Fundamentals of Human Growth and Development - Alexandria City ...

PLAY AGE (Pre-school)
Erickson: In this stage the child’s imagination is greatly expanded because of his increased ability to move
around freely and to communicate. It is an age of intrusive activity, avid curiosity and consuming fantasies
which lead to feelings of guilt and anxiety. It is also the stage of establishment of conscience. If this tendency
to feel guilty is “overburdened by all-too-eager adults” the child may develop a deep-seated conviction that
he/she is essentially bad, with a resultant stifling of initiative or a conversion of his moralism to vindictiveness.
I. General characteristics of pre-school child (age 3-5)
A. Rates of development vary
B. Sexes diverge - no longer same in developmental patterns
C. Child becomes companion; needs less physical care
D. Has more self-control (more, but still not a lot!)
E. Not able to separate real from fantasy
F. Uses fantasy to amuse and gratify
G. Is interested in carrying out activities
H. Has gained bowel control (expect for occasional accident)
I. Peer play is important; first parallel and then interactive
J. Becomes family member rather than mother’s baby
K. Increased independence brings increased insecurities
L. Begins to get a picture of who and what he is; accepts mother’s judgement
II. Physical growth increases but is uneven; girls develop fatty tissue while boys develop muscle tissue
III. Cognitive development
A. Crucial to develop trust in verbal communication
B. Parents attitudes and use of language (to clarify or confuse, to problem-solve or manipulate) will
affect his development of trust
C. Gradual sorting out of real from imaginary
D. Comprehension and ability to reason still quite limited
E. Thinking is totally egocentric; lacks experience for it to be any other way
F. Pre-operational intelligence; will move slowly during next several years into concrete operational
intelligence
G. Has not yet attained culture’s way of reasoning and systematizing
H. Experiences, parent’s attitudes and child’s own make-up will determine how quickly child moves
to operational functioning
I. Gradual establishment of conscience
IV. Gender identity
A. Boy and girl gets image of self as a boy or girl
B. Learn sex roles
C. Gender identity is influenced by biological and social factors (gender assigned by family tends to
dominate)
D. Awareness of sex differences develops
E. Knowledge and fantasies about conception and birth
F. Sibling relationships
1. Rivalry (jealousy of younger; envy of older)
2. Mutual support and opportunity for intimacy
3. Ordinal position in family has advantages and disadvantages
4. Presence of siblings impacts on child’s resolution of Oedipal conflict (Freud)
V. Oedipal attachment and resolution
A. Classical Freudian concept
B. Modern view: essential to overcome intense bond with mother
C. Boy/girl focuses on love object and identifies with appropriate role model
D. Anxieties attached to these changes are real due to child’s ability to imagine
E. Eventual repression of child/mother bond and reorganization of child’s view of self in family
F. Conscience (superego) is formed at this point
G. Problems with Oedipal transition can affect future interpersonal relationships - strong parents
insure good transition
VI. Family relationships
A. Good Oedipal resolution depends on strong parents or other role models
B. Oedipal fixation due to disturbed family situation and/or ineffectual, rejecting, cold, etc. parents
C. Incest - affects child’s resolution of Oedipal attachment
D. Child can be taught difference between nurturing touch and exploitive touch
Child Development Unit12