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CHAPTER 4 THE FIRST TWO YEARS:

PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Emotional Development

Infants’ Emotions

Toddlers’ Emotions

Self-Awareness

A Case of Abnormal Emotional Development

Theories of Infant Psychosocial Development

Psychoanalytic Theory

A VIEW FROM SCIENCE: Toilet Training:

How and When?

Behaviorism

Cognitive Theory

Systems Theory

The Development of Social Bonds

Goodness of Fit

Synchrony

Attachment

Social Referencing

Infant Day Care

Conclusions in Theory and in Practice

THE FIRST TWO YEARS

Psychosocial

Development

Emotional Development

Two emotions, contentment and distress, appear as soon as

an infant is born. Anger emerges with restriction and frustration,

between 4 and 8 months of age, and becomes stronger by age 1.

 Fear of something specific, including fear of strangers and fear

of separation, appears toward the end of the first year.

In the second year, social awareness produces more selective fear,

anger, and joy. As infants become increasingly self-aware at about

18 months, emotions—specifically, pride, shame, and affection—

emerge that encourage an interface between the self and others.

Synesthesia (the tendency of one part of the brain to stimulate

another) is apparent early in life. Self-recognition (in the mirror/

rouge test) emerges at about 18 months.

Stress impedes early brain and emotional development. The

specifics about which infants suffer damage, and in what ways, are

not yet known.

Theories of Infant Psychosocial Development

Freud hypothesized about the mother’s impact on oral and

anal pleasure; Erikson emphasized trust and autonomy.

 Behaviorists focus on learning: Parents teach their babies

many things, including when to be fearful or joyful. Cognitive

theory holds that infants develop working models based on their

experiences.

 Systems theory explores the interactions among biology,

child-rearing practices, and culture over time. Temperament and

personality show the effects of such interactions.

 Ethnotheories shape infant emotions and traits so that they fit

well within the culture. Some cultures encourage proximal parenting

(more physical touch); others promote distal parenting

(more talk and object play).

The Development of Social Bonds

Parental practices guide a child’s emotions, either inhibiting

or reinforcing them. Ideally, a good fit develops between the parents’

actions and the child’s personality.

 Sometimes by 2 months, and clearly by 6 months, infants

become more responsive and social. Synchrony begins, with

moment-by-moment interaction between caregiver and infant.

 Attachment, measured by the baby’s reaction to the caregiver’s

presence, departure, and return in the Strange Situation,

is crucial. Some infants seem indifferent (type A—insecure avoidant)

or overly dependent (type C—insecure-resistant/

ambivalent) instead of secure (type B). Disorganized attachment

(type D) is the most worrisome form.

As they play, toddlers engage in social referencing, looking to

other people’s facial expressions to detect what is frightening and

what is enjoyable. Fathers are wonderful playmates for infants,

often serving as social references in infants’ learning about emotions

and exploration.

 The impact of nonmaternal care depends on many factors.

Psychosocial characteristics, including secure attachment, are

influenced more by the mother’s warmth than by the number of

hours spent in nonmaternal care. Quality of care is crucial, no

matter who provides that care.

Key Points

Newborns express distress and contentment, and soon infants also display

curiosity and joy, with social smiles and laughter.

• Expressions of anger and fear become increasingly evident as babies reach

12 months of age.

• In toddlerhood, self-awareness underlies the expression of pride, shame,

embarrassment, and guilt.

• Brain maturation makes all these emotions possible. Extreme stress impairs the

brain and emotional growth.

Psychoanalytic theory stresses the mother’s responses to the infant’s needs

for food and elimination (Freud, who described the oral and anal stages) or for

security and independence (Erikson, who identified trust versus mistrust and

autonomy versus shame and doubt as the first two crises of life).

• Behaviorism also stresses caregiving—especially as parents reinforce and

model behavior.

• Cognitive theory emphasizes mental frameworks that affect emotions and

actions, both the working models held by individuals and the ethnotheories

developed by societies.

• Systems theory emphasizes the interactions of genes, child-rearing practices,

and culture, as in the development of temperamental traits and in the proximal

or distal approach to parenting.

Humans are social creatures and need each other; this is true for infants as well

as for parents. Synchrony begins in the early months, as infants and caregivers

interact face-to-face.

• Attachment is an emotional bond between people. Secure attachment allows

learning to progress more smoothly and efficiently; insecurely attached infants

are less confident and may develop emotional impairments.

• Social referencing teaches infants whether new things are fearsome or fun.

• The quality of infant care may be pivotal for development, whether it comes

from mothers, fathers, other relatives, or professional providers. No single type

of day care has proven to be best.