WEEK 2 LEC SOCIAL & EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Learning Outcomes

• Explain developmental origins of emotional & social development:

  • Temperament

  • Attachment

  • Parenting style

• Explain importance of caregiver–infant interactions.

• Describe implications of early attachment styles.

Temperament

• Definition: Individual style & frequency of expressing needs/emotions.

• Characteristics

  • Biologically & genetically based yet shaped by parental expectations, interactions, and cultural influences.

  • Shows reasonable stability across childhood → early signs of emerging personality.

• Classic Classification (Thomas & Chess $1977$)

  • “Easy” babies – regular routines, mild reactions, easily soothed, adaptable.

  • “Difficult” babies – irregular biological rhythms, intense reactions, hard to soothe, low adaptability.

  • “Slow-to-warm-up” babies – wary in new situations; need time/support to adapt.

• Reflective prompt from lecture: “What temperament did you have as a baby? Do you see evidence now?”

Attachment – Foundations

• Definition (Bowlby $1958, 1973$; Cohan $1974$): Enduring & selective emotional bond between two individuals, marked by mutual affection & desire for proximity.

• Human neonate predispositions (Johnson et al., $1991$)

  • Turn heads toward human voices.

  • Recognise mother’s voice & smell.

  • Prefer face-like visual patterns.

Critical Period & Imprinting

• Konrad Lorenz (1930s) – imprinting in geese; biologically timed critical window.

• Orphanage studies: later adoption → reduced capacity to attach.

Bowlby’s Attachment Theory (1950s)

• Influenced by wartime separations of London children.

• Proposed in-built readiness to seek soft, warm caregivers as a “secure base”.

Harlow’s Monkey Experiments (1950s)

• Infant rhesus monkeys given cloth vs. wire surrogate mothers.

• Preferred soft cloth mother despite nourishment from wire mother → comfort > food in forming attachment.

• Demonstrated basis of attachment is contact comfort, not feeding.

Importance of a Secure Base (Perry $2002$)

• Early secure caregiver relationship supports brain development.

• Lack thereof risks long-term emotional & cognitive problems.

Assessment of Attachment – Ainsworth’s “Strange Situation”

• Participants: infants $12{-}18$ months.

• Sequence of 8 episodes (approx. 3 min each):

  1. Parent & child enter playroom.

  2. Child plays with parent present.

  3. Stranger enters & chats.

  4. Parent leaves (1st separation).

  5. Parent returns, stranger exits (1st reunion).

  6. Parent leaves again (2nd separation).

  7. Stranger returns/soothes.

  8. Parent returns (2nd reunion).

• Observations: exploration, stranger anxiety, separation distress, reunion behaviour.

Attachment Styles & Behaviours (Moss et al., $2004$)

• Secure (≈ $60\%$)

  • Explores; uses caregiver as base; distressed on leaving; quickly soothed on return.

• Avoidant (≈ $25\%$)

  • Unperturbed by separation; ignores/avoids caregiver on return.

• Ambivalent / Anxious-Resistant (≈ $10\%$)

  • Clingy; minimal exploration; highly distressed on separation; angry/resentful on reunion.

• Disorganised (< $10\%$)

  • Confused/contradictory behaviours: freezing, self-hitting, dazed.

Caregiver Responsiveness – Mechanism of Attachment Formation

• Contingent caring cycle (Slide 20):

  • Baby state (hungry, wet, cold, lonely…).

  • Prompt, consistent, appropriate caregiver response → Baby learns “world is safe; people meet my needs; I am loved.”

  • Delayed/inconsistent/inappropriate response → Baby learns “world is scary; people unreliable; unsure of being loved.”

Factors Modulating Caregiver Responsiveness

• Enhance responsiveness

  • Strong partner/family support.

  • Adequate parenting knowledge & confidence.

  • Manageable stress levels.

• Impair responsiveness

  • Parental mental illness/substance use.

  • Chronic personal/family stress.

  • Low support, low parenting self-efficacy.

• Early intervention programs aim to promote positive attachment → better infant, child, adult mental health.

Parenting Styles (Baumrind $1971$; Maccoby & Martin $1983$)

Descriptions & Typical Child Outcomes

• Authoritarian

  • Strict rules; “Because I said so”.

  • Child: more aggressive, less guilt, lower trust.

• Authoritative

  • Demanding and responsive; reasons explained; dialogue encouraged.

  • Child: socially competent, friendly, responsible; viewed as competent by teachers.

• Permissive

  • Few demands, minimal discipline.

  • Child: immature, dependent when facing difficulty.

• Rejecting-Neglecting

  • Disengaged, little expectation or investment.

  • Child: impulsive, conduct disorders.

• Note: Cultural context matters – “best” style varies with cultural values.

Why Caregiver Behaviour Matters

• Infants build internal working models of the social world from caregiver interactions.

• Models scaffold:

  • Self-concept (sense of worth/lovability).

  • Emotion regulation skills → later social & emotional competence.

Translating Childhood Attachment to Adulthood

• Reflective questions (Slide 30) about ease of closeness, trust, fear of abandonment.

Adult Attachment Patterns

• Secure

  • Comfortable with intimacy & interdependence.

• Avoidant

  • Discomfort with closeness; difficulty trusting/depending; partners desire more intimacy.

• Anxious (pre-occupied)

  • Desire excessive closeness; fear partner doesn’t love/stay; heightened abandonment worry.

Take-Home Message

• Optimal human development relies on secure, loving, stable caregiver relationships.

• Early caregiver interactions shape lifelong emotional & social trajectories.