Lesson 8
Avoidant attachment
- unresponsive to the presence of the parent - Not distressed if the parent leaves - Treat stranger the same as they do the parent - During reunion, they avoid or are slow to greet the parent and when picked up, they do not cling to them.
Problems with the psychoanalytic and behaviorist accounts of attachment
1. They say that feeding it the root of attachment but that is not the case, babies attach to people other than their mothers... even to stuffed animals or blankets. 2. They emphasize the caregivers contributions to the attachment relationship but pay little attention to the importance of the infant's characteristics.
What are the five steps to emotion coaching?
1. be aware of the child's emotions 2. Recognize emotion as an opportunity for intimacy and teaching 3. Listen empathetically and validate the child's feelings 4. Help the child verbally label his or her emotions 5. Set limits while helping the child to problem-solve
What are the four factors that influence attachment style?
1. early availability of a consistent care-giver 2. quality of caregiving 3. the baby's characteristics 4. Family context, including parent's internal working models.
List the four stages of attachment according to Bowlby's Ethological Theory of Attachment
1. preattachment phase 2. Attachment in the making phase 3. Clear-cut attachment phase 4. Formation of a reciprocal relationship.
What percent of infants in N. American show the resistive attachment?
10% of infants in middle-SES families
Describe the "Difficult Child" and the percent that were deemed this in Thomas and Chess's model of temperament.
10% of the sample; has irregular daily routines, is slow to accept new experiences, and tends to react negatively and intensely.
What percent of N. American infants. display the disorganized/disoriented attachment style?
15% of infants in middle-SES families
What percent of infants in North America show the Avoidant attachment style?
15% of infants in middle-SES families
Describe the "Slow-to-warm-up Child" and the percent that were deemed this in Thomas and Chess's model of temperament.
15%; is inactive, shows mild, low-key reactions to environmental stimuli, is negative in mood, and adjusts slowly to new experiences.
A vocab for talking about feelings develops rapidly after ________ months
18
At what age do children understand that others' emotional reactions may differ from their own?
18 months
After age _______, children frequently talk about feelings, and language becomes a major means of actively trying to control them
2
What percent of US children live with their grandparents? What is this called?
2.4 million children or 4 to 5 percent of the child population; skipped-generation families
What percent of child-care centers and family child-care settings provide infants and toddlers with sufficiently positive, stimulating experiences to promote healthy psychological development?
20-25 percent
What percent of N. American mothers and fathers w/o psychological disturbance have a dismissing attachment style?
23% of mothers, 28% of fathers
Father under the age of ________ devote about ________ percent as much time to children as mothers do
29; 85%
Overwhelming guilt is linked to depressive symptoms as early as age _____
3
long-term prediction from early temperament is best achieved after age _____, when children's style of responding are better established
3
At what age can infants match the emotion in a voice with the appropriate face of a speaking person?
3 to 4 months
What percent of fathers experience chronic depression after the birth of a child?
3 to 5 percent
When does laughter appear?
3-4 months
By age _____ to _______, preschoolers verbalize a variety of emotional self-regulation strategies.
3;4
By what grade do children understand the value of display rules in insuring social harmony?
3rd
By what age can children correctly identify the causes of basic emotions? Do preschoolers' explanations tend to focus on internal states or external factors?
4 to 5; external
Describe the "Easy Child" and the percent that were deemed this in Thomas and Chess's model of temperament/ experiment.
40% of the sample; quickly establishes regular routines in infancy, is generally cheerful, and adapts easily to new experience
From what age on do infants perceive facial expressions as organized patterns?
5 months on
What percent of N. American mothers and fathers w/o psychological disturbance has an autonomous/secure attachment?
58%
Between what ages do children become aware of the difference between feeling an emotion and expressing it and thus, reserve the full performance of emotional expressions for communicating with others? The emergence of a mental level of self-communication.
6-8
What percent of mothers with kids under 2 are working?
60%
between ____ and _____ weeks, the parent's communication evokes a broad grin called the social smile
6;10
Between ______ and _______ months, infants more often interrupt their play with an interesting toy to relay their delight to an attentive adult
8 and 10
At what age do infants engage in social referencing?
8 to 10 months
what percent of women experience chronic depression?
8 to 10 percent
What age do infants become initiators of emotional expressions?
9 months
What percent of N. American mothers and fathers w/o psychological disturbance have a preoccupied attachment style?
About 19 percent of North American mothers and 15 percent of fathers without psychological disturbance are preoccupied
When do rapid gains in emotional self-regulation occur?
After school entry; middle childhood and adolescence.
Strange Situation
Ainsworth's method for assessing infant attachment to the mother, based on a series of 8 brief separations and reunions with the mother/ caregiver. The baby's reunion responses define attachment quality.
The still-faced reaction is identical in what 3 groups of babies? What does this suggest?
American, Chinese, and Canadian. It suggests that the still-faced response is a built in withdrawal reaction to caregiver's lack of communication.
When do kids form attachment-related expectations about parent comfort and support?
As early as the second year
Attachment Q-Sort
- Depends on home observations. - A parent of a highly trained observer sorts 90 behaviors into 9 categories, ranging from "highly descriptive" to "not at all descriptive" of the child. Then a score, ranging from high to low in security is computed.
What percent of N. American mothers and fathers w/o psychological disturbance have a unresolved attachment style?
Besides displaying one of the other patterns, about 18 percent of North American mothers and 15 percent of fathers without psychological disturbance are unresolved.
What attachment style is insecure and stable?
Disoriented/disorganized attachment
What is the most influential model of temperament/ who is it by?
Mary Rothbart's
When does pride emerge?
Middle of second year
What SES group gets the worst child care and why?
Middle-SES families because they put their kids in for-profit centers where the quality of care tends to be the lowest.
Uninhibited or sociable children display positive emotion to and approach novel stimuli are the ________ or ____________ children
Uninhibited or sociable children
The first laugh occurs in response to what kind of stimuli?
Very active stimuli like the parent saying playfully, "I'm gonna get you!" and kissing the baby's tummy.
During the early weeks, when do newborns smile?
When full, during REM, and in response to gentle touches and sounds
When is guilt related to good adjustment?
When it occurs at an appropriate time and isn't excessive nor accompanied by shame.
Empathy involves...
a complex interaction of cognition and affect: the ability to detect different emotions, to take another's emotional perspective, and to feel with that person, or respond emotionally in a similar way.
emotional self-efficacy
a feeling of being in control of their emotional experience
Reactive Attachment Disorder
a psychological problem characterized by extreme problems in forming attachments to others. Results from having never formed an attachment to a caregiver when young.
prosocial or altruistic behavior
actions that benefit another person without any expected reward for the self
What dimensions of Rothbart's model of temperament covers the ACTION component in the definition of temperament?
activity level
Besides self-awareness, self-conscious emotions require an additional ingredient:
adult instruction in when to feel proud, ashamed, or guilty.
When do stranger anxiety and other fears decline? And why?
after 2 years; the decline is adaptive
Laissez-faire parent
all emotional expressions are okay, no boundaries, no guidance or confirmation, misses opportunities to teach kids about emotion
The emotion-cognition relationship is evident in the impact of ________________ on performance
anxiety
What are the two conflicting tendencies with encounters with strangers?
approach (indicated by interest and friendliness) and avoidance (indicated by fear)
The strong, affectionate tie we have with special people in our lives that leads us to experience pleasure and joy when we interact with them and to be comforted by their nearness in times of stress is known as ________________
attachment.
What cognitive capacities are involved in emotional self-regulation?
attention focusing and shifting, the ability to inhibit thoughts and behavior, and planning, or actively taking steps to relieve a stressful situation
What dimensions of Rothbart's model of temperament covers the ATTENTION component in the definition of temperament?
attention span/ persistence
By 4 to 6 months, the ability to shift __________ and engage in _________________ helps infants control emotion.
attention; self-soothing
What are the two global arousal states that babies come into the world with?
attraction to pleasant stimulation and withdrawal from unpleasant stimulation.
Among Western children, intense shame is associated with feelings of personal _______________ and ________________
inadequacy ("i'm stupid") and maladjustment (withdrawal, depression, and anger towards those who participated in the shame-evoking situation).
Resistant babies tend to receive what kind of care?
inconsistent care
EEG brain-wave activity has shown a(n) __________ in the _______ hemisphere for people showing facial signs of empathy.
increase, left
EEG brain-wave activity shows a sharp ________ in the _______ hemisphere among children who do not show signs of empathy.
increase; right
By the middle of the second year, social referencing expands to include... Ex: Learn by others mistakes
indirect emotional signals
affective perspective-taking
inferring how another feels by imagining themselves in that person's place
Biologically based reactivity differentiates children with ______________ and _____________ temperaments.
inhibited; uninhibited
Emotion-centered coping
internal, private, and aimed at controlling distress when little can be done about an outcome
How is temperament measured?
interviews or questionnaires given to parents.
Children with the short 5-HTTLPR gene become _________ as their mothers' anxiety about parenting increased. Children without this genetic marker are ________ affected by maternal anxiety.
irritable; not
Emotion
is a rapid appraisal of the personal significance of the situation, which prepares you for action. An emotion expresses your readiness to establish, maintain, or change your relation to the environment on a matter of importance to you.
At what age do advances in perspective taking permit an empathic response not just to people's immediate distress but also to their general life condition?
late childhood and adolescence
Are emotions innate or learned gradually?
learned gradually
Childrens attention spans forecasts their __________ and ____________ development.
learning; cognitive
Is the stability of temperament low or high in infancy and toddlerhood? What about from preschool years on?
low; moderate
When does the ability to consider conflicting cues when explaining others' emotions improve?
middle childhood.
When do self-conscious emotions emerge?
middle of second year, as 18-24 months old become firmly aware of the self as a separate, unique individual
Sensitive caregiving is ____________ related to attachment security in biological and adoptive mother-infant pairs and in diverse cultures.
moderately
still-faced reaction occurs only when ....
natural human communication is disrupted. It causes the babies to try to get a response from their caregiver who is still-faced.
What is the relationship between genetics and attachment? What does this suggest about the strongest parental influence on attachment security?
none; that nonshared experiences are the strongest parental influence on attachment security.
What age kids can engage in basic affective perspective-taking?
older toddlers
When does preference for the mother decline?
over the second year
Emotions arise from ongoing exchanges between the ______________ and the _____________________
person; environment
Consequences to the infants of depressed mothers include
poor sleeping, less attentive, elevated cortisol, delays in motor + mental development, irritability, and attachment difficulties.
By age 3, capacity for self-regulation predicts children's skill at... Ex: acting happy to get a bag gift.
portraying an emotion that they do not feelk
These emotional "masks" are largely limited to ...
positive feelings of happiness and surprise.
What are the two self-conscious emotions that have to do with self-evaluation
pride and embarrassment
By age 1o, most kids shift adaptively between what two general strategies for managing emotions?
problem-centered coping and emotion-centered coping
Pros and cons of observations by researchers in the home or laboratory
pros: avoid the subjectivity of parental reports, can control the children's experiences better in the lab, and they can conveniently combine observations of behavior with neurobiological measures to gain insight into the biological basis of temperament. cons: can lead to other inaccuracies. In homes, observers find it hard to capture all relevant information, especially events that are rare but important, such as infants' response to frustration. And in the unfamiliar lab setting, fearful children who calmly avoid certain experiences at home may become too upset to complete the session if the lab does not permit avoidance
Reactivity refers to
quickness and intensity of emotional arousal, attention, and motor action.
Inhibited or Shy Children
react negatively to and withdraw from novel stimuli
Ethological theory of attachment
recognizes the infant's emotional tie to the caregiver as an evolved response that promotes survival, is the most widely accepted view. By john Bowlby
Self-regulation
refers to strategies that modify that reactivity.
Emtional self-regulation
refers to the strategies we use to adjust our emotional state to a comfortable level of intensity so we can accomplish our goals.
In the second year, gains in _________________ and __________________ lead to new ways of regulating emotion.
representation; language
Sensitive caregiving
responding promptly, consistently, and appropriately to infants and holding them tenderly and carefully
Cross-cultural evidence reveals that people around the world associate photographs of different facial expressions with emotions in the __________ way
same
When do babies start to create attachments?
second half of the first year
The point from which to explore, venturing into the environment and then returning for emotional support is called a ________ _________
secure base
In addition to the vital role of emotions in cognitive, social, and physical development, functionalist theorists point out that emotions contribute to the emergence of _______________________
self-awareness
Human are capable of a second, higher-order set of feelings called ____________________ ____________.
self-conscious emotions
By age 3, self-conscious emotions are linked to
self-evaluations
Internal Working Model
set of expectations about the availability of attachment figures and their likelihood of providing support during times of stress, and the self's interaction with those figures.
Preschoolers show much more pride when they succeed in difficult rather than easy tasks and much more shame when they fail ....
simple rather than hard tasks
Happiness is first expressed in blissful _________, later through exuberant ___________
smiles, laugher
The checking of others' emotions and emotional responses to situations is called ___________ _____________
social referencing
Young children learn how to behave by watching others, aka _________________ ___________________
social referencing
The smile evoked by a human face and parent's communication, normally first evident in infants about 6 - 10 weeks after birth is called the ________ smile
social smile
Efe babies show little ___________ anxiety as they are used to new people but Israeli Kibbutzim infants show higher levels as they are vulnerable to terrorist attacks
stranger
____________- elevates heart rate and blood pressure and depresses the immune response
stress
What is the alternative method to the Strange Situation that is suitable for 1-4 year olds?
the Attachment Q-Sort
What is effortful control?
the capacity to voluntarily suppress a dominant response in order to plan and execute a more adaptive response
What perspective helps us understand the process of which emotions are learned?
the dynamic systems perspective
emotional contagion
the process by which peoples' emotions are caused by the emotions of others
According to Rothbart, individuals differ not just in their reactivity on each dimension but also in
the self-regulatory dimension of temperament, effortful control.
Define problem-centered coping and explain what happens if it doesn't work?
they appraise the situation as changeable, identify the difficulty, and decide what to do about it. If this doesn't work, they engage in emotional-centered coping.
According to Ainsworth, how should children respond in the Strange Situation?
they reasoned that securely attached infants and toddlers should use the parent as a secure base from which to explore in an unfamiliar playroom. In addition, when the parent leaves, an unfamiliar adult should be less comforting than the parent.
Most frequent expression of fear is to ________________ adults, a response called ___________ __________
unfamiliar; stranger anxiety
Are the 7 basic emotions universal or do they vary from culture to culture?
universal
Infants born to mothers who were pressed during pregnancy were four time as likely to engage in __________ and ______________ behavior by age ________
violent; antisocial; 16
What interactive expression cues do researchers attend to in order to infer babies' emotions?
vocal, facial, and gestural
Effortful control (self-regulation)
voluntary, effortful management of emotions like deciding not to see a scary movie or suppressing your anger at a friend's behavior
When does sadness occur?
when infants are deprived of a familiar, loving caregiver or when caregiver-infant communication is seriously disrupted.
What factors affect the US' child care?
- individualistic values - weak government regulations - low funding - Parent. often think their child care is better than it actually is
Unresolved Adult Attachment
These parents show characteristics of any of the three other patterns. At the same time, they reason in a disorganized and confused way when loss of a loved one or experiences of physical or sexual abuse are discussed. - disorganized/disoriented
Why is a caregiver's voice more effective than facial expressions alone?
The voice conveys both emotional and verbal information, and the baby need not turn toward the adult but, instead, can focus on evaluating the novel event.
preoccupied adult attachment
These parents talk about their childhood experiences with highly charged emotion, sometimes expressing anger toward their parents. They appear overwhelmed and confused about their early attachments and cannot discuss them coherently. - Resistant
developmentally appropriate practice
These standards, devised by the U.S. National Association for the Education of Young Children, specify program characteristics that serve young children's developmental and individual needs, based on both current research and consensus among experts.
How do researchers asses the quality of attachment for kids 1-2 years of age?
They use the laboratory technique called the Strange Situation
Why do temper tantrums occur?
because toddlers cannot control the intense anger that often arises when an adult rejects their demand, particularly when they are hungry or tired.
When does separation anxiety increase?
between 6 and 15 months
The relationship between emotion and cognition is ___________
bidirectional
When does envy emerge?
by age 3
Functionalist approach to emotion
emphasizing that the broad function of emotions is to energize behavior aimed at attaining personal goals
When do smiles become deliberate social signals?
end of 1st year.
When do toddlers begin to empathize?
end of second year as self-awareness strengthens
Goodness-of-fit model
explains how temperament and environment together can produce favorable outcomes; involves creating child-rearing environments that recognize each child's temperament while encouraging more adaptive functioning
What do researchers rely most on when determining what emotions infants are expressing/ experiencing?
facial expressions
Around middle of the first year, infants laugh more with what groups of people?
familiar people
What does laughter reflect?
faster processing of information than smiling.
What dimensions of Rothbart's model of temperament covers the EMOTION component in the definition of temperament?
fearful distress, irritable distress, positive affect, and soothability
Sympathy
feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune
When do angry expressions increase in frequency and intensity?
from 4 to 6 months into the second year
The functionalist approach says that children must do what in order to adapt to their physical and social worlds?
gain control over their emotions
About ______ of individual difference have been attributed to difference in genetic makeup
half
What are the 7 basic emotions?
happiness, interest, surprise, fear, anger, sadness, disgust
what are the two types of smiles common in 10-12 months olds that vary w/ context? And what does each one mean?
"cheek-raised" - response to a parent's greetings "mouth open" - during stimulating play
Summarize the Formation of a reciprocal relationship phase.
- 18 months to 2 years and on - separation anxiety declines as babies understand some of the factors causing them to come and go - Children negotiate with caretakers to alter their goals but also to better understand their absence and time of return (internal working model)
Summarize the "Clear-cut" attachment phase
- 6 to 8 months to 18 months to 2 years - Attachment to caregiver is evident - Babies display separation anxiety but only if they have grasped the concept of object permanence - Older infants and toddlers try to maintain the mother's presence. - Caregiver is the baby's secure base.
What percent of North American infants show a secure attachment style? Contrast different SES status'
- 60% of infants in middle-SES families. - Lower percent for infants in low-SES families with more in the insecure patterns
Summarize the "Attachment-in-the-making" Phase
- 6wks - 6 to 8 months - babies respond differently to a familiar caregiver than to a stranger. - Develop sense of trust but still do not protest when separated from the mother.
Emotion-coaching parent
- Adds to the acceptance of the child's emotions the advantage of being willing and able to help. guide the kid through the world of emotion. - Emotion-coaching parents help children feel secure that their parents will understand and will come to their aid. Emotion-coaching parents accept all emotions—but not necessarily all behaviors. - They help the child manage their emotions as well as solve the underlying problems.
Disapproving Parent
- lacks empathy for the child's distress. - Rather than trying to understand the kid, they respond to it immediately as a behavioral issue. - These parents fear that their child is manipulating them, so they suspect that a display of emotion might just be a child's attempt to "get their own way" - They often react violently themselves and use physical punishment. They simply don't have any patience for dealing with emotions—it is just a waste of time from their perspective.
List the practices that Gottman recommends to improve parent's emotional awareness.
- meditation - prayer - journal writing - artistic expression (such as playing an instrument) - solitude
autonomous/secure adult attachment
- parents show objectivity and balance when talking about their childhood experiences, whether positive or negative. - Neither idealize their parents nor feel angry about the past - Explanations are coherent and believable - Equivalent to secure attachment
Secure Attachment
- parents/ caregivers are the secure base - When separated, if they cry, it is do to the absence of the parent. - When the parent returns, they actively seek contact and the crying is immediately reduced.
Summarize the preattachment phase.
- birth to 6 weeks - built in signals (grasping, smiling, crying, and gazing into the adult's eyes) helps bring newborn babies into contact with other humans. - babies can recognize mother's smell, voice, and face. - Not yet attached to her in particular
Disorganized/Disoriented Attachment
- Reflects greatest insecurity; baby shows confused, contradictory behaviors. - Looking away when held, approaching parent with a flat depressed emotion - Most display a dazed facial expression - A few cry out unexpectedly after having calmed down or display odd, frozen postures
Resistant Attachment
- Seek closeness to parent when they're present and don't explore - Distressed when parent leaves - When parent returns, they combine clinginess with angry, resistive behavior, struggling when held and sometimes hitting and pushing. - Continue to cry and cling even after being picked up - Not easily comforted
Dismissing Parent
- Skirts emotional. issues - They do not like to deal with the negative emotions of the child so they just distract the child or minimize/ dismiss the importance of the issue. - These parents tend to want their kid to be happy all the time and see negative emotions as a nuisance to be buried as quickly as possible
Adult Attachment Interview
- a structured interview used to assess an individual's past attachment history and "internal working model" of relationships. - It was created by Mary Main. The interview asks adults to evaluate childhood memories of attachment experiences.
What does the dynamic systems perspective say about the gradual development of emotions?
Children coordinate separate skills into more effective, emotionally expressive systems as the CNS develops and the child's goals and experiences change
What is the problem with a dismissing parent
Children do not get opportunities to have parents understand them, to talk through what is bothering them, or to get help in coming up with ways to handle the problems that created these negative emotions in the first place.
At the end of the first year, ______________ and _________________ enable infants to regulate emotion more effectively by approaching or retreating from various situations.
Crawling; walking
Temperament
Early-appearing, stable individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation
What are the three types of children in regard to Thomas and Chess's model of temperament?
Easy Child, Difficult child, Slow-to-warm-up child
Define self-conscious emotions and provide examples.
Emotions such as guilt, shame, embarrassment, envy, and pride; each involves injury or enhancement of our sense of self.
Under what conditions are attachment styles insecure and unstable?
For infants in low-SES. Some start secure but then move to insecure.
Under what conditions is quality of attachment usually secure and stable?
For infants in middle-SES families experiencing favorable life conditions.
The evidence on orphanage children indicates what about attachment?
Fully normal emotional development depends on establishing a close tie with a caregiver early in life.
What is the name of the special form of communication that separates the experiences of secure from insecure babies?
Interactional synchrony
Explain Mary Rothbart's model of temperament
It combines related traits proposed by Thomas and Chess and other researchers, yielding a concise list of 2 dimensions. Her model deletes the overly broad dimensions in Thomas and Chess's model.
What is the unique feature of Rothbart's mode of temperament?
It includes both fearful distress and irritable distress, thus, distinguishing between reactivity triggered by fear and reactivity triggered by frustration.
Low cortisol can do what to growth?
It interferes with the release of growth hormones, resulting in stunted growth.
interactional synchrony
It is best described as a sensitively tuned "emotional dance," in which the caregiver responds to infant signals in a well-timed, rhythmic, appropriate fashion
Twin studies reveal what about empathy?
It is moderately hereditable
The DRD4 7-repeat gene makes children ________ susceptible to the effects of both negative and positive parenting.
More
Avoidant babies tend to receive what kind of care?
Overstimulating
Pros of parental reports for measuring temperament
Parental reports are convenient and take advantage of parents' depth of knowledge of the child across many situations. Additionally, parent perceptions are vital for understanding how parents view and respond to their child.
Pros of Q-Stort in assessing attachment styles
Pros: - taps a wider array of attachment-related behaviors than the Strange Situation - May better reflect the parent-child relationship in everyday life. Cons: - Time consuming - doesn't differentiate between types of insecurity
What is the common attachment style for Japanese infants?
Resistant
What is the impact of infants with a chromosome-11 gene w/ DNA base pairs, called "DRD4 7-repeat," on attachment?
These kids face challenges in managing intense emotion and are more vulnerable to the negative impact of maternal adjustment problems and thus, often have the disorganized attachment style. .
Dismissing Adult Attachment
These parents devalue the importance of their attachment relationships. They tend to idealize their parents without being able to recall specific experiences. What they do recall is discussed intellectually, with little emotion. - Avoidant
What is the most common attachment style across all cultures?
Secure
Parental + maternal depression is a strong indicator of what in regard to the child?
child behavior problems, especially overactivity, and aggression in boys.
The study involving children from Romanian orphanages revealed abnormally high or abnormally low levels of _______________ in their saliva.
cortisol
Cons of parental reports for measuring temperament
criticized as being bias
Emotional Display Rules
culturally defined rules specifying when, where, and how it is appropriate to express emotions
Emotional expressions vary with the person's ....
developing capacity, goals, and contexts.
What are the factors that affect the extent to which a child's temperament remains stable?
development of the biological systems on which temperament is based, the child's capacity for effortful control, and the success of her efforts, which depend on the quality and intensity of her emotional reactivity.
Effortful control improves gradually as the result of
development of the prefrontal cortex and the assistance of caregivers
Among maltreated infants, what kind of attachment it common?
disoriented/disorganized attachment
Identical and fraternal twins become increasing ________________ in personality with age.
dissimilar.
When does fear arise?
during the second half of the first year into the second year
Relying on another person's emotional reaction to appraise an uncertain situation is called
emotional referencing
