Wiley 2014 ch 7

Psychosocial Development in

Infancy and Toddlerhood

Chapter 7

Key Questions

What do the theories of psychosocial development say about the emotional needs of infants and toddlers?

How important is the parent–child attachment relationship?

How do emotions develop, and how do changes in the brain influence this development?

Key Questions

How do infants and toddlers develop a sense of self and the social skills necessary to interact with others?

What role do caregivers and the child’s own temperament play in the child’s psychosocial development?

Theories of Psychosocial Development

Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory: stage theory that believes very early experiences, especially those with parents, shape development and personality Oral stage: Infant seeks gratification through oral

stimulation, primarily sucking. Anal stage: Gratification is derived from exercise and control

of anal muscles.

Theories of Psychosocial Development

Erikson’s Psychosocial Theory: stage theory that emphasizes the influence of environment and culture on psychosocial development; consists of eight stages covering the entire life span. Stage 1: Trust versus Mistrust Stage 2: Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt

Theories of Psychosocial Development

Bowlby’s Attachment Theory: theory emphasizing that early childhood experiences of sensitive, responsive maternal care promote secure attachment relationships with strong emotional bonds

The Importance of Attachment

How Does Attachment Develop?

Attachment: lasting psychological connectedness between human beings and governed by three principles: Alarm of some kind Seeking physical contact If successful in seeking contact, anxiety is relieved and

infant is soothed.

Attachment figure: a person the child uses as a secure base

The Importance of Attachment

Measuring Attachment

The Strange Situation Procedure: A laboratory procedure designed by Mary Ainsworth to capture individual differences in attachment; it involves separating infants and toddlers from their caregivers for brief periods and observing their responses when the caregivers return.

Attachment Behavior Patterns

Secure attachment: attachment that characterizes children who use caregivers as a secure base from which to explore. In the Strange Situation procedure, they are distressed when their caregivers leave the room but are happy and easily comforted when they return.

Attachment Behavior Patterns

Insecure-avoidant attachment: attachment that characterizes children who appear to avoid their caregivers; these children are unresponsive to caregivers, they are not distressed when they leave the room, and they ignore them when they return.

Attachment Behavior Patterns

Insecure-resistant attachment: attachment that characterizes children who seek closeness to their caregivers but resist this closeness at the same time; these children are distressed when their caregivers leave the room and make anxious contact with them when they return, showing both clinging behavior and resistance.

Attachment Behavior Patterns

Disorganized attachment: Attachment that characterizes children who display confused and disorganized reactions to caregivers; these children may simultaneously display contradictory behaviors, such as distress and avoidance, when reunited with caregivers, and may appear dazed or depressed.

The Effects of Early Adverse Experiences

Maltreated children do have impaired attachment relationships.

Abuse and neglect can have lasting effects in emotional regulation and stress responses, leading to adult depression.

Developmental delays are four to five times greater for abused than nonabused children, with possible lifelong effects.

Emotion: The Language of Babies

Infants communicate their needs through emotional expression: crying, babbling, laughing, etc.

Experiences in the early years set the emotional foundation for all learning and development.

Expressing Emotion

Discrete emotions theory: a theory holding that people are born with a group of core emotions whose expression and recognition are fundamentally the same for all individuals in all cultures. These emotions are distinct from one another from a very young age, and each has its own neural, physiological, behavioral, and expressive features.

Expressing Emotion

Primary, or basic, emotions: emotions that can be seen from the beginning of infancy and that are assumed to be innate. They are often believed to include joy, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, interest, surprise, and excitement.

Expressing Emotion

Expressing Emotion

Secondary emotions: emotions that are not innate but that depend to some extent on cognitive development and self-awareness. They appear during the second year of life and include shame, embarrassment, guilt, envy, and pride.

Transitions in Emotional Development in the First Years

Birth: The transition from life inside the womb to life outside the womb: Emotional, expressions of crying, interest, disgust, surprise, pleasure, and attentiveness

The 2–3 month transition: The Awakening of Sociability: Social smiles, expressions of joy, sadness, eye-to-eye social contact

Smiling

Reflexive smile Not a response to external stimuli Happens during first month after birth,

usually during sleep Social smile

Appears about 2 to 3 months of age Response to external stimulus, faces

Transitions in Emotional Development in the First Years

The 5–6 month transition: Stranger Anxiety: Focused attachment, infants are more aware of caregiver and other people.

The 10–13 month transition: Walking and the growing sense of self: The drive for independence creates the appearance of elation, a sense of pride; they are becoming more autonomous.

Transitions in Emotional Development in the First Years

The 18–24 month transition: The transition into early childhood. Growing self-awareness increases secondary emotions of shame, embarrassment, guilt, envy, and pride.

Emotional Regulation

Emotional regulation: the process of adjusting internal feeling states in order to achieve goals

Emotional availability: the quality of emotional exchanges between two people, focusing on their accessibility to each other and their ability to read and respond appropriately to one another's communications

Social Competence

Social competence: the skills necessary for interacting with others

Decoding Facial Behavior Gaze cues: eye expressions to help discriminate

happiness, fear, and anger Mutual gaze: eye contact that helps establish

communication between two people

Social Competence

Social referencing: the use of emotional cues from other people, such as facial expression and tone of voice, to regulate one’s own emotional reactions Well established by 10–12 months of age

The Emerging Sense of Self

Sense of self: the accumulation of knowledge about the self, such as beliefs regarding personality traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values, goals, and roles

Erikson, Stern, and the Sense of Self

Erik Erikson: The toddler’s core challenge is developing the sense of self. Between the ages of 1 and 3, toddlers struggle to develop autonomy by asserting their independence. Toilet training is their attempt to establish self-control. If they are encouraged, their confidence is given a boost. If criticized, they may become overly dependent.

Self-Recognition and Self-Concept

Children under 18 months of age do not recognize themselves in a mirror, which indicates lack of self-awareness.

As they develop a sense of self, they are able to recognize and respond to the needs of others.

Empathy

An affective state that stems from the apprehension or comprehension of another’s emotional state or condition. Infants appear to experience empathy through crying

when other babies cry. Toddlers want to help even without the potential for

reward.

Are Babies Capable of Moral Acts?

Moral behavior: a disposition to do something on behalf of another person, or to behave in accord with a moral norm or standard bearing on human welfare or justice

Environment, Temperament, and Psychosocial Development

Positive, loving, secure relationships between caregiver and children are critical for proper psychosocial development.

Fathers and Their Infants

Fathers who are actively involved in the caregiving of their infants: Are more sensitive with their infants Report secure attachment with their infants Experience better psychosocial health and self-

development Both fathers and spouses report greater marital

satisfaction Produced improvement in the mother/child relationship Infants experienced enhanced cognitive development

The Enduring Effects of Early Child Care

Parents play the most important role in a child’s life; however, if outside child care is used, whether in a home or child-care center, care must be taken to ensure quality care, which is crucial to positive development.

The Role of Temperament

Temperament: a set of inherited personality traits that are observable from the beginning of life and reflected in individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation in the domains of affect, activity, and attention. Easy Difficult Slow to warm up