Social-Emotional

Development
Cherrie Lovejoy
Northern Marianas College
cherrie.lovejoy@marianas.edu

Play
Social-emotional development happens
through play.
Eriksons theory of initiative vs. guilt is
developed through positive play experience.
A child can take risks in a safe/healthy
environment and grow on the freedom of
choice.

Self-Understanding
Self-concept is the set of attributes,
attitudes, and values that an individual
believes defines who he/she is.
Preschools describe themselves in terms
such as name, gender, age, family, etc.
They develop a sense of self through
learning the boundaries and differences
between self and others.

Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is the part of self-concept that
focuses on the judgment of the ones own
worth.
Evaluation of self affects emotional
development and behavior.
Preschoolers tend to have a high view of
themselves and often underestimate the
challenges and difficulties of a task.
This confidence contributes to the
development of initiative.

Self-Concept
Preschoolers begin to develop a selfconscious understanding of emotions.
They can express feelings of shame,
embarrassment, frustration, guilt, envy, and
pride.
Although they express these feelings, it may
be difficult to identify these feelings when
expressed.
The child often needs help in identifying and
understanding the expressed emotion.

Emotional Knowledge
Children are very egocentric and do not
understand that other people do not have
the same points of view.
Make believe play helps children imitate
and express their daily lives.
Emotional development grows as a child
learns to work with other children with
different points of view.
Play sets an environment where children
can interact and learn to get along with
others.

Self-Regulation
Preschoolers begin to learn how to control
the expression of their emotions.
As children learn self-regulation of
emotions, tantrums and outbursts become
less frequent.
Temperament also plays a part in selfregulation.
Temperament determines the emotional
reactivity of a child.

Empathy & Sympathy

Children who can express empathy are
more likely to share and to show sympathy
when another person is distressed.
Empathy promotes prosocial and altruistic
behavior (actions that benefit another
without any expected reward).
Children are most likely to react to others in
a similar way as their parents respond to
them.

4 stages of Play
Solitary: A child is in proximity of a peer,
however, neither interact.
Parallel: Children play near each other and
share materials but do not interact.
Associative: Children play separately,
however, there is sharing and minor
interaction.
Cooperative: Children directly interact and
work together in play.

Non-social play
The type of solitary and parallel play
change through the preschool years.
Wondering around, hovering near peers,
and repetitive motion may be cause for
concern.
Some preschoolers enjoy positive,
constructive solitary play

Friendships
First friendships form through the sharing of
toys and pleasurable play.
Friendships are not long-term nor based on
quality based mutual trust.
Children cannot explain the qualities of a
good friend.

Problem-Solving

Although conflict among children seem bad, it

is an opportunity for social problem solving.
The opportunity to learn to resolve
disagreements that end in beneficial
outcomes.
When children learn to solve conflicts they
learn to understand social cues, develop strong
friendships, and form goals.
When children have difficulty with peers they
misinterpret others behaviors and have
damaged peer relationships.

Parental Influences
Children need parental guidance to
establish peer relationships.
Parents offer advice, guidance and model
how to relate to others.
Secure attachment between parent and
child provide the child with a sense of
confidence and trust.
Play between parent and child promote
higher level of play when the child plays
with peers.

Moral Development
A child develops a sense of right and wrong
during the preschool years.
Children learn acceptable behavior through
the expectation of responsible behavior.
Morality develops externally. The child
learns right and wrong based on will I get
caught?
Eventually morality turns internally in
relation to expectations of others.

Modeling
Children learn appropriate and
inappropriate behavior through modeling.
A child is always watching his/her
surroundings and the behavior of others.
Children are more likely to mimic positive
social behavior when exposed to a warm,
responsive, competent, and consistent
model.

Parenting Styles

Authoritative: high level

of acceptance,
involvement, adaptive
control, and appropriate
choices to encourage
autonomy. The child
becomes self-confident
and has self-control.
Authoritarian: Low level
of acceptance,
involvement and choices,
with a high level of
coercive control. The child
is not allowed to make
his/her own decisions.

Permissive: Low
level of acceptance,
involvement, and
attention. The child is
allowed to make
decisions that he/she
isnt ready to do.
Uninvolved: Low
acceptance,
involvement and no
control. The child is
ignored.

Wrap-Up
A childs social-emotional development is
extremely complex with a large variety of
variables.
A childs behavior and reactions is based on
temperament, maturity, parenting styles,
modeling, and his/her environment.
All of the factors must balance to develop a
positive self-understanding, self-esteem,
self-concept, self-regulation, and social
interaction.

The importance of socialemotional development

Since there are so many factors and
changes at stake, it is important for adults
in the childs life to guild him/her through
tough situations.
Guidance is a key component in helping a
child with social-emotional development.
Help should be provided through play to
encourage positive peer relationships.
A child should be encouraged to take
reasonable age-appropriate risks.

Conclusion

It is every adults responsibility to influence

a childs positive social-emotional
development through guidance, support,
and modeling.

References

Harris, S., Barnes-Young, L., & Berk, L.

(2005). Infants, children, and adoleescents.
5th ed. Boston, MA: Pearsons.