Social and personality development and types of play pre-school years

Psychoanalytic Theory
about forming attachments.
Sigmund Freud (1935): psyche: the id, the superego, the ego.
During infancy all behaviors are aimed at gaining pleasure and avoiding pain. (pleasure principle)
As we get older, the pleasure –seeking behavior is limited and we choose to behave within laws and moral norms (reality principle)
Those infants who can integrate the reality principle into their psyche will form good close relationships with people around them.

Psychosexual stages
I Oral stage (0-2) – a stage of life when we get sexual pleasure from oral stimulation; e.g. eating and sucking.
Pleasure via mouth – the id is satisfied
Problems: no breast feeding before the developmentally ‘right time’, the child will become traumatized (the id’s demands are not fully satisfied)
Conclusion: if the child feels depressed and anxious during the oral stage, this feeling will affect his attachment to his mother.

II Anal Stage (2-5)
A stage of life where we get pleasure from anal stimulation; e.g. bowel movements.
Sensory pleasure: from toilet activities– the id is satisfied
Problems: weaning the infant from nappies to the potty too early will lead to strong resistance and anxiety.
Conclusion: the distress will affect his attachment to the mother.

III Phallic Stage (5-7)
Stage when we become preoccupied with our genitals and develop a sexual attraction for our opposite-gender parent.

Conclusion: boys and girls develop attachment to include mannerisms and behavior of the same –gender parent.
By copying they induce love and attention from the opposite-gender parent and develop attachment.

Successful completion of oral, anal, and phallic stages leads to strong attachment to both parents and as they get older, they will form healthy, strong attachments in adult life.

Unsuccessful completion:
Fixation: the child unsuccessfully resolves the conflict at any psychosexual stages of development and cannot progress to the next stage as a result.
Personality problems:

Regression -
When stress gets too much you revert to behaviors exhibited at the psychosexual stage at which you became fixated.
Defense mechanisms:

Security theory – types of attachments.
I Secure attachment
Infants often use their mothers as a base for exploring a new environment. They will explore the immediate environment but always keep the mother in sight or know where she is (synchronous activity, happy with reunion)
II Resistant attachment:
Infants show mixed reactions to their mothers and may either approach them or push them away in an unfamiliar situations (show mistrust, blames when reunited)

III Insecure-avoidant:
Mother and child have not learnt to interact through synchronous activities, no signs of missing the parent and actively ignores and avoids her upon reunion.
IV Insecure-ambivalent.
Infants become distressed and cannot be settled by the parent on reunion. It happens when mothers are insensitive to the needs and respond to their needs unpredictably.

Social development
Bandura and Walters had a strong social learning theory view of the role of sibling and friend social relationships. They suggest that children learn about their social world and social norms through their interactions with peers. They noticed that children learn both directly and indirectly.
Direct learning occurs when a child is taught by another child how to play with a new toy or how to play a new group game.
Indirect learning occurs when the child observes the other children playing or engaging in other social behaviour.

Play
is a serious business. The pioneering developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky thought that, in the preschool years, play is the leading source of development.
Through play children learn and practice many basic social skills. They develop a sense of self, learn to interact with other children, how to make friends, how to lie and how to role-play.

The classic study of how play develops in children was carried out by Mildred Parten in the late 1920s at the Institute of Child Development in Minnesota. She closely observed children between the ages of 2 and 5 years and categorised their play into six types.
Types of play

TYPES OF PLAY

Unoccupied Play
the child is relatively stationary and appears to be performing random movements with no apparent purpose. A relatively infrequent style of play.

SOLITARY PLAY
THE CHILD IS COMPLETELY ENGROSSED IN PLAYING AND DOES NOT SEEM TO NOTICE OTHER CHILDREN. MOST OFTEN SEEN IN CHILDREN BETWEEN 2 AND 3 YEARS-OLD.

Solitary Play
Independent activities
Examples:
-Puzzles
-lining up toys-dolls
Early form of play
Teaches children to be creative, and amuse themselves
Development of independence

ONLOOKER PLAY
CHILD TAKES AN INTEREST IN OTHER CHILDREN'S PLAY BUT DOES NOT JOIN IN. MAY ASK QUESTIONS OR JUST TALK TO OTHER CHILDREN, BUT THE MAIN ACTIVITY IS SIMPLY TO WATCH.

PARALLEL PLAY
THE CHILD MIMICS OTHER CHILDREN'S PLAY BUT DOESN'T ACTIVELY ENGAGE WITH THEM. FOR EXAMPLE THEY MAY USE THE SAME TOY.

Parallel Play
Children use similar toys or engage in similar activities but do not play together
Child will notice what other child is doing and may mimic what they see
May work their way into other person’s “play”
Can help child understand that everyone is different and everyone has their own ideas and way of doing things
Example:
-two child sitting side by side lining up different animals

ASSOCIATIVE PLAY
NOW MORE INTERESTED IN EACH OTHER THAN THE TOYS THEY ARE USING. THIS IS THE FIRST CATEGORY THAT INVOLVES STRONG SOCIAL INTERACTION BETWEEN THE CHILDREN WHILE THEY PLAY.

Associate Play
Children engaging in similar, somewhat organized activity
May talk about what they are doing, share toys and ask questions
Children do not engage in joint efforts
Teaches child to share and ask questions
Example:
-two children playing side by side lining up toys, one child asks to borrow one of the other child’s toys to continue on with own play

COOPERATIVE PLAY
SOME ORGANIZATION ENTERS CHILDREN'S PLAY, FOR EXAMPLE THE PLAYING HAS SOME GOAL AND CHILDREN OFTEN ADOPT ROLES AND ACT AS A GROUP.

10 Benefits to Children
Muscular development and control of large muscles, fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination.
Speech development
Social development
Language skill development
Problem solving and creative thinking
Increased consciousness of the cause and effect involved in a sequence of events.
Therapeutic value
Opportunities for self talk
Development of self-confidence
Learning cooperation and values