© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved Chapter Six Emotional Development and...

© 2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Chapter Six

Emotional Development Emotional Development

and Attachmentand Attachment


Early Emotional Development

• Emotions are

– Subjective reactions

– Usually experienced cognitively

– Generally has a form of physiological arousal

– Communicated to others through behavior

• Functions of emotions

– Communicates feelings, social interactions

– Affects mental and physical health

– Helps develop emotional intelligence



• Perspectives on emotional development

– Genetic-maturational perspective

• Emotions have biological underpinnings

• Individual differences in temperament

• Identical and fraternal twin research

– Learning perspective

• Individual emotional expressions result from individual experiences

• Experiences elicit and reinforce responses



• Perspectives on emotional development

– Functionalist perspective

• Help in achieving goals and adapting to the environment

• Emphasizes roles in social relationships

• Emotional signals (social cues) guide behaviors

• Emotions attached to memories



• Developing emotional expressions

– Infants have a wide range of emotions at a very early age

• Newborns have specific emotions

• Facial expressions emerge

– Two types of emotions:

• Primary emotions (i.e., startle)

• Secondary emotions (i.e., shame)


Emotions

Primary emotions

JoyFear

DisgustSurprise

Interest Sadness

Emerge early in life – no introspection or

self-reflection is required

Secondary emotions

Pride

Embarrassment Jealousy

GuiltShame

Emerge later in development – self- conscious emotions

Emotional development influenced by

Genetics

Environment

Experiences


Primary Emotions Development

• Smiling and laughter are the first expressions of pleasure

– Newborn infants display reflex smiles

– Infants show preferences for human faces

– Special smiles for mothers – Duchenne smiles

– Not all babies smile with equal frequency; individual, cultural, and sex differences exist

– A wide array of stimuli can make baby laugh



• Primary emotions

– Spontaneous, origins unknown

– Smiles signal pleasure, encourage social interactions with caregiver and others

– Wide range of stimuli has effects later, responses to visual stimuli increase

– More selective with smiles at 3 months

– Some gender differences in interactions between parents/caregivers and infant

– Consistent ethnicity differences seen



• Primary emotions

– Increased laughing at 7 months

– Response to social games at end of first year

– Negative emotions

• Wariness develops at about 3 months

• Unfamiliar events cause distress in most

• Stranger distress at 7 to 9 months, reactions vary by previous experiences

• Social referencing


10-124-6 7-9

Age (in months)

20

0

5

10

25

30

35

15

Laug

hter

at

stim

uli (

perc

ent) Social

Tactile

Auditory

Visual

What Makes Children Laugh?



• Fear is one of the first negative emotions

– Fear of strangers emerges as wariness at 3 months, and true fear around 9 months

– As babies age, more distressing behaviors and discrimination toward the unfamiliar shown

– Stranger distress appears not to be universal, infant reactions vary among some cultures, and individual differences may be linked to temperament



• Individual differences in emotions

– Are related to one’s social adjustment

– Contextual factors can affect infant reactions to strangers

– Infants use social referencing to know how to act in uncertain situations

– The degree of control a child has over a situation affects her or his reactions


The Onset of Stranger Distress

4

Age (in months)

8

0

2

4

10

12

14

6

Num

ber

of C

hild

ren

2 5 6 7 8 9 113 1210

Shows distress

Compares faces

Looks sober



• Characteristics of a stranger affect babies’ emotional reactions

• Separation protest – a fear that appears to be universal and peaks in Western infants at about 15 months

• Separation anxiety sometimes reappears in other forms at later ages


Separation Protest

Age (in months)

0

20

40

80

Pe

rce

nta

ge

of C

hild

ren

wh

o

crie

d w

hen

mo

the

r le

ft

10 255 15 30 3520

100

60

African Bushman

Guatemalan Indian Israeli

(kibbutzim)

Antiguan (Guatemala)


Secondary Emotions Development

• Pride, shame, guilt, and jealousy are complex emotions, related to adjustments

• Differentiating between pride and shame is linked to task performance and responses from others

– “easy” and “difficult”

– “success” and “failure”

– “joy” and “sadness”


Pride, Shame, and Task DifficultyM

ea

n n

um

be

r o

f ex p

r es s

ions

of

prid

e a

nd

sh

ame

DifficultEasy

Task difficulty

1

1.5

2.5

0.5

2

0


Secondary Emotions Development

• Guilt emotions are linked to personal responsibility; influenced by degree of control one has over a given situation

• Jealousy is a common emotion that all experience; a social emotion occurring among established social relationships

• How jealousy is expressed by children changes across development


Recognizing Emotions in Others

• Facial expressions communicate feelings and wishes to children who do not yet understand speech – joy is recognized earlier than anger (a functional value)

• Quality and quantity of interactions between parents and infants affects children’s ability to recognize emotions


Emotional Regulation

• Learning to regulate expressions of emotions is difficult for infants and children

– Prenatal: unintentional (thumb sucking)

– Deliberate regulation (i.e., use of distraction)

– Methods of emotional control change as children grow older


Emotional Regulation

• Social pressure requires more self-control over emotions as children age

• Children learn emotional display rules as a way of conforming to social norms

– Earliest efforts are based on imitation

– Later efforts include appraising situations

– Culture influences how appraisals are made

– Understanding may occur as young as 2 years of age


30

0

10

40

50

60

70

80

20

Age (in months)

Chi

ldre

n re

cogn

izin

g th

emse

lves

(pe

rcen

t)

21-249-12 15-18

Amsterdam’s study

Lewis & Brooks-Gunn’s study

What’s That On My Nose?


How Children Think About Emotions

• Children learn to match emotional reactions to specific events through emotional scripts

– Emotional scripts get more complex as children mature

– Children realize complex scripts include desires, goals, and intentions of others

– Children realize conflicting feelingscan be experienced at the same time


How Children Think About Emotions

• Families play a major role in children’s emotional development

– Children learn by watching emotional reactions of family members

– Type of home and parenting styles makes a difference in what is learned

– Socialization is a two-way process and temperaments affect interactions


The Development of Attachment

• Attachment is closely related to emotional development

– Forms in second half of first year

– Evidenced by separation protests

– Enhances parents’ effectiveness in later socialization of their children

– Evolves over first 2 years of life



• Theories of attachment

– Psychoanalytic theory: attachment is linked to gratification of innate drives

– Learning theory:

• Traditionally, primary drive of hunger is reduced by primary reinforcer (food) and secondary reinforcer is one who feeds

• Harlow: attachment comforts in stress

• Currently, attachment not dependent upon child’s feeding




– Cognitive developmental theory:

• Specific attachment based on object permanence

• Physical proximity to attachment figures lessens in importance as children grow

• Psychological contact maintained through words, smiles, and looks




– Bowlby’s ethological theory:

• Infant attachment has roots in instinctual infant responses important for survival and protection

• Based partly on animal’s imprinting process

• Infant’s early social signaling systems (i.e., smiling and crying) play active role in formation of attachment



• Attachment

– Evolves in stages or steps

– Develops for those regularly interacted with such as mothers, siblings, and peers

– Father-child interaction affected by culture and type of society one lives in

– Mothers and fathers differences in play modes or styles continue as children grow

• fathers more physical

• mothers more verbal


The Nature and Quality of Attachment

• Early attachment formation is not uniform

– Many seem to form highly secure attachments

– Assessment is based on the Strange Situation and Ainsworth’s classifications

– Styles of caregiving are linked to attachment; sensitive care linked to secure attachments, and unavailable or rejecting linked to insecurity

– Deficient forms of parenting often result in approach/avoidance behavior in children


Ainsworth Classifications

Insecure-avoidant

Secure

Insecure-resistant

Insecure-disorganized



• New assessment method: Attachment Q Sort (AQS)

• Other assessment instruments exist

• Questions of usefulness of Ainsworth’s model



• Parents’ role in attachment

– Attachment is relationship

– Styles of parent-child interaction patterns have impact – sensitive care seems best

– Attachment studies show interesting comparisons between cultures

– Parents transmit internal working models of attachment (intergenerational effect); unsatisfying effects can be overcome



• Effect of infant temperament

– Influence on attachment is probably mediated by many other factors

• Stability in quality of attachment exists from one period to another

– Some cross-cultural support was found

– This stability does not preclude change

• Quality of infant-parent attachment affects the child’s development



• Cognitive development

– Quality of caregiver relationships important to child’s cognitive development; findings are supported cross-culturally

• Securely attached children are seen as

– More socially competent; increases with age

– Less dependent on adults



• Emotions:

– Affect links between attachment and social competence

– Sense of self is crucial to child’s development

– There is no evidence that being in child care prevents infant-parent attachments; the amount of time spent in daycare and type of care can affect infant-parent relationships



• Stability of staff in child-care facilities

– Affects quality of relationship between care providers and children in daycare

– High training level of staff promotes secure attachments with children

• Children in high-quality programs have more positive effects on child development

• Quality of child care appears linked to social class of families using the services


20

0

30

40

50

60

70

80

10

20

0

30

40

50

60

70

80

10P

erce

nt o

f sc

hool

s of

ferin

g ex

tend

ed-d

ay

and

enric

hmen

t pr

ogra

ms

Per

cent

of

3- t

o 5-

year

-old

s en

rolle

d in

pre

scho

ol

(b)(a)

Low-income

Affluent

NeighborhoodsFamilies

Are Child Care and Enrichment Programs Only for the Affluent?


The EndThe End

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