Child Psychology: The Modern Science, 3e by Vasta, Haith, and Miller Paul J. Wellman Texas A&M University John Wiley and Sons, Inc. © 1999 PowerPoint  Presentation: Chapter 12 Early Social and Emotional Development

© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Social-Emotional Development n Humans form many social relations during development –Some are transitory –Some relations are enduring and important –Social relations are transactional: Infant influences caregiver Caregiver influences infant –Infant is predisposed to form social relations Behaviors such as crying and smiling are important tools for the infant

© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Perspectives on Social-Emotional Development n Ethology suggests that babies are programmed with behaviors (crying) that draw the mother close and that the mother is programmed to detect and respond to the baby. n Environmental/Learning approach argues that mother-infant attachment results from social learning processes (reward, punishment, modeling) n Cognitive-Developmental models assume that mother and child develop working mental models of each other’s behaviors

© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Development of Emotions n An emotion is an internal reaction or feeling that is positive or negative –Emotions are expressed in facial reactions –At birth, babies can indicate distress by crying, interest by staring, disgust to unpleasant tastes or odors –At weeks, pleasure is indicated by smiling –At 7 months, facial expression of fear is evident in babies

© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Emotional Recognition n Infants can emit facial expressions and are capable of responding to or modeling the facial reactions of others n After 6 weeks of age, babies are capable of scanning faces –Habituation studies reveal that infants can detect the difference between a smiling face and a frowning face n At 6 months of age, infants can imitate facial expressions of smiling –Leads to social referencing

© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Face to Face Interactions n Mothers and infants engage in face to face interactions –Mother and child develop an interactional synchrony in which the mother learns to concentrate her interactions when the infant is paying attention to her and to withhold interactions when the infant is in a period of inattention –Mothers and infants develop a “turn-taking” style of interaction in which the mother and infant take turns responding to each other

© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Temperament n Temperament refers to early indicators of personality such as emotional expressiveness and responsiveness to stimulation n Issues in Temperament –Twin studies note a strong genetic influence on temperament –The negative aspects of temperament appear to be relatively stable across time –Not all behaviors that reflect temperament are evident early in life

© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York Longitudinal Study n NYLS suggests the existence of three temperament types –Easy baby: Has regular patterns of eating, sleeping, and toileting. This type adapts to new situations and shows low intensity reactions (40% of babies show this pattern) –Difficult baby: Has less predictable schedules, withdraws from new situations, and reacts intensely to stimuli (10%of infants) –Slow to warm up baby: Adapts poorly to changing situations, is less active (15% of infants show this pattern)

© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. EAS Model of Temperament n Classification scheme for temperament devised by Robert Plomin n Focuses on: –Emotionality: How quickly a baby becomes aroused and responds negatively to environmental stimulation –Activity: Refers to the baby’s tempo and energy use –Sociability: Refers to the infant’s preference for being with other people

© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Behavioral Inhibition n Kagan argues for the concept of inhibition to classify infants –Inhibition refers to the tendency to react to unfamiliar events and people with timidity and avoidance –Kagan first examined how a group of two years olds reacted to a strange laboratory setting Selected those children who were most and least avoidant Inhibited children showed evidence of greater fear when 6 years old (i.e. fear of the dark)

© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Stages of Attachment n Phase 1 (Birth- 2 months) –Infants emit behaviors such as crying and smiling to many people (indiscriminant social responding) –Mother quickly learns to recognize her infant and to bond to that infant n Phase 2 (2-7 months) –Infant focuses attention on the mother n Phase 3 (8-24 months) –Fear emerges as a dominant emotion and is expressed in the absence of the mother

© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Assessing Attachment n Ainsworth Strange Situation –Assesses the reactivity of the child to a situation involving the introduction of a stranger and a separation of the mother from the child –This procedure is limited in sampling time and restricts the mother to a limited style n Attachment Q set –Trained observers code the interactions of mother and child in the home setting

© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Attachment Types n The Ainsworth procedure suggests three attachment patterns in infants –Securely attached infants (65%) are distressed when their mother leaves, but are happy when she returns –Insecure-avoidant infants (20%) show little distress at separation and avoid the mother when she returns –Insecure-resistant infants (15%) are distressed throughout the procedure but particularly during separation

© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. The Changing American Family –Most research on development in children has been conducted using traditional family structures (2 parents, 2 children, 1 job) –Children are now more likely to experience Single parent homes Gay/lesbian parents Mothers who work outside the home Older parents Blended families via divorce Fewer siblings –Whether earlier research will hold up in these new family settings is to be determined

© 1999 John Wiley and Sons, Inc. Styles of Parenting n Two dimensions of parenting are –Parental warmth refers to the amount of support and affection a parent gives to a child –Parental control refers to the degree to which a child is supervised and regulated by the parent n Mixing these dimensions yields 4 styles –Authoritative: High warmth and control –Authoritarian: Low warmth and high control –Permissive: High warmth but low control –Indifferent: Low in warmth and control

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