Post on 16-Dec-2015
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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