Psychological research has recognized the importance of relationships with friends and peers in the development of social skills. Although previous research has looked at the differentiated experiences that children have in play styles, few studies have focused on the precise nature of these differences and how they are manifested as a function of the social context. Fabes, Martin & Hanish (2003) examined social interactions among children. More specifically, they observed children’s naturally occurring interactions over the course of a school year to examine how active-forceful play, play near adults and gender stereotypic activity choices varied among children by the sex of the child, the sex of the partner they interacted with and whether …show more content…
During each observation, the kind of social context in which the child was interacting was recorded. This included A: alone, S: With same sex peer, O: With other sex peer and M: With same and other sex peers. In addition to recording the kind of social context, the type of social behavior (e.g. Aggressive-Behavior, Rough and Tumble Play, Prosocial Cooperative Play and Gender Stereotyped Play) was recorded. Aggressive behavior was defined by either verbal (name calling, teasing, tattling excluding others) or physical (hitting, pushing throwing something, grabbing away toys). Rough and Tumble Play consisted of forceful physical action done in a playful, happy way (e.g., chasing or tackling during a game). Prosocial Cooperative Play consisted of sharing toys/materials with a peer, cooperating, working on a common activity. Lastly, gender stereotyped play consisted of boys playing with trucks, balls, sports and girls playing with dolls, house, kitchen. These social behaviors were logged in a sheet used by the observers. This coding system was developed in order to measure the play patterns among preschool …show more content…
Results indicated that the mean for younger children (M = .77) did differ significantly from the mean for older children (M = .36) for the ‘alone’ social context, t(10) = 3.43, p = .006. The mean for younger children (M = .09) also differed significantly from older children (M = .50) for the ‘with same sex peer’ social context, t(10) = -3.73, p = .004. On the other hand, the mean for younger children (M = .11) did not differ significantly from older children (M = .01) for the ‘with other sex peer’ social context, t(10) = 2.29, p = .05. The mean for younger children (M = .04) also did not differ significantly from older children (M = .13) for the ‘with same and other sex peers’ social context, t(10) = -2.05, p =
Early Childhood is marked by a time in children’s lives when they develop “a confident self-image, more effective control over their emotions, new social skills, the foundations of morality, and a clear sense of themselves as boy or girl” (Berk, Kauffman & Landrum, 2011, pg. 45). According to Erik Erikson, early childhood is a period of “vigorous unfolding,” one where children have a sense of autonomy and a new sense of purposefulness or initiative (Berk, Kauffman & Landrum, 2011, pg. 45). Play is a means for children to learn about themselves and they begin to adopt the moral and gender-role standards of the society in which they live (Berk, Kauffman & Landrum, 2011). A negative outcome of early childhood is the guilt children feel as a result of excessive punishment and criticism by the adults in their lives (Berk, Kauffman & Landrum, 2011)....
... Maccoby (2002) argues that since the same patterns that exist in children’s mixed and same-sex interactions are prevalent in adult interactions, it is not sufficient to only look at the interaction styles of adults, but that researchers must start with examining those of young children. This review traces those steeps that Maccoby has taken in her research. She began her research with parent-child interactions, studying the affect parents have on the sex-typing behavior of their children, in hopes of establishing where children learn about gender identity. Maccoby then took that information and combined it with research on children’s interactions in play groups, which led her to believe that parental sex-typing is inconsequential in children’s decisions to play in sex-segregated groups. Maccoby (1987) argues that it is the combination of dominance and control with gender labeling that drives children to interact in same-sex groups. Maccoby then ascertains the importance of the interaction skills learned in these same-sex-segregated groups in affecting adult behavior, and illustrates the many parallels that exist between the interactions of the two different age groups.
Tannen (1986) includes a section on “growing up male and female” which aside from the generalization that “between the ages of five and fifteen… [children] play mostly with friends of their own sex” (p. 142) is mostly true from my experience. The reason why that particular claim is not completely correct is because growing up, I socialized more with girls than with boys. This gave me an opportunity to see both sides of the socialization patterns.
Langlois, J. and Downs, A. (1980) Mothers, fathers, and peers as socialization agents of sex-typed play behaviours in young children. Child Development, 51, (pp 1271-1247).
Mathur and Parameswaran (2015) posed many of the questions that early-childhood educators have regarding the role of play in child development. The questions primarily focused on how play amongst children is affected by development, biology, nurture, gender and culture. The authors cite other research, which concludes that though play is universal and cross-cultural, theoretical and empirical evidence support the notion that there are gender differences in the play of children. Citing the social learning theory, Mathur and Parameswaran (2015) argue that children learn gender roles at a very young age due to the positive reinforcement they receive from their parents. The positive reinforcement is indicative of the parents rewarding their children’s
A dominant debate in current psychological research is one on gender development. Psychologists try to understand relative importance of social and cognitive factors. Various theories are brought up in this field and in this essay two of the most standard theory in this field are going to be explained. The theories covered in this essay relate to aspects of children’s thinking that are central to their gender development. This will include, Kohlberg‘s theory of gender development (1966) and Bandura‘s theory of social cognitive development (1986). Theories like these help psychologists understand how and in which way children understand behaviour and which leads them to do so.
From this research of examining how gender socialization is projection through toys to children, have led to conclusion that in order to prevent children from living by these stereotypes portrayed through toys, parents should encourage gender-neutral and cross-gender play in children at an early age. Just for the mere that their brain is so receptive to knowledge into creating to become the person they are to be in life. Give children a chance to not only have fun while playing with their toys and that there aren’t any pressures on them that this what they should be and that there a mind full options that they can choose from.
My choice of research was in the play behaviors of children as well as aggression. Breaking the topic down more, behavior relates to the psychology and the psyche of each individual. The definition of psychology is “science of mind and behavior” (Clavijo, 2013). After reading the article by Clavijo, I have realized that psychology can be defined in three ways such as the study of the mind, the study of behavior, and the study of the mind and behavior. In the text “The Developing Person” by Berger, behavior is learned through social learning. Children learn different behaviors through the observation of others, others being children and adults. Different people have affects on a child’s life that can affect their behavior. A child’s behavior is heavily influenced by their parents. A son may speak aggressively and without respect towards his mother because this is the way that his father speaks to her therefore he feels that is how to communicate with his mother (Berger, 200, 2012). Moving into play behaviors, children learn from other children in how to play. Most believe cognitive growth relies on child’s play time. Vygotsky and Piaget both believe that when children play it is beneficial, but according to Vygotsky, playing enables a child to think outside the box and create their own meaning from objects, using their imagination. Piaget believes that child benefit from playing together because children and sharing their knowledge and making it more concrete ideas and thoughts. There are four stages of plays, with the fourth stage being the highest most complicated play which consists of rules and guidelines for the game. The lowest level or play would be functional play being infants shaking rattles, clapping their hands, or blow...
The participants in this study included a total of 36 boys and 36 girls ranging in age from 3 years to almost 6 years. The average age of the children was 4 years, and 4 months. The control group consisted of 24 children, who would not be exposed to any model. The rest of the 48 children were divided into two groups: one group was exposed to aggressive models and the other group was exposed to nonaggressive models. These groups were then divided again into males and females. They were then further divided so that half of the children were exposed to same-sex models and opposite-sex models. (Leaving 8 experimental groups and 1 control group.)
Wood, E. (2002). The impact of parenting experience on gender stereotyped toy play of children. Sex Roles, 47, 39-50.
The behaviors that children seem to learn do have gender specific characteristics. Examples of male appropriate behavior includes: aggression, independence and curiosity. Female behaviors reflect the opposite of the male behaviors: passivity, dependence and timidity (Howe, 3). Parents have a strong impact on the sex roles that children acquire. If the sex roles are stereotypical in the home then the children will imitate the behavior that is observed in the home. Simple, parental behaviors such as who drives and who pays for dinner influence the children’s perceptions of sex roles (Seid, 115).
Rough-and-tumble play is a way how children play, by wrestling, rolling, hitting, running, after one another in a friendly way. Childrens tend to play this way with others because of how parents physically play with their babies, mostly how fathers plays with their son. It’s more likely to see this type of play towards the boys because, “prenatal exposure to androgens predisposes boys towards active play” (Berk & Meyers, 2016, pg. 424). Boys tend to have more physical contact while playing rough-and-tumble, such as, wrestling and hitting. While, the girls form of rough-and-tumble, is just running around chasing each other, without much physical contact. Rough-and-tumble helps the children form a “dominance hierarchy”, which is when a stable
Frost, J. L., Wortham, S. C., & Reifel, S. (2010, July 20). Characteristics of Social Play | Education.com. Retrieved March 3, 2014, from http://www.education.com/reference/article/characteristics-social-play/
Culture has different guidelines about what is appropriate for males and females. Families may socialize babies in gendered ways, like ways without consciously following that path. For babies, the toys and games parents select are often chosen to match what they would like the baby to get into and it also matches the gender that they are. Boys have been proven to be more aggressive and less likely to be fragile with the things they touch or play with, unlike girls who are less aggressive and more fragile with things they play with and touch. Statistics show that girls and boys share the same level of knowledge at the ages of 2-3 but when the become older, they begin to learn different things and what is good or bad to
Young girls who enjoy action figures and race cars or young boys who enjoy playing with dolls and playing dress up may feel like they are wrong in liking things they believe they are not supposed to like, forcing them to feel like they must push away these “incorrect” interests. Children know from a very young age what interests they are supposed to have and what interests they believe surrounding people would want them to have. In a 2007 study performed by Nancy K. Freeman and her research team for the Early Childhood Education Journal, results showed that “when 3-year-olds separated ‘girl toys’ from ‘boy toys’ 92% of their responses reflected gender-typical stereotypes” (Freeman). Children were also able to distinguish that their parents would not approve of them playing with the opposite gender’s toys. (Freeman). This data shows the profound impact that gender stereotypes have on young children, which would greatly influence their play choices and perhaps choices made throughout their entire lives. Children should not feel such a pressure and should be able to express themselves outside of the gender roles society has assigned to them before birth. In Alice Robb’s opinion