Experience Human Development chapter 6

Personality

Personality

Relatively consistent blend of emotions, temperament, thought, and behavior that makes a person unique.

Psychosocial development

Personality development that are intertwined with social relationships

Emotions

Subjective responses to experience (sadness, joy, fear)

Emotional reactions

Develop during infancy. They are a basic element of personality.

Emotions are associated with

Psychological changes and behavioral changes. (Changes inside and out)

Physiological changes

Blood pressure may rise, pulse may increase, sweat and perspiration may occur.

Behavioral changes

Acting fearful or angry. Expressions depend on culture and personality.

Crying

One of the first signs of emotions.

Upset newborn

Piercing cries, flailing limbs, stiff bodies

Cry types

Hunger, pain, frustration

Newborns and happiness

More difficult to tell when a newborn is happy because they aren't able to display that emotion.

1st month emotions

Baby becomes quiet at the sound of human voice, being picked up, and smiles when gently moved.

Involuntary smiles

Appear at birth. Result of sub-cortical brain activity. They are just reflexes.

Waking smiles

Considered more social. Elicited through gentle jiggling, tickling or kissing. (2nd month of life)

Laughter

Smile-linked vocalization (4-12 months)

Anticipatory smiling

Intentional communication to the partner of object. (Smile at object, continue to smile while gazing at parent) (8-10 months)

True emotions

Joy, surprise, sadness, disgust etc... Reactions to events that have meaning.

Self-emotions

Self- awareness, self-consciousness, self-evaluative emotions

Self-awareness

Realization that ones existence is separate from others.

Self-consciousness

Depends on having self-awareness. (Embarrassment and empathy)

Self-evaluative emotions

Requires self-awareness and knowledge of socially accepted behaviors. (understanding what is and isn't appropriate)

Examples of self-evaluative emotions

Pride, shame, guilt

Differentiation of basic emotions

Begins as the cerebral cortex becomes functional (birth-3months)

Altruistic behavior

Acting out of concern for a stranger with no expectation of reward.

Empathy

Ability to put oneself in another's place.

Empathy requires

Social cognition (understanding that others have feelings and thoughts) ideas about others feelings are used to gauge own behavior.

Egocentrism

Absence of empathy

Mirror neurons

Neurons that fire when a person does something but also when he or she observes someone else doing the same thing (mirroring)

Social cognition

Ability to understand that others have mental states and to gauge their feelings and intentions.

Temperament

(The how of behavior, but not the what) biological predisposition of reactivity. Highly heritable and stable.

3 styles of temperaments

Easy, slow to warm up, difficult.

Easy temperament

Generally happy, respond well to change.

Slow to warm up temperament

Generally mild reactions. Hesitant to change and new experiences.

Difficult temperament

More irritable and harder to please. Irregular biological rhythms and intense in expressing emotion.

Temperament is inborn and

Hereditary. But environment influences it through development.

Goodness of fit

Key to hereditary adjustment. Match between child's temperament and the environmental demands and constraints child must deal with.

Adjustments easiest when

Childs temperament matches the situation physically, socially, and culturally.

Inhibition to the unfamiliar

How boldly or cautiously child approaches unfamiliar objects and situations. Associated with certain biological characteristics.

Harry Harlow

Rhesus monkeys. Separated from mother 6-12 hours after birth. Newborns were placed with a wire, or a cloth foster mother.

Cloth foster mother

Did not offer food to the newborns, but offered comfort.

Wire foster mother

Offered food to the newborns but no comfort.

Result of rhesus monkeys

Food is not enough. Babies require comfort. Maternal and paternal responsiveness is important.

Fathers role

Emotional commitment and direct involvement from father to child amount of involvement may vary greatly.

Father role in U.S.A

Increased dramatically since 1970s (more women working outside of the home)

Gender

What it means to be male or female

Earliest behavioral differences

Boys play more aggressively than girls. They have different toy preferences and say more words pertaining to own sex (necklace vs tractor)

Gender typing

Socialization by which children learn gender roles (see earliest behavioral differences)

Basic trust vs basic mistrust

Newborns/infants develop sense of reliability of people and objects

Erikson's stage 1

Basic trust: sensitive/responsive and consistent care. (Can I count on you to feed me when I'm hungry?)

Trust enables an infant

To let their mother out of their sight.

Attachment

Reciprocal, enduring bond between caregiver and child.

4 types of attachment

Secure, avoidant, ambivalent, disorganized.

Strange situation

Lab technique used to study infant attachment (mother leaves and comes back)

Secure attachment

Might cry and protest when mom leaves, but are able to obtain the comfort they need, effectively and quickly demonstrating flexibility and resilience when faced with stressful situations. Cooperative and free of anger.

Avoidant attachment

Unaffected by mom leaving or returning. Show little emotion positively and negatively.

Ambivalent attachment

Anxious before mom leaves and become increasingly upset when she leaves. Demonstrate distress and anger by seeking contact while resisting by kicking or squirming.

Disorganized attachment

Show contradictory, repetitive, or misdirecting behaviors (seeking closeness with a stranger even when mom is present)

Influences on attachment

Level of warmth and responsiveness. Employment and amount of separation.

Babies temperament attachment is

Related to trust vs mistrust

Stranger anxiety

Wariness of strange people and places, shown by some infants during 2nd half of 1st year.

Separation anxiety

Distress shown when a familiar caregiver leaves.

Long term effects of attachment

More securely attached children develop good relationships with others. Larger vocabulary, higher levels of curiosity and self confidence.

Insecurely attached children

Develop negative emotions and are known to externalize aggression.

Depressed mothers who dismiss memories of past attachments

Tend to be cold and unresponsive to their children.

Mutual regulation

Process where infant and caregiver communicate emotional states with each other and respond appropriately.

Social referencing

Understanding an ambiguous situation by seeking another persons perception of it.

Social referencing plays a key role in

The rise of self-conscious emotions (embarrassment and pride) development of a sense of self and process of socialization and internalization.

Self-concept

Image of ourselves. Total picture of our abilities and traits.

Agency

Realization that one can control external events

Self-coherence

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

Self-awareness

Conscious knowledge of the self as a distinct, identifiable being.

Autonomy

Shift from external control to self control. Emerges from trust and self-awareness (terrible twos)

Negativism

Tendency to shout "NO!" Just for the sake of resisting authority.

Shame and doubt

Help toddler recognize need for limits

Self-regulation

Control over own behavior, conforming with caregivers standards even when caregiver is not present.

Socialization

Development of habits and values that create productive members of society

Compliance with parents expectations

Can be seen as a first step towards compliance with societal standards

Internalization

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

Self-regulation depends on

Attentional processes (ability to monitor negative emotions)

Self-regulation is the foundation of

Socialization and links all domains of development (physical cognitive emotional and social)

Delayed gratification

Dealing with frustration if you have to wait. You don't always get what you want right away (bought a candy bar but can't eat it until after dinner)

Executive fucntioning

Set of mental processes that control and regulate other behaviors.

Conscience

Includes both emotional discomfort about doing something wrong and the ability to refrain from doing it.

Committed complaince

Willingness to follow orders without lapses, shows internalization of household rules.

Situational complaince

Follows orders with prompting and reminders

Receptive cooperation

Eager willingness to cooperate harmoniously with a parent in daily interactions, including routines, hygiene and play.

Factors of successful socialization

Secure attachment and a warm, mutually responsive parent-child relationship (receptive cooperation)

Sociability with siblings

Construction conflict helps children with empathy

Sociability with non-siblings

Understanding social relationships outside of the home. Babies that spend time with other babies tend to be more sociable. Toddlers learn by imitating each other.

Social referencing

Seeking emotional info to guide behavior. Babies look at caregivers on encountering a new person or toy.

Effects of parental employment

Little to no effect of maternal employment on children's compliance, behavioral problems, self-esteem, cognitive development, and academic achievement.

2 Factors that impact childcare

structural characteristics and process characteristics

Structural characteristics

Staff training, ratio of children to staff, turnover rate.

Process characteristics

Warmth and sensitivity of workers. Appropriateness of activities.

Types of child abuse

Physical, neglect, sexual, emotional maltreatment.

Physical abuse

Injury to body (kicking, punching, etc...)

Neglect

Intentional or unintentional failure to meet basic needs (food, Medicare, dental etc)

Sexual abuse

Any sexual activity involving child and older person or child.

Emotional maltreatment

failure to provide emotional support, degradation, exploitation, rejection, terrorization etc... Causes behavioral, cognitive or mental disorders.

Traits of abusive and neglectful families

Aggravated by marital problems, stressful events, lack of parental education, poverty, alcoholism, depression, drug abuse.