Psychosocial Development

The development of children is immensely complex, with both physical and emotional components. Although emotional components of development are not as easily observed, they are critical to the health and well-being of children, and must be paid attention to with great detail. Psychosocial development is an extremely important example of emotional development in children, and is vital to becoming a healthy and functioning adult. Cooperation, interaction, autonomy, and initiative are a few important examples of milestones and qualities developed through psychosocial development which are a crucial part of our everyday lives. I was able to gather information, make comparisons, and draw conclusions about the psychosocial development of children. Understanding the milestones which children are expected to reach between the ages of three and five regarding psychosocial development, and the mechanisms which enable and support them while doing so, is crucial to understanding child development as a whole.

On April 11th and 12th, I conducted naturalistic observations in a preschool and kindergarten classroom. The preschool children were between three and four years of age, while the kindergarten children were five years of age. Both observations lasted for one hour, and took place in the early afternoon. Through my unobtrusive data gathering which did not interfere with their interactions, I was able to observe and draw conclusions about the children by analyzing their behavior and conversations. I observed a variety of activities, including free play, artistic activities, dancing, singing, reading, lunch, and outside play. I also had the unique opportunity to observe a fire drill in the Kindergarten classroom, which was a very important period that allowed me to gather much information about how children’s psychosocial development impacts their behavior. I was able to take detailed notes regarding basic social skills, such as reciprocal determinism and cooperation and...