PRESCHOOL AGE (2-5 years old)

Development of the body and motor behavior during childhood is slower than it was during infancy, but it
is steady.
STEADY GROWTH-the cephalocaudal and proximodistal principles of growth continue to operate. The
bones are continuing to grow and harden, and the muscles are becoming stronger.
PHYSICAL BEHAVIOR- controlling their movements in relation to a stationary world. What they will
master during childhood is the ability to move capably in a changing environment. They will also refine
man motor skills. For example, young children throw a ball only with the arm, but older children learn to
step forward as they throw.
By age 3, they can walk or run in a straight line, though they cannot easily turn or stop while running.
Four-year-olds can skip and hop on foot. By age 5, children are becoming rather gracefully.

JEAN PIAGETS PREOPERATIONAL STAGE (2-7 years old)

The child now use words to refer to things, people and events that are not physically present. Pretend or
fantasy play flourishes at this stage. Time of developing language and concepts.

ANIMISM- belief that anything that moves is alive.

EGOCENTRISM- the inability to see the world through anyone elses eyes but ones own. For

the preoperational child, everyone else must see what the child sees, and what is important
to the child must be important everyone else.
CENTRATION-focusing only on one feature of some object rather than taking all features into
consideration
CONSERVATION-ability to understand that altering the appearance of something does not
change its amount, its volume, or its mass.
IRREVERSIBILITY-preoperational children fail at conservation not only because they centrate
but also because they are unable to mentally reverse actions.

FREUDS PSYCHOSEXUAL STAGE

ANAL STAGE (2-3)-toilet training is made of the child. Freud believed that the experience of toilet
training during the anal stage had a significant effect on personality development. Defecation produces
erotic pleasure for the child, but with the onset of toilet training, the child must learn to postpone or delay
this pleasure.

If the child finds this a satisfactory technique for reducing frustrations and uses it frequently, he or she
may develop an anal aggressive. To Freud, this was the basis for many forms of hostile and sadistic
behavior in adult life, including cruelty, destructiveness, and temper tantrums. Such a person is likely
to disorderly and to view other people as objects to be possessed.

A second way the child may react to the frustration of toilet training is to hold back or retain the feces.
This produces a feeling of erotic pleasure. They may become concerned if the child goes several
days without a bowel movement. Thus, the child discovers a new method for securing parental
attention and affection. This behavior is the basis for the development of an anal retentive
personality. Stubborn and stingy, such a person hoards or retains things because feelings of security
depend on what is saved and possessed. Compulsively neat, obstinate, and overly conscientious.

PHALLIC STAGE (4-5)

Focus of pleasures is the genitals, and the child faces a battle between an id impulse and the
demands of society, as reflected in parental expectations.
The child becomes curious about birth and about why boys have penises and girds do not.
The child may talk about wanting to marry the parent of the opposite sex.
Oedipus Complex- the unconscious desire of a boy for his mother, accompanied by a desire to
replace or destroy his father.
Castration anxiety- a boys fear during the Oedipal period that his penis will be cut off. The boy
replaces the sexual longing for the mother by strong identification with the father. To enhance the
identification, he attempts to become more like his father by adopting his mannerism, behaviors,
attitudes, and superego standards.
Oedipus complex in girls unconscious desire of a girl for her father, accompanied by a desire to
replace or destroy her mother.
Phallic character have difficulty establishing mature heterosexual relationships. They need continual
recognition and appreciation of their attractive and unique qualities.
Male phallic personality are brash, vain, and self-assured. Try to assert or express their masculinity
through activities such as repeated sexual conquests.
Female phallic personality exaggerates her femininity and uses her talents and charms to overwhelm
and conquer men.

ERIK ERIKSONS PSYCHOSOCIAL STAGES

EARLY CHILDHOOD (2-3) developed a sense of control over their interpersonal environment. A time of
contradiction, a time of stubborn rebellion and meek compliance.

AUTONOMY VS. SHAME AND DOUBT.

As children stubbornly express their anal-urethral-muscular mode, they are likely to find a culture that
attempts to inhibit some of their self-expression. Parents may shame their children for soiling their
pants or for making a mess with their food.
The conflict between autonomy and shame and doubt becomes the major psychosocial crisis of early
childhood.
Shame is a feeling of self-consciousness, of being looked at and exposed.
Doubt, on the other hand, is the feeling of not being certain, the feeling that something remains
hidden and cannot be seen.
Children who develop too little autonomy will have difficulties in subsequent stages. They will lack the
initiative required during the play age and will continue to be handicapped.
Anal-urethral muscular mode-psychosexual adaptation

 Will
(basic
strength)when their
environmen
t
allows
them some

self-control
in
their
expression.
Compulsio
n
(core
pathology)

-inadequate
will
, too much compulsivity, lack of confidence.

PLAY AGE (3-5)

INITIATIVE VS GUILT

Genital-locomotor mode-psychosexual mode

Increasing facility at locomotion, their rudimentary will, developed during the preceding stage, is now
evolving into activity with purpose
Childrens cognitive abilities enable them to manufacture elaborate fantasies including imagining as a
grown-up.
INITIATIVE -in pursuit of goals
If repressed may result to unbridled initiative may lead to chaos and a lack of moral principles.
If guilt is the dominant element, children may become compulsively moralistic or overly inhibited.
INHIBITION-core pathology
PURPOSE (basic strength) developing a conscience and beginning to attach labels as right and
wrong to their behavior.

References:
Bernstein, D.A., & Nash, P. W. (2008). Essentials of Psychology 4th ed. Boston, MA: Houghton
Mifflin Company
Ciccarelli, S.K., & White J.N. (2012). Psychology 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:
Prentice Hall
Feist, J., & Feist, G.J. (2008). Theories of Personality 7thed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Schultz, D., & Schultz, S.E. (2013). Theories of Personality 10th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.