The Play Years Psychosocial Development - Antisocial & Prosocial Behavior -
Ψ Antisocial Behavior: hitting, insulting, lying about, or taking from another person intending to harm someone else
Ψ Prosocial Behavior: sharing, cooperating, sympathizing, performed to benefit other people
Ψ Aggression is a form of antisocial behavior that is of particular concern. Aggression types:
instrumental aggression — aggressive behavior whose purpose is to obtain or retain an object desired by another
reactive aggression — aggressive behavior that is an angry retaliation for some intentional or accidental act by another
relational aggression — aggressive behavior that takes the form of insults or social rejection
bullying aggression — aggressive behavior in the form of an unprovoked physical or verbal attack on another person
Learning Social Skills through Play
Ψ During childhood play is the most productive and adaptive activity children can undertake.
• Rough and Tumble Play - wrestling, chasing, hitting —mimics aggression but actually occurs purely in fun, no intent to harm. This type of play is universal and usually occurs among children with higher social experience.
• Sociodramatic Play - pretend play in which children act out various roles and themes in stories of their own creation. Provides children a chance to:
• explore & rehearse the social roles they see being enacted around them
• test their own ability to explain and convince others of their ideas
• regulate their emotions through imagination
• examine personal concerns in a non threatening manner
Ψ Girls engage in sociodramatic play more than boys.