Essay Sample on Social and Psychological Development

Introduction

A majority of the American states dictate cut-off ages for American children to commence schooling. This is as stipulated by the national center for education statistics, NCES, that ranges this age between ages four and seven, with all states having the age of five as the right age for children joining kindergarten (National center for education statistics, 2018). The criteria for meeting these age brackets lies in many technicalities and reasoning, aiming them the level of physical, social, cognitive and emotional development of the child. These developmental dimensions must combine in specific measures and intensity, to make a child fit for a particular level of academic involvement, and this, therefore, makes it vital for all the four dimensions to be scrutinized and brought to the light. This paper, therefore, seeks to dive into the four different yet interrelated domains of human, and this case, childhood development, and explore the different social, emotional, cognitive and physical changes and advancements each brings along. The paper will take a look at the different theories postulated by different philosophers in an attempt to explain the different processes that accompany development, and take yet another turn in examining the interrelatedness between the social and emotional development of a child, while linking it to the cognitive development, and hence the age-cutoffs in academic institutions.

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The primary differentiation of growth and development involves the former being measurable and a simple increase in size while the latter immeasurable and an increase in complexity. The complexity of development, therefore, makes it a rather interesting phenomenon, as it ranges from the biological to the psychological, social and cognitive forms. Various philosophers attempted to explain the multiple processes and advancements that accompany human development, among then Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, Sigmund Freud Albert Bandura, and John Watson. All of them, despite coming up with different theories, agreed on the influence that the environment had on the development of an individual. Piaget proposed a theory that linked the cognitive development of a human being to their environment and hence regarded the link between the mind and the environment as an adaptation. He, therefore, came up with four major developmental stages, the sensorimotor (birth-2 years), preoperational (2-7 years), concrete operational (7-10 years) and formal operational stages (11-12 years). The first stage is associated with an association of a child's interaction with the environment through sensory and motor capabilities(Oswalt, 2018). The next is an advancement to the representation of the world through mental pictures, while the third marks the commencement of logical thinking. A child can appreciate the existence of a phenomenon without their physical presence. The formal operational stage provides an avenue for abstract and hypothetical reasoning. The school-age therefore commences at the preoperational stage, and hence, the education systems are designed in a way that arouses the identity and awareness of the children.

Sigmund Freud came up with the psychodynamic theory that incorporated both the personality and the psychosexual theories. The personality theory states that the personality development commences through three stages; the id, ego, and superego. The id operates through the pleasure principle, and a child, therefore, behaves in a way as to demand the fulfillment if their needs. The ego then aligns the desire for fulfillment of obligations to the societal expectations while the superego seeks to satisfy the id as per the moral values set by authorities and parents (crain, 2010). A child must, therefore, get to the superego before joining the school to ensure that they already have a moral foundation and need reinforcement. The psychosexual theory emphasizes the needs for satisfaction at the ergogenic regions of the human. It consists of the oral, anal, phallic, latent and genital stages. School-age comes at the latent stage when the need to form social relationship compliments the superego.

Erik Erikson also came up with postulates that presented development as a series of conflicts that must be resolved or cause fixations. He therefore graduated them as the mistrust versus trust(about 1 year), autonomy versus doubt(1-3 years), initiative versus guilt(3-6 years), industry versus inferiority(6-12 years), identity versus role confusion (12-20 years), intimacy versus isolation (20-40 years), generativity versus stagnation (40-65 years) and ego integrity versus despair(65 and above). The focus is therefore on the initiative versus guilt phase where the child develops a desire to master their environment and manipulate it through their skills (crain, 2010). A failure to possess any skills or abilities leads to a feeling of shame and guilt. The other mentioned philosophers link development to the environment, physical and social presenting it as either conditioning (John Watson) or modeling towards self-efficacy (Bandura).

Physical and cognitive development must also be accompanied by the emotional and social developments to make a complete and functional individual. A study revealed that about 80% of an adult brain capacity develops by the time they are three (The Urban Child Institute, 2018). The physical and cognitive development must as well be accompanied the social-emotional development. The two often take over in at a consistent pace. Social and emotional development commences through four phases, the temperament, attachment, social competence and emotion regulation. Temperament involves their actions and reactions to the people around them, mostly the family and caregivers, the attachment phase consisting of the formation of bonds between a child and the caregiver, while social competence is their ability to get along with people. Once they are sociable, emotional regulation becomes vital, as they must be able to control their reactions and emotions while in different settings.

The temperament incorporates within it empathy which involves familiarizing one's self with the emotions of others (California Department of education, 2018). Empathy triggers prosocial behaviors and provides a smooth environment for interactions with others. The school setting is one of the best environments to exercise this virtue while connecting with others, and the age range of four to six is the best for children to apply it. The emotional regulation also plays a part in healthy social and emotional interactions as it is one domain that transitions to cognitive development. It also incorporates the ability to control impulses, and hence the school setting provides an avenue for children to practice their control and improve their tendencies to follow instructions. Social and cognitive or process skills are often evident at the age of five, the school entry age (Darling-Churchill & Lippman, 2016). This is usually a sign of later emotional and social competences and hence the right age to subject a child to an environment that can make it possible. A study on primary school children aimed at gauging the level of competence presented by the commencement of school for second, third and fourth graders, and the results backed up this notion. The study recorded a 27.5% rate of low social-emotional competence (SEC), 39.9% average SEC and 32.6% high SEC (Tarasova, 2016). There was a significant difference in self-awareness(p=0.038) and social skills(p=0.039) levels between second graders and fourth graders, evidence that indeed a good start is an avenue for later improvement.

Social, emotional, cognitive and physical development dominates most of an individual's early age, and this makes the ages between six and fourteen the most crucial ones. The two range of ages is both marked by cognitive as well as biological changes as the former presents late childhood, while the latter early adulthood (Eccles, 1999). The middle childhood presents a scenario where a child leaves the home environment to a broader and more social school surrounding, and this bombards them with a lot of social, cognitive and emotional expectations. There are the cognitive changes that trigger the feeling of success or failure, the existence within peers and hence a broadening of a child's world, and finally the social competition amongst the peers. Early adolescence, on the other hand, brings aboard biological changes as in the physical changes adolescents go through, while still presenting social issues. This is the age of Eriksson's identity versus role confusion where an individual seeks to form their worlds, make their own decisions and dictate their course of action. Family and peer relationship also feature here.

Culture has a lot to do with the social and emotional developmental process, but so is the environment, also presented as the role models. Bronfenbrenner proposed an ecological theory that categorized these environments into the micro, meso and macro-levels (Oswalt, 2018). The micro-level environment is the most immediate environment as well as people surrounding a child, and they include the caregiver, teachers, and babysitters. This environment, therefore, dictates later emotional and social competencies of the child. Compassionate, warm, understanding and concerned caregivers attract empathy and prosocial behavior of a child while the opposite caregivers will make these social and emotional skills difficult. The meso-level environment involves the local communities culture and way of life. This is the kind of environment presented by the school, and therefore a good culture and routine will foster high social-emotional competencies. The macro-level environment encompasses the child's nation of residence. A peaceful nation fosters positive SEC while war limits positivity.

Conclusion

School is primarily meant to boost the cognitive, and in some instances the physical capabilities of a child, but two other aspects of development matter. It is, in fact, the two, coupled up with cognition and biological development that act as determinants to the admissibility of a child in school. Social, emotional competences rank equally to cognitive capabilities, as man is a product of the environment, and therefore, must be able to master and interact with their surroundings. The emotional and social development are incorporated in the temperament, attachment, social competence, and emotional regulation, and a child must, therefore, demonstrate these competencies to attain full functionality. Age might feature in as a factor, but the culture and environment the child pre-exists in also matter.

References

California Department of education (2018). Social-emotional development domain. California infant/toddler learning & development foundations. https://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/cd/re/itf09socemodev.asp

Crain, W. (2010) Theories of development: concepts and applications (6th edn). New York: Pearson.

Darling-Churchill K. E., &Lippman L. (2016). Early childhood social and emotional development: Advancing the field of measurement. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. Elsevier Inc. Vol. 45. Pp. 1-7.

Eccles J. S. (1999). The development of children ages 6 to 14. The Future of Children when school is out. Vol 9(2). Pp. 30-43

National Center for education statistics (2018). Types of state and district requirements for kindergarten entrance and attendance, waivers and exemptions for kindergarten entrance, by state. https://nces.ed.gov/programs/statereform/tab5_3.asp

Oswalt A. (2018). Early childhood cognitive development. Gracepoint. https://www.gracepointwellness.org/462-child-development-parenting-early-3-7/article/12758-early-childhood-cognitive-development-symbolic-function

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