Emotional Self-regulation - Shaping

Shaping

There are three possibilities for how a child’s self-regulation is formed. Some theorists argue that it is formed based solely on the child and how good the child is at emotionally self-regulating. Other theorists believe that our ability to regulate our emotions and behaviors are formed during school time. Many theorists claim that the ability is developed as early as the preschool years. They believe that the start of formal schooling is a critical point at which a child’s performance at school has lasting effects that matter for their academic success. The last point argued by theorists is that emotion regulation is determined by the child’s socioeconomic status. Poverty is argued to have a negative impact on young children's emotional development by increasing infants’ risk of exposure to a set of prenatal and perinatal factors that negatively affect their neurological, attentional, and affective development. It is necessary to note that most young children do not develop emotional and behavioral difficulty.