Pillars in the Making - Oct 2012

Children’s Social and Emotional Development

Have you ever realized that little babies have their specific emotions? In the last issue I have introduced three different types of babies, which have different features and characteristics, and these characteristics will influence their social and emotional developments.

 

Photo: ruthparbel.com/children

 

Developmental psychologists who interested in social development focus on how individuals develop social and emotional competencies. For example, they study how children form friendships, how they understand and deal with emotions, and how identity develops. Research in this area may involve study of the relationship between cognition or cognitive developments and social behaviors.

 

American psychologist Erick Erickson believed that all humans undergo lifelong stages to achieve social and emotional developments, which is called stages of psychosocial development. There are eight stages starting from birth to old age.

 

The stages were:

• trust vs. mistrust;
• autonomy vs. shame;
• initiative vs. guilt;
• industry vs. inferiority;
• identity, vs. role diffusion;
• intimacy vs. isolation;
• generativity vs. stagnation; and
• ego integrity vs. despair

 

Emotional regulation or ER refers to an individual's ability to control one’s emotion in different variety of contexts. In young children, this modulation is controlled externally, by parents and other authority figures. As children develop, they take on more and more responsibilities for their internal states. Studies have shown that the development of ER is affected by the emotional regulation which children learn it from their parents and/or caretakers, the emotional climate at home, and the reaction of parents and/or caretakers to the children's emotions.

 

By then we know that apart from genetic influence, social factors can also determine how children are like.

Vicky Wong

References:

Amanda Morris et. al.(2009) National Institute of Health. "The Role of the Family Context in Development of Emotion Regulation." pp 1-36
"Erik Erikson, 91, Psychoanalyst Who Reshaped Views of Human Growth, Dies", New York Times, March 13, 1994.

Pillars in the Making - Sep 2012

“Easy”, “Difficult” or “Slow to warm up”??

Development of emotion

Photo: gagasisterhood.com

Do you know what emotion is? It can be associated and considered reciprocally influential with mood, temperament, personality, disposition, and motivation. Sometimes it can also be influenced by biological factors, e.g. hormones. But do you know when emotion actually occurs? According to a survey done in the USA, most of the parents found that their babies show five distinct emotional expressions: interest, surprise, joy, anger and fear. We can simply divide them into three types of babies; easy temperament, difficult temperament and slow to warm up temperament.

Three types of babies

1) Easy temperament babies

There are around 40% of babies  belong to this type of temperament. They are even- tempered, and they are typically in a positive mood, quite open and adaptable to new experiences. Their habits are regular and predictable.

2) Difficult temperament babies

There are around 10% of babies belong to this type of temperament. They are active, irritable, and irregular in their habits. They often react very unwillingly in changing routines and they react very slowly to new people or situations.

3) Slow – to – warm – up temperament babies

Around 10% babies are samples of slow to warm up temperament. These children are quite inactive, somewhat moody, and can be slow to adapt to new people and situations. Unlike difficult child, they often response to novelty mildly, rather than in negative ways.

Photo: babywisemom.com

Vicky Wong

Reference:
Firchow, Nancy M.L.S.. "Your Child's Temperament: Some Basics". http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.asp?r=495.

Pillars in the Making - Aug 2012

Learning by observation

This time, I want to introduce observational learning to you. It is a type of learning which happens by watching other’s behaviors. It is a form of social learning. I think observation is the most effective way for children to learn knowledge or behavior, as we can easily find a lot of daily examples of observational learning happening around us most of the time.

Albert Bandura is the founder of observational learning, he called it the process of social learning modeling, and provided it with four conditions which are necessary for learning to form through observation. The first condition is attention.  When attention takes on the target modeled behavior. This can understand the details about this behavior. The second condition is retention. The observer must be able to recall the observed behavior. The third condition is motor reproduction, which means the observer has to have the ability to perform the particular type of behavior. The last condition is motivation and opportunity. Observer must have motivation and chance to carry out the behavior. Without the above conditions, observational learning cannot occur.

Bandura’s BoBo doll experiment

Image: learningtheories4101.pbworks.com

As Bandura was very interested in how observational learning affected children’s behavior, he conducted an experiment in 1961 and 1963, and this experiment was named as “The BoBo Doll” experiment. Three groups of children were involved in this experiment. They have to watch videos which contained different level of violence behavior. Children were allocated to three different rooms and each room got a BoBo doll. The result showed that the group of children who watched video containing the most violence video would perform more violence behavior to the BoBo doll.

This experiment shows that it is important that parents should choose the right type of TV programs for their children, otherwise the kids will become the clown in the Batman movie!!
 

 Vicky Wong

References:
Bandura, Albert. (1986) Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ, US: Prentice-Hall.

"Blazing Angels or Resident Evil? Can Violent Video Games Be a Force for Good?", Christopher J. Ferguson, Review of General Psychology, 14, 68-81

Sharon & Woolley (2004). Do Monsters Dream? Young Children Understands of the Fantasy/Reality Distinction. Journal of Developmental Psychology, 22, 293-310. Retrieved October 4, 2010 from the British Psychological Society database.

Pillars in the Making - Jun 2012

How behavioral theory works!

Hi everyone, have you ever heard of Pavlov and his classical conditioning theory? This month I want to share his history and findings with you.

Ivan Pavlov. Photo: NobelPrize.org

Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was a Russian Physiologist, who was interested in the digestive system of human and animals. He had won a noble prize for physiology in 1904. Pavlov was interested in the gastric function of dogs. In 1890 he used his own dog for experiment. He expanded the salivary gland of his dog, so that he could collect and measure its saliva under different food conditions. Through this experiment, he found out how dogs’ gastric function works and it made him the first physiology noble prize winner. Other than that, he had also found out an extra psychic condition which he called it “classical conditioning”.  
  
At first, there was no reason that the dog would generate saliva when it heard a bell sound. However, Pavlov paired up the bell sound with food. After several times of conditioning, the dog would salivate when the bell rang. This is “classical conditioning” that the dog associated between the two stimuli so it expected to have food when it heard the bell sound.

It can apply to many situations in daily life, for example, have you ever noticed that baby product advertisements always use cute babies to be their models?  The advertising agencies try to attract parents by associating beautiful babies to the products through classical conditioning.

Pavlov’s dog at the Pavlov museum in Russia. Photo: Marxists.org

Vicky Wong

References:
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1904/pavlov-bio.html. Retrieved 2 February 2012

"V.I. Lenin “Concerning The Conditions Ensuring The Research Work Of Academician I. P. Pavlov and his associates”. Marxists.org. http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1921/jan/24.htm. Retrieved 2012-04-15.

Carlson, N. R. (1942). Psychology: The science of behavior. Boston : Pearson.

Pillars in the Making - May 2012

Do you know which development level is your moral ability up to? 

I want to share with you a story about morality this month, and see how you will decide to do.

“A man is standing outside a pharmacy shop, and thinking whether to go in or not. He wants to have a particular medicine, because his wife is suffering from a serious type of cancer, which the medicine can help improving her symptoms and will make her feel better. But this type of medicine is very expensive, and they cannot afford buying it. Now the man is standing right in front of the shop, he can see the position of pills in the shop, and struggling what should he do, he has only got two choices; first, break into the shop and steal the pills for his wife, second, go back home and wait for miracles to happen.”

Try to imagine that if you are the man and you know deeply from your heart that stealing is against the law, but your wife really needs those pills for her sickness, what will you do?

After you make your decision, you can find out which moral development stages you are on at the table below. 

Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Stage 4	Stage 5	Stage 6
Punishment Orientation	Naïve reward orientation	Good boy/girl orientation	Authority Orientation	Social Contact Orientation	Individual principles and conscience orientation
Right or Wrong is determined by what is punished.	Right or wrong is determined by what is rewarded.	Right or wrong is determined close other approve or disapprove	Right or wrong is determined by society’s rules and laws, which should be obey rigidly.	Right or wrong is determined by society’s rules which are viewed as flexible rather than absolute.	Right or wrong is determined by abstract ethical views that emphasize equity and justice.

Stage theory of moral development- Lawrence Kohlberg

Vicky Wong

References:

Kohlberg, L. (1963). The development of children's orientations toward a moral order: I. Sequence in the development of moral thought. Vita Humana, 6, 11-33.

Killen, M., Margie, N. G., & Sinno, S. (2006). Morality in the context of intergroup relationships. In M. Killen & J. G. Smetana (Eds.), Handbook of moral development (pp. 155-183). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Pillars in the Making - Apr 2012

Famous developmental psychologist – Jean Piaget

Piaget’s Biography & Work

(Jean Piaget: 1896 – 1980)
Photo: ElPorvenir.mx

This month I want to introduce you a famous psychologist; Jean Piaget. He is a cognitive developmental psychologist.

Jean Piaget was a Swiss Psychologist who focuses on doing research about children’s cognitive development, and believed that it is a maturational process. Piaget described himself as a philosopher concern with the development of knowledge rather than developmental psychologist; he used three of his own children as participants in his experiments. He found out that they tended to engage in behaviors which were distinctive to their age, and were making similar mistakes in problem solving. Piaget than concluded that every children conduct similar mistakes at particular age range, and they can resolve these problems when they grow older.

Piaget’s theory emphasis the notion of operation; he believed that an operation is a transformation of an object or things in the field of mathematic and logic. For example; by saying “Mary is my sister” transforming Mary to the concept of sister,  Piaget thinks it is a development which happens at a higher level, which called invertible; that is whether things can be reversed by children or not. One of the important aspects of cognitive development is whether children can possess ability to use operations of different types.

Building up schemes is a way which helps children to form interaction with their environment; this process helps a child to adapt to his or her environment. These are some basic information about Piaget’s theory; next time I will start introducing his cognitive development theory.

Vicky Wong

Carlson, N. (1942). Psychology: The science of behavior. Boston : Allyn & Bacon

Pillars in the Making - Mar 2012

Kid’s Movement

How babies start moving

Have you ever been aware of how the movements in child begin, or think about the question of “How children learn how to walk”? Sometimes you will find daddy playing football with little kids in playground. When they were chasing after the ball, it’s hard for them to get balance. As a result, they all look like they are about to fell down. Before these things can happen, there are a series of muscles development involved, and this development follows a distinct pattern of sequences.  

Development of babies is caused by maturation. The term maturation included all relatively stable changes in thought, behavior, and physical growth which is due to the aging process but not to experience. Although each child go through this process at different rate, their development still follows the same basic maturation pattern.

Cause of motor development

At birth, infant’s most important movements are reflexes in response to specific stimuli. Reflexes include sucking, rooting (when baby’s cheek is touched, baby will turn its head towards the touching direction) and swallowing responses. Reflexes are important for baby’s survival. Two essential ingredients involved the maturation of the child’s nervous system and practice. As development of nervous system is incomplete at birth, considerable growth occurs during the first several months. Particular kinds of movement will not occur until the development of necessary neuromuscular system complete. Other than that, physical development of the nervous system depends greatly on the ways baby moves while interacting with the environment.

The Milestone of children motor development

The motor development shows predictable pattern, starting from head to foot. Different steps of motor development are effect by both previous development and a cause of further development. There are 12 developmental stages; a brief description of motor development is shown in the picture below; 

Basic Motor development stages

It is very interesting to know that children’s movement follows a complex series of development, and I can simply answer the question of why baby can only do certain movements in certain period of time. Hope that you can enhance your understanding in children’s behavior development.

Vicky Wong

References:

Patterson, C. (2008), Child Development, New york: McGraw-Hill 

Carlson, N. (1942). Psychology: The science of behavior. Boston : Allyn & Bacon, P. 34

Shirley, M. M. (1933). The first two year: Vol. 2. Intellectual development. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota press.

Pillars in the Making - Feb 2012

How do infants become attached? (Part 3)  

This is the third part for attachment theory. Last month I have introduced a famous experiment “the wire mother” with you. Now you should know that all living things have attachment behaviors, and it is essential for them to protect themselves and to maintain their lives. This time I will share with you the types of attachment and the outcomes for different types of attachment.

The Internal Working Model of attachment for self and other

The internal working model is developed by Ethnologists John Bowlby and Inge Bretherton. It is a cognitive representation of self, others, and the relationships which infants construct from their interactions with their caregivers. Based on this model, four different types of attachment were formed, including secure, preoccupied, dismissing and fearful. A sensitive and responsive care giving should lead the child to feel that people are dependable. On the other hand insensitive, neglectful or abusive care giving may lead to insecurity and a lack of trust.

                 The Internal Working Model 

 

Secure (Secure primary attachment)	Preoccupied (resistant primary attachment)
Dismissing (Avoidant primary attachments)	Fearful (Disorganized primary attachment)

Pillars in the Making - Jan 2012

How do infants become attached? (Part 2)

Last month, I have shared with you what is attachment, and how it would affect baby’s emotional development. There are a lot of psychologists studied infant’s attach behavior, and they all believe that this particular behavior do help children in their future development in a lot of areas. Babies have an internal sense of deciding which object or subject they want to form attachment with. In this issue, I would like to share with you about a popular research on attachment called “wire mother experiment”.

The experiment of “wire mother” 

In 1960, Harry Harlow, an American psychologist, did an experiment to demonstrate how powerful the effect of love was. A young monkey was involved in his experiment, and the aim was to find out which types of object this monkey tended to be attached with.

The materials used to conduct this experiment involved two surrogate mothers that were designed with a simple facial shape. The main difference between both “mothers” was that one of them was covered with a thick layer of towel on its body; we can simply call her a fat mother. The other one was not covered with towel but a layer of wire and it was inserted with milk bottles on its breast, we can simply call her thin mother. This baby monkey could get food from thin mother, but it could not get any food from fat mother. The main purpose for this experiment was to find out which “surrogate mother” this monkey would hug on while experienced different conditions, e.g. Fear.

Throughout the experiment, Harlow has observed that the young monkey loved to stay with fat mother most of the time except when feeling hungry. If the young monkey was experiencing fearful situation, it refused to separate from fat mother.

Harlow conducted a further research to observe the young monkey’s response if fat mother disappeared after they were staying in the same room for thirty minutes. When separated from fat mother, young monkey felt anxious, fear and started to cry for fat mother back.

What does this research tell us?

From the first experiment, Harlow found that young monkey was hugging fat mother most of the time, it would only go to thin mother when it needed for food. The second research shows that once young monkey has formed attachment with fat mother, a security base would be formed between them. Both results can proof that attachment is vital for children’s development and they tend to form attachment with comfortable things or people. Without attachment, they easily feel fear and anxious and lose security feeling. So remember to spend more time with your kids, or baby brother & sister, if you have one.       

Vicky Wong

References:

Cherry, K. (2006, 7 24). An Overview of Attachment Theory. Retrieved from About.com.Psychology:http://psychology.about.com/od/loveandattraction/a/attachment01.htm

Mcleod, S. (2007 , 4 12). Bowlby Attachment Theory. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/bowlby.html

Pillars in the Making - Dec 2011

How do babies become attached? (Part 1)

My friend Ben has got a blanket which has been kept and slept with him since he was a baby. Have you got any friends, relatives or even yourself have similar behavior as Ben? For me I have a teddy bear which stays with me for at least 20 years already. Although some part of it has already been torn, I still do not let my mum throw it away; this behavior is called “attachment”. Attachment is a behavior which helps babies to form relationship with people or objects around them. According to Bowlby, parent-infant attachment is a reciprocal relationship: Parent clearly has an edge on infants, when they come to form these intimate affection ties. Mothers often form attachments with babies before they are born, as they usually start planning for babies and they can easily feel the baby’s movements or kicking. The most critical time to form an intense attachment with babies is the few hours after they were born, because it is the time when babies need to feel safe the most. So it is very important for mothers to hug their babies as soon as they are born. If baby cannot form a certain amount of attachment with their caretakers, they may have a chance to develop problems in expressing emotion and building up relationship with people in later life. 

Pillars in the Making - Nov 2011

港童症爆發 

近年來香港出現了很多「小惡霸」，他們就是我們所稱的「港童」。 相信大家都在不少報章或網站上也會留意到關於「港童」的新聞，例如在暑假期間發生的「小學雞當街罵父母事件」。事情發生在七月，地點在大埔超級城，一名年約七歲的小孩突然指罵父母，說父母搶去他的人權迫他上街，還指手畫腳說父母無權主宰他出門的自由。因他的激烈行為而引起路人的注意，當路人在討論他的行為時， 這名「小學雞」 就指罵路人說 「唔關你事」。 其實大家在生活上都不時會遇到我們所謂的「港童」 在我們身邊出現，不知道你們對港童的行為和態度有什麼意見呢?