Psychology and Emotional Regulation - Essay Example

Psychology There is no doubt that children undergo a development process that shape up their behaviors. Undoubtedly, parents should take precautions on how they handle children especially those at the age of three to seven years who perceive things differently as compared to other people as they are growing intellectually. It is therefore, critical as parents to contemplate on how we handle the children especially at this age through our parental styles in order to encourage them to grow up and have good morals through ensuring proper parental care that will lead to self-control, self-fulfillment, happiness, and courage. A lot of caution should also be undertaken based on the programs on television or video that the children watch in order to avoid the effects of violent TV and videogames on children behaviors. Erikson's psychosocial stage of middle childhood - initiative vs. guilt between the ages of three to five years is more significant as at this stage of early childhood the preschooler develops social and cognitive skills. Notably, at this age the children face some of the challenges that involve assuming responsibility and making plans as they observe their parents or other adults performing. However, at this age the preschoolers attempt activities that are beyond their capabilities or are outside the limits set by the parents (Click and Parker 86). In most cases when caregivers provide support and guidance the result will be feelings of success and pride in their own initiative. In cases where the children become unsuccessful, they develop a feeling of guilt. Emotional regulation are the extrinsic and intrinsic processes that are accountable for checking, assessing, and modifying emotional responses, especially their serious and temporal features in order to achieve goals (Gross,2007). Prefrontal cortex part of the brain matures to allow children inordinate emotional parameter this is because it is mainly connected with attention, executive function besides delayed responding and response organization. Individual externalizing problems arises during childhood where the under controlled disorders is marked by acts out in ways that disturb other people and violate social expectations more evidently among boys. This is remarkably, through aggressive, disobedient, disruptive, and difficult to control behavior. On the other hand, internalizing problems are those disorders that are over controlled that involve inner distress—they are more disruptive among children than other people marked by anxiety disorders like the worry of separation from loved ones, phobias, severe shyness, withdrawal, and depression it is manifested more in girls . Four main parenting styles exist today depending on the communication styles, warmth and nurturance, disciplinary strategies and expectations of maturity and control. Authoritative parenting style established the rules, regulations, and guidelines that authoritative parents expect the children to follow (Levine & Munsch 521). This style is more democratic as the parents are more responsive to their children as they willing listen to their questions. However, when the children fail to meet their expectations the parents are more forgiving and nurturing. Thus, this disciplinary method is advantageous as it is supportive rather than punitive besides enhancing on the children being self-regulated as well as cooperative besides being socially responsible. This is the most favorable and highly ranked as the children are more happy, capable, and successful. Authoritarian parenting is more strict as there are rules established by parents that should be followed sternly failure to which the children get punished. In this parenting style, there is no explanation given behind the reason as to why the rules exist. Authoritarian style is mainly characterized by parents’ high demand and lack of responsiveness to their children by not listening to their questions or views (Levine & Munsch 521). This style is not favorable as parents base their parenting on obedience and status-oriented with expectations that their children will follow their orders without explanation. Although the children become obedient and proficient, they are more likely to lack happiness, self-esteem, and social competence. Permissive parenting has got few demands made by parents for their children, as they become more of indulgent parents. Parents have low expectations of maturity and self-control as they rarely discipline their children. Nontraditional and lenient parents who do not require mature behavior as they allow considerable self-regulation and avoid confrontations with their children characterize this style of parenting (Levine & Munsch 522). As parents in permissive parenting are more responsive than demanding it is more beneficial as they develop a friendly status, as they are generally nurturing and communicative. In the end, children from permissive parenting set up tend to experience problems with authority and as a result, perform poorly in school. Uninvolved parenting style is less common as it is characterized by low responsiveness, little communication, and few demands. As the parents fulfill the child’s basic needs, they detach themselves from their child’s life as they may even reject or neglect the needs of their children (Levine & Munsch 522). As a result, the children turn out have a lack of self-control, less competent, and have low self-esteem as compared to their peers. There has been research on the effects of violent TV and videogames on children that have indicated negative results on the behavior of children. The results were associated with greater tolerance levels of violence, lower emphatic attitudes, and empathy when exposure was examined with notable gender differences. Thus, parents the parents should play a role in minimizing the children use of video games that are violent since they could also turn out to be positive in building communication and problem solving skills. Psychologists determine sex and gender difference through physiological and biological characteristics that both male and female species possess. Direct difference follow a binary distribution as through the process of meiosis and fertilization each individual has zero or one Y-chromosome as the complementary results of X-chromosome follow either a double or a single X that lead to male and female individuals (Sigelman & Rider 145). Indirect difference is general differences on class as statistical and empirical data analysis give a description on the sexes. Androgyny is having both male and female characteristics. Parents should take caution based on the programs that they allow children especially at the age of 3-6 years who are still growing intellectually in order to avoid nurturing destructive behavior in them. This is because the effects of violent TV and videogames on children are more immense than one can imagine. More specifically, parents should be concerned about the effects during early childhood, as this will determine the outcome of their behavior in the future. Jean Piaget describes children at this age belong to the pre-operational stage as they learn how to use language and represent objects by images and words. More significant, at this stage the children do not think from the same viewpoint as others as there thinking is still egocentric (Piaget 287). The children at this stage according to Piaget classify objects by a single feature such that when they watch TV show such as Dora, Elmo, or Sponge Bob, they tend to group together all the red blocks regardless of shape or the opposite that all are square blocks regardless of color. There are traditional "female" and "male" characteristics that are part of androgyny the individuals have both male and female genitals, psychological attributes, and psychological combination of masculinity and femininity as traits of unified gender that defies social roles. Work Cited Click Phyllis and Parker Jennifer. Caring for School-Age Children. New York: Cengage Learning .2011.Print. Comer Ronald and Gould Elizabeth .Psychology Around Us. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2010.Print. Coon Dennis and Mitterer John .Introduction to Psychology: Gateways to Mind and Behavior. New York: Cengage Learning.2008.Print. Gross, James. Handbook of emotion regulation. Connecticut: Guilford Press 2007. Print. Levine Laura and Munsch, Joyce. Child Development: An Active Learning Approach. New York: SAGE, 2010. Print. Mash Eric and Wolfe David. Abnormal Child Psychology. New York: Cengage Learning. 2008. Piaget, Jean. The child's conception of the world. New York: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.Print Sigelman Carol and Rider Elizabeth. Life-Span Human Development. New York: Cengage Learning.2011. Print Wei, Ran. "Effects Of Playing Violent Videogames On Chinese Adolescents' Pro-Violence Attitudes, Attitudes Toward Others, And Aggressive Behavior." Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 10.3 (2007): 371-380. Business Source Premier. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. Read More