Chapter 10 Summary

1. Learning to regulate and control emotions is crucial during early childhood. Emotional regulation is made possible by maturation of the brain, particularly of the prefrontal cortex, as well as by experiences with parents and peers.
2. In Erikson’s psychosocial theory, the crisis of initiative versus guilt occurs during early childhood. Children normally feel pride, sometimes mixed with feelings of guilt. Shame is also evident, particularly in some cultures.
3. Both externalizing and internalizing problems signify impaired self-control. Some emotional problems that indicate psychopathology are first evident during early childhood, with boys more often manifesting externalizing behaviors and girls exhibiting internalizing behaviors.

4. All young children enjoy playing—preferably with other children of the same sex, who teach them lessons in social interaction that their parents do not. Some experts believe that play is essential for healthy psychosocial development.
5. Active play takes many forms, with rough-and-tumble play fostering social skills and sociodramatic play developing emotional regulation.

6. Three classic styles of parenting have been identified: authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative. Generally, children are more successful and happier when their parents are authoritative, expressing warmth and setting guidelines.
7. A fourth style of parenting, neglectful/uninvolved, is always harmful. The particulars of parenting reflect the culture as well as the temperament of the child.
8. Children are prime consumers of many kinds of media. The problems that arise from media exposure include increased aggression and less creative play. In addition, time spent watching television is time taken away from more productive activities.
9. Even 2-year-olds correctly use sex-specific labels. Young children become aware of gender differences in clothes, toys, playmates, and future careers, and typically are more gender stereotyped than their parents.
10. Freud emphasized that children are attracted to the opposite-sex parent and eventually seek to identify, or align themselves, with the same-sex parent. Behaviorists hold that gender-related behaviors are learned through reinforcement and punishment (especially for males) and social modeling. Parents are crucial teachers of gender roles.
11. Cognitive theorists note that simplistic preoperational thinking leads to gender schemas and therefore stereotypes. Humanists stress the powerful need of all humans to belong to their group. Evolutionary theory contends that sex and gender differences are crucial for the survival and reproduction of the species.
12. Each of the major developmental theories strives to explain the gender roles and sexist stereotypes that young children express, but no consensus has been reached as to which theory is best. Recent scholarship endorses an interactionist perspective.

13. Both nature and nurture play a role in moral development, which is intertwined with emotional regulation and the emergence of empathy. Moral development includes affective, cognitive, and behavioral components.
14. Prosocial emotions lead to caring for others; antisocial emotions lead to behaviors that are harmful to others, including instrumental, reactive, relational, and bullying aggression.
15. The type of punishment parents use can have long-term consequences, with both corporal punishment and psychological control having potentially adverse effects. Alternative forms of discipline, such as the timeout and induction, may be more effective.