Chapter 6: Emotional Development in Infancy

4 key observations from Ainsworth's strange situation test

1) exploration: to what extent does the child explore their environment throughout 2) reaction to departure: what is the child's response when the caregiver leaves 3) stranger anxiety: how does the child respond to the stranger alone 4) reunion: how does child respond to caregiver upon returning

3 main features of internal working models

1) who the attachment figures are 2) where the attachment figures can be found 3) how you can expect attachment figures to respond

Trust vs Mistrust

1st stage of erikson's theory. 1st year of life is characterized by this stage. Infants are born into the world not knowing if it's safe or not. Means that trust is obtained through social interaction upon emerging from a life of regularity, warmth, and protection in the mother's womb, the infant faces a world that is less secure Infants learn trust when they are cared for in a consistently nurturing manner. If the infant is not well fed and kept warm on a consistent basis, a sense of mistrust is likely to develop. no consistency from parent results in the development of mistrust

Emotion regulation

1st year of life: infant gradually develops this. Tested in delay of gratification tasks Ability to inhibit the intensity and duration of emotional reactions Parents play a huge role in assisting the child in regulating his/her emotions Delay of Gratification tasks show what it means to be an adult in American society. Adults in U.S. need to be able to express their emotions in the right place at the right time. Kids who are able to do this early on can do well later on in life. Through D of G, we can teach kids skills we want them to show as adults.

Basic cry

"I'm hungry" A rhythmic pattern that usually consists of a cry, followed by a briefer silence, then a shorter whistle that is somewhat higher in pitch then the main cry, then another brief rest before the next cry

What is attachment?

A close emotional bond between two people According to psychologists, this is NOT love

Goodness of Fit

Attention to and respect for individuality: what it means to be a good parent is attending to a child's individual characteristics Structuring the child's environ: crowded, noisy environs can pose greater problems for some children (like a difficult child) than for others (like an easy child). We might also expect that a fearful, withdrawing child would benefit from slower entry into new contexts. Ex: a child's home environ might be totally diff from their school environ Avoid applying negative labels to the child: labeling a child "difficult" runs the risk of becoming a self-fulling prophecy. That is, if a child is identified as "difficult", people amy treat him or her in a way that elicits "difficult behavior". Labels really stick with a child. You run the risk of a child actually becoming difficult if you label them as that

Rosenhan: Being Sane in Insane Places

A study that proved that labels (even for grad students) stick Trained grad students to go to diff psych clinics and tell intake counselor that they're hearing voices in their head wanted to see if psychologist would admit them and consider them to be showing symptoms of a pathology many of the students were admitted into institutions. some of them wouldn't get out of the institutions for months. rosenhan told them to stop "faking their emotions". Then everything they did in the clinic upon being admitted was seen as schizophrenic sudden switch from being insane to sane again shows that the line between sanity and insanity is hard to determine

Anger cry

Basically a basic cry with a bit more air

Emotional Expression and Relationships

Parent-infant interactions are reciprocal and synchronous, resulting in mutual regulation of emotion Emotions develop in the context of social interaction. The reciprocity evident in these social interactions build child's lang, cognition and emotional skills. Babies learn to understand what emotions are appropriate to express in certain situations, what emotions mean, and how to respond to something appropriately

Humans are emotional beings

The context of what it means to be human At birth we express basic emotions: anger, sadness, happiness As infants grow, they begin to develop self conscious emotions: jealousy, pride, shame, empathy. Develop because an infant develops a sense of self; they realize that there's something in their head that enables them to act on the world. Sense of self develops with a child. You aren't born with a sense of self

Delay of gratification tasks for infants

Predicts how a child will handle arousal later on in life. Researcher puts toddler on a chair facing away from them Researcher says they have gift for toddler... but gift needs to be wrapped. Tells child to look away while wrapping gift. Child can't peek while gift is being wrapped Researcher intentionally uses a noisy wrapping paper Count how many times a kid peeks and how long before the 1st peak Almost all of the kids peaked (in the video) Then put wrapped gift in front child. Researcher leaves room. Observe what children do to restrain themselves from unwrapping the gift

Slow-to-warm up child

Chess and Thomas classification of temperament low activity level somewhat negative, but not to the degree of a difficult child displays a low intensity of mood doesn't express emotions as intense needs time to get used to new experiences less resistant than difficult child

Reflexive smile

a smile that does not occur in response to external stimuli appears during 1st month of birth, usually during sleep NOT A SOCIAL SMILE. Just a reflex in the facial muscles

Social smile

a smile that occurs in response to an external stimulus, typically a face in the case of the young infant. usually in response to caregivers/other people occurs as early as 2 months of age

Pain cry

a sudden, long initial loud cry followed by the holding of the breath

Avoidant attachment

a type of attachment characterized by the avoidance that a parent expresses towards a child experienced by 15% of infants infant does not cry when separated treats parent and stranger the same way when returned to caregiver, avoids caregiver or is slow to greet her. doesn't see parent as a secure base or as a comfortable person

Stranger anxiety

a type of fear fear and wariness of strangers that typically appears in the second half of 1st year of life. a phase when infants become clingy to caregiver and wary of strangers Separation protest: crying when caregiver leaves. Can be modified. areas where maternal mortality is high, infants get passed around often to different caregivers. These infants usually have less levels of this However, infants living in Kibbutz community in Israel have high levels of this

Fear

appears at about 6 months and peaks at around 18 months abused infants show this as early as 3 months

How do scientists study fear

in animals like rats. But do they feel emotions in the same way that we do?

Freud on attachment

infants become attached to the person that provides oral satisfaction oral satisfaction = breastfeeding

Bowlby on attachment:

newborns are biologically equipped to elicit attachment behavior from caregivers wired with innate processes that make us attach to care givers

Do we have a sense of self at birth

no we don't

Influence of gender on temperament

parents might react differently to an infant's temperament based on whether the baby is a boy or girl there may be culturally variable guidelines abt how a girl or a boy should act. Could influence parents on how their kids should be

Mary Ainsworth's strange situations test

to test attachment, you really need to observe a baby's behavior used often in attachment studies child and mom play together in a room you pay attention to whether a kid is exploring their environment or not before the mom leaves the room stranger enters room with mom and child. how does child react? does child treat mom and stranger differently? do they show stranger anxiety? mom leaves room to leave baby alone with stranger: how does a baby react? From the video, the baby crawls towards door as mom leaves. Once door closes, baby cries (this shows signs that this was a secure attachment)

Erikson on attachment

trust arises from physical comfort and sensitive care a consistent response to a child's needs is needed from the caregiver

How is attachment measured later in development, specifically with children?

via behavior

How is attachment measured later in development, specifically in adulthood?

via internal working models in adulthood, internal working models move to the level of "Representation" use of narratives and language adult attachment inventory

Cultural influence on temperament

certain kinds of temperament (like an active temperament) might be valued in one culture over but not in others

Resistant-ambivalent attachment

experienced by 10% of infants infant seeks contact with their caregiver before separation after caregiver leaves and returns, they first seek caregiver and then resist or reject offers of comfort not as easily soothed when parents return. they might actually reject the parent initially

Secure attachment

experienced by most infants (65-70% of 1 yr olds) freely explore new environments, touching base with caregiver periodically for security may or may not when separated when infant and caregiver returned, crying ceases quickly. easily soothed. parent is there to comfort

Disorganized/disoriented attachment

experienced by only 5-10% of infants the "other category": the few kids that don't fit secure, avoidant, or resistant attachments contains elements of both avoidant and resistant-ambivalent attachment flagged as being a sign of some kind of trauma or morphology usually shown by troubled children

Ways to classify temperament

Chess and Thomas Kagan Behavioral Inhibition Rothbart & Bates

Easy child

Chess and Thomas Classification of temperament generally in a positive mood quickly establishes regular routines in infancy adapts easily to new experiences American parents prefer this type of child

How do we measure temperament?

Bring babies into a lab with their mom Researcher hides with a scary mask on its face Researcher tries to scare child and sees how child reacts Series of experiments done to see how a child elicits emotions Saliva samples are taken to track cortisone levels during these experiments Saliva = key for studies in emotion and stress. Gives you a lot of info

Difficult child

Chess and Thomas Classification of temperament reacts negatively. negativity more intense than an easy child cries frequently engages in irregular daily routines slow to accept change

Chess and Thomas Classification of temperament

Easy child difficult child slow to warm up child

Biological influence on temperament

Ex: inhibited temperament is associated with a unique physiological pattern that includes a high and stable heart rate, high levels of cortisol hormone, and high activity in the right frontal lobe of the brain this pattern amy be tied to excitability of the amygdala (fight or flight), a brain structure that plays an important role in fear and inhibition

Temperament

Individual diffs in behavioral styles, emotions, and characteristic ways of responding With regard to its link to emotion, the variations in this refer to individual diffs in how quickly emotion is shown, how strong it is, how long it lasts, and how quickly it fades away one of the few aspects of human dev that researchers think might be genetic. They believe infants are born with a certain kind of style of this

Developing sense of self

Infants must learn to distinguish between self and other. If infants start saying "I, you, me", this is a sign that infants are developing a sense of self Use of possessives Rouge task = mirror self recognition. Put red lipstick on mirror. Place baby in front of mirror. If they start touching their nose when looking on the mirror that has the red lipstick on it, this is a sign that baby sees itself in the mirror

Internal Working Models

Models of how relationships work that are linked to self worth and self esteem ex: if you have a parent attentive to your needs, you develop a working model that reminds you that people who love you are going to be responsive to you and that you are worth the caregiver's time developed through daily interactions that you have during your first few years of life follow you into adulthood. blueprint for all future relationships modifiable with A LOT of effort deeply engrained models of how you'll relate to people in adulthood When researchers test attachment in babies, the kinds of attachments they discover correlates to how the child will relate to others as adults (when 20-30 years old)

Styles of attachment

Secure: 60% of infants Avoidant: 15% of infants Resistant: 10% of infants Disorganized/disoriented: 15% of infants

Crying

The infant method of communication 3 types of this: 1) Basic 2) Angry 3) Pain Parents understand what all of these mean. All of these 3 types vary by infant. Parents know their own child's ___ the best

Mutual regulation

When babies are really small, they don't know how to manage their own emotions They can't self regulate emotions like adults When babies are distressed, they really show it and they rely on the "other" to regulate this emotion for them. So in response to a distressed baby, the parent helps them to regulate their distress by calming them down, etc.. As babies get older, they get better managing their emotions and feelings of arousal

How can you tell a child developed a sense of self

When they start to become more possessive of toys OR when they can be able to distinguish btwn themselves and others

Kagan's behavioral inhibition

a way of classifying temperament conceptualized temperament as existing along a spectrum: shy/timid children vs very sociable children sociable child = much more wiling to engage in new situations inhibited children react to many aspects of unfamiliarity with initial avoidance, distress, or subdued affect, beginning around 7-9 months

Rothbart & Bates

a way of classifying temperament in terms of the amount of effortful control an infant has Effortful control = self regulation suggests that Chess and Thomas' categories are mediated by effortful control high infant effortful control = infants can keep their arousal from getting too intense and have strategies for soothing themselves low infant effortful control = unable to control arousal, easily agitated and become intensely emotional If you train kids to have effortful control, you can potentially help them manage their emotions better

Harlow on attachment

contact comfort preferred over food you attach to your mother/father bc they offer you attention and comfort, not because they provide you with food Monkeys preferred the comfort of the cloth mother even though it was the wire mother that dispensed food. Also, this researcher took cloth mother and hand a needle that would poke the monkey at random times. Monkeys would still go back to cloth monkey despite the fact it hurt them at very random times. This researcher also controlled how soon the monkeys were taken from their moms -> the more time monkeys spent w. their mom, the better off they were emotionally -> shows that even a little bit of contact w. mom went a long way

behaviorist on attachment

through classical and operant conditioning, we come to attach to caretakers we learn to attach to these parents by associating food/comfort with them