Adobe Scan Feb 22, 2025

Emotional and Social Development During Infancy

Definition of Psychosocial Development

• Psychosocial development involves forming relationships, interacting with others, and managing feelings.

• Important social milestone: forming healthy attachments.

• Attachment: a long-standing bond with others that is crucial for healthy development.

Learning Outcomes

• Explain emotional development and self-awareness during infancy.

• Contrast styles of attachment.

• Describe temperament and the goodness-of-fit model.

• Use Erikson's theory to characterize psychosocial development during infancy.

Emotional Development and Attachment

Emotional Responses in Infants

• At birth: Two basic responses - attraction to pleasant situations and withdrawal from unpleasant stimuli.

• By 2 months: Increase in social engagement (social smiles).

• By 3-5 months: Laughter as an expression of pleasure.

• By 6-8 months: Development of specific feelings (fear, sadness, anger).

Progression of Emotional Awareness

• Infants transition from simple instincts to complex socio-emotional awareness.

• Fear: Linked with presence of strangers (stranger wariness) and separation from caregivers (separation anxiety).

• Development timeline for anxiety: Begins around 6-8 months, peaks at 14 months, then decreases.

• Jealousy may manifest as early as 6 months.

Categories of Emotion

• Basic Emotions: Interest, happiness, anger, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust.

• Self-Conscious Emotions: Envy, pride, shame, guilt, doubt, embarrassment; requires social interaction and self-concept for development.

Emotional Regulation

• Defined in two components:

  1. Emotions as Regulating: Changes elicited by emotions.

  2. Emotions as Regulated: Processes used to change activated emotions (self-soothing, distraction).

• Infants rely heavily on caregivers for co-regulation of emotions.

• Emotional regulation strategies by caregivers include distraction and sensory inputs.

• Infants can self-regulate as early as 4 months.

Importance of Caregiving

• Sensitive responses to children's emotions lead to better emotional regulation and social skills in later years.

• Caregivers help toddlers label and understand emotions and model coping strategies.

Social Referencing

• The process where infants seek information from caregivers to clarify situations (e.g., visual cliff experiments helped demonstrate this).

Self-Awareness

• Begins during the second year, marking recognition of self as distinct from others.

• Rouge Test: Identifies self-awareness by noticing makeup on one’s face in the mirror.

• Self-awareness development correlates with understanding social emotions like guilt, pride, and empathy (around ages 3-5).

Attachment Theories

Definition of Attachment and Key Researchers

• Attachment Theory: Defined by John Bowlby as a powerful bond necessary for normal social and emotional development.

• Key Studies:

  • Harry Harlow: Monkeys preferred soft, comforting surrogates over wired maternal figures for nourishment, highlighting the importance of comfort in attachment.

  • John Bowlby: Proposed secure base concept that defines healthy attachment.

  • Mary Ainsworth: Studied different attachment styles using the Strange Situation.

Types of Attachment Identified by Ainsworth

1. Secure Attachment: Prefers caregiver over strangers; uses them as a secure base.

2. Avoidant Attachment: Shows no preference for caregiver; indifferent to their presence or absence.

3. Resistant/Ambivalent Attachment: Clings to caregiver but rejects their interaction; shows distress on separation and is hard to comfort.

4. Disorganized Attachment: Behaviors are disorganized and erratic; common in abused or neglected children.

Prevalence of Attachment Styles

• Approximately 65% of U.S. children are securely attached, 20% avoidant, 10-15% resistant, and 5-10% disorganized.

Temperament

Definition and Dimensions

• Temperament: Innate traits observable from birth, leading to individual differences in behavior—not the same as personality.

• Nine dimensions include activity level, regularity, sensitivity, mood, and others.

Profiles Based on Temperament

1. Easy Babies (40%): Positive disposition and adaptable.

2. Difficult Babies (10%): Negative moods and slow to adapt.

3. Slow-to-Warm-Up Babies (15%): Withdraw from new situations, adapt gradually.

4. Undifferentiated (35%): Mixed characteristics, harder to categorize.

Goodness-of-Fit Model

• Success in development depends on the fit between infant temperament and caregiving style.

• Caregivers' responses to children's temperament significantly affect emotional and behavioral outcomes.

Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development

Trust vs. Mistrust

• Establishing trust based on caregivers' consistency in meeting physical and emotional needs.

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

• Focus shifts to independence as toddlers explore their environment; anxiety from caregivers can lead to shame and doubt.