Early Social & Personality Development & Precursors to Social Development

Oral Presentations -No powerpoint, hand-out only mins of presentation + discussion questions

Temperament

Temperament Dimensions (continued)

 Easy babies (40% of original study)  Difficult babies (10% of original study)  Slow-to-warm-up babies (15% of original study)  (The rest did not fit into a category) Temperament and Social Adjustment  Temperament is predictive of later behaviors Children who are negative, impulsive, and unregulated tend to have poor peer relations and get in trouble with the law. They are difficult partners and roommates. Behaviorally inhibited children are more likely to experience anxiety, depression, and phobias. 3 Temperament Types

Temperament Dimensions 1.Reactivity or negative emotionality Irritability, negative mood, intensity of reactions (anger/fear) 2.Self regulation Amount of control over attention and emotions 3.Approach/Withdrawal Sociability

Nature and Nurture Parents can modulate children’s temperament. –If parents are supportive and consistent with difficult children, negative behaviors may moderate. –If parents are harsh and punitive, undesirable behaviors can worsen. The influence is bi-directional! Child’s temperament in turn can influence parents’ reaction Direct vs. Indirect Effects (e.g. fearful/inhibited leads to social withdrawal vs. negativity elicits negativity from others which in turn effects the child) Most people get a “double whammy” Self-fulfilling prophecy “Goodness of fit” Model = compatibility between temperament and social environment. “Transactional” Model –Continuous interaction between temperament and env’mt –Temperament = risk or protective factor (starts a chain of events)

Precursors Prefer the smell and taste of mom (breast milk, amniotic fluid) Prefer moving entities Prefer voices –Infant directed speech (IDS) Characteristics: Emotional tone, Slow and clear, exaggerated speech, exaggerated facial expressions Infants like IDS better than regular speech Infants learn more words in IDS Prefer faces over other similar stimuli

Preference for Faces Newborn infants preferred standard faces over scrambled -- infants followed the standard face further than the control stimuli

Face Perception Infants quickly develop preferences for faces (12 hours after birth prefer Mom’s face) No initial preferences for particular facial expressions, but around 1 year infant has learned emotional significance of expressions and prefers smiling over angry expressions Even newborns prefer to look at attractive faces Attractive mask = more pleasure, more active and involved in play, less withdrawal than less attractive mask.

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What makes a face attractive? To us, and to a baby Symmetry? Smooth/blemish-free complexion? Darker skin? Baby-facedness? Contrast Why might infants be predisposed to attend to (prefer) attractive faces? How might such a preference influence their development?