Emotional Development and the Establishment of Intimate Relationships Chapter 11 Dr. Martha Pelaez.

Emotional Development and the

Establishment of Intimate

RelationshipsChapter 11

Dr. Martha Pelaez

An Overview of Emotional Development

Displaying Emotions: The Development and Control of Emotional Expressions

Most researchers agree that babies communicate a variety of feelings through their facial expressions and that each expression becomes a more recognizable sign of a particular emotion with age

Sequencing of Discrete Emotions At birth babies display interest, distress, disgust, and contentment Primary emotions normally appear by the middle of the first year Secondary emotions emerge in the second or third year, after

children reach cognitive milestones such as self-recognition and have acquired standards for evaluating their conduct More self-conscious and depends on cognitive development

An Overview of Emotional Development

Displaying Emotions: The Development and Control of Emotional Expressions Socialization of Emotions and Emotional Self-Regulation

Begins very early, as parents model positive emotions for infants Parents attend carefully to and try to prolong their infant’s pleasant

feelings Parents become less responsive to infant’s negative emotional

displays By the end of the first year, infants develop simple strategies for

regulating aversive arousal and make attempts to suppress their sadness or anger

It is not until well into grade-school that children become proficient at complying with culturally defined emotional display rules The ability to develop and control emotions is a slow and gradual

process

An Overview of Emotional Development

Recognizing and Interpreting Emotions Infant’s ability to recognize and

interpret others’ emotions improved dramatically over the first year

8 to 10 months infants are capable of social referencing

Ability to identify and interpret others’ emotions continues throughout childhood This is possible by cognitive

development and by family conversations centering on the causes of one’s own and others’ emotions (empathy)

An Overview of Emotional Development

Emotions and Early Social Development Emotions play two important roles in an infant’s

life The child’s emotional displays promote social contact

with caregivers and help them to adjust their behaviors his or her needs and goals

The infant’s ability to recognize and interpret others’ emotions serves an important knowledge function by helping the child to infer how she or he should feel, think, or behave in certain situations

Temperament and Development

Hereditary and Environmental Influences on Temperament Hereditary Influences

Temperament implies a biological foundation for individual differences in behavior A foundation that is genetically influenced and stable over time

Environmental Influences Environment also contributes heavily to temperament Shared environments influence positively toned

temperamental attitudes (smiling, laughing) Nonshared environments influence negatively toned aspects

of temperament (fear, anger)

Temperament and Development

Five Main Attributes: Activity Level Irritability Soothability Fearfulness Sociability

Temperament and Development

Early Temperamental Profiles and Later Development Infant temperament cluster in predictable ways

Easy Temperament (40% of sample)- Easygoing children are even-tempered, are typically in a positive mood, and are quite open and adaptable to new experiences

Difficult Temperament (10% of sample)- Difficult children are active, irritable, and irregular in their habits. Are slow to adapt to new persons or situations

Slow to warm up temperament (15% of sample)- These children are inactive, moody, and are slow to adapt to new persons and situations

Temperament can change and it can change by the goodness of fit between parents and child

Behavioral inhibition tends to be a stable attribute and is genetically influenced

What are Emotional Attachments?

John Bowlby defines attachment as the strong affectional ties that we feel with the special people in our lives

Attachments are Reciprocal Relationships Infants become attached to parents, and parents become

attached to infants Genuine emotional attachments build slowly from parent-infant

interactions that occur over the first several months and can become highly intimate

Establishment of Interactional Synchrony Parent’s initial bonding with their infant builds in strength as

they gear their behavior to the infant’s social signals and establish synchronized routines Exquisite interactions are pleasing for both parents and infants

and strengthen attachments

How do Infants become Attached? The Growth of Primary Attachments

Infants pass through phases as they develop close ties with their caregivers Asocial phase: 0-6 weeks; infants respond in an equally favorable

was to interesting social and nonsocial stimuli Phase of indiscriminate attachments: 6 weeks-6/7months; infants

prefer social to nonsocial stimulation and protest when put down Phase of specific attachment: 7-9 months; infants are attached to

one close companion Attached infants become more curious and use their attachment as a

secure base for exploration Phase of multiple attachments: period when infants are forming

attachments to companions other than their primary attachment object

How do Infants become Attached?

Theories of Attachment Psychoanalytic and Learning Theory

Propose that infants become attached to persons who feed them and gratify their needs

Modern learning theorists believe that reinforcement is the mechanism responsible for social attachments

Cognitive-Developmental Theory Propose that the ability to form attachments depends on

the infant’s level of cognitive development Ethological Theory

Proposes that humans have preadapted characteristics that predispose them to form attachments

How do Infants become Attached?

Two Attachment-Related Fears of Infancy Infants begin to display Stranger Anxiety and

Separation Anxiety These two fears stem from

infants’ wariness of strange situations Infants’ inability to explain who strangers are Infants’ inability to explain the whereabouts of absent

companions

These fears decline dramatically in the second year as toddlers mature intellectually and venture away from their secure bases to explore

Individual Differences in Attachment Quality

Assessing Attachment Security Strange Situation- Ainsworth’s popular assessment that is used

to assess the quality of attachments that 1-2 year olds have formed series of eight episode separation and reunion episodes in which

infants are exposed in order to determine the quality of their attachments

Attachment Q-set (AQS)- A versatile assessment that assesses ages 1-5 years old through observations or reports of the child’s attachment-related behaviors at home

Four attachment classifications have been identified: Secure, Resistant, Avoidant, and Disorganized/Disoriented

Individual Differences in Attachment Quality

Cultural Variations in Attachment Classifications The percentages of infants

and toddlers who fall into the various attachment categories differ somewhat from culture to culture and seem to reflect cultural variations in child rearing

Parents around the world prefer that their infants from secure attachments and try to promote culturally valued forms of security

Factors that Influence Attachment Security

Quality of Caregiving Caregiving Hypothesis

Secure attachments are the result of parents who are sensitive and responsive to their infants

Insecure attachments are the result of parents who are inconsistent, neglectful, overintrusive, or abusive

Factors that Influence Attachment Security

Infant Characteristics Temperament Hypothesis

Infant characteristics and temperamental attributes may also influence attachment quality by affecting the character of caregiver-infant interactions

Temperaments are not merely reflections of infant temperament

Therefore an integrative viewpoint is more important Notion that caregiving determines whether attachments are

secure or insecure And that child temperament determines the kind of insecurity

displayed by a child who receives insensitive caregiving

Attachment and Later Development

Long-Term Correlates of Secure and Insecure Attachments Infants who have established secure primary attachments are

likely to display more favorable developmental outcomes Infants who were securely attached at 12-18 months are better

problem-solvers, more complex and creative in their symbolic play, display positive emotions, and are more attractive to toddlers as playmates The opposite is true for those who are insecurely attached

Children can be influenced by the quality of their attachments for years to come Attachments are stable over time Secure attachment during infancy predicts intellectual curiosity and social

competence later in childhood

Attachment and Later Development Why Might Attachment Quality Forecast Later

Outcomes? Infants develop Internal Working Models

Cognitive representations of themselves and other people Used to interpret events and to form expectations about the

character of human relationships Parent’s Working Models

Tend to correspond closely with the working models of their children

Children’s Working Models can change Secure attachments are no guarantee of positive adjustment later

in life Insecure attachments are not an indication of poor life outcomes

The Unattached Infant Effects of Social Deprivation in Infancy and Childhood

Infants who are socially deprived or abused are likely to be: Withdrawn Apathetic Display intellectual deficits Behavior problems Reactive attachment disorders

Maternal Deprivation Hypothesis- Socially deprived infants develop abnormally because they have failed to establish attachments to a primary caregiver

Social Stimulation Hypothesis- Socially deprived infants develop abnormally because they have had little contact with companions who respond contingently to their social overtures

But infants display a strong capacity for recovery

Maternal Employment, Day Care, and Early Emotional

Development Quality of Alternative Care Once feared that regular

separations from working parents and placement into day care might prevent infants from establishing secure attachments Little evidence that this is true

An employed mother and alternative caregiving is fine when: Parents are sensitive and

responsive caregivers when they are at home