1. Socioemotional Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood: Summary
Social and emotional development in the first year of life culminates in the formation of attachments between infants and caregivers.
- expression of temperament
- specific emotions emerge
In the next 18 months (to approx. 2 ½ yrs), there is increased independence from caregivers, increased sociability and a broader range of emotional responses.

2. Social Exchanges Newborns are prewired to be social
Signal psychological and physiological needs
Detect changes in environment
Attracted to social stimuli: faces, speech, sounds
Fall in step with caregiver’s behavior

3. Emotional Development
Emotion: Subjective reactions to experience that are associated with physiological and behavioral changes.
0-6 months (“fundamental emotions”)
Basic emotional responses to certain events
Frustration when can’t carry out a motor routine
Wariness of strangers
Manage emotionally arousing situations by sleeping and crying
7-12 months
Qualitative changes and better regulation of emotions
Specific emotions emerge: joy, anger, fear, surprise
Stranger distress
12-30 months (“secondary”)
Self-conscious emotions with greater understanding of sense of self and relationship to others
Shame, embarrassment, guilt,
envy, pride

4. Being an Active Participant: Infant Crying and Social Smiling
Crying: many variations
Birth: smiling not attached to any emotion
6-10 weeks: begin to smile when interacting with caregiver and recognizing objects; ‘social smile’
4 months: purposely smile
at people they know

5. Temperament Framework
Temperament: general style of behavior across contexts
General activity level
Irritability
Proneness to distress
Reactivity
Inhibition

6. Structure of temperament
Temperament: Characteristic disposition, biologically-based way or style of approaching and reacting to people and situations
Structure of temperament
Easy child
Difficult child
Slow-to-warm-up child
Measuring temperament
Stability of temperament

7. Temperament and child rearing
“All children are gifted. Some just open their packages a little later than others.” S. Keirsey
Temperament and child rearing
Goodness-of-fit model: how environment and temperament work together to produce a favorable outcome
What kind of environment might produce a favorable outcome for a difficult baby?

8. Development of Attachment
Attachment is the strong, affectional tie we feel for special people in our lives that leads us to feel pleasure and joy when we interact with them and to be comforted by their nearness during times of stress.
Different from bonding (parent’s tie to newborn), attachments are reciprocal
Phase of clear-cut attachment: 6 mos – 18 mos.
Hallmarks of attachment: separation distress, greeting reactions, secure base behavior
18-24 mos: formation of a reciprocal relationship

9. Attachment Framework
In all but the most extreme cases, infants become attached to their caregiver
Important Attachment Researchers
Bowlby: European orphanages, foster care
Ainsworth: Strange Situation
Harlow: Rhesus Monkeys
Show attachment video clips

10. The Attachment Framework
In all but the most extreme cases, infants become attached to a caregiver.
When infants experience sensitive care, they become confident the caregiver will be responsive, giving the infant a secure base for exploration.
Erikson/trust = Bowlby/secure attachment
Erickson/mistrust = Bowlby/ insecure/anxious attachment

11. Patterns of Attachment
Secure
Infant is confident of caregiver’s availability and responsiveness, and can use caregiver as secure base for exploration. Most (60-70%) infants show this.
Anxious-resistant
Infant separates form the caregiver reluctantly but shows ambivalence toward caregiver after a separation.
Anxious-avoidant
Infant readily separates from caregiver and avoids contact after a brief separation.
Main added another attachment style:
Disorganized-disoriented
Infant shows contradictory features of several patterns of anxious attachment or appears dazed and disoriented.

12. Quality of Care & Security of Attachment
Attachment Pattern
Associated Caregiver Behavior
secure
sensitive care
anxious-resistant
inconsistent care
exaggerated maternal behaviors
ineffective soothing
anxious-avoidant
indifference
emotional unavailability or
active rejection
disorganized-disoriented
maltreatment or
frightening or confusing behavior

13. Attachment Framework Factors related to attachment
Stress in caregiver’s life
Social support for caregiver
Developmental history of caregiver
Attachment as a child will often influence adult relationships

14. Infant Attachment and Later Development
The Sensitive Period Hypothesis:
The idea that certain kinds of experience are especially important at particular points in development.
Internal working model =
An infant’s generalized expectations about the social world, including caregiver responsiveness, infant’s own ability to obtain care, the nature of social relationships
Clear links exist between quality of infant-caregiver attachment and toddlers' later functioning (e.g., Toddlers with a history of secure attachment show greater effectiveness at problem-solving.)

15. The Origins of Reciprocity
True social interactions involving mutual exchanges between partners.
Attunement:
Caregivers’ adjustment of the stimulation they provide in response to signs from the infant.
Sensitive care:
A caregiving style in which the caregiver attends to the infant’s needs and responds to them promptly and effectively.

16. Emotional Expression, Regulation and Responding to Others
Emotional self-regulation – strategies used to adjust our emotional state to a comfortable level of intensity so we can accomplish our goals
Social referencing – relying on another person’s emotional reaction to appraise an uncertain situation
Emotional understanding

17. The self-awareness that emerges in toddlerhood includes individual expectations about the self that influence the child's responses to the environment.

18. Self and Social Understanding
Social cognition
Thinking about the characteristics of the self and other people
Socialization
internalization
Self-concept
Attributes, abilities, attitudes, and values that individual believes define who he or she is

19. Moving Toward Independence
Mobile toddlers readily separate from their caregivers to play and explore.
The infant's need for physical contact with the caregiver is increasingly replaced by the toddler's reliance on psychological contact -- exchanges of words, smiles, and looks.
Infant learns to integrate various capabilities in new and purposeful ways.
Self-efficacy: a sense of being able to master challenges and achieve goals

20. In Erikson's theory, the defining issue for the toddler period is autonomy versus shame and doubt.
Basic trust, the toddler's confidence that the parent-child relationship is secure, supports the development of autonomy and the separation-individuation process.
Photo copyright © Used with permission.

21. Understanding of Others
Toddlers show increased awareness and understanding of others in many ways:
Try to get others to attend to an object.
Show more emotion to others.
Show some capacity to respond to desires and intentions of another person.
Social referencing:
Use of cues from another person to interpret situations and guide behavior.

22. Interactions Between Toddlers
Interactions with other children become increasingly prevalent during the toddler period.
Between 15 to 24 months, children develop the ability to behave in a complementary manner with a peer. (parallel play)
Social pretend play at age 3:
object-centered play
imitation
social pretend play (acting out interrelated roles)

23. The Active Role of the Child
More clearly than in infancy, the toddler’s own characteristics play a role in development.
Inborn differences in temperament are critical.
Dimensions like intensity of response become more stable and consistent.
Inhibited toddlers may have difficulty coping with new challenges.
Oppositional toddlers may not be responsive to gentle treatment.

24. Parent-Toddler Relations
As child matures, parents need to:
Support child’s exploration of world
Set appropriate limits for child
Offer developmentally appropriate guidance