PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
When we study social cognition, we are looking at how we think about interactions between people. Psychosocial development consists of emotional development, attachment, the self, gender, and moral identities, and social development and play. It is important to be aware of all of these aspects of psychosocial development because we are going to see them first-hand in out future students and children. We need to know how to handle different types of situations and how to positively impact children.
Emotional Development
Attachment
Attachment is an emotional bond to a particular person. A secure attachment is a strong, positive bond with a person who provides comfort and a sense of security. John Bowlby developed four stages in the early development of attachment: preattachment (the stage of development of attachment from birth to 6 weeks, in which infant sensory preferences bring infants into close connection with parents), attachment in the making (the stage from 6 weeks to 6-8 months in which infants develop stranger anxiety, differentiating those they know from those they don't), clear-cut attachment (the stage from 6-8 months to 18 months-2 years, when an infant develops separation anxiety when a person he is attached to leaves him), and goal-corrected partnership (the stage from 18 months on, when toddlers create reciprocal relationships with their mothers). Mary Ainsworth devised a procedure called the Strange Situation. From this, she determined classifications for an infant's attachment. They include secure, anxious avoidant, anxious ambivalent/resistant, and disorganized/disoriented.
The video below depicts Ainsworth's experimental procedure. |
How to mothers and fathers contribute to the development of attachment?
Reactive Attachment Disorder
A reactive attachment disorder occurs in children who have been deprived of a consistent caregiver or abused early in their lives. they either withdraw from emotional connections to people or attach indiscriminately to anyone, not just the people who take care of them.
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Self, Gender, and Moral Identities
Self Identity
Throughout childhood, children are developing self-esteem
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Gender Identity
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Moral Identity
Below is a chart explaining the stages of Lawrence Kohlberg's moral development theory.
A video on moral development, showing children's responses to a dilemma.
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Play and Social Development
What is play?
Play is self-chosen activity that is done for its own sake because it is fun. Mildred Parten described the social stages of play based on children's developing ability to coordinate their activity with a peer. The stages are explained in the chart below.
Piaget developed three levels of play based off his stages of cognitive development. They are as follows:
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Benefits of Play
Below is a video explaining the benefits of play and why it is crucial to the development of children.
Here is a video on several children's perspectives of play.
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Overall, play can help:
To the left is a slideshow depicting various types of play among children. |