to maintain self-control.
List the strategies children can use to improve self-control.
Recognize when preschoolers begin to understand what moral rules are different from other rules.
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16. Beginnings of Self-Control
1 year--aware that others impose demands.
2 years--have internalized some controls.
3 years—can devise ways to regulate their own behaviour.
Ability to maintain self-control is stable over development.
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Parental Influences
Parental models are important.
Self-control more likely when parents have control themselves.
Giving children more opportunities to regulate own behaviour fosters self-control.
Children’s temperament affects parents’ efforts to promote self-control.
Temperament, Discipline, and Compliance
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18. Temperamental Influences on Self-Control
Children who are naturally fearful respond to parents’ requests to comply with rules.
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.
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19. Learning About Moral Rules
By age 3, most children can distinguish social conventions (e.g., we can eat French fries, but not green beans, with our fingers) from moral rules.
Preschool children can distinguish between lies and mistakes.
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Conclusions
Compared to adults in other countries, North American adults have more extreme stereotypes of men and women.
Parents treat sons and daughters similarly, except for gender-related behaviour.
Self-esteem is at its peak in the preschool years.
Children benefit from warm, responsive parenting.
Children learn a great deal from parents simply by watching them.
Parents’ behaviour and styles often evolve over time as a consequence of their children’s behaviour.
Self-control during the preschool years predicts later behaviour, personality and achievement.
Moral reasoning emerges in the preschool years when children distinguish moral rules from social conventions.
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