Poster #177 - The Scaffolding of Collective Regulation and Prosocial Behavior in Japanese Preschools

• In Event: 2-002 - Special Poster Session 05 with Continental Breakfast Reception
  In Poster Session: PS 05 - International Section

Integrative Statement

This study examined the pedagogical practices that Japanese preschool teachers use to support young children’s social-emotional development. Prosocial behavior and self-regulation have been conceptualized and studied by psychologists as characteristics of individuals (Eisenberg & Spinrad, 2004). However, Japanese preschool teachers deal with children’s disputes by employing pedagogical practices that work to scaffold the development of a collective rather than primarily individual locus of control (Hayashi & Tobin, 2011).

The research methods for this study were video-cued ethnographic interviews (Tobin, Wu, & Davidson, 1989) combined with microanalyses of videos (Hayashi & Tobin, 2015). The interview procedures included: 1) videotaping a typical day in a preschool classroom; 2) editing the video down to 20-minutes; and 3) using this video as a cue for in-depth interviews. Forty-five Japanese informants were asked to comment on videos made in three Japanese preschools showing teachers dealing with children’s disputes. This study presents analyses both of the videos and of the interviews with Japanese preschool teachers.

Japanese preschool teachers use the word “mimamoru” to describe a pedagogical strategy of low intervention in children’s fights. Mimamoru refers to a practice of minimal intervention, based on watching and waiting. For example, one director commented, “We want children to have empathy and we think it is important to support emotional development. In order to do this, children need time to struggle by themselves. So we are watching and waiting. (mimamoru).”

By holding back, Japanese preschool teachers provide opportunities not only for the children directly involved in a conflict but also for the children around them to experience strong emotions and experiment with conflict resolution strategies. Figure 1. shows a small group of children gathering around classmates who are fighting over a doll. The words Japanese preschool teachers use when discussing this scene suggest that the children watching are legitimate participants in the fights. As one preschool teacher commented on this scene: “Look—there is a gallery. Fights are more important for the children who are not fighting. Teachers should pay attention to them and consider what they are learning.” In another scene, when a girl tattles on a classmate, her teacher says to her: “If it bothers you, you do something about it.” These comments reflect the logic of Japanese pedagogical concepts that are consistent with Lave and Wenger’s concept of Legitimate Peripheral Participation (1991) and Paradise and Rogoff’s of Learning by Observing and Pitching in (2009).

This study does not suggest that children in Japan do not have individual executive function or that Japanese preschool teachers do not encourage individual self-regulation. Rather, this study suggests that in addition to self-regulation, children in Japanese preschools are encouraged to develop collective regulation. Even in countries such as the US known to be individualistic/independent, children need to learn to regulate behavior collectively as well as individually. This study suggests that concepts of self-regulation, prosocial behavior, and empathy-related responding (Eisenberg et al. 2011) could be expanded and that more research is needed on young children’s collective management of misbehavior and emotions.

Authors

• Akiko Hayashi, Meiji University
  Presenting Author

• Joseph Tobin, University of Georgia
  Non-Presenting Author