© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Children Socioemotional Development in Infancy 7

© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Children

Socioemotional

Development in Infancy

7


Images of Children

• The story of Darius’s fathering– Work-at-home father– Extensive father-child interactions– Introduction of child care center– Coordinated careers and child care


Emotional Development

• Emotion: feeling or affect of importance– Complex and varies in intensity– Positive and negative; affects behaviors– Biological influences– Influenced by experiences and culture– Influenced by one’s perceptions

Development of Emotions and Personality in Infancy


Early Emotions

• Primary: present in humans, animals– Appear in first 6 months of life; surprise, anger,

joy, sadness, fear

• Self-conscious emotions– Appear after age 18 months; embarrassment,

jealousy, empathy, pride, share, guilt– Responses to reactions of others– Research controversy on jealousy in infants


Meegan Thompson

"share" OK?


Emotional Expression and Social Relationships

• Two emotional expressions in infant communication– Crying

• Basic: rhythmic, incited by hunger• Angry: excess air in vocal cords• Pain: louder, high pitched, sudden, longer

– Smiling• Reflexive: natural, occurs 1 month after birth• Social: response to external stimuli



Fear

• Earliest emotion; appears about 6 months– Abused, neglected infants show it much earlier– Stranger anxiety: fear, wariness of strangers

• Intense from 9 to 12 months• Not shown by all; intensity affected by social

context and stranger behavior/traits– Separation protest: distress at being separated

• peaks between 13 and 18 months



Separation Anxiety in Four Cultures

Antiguan Guatemala

Guatemalan IndianIsraeli Kibbutzim

African Bushman

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Emotional Regulation and Coping

• During first year:– Gradual control of arousal to adapt, reach goal– Self-soothing in early infancy– Redirected attention, self-distraction later in

infancy– Language defines emotions by age 2

• Contexts affect emotional regulation– Caregiver responses matter, infant adapts



Temperament

• Chess & Thomas: 3 basic types (clusters)– Easy child: positive mood, easily adapts– Difficult child: resists change, shows irregular

behaviors, reacts negatively (cries)– Slow-to-warm child: low mood intensity, low

activity level, somewhat negative– One-third of children don’t fit into these types– Temperament: moderately stable in childhood



Temperament

• Kegan’s behavioral inhibition– Extroverted, bold child– Shy, subdued, timid child

• Inhibited to unfamiliar; shows anxiety, distress at about 7 to 9 months of age

• Inhibition intensity varies– Considerable consistency into early childhood



Temperament

• Rothbart and Bates’ Classification– Extraversion/surgency: positive, impulsive– Negative affectivity: easily distressed

• Kegan’s inhibited child fits here– Effortful control: self-regulating, control varies

• Overall, don’t pigeon-hole children– Multiple dimensions of temperament exist– Context and experiences have impact



Biological Foundations and Experience

• Biological influences: – Physiological characteristics associated with

different temperaments

• Gender, culture, and temperament• Goodness of Fit and Parenting

– Goodness of fit: match between child’s temperament and environmental demands

– Siblings differ in response to same parenting



Parenting and Child’s Temperament

• Attention to and respect for individuality• Structuring the child’s environment• The “difficult child” and packaged

parenting programs– Flexible caregiver responses– Avoid “labeling” and self-fulfilling prophecy



Personality Development

• Personality: enduring characteristics of emotions and temperament

• Erikson’s trust-versus-mistrust:– Infants experience world as either positive or

negative outcomes; continuity not guaranteed

• Sense of self: – real or imagined; motivating force in life– Self-recognition: about 18 months of age



Personality Development

• The Developing Sense of Self– Separation and individualization process

• Independence– Erikson’s 2nd stage: Autonomy versus shame

and doubt

– Self-determination and pride or overcontrol creates shame and doubt



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Amsterdam study

Lewis and Brooks-Gunn study

Development of Self-Recognition in Infancy


Social Orientation/Understanding

• Infants motivated to understand the world– Social orientation: perceptions, interpretations

• Face-to-face play; still-face paradigm• Different responses to humans and objects;

stronger, positive responses to humans – Locomotion (crawl, walk, run) independence;

lessens social interactions– Context and caregiver have effects

Social Orientation/Understanding and Attachment in Infancy


Intention, Goal-directed behavior, and Cooperation

• Important to cognitive development– Joint attention and gaze: help understand

others’ intentions• Occurs between 7 to 11 months, intensifies• Cooperation; connect self-intentions and

those of others (link to social competence)– Social referencing:

• Ability to ‘read’ emotional cues of others• Affects infants’ perceptions of others


Attachment and Its Development

• Attachment; close emotional bond– Freud:

• Attachment to source of oral satisfaction• Disproved by Harlow’s research: physical

comfort preferred for security– Erikson:

• First year is key for attachment, physical comfort plays role here



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Hours per day spent with wire mother

Hours per day spent with cloth mother

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Harlow’s Results: Contact time with

wire and cloth surrogate mothers


Attachment and Its Development

• Bowlby: ethological view - attachment is innate predisposition– Attachment: 4 phases of social cognition

• Phase 1; birth to 2 mos. – draws to humans• Phase 2: 2 to 7 mos. – focus on one person• Phase 3: 7 to 24 mos. – actively seek regular

contact with caregivers• Phase 4: after 2 yrs. – aware of others’ goals,

feelings, actions



Individual Differences in Attachment

• Ainsworth’s Strange Situation– Measures attachment by observation– Infant experiences series of contexts– 3 reactions to new situation

• Secure: positive, confident exploration• Insecure-avoidant; little interaction with

caregiver, no distress • Insecure-resistant: clings to caregiver• Insecure disorganized: disoriented, dazed



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Cross-Cultural Comparison of Attachment:

Ainsworth’s strange situation applied to infants in three countries

in 1988


Differences in Attachment

• Criticisms – Measures may be culturally-biased– Lab experiments may not reflect real life– Early attachment is significant

• Secure linked to high self-esteem, social competence, self-confidence to adolescence

• Less continuity for other children– Infants: resilient and adaptive in life– Attachment theory ignores diversity



The Family

• Complex, constellation of subsystems– Reciprocal influences on each other

• The Transition to Parenthood– New parents must adapt: time, finances, roles– Marital satisfaction decreases after birth– Parental cooperation has effect

Social Contexts’ Affect On Socieoemotional Development in Infancy


The Family

• Reciprocal Socialization is bidirectional– Scaffolding: positive parental behavior

supports children’s efforts– Children’s skills increase– Support modified to suit children’s level of

development– Mothers and fathers both competent

caregivers, but behave differently– Fathers: more physical in play interactions



Child Care

• Child Care Policies Around the World– Five types of parental leave

• Maternity leave• Paternity leave• Parental leave• Child-rearing leave• Family leave

• Europe: leader of new ‘leave’ standards– Average of 16 weeks, 70% of wages paid



Child Care

• Variations in child care– Type varies greatly:

• Large centers/elaborate facilities, homes• Commercial; nonprofit, churches, employers• Professionals • Mothers earning additional monies• Quality matters

– Low-income children: academic benefits– High quality linked to environment



Child Care

• Patterns of use– High reliance and early entry

• By 4 months, nearly 3/4 of infants have had some non-maternal child care

– Socioeconomic factors affect amount and type • Income level, education, marital status• Dependence on mother’s income

– Quality affected by group size, caregiver-child ratio, caregiver (behavior, education, skills)



Child Care

• Amount of child care– High-quality care and fewer hours in care lead

to positive outcomes

• Family and parenting influences– Influence not weakened by extensive child

care; parents have significant influence in children regulating emotions



The End

7

Documents

© 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Children Socioemotional Development in Infancy 7