Citation: 

Thompson, R. (2023). Social and personality development in childhood. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series: Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. Retrieved from http://noba.to/gdqm6zvc

Summary:

This article by Ross Thompson talks about childhood social and psychological development is a dynamic, multifaceted process marked by rapid growth and change. Children shape their personalities and acquire vital social skills at this time. They gain empathy, collaboration, and communication skills as they learn how to deal with interactions with classmates and adults. Friendships become more and more significant since they help people explore their identities and feel like they belong. The formation of one’s self-concept and self-esteem is essential to the formation of one’s personality. Children’s personalities develop over time, becoming more stable and distinct due to a combination of environmental experiences, genetic makeup, and temperament. A child’s personality is also greatly influenced by family dynamics and parenting approaches. Adolescence and adulthood see the continuation of social and personality development, driven by the same confluence of biological, social, and representational factors that were examined in relation to infancy. The foundations for development throughout life are still formed by shifting social roles and connections, biological maturation and (much later) decline, and the way an individual communicates their experiences and identity.

Reflections:

Honestly, I do agree with this text because it is necessary to view children from three perspectives that interact to form development in order to understand social and personality development. The first is the social environment in which a child grows up, particularly the bonds that offer protection, direction, and education. The second is biological maturation, which is the basis of temperamental identity and fosters the development of social and emotional competencies. The third is how kids are forming their own identities and perspectives on society. The ideal way to conceptualize social and personality development is as the ongoing interplay of these biological, social, and representational facets of psychological development. Any age group can be alarmed by any of these, including adults and children. One simple thing has the power to alter your entire life.

Quotations:

“Each of these aspects of peer relationships requires developing very different social and emotional skills than those that emerge in parent-child relationships. They also illustrate the many ways that peer relationships influence the growth of personality and self-concept.”

“One answer is that young children are remarkably sensitive observers of other people, making connections between their emotional expressions, words, and behavior to derive simple inferences about mental states…”

“As children mature biologically, temperamental characteristics emerge and change over time. A newborn is not capable of much self-control, but as brain-based capacities for self-control advance, temperamental changes in self-regulation become more apparent. For example, a newborn who cries frequently doesn’t necessarily have a grumpy personality; over time, with sufficient parental support and increased sense of security, the child might be less likely to cry.”

“Each of these examples of the growth of social and emotional competence illustrates not only the interaction of social, biological, and representational influences, but also how their development unfolds over an extended period.”