Essay

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Chapter Five

Entering the Social World: Socioemotional Development in

Infancy and Early Childhood

Erikson’s Stages of Early Psychosocial Development

⊗ Basic trust vs. mistrust

⊗ Autonomy vs. shame and doubt

⊗ Initiative vs. guilt

Attachment

⊗ Evolutionary psychology perspective ⊗ Attachment figure = “secure base”

⊚ Infant behavior motivated by need to feel safe and need to explore

⊗ Internal Working Model ⊚ Secure vs. Insecure

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Steps Toward Attachment

⊗ Bowlby proposed four stages of attachment ⊚ Preattachment stage (birth to 6-8 weeks) ⊚ Attachment in the making (6-8 weeks to 6-

8 months) ⊚ True attachment (6-8 months to 18

months) ⊚ Reciprocal relationships (18 months on)

Forms of Attachment ⊗ Ainsworth’s Strange Situation paradigm

⊚ Observe child’s reactions to a newcomer ⊚ Classified four types of attachment

⊙ Three insecure types; one secure

Four Types of Attachment

Relationships

⊗ Secure attachment (60-65%): baby may or may not cry upon separation; wants to be with mom upon her return

and stops crying

⊗ Avoidant attachment (20%): baby not upset by separation; ignores or looks away when mom returns

⊗ Resistant attachment (10-15%): separation upsets baby; remains upset after mom’s return and is difficult to

console

⊗ Disorganized attachment (5-10%): separation and return confuse the baby; reacts in contradictory ways (e.g.,

seeking proximity to the returned mom, but not looking at

her)

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Father-Infant Relationships

⊗ Attachment to fathers tends to follow that with mothers

⊗ Fathers tend to spend more time playing with children than taking care of them

⊗ Fathers play with children differently than mothers (more rough and tumble) ⊚ Mothers more often read to children and

talk with them ⊗ Children tend to seek out the father for a

playmate; mothers are preferred for comfort

Consequences of Attachment

⊗ Feelings of security lay foundation for psychological development ⊚ Future social relationships ⊚ Memory ⊚ Perception of others ⊚ Ability to process painful information

What Determines Quality of Attachment?

⊗ Quality of Caregiving ⊗ Infant Characteristics ⊗ Parents’ internal working models

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Emerging Emotions

Types of Emotions

⊗ Basic Emotions ⊚ Happiness

⊙ Social smile (6-10 weeks)

⊚ Anger ⊚ Sadness ⊚ Fear

⊙ Stranger Anxiety (~6

months)

⊗ Complex Emotions ⊚ Examples: Guilt,

Embarrassment,

Pride

⊚ Child must understand self

⊚ 18-24 months

Recognizing Emotions

⊗ 4-6 months: differentiate among faces expressing happiness, sadness, and fear ⊚ Engage in social referencing ⊚ 14-month-olds remember earlier observed

emotional reactions of parents to particular objects

⊚ 18-month-olds use the reactions of one adult to another adult’s behavior to guide their own behavior

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Fostering Emotional Understanding ⊗ Factors contributing to children’s understanding of

emotion ⊚ Parents and children frequently discussing past

emotions (especially negative ones, such as fear and anger)

⊚ Parents explaining how feelings differ and feelings’ situational elicitors

⊚ Positive and rewarding relationship with parents and siblings

Regulating Emotions

⊗ Emotion regulation: controlling what one feels and how to communicate feeling ⊚ Dependent on cognitive processes

⊙ Attention and reappraisal ⊗ 4-6 months: use simple strategies to regulate

emotions (e.g., turning away from a scary image)

⊗ 24 months: because of an adult’s attention and help, express sadness rather than fear or anger

Interacting with Others

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The Joys of Play ⊗ Even two 6-month-olds look, smile, and point at each

other ⊗ 12 months: parallel play, in which children play alone but

are keenly interested in what others are doing ⊗ 15-18 months: simple social play, in which children do

similar activities and talk or smile at each other ⊗ 24 months: cooperative play, theme-based play where

children take special roles

Make-Believe ⊗ Values and traditions are expressed through make-believe

or imaginary characters ⊗ Helps children explore frightening topics ⊗ Imaginary playmates promote imagination, sociability, and

adjustment ⊗ Pretend play is a regular part of preschooler’s play

⊚ 16-18 months understand difference between pretending vs. reality

Gender Differences

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Images of Men & Women: Facts & Fantasy

⊗ Social role: cultural guidelines as to how we should behave, especially with others ⊚ Gender roles are one of the first learned

⊗ Learning gender stereotypes ⊚ Our world is not gender neutral ⊚ 18 months: girls and boys look longer at

gender-stereotyped pictures of toys ⊚ 4-year-olds: extensive knowledge of

gender-stereotyped activities and some behaviors or traits

Gender-Related Differences

⊗ How do boys and girls actually differ? ⊚ Verbal ability ⊚ Mathematics ⊚ Spatial ability ⊚ Memory ⊚ Social influence ⊚ Aggression ⊚ Emotional sensitivity ⊚ Effortful control

Gender Typing

⊗ Parents are equally warm and encouraging to boys and girls

⊗ Parents model and differentially reinforce appropriate gender-typed behaviors

⊗ Results support social learning theory ⊗ Gender Schema Theory ⊗ Mothers rarely contradict or question

children’s gender-stereotyped statements ⊗ Peer influence