journal

Summary Emotional Development Infancy and Toddlerhood

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Erik Erikson believed that emotions play a powerful role in organizing the

developments that he regarded as so important to the development of

relationships with parents and caregivers, exploration of the environment,

and discovery of self. Eriksons Psychosocial Stages of Development present

a series of stages that a person moves through during their lifespan.

Erik Erikson’s view – First Stage during Infancy

Basic conflict during infancy is basic trust versus mistrust

Dilemma or conflict is resolved positively if caregiving is sympathetic and

loving. When parents and caregivers meet the needs of the infant, the infant

begins to trust that the world is a safe place to be. If caregivers do not meet

the needs of the child then mistrust develops.

Erikson’s view – Second Stage during the Toddler years

Basic conflict in toddlerhood is autonomy versus shame and doubt

The conflict at this stage is resolved positively if parents provide suitable

guidance and appropriate choices. When parents monitor the child and look

for signs of readiness they can provide age related guidance regarding

making choices – for example, what to do, what to eat and maybe what to

wear for the day.

Development of Basic Emotions

Happiness

Happiness binds parent and infant in a close relationship and fosters the

infant’s developing competence. The social smile develops between 6 and

10 weeks and is evoked by the stimulus of the human face. Laughter first

appears around 3 to 4 months in response to active stimuli such as a funny

facial expression or a funny sound that the parent or caregiver might make

with lips. Laughter also provides an emotional connection between infant

and parents.

Anger and Sadness

From 4 to 6 months into the second year, angry expressions increase in

frequency and in intensity. Cognitive and motor development both

contribute to the increase in angry reactions with age. When an infant is

exploring his or her environment and the exploration process is blocked in

someway infants may demonstrate their displeasure and frustration– they get

angry.

Expressions of sadness are usually less frequent than anger. Sadness is

especially common when the parent–infant interaction is seriously disrupted

such as when one or both caregivers need to be away from the child for a

period of time – hospital visit, family emergency, work related trip, etc.

Basic Emotions

Basic emotions, such as happiness, interest, surprise, fear, anger, sadness,

and disgust, are directly inferred from facial expressions. Because infants do

not communicate verbally we infer as to their emotional state using facial

expression, bodily movements, and vocal cries are cues. These displays are

universal.

Over time these cues become organized signals and indicate an emotional

experience. By 6 mos. face, voice, and posture form patterns related to

social events. Parent “evokes” a response from the child in interaction

(social contingency lab), and vice versa. When the parent and child bond are

interrupted for any reason the child will change emotional cues indicating

that there is a change in their emotional state.

We can see this change in sending cues during an interaction when we look

at a social contingency lab experiments.

Social Contingency Lab Application: maternal depression

Watch the reaction of the infant when trying to engage mom in

interaction. In slide A the child invites mom to interact but when

moms facial expressions do not change the infant does not seem to

understand what is happening to their interaction. You can see in slide

B that the infant seems to be confused by mom’s lack of affective

response. By slide C the infant seems to be feeling uncomfortable with

the lack of interaction and by slide D the infant is look for a way to

escape. The infant no longer makes eye contact with mom and seems

to be trying to ignore the situation he or she is in. If this type of non

interaction continues with mom because maybe mom is depressed or

preoccupied, then the child will stop inviting an interaction and the

attachment process may become stunted.

Fear

Like anger, fear rises during the second half of the first year. The most

frequent expression of fear is to unfamiliar adults, a response called

stranger anxiety. Stranger anxiety depends on several factors:

temperament, past experiences with strangers, and the situation in which

baby and stranger meet. Some researchers believe that the rise in fear after 6

months of age helps protect newly crawling and walking babies by keeping

them close to caregivers and careful about approaching unfamiliar people

and objects. Cultural experiences can modify stranger anxiety through

infant-rearing practices. If other family members or members of the

neighborhood and community are involved in child care, then the level of

stranger anxiety will decrease as the infant develops a network of people to

interact with.

Understanding Others Emotional Stage

Infancy and Toddlerhood

Between 7 and 10 months, infants perceive facial expressions as organized

patterns, and they can match the emotional tone of a voice with the

appropriate face of a speaking person.

Social referencing occurs when an infant relies on a trusted

person’s emotional reaction to decide how to respond in an uncertain situation. When an infant is not sure how to respond in

an unfamiliar situation, social referencing provides information

regarding how to respond to the situation. Social referencing provides infants with a method of learning about the environment

through indirect experience. By toddlerhood, children use

emotional signals to infer others’ internal states and guide their own actions

The Structure of Temperament

Thomas and Chess researched different temperaments of infants and present

three types of children. They described the majority their research sample as

follows:

• Easy children (40 percent of sample) quickly establish regular

routines, are cheerful, and adapt easily to new experiences.

• Difficult children (10 percent of sample) are irregular in daily

routines, slow to accept new experiences, and tend to react

negatively and intensely.

• Slow-to-warm-up children (15 percent of sample) are inactive, have

mild, low-key reactions to stimuli, and adjust slowly to new

experiences.

According to Thomas and Chess

35 percent of children did not fit any of these categories, demonstrating

blends of characteristics instead.

It is important to note that the difficult temperamental type places children

at risk for adjustment problems. Difficult infants are less likely than easy

babies to receive sensitive care because they evoke parental anxiety and

anger with their difficult temperament.

Temperament and Child Rearing: The Goodness-of-Fit Model

The goodness-of-fit model explains how temperament and environmental

pressures work together to produce favorable outcomes. Goodness-of-fit is

an effective match between child-rearing environments and a child’s

temperament, leading to healthy adjustment.

Caregiving is not just responsive to the child’s temperament; it also depends

on life conditions and cultural values. Fathers can care for children and

build a strong bond. Fathers can provide the type of environment that a

child needs to grow and develop well. Both Mothers and Fathers and

caregivers need to consider their values regarding raising children and

incorporate their beliefs and values into the Goodness of Fit Model of

childrearing.