According to California Department of Education (2018) research shows correlations between empathy and prosocial behavior. Prosocial behaviors, like helping, sharing, and comforting or showing concern for others,demonstrates the development of empathy and how the experiences of empathy is thought to be related to the development of moral behavior. Infants’ social interactions with peers increase from back and forth interactions to cooperative activities such as building a tower of blocks together or acting out different roles during pretend play. Infants explore their interest in others and learn about social behavior/social interaction, through interactions with peers. Symbolic play/Schematic Play is a common early childhood behavior also known as pretend play, make-believe play, fantasy play, or imaginative play. Representational thinking is a core component of symbolic play. By the age of three children engage in make-believe play where an object represents another object.
During a semester at the Child Development Preschool lab in San José State University I observed two children, Emilia and Leo. Leo was age 4 and Emilia age 3. My observations were based on Cognitive, Social, and Motivational Development. More specifically I observed Schematic Play, Prosocial Behavior, and Intrinsic Motivation. During my observation I was able to gain more knowledge and insight as to what what cause a certain behavior and how those children were quickly developing skill.
Cognition: Schematic Knowledge
Pretend play was defined by Fein (1987) as instances in which “one thing is playfully treated as if it were something else.” Pretend play is an essential part of child development, children can use fantasy and symbolism (Russ, 2004). Pretend play can be used to assess a child’s developmental level in their symbolic and affective abilities, pretend play involves cognitive and affective processes (Fehr, & Russ, 2014).
On October 9th Emilia and Madeline saw two girls playing in the kitchen Madeline said “are you hungry?” Emilia said “yes I’m hungry let’s go get some food.” They lined up at the window opened up the curtain and waited for someone to come to the window. Emilia said “teacher are you hungry?” “Do you want some food?” The teacher asked “What are you ordering?” Emilia said “I don’t know yet.” Someone comes to the window and asks “What would you like to order?” Emília says “What do you have?” The child tells her, “I have corn would you like some?” Emilia agrees and comes back to the table where the teacher was sitting she says, “I got some food!” The teacher asks what did you get and Emilia says, “I got corn for you, egg for you, a tomato for me and a banana for me.” In this scenario Emilia was using her imagination and creativity to pretending to order food from a restaurant and but some for her and the teacher. She had a sudden pause because she had no idea what kind of food she could order at the restaurant.
According to Fehr, & Russ, 2014, cognitive processes are those that require a child’s higher order thinking skills like imagination and organization. Affective processes include positive and and negative emotional expressions and affect-laden content within the play story. Preschool age children can be in a unique stage of pretend play development where some specific play processes might not yet be clearly distinguished. Children can potentially have imagination, organizative and positive affect in a developmental stage play as one process and negative/undefined affect as another process.
On November 13th, Leo and Gio were playing with cars. Leo’s car went under the ramp and he said, “Wow mine went into the secret tunnel, did you see that my car went like that then it fell and went to the secret tunnel”. Leo was reenacting how his car had fallen from the ramp. Leo was pretending that his car went into a secret tunnel because his car fell into a box that he was using for his ramp. In this instance Leo was not expecting to have his car fall off the ramp he build, but he improvised the situation, and instead of getting upset when his car fell he used his creativity and said it fell into a “secret tunnel.”
According to Russ, Moore, and Farber (2004) cognitive and affective processes in play are related to measure of creativity and divergent thinking. Pretend play involves fantasy, make believe, and the use of one object “as if” it were a different object. It is important the during preschool years and related positively with creativity, problem solving, coping, emotional regulation and general adjustments.
On November 6th, Emilia was in the sandbox and asked her friend Maisie if she would like to play. Maisie agreed to play with Emilia. Emilia went to grab a shovel and a bucket, she gave it to Macy and they both began to shovel sand into the bucket. Emilia asked Maisie, “What kind of soup are you making? I am making banana soup”. Maisie said, “Me too!” Emilia then complained with a sad face and said, “I need a spoon for the soup.” Maisie quickly said “I’ll go get you one.” Maise went to grab her a spoon but came back with fork. Maise told Emilia there’s no spoons but you can pretend the fork is a spoon. Emilia tries to pretend to get a spoonful of her soup but and the soup (sand) falls through her spoon. Emilia then says, “I don’t like forks I need a spoon.” Since there were no more spoons Emilia simply couldn’t have soup without a spoon so she decided that she would make a cake instead. Emilia said, “I’m going to make a cake now teacher today is your birthday.” The Teacher responded, “How old am I turning?” Emilia said, “You are turning four.” The Teacher said, “If I was four I would be small like you. Amelia replies with a smile, “No because I am three.” Emilia finished making her “cake” and said, “There you go some cake.” The teacher asked what flavor it was and Emilia said strawberry. The Teacher then said, “Strawberry is my favorite how did you know? Emilia said, “Because my mommy likes strawberry so I thought maybe teacher likes strawberry too. This example shows symbolic play when Emilia pretends to make soup and cakes when in reality she is only playing with sand (Russ, Moore, & Farber, 2004). This also demonstrates an example of egocentrism. Emilia is three years old which means she is in Piaget’s preoperational stage, in this stage children are egocentric and see things only from their point of view like when Emilia though that her teacher liked strawberry cake only because her mother liked strawberry cake.
Creativity is an important ability to encourage in childhood, pretend play is a way in which creativity can be improved (Russ, Moore, & Farber, 2004). Interventions in play skills have been shown to be effective at increasing divergent thinking, coping, problem solving, and life satisfaction (Russ, Moore, & Farber, 2004). The relationship between creative storytelling and pretend play has been found to be related to multiple types of creativity at the preschool age (Fehr, Russ, Reiter-Palmon, & Tinio, 2016).
According to Fung, Wing-kai, and Cheng (2017) Pretend play in girls has shown that it leads to less disruptive behavior during peer interaction when compared to those who were not participating in pretend play. Boys and girls have different goals for pretend play, boys focus on asserting their play ideas while girls just enjoy their play interactions. These difference may affect boys and girls behavior during play
Socialization: Prosocial Behavior
It is important for teacher to promote children’s use of alternative, prosocial strategies during peer interactions to avoid negative child outcomes like depression, anxiety, social isolation, low self-esteem, self-harm, an increase in school absences, and decreases in school performance (Girard, Girolametto, Weitzman, & Greenberg, 2011). Children typically use prosocial behaviors with their peers to enhance their social status within their group, this may also become a protective factor against future peer rejection(Girard, Girolametto, Weitzman, & Greenberg, 2011). On October 11th, Leo was play with Ella, they both grabbed a play horse and Leo said, “Let’s ride on the horse Ella!” At the same time Ella’s friend Elan had just arrived and saw them playing. Élan said, “I want to ride a horse too.” However there were no more hores, Leo and Ella had grabbed the last two horses. Leo noticed this and told Elan, “here you go.” Leo gave up his horse so that Ella and Elan could both play together and Leo went back inside to play by himself. In this example Leo was using his prosocial behavior skills to be friendly and allow both Ella and Elan to play together. Children who have high levels of prosocial behavior tend to have low levels of aggression and experience less peer rejection, long term prosocial behaviors will facilitate positive peer interactions, greater peer acceptance, and higher social status in the peer group(Girard, Girolametto, Weitzman, & Greenberg, 2011).
Prosocial behaviors have been found to act as a protective factor against peer rejection and to enhance the social status of children as young as 3 years of age (Girard, Girolametto, Weitzman, & Greenberg, 2011). Analysing social interaction within peers helps provide insight into a child’s social development, peer interaction are also associated with enhanced socio-cognitive abilities, emotional understanding, and social skills (Fujisawa, Keiko, Kutsukake, Nobuyuki, & Hasegawa, 2008). On October 15th, Leo was playing bingo, he was patiently waiting for his turn to take out a number from the bucket as his turn came up Leo sais, “Yay! It’s my turn.” His friend Gio came to join the game at the same time and said, “I wanted to play the game,”then Leo said “I’m just kidding you can go Gio.” In this interaction Gio wanted to be in the next kid that picked out of the bucket and Leo saw that so when he heard he wanted to go next he decided to skip his turn to allow his friend to go so he would not feel sad. Once the game was over Leo asked Gio if he want to go outside and play but Gio said no. Leo tried convincing him but he said he rather play inside, then Leo said, “Yeah I want to play inside too.” Leo and Gio started playing with dinosaurs. Gio suddenly dropped his dinosaur and began to cry because he couldn’t find it. Leo, with a very concerned face, stops what he’s doing walks over to where Gio was kneeled down, and with an arm over Gio said, “What’s wrong?” Gio told him he had lost his dinosaur and Leo said “It’s OK I’ll help you find it.” In this interaction Leo was being a supportive friend to Gio. Preschool children usually have positive responses to their peers with prosocial actions (smiles, showing thanks). Having peer correspond the same way is important to build a social relationship within preschoolers (Fujisawa, Keiko, Kutsukake, Nobuyuki, & Hasegawa, 2008).
Reciprocity is an important role in growing a social relationship, positive social interaction gradually emerge in toddlers which suggest they develop social relationships over time (Fujisawa, Keiko, Kutsukake, Nobuyuki, & Hasegawa, 2008). In Fujisawa, Keiko, Kutsukake, Nobuyuki, & Hasegawa, (2008) study a positive correlation between the frequency of helping other and receiving help, this meant preschool children tend to reciprocate prosocial behavior. Many studies show that young children engage in a variety of prosocial behaviors like helping, sharing, and comforting (Paulus, 2015). Preschoolers also seem to predict and evaluate the prosociality of other’s behavior, indicating that preschoolers’ sharing is not an automatic behavior but a cognitively controlled process (Paulus, 2015). On November 1st, Emilia and Madeline were both in the sandbox. Emilia saw Madeline is she wanted to make a sandcastle with her and Madeline agreed. The Emilia said, “Okay, let me bring you a scoop for the sand.” Emilia went and grabbed a bucket and shovel and they both began to make a sandcastle. Later, Maisie came over and asked Emilia if she wanted to play with her, Emilia agreed by saying, “Yeah, me and Madeline are making a Sandcastle do you want to help us.” Macy said “No!” and ran away. In this scenario Emilia used prosocial behavior by inviting Madeline to play and bringing her the tools to play. Maisie wanted to play with Emilia, however not in the sand with her and Madeline. Children have astounding prosocial tendencies and have been seen to help stranger to finish a task, like passing something they need, sharing resources, or even showing empathic reactions towards others pain (Paulus, 2015).
Motivation: Intrinsic Motivation
According to Hepach, Vaish, and Tomasello (2017) Children as young as 12–24 months of age begin to show concern when others are hurt. Toddlers concern for others relates to how likely they are to help Children help others achieve instrumental goals and share resources with others. Spontaneous helping behavior of 2-year old children is intrinsically motivated and neither praise nor rewards facilitate helping behavior. Children are intrinsically motivated to provide the necessary help themselves if their actions have caused others harm. Children are also motivated when they see others being helped out when they are in need.
On October 30th, Madeline and Emilia were coloring. Madeline began to cry. Emilia looked up at her with a worried face and said,“What’s wrong?“ Madeline said “I ripped my paper!“ Madeline was crying inconsolably, Emilia told her, “Don’t worry you can just tape it.“ She walked over with tape and started taping her paper, when she was done she said “See, all better!“ In this scenario Madeline was in need of help, Emilia saw that and was internally motivated to help her out without having any reward other than the satisfaction of helping out her friend.
According to Anderson, Manoogian, and Reznick (1976) external rewards are found to decrease intrinsic motivation, however if the external reward is positive verbal reinforcement it increases intrinsic motivation. External reward changes attributions from being performed intrinsically to being extrinsically motivated because of the overjustification performance. This effect is known as the overjustification effect which is limited to rewards that are expected to be continuously received after performing a task. Examples of the includes extrinsic rewards like, prizes, awards, money, food, and special activities. Verbal reinforcement is not seen to control behaviors, the reinforcement helps children build positive association with the task which is why it increases intrinsic motivation on performing a certain task. The task also begin to turn into a pleasant one.
On October 23rd Leo, Evan, Emilio and Gio were playing with blocks once they had finished they started to leave their area. A teacher was close by and told them they could not leave until they had cleaned up their area. As they began to clean Leo said, “Come on guys it’s teamwork, we need to work together to finish faster.” Leo, Evan, and Emilio had finished cleaning up their block. Evan and Emilio both said “We are done let’s go play outside.” However, Gio was still picking up his block and said “Wait for me guys.” Evan and Emilio ran out without waiting for him. Leo stayed behind with Gio and said “Don’t worry I’ll help you.” In the example Leo was intrinsically rewarded by helping his friend clean up. He had absolutely no reward or praise to motivate him to help his friend complete the task.
According to Zhou, and Salili (2008) Intrinsic motivation has been shown to be influenced by factors like self-concept or self- perceived competence, task value, self- efficacy or expectancies to perform, goal orientation, and intrinsic versus extrinsic orientation. Curiosity and involvement are associated with long-term interests and pursuits. Behavioural indicators, like persistence, dependence, and preference for challenges, have been used in assessing young children’s intrinsic motivation. Persistence and voluntary engagement in activities are indicators of intrinsic motivation.
On November 6th, Emilia and Maisie were playing in the sandbox. Maisie had grabbed the buckets and shovels for both Emilia and herself. They were both making soup and Emilia said she needed a spoon, Maisie said, “I’ll go get it.” While Maisie was gone two boys approached Maisie bucked, they began to throw sand in Maisie’s bucket. As soon as Emilia saw them begin to throw sand she said, “Hey that’s Macy’s bucket she doesn’t like that leave it alone.” In this example Emilia showed both characteristics of prosocial behavior and intrinsic motivation. She showed prosocial behavior because she was defending her friend Maisie and she showed intrinsic motivation because she was internally motivated to defend her friend without any praise or reward.
End Thoughts
Over the semester I was able to gain a lot of insight on children’s behavior in different areas, like schematic play, prosocial behavior, and intrinsic motivation. At times I was surprised by the way the children I observed reacted, whether it was in a positive way or negative way. Throughout this observation I was able to make a connection with children's behaviors and their emotions. Although sometimes their behaviors were logically thought out, other times they were motivated by their emotions. Both Emilia and Leo developed many cognition, social, and motivational skills.