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During the past two decades, research on theory of mind has reshaped understanding of cognitive growth in early childhood, with important implications for social–cognitive development (see Gelman & Banaji, in press).

Cultural values are likely to be important in how children conceptualize the mutual obligations entailed in different relationships and the responsibilities involved in their social identities (see, e.g., Killen & Rutland, 2011; Warneken & Tomasello, 2009)

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Peer expectations for morally relevant conduct, for example, become more influential to the generation of internalized moral standards (Killen & Rutland, 2011).

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Lee, J. (2020). Child gender, ethnic difference, and the development of father engagement during early childhood. Early Child Development and Care, 192(6), 993–1006. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2020.1828397

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Much of the way that children develop their sense of self is through interactions with and comparisons to other people (Santrock, 2021). Most often these people are the child's parents or children they go to school with.

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Young children describe themselves based on what the can do, what they look like and what they own

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Young children describe themselves based on what the can do, what they look like and what they own

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Santrok (2021)

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The number of emotions a child experiences increases as they grow. Infants can feel simple emotions like fear and joy. Through experience, children learn about consequences and learn more words to describe feelings. Along with this, older children (ages 4-5) begin to recognize the need to manage their emotions (Santrok, 2021).

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When discussing Erikson's thoughts on early childhood development, the Guilt vs. Initiative stage is the most relevant. As suggested by the name, children struggle with developing their autonomy and feeling guilty over not being able to accomplish certain tasks. According to Erikson children will either develop feelings of empowerment or shame. Whether they develop one set of feelings or the other largely depends on the response from adults around them (How children develop initiative, 2022). When failure is met with encouragement, children feel empowered to keep trying. When failure is met with further degradation, children feel ashamed. The emotional wellbeing of children is heavily influenced by the emotional reactions of adults in their lives.

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Because Piaget is a cognitive theorist, his research has little to no focus on how children develop emotionally. The stages of development focus on cognitive tasks rather than social or emotional relationships.

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(Santrok, 2021, Figure 12)

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Santrock, J. W. (2021). Life-span development (18th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

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Eric Erikson's theory of psychosocial development falls in line with this view. During the "Initiative vs. Guilt" stage of development, which happens between ages 3 and 5, children begin to ask themselves whether they are good or bad. Ultimately the way they find answers to this question is through interaction and comparison with others (How children develop a sense of initiative, 2022).

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Jean Piaget's developmental stages offer a contradicting perspective on the development of sense of self. According to Piaget, children are egocentric and as such, incapable of being considerate of others (Santrock, 2021). All of their actions during the preoperational stage (ages 2-7) are selfish. By Piaget's logic, a young child's sense of self says that they are the most important person.

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Piaget's theory of cognitive development seems to look at children as tiny adults. When analyzing their behavior through this lens, it makes sense that their actions would be seen as selfish and immature. Erikson seems to consider a child's lack of experience when analyzing their behavior. His theory recognizes that children build their worldview through interactions with others and their sense of self develops in a similar way. Upon further research we have found that sense of self develops in a manner similar to what Erikson suggests.

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How children develop a sense of initiative. (2022). Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/initiative-versus-guilt-2795737

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Parents are essential to their child or children’s gender role development and how they process their identity in the early development stages of life.

Children’s gender socialization over time is a culturally embedded process that usually occurs within a family; thus, it may differ by different ethnic groups (Leavell et al., 2012).

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There are other later advances in moral development that merit exploration as they relate to earlier growth in moral sensibility, including parent–adolescent conflict in the context of growing adolescent autonomy (e.g., Smetana, Daddis, & Chuang, 2003), moral conduct in relation to developing emotion understanding and expectancies (e.g., Arsenio, Gold, & Adams, 2004), growing ingroup/outgroup understanding as it relates to racial as well as gender exclusion among peers (e.g., Killen, Kelly, Richardson, Crystal, & Ruck, 2010), and other areas.

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5 Ways Parents Can Promote Gender Equality From An Early Age