Early Childhood - Connecticut State Department of Education

Social-Emotional Competence and Family Relations Chapter 10
enjoy imitating adults, especially in gender-based
roles. If children are not allowed
to explore and satisfy their curiosities they
develop a sense of guilt and failure. It is
important that early childhood settings allow
children to imitate and try out a variety
of experiences and activities through which
they can learn rules and expectations. Initiative
is observed in pro-social behaviors
like helping and showing affection and
sympathy toward others.
• Industry vs. Inferiority (age 6 to puberty).
By the end of kindergarten, children focus
on the development of competence. They
plan, carry out and complete projects
unlike younger preschoolers who engage in
exploratory activities. School-aged children
need time, space, materials and support to
engage in activities that build competence
and industry. Industry is observed in
a child’s desire to produce projects and
demonstrate accomplishments.
The Constructivist Theory. Piaget explained
that, as the quality of children’s cognitive development
improves, their knowledge or understanding of other
people’s problems and how others feel strengthens.
Children begin to develop emotionally by modifying and
organizing their experiences within their environments.
For example, babies are born with few experiences but, as
they receive new information from their environments,
they use these to build new emotional experiences
which can become more complex as they grow older.
Children need adult assistance as they try to make sense
of themselves and others.
The Behaviorist Theory. The behaviorist view
assumes that children learn social-emotional behaviors
when their actions are either reinforced or not reinforced
by the adults (caregivers, parents) and siblings around
them. Social learning theorists explain that children
learn social behavior by their observations; noting the
behavior of and imitating the behavior of adults and
children. Children imitate the behaviors of adults and
peers. Children tend to imitate the behaviors of those
they like because they want to be like them. They also
imitate behaviors they observe being rewarded.
In summary, it is essential for teachers to
understand the various stages in the development of
social-emotional competence to determine classroom
expectations for individual and group behaviors. These
stages include:
• development and regulating of emotions;
• reliance on adult support;
• learning social rules;
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• emergence of temperament and dispositions;
and
• development of self (Shaffer, 1999).
The theories of social-emotional development
inform teachers of the preschool-age child of how critical
it is to know that children’s temperament and social
skills can be influenced by the learning environment.
Temperament and Dispositions
Each child possesses a temperament noticeable at birth
and influenced by the reactions of important adults and
the environment. Characteristics include:
• activity level – typical pace of activities;
• irritability – how easily one becomes upset;
• soothe-ability – how easily one can be calmed
after being upset;
• fearfulness – how aware one is of the unusual
in the environment; and
• sociability – how receptive one is in social
situations (Shaffer, 1999).
These traits provide a framework upon which
social-emotional development is built. Understanding
children’s temperament provides teachers with critical
information to help shape expectations, plan curriculum
and choose teaching strategies. Through experiences and
relationships children come to understand more about
themselves and their personalities and temperaments.
Dispositions may include characteristics such as
curiosity, humor and friendliness.
Children who have multiple experiences
that boost their levels of confidence and enhance
their self-image, and who have had success in selfregulating
their emotions will gradually develop the
ability to control their own behaviors and emotions.
The ability to self-control has strong connections with
cognitive competency, self-confidence and other social
skills (Harter, 1990). To be socially and emotionally
ready to learn in kindergarten, children must develop
characteristics such as confidence, an ability to tackle
problems and persistence. They must have strong
language development, and be able to listen and attend
to their environments.
Social Skills
Learning to regulate one’s emotions becomes far more
complicated as social relationships develop. Friendships
and relationships involve learning tolerance of others,
coping with the challenges and frustrations of sharing,
taking another’s point of view, and being able to move
past one’s own personal needs and wishes. Teachers