Chapter 4 Notes
Chapter 4: Socioemotional Developmental in Infancy
Emotional and Personality Development
Social Orientation and Attachment
Social Contexts
Emotional & Personality Development Topics
Emotional Development
Temperament
Personality Development
Emotional Development
Definition of Emotion
Emotion: The feeling, or affect, that occurs when a person is in a state or interaction that is important to self and well-being.
Characterized by behavior that reflects the pleasantness or unpleasantness of the state a person is in or the transactions being experienced.
Emotions are classified as positive or negative.
Role of Emotions
Emotions have an important role in:
Communication with others and behavioral organization.
Example: A baby smiling at a caregiver invites interaction; a baby crying signals distress and prompts care.
Infants’ Social Responses
Emotions influence infants’ social responses and adaptive behaviors as they interact with others in their world.
Infants utilize emotions to connect socially:
Examples of emotions include joy, sadness, fear, and interest.
Biological, Cognitive, and Environmental Influences
Biological Factors
Certain brain regions are involved in distress, excitement, and rage.
Cognitive Factors
Infants gradually develop the ability to regulate their emotions (attention, distraction).
Attention toward or away from an experience can influence emotional responses.
Environmental Factors
Emotion-linked interchanges provide the foundation for an infant’s developing attachment to the parent.
Cultural Influence
Social relationships and diversity in emotional experiences may vary by culture.
For instance, East Asia emphasizes less overt emotion compared to the U.S., where expressiveness is encouraged.
Early Emotions
First Six Months: Surprise, interest, joy, anger, sadness, fear, and disgust emerge.
Later (1-2 years): Developing emotions include jealousy, empathy, embarrassment, pride, shame, and guilt.
These are self-conscious or other-conscious emotions because they involve the emotional reactions of others.
Emotional Development (Crying)
Crying is the first and most significant means for newborns to communicate.
Types of Crying:
Basic Cry: A rhythmic pattern, usually consisting of a cry, a briefer silence, a shorter whistle, followed by rest before the next cry. Usually indicates hunger.
Anger Cry: A variation of the basic cry with more excess air forced through the vocal cords.
Pain Cry: A sustained, long, loud cry followed by breath holding.
Emotional Development (Smiling)
Reflexive Smile: A smile not occurring in response to external stimuli.
Typically appears in the first month, often during sleep.
Social Smile: A smile in response to an external stimulus.
Typically occurs as early as 2 months of age, usually in response to a face.
Smiling is linked to later regulation and positive outcomes in social interaction.
Emotional Development (Fear & Social Referencing)
Fear emerges as one of babies’ earliest emotions around 6 months.
Stranger Anxiety: An infant's fear and wariness of strangers.
Separation Protest: The distressed crying of an infant when the caregiver leaves.
Social Referencing: The ability to “read” emotional cues in others to determine appropriate behavior in a particular situation.
Infants improve in social referencing during their second year of life.
Emotional Development (Regulation & Coping)
Infants begin to inhibit or minimize the intensity and duration of emotional reactions.
Examples of self-soothing behaviors include thumb sucking and attention shifting.
Caregivers’ actions influence emotional regulation.
Soothing a crying infant fosters adaptive emotion regulation and induces a sense of trust and secure attachment to the caregiver.
By 2 years, toddlers begin to use language to help regulate their feelings.
Temperament
Temperament: Individual differences in behavioral styles, emotions, and ways of responding, which include:
Reactivity: Variations in the speed and intensity of an individual's responses to positive or negative emotions.
Self-Regulation: Variations in the effectiveness of an individual's ability to control emotions.
Chess & Thomas’ Classification
Easy Child: Generally positive mood, establishes regular routines, and adapts easily to new experiences.
Difficult Child: Reacts negatively, cries frequently, has irregular daily routines, and is slow to accept change.
Slow-to-Warm-Up Child: Low activity level, somewhat negative, and displays low intensity of mood.
About 35% of children do not fit neatly into these categories.
Kagan’s Behavioral Inhibition
Kagan focuses on differences between inhibited (shy, timid) and sociable (extraverted, bold) children.
Inhibition to the unfamiliar describes shy responses to various aspects of unfamiliarity with avoidance, distress, or subdued affect.
Effort Control (Self-Regulation)
Mary Rothbart and John Bates emphasize effortful control as a key dimension of temperament.
High Effortful Control: Infants with high effortful control have self-soothing strategies and can regulate their emotions.
Low Effortful Control: Children who are easily agitated and become intensely emotional.
Biological Foundations & Experience
The prevailing view indicates that temperament is a biological but evolving aspect of behavior.
Temperament can be partly inherited, including traits like heart rate and cortisol levels.
Gender and Culture Influence on Temperament:
Parental reactions can vary based on a child's temperament and their gender.
Cultural differences may influence caregiver reactions, as behavioral inhibition is often more valued in certain cultures, such as China, compared to North America.
Goodness of Fit & Parenting
Goodness of Fit: The compatibility between a child’s temperament and the environmental demands they encounter.
Decreases in infants' negative emotionality occur when parents are involved and responsive.
Recommendations from Ann Sanson and Mary Rothbart:
Pay attention to the individuality of the child.
Structure the child’s environment effectively.
Avoid applying negative labels to the child.
New Models (Differential Susceptibility)
The differential susceptibility model and biological sensitivity to context model suggest that some children are more affected by negative environments but can also thrive more in supportive environments.
A “difficult” temperament can indicate greater growth potential with proper support.
Personality Development
Trust and the emergence of self and independence are central to personality development during infancy.
During the first year of life, the conflict of trust versus mistrust arises, where progress or setbacks affect future stages.
Self-recognition grows in the second year and is reflected in a sense of “me.” Independence is significant as toddlers experience autonomy versus shame and doubt in this stage.
Self-Recognition in Infancy
Study by Lewis and Brooks-Gunn, Amsterdam Study: Percent of subjects who recognized themselves in a mirror was observed as follows:
Age (months): 9-12 months at 20%, 15-18 months at 40%, and 21-24 months at 100%.
Learning Check: Baby Case Studies
Instructions:
Emotional Development: Identify emotions this infant can show at this age.
Temperament: Determine which temperament category best fits (1. Easy, 2. Difficult, 3. Slow-to-Warm-Up).
Emotion Regulation & Coping: Identify caregiver behaviors that support healthy regulation.
Personality Development: Determine which Erikson stage fits and identify signs of trust, autonomy, or self-awareness emerging.
Social Orientation & Attachment Topics
Social Orientation
Understanding Attachment
Social Orientation and Understanding
Infants are innately attracted to the social world, particularly faces and voices.
Face-to-face play begins at 2 to 3 months (smiles, coos, gestures).
Infants respond differently to people compared to objects.
By 18 to 24 months, increased peer interaction leads to imitative and reciprocal play.
Developing locomotion skills enhance social engagement and promote exploration.
Cooperation Task
Cooperation Task: Involves two handles on a box with a toy, activated by remote control when both are pulled together.
This cooperative exercise demonstrates infants' ability to work together to achieve a common goal.
Social Orientation and Understanding
Infants demonstrate earlier social insight than previously believed.
Intention, goal-directed behavior, and meaningful interactions with others occur towards the end of the infant's first year.
Joint attention and gaze-following help infants understand that others have thoughts and goals, influencing their interactions.
Attachment: Building Emotional Bonds
Definition of Attachment
A close emotional bond between two individuals.
Freud's Theory: Proposed that attachment is based on the provision of oral satisfaction (feeding and comfort).
Harlow's Studies: Showed that contact comfort (warmth, touch, closeness) is preferred over mere sustenance.
Erikson's Proposition: Trust develops from experiences of physical comfort and sensitivity in care.
Contact Time with Surrogate Mothers
Harlow's Rhesus Monkeys: Regardless of feeding source (wire or cloth), monkeys overwhelmingly preferred contact with the cloth mother, highlighting the importance of tactile comfort in bonding.
Bowlby’s 4 Stages of Attachment
Phase 1 (0-2 months): Infants show attachment behavior towards all human figures.
Phase 2 (2-7 months): Attachment becomes focused on one primary figure (typically the primary caregiver).
Phase 3 (7-27 months): Specific attachments develop as babies actively seek contact with regular caregivers.
Phase 4 (24 months onward): Children become conscious of others’ feelings and goals, which inform their behavior towards them.
Bowlby posited that infants form an internal working model of attachment.
Attachment: Mary Ainsworth's Contributions
Ainsworth’s research included a series of introductions, separations, and reunions with the caregiver and a stranger to assess attachment.
Secure Attachment: Infants use caregivers as a secure base for exploration, showing distress upon departure and welcoming comfort upon return.
Insecure Avoidant Attachment: Infants show avoidance and lack distress upon separation; they may ignore the caregiver on return.
Insecure Resistant Attachment: Infants cling to caregivers but resist closeness; they exhibit high distress levels and struggle to be comforted.
Insecure Disorganized Attachment: Infants show disorientation, strong patterns of avoidance, and may demonstrate confused behavior upon approach or avoidance.
The Strange Situation: An observational measure invented by Ainsworth to observe infant attachment styles.
Attachment & Later Development
Early attachment experiences can foreshadow later functioning in social and emotional health.
Secure Attachment: Linked to better emotional health, social skills, and resilience in the child’s life.
Securely attached children tend to form stronger peer relationships and manage stress more effectively.
Insecure Attachment, particularly towards both parents, correlates with behavioral challenges, difficulties in peer interactions, and increased externalizing problems (aggression, acting out).
Although early attachments shape relational patterns, they do not definitively determine outcomes.
Attachment Theory: Criticisms & New Perspectives
Some studies challenge the notion that infancy is a critical or sensitive period for attachment influences.
Continuous positive caregiving may be more crucial than early attachment experiences.
The Developmental Cascade Model proposes that early experiences in one domain can influence others over time (e.g., attachment impacts emotional regulation and peer relationships).
Critics argue that attachment theory overlooks biological factors (genes and temperament) and cultural differences in family structures.
Caregiving Styles and Attachment
Secure Attachment: Linked to sensitive and responsive caregiving practices.
Avoidant Attachment: Associated with caregivers who are often unavailable or rejecting.
Resistant Attachment: Linked to inconsistent caregiving, leading to unpredictable affection.
Disorganized Attachment: Often associated with neglectful or abusive caregiving behaviors.
Learning Check #2: Attachment Styles
Instructions
You will hear scenarios involving infants and must determine the displayed attachment style for each.
Identify behavioral clues leading to your conclusions.
Social Contexts
The Family
Child Care
The Family
Families consist of interconnected subsystems shaped by generation, gender, and roles (parents, children, partners, siblings).
Each family member affects others both directly and indirectly.
Challenges of Parenthood
The transition to parenthood necessitates significant adaptation.
Marital satisfaction may diminish during this period.
Parenting responsibilities can be unevenly divided between mothers and fathers.
Symptoms of anxiety and depression in parents during pregnancy's final trimester correlate with internalizing and externalizing issues in infants.
Reciprocal Socialization
Parenting is a bidirectional process: children influence parents while parents socialize children.
Scaffolding: Parents time interactions to enable infants to experience turn-taking.
Managing and guiding behavior involves:
Proactive measures like childproofing the environment.
Engaging in corrective methods as infants grow more capable, requiring increased feedback and discipline.
Parental expectations also play a significant role in socialization.
Methods of Managing Children’s Behavior
Data on Corrective Methods
Percentages of parents using various corrective methods for 12 and 24-month-old infants are as follows:
Spank with Hand: 12 months (14%), 24 months (45%)
Slap Infant’s Hand: 12 months (21%), 24 months (31%)
Yell in Anger: 12 months (36%), 24 months (81%)
Threaten: 12 months (19%), 24 months (63%)
Withdraw Privileges: 12 months (18%), 24 months (52%)
Time-Out: 12 months (12%), 24 months (60%)
Reason: 12 months (85%), 24 months (100%)
Divert Attention: 12 months (100%), 24 months (100%)
Negotiate: 12 months (50%), 24 months (90%)
Ignore: 12 months (64%), 24 months (90%)
Maternal and Paternal Caregiving
Maternal interactions typically focus on caregiving tasks like feeding, changing, and bathing.
Paternal interactions often center around play.
Fathers can be as sensitive and responsive as mothers in caregiving.
Positive engagement from fathers correlates with favorable developmental outcomes including fewer behavioral issues and higher self-esteem.
Child Care & Parental Leave
Many U.S. children interact with multiple caregivers as few parents stay home full-time.
Approximately 2 million children in the U.S. currently receive formal, licensed childcare.
Parental Leave Comparison
U.S.: 12 weeks of unpaid leave.
Europe: Paid leave averages 16 weeks; some countries offer additional benefits not strictly connected to employment, covering both mothers and fathers.
Variations in Child Care
Childcare Quality: Major concern in the United States, influenced by factors like:
Age of the child (infants are most vulnerable).
Type of care (center-based, home, nonprofit vs. commercial).
Quality of the program (includes caregiver-child ratios, caregiver training, and consistency).
Child Care Quality Matters
Infants from low-income families often receive lower-quality childcare.
Importance of high-quality childcare:
Promotes school readiness and language skills.
Encourages positive social play and cooperation.
Leads to fewer behavior problems.
High-quality childcare characteristics:
Safe environment
Age-appropriate toys and activities
Low caregiver-to-child ratio
Learning Check: “You Be the Expert Panel”
Instructions
Participate as an expert panel on infant development.
For each scenario, decide which factor best explains the situation and vote (using fingers or cards).
Be prepared to defend your answer if called upon.
Factor Choices: 1. Family System 2. Parent–Child Interaction 3. Reciprocal Socialization 4. Maternal / Paternal Caregiving 5. Childcare & Parental Leave 6. Childcare Quality
Ainsworth’s research included a series of introductions, separations, and reunions with the caregiver and a stranger to assess attachment.
Secure Attachment: Infants use caregivers as a secure base for exploration, showing distress upon departure and welcoming comfort upon return.
Insecure Avoidant Attachment: Infants show avoidance and lack distress upon separation; they may ignore the caregiver on return.
Insecure Resistant Attachment: Infants cling to caregivers but resist closeness; they exhibit high distress levels and struggle to be comforted.
Insecure Disorganized Attachment: Infants show disorientation, strong patterns of avoidance, and may demonstrate confused behavior upon approach or avoidance.
The Strange Situation: An observational measure invented by Ainsworth to observe infant attachment styles.