psych 2/21

Chess and Thomas pioneered conceptualizing baby personalities into three categories: easy, difficult, and slow to warm up.
Rothbart and Bates's framework shifts from categorical labelling to measuring individual traits.

The approach focuses on assessing temperament through scores on specific traits rather than categorizing.
Traits include:
- Extroversion/Surgency
- Negative Affect
- Effortful Control

High extroversion indicates a tendency to approach new experiences positively, while low extroversion suggests avoidance and apprehension.
Example: A child showing eagerness to engage in new activities is likely high in extroversion.

This trait assesses emotional valence; high scores reflect a propensity for negative emotions like anger or sadness.
Children who are neutral or exhibit positive emotions are rated lower on negative affect.

Represents self-regulation abilities; children can range from high to low effortful control.
High effortful control depicts a child who can comply with rules and inhibit impulses.

Various combinations yield unique behavioral profiles:
- Example: A cheerful, extroverted child might struggle with impulse control, showcasing a profile of high extroversion, low negative affect, and low effortful control.
- Another example could be a shy child who exhibits high effortful control, suggesting they are compliant and easygoing but reserved in social situations.

Critical consideration of the alignment between a child's temperament and parent expectations.
Problems arise when parents impose unsuitable expectations on a child’s inherent temperament.
Acceptance of a child's natural disposition fosters smoother interactions.

Parental temperament and experiences affect how they perceive and interact with their children.
Expectation also varies by cultural norms, dictating what traits are valued in children.
In certain cultures, characteristics like being fierce or assertive might be preferable compared to being compliant or easygoing.

Societal perceptions often lead to different reactions to boys and girls:
- Boys are encouraged to be outgoing, while girls are often socialized to be compliant.
Experimentation shows that baby treatment varies based solely on perceived gender, impacting development.

Cultural norms and biological predispositions work together:
- Asian babies could appear to be calm but may experience internal stress due to cultural display rules limiting emotional expression.
Goodness of fit involves recognizing and understanding these complexities for child development.

Attachment terminology and theorists:
- Secure, anxious, avoidant, and disorganized attachments.
- Influenced by bonding experiences, leading to internal working models of relationships.

Freud’s contributions highlighted that caregiver interactions have lasting impacts on baby development, although his emphasis was more on feeding rather than emotional bonding.

Harry Harlow debunked feeding-centric theories by showing that baby monkeys displayed preference for comfort over food.
His work emphasized the importance of comfort and emotional security in bonding, reshaping thoughts on infant-parent relationships.

John Bowlby proposed an evolutionary perspective on why bonding is crucial for survival in humans.
Mary Ainsworth built on Bowlby’s work with the Strange Situation experiment to observe attachment styles in children:
- Secure Attachment: Cry upon separation but can be consoled when reunited.
- Anxious Attachment: Upset upon departure and not easily consoled.
- Avoidant Attachment: Indifferent to caregiver’s absence and return.
- Disorganized Attachment: Evidence of abuse or fear towards caregivers.

Participants encouraged to reflect on their attachment styles with caregivers and how these affect self-perception and relationships.
Introduction to self-recognition in infants, noting variance with current findings suggesting earlier recognition rates.