CHAPTER 7 Infancy: Social and Emotional Development.

CHAPTER 7

Infancy: Social and Emotional Development

Learning Outcomes

LO1 Describe the development of attachment in infants.

LO2 Discuss social deprivation, neglect, and other factors that influence attachment.

LO3 Discuss the effects of day care on attachment.

LO4 Examine the emotional development of infants.

LO5 Examine the personality of infants.

© John Curtis/Photolibrary

TRUTH OR FICTION?

• T-F Autistic children may respond to people as though they were pieces of

furniture.• T-F Children placed in daycare are more

aggressive than children who are cared for in the home.

• T-F Fear of strangers is abnormal among infants.

• T-F All children are “born” with the same temperament. Treatment by caregivers determines whether they are difficult or easygoing.

• T-F Girls prefer dolls and toy animals, and boys prefer toy trucks and sports equipment only after they have become aware of the gender roles assigned to them by society. © iStockphoto.com

LO1 Attachment: Bonds That Endure


Attachment: Bonds That Endure

• Attachment defined:– An enduring emotional bond between one animal or

person and another (Ainsworth)– Attachment is essential to survival of the infant (Bowlby).– Most people refer to it as “affection or love”

• Patterns of Attachment– Separation Anxiety

• Infants try to maintain contact with caregivers they are attached to by:

– Engaging in eye contact; pulling and tugging at them; asking to be picked up, etc.

• Separation results in:– Thrashing, fussing, crying, screech, whining, etc.


• Patterns of Attachment, con’t.– Secure Attachment

• Most infants in U.S. are securely attached.• The Strange-Situation Method is a way to measure an

infant’s attachment by being exposed to a series of separations and reunions with the caregiver (usually mother) and a stranger (confederate of researchers).

• Secure Infants will:– Mildly protest when mother leaves– Seek interaction with her upon reunion– And are easily comforted

• Secure Infants and Toddlers are:– Happier, more social, more cooperative– By age 5-6, get along better with peers and are better

adjusted in school than insecure children

Figure 7.1 – The Strange Situation


• Patterns of Attachment, con’t.– Two major types of Insecurity:

• Avoidant Attachment– Least distressed by mother leaving; continue to play without

fussing; ignore mother when she returns• Ambivalent/Resistant Attachment

– Most emotional at separation– Show severe signs of distress when mother leaves – Ambivalence at her return; alternately clinging and pushing

her away

– Additional category • Disorganized-Disoriented Attachment

– Show contradictory behaviors; seem dazed, confused, disoriented

– Results of insecure attachment• Insecure attachment at age 1 predicts psychological disorders at

age 17

Establishing Attachment• Attachment is related to quality of care.

– Parents of secure infants • Are more affectionate, cooperative, and predictable • Respond with more sensitivity to infant’s needs

– Intergenerational transmission of attachment shows• If mother was a secure infant, the more likely her children

will be also.• Siblings of same sex are more likely to form similar

attachments to mother.• Security patterns are related to infant temperaments.

– Mothers of “difficult” children are less responsive and security patterns of child may be affected.

– Involvement of Fathers• Fathers in developed nations are becoming more involved

in child care but mothers still engage in more • Fathers engage in more “play” activity than “care” activity• Father’s play is more physical; mother’s play is toward

more cognitive activity, like games

Stages of Attachment• Indiscriminate Attachment

– No particular preferences for a familiar caregiver– Most infants have multiple attachments

• Three Phases of Attachment– Initial-preattachment

• B-3 months: indiscriminate attachment – Attachment-in-the-making

• 3-4 months: a preference for familiar caregiver emerges– Clear-cut-attachment

• 6-7 months: intensified dependence on primary caregiver, usually mother

Figure 7.2 – Development of Attachment

Theories of Attachment

• Cognitive View• Behavioral View• Psychoanalytic Views• Caregiver as a Source of Contact Comfort• Ethological View

Theories of Attachment

• Cognitive View– Suggests infant must develop concept of object

permanence before specific attachment is possible• Infants tend to develop specific attachments at about 6-7

months.• Basic object permanence develops somewhat earlier (2-6

months).

• Behavioral View– Attachment behaviors are due to conditioning.

• Caregivers attend to infant’s needs.• Infant associates caregiver with gratification of needs.• Caregiver then is a conditioned reinforcer.

Theories of Attachment• Psychoanalytic Views

– The caregiver (usually mother) becomes a love object that forms the basis for all later attachments.

• Freud– Infant becomes emotionally attached to mother during the

oral stage since she is the primary source of food and sucking.

• Erickson– First year is critical for developing sense of trust in mother,

thus fostering attachment.– Mother’s general sensitivity, not just meeting oral needs,

fosters attachment.

• Caregiver as a Source of Contact Comfort– Harlow experiments (Harlow & Harlow 1966)

• Conducted classic experiments with baby monkeys• Demonstrated feeding was not critical to attachment• If generalized to humans, the need for contact comfort is

as basic as need for food.

Figure 7.3 – Contact Comfort

Theories of Attachment• Ethological View

– Attachment is instinctive.• In some nonhuman animal species, attachment occurs

during a critical period, also known as imprinting. – i.e, waterfowl become attached to the first moving object

they encounter after hatching• Similarity: In humans by 2-3 months of age

– Infants begin to elicit social smiles. – Helping to ensure survival by garnering affection of caregiver

• Differences:– Caregiving in humans is largely

learned and not innate.– If a critical period of attachment

in humans exists, it would extend to months and years.

LO2 When Attachment Fails


When Attachment Fails

• Social Deprivation– Experiments with Monkeys

• Total solitary confinement in first 6 months caused:– Cowering; rocking behaviors; lack of self-dense when

threatened– Females that later bore offspring ignored or abused

them– However, if placed with younger they eventually

began to play and even expanded social contacts to older peers


• Social Deprivation– Studies with Children

• Even if material needs are met, but no social stimulation is experienced, children exhibit problems in all areas of development.

• Children isolated in institutions receiving no contact except to feed and change diapers (bottles propped in cribs) display

similar effects that monkeys experience.

– None were speaking by 12 months of age.

• Deficiencies in sensory stimulation and social interactions once children are of the age to develop specific attachments leads to attachment disorders.

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• Social Deprivation, con’t.– The Capacity to Recover

• Infants have powerful capacities to recover from deprivation.

• If placed in socially enriched environments, most will attain their physical equivalencies.

• There is also evidence that points to their ability to recover from social deprivation if given social care and opportunities.

Child Abuse and Neglect

• Statistics– 3 million American children are neglected or abused

ever year. • 50-60% of cases go unreported (incidence is actually

higher).

– By age of 2 years:• 90% of parents have engaged in sort of psychological or

emotional abuse• 55% have slapped or spanked child• 31% have pushed, grabbed, or shoved

– 150,000 of the 3 million reported cases involved sexual abuse

• 25% girls; 18% boys


• Effects– Abused children show higher incidence of person,

social, and psychological disorders• Less attached to parents• Less intimate with peers• More aggressive, angry, and noncompliant• Have lower self-esteem• Perform poorly in school• Have higher risk for delinquency, risky sexual behaviors,

and substance abuse• In adulthood are more likely to act aggressively toward

partners


• Causes– Contributing factors include:

• Stress– Divorce; job loss; moving; birth of new baby – A baby that is difficult to soothe and cries excessively

• Family History – At lease on parent’s family of origin lacked adequate

coping skills• Inadequate Coping and Child-Rearing Skills• Unrealistic Expectations of Child

– Children who are disobedient, inappropriate, or unresponsive are at greater risk.

• Substance Abuse


• What to do– Mandatory Reporting

• Many states require helping professionals to report any

suspicion of child abuse.• Some states require anyone

to report. – Techniques for Prevention

• Strengthening parenting skills among the general population

• Targeting high risk groups– Poor, single, teen mothers

• Presenting information about abuse and providing support to families

– Providing hot-lines to call for help

© Jeff Hutchens/Getty Images

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)

• These disorders are characterized by impairment in communication skills, social interaction, and repetitive, stereotyped behaviors.

• They tend to become evident by age 3 and sometimes before first year.

• Recent CDC study identified 1 in every 152 children as having an ASD.

• Types of ASD:– Asperger’s Disorder– Rett’s Disorder– Childhood Disintegrative Disorder– Autism

Figure 7.1 – Characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs)

Source: Adapted from Strock (2004).


• Types of ASD– Asperger’s Disorder

• Displays social deficits and stereotypical behaviors but without significant cognitive or language delays

– Rett’s Disorder• Displays range of physical, behavioral, motor, and

cognitive abnormalities that begin a few months after normal development

– Childhood Disintegrative Disorder• Displays abnormal functioning and loss of previously

acquired skills; onset about 2 years after normal development


• Types of ASD, con’t.– Autism: major form of ASD; 4-5 times more

common in boys– Symptoms:

• No interest in social interaction; avoid eye contact• Weak or absent attachment to others

– Shun affection, such as hugging, cuddling, and kissing• Communication problems

– Speech lags: may show mutism (refusal to speak), echolalia (word repetitions), and pronoun reversal (referring to self as “you, etc.”

– About half use language by mid-childhood but not well• Intolerance of change; ritualistic/stereotypical behaviors

– “Preservation of Sameness”• Deficits: In peer play, imaginative play, imitation,

emotional expressiveness– Self mutilation, head banging, face slapping, biting, pulling

out hair


• Causes– Parental Care

• Research shows NO CORRELATION between development of Autism and deficiencies in child rearing.

– Genetic• Kinship studies show

– Concordance (agreement) rates in MZ (identical) twins at 60%; DZ (fraternal) twins at 10%

– Neurological • Abnormal brain wave patterns are evident• Brain has abnormal sensitivity to neurotransmitters

– Serotonin, dopamine, acetylcholine, and norepinephrine

• Unusual activity in motor region of cerebral cortex; less in other areas


• Treatment– Behavior Modifications

• Most current treatments are in this category.• Used to help develop new behaviors using operant

conditioning (introducing reinforcers for desired behaviors).

• Can increase child’s ability to attend to others and play with other children

• Use of electric shock therapy is used in cases of self-mutilation.

– Raises serious moral, ethical, and legal concerns– But advocates argue that self-mutilation places child at

greater risk


• Treatment, con’t.– Biological approaches

• New biological treatments are currently under study.• Drugs that enhance serotonin activity help prevent:

– Self-injury; aggressive outbursts; depression; anxiety; repetitive behaviors

• Drugs used to treat schizophrenia (major tranquilizers) help with:

– Stereotyped behaviors, hyperactivity, and self-injury

– Prognosis• Autistic behavior generally continues into adulthood to

one degree or another.• However, some do overcome it’s limitations and go on to

function independently and even achieve college degrees.

LO3 Day Care


Daycare

• Statistics– 10 million (20%) of American children under age 5 are in

daycare centers. • Pros

– Infants in both home-care and daycare are equally securely attached to caregivers.

– Some studies show daycare leads to higher developmental levels and more peer oriented play.

– Children in high quality daycare are more likely to share toys, are more independent, self-confident, outgoing, affectionate, and are more helpful and cooperative with peers and adults.

– Participation in daycare is also linked to higher academic performance in elementary school.

Daycare, con’t

• Quality of daycare defined by:– “Richness” of learning environment

• Availability of toys, books, etc.• High ratio of caregivers to children• High amount of individual attention

• Cons– Children in daycare may be more aggressive and less

cooperative.• The more time spent away from mothers, the more likely

they are to be rated as defiant, aggressive, and disobedient in kindergarten.

– More likely to interrupt class, tease, and bully when in grade school

• But within “normal” limits• Quality of daycare center made no difference• Persistent through 6th grade

Daycare, con’t

• Conclusions– Although differences in disruptive behavior between

daycare and home-care children are statistically significant (unlikely due to chance), they are small.

– Reality check: millions of parents are in the workforce and have no alternative

• Even choice of where to place child is governed by

financial and geographic circumstances.

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LO4 Emotional Development


Emotional Development

• Emotions Defined:– A state of feeling that includes:

• Physical responses: rapid heart rate; tense muscles• Situational components: pos/neg responses depends on

who is involved and what is happening• Cognitions: our own perspective and ideas

– Unclear how many emotions babies have• They cannot tell us how they are feeling.• We must rely on observation of their behaviors, including

facial expressions.


– Facial expressions• Universally recognized throughout world• Have consistent emotional interpretation

– 2 basic states of infant emotional arousal• Positive attraction

– 2-3 months social smiling is expressed– 3-5 months laughing out loud

• Withdrawal from aversive stimulation– In Sum:

• Infants show only a few emotions during first few months.

• Emotional development is linked to cognitive and social experience.

– No clear agreement of when specific emotions are first present or whether any are present at birth.


• Emotional Development and Patterns of Attachment– Securely attached children express less anger when

experiencing separation anxiety.– Negative emotions in insecurely attached children rise

when separated.– Avoidant children grow fearful. – Resistant children become less happy.

• Fear of Strangers– a.k.a stranger anxiety is normal

• Appears about 6-9 months• Declines about 9-12 months• Child will show less fear if mother is present or in familiar

settings.


• Social Referencing : What Should I Do Now?– Seeking out another person’s perception of a situation to

help us form our own view of it– Infants engage in social referencing as early as 6

months.– Use facial expressions and tone of voice as cues– Requires 3 components:

• Looking at someone else (usually an elder)• Associating the other’s response with the situation• Regulating their own response to match the elder


• Emotional Regulation: Keeping on an Even Keel– Ways in which young children control their own

emotions (learning to self-regulate emotions)– Infants may look away from aversive event or suck their

thumb.• Caregivers help infants learn self-regulation by engaging

in a two-way communication system. • Children of secure mothers are more likely to self-regulate

in a positive manner.• Adolescents who were secure infants are better able to

self-regulate and interact cooperatively in social situations.

LO5 Personality Development


Personality Development

• The Self-Concept• Temperament: Easy, Difficult, or Slow to Warm Up?• Sex Differences

© Alison Williams/Shutterstock


• The Self-Concept– The understanding that we are separate and distinct

from the world outside, or becoming aware of ourselves– Development of the Self-Concept

• Around 18 months will recognize dot of rouge on nose when viewing self in a mirror

• By 2 years most can identify themselves in photos and begin to use “I” or own name

• Self-awareness impacts social and emotional development– Knowledge of self permits and promotes development of

sharing and cooperative behaviors• Self-awareness also facilitates development of “self-

conscious” emotions:– Embarrassment, envy, empathy, pride, guilt, and shame


• The Self-Concept, con’t.– Psychoanalytic Views of Self-Concept

• 5 months - 3 years: self-concept emerges through a process of separation-individuation

– Separation: child’s growing perception that mother is separate from self

– Individuation: child’s increasing sense of independence and autonomy

» Increasing autonomy usually accompanied by refusals to comply with requests of caregivers

» Younger toddlers more likely to ignore or defy.» Older toddlers and preschoolers more likely to make

excuses or negotiate.


• Temperament:– Defined:

• A stable way of reacting and adapting to the world that is present early life

• Many researchers believe it involves a strong genetic component.

• It includes various aspects of behavior:– Activity level: smiling and laughter; regularity in eating and

sleep habits; approach or withdrawal; adaptability to new situations; intensity of responsiveness; general cheerfulness or unpleasantness; distractibility or persistence; soothability


• Temperament: con’t.– Types of Temperament:

• Easy = 40%– Regular sleep and feeding habits; adapts to new people and

situations easily; generally cheerful• Difficult = 10%

– Irregular sleep and feeding habits; slow to accept new people and situations; cries and has temper tantrums

• Slow to Warm up = 15%– Falls somewhere between Easy and Difficult

• Mixture of all types = 35%– Stability of Temperament

• Moderate consistency is observed over life span.• Difficult children at greater risk for developing

psychological disorder later in life.

Table 7.2 – Types of Temperament

Sources: Chess & Thomas (1991) and Thomas & Chess (1989).


• Temperament: con’t.– Goodness of Fit: The Role of the Environment

• Refers to whether the interaction between child and caregiver/s is positive or negative

• An initial predisposition to a certain temperament can be strengthened or weakened by parents reaction to child.

• A “good fit” is one in which parents are able to modify child behavior in a positive direction while maintaining a positive attitude for both.

© Radius Images/Jupiterimages


• Sex Differences– All cultures distinguish between females and males and have

expectations about behaviors of each.– A child’s sex is a key factor in society’s efforts to shape its

personality and behavior.– Girls and Boys are similar in social behaviors until about 9 -18

months. • Boy behaviors

– 9-18 mos: prefer playing with toy trucks, tools, and sports equipment

• Girls behaviors– Advance faster in motor development– 12-18 mos: prefer playing with dolls, toy animals, etc.

– By 24 months, both boys and girls have clear understanding of what is considerate appropriate behavior for their sex.


• Adults’ Behavior toward Infants– Adults interact differently with boys and girls.

• Both Parents– More likely to engage in rough-and-tumble play with

boys (especially fathers)– Talk more to daughters than sons– Smile more at daughters and express emotions more– Dress girls in more delicate fabrics and lighter colors– Dress boys in stronger fabrics and colors– Decorate girls rooms with flowers and pink colors– Decorate boys rooms with with animal themes and

blue colors– Encourage child to engage in play with “sex

appropriate” toys; fathers especially discourage sons playing with “girl” toys and vice versa

CHAPTER 7 Infancy: Social and Emotional Development.

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