Introduction
Self-control is a person’s ability to control their desires to achieve better long-term objectives. It encompasses regulating personal thoughts, emotions, and desires to achieve longer-term benefits while foregoing immediate gratification. Studies have established that self-controlled behaviors develop in early childhood stages and persist until adulthood. Low self-regulation standards in early childhood are linked with perpetual problems such as low concentration, poor academic performance, and extreme externalizing challenges. High crime rates, low income, and mental problems are also associated with poor self-control outcomes in early childhood. In several cases, self-regulation and self-control are applied interchangeably.
Literature Review
Malik F, Marwaha R. (2022). Developmental Stages of Social Emotional Development in Children. PMID: 30521240. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK534819/
The article outlines the stages of social-emotional development concerning motor and cognitive development. Also, the study focuses on developmental stages as dictated by attachment and temperament. The article’s authors have established the connection between genetics, environment, and social-emotional development. Failure to address and study these developmental stages could lead to unhealthy child upbringing. Skipping one of the stages could cause some abnormal behaviors among the victims.
It is interesting to learn that joy, fear, and anger are inborn and do not require any external input. The three emotions are inborn and recognized through universal facial expressions. Infants learn to manage their emotions through a positive attachment to the caregiver. A negative attachment would imply that a baby cannot control his emotions. Environmental and genetic makeup are the key determinants of temperament among children. If the conditions are favorable, a child can control his emotions and vice-versa.
This study has several benefits that apply to daily life. It provides parents with knowledge of different developmental stages and increases the clinician’s ability to solve problems about emotional development in early childhood. These skills ensure that clinicians and parents monitor the developmental stages of children keenly.
Question: What would happen to social-developmental stages when a baby is exposed to a new social environment?
Frick MA, Forslund T, Fransson M, Johansson M, Bohlin G, Brocki KC. (2017) The role of sustained attention, maternal sensitivity, and infant temperament in developing early self-regulation. Br J Psychol. 109(2):277-298. doi: 10.1111/bjop.12266. Epub 2017 Sep 12. PMID: 28895129. https://web-s- ebscohost- com.hal.weber.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=03751880-7bd1- 4e73-8be4-cdbeab423891%40redis
This research focused on indicators of social and cognitive self-regulation in infants from an environmental point of view. The researchers evaluated 10-month-old infants on attention, maternal and reactive sensitivity. At the age of 18 months, they evaluated the baby on self-regulation. The study also sought to establish the association between emotional regulation and self-control. The results obtained were not consistent with current theories and could only be explained by the quick emergence of executive function during the second year of age. Persistent attention speculated executive function, which conforms to the model of early attention as the basis of self-control cognition development. The research lays the foundation for studying the various ways the development of emotional and cognitive elements of self-control.
The research established the association between temperament and personality contribution toward the emergence of cognitive aspects of self-regulation. Surgency and low maternal sensitivity were the greatest contributors to poor emotional regulation. The study established an inverse proportionality between self-regulation and negative emotional control. It also emerged that maternal sensitivity is independent of emotional regulation. The implication is that there is a weak connection between emotional control and maternal sensitivity. I had earlier believed that there was a strong correlation between the two factors.
The findings of this research are very beneficial to daily life. The study enables parents and clinicians to understand the factors and conditions that lead to self-regulation development. It also provides clinicians and teachers with skills about signs of developmental problems in childhood.
Question: As earlier indicated, there is an inverse proportionality between self-control and negative social regulation. This finding conflicts with the conclusion made in the previous study. If this study’s results are reliable, what environmental factors contribute to the facts?
Bruce, M., Ermanni, B., & Bell, M. A. (2023). The longitudinal contributions of child language, negative emotionality, and maternal positive affect on toddler executive functioning development. Infant Behavior and Development, 72, 101847. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101847
Early childhood is influenced by several factors. The aspects could be behavioral, environmental, or biological. These factors affect a child’s executive functioning (EF) outcomes during later stages of childhood. The factors include sleep patterns, nutrition, play, gender, brain chemistry, and hormone concentration. The experimenters established that infant and maternal effect at 5 months had a direct impact on a kid’s language mastery and anger expression at two years of age. Also, the study explored a toddler’s performance on several executive functioning tasks at the age of 3. They realized that a 5-month-old baby and maternal effect negatively impacted EF at the age of 3 from language mastery at 2 years. Language mastery plays a pivotal role in the effective execution of fruitful and objective behaviors. The research explores the effect of environmental aspects on toddler-centric elements that influence EF outcomes in kids.
There are several things I have learned from the study. Interestingly, I never knew them before exploring the research findings of this article. I realized that language skills have a strong connection with EF development. The impact of maternal effect on EF is indirectly related to language mastery. I also realized that working memory starts developing at the early stages of infancy.
Research findings from this article are applicable in daily life. The study establishes the role of biopsychosocial factors on early toddlerhood EF development. Comprehending external and internal factors in EF development enables us to guarantee proper development of kids and be able to identify any gaps between the stages.
Question: What epigenetic elements would affect executive functioning development?
Chiu, C. -Y., Tlustos, S., et al., (2013) Neural Correlates of Risky Decision Making in Adolescents with and without Traumatic Brain Injury using the Balloon Analog Risk Task. Dev Neuropsychology. 37(2): 176-183. Doi 10.1080/87565641.2011.632796
This study evaluates the chances of a lethal decision-making by engaging participants in pressing a button to fill a virtual balloon with air. As the balloon enlarges, points are awarded. The participants continue inflating it until it explodes. The balloon inflation is analogous to the activities performed by limbic, cerebellar, frontal area, and inferior parietal parts of the human brain. The experimenters used the p-map brain model to evaluate activity levels. The results obtained were not reliable since the non-injured and the TBI groups achieved similar results.
From the study, I realized three key things. First, a high working memory burden resulted in more preference for instant impulsivity and rewards. Patients experiencing traumatic brain damage manifested higher activation levels in functional aspect of critical brain parts in cognitive regulation than normal people. There are several critical brain zones linked with the development of particular networks related to the chances of disastrous decision-making.
The research is applicable to daily life in several aspects. It sets the foundation for future studies in this field in relation to established limitations. Also, the research identifies the value of brain chemistry and the healthy development of future behavioral patterns.
Question: Is more working memory connected to a preference for instant gratification based on the assumption that working memory is faster and simpler than transferring it to long-term memory?
Video observations
Supernanny. (2016). “I Hate You!” 6Yr Old Screams at Mom | Supernanny. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKXz5-3cum4
In this video, a 6-year-old child does not control his anger when confronting his mother. He shouts at and brands her mother as a bitch. This behavior is caused by gaps in the early childhood developmental stages. Most probably, the caregiver was hostile and unfriendly to the child and therefore exposed him to harshness. Such an environment would imply that the child would become aggressive and exhibit poor emotional regulation. Most probably, the attachment between the child and the mother has been strained and therefore created enmity with the kid. Parents need to know the expectations of children at every developmental stage to mold them into responsible and accommodative people in the future.
Learning discussion
Self-regulation is a critical element among children and adults. Emotional regulation starts in childhood when an infant learns how to control their desires with the aim of achieving long-term benefits. The content is related to my topic in the sense that both attempt to establish emotional regulation at various developmental stages. Caregivers should provide a conducive environment with kids in order to ensure that they create a positive attachment and maternal sensitivity for them to transition healthily from childhood to adulthood.
Conclusion
Self-control is a critical trait that should be inculcated in children from early childhood. Having the capability to regulate their desires ensures that they achieve better long-term goals. Low standards of emotional regulation are associated with problems such as poor academic performance, low self-esteem, low income, and increased crimes. The implication is that mothers and caregivers should try to set a good foundation for infants to learn how to control their emotions.
References
Bruce, M., Ermanni, B., & Bell, M. A. (2023). The longitudinal contributions of child language, negative emotionality, and maternal positive affect on toddler executive functioning development. Infant Behavior and Development, 72, 101847. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101847
Chiu, C. -Y., Tlustos, S., et al., (2013) Neural Correlates of Risky Decision Making in Adolescents with and without Traumatic Brain Injury using the Balloon Analog Risk Task. Dev Neuropsychology. 37(2): 176-183. Doi 10.1080/87565641.2011.632796
Frick MA, Forslund T, Fransson M, Johansson M, Bohlin G, Brocki KC. (2017) The role of sustained attention, maternal sensitivity, and infant temperament in the development of early self-regulation. Br J Psychol. 109(2):277-298. doi: 10.1111/bjop.12266. Epub 2017 Sep 12. PMID: 28895129. https://web-s- ebscohost- com.hal.weber.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=03751880-7bd1- 4e73-8be4-cdbeab423891%40redis
Malik F, Marwaha R. (2022) Developmental Stages of Social Emotional Development in Children. PMID: 30521240. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK534819/
Supernanny. (2016). “I Hate You!” 6Yr Old Screams at Mom | Supernanny. In YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKXz5-3cum4
write