PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT DURING THE FIRST THREE YEARS DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

PERSONALITY

the relatively consistent blend of emotions, temperament, thought, and behavior that makes each person unique.

PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

From infancy on, personality development is intertwined with social relationships.

EMOTIONS

such as fear are subjective reactions to experience that are associated with physiological and behavioral changes.

CRYING

 is the primary way in which infants communicate their needs and is considered to be an honest signal of need.

BASIC HUNGER CRY

a rhythmic cry, which is not always associated with hunger

PAIN CRY

a sudden onset of loud crying without preliminary moaning, sometimes followed by holding the breath.

FRUSTRATION CRY

 two or three drawn-out cries, with no prolonged breath-holding

SMILING AND LAUGHING

windy grins

SOCIAL SMILING

when newborn infants gaze and smile at their parents, develops in the 2nd month of life.

CLOWNING

includes silly, nonverbal behaviors such as odd facial expressions or sounds, actions such as revealing a usually hidden body part (such as a belly button), and imitating another’s odd actions. 

ANTICIPATORY SMILING

in which infants smile at an object and then gaze at an adult while continuing to smile—rises sharply between 8 and 10 months and seems to be among the first types of communication in which the infant refers to an object or experience.

NEUROLOGICAL MATURATION

the emergence of these basic, or primary, emotions.

SELF-CONSCIOUS EMOTIONS

such as embarrassment, empathy, and envy, arise only after children have developed.

EVALUATIVE EMBARRASSMENT

a mild form of shame.

SELF-AWARENESS

the cognitive understanding that they have a recognizable identity, separate and different from the rest of their world. 

SELF-EVALUATIVE EMOTIONS

 Emotions, such as pride, shame, and guilt, that depend on both self-awareness and knowledge of socially accepted standards of behavior.

ALTRUISTIC BEHAVIOR

Activity intended to help another person with no expectation of reward.

EMPATHY

 the ability to imagine how another person might feel in a particular situation.

MIRROR NEURONS

 which may underlie empathy and altruism. Mirror neurons fire when a person does something but also when he or she observes someone else doing the same thing.

TEMPERAMENT

an early-appearing, biologically based tendency to respond to the environment in predictable ways.

EASY CHILDREN

generally happy, rhythmic in biological functioning, and accepting of new experiences.

DIFFICULT CHILDREN

more irritable and harder to please, irregular in biological rhythms, and more intense in expressing emotion.

SLOW-TO-WARM-UP CHILDREN

mild but slow to adapt to new people and situations 

GOODNESS OF FIT

the match between a child’s temperament and the environmental demands and constraints the child must deal with.

BEHAVIORAL INHIBITION

 has to do with how boldly or cautiously a child approaches unfamiliar objects and situations

AMYGDALA

detects and reacts to unfamiliar events, and, in the case of behaviorally inhibited children, responds vigorously and easily to most novel event.

MOTHERING

 includes the comfort of close bodily contact and, at least in monkeys, the satisfaction of an innate need to cling.

FATHERING

from infancy on, is directly related to the child’s well-being and physical, cognitive, and social development.

GENDER

what it means to be male or female.

CONGENITAL ADRENAL HYPERPLASIA

a genetic condition involving the overproduction of androgens (such as testosterone) in utero. 

GENDER TYPING

the process by which children learn behavior their culture considers appropriate for each sex; learn appropriate gender roles.

TRUST VERSUS MISTRUST

 Erikson’s first stage in psychosocial development, in which infants develop a sense of the reliability of people and objects.

ATTACHMENT

it is a reciprocal, enduring emotional tie between an infant and a caregiver, each of whom contributes to the quality of the relationship.

STRANGE SITUATION

 is a classic,

laboratory-based technique designed to assess attachment patterns

between an infant and an adult. 

SECURE ATTACHMENT

are flexible and resilient in the face of stress.

AVOIDANT ATTACHMENT

are outwardly unaffected by a caregiver leaving or returning.

AMBIVALENT (RESISTANT) ATTACHMENT

 are generally anxious even before the caregiver leaves, sometimes approaching the caregiver for comfort when the stranger looks at or approaches them for interaction .

DISORGANIZED-DISORIENTED ATTACHMENT

Babies with the disorganized pattern seem to lack a cohesive strategy to deal with the stress of the Strange Situation. Instead, they show contradictory, repetitive, or misdirected behaviors (such as seeking closeness to the stranger instead of the mother or showing a fear response upon the caregiver’s entry).

STRANGER ANXIETY

wariness of a person she does not know

SEPARATION ANXIETY

distress when a familiar caregiver leaves her.

MUTUAL REGULATION

The ability of both infant and caregiver to respond appropriately and sensitively to each other’s mental and emotional states .

SOCIAL REFERENCING

seeking emotional information to guide behavior. 

SELF-CONCEPT

is our image of ourselves—our total picture of our abilities and traits. It describes what we know and feel about ourselves and guides our actions

PERSONAL AGENCY

the realization that they can control external events.

SELF-COHERENCE

the sense of being a physical whole with boundaries separate from the rest of the world.

SELF-AWARENESS

 conscious knowledge of the self as a distinct, identifiable being—builds on this dawning of perceptual distinction between self and others.

PRETEND PLAY

is an early indication of the ability to understand others’ mental states as well as the child’s own.

AUTONOMY VERSUS SHAME AND DOUBT

a shift from external control to self-control. 

NEGATIVISM

the tendency to shout, “No!” just for the sake of resisting authority

SOCIALIZATION

is the process by which children develop habits, skills, values, and motives that make them responsible, productive members of society.

INTERNALIZATION

During socialization, process by which children accept societal standards of conduct as their own.

SELF-REGULATION

control of a child’s behavior to conform to a caregiver’s demands or expectations of her, even when the caregiver is not present.

CONSCIENCE

which involves both the ability to refrain from certain acts as well as to feel emotional discomfort if they fail to do so.

SITUATIONAL COMPLIANCE

They needed the extra assistance provided by their parents’ reminder and prompts to complete the task.

COMMITTED COMPLIANCE

that is, they were committed to following requests and could do so without their parents’ direct intervention

RECEPTIVE COOPERATION

 It is a child’s eager willingness to cooperate harmoniously with a parent, not only in disciplinary situations, but also in a variety of daily interactions.

STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS

such as staff training and the ratio of children to caregivers

PROCESS CHARACTERISTICS

such as the warmth, sensitivity, and responsiveness of caregivers and the developmental appropriateness of activities.

PHYSICAL ABUSE

 injury to the body through punching, beating, kicking, or burning.

NEGLECT

 failure to meet a child’s basic needs, such as food, clothing, medical care, protection, and supervision.

SEXUAL ABUSE

any sexual activity involving a child and an older person.

EMOTIONAL MALTREATMENT

including rejection, terrorization, isolation, exploitation, degradation, ridicule, or failure to provide emotional support, love, and affection

NONORGANIC FAILURE TO THRIVE

slowed or arrested physical growth with no known medical cause, accompanied by poor developmental and emotional functioning.  

SHAKEN BABY SYNDROME

is a form of maltreatment found mainly in children under 2 years old, most often in infants.