PSY 230 Main Page

Chapter 7:

Socioemotional Development in Infancy 

Emotional and Personality Development 

•         Emotions: feelings occurring when in a state or interaction with something that is important to the person; stronger if well-being is involved

•         Emotions vary in intensity from subtle to dramatic

•         Darwin: human facial expressions are innate  

•         Emotions linked to early development of

–        Nervous system

–        Limbic system

–        Brain stem  

•         Neurobiological systems can exert more control over limbic system as child’s self-control develops 

•         Caregivers influence infant’s neurological development and regulation of emotions

–        Emotions are first form of communication

–        Infants react to others’ facial expressions, tone  of voice, emotions

–        First form of attachment is emotion-linked

–        Two broad types of emotions develop:

•         Primary: appear in first 6 months of life

•         Self-conscious: appear from about
age 1.5 years to about 2.5 years 

The First Appearance of Different Emotions 

 •         Most important ways of communicating in the youngest infants are crying and smiling 

•         Stranger anxiety involving fear

–        First appears about 6 months of age

–        Intensifies about 9 months of age, escalating past the 1st birthday 

–        Intensity of anxiety depends on

•         Proximity of mother

•         Where stranger meeting occurs

•         Stranger’s behavior 

•         Separation anxiety: distress shown when caregiver leaves; peaks at about 15 months of age  

•         Social referencing: “reading” emotional cues from others before acting in a situation; improves as infants age 

•         During 1st year of life, infant begins to develop ability to control intensity and duration of emotional reactions

–        Thumb sucking and soothing by caregiver replaced in 2nd year by language as emotional release 

•         Varying behaviors and moods among infants are usually due to differences in temperament 

•         Types of temperament

–        Chess and Thomas found 3 basic types: easy, difficult, and slow-to-warm child

–        Researchers have found that the 3 types (clusters) are moderately stable across the childhood years 

•         Kagan’s behavioral inhibition classifies child as shy, subdued, timid, and sociable–extraverted 

•         Temperament types of Rothbart and Bates:

–        Positive affect: Kagan’s uninhibited fit here

–        Negative affectivity: Kagan’s inhibited fit here

–        Effortful control: self-regulation as children with

•         High control have successful coping strategies

•         Low control are disruptive, intensely emotional 

•         Kagan: child inherits a physiology that biases them to be naturally fearful and inhibited 

•         Temperament may be influenced by

–        Parents who react differently to a boy or girl,  based on culture

–        Environment  and “goodness of fit”

–        Genetics, as shown by differences observed among very young children; even those in the same family 

•         Labeling a child can become a self-fulfilling prophecy 

•         Three characteristics central to personality development:

–        Trust: Erikson believed a child learns to trust or mistrust in the 1st year of life in a way that affects later developmental stages 

–        Development of self through environmental experiences and ability to see self as others see it  

–        Independence, as child explores new situations and environments, take risks, and learns muscle control 

Attachment 

•         Attachment: close emotional bond 

•         Theories of attachment:

–        Freud: infants attached by oral satisfaction

–        Harlow: comfort preferred over food

–        Erikson: trust arises from physical comfort

–        Bowlby: newborn is biologically equipped to elicit attachment behavior from caregiver 

•         Strange Situation tests strength of infant attachment

–        Securely attached: explores environment, displays little emotion when caregiver leaves

–        Insecure avoidant: avoids caregiver but shows distress/crying when caregiver leaves

–        Insecure resistant: clings to caregiver and protests loudly and actively if caregiver leaves

–        Insecure disorganized: disorientation; extreme fearfulness may be shown even with caregiver 

•         Ainsworth’s research criticized as lab experiments not real-life 

•         Attachment between infant and caregiver:

–        In 1st year of life, is foundation for later psychological development

–        Helps child to survive while incapable of self-care

–        Is not the only path to success, because children are resilient and adaptive

–        Is affected by genetics and temperament

–        Varies among different cultures of the world

–        Should be secure, if child is to develop fully 

Social Contexts 

•         Social contexts in which infant emotional and personality development occur: 

–        Family:

•         Adjustment of parents during infant’s 1st years

•         Infant care competes with parents’ other interests

•         Marital satisfaction and relationship may change

•         Reciprocal socialization:  2-way interaction process

•         Scaffolding: parent supports child’s efforts

•         Family is a unit with assigned roles, shared attachments, containing subsystems of relationships 

•         Fathers can be as competent as mothers in caregiving

•         Maternal interactions center on child-care activities

•         Paternal interactions tend to be play-centered

•         In stressful situations, infants tend to prefer comfort from mother over that from father

•         One study explored effects of parental roles in Sweden:

–        Father was primary caregiver

–        Mother was full-time wage earner

•         Does biology or socialization shape caregiving? 

•         Children in child care:

–        More in child care now than ever before

–        Parents worry about effects on the child

–        Parental leave policies enacted over a century ago but vary across cultures where they exist

–        There is increasing interest in child-care roles among ethnic minority families

–        Questions about quality of child care: high quality, subsidized centers, licensed/unlicensed

–        SES linked to amount and type of child care  

•         Quality of child care affected by: 

–        Group size, child–adult ratio, physical environment, caregiver characteristics

–        High-quality care results in child having better language and cognitive skills, being more cooperative and positive in interactions 

•         Quantity of child care affected by:

–        More time in child care during first 3 years of life led to fewer positive interactions with mother

–        The more time spent in childcare, the higher the rates of illness