Socioemotional Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood: Summary

Social and emotional development in the first year of life culminates in the formation of attachments between infants and caregivers.- expression of temperament - specific emotions emerge

In the next 18 months (to approx. 2 ½ yrs), there is increased independence from caregivers, increased sociability and a broader range of emotional responses.

Social Exchanges

• Newborns are prewired to be social– Signal psychological and physiological needs– Detect changes in environment– Attracted to social stimuli: faces, speech,

sounds– Fall in step with caregiver’s behavior

Emotional Development

• 0-6 months (“fundamental emotions”)– Basic emotional responses to certain events

• Frustration when can’t carry out a motor routine• Wariness of strangers

– Manage emotionally arousing situations by sleeping and crying• 7-12 months

– Qualitative changes and better regulation of emotions– Specific emotions emerge: joy, anger, fear, surprise– Stranger distress

• 12-30 months (“secondary”)– Self-conscious emotions with greater understanding of sense of self and

relationship to others• Shame, embarrassment, guilt,

envy, pride

Emotion: Subjective reactions to experience that are associated with physiological and behavioral

changes.

Being an Active Participant: Infant Crying and Social

Smiling

• Crying: many variations

• Birth: smiling not attached to any emotion• 6-10 weeks: begin to smile when interacting with

caregiver and recognizing objects; ‘social smile’• 4 months: purposely smile

at people they know

Temperament Framework

• Temperament: general style of behavior across contexts– General activity level– Irritability– Proneness to distress– Reactivity– Inhibition

• Structure of temperament– Easy child – Difficult child – Slow-to-warm-up child

• Measuring temperament

• Stability of temperament

Temperament: Characteristic disposition, biologically-based way or style of approaching and reacting to people and situations

“All children are gifted. Some just open their packages a little later than others.” S. Keirsey

• Temperament and child rearing– Goodness-of-fit model: how environment and

temperament work together to produce a favorable outcome

What kind of environment might produce a favorable outcome for a difficult baby?

Development of Attachment

• Attachment is the strong, affectional tie we feel for special people in our lives that leads us to feel pleasure and joy when we interact with them and to be comforted by their nearness during times of stress.

• Different from bonding (parent’s tie to newborn), attachments are reciprocal

• Phase of clear-cut attachment: 6 mos – 18 mos. • Hallmarks of attachment: separation distress,

greeting reactions, secure base behavior• 18-24 mos: formation of a reciprocal relationship

Attachment Framework

• In all but the most extreme cases, infants become attached to their caregiver

• Important Attachment Researchers– Bowlby: European

orphanages, foster care– Ainsworth: Strange

Situation– Harlow: Rhesus Monkeys

The Attachment Framework

• In all but the most extreme cases, infants become attached to a caregiver.

• When infants experience sensitive care, they become confident the caregiver will be responsive, giving the infant a secure base for exploration. – Erikson/trust = Bowlby/secure attachment– Erickson/mistrust = Bowlby/ insecure/anxious

attachment

Patterns of Attachment

Secure Infant is confident of caregiver’s availability and responsiveness, and can use caregiver as secure base for exploration. Most (60-70%) infants show this.

Anxious-resistant

Infant separates form the caregiver reluctantly but shows ambivalence toward caregiver after a separation.

Anxious-avoidant

Infant readily separates from caregiver and avoids contact after a brief separation.

Main added another attachment style:

Disorganized-disoriented

Infant shows contradictory features of several patterns of anxious attachment or appears dazed and disoriented.

Quality of Care & Security of Attachment

Attachment Pattern

Associated Caregiver Behavior

secure • sensitive care

anxious-resistant • inconsistent care• exaggerated maternal behaviors• ineffective soothing

anxious-avoidant • indifference• emotional unavailability or• active rejection

disorganized-disoriented

• maltreatment or• frightening or confusing behavior

Attachment Framework

• Factors related to attachment– Stress in caregiver’s

life– Social support for

caregiver– Developmental history

of caregiver

• Attachment as a child will often influence adult relationships

Infant Attachment and Later Development

Internal working model = An infant’s generalized expectations about the social world, including caregiver responsiveness, infant’s own ability to obtain care, the nature of social relationships

Clear links exist between quality of infant-caregiver attachment and toddlers' later functioning (e.g., Toddlers with a history of secure attachment show greater effectiveness at problem-solving.)

• The Sensitive Period Hypothesis: The idea that certain kinds of experience are

especially important at particular points in development.

The Origins of Reciprocity

Reciprocity:True social interactions involving mutual exchanges between partners.

Reciprocity:True social interactions involving mutual exchanges between partners.

Sensitive care:A caregiving style in which the caregiver attends to the infant’s needs and responds to them promptly and effectively.

Sensitive care:A caregiving style in which the caregiver attends to the infant’s needs and responds to them promptly and effectively.

Attunement:Caregivers’ adjustment of the stimulation they provide in response to signs from the infant.

Attunement:Caregivers’ adjustment of the stimulation they provide in response to signs from the infant.

Emotional Expression, Regulation and Responding to Others

• Emotional self-regulation – strategies used to adjust our emotional state to a comfortable level of intensity so we can accomplish our goals

• Social referencing – relying on another person’s emotional reaction to appraise an uncertain situation

• Emotional understanding

The self-awareness that emerges in toddlerhood includes individual expectations about the self that influence the child's responses to the environment.

Self and Social Understanding

• Social cognition– Thinking about the

characteristics of the self and other people

– Socialization– internalization

• Self-concept– Attributes, abilities,

attitudes, and values that individual believes define who he or she is

Moving Toward Independence

• Mobile toddlers readily separate from their caregivers to play and explore.

• The infant's need for physical contact with the caregiver is increasingly replaced by the toddler's reliance on psychological contact -- exchanges of words, smiles, and looks.

• Infant learns to integrate various capabilities in new and purposeful ways.

Self-efficacy: a sense of being able to master challenges and achieve goals

• In Erikson's theory, the defining issue for the toddler period is autonomy versus shame and doubt.

• Basic trust, the toddler's confidence that the parent-child relationship is secure, supports the development of autonomy and the separation-individuation process.

Photo copyright © 2003 www.arttoday.com. Used with permission.

Understanding of Others

Toddlers show increased awareness and understanding of others in many ways:

• Try to get others to attend to an object.• Show more emotion to others.• Show some capacity to respond to desires and

intentions of another person.

Social referencing:Use of cues from another person to interpret situations and guide behavior.

Interactions Between Toddlers

• Interactions with other children become increasingly prevalent during the toddler period.

• Between 15 to 24 months, children develop the ability to behave in a complementary manner with a peer. (parallel play)

• Social pretend play at age 3:• object-centered play• imitation• social pretend play (acting out interrelated roles)

The Active Role of the Child

More clearly than in infancy, the toddler’s own characteristics play a role in development.

• Inborn differences in temperament are critical.– Dimensions like intensity of response become more

stable and consistent.– Inhibited toddlers may have difficulty coping with new

challenges.– Oppositional toddlers may not be responsive to

gentle treatment.

Parent-Toddler Relations

• As child matures, parents need to:

– Support child’s exploration of world

– Set appropriate limits for child

– Offer developmentally appropriate guidance