Veraksa A.N., Yakupova V.A., Almazova O.V., Bukhalenkova D.A., Rykel A.M. Preschool Children’s Fears: Relationship between Cognitive and Social Development

Keywords: preschool age preschool fears anxiety cognitive development socio-emotional competence

Veraksa A.N., Yakupova V.A., Almazova O.V., Bukhalenkova D.A., Rykel A.M. Preschool Children’s Fears: Relationship between Cognitive and Social Development // Preschool Education Today. 2016, Issue 6 - p. 38–45.

This work is licensed under a Сreative Commons Atribiution - NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

2016, 6

Alexander M. Rykel
PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor, Department of Social Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia)

Olga V. Almazova
Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov MSU, Associate Professor, Department of Developmental Psychology, Moscow, Russia

Daria A. Bukhalenkova
Cand. Sci. (Psychology), Junior Researcher at the Laboratory of Childhood Psychology and Digital Socialization, Federal Scientific Center for Psychological and Interdisciplin ary Research; Associate Professor at the Department of Educational Psychology and Pedagogy, Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation

Vera A. Yakupova
Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov MSU, Researcher, Department of Psychology Methodology, Moscow, Russia

Aleksander N. Veraksa
Academician of the Russian Academy of Education, Dr. Sci. (Psychology), Professor, Head of the Department of Educational Psychology and Pedagogy, Faculty of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University; Head of the Laboratory of Child Psychology and Digital Socialization; Deputy Director of the Federal Scientific Center for Psychological and Interdisciplinary Research, Moscow, Russian Federation

Abstract

The presence of fears in preschoolers is a common problem any practicing psychologist faces in his or her work. In the present study we sought to determine whether a preschooler’s emotional ill-being reflects on the level of cognitive activities and the development of his social competence. The study involved 81 older age preschoolers from Moscow kindergartens. The average age of the girls is 69.2 months; the average age of the boys is 70.7 months. The analysis of the data obtained found no correlations between the amount of fears and the level of cognitive and social development. The data obtained suggests that the amount of fears as such do not affect the level of cognitive and social development, while increased levels of anxiety interfere with the successful cognitive activity of a child.