Emotional Development

Emotions are the way one feels about oneself and others. Emotions are inner feelings we have about ourselves, other people and situations. Emotions influence the way one learns, thinks and interacts with others. Emotions are especially intense during early childhood. This is time of disequilibrium when children are out of focus in the sense that they are easily aroused to emotional outbursts and as a result, are difficult to live with and guide. While this is rule of the major part of early childhood, it is especially true of children aged 2 to 3 and 5 to 6 . Although any emotion may be heightened in the sense that it occurs more frequently and more intensely than is normal for that particular individual, heightened emotionality in early childhood is characterized by temper tantrums, intense fears, and unreasonable outbursts of jealousy. Part of the intense emotionality of children at this age may be traced to fatigue due to strenuous and prolonged play, rebellion against taking naps, and the fact that they may eat too little. Much of the heightened emotionality characteristic of this age is psychological rather than physiological in origin. Most young children feel that they are capable of doing more than their parents will permit them to do and revolt against the restrictions placed upon them. In addition, they become angry when they find they are incapable of doing what they think they can do easily and successfully. Even more important, children whose parents expect them to measure up to unrealistically high standards will experience more emotional tension than children whose parents are more realistic in their expectations.

Common Emotional Patterns

Young children experience most of the emotions normally experienced by adults. However, the stimuli that give rise to them and the ways in which children express these emotions are markedly different. Fear-related emotional patterns- worry, anxiety and embarrassment are not listed. They normally do not become important emotions until late childhood, when contacts with peers and adults outside the home become more frequent and more pronounced than they were in early childhood. Please refer to annexed Box 5.4 Notes on Motor Skills refer to pg 22 29; Notes on Social development refer to pg 69-90

Cognitive Development
COGNITIVE means to become acquainted with. Cognitive development focuses on how children learn and process information. It is the development of the thinking and organizing systems of the mind. It involves language, mental imagery, thinking, reasoning, problem solving, and memory development. By general consensus, Jean Piaget stands as the central

theorist in contemporary child study. He developed a whole field of cognitive development, observed regularities in childrens performances that no one has noted before him. His theory concerns how the child thinks, how thinking changes from infancy to adolescence, and how the changes reflect an interesting series of structured stages. Although Piaget set clear stages of cognitive development, which continues to be useful to contemporary child educators, he omitted to say that cognitive development is not an automatic process. The fact is that the child will not reach any of these stages without proper education. Contrary to the animal, the human being only knows, and can only do, what he/she has learned. The Theory of Cognitive Development, first developed by Jean Piaget, proposes that there are four distinct, increasingly sophisticated stages of mental representation that children pass through on their way to an adult level of intelligence Sensorimotor period (years 02) Infants are born with a set of congenital reflexes that allow them to float in the heavily dense world, according to Piaget, in addition to a drive to explore their world. Preoperational Period (years 27) The Preoperational stage is the second of four stages of cognitive development. By observing sequences of play, Concrete operational stage (years 711) The Concrete operational stage is the third of four stages of cognitive development in Piaget's theory. This stage, which follows the Preoperational stage, occurs between the ages of 7 and 11 years and is characterized by the appropriate use of logic Formal operational stage (years 12 and up) The formal operational period is the fourth and final of the periods of cognitive development in Piaget's theory. This stage, which follows the Concrete Operational stage, commences at around 12 years of age (puberty) and continues into adulthood. It is characterized by acquisition of the ability to think abstractly, reason logically and draw conclusions from the information available, as well as apply all these processes to hypothetical situations. During this stage the young adult is able to understand such things as love, "shades of gray", logical proofs, and values. Further notes on cognitive development refer to pg 7 onwards of your book CPECE Area of Study 1: Professional studies Part 2: Domains of Development 2.5 Cognitive Development For the question on moral development do not forget to start by defining Moral Development. Please refer to Pg 80-88