Ch-6 Social & Emotional Development in Infants & Toddlers

Insecure-avoidant attachment

Infants don't seem to use the mother as a secure base to explore the room. They show little distress when she leaves and actively avoid her or resist her efforts to pick them up upon her return. They often treat the mother and stranger similarly

Insecure-disorganized attachment

Infants seem to lack any organized way of dealing with the stress of separation. They show contradictory patterns of behavior, such as approaching the mother and freezing, and often appear confused, dazed, or fearful of the mother.

Secure attachment

Infants use the mother as a secure base to explore the room. When separated from the mother, they don't always become unduly distressed, but if they do, they seek contact with the mother and are quickly comforted. They prefer the mother to the stranger.

Separation anxiety

a general wariness and distress in the absence of their primary caregiver

social smile

a smile that occurs in response to seeing a human face

attachment behavioral system

a system of behaviors of infants and caregivers that ensures proximity to the caregiver

f the boy's behavior was often characterized by the sorts of impulsive actions you witnessed, he would be rated as low in _____________________. a. positive emotionality b. negative emotionality c. effortful control d. both a and c

c

simple social play

engaging in simple communication and reciprocal social exchanges

caregivers of _______________________ infants tend to be intrusive into the baby's activities or reject the infant's social overtures

insecure-avoidant

What factors lead to the development of self-recognition?

maturation of the brain and cognitive development , sociocultural influences

Sigmund Freud proposed that attachment relationships were a by-product of the infant's drive for __________________

oral gratification

parallel play

playing with another child but not communicating

self-conscious emotions beginning to appear at about 18 to 24 months are

shame, embarrassment, pride, and guilt.

Children with ASD experience atypical development of responses to social cues and impaired social communication in the first 2 years. These are hypothesized to be associated with lowered activation of the neural reward system and atypical functioning of the social brain network

true

The Beng people of the Ivory Coast are very welcoming to strangers, and their infants do not show the typical stranger anxiety seen at 6 to 9 months of age

True

The research on disorganized attachment makes it clear that the development of attachment is not solely due to parental influences on infants

True

The researchers detected cultural differences in later-developing social and cognitive skills such as pretend play and understanding of pictures

True

Time spent in nonmaternal care was only associated with insecure attachment when it was combined with less sensitive caregiving by mothers. The highest risk of insecure attachment occurred for infants who had both a parent and a primary child care provider who were low in sensitivity and responsiveness

True

studies show that an accurate and stable diagnosis of sutism can often be made by age 2, which allows early intervention

True

the time parents and infants spend together at night is important in the development of a secure attachment

True

Three aspects of these coordinated emotional and attentional responses are observed at 9 to 12 months

Use of pointing and gesturing. Infants allow others' pointing, gesturing, and gazing to direct their attention toward particular objects in their environment and use their own pointing, gesturing, and gazing to direct the attention of others Joint attention. Infants engage in joint attention, in which the infant and caregiver simultaneously turn their attention toward a particular object, a process that lends itself well to learning word meanings Social referencing: Infants display social referencing, in which they use the vocal, facial, and gestural displays of caregivers to regulate their behavior. For example, infants rely on the caregiver's emotional reactions to reduce their fear of novel objects, events, and people, leading to greater exploration of their environment

Still Face procedure

a classic experimental technique in which the caregiver interacts in a normal manner and then ceases to respond for a short period of time. Infants act distressed and use facial expressions, vocalizations, and body movements to reengage the parent

Social brain

brain circuits have begun to be mapped out using neuroimaging methods, and they have been dubbed the

sensitive-responsive caregiving

caregiving that is sensitive to the infant's signals and responsive to the infant's needs and social overtures (such as crying) and social overtures (such as smiling), interpreting these signals correctly, and responding quickly and effectively without being overly intrusive into the baby's ongoing activities

Research over the past two decades has established that early and intense intervention using applied behavior analysis (techniques of behavior modification) helps children with autism develop social and linguistic skills and reduce stereotyped behavior, particularly if the intervention is begun in the first 3 years

True

internalizing problems

behavioral or emotional problems that involve the self (such as anxiety; depression; withdrawal; loneliness; and difficulty sleeping, eating, or concentrating)

In the first month, infants display three interpretable emotional states

contentment, interest, and distress,

In the first 6 months, infants learn to communicate with other people using facial expressions and emotions and gradually improve both _____________ and _________________

emotional expression, emotional perception

separation and stranger anxiety

emotional reactions that begin at about 6 to 9 months of age

self-conscious emotions

emotions involving a concept of how the current state relates to the status of the self in relation to a desired goal or outcome

One self-conscious emotion emerging about 18 to 24 months is _________________

empathy

looking in a mirror and touching a spot of rouge on one's nose

evidence of self-awareness

empathy

example of a self-conscious emotion

externalizing problems

externalizing problems

solitary play

playing all by the themselves

Behavioral inhibition

shyness

We can divide the first 6 months into two phases

social coordination and basic emotional communication.

four different types of play in toddlers:

solitary play, parallel play, simple social play, and cooperative pretend play

Examples of emotional regulation

sucking their thumb, shifting their attention away from an object or person that is upsetting them, or seeking reassurance and bodily contact with their primary caregiver

attachment relationship

the close relationship that forms between infants and their caregivers

goodness of fit

the extent to which the environment accommodates for temperament in a way that increases adaptive functioning of the child

secure base

the infant uses the primary caregiver as a base for exploration as well as a source of physical and emotional comfort

3 main conclusions about cultural variations in attachment security

the most common pattern across cultures is secure attachment to the mother, certain core features of attachment are found in all cultures, particular features of infant behavior related to attachment may vary across cultures.

Socialization

the process by which parents and other adults teach children what behaviors are appropriate or inappropriate in their family and culture

internal working model

the set of expectations a child has about the availability, consistency, sensitivity, and responsivity of the attachment figure

signs of self-awareness emerge at 18 to 24 months

toddlers refer to themselves using their name or a personal pronoun (I, me, or my). Most know their own name and gender by 24 months of age. In addition, as noted earlier, they insist on doing things themselves, such as brushing their teeth or using a spoon

Another study found that social anxiety in adolescence was associated with behavioral inhibition in infancy only if the infants also had been insecurely attached to their parents

true

Infants possess a primitive set of social responses

true

Kagan and colleagues thought these findings pointed indirectly to the amygdala as a source of temperamental differences

true

One reason that toddlers cooperate more often than they resist is that they are attached to the parent and want to maintain a positive relationship

true

Studies have shown that infants who are neglected or abused have a high likelihood of developing a disorganized attachmen

true

Studies of parenting influences on temperament have revealed connections between maternal sensitivity and responsiveness at one age and decreases in negative emotionality at a later age

true

a child who acts aggressively at age 14 months may change and be nonaggressive by age 3 or 4. However, a child who is aggressive at age 3 is likely to continue to have problems with aggressive behavior and other disruptive behavior at later ages unless strong measures are taken to intervene.

true

the Still Face procedure

useful in demonstrating that infants expect their social partners to interact

What did researchers find from the mirror self-reflection test in rural and urban middle class families?

Children in the village environments were delayed by several months in mirror self-recognition, because people in the village environment prioritized social relationships in their conversations and behavior with the children, whereas people in the middle-class environment prioritized the toddlers' individuality and personal achievements.

Temperament

Early appearing differences among infants in emotions, activity, and attention that are at least partly based in biology

Thomas and Chess identified three different temperamental types in a sample of children they were following longitudinally. These were:

Easy children (40 percent) were cheerful and adaptable and had regular sleep-waking and eating cycles. Difficult children (10 percent) had intense negative reactions to new stimuli, were less adaptable, and had irregular daily cycles. Slow-to-warm-up children (15 percent) were less active and intense in terms of both positive and negative reactions to situations than the other two types and adapted slowly to new experiences.

Gene & biological influences on temperament

Hormonal differences between males and females, increased testosterone in males

Strange Situation

a structured observation used to classify the nature of the attachment relationship between infant and caregiver

Why does anxiety about unfamiliar people emerge so reliably across cultures between 6 and 9 months?

1) improvements in memory allow infants to retrieve familiar faces from memory and compare them to the face of a stranger. If a match is not found, the infant can become anxious or fearful 2) Interacting with strangers often violates infants' goals and expectations for a smooth social interaction with caregivers at this age, leading to anxiety or fear 3) Infants are drawn to pay attention to fearful faces at this age because it is the first age at which infants begin to venture away from the caregiver and possibly head into danger. Hence, it is adaptive for the human brain to have a system for attending to fearful faces (and other signs of danger, such as the warning shout of a parent) at about this age.

infants begin to smile at about

6 to 8 weeks

Between ____________ and ________________ months, infants in all cultures develop two specific anxieties. These include:

6, 9 , separation anxiety, stranger anxiety

Between ___________ and ____________ months, infants begin to understand that their own and others' goals may be coordinated

9, 12

Insecure-ambivalent attachment

Infants often cling to the mother and fail to explore the room. They are usually quite distressed when she leaves, and when she returns they behave ambivalently—they are likely to seek contact with her and then angrily resist being held

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

a neurodevelopmental disorder involving impairments in social communication and a restricted range of interests and activities

A relationship was still found at age 32 years between maternal sensitivity at ages 1 to 3 years and academic outcomes, controlling for socioeconomic status and child gender

True

In an extensive set of naturalistic observations that has yet to be duplicated, Ainsworth and colleagues (1978) found that maternal sensitivity-responsiveness correlated 0.78 with attachment security rated in the Strange Situation

True

active protest

a distinct emotional display pattern observed at 4 to 6 months

empathy

ability to feel an emotion similar to one another person is experiencing

emotional regulation

adjusting or controlling emotional reactions in order to achieve one's goals

Differences between babies in the frequency with which they display these negative emotions are due to variations in the functioning of brain circuits in these brain regions:

amygdala and various areas of the temporal and prefrontal cortex

Indications that toddlers begin to feel guilty (signified by frowns, downcast eyes, and hanging the head) were found as early as ______________months in one cross-sectional study

22

Infants and children from all countries used the mother as a secure base to explore or to calm down when distressed

True

Infants in all three cultures engaged in imitation, gaze following, and communicative pointing to the same degree, indicating that understanding of their own and others' goals emerges at similar ages across cultures.

True

It is possible that connections between attachment in infancy and later cognitive, emotional, and social development are due to the quality of parent-child relationships later in childhood rather than exclusively the security of attachment in the first 12 months

True

Researchers have found that families with higher marital conflict and lower satisfaction with the marriage tend to have a higher rate of insecure attachments

True

Securely attached infants were rated by teachers and observers as more socially competent at ages 3 to 4 and in first grade

True

stranger anxiety

characterized by distress reactions to strangers

Behavioral studies have shown that young infants who continue to cry despite parental efforts to soothe them (they are high in negative emotionality) are more likely to develop _______________than infants with more positive responses to parental soothing

disorganized attachment

In the two separation anxiety incidents captured in this video, the most effective soothing behavior on the part of both mothers seems to be __________________; a possible cultural difference in behavior is ____________________________. a. contact comfort; how friendly the child is to the stranger b. talking and distracting the infant from his/her discomfort; the presence of other children in the room c. contact comfort; whether the mother talks and tries to distract the infant from his/her discomfort d. trying to create a happy mood in the infant; how friendly the mother is with the stranger

Ans: c

What particular response patterns you can observe in the video would be most useful in judging security of attachment to a particular person? a. Using the person as a secure base to explore the world b. Whether the infant acts positively to the stranger c. Whether a crying infant calms down when reunited with the primary caregiver d. How shy or outgoing the infant seems to be e. Both a and c

Ans: e

Occupational therapists

Can help children with ASD regulate behavior using idea about their internal arousal states and how to get more organized

What did they find in the Infant habituation to responsive and unresponsive caregivers study?

Compared to baseline performance on the final habituation trial, the infants looked longer at events that violated their expectations. Infants who were securely attached looked longer at the unresponsive caregiver trial, whereas insecurely attached infants looked longer at the responsive caregiver trial.

3 Hierarchy of Temperament Traits

Negative emotionality Behavioral inhibition (anxiety or fear): Inhibition of behavior with novel people and situations Anger: Aggressive or irritable behavior in response to painful or frustrating experiences Positive emotionality: High-intensity pleasure: Pleasure, positive anticipation, and excitement in social interaction Low-intensity pleasure: Delight in sensual gratification and comfort Activity level: Frequency, briskness, and vigor of motor movement; intolerance of forced idleness Effortful control: Attention/persistence: Capacity for attentional focusing and control as a basis for persistence Inhibitory control: Ability to inhibit a dominant response and/or activate a subdominant response, to plan, and to detect errors

Four distinct emotional display patterns are observed between 4 and 6 months of age

Social engagement: facial expression of joy, positive vocalizations, and gazing at the caregiver Object engagement: gazing at and mouthing objects, general scanning of the physical environment, facial expression of interest Passive withdrawal: irritable vocalizations, sad facial expressions, and indicators of stress such as spitting up or hiccupping Active protest: angry facial expressions, scanning behavior, attempts to escape, irritable vocalizations, and indicators of stress

How do we know when toddlers become aware that they exist as independent individuals?

The classic demonstration of self-awareness is the mirror self-recognition or "rouge test." In this clever procedure, a researcher casually dabs a spot of rouge on a toddler's nose and places the child in front of a mirror.. 9 to 12 month old infants. unaware that the rouge was placed on their nose) often notice the rouge spot in the mirror but reach out to touch the reflection in the mirror as if it were another child. In contrast, many 18- to 24-month-olds rub their nose, aware that it is their own reflection in the mirror

The teacher asks a boy to help stack blocks, but the boy knocks them down deliberately. One reason discussed in this section for the boy's contrary actions is _____. a. he does not understand the teacher's request b. he realizes that his own actions and desires and those of the teacher are independent c. he is a highly uncooperative and aggressive child by temperament d. he is ignoring the teacher and just having fun

b

Which techniques does the teacher use to encourage cooperation by the boy? a. Asking politely b. Reminding him of the rule "we don't climb on the cots" c. Relying on classroom routines (children wash their hands before and after eating) d. All of the above Correct!

d

cooperative pretend play

engaging in shared pretend play

social coordination

imitation of adult faces such as sticking out their tongue, and opening and closing their mouths

Children with insecure attachments are more likely than those with secure attachments to have both __________________and _________________

externalizing problems, internalizing problems

social referencing

infants use emotional displays by a caregiver to guide their behavior toward an object or person

Caregivers of __________________ infants tend to be inconsistent—sometimes they respond, but sometimes they ignore the baby's needs, and they often fail to provide comfort in response to distress

insecure-ambivalent

Stressors associated with poverty, such as food insecurity, living in a dangerous neighborhood, and parental use of alcohol and drugs, have been found to reduce ___________________ and increase the chance that infants will have an insecure attachment at 12 months

maternal sensitivity-responsivity

the course of development depended more on changes in parenting behavior than on the original attachment classification

true

a meta-analysis of 16 studies showed that fathers' sensitivity-responsiveness was related to security of father-infant attachment in the Strange

true