Emotional and Personality Development in Early Childhood
A significant amount of emotional and personality development occurs during early childhood. As children experience mood swings, temper tantrums and a social world that is ever-expanding social world, they must learn more about their emotions, along with those of other people. To that extent, the following essay will discuss the emotional and personality development in early childhood, in regards to, the sense of self, emotional development, moral development, and impact of gender. Further the essay will discuss the theories on physical and cognitive changes related to early childhood.
The Sense of Self
The sense of self occurs when a child has the ability to acknowledge, express, comprehend, a broad scope of feelings. Kids who can comprehend and regulate their feelings, remain calm whilst enjoying experiences have a bigger possibility of developing a positive sense of self (Santrock, 2016). Further, they are likely to become curios and confident leaners. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
Emotional Development
The emotional development of a child is a process by which emotional competence skills begins to manifest itself. In early childhood, emotion knowledge is more concrete, with an increased focus on observable variables. At this stage, the emotion regulation and emotion expression are not yet well-development, thus, requiring reinforcement from the social setting (Santrock, 2016). Children in elementary school enhance their aptitude to facilitate self-examination of emotions, and use words to illustrate situations that are related to emotion. Emotional competence skills do not develop separate from each other and their growth is interweaved with cognitive development.
Moral Development
Parents can enhance the empathy and develop the emotional development of a child by encouraging him/her to think about the feelings of other people. One can start by inquiring about the child’s personal feelings, by asking questions centered on the child’s life (Santrock, 2016). For instance, one can ask “How did loosing that toy make you feel?” Once a child gains the ability to express his/her own emotional reaction, the parent can start to query how other individuals may feel. For instance, one can ask “How do you think Sean felt when you grabbed that toy from him?” By asking such questions, a child can start to reason about their own actions can affect the emotions of the people that surround them.
The Impact of Gender
Gender socialization is the process by which kids learn about the behaviors, attitudes, and social expectations usually linked to boys and girls. The assignment of gender is a robust social identity that determines the life of a child (Santrock, 2016). In early childhood, boys and girl spend most of their time in house with their families and observe their older siblings and parents for guidance. Indeed, parents provide kids with their intimal lessons about gender, therefore, it is crucial that they act as positive role models in encouraging diverse behaviors in boys and girls.
Theories on the Physical and Cognitive Changes
The theoretical viewpoint taken toward the physical and emotional development of a child is a mix of the functionalist paradigm and dynamical systems paradigm. A child’s interaction with an environment can be perceived as dynamic encounters that entail numerous components related to emotion (for example, expressive behavior, action tendencies, physical and social contexts, goals and motives, experiential feeling, appraisals, and , psychological patterning) that transform across a given period as the child develops and in reaction to changing interactions with the environment (Trawick-Smith & Smith, 2016). Cognitive development highlights the social experience, which includes the cultural context. Overall, the physical and cognitive development of a child should be regarded form a bio-ecological viewpoint that considers humans as dynamic systems fixed in a community setting.