Parsons Chapter 7
Introduction
Babies express emotions from birth, inviting connection.
Social-emotional development is crucial for counselors.
Emotional development is foundational for adaptation and psychopathology.
Chapter Objectives
Explain self-conscious emotions.
Describe factors contributing to personality development.
Describe factors involved in emotion regulation and the caregiver's role.
Explain Erikson's stages of psychosocial crises.
Describe the value of healthy attachment and influencing factors.
The Value of Emotions
Emotions are rapid information processing systems aiding survival.
Fear response leads to fight or flight.
Emotions coordinate reactions, perception, and behavior.
Emotions enrich experiences and strengthen relationships.
_ Theories of Emotional Development
Some theorists suggest a general emotional response.
Early emotional life consists of attraction/withdrawal.
Other theorists argue infants are born with discrete feelings.
Basic emotions become more complex with development.
Basic Emotions in Babies
Newborns express distress through crying.
Babies show interest, disgust, and satisfaction.
Around two months, infants exhibit social smiling.
By six months, babies express differentiated emotions.
Self-Conscious Emotions
By 24 months, babies express self-conscious emotions.
These emotions reflect a sense of self and understanding of social rules.
Toddlers may show shame or empathy.
Appearance indicates cognitive sense of self and understanding of standards.
Emotion Regulation
Unregulated emotions can have negative consequences.
Emotion regulation is controlling behavior, including emotions, thoughts, actions, and attention.
It involves adjusting emotional state to achieve goals.
Emotion regulation is essential for successful development.
Difficulty is associated with later aggressive or withdrawn behaviors.
Emotional self-regulation improves rapidly due to prefrontal cortex development and caregiver influence.
Caregiver-child interactions are significant.
Healthy interactions help children acquire knowledge of emotions and adaptive strategies.
Caregivers scaffold emotion regulation by modeling adaptive strategies.
Soothing responses help babies stop crying.
Babies soothed at two months can self-soothe at six months.
Caution About Self-Soothing Behaviors
Self-soothing behaviors can provide relief.
Problematic if continued or if the child engages in injurious behaviors.
Parent should consult with a counselor if concerned.
Emerging Personality
Infant descriptions point to temperament and unfolding personality.
Children have a constitutional foundation as temperament.
Temperament includes stable, early appearing individual differences.
Temperament reflects reactivity and self-regulation.
Fussy babies are quickly aroused and have low self-regulation ability.
Temperament and personality are less stable during infancy and toddlerhood.
Personality development is a result of biologically based temperament interacting with experiences and social context.
Culture and Temperament
Temperament has a biological base shaped by social-cultural experience.
Parents influence personality by modeling and responding to behaviors based on cultural values.
Asian cultures prioritize low levels of emotionality.
Japanese mothers discourage emotional reactions, while North American mothers encourage them.
Japanese children display lower irritability and more self-soothing.
Resolving Psychosocial Crises (Erik Erikson)
Erikson's theory emphasizes social experiences and resolving personal needs within social context demands.
Conflict between individual and society creates crises.
Infants and toddlers move from dependence to independence.
Trust vs. Mistrust
Early experiences shape infant expectations about the world's safety and supportiveness.
Developing trust is the challenge for infants.
Trust develops through feeding and caregiver response to cries.
Warm physical contact during feeding helps babies trust that their needs will be met.
Responding to crying builds expectation that the world is safe and predictable.
Inconsistent or unsupportive care leads to mistrust and withdrawal.
Unresponsive caregivers elicit anxiety, fear, and mistrust.
Mistrust can result from cruel treatment or unmet needs.
Successful resolution is the foundation for future risk-taking and independence.
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
Erikson's second stage focuses on unfolding autonomy.
Muscular maturation is the foundation for experimentation.
Child explores and establishes independence.
Scaffolding freedom increases the probability of success.
Toddlers want independence and express their emerging self.
Scaffolding and structuring experiences promotes independence and self-reliance.
Attachment and Early Social Connection
Infants and toddlers are socio-emotional beings interested in their social world.
Desire and ability to connect and attach to a caregiver is nearly universal.
John Bowlby proposed an ethological theory of attachment.
Bowlby maintains that both infants and caregivers are biologically disposed to form attachments.
Newborns foster caregiver interest through crying, clinging, cooing, and smiling.
Bowlby argued infants develop an internal working model of attachment.
Mary Ainsworth
Ainsworth developed the Strange Situation to observe babies' responses.
The method has been used across social-cultural contexts to investigate attachment patterns.
Ainsworth reported three categories: secure, anxious-avoidant, and anxious-ambivalent.
A fourth pattern, anxious-disorganized/disoriented, was added by Maiman Solomon.
Categories of Attachment
Secure: Use caregiver as a secure base, explore, return when frightened, reconnect easily.
Avoidant: Insecure attachment, not overtly distressed during separation, exhibit mild avoidant behaviors upon return.
Ambivalent: Anxiety and mixed feelings, distress and anger observed upon separation.
Disorganized/Disoriented: Often found in children who have experienced abuse or neglect, view caregiver as both source of comfort and anxiety, conflicting behaviors, no consistent strategy.
Phases of Attachment
Attachment develops through phases:
Preattachment (birth to 6 weeks): Built-in signals to bring caregivers into contact for comfort, no fear of strangers.
Indiscriminate Attachment (6 weeks to 6-8 months): Respond differently to caregivers vs. strangers, aware of connection between actions and caregiver behavior, begin to develop trust, no protest when separated.
Discriminate Attachment (6-8 months to 18-24 months): Protest caregiver's departure, separation anxiety, employ requests and persuasion.
Formation of Reciprocal Relationship (2 years and on): Predict caregiver return after separation, show less anxiety.
Secure attachment contributes to strong friendships, emotional understanding, early conscience, and positive self.
Secure attachment is associated with more adaptive emotion regulation.
Insecure attachments show more significant emotion dysregulation, greater risk for externalizing and internalizing problems.
Babbling, following, clinging, and requesting bedtime stories are forms of social interaction.
Providing a signal before transitioning helps.
Caregiver Interaction
Secure attachment and healthy social relationships result from caregiver interactions.
Securely attached babies have caregivers who are sensitive to their signals and consistently available.
Cultural Variations
All children need to develop a relational network.
Bowlby's universality questioned.
Criticism: fails to consider cultural variations.
Attachment patterns may need to be interpreted differently in certain cultures.
Conclusions about caregiver style and quality should be viewed within the local context, culture, and living conditions.
Cultural Variations Examples:
Zambia: Siblings play an essential role in carajiving, and attachment is strong to both mother and sibling carajivers.
Germany: Infants appear more avoidant attachment when contrasted to American babies, possibly reflecting cultural valuing of independence.
Saharan communities: Children do not exhibit stranger anxiety.
Take Away for Counselors
Attachment quality is impacted by caregiver sensitivity and responsibility.
Resolution of psychosocial crises is affected by caregiver responses.
Caregivers need knowledge and skills to support healthy development.
Providing caregivers with practice and feedback enhances attachment security.
Psychoeducation can address emotion regulation and facilitating healthy attachments.
Targets for Psychoeducation
Emotion Regulation: Emotionally available caregivers are sensitive, structuring, non-intrusive, and non-hostile.
Counselors can help caregivers:
Model emotion regulation by being patient.
Reduce caregiver reactivity by remaining calm and lowering voice volume.
Be responsive to cues and needs.
Provide comforting words and gestures.
Establish routines.
Facilitating Healthy Attachments:
Securely attached babies have caregivers who are sensitive and consistently available.
Counselors can help caregivers:
Use verbal and nonverbal communication to bond.
Use appropriate physical contact.
Engage in face-to-face contact.
Use a gentle tone of voice, responding and repeating the child's vocalizations.
Provide freedom and space to explore.
Be consistent with routines and schedules.
Working with Temperaments:
Caregivers of difficult children can decrease emotional reactivity and increase emotion regulation by setting limits and teaching alternative ways of expressing displeasure.
Caregivers of shy infants and toddlers can reduce reactivity to novelty by being warm and supportive and placing appropriate demands on the child to approach new experiences.
Keystones
Emotions are a basis for rapid information processing.
Babies respond with arousal and valence.
Infants express differentiated emotions by six months of age.
Self conscious emotions developed by 24 months.
Emotion regulation is the result of neurological development and experience.
Personality development is the result of biologically based temperament interacting with experiences and social context.
Erickson's theory posits that infants are attempting to establish a sense of trust.
Babies make emotional attachments.
Bowlby's theory of attachment remains the most widely accepted view of attachment.
The development of attachment is fostered or inhibited as a function of carriage either responsiveness.
Introduction
Babies show emotions at birth.
Social-emotional development is key for counselors.
Emotional development is vital for adaptation.
Chapter Objectives
Explain self-conscious emotions.
Describe factors in personality and emotion regulation.
Explain Erikson's psychosocial stages.
Describe attachment value.
The Value of Emotions
Emotions are rapid info systems for survival.
Fear leads to fight or flight.
Emotions coordinate reactions and behavior.
Emotions enrich experiences and relationships.
Theories of Emotional Development
Some see general emotional response.
Early life: attraction/withdrawal.
Others: infants born with discrete feelings.
Basic emotions become complex.
Basic Emotions in Babies
Newborns cry for distress.
Babies show interest, disgust, satisfaction.
Social smiling at two months.
Differentiated emotions by six months.
Self-Conscious Emotions
By 24 months, babies show self-conscious emotions.
Reflect sense of self and social rules.
Toddlers show shame or empathy.
Emotion Regulation
Unregulated emotions are negative.
Emotion regulation = controlling behavior, emotions, thoughts, actions, attention.
Adjusting emotional state to goals.
Essential for development.
Difficulty linked to aggression or withdrawal.
Improves due to prefrontal cortex and caregiver influence.
Caregiver-child interactions matter.
Healthy interactions teach emotions and strategies.
Caregivers model strategies.
Soothing helps babies stop crying.
Caution About Self-Soothing Behaviors
Self-soothing can help.
Problematic if continued or injurious.
Consult a counselor if concerned.
Emerging Personality
Infant descriptions = temperament and personality.
Children have temperament.
Temperament = stable individual differences.
Temperament reflects reactivity and self-regulation.
Fussy babies aroused quickly, low self-regulation.
Temperament/personality less stable in infancy.
Personality = temperament + experiences + context.
Culture and Temperament
Temperament shaped by social-cultural experience.
Parents model/respond to behaviors based on values.
Asian cultures value low emotionality.
Japanese mothers discourage emotions, North American mothers encourage.
Japanese children less irritable, more self-soothing.
Resolving Psychosocial Crises (Erik Erikson)
Erikson: social experiences, resolving needs in social context.
Conflict between individual and society creates crises.
Infants move to independence.
Trust vs. Mistrust
Early experiences shape expectations.
Developing trust is the challenge.
Trust develops through feeding and response to cries.
Warm contact helps babies trust needs are met.
Responding to crying builds safety expectation.
Inconsistent care = mistrust, withdrawal.
Unresponsive caregivers = anxiety, fear, mistrust.
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt
Erikson's second stage: autonomy.
Muscular maturation for experimentation.
Child explores, establishes independence.
Scaffolding freedom increases success.
Toddlers want independence.
Attachment and Early Social Connection
Infants are socio-emotional beings.
Desire to connect and attach.
Bowlby: ethological theory of attachment.
Infants/caregivers biologically disposed to attach.
Newborns foster interest through crying, clinging, cooing, smiling.
Bowlby: internal working model of attachment.
Mary Ainsworth
Ainsworth: Strange Situation.
Used to investigate attachment patterns.
Categories: secure, anxious-avoidant, anxious-ambivalent.
Fourth pattern: anxious-disorganized/disoriented.
Categories of Attachment
Secure: Uses caregiver as base, explores, returns when scared, reconnects.
Avoidant: Insecure, not distressed during separation, avoidant upon return.
Ambivalent: Anxiety and mixed feelings, distress and anger observed upon separation.
Disorganized/Disoriented: Abuse or neglect, caregiver = comfort and anxiety.
Phases of Attachment
Preattachment (birth to 6 weeks): Signals to bring caregivers into contact, no fear of strangers.
Indiscriminate Attachment (6 weeks to 6-8 months): Respond differently to caregivers vs. strangers, aware of connection between actions and caregiver behavior, develop trust, no protest when separated.
Discriminate Attachment (6-8 months to 18-24 months): Protest caregiver's departure, separation anxiety, employ requests and persuasion.
Formation of Reciprocal Relationship (2 years and on): Predict caregiver return after separation, show less anxiety.
Caregiver Interaction
Secure attachment from caregiver interactions.
Securely attached babies have sensitive, available caregivers.
Cultural Variations
All children need relational network.
Bowlby's universality questioned.
Criticism: fails to consider cultural variations.
Cultural Variations Examples:
Zambia: Siblings play a key role.
Germany: Infants more avoidant.
Saharan communities: Children lack stranger anxiety.
Take Away for Counselors
Attachment impacted by caregiver sensitivity.
Psychosocial crises affected by caregiver responses.
Caregivers need skills to support development.
Targets for Psychoeducation
Emotion Regulation: Emotionally available caregivers are sensitive, structuring, non-intrusive, and non-hostile.
Facilitating Healthy Attachments: Securely attached babies have sensitive and consistently available caregivers.
Working with Temperaments: Caregivers of difficult children can decrease emotional reactivity and increase emotion regulation by setting limits and teaching alternative ways of expressing displeasure.
Keystones
Emotions are for rapid information processing.
Babies respond with arousal and valence.
Infants express differentiated emotions by