birth to two years: psychosocial...
TRANSCRIPT
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Birth to Two Years: Psychosocial Development
Emotional Development
Theories
Development of Social Bonds
Emotional Development:
Infants go from experiencing only pain or pleasure to complex patterns of emotions during their first 2 years of life
They become able to express emotion by crying, startling, laughing, raging
They don’t censor their emotions
Ages When Emotions Emerge Birth:
crying/contentment
6 weeks: social smile
3 months: laughter, curiosity
4 months: full, responsive smiles
4-8 months: anger
9-14 months: fear of social events (strangers, separation from caregivers)
12 months: fear of unexpected sights/sounds
18 months: self-awareness, pride, shame, embarrassment
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Infant’s emotions: smiling, laughing
Infants look happy when fed & drifting off to sleep, and they cry and look unhappy when colic-y or are tired or hungry
But these simple emotions are soon joined by more complex ones
Infant’s emotions: smiling, laughing
By about 6 weeks, infants have a social smile: a smile evoked by a human face
This is followed by laughter, between 3-4 months (joy is seen between 2-4 months)
How important is laughter?
Almost everyone is pleased by a baby’s laugh
It is so important among the Navaho people of the southwest that whoever hears a baby’s first laugh is obligated to provide a feast commemorating the fact that baby is becoming a person
Laughter builds as a baby’s curiosity about the world builds, and baby will laugh in response to new discoveries
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Anger and Sadness:
Anger is evident by 6 months, usually triggered by frustration
Most apparent when baby is prevented from obtaining an object or moving where desired
Anger and sadness:
Anger is a healthy response in infancy: unlike sadness, which also appears in the first months and indicates withdrawal
If a baby is sad, it likely is producing too much cortisol, a stress hormone
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More on sadness:
Sadness and withdrawal are not superficial emotions in infants
The levels of stress hormones are not easy to assess
However, if an infant does experience stress, it may shape brain development
Thus early stress/sadness can have lifelong consequences
Fear:
Fully formed fear (not just a distress response at surprise) is apparent by 9 months
2 kinds of social fear:
Stranger wariness: an infant’s expression of concern--staring, clinging, or sadness--when a stranger appears
And separation anxiety: an infant’s distress when a familiar caregiver leaves, most obvious between 9-14 mo.
Separation anxiety:
Normal at age 1
Intensifies by age 2
Usually subsides after that
If it remains strong after 3, it is considered an emotional disorder
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More on fears:
Most 1 year olds are afraid of anything unexpected, not just strangers
They can be frightened by closing elevator doors, the pop of a jack-in-the-box, or a neighbor’s dog
With repeated experiences and careful reassurance, this fear can be reversed
Toddlers’ emotions:
Emotions strengthen over the year
Anger and fear become less frequent during the second year, but are more focused
Laughing and crying become louder, as well as more discriminating
Toddler emotions:
Pride, shame, guilt and embarrassment emerge by the end of the second year
These require an awareness of other people and emerge in the context of family interactions
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Self-awareness:
A person’s realization that he or she is a distinct individual, whose body, mind, and actions are separate from those of other people
Self-awareness:
Very young infants have no sense of self--some think they see themselves as an extension of their mother
They “hatch” at about 5 months, developing a sense of “me-self”
Mirror recognition: “Self” A classic experiment involved babies
aged 9-24 months and having them look into a mirror after a dot had been placed on their noses without their knowing
No baby under 12 months acted as if they knew the mark was on them
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Mirror recognition of self:
Babies between 15-24 months showed self-awareness by touching their noses
Self is also evidenced by use of “I, me, my, mine” words
Some disagree with this test
Some say a sense of self is more complex than this test shows
Believe that (especially with boys) there was little embarrassment, more of an increase in pride with self recognition
Pride does seem to be associated with self-recognition and links with a need for recognition of others
Brain Maturation and Emotions: A part of all emotions
As is nutrition, good experiences
Emotional reactions begin in the brain
fMRI and PET scans are difficult to assess in infants, but we do know that infants’ emotional development is directly connected to brain development in 2 areas: social awareness and reaction to stress
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Synesthesia:
Often connected to creativity in older children or adults
A crossover of senses--stimulation of one sense results in stimulation of another
Common in infants due to indistinct boundaries between areas of the brain
Also related to emotional development in the brain--activation of one area can result in crying unpredictability
Social impulses:
Social smile and first laughter appear as the cortex matures
Same is likely true for non-reflexive fear, self-awareness, and anger
Maturation of the anterior cingulate gyrus (a specific part of the cortex) is directly connected to emotional self-regulation which allows the infant to moderate these emotions
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People matter:
Specific people (those baby sees most often) begin to arouse specific emotions
Almost certainly the result of brain development, because a sequence of neurons fire together and become more closely and quickly connected in the brain
Infant socialization influences:
Infant emotional reactions also depend in part on memory, which is fragile at first due to developing dendrite connections
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The ability to feel emotion is partly dependent upon memory: Toddlers can get angry quickly because
they have connections already formed in the brain for anger and what triggers it
Younger infants lack this
Upshot: don’t tease a toddler!
Stress:
Stress impairs brain development, especially the part of the brain involved in emotions
The part of the brain that regulates some bodily functions and growth (the hypothalamus) will grow more slowly with chronic, early stress
Especially problematic in infants of teen mothers who are neglectful. Why?
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More on stress:
Specifics are difficult to research
But--we know that older children who had early episodes of stress react abnormally not only to stress, but even to photos of frightened people
Prevention is much better than treatment, even when there isn’t clear evidence of stress
Kangaroo care demonstrates this
Theories of Infant Psychosocial Development: Psychoanalytic theory: Freud, Erikson,
connects biosocial and psychosocial development and emphasizes need for responsive maternal care
Both described distinct early stages
Freud: oral and anal stages
Erikson: trust v. mistrust, autonomy v. shame and doubt
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Freud’s stages Oral stage: the infant’s mouth is the
primary source of gratification
Anal stage: elimination is a primary source of gratification
Believed these stages were fraught with potential conflicts with long-term consequences
If weaning was too early, child would be anxious, could have an oral fixation
If toilet-training was too harsh, anal personality would develop
Erikson: Trust and Autonomy
Trust v. mistrust: infants learn basic trust if the world is a secure place where their basic needs for food, comfort, attention, etc, are met
If so, the infant (& later adult) will be able to explore the world confidently
Autonomy v. Shame & Doubt: toddlers must either succeed or fail in gaining a sense of self-rule over their own actions and bodies
Like Freud, Erikson believed:
Problems arising in infancy and toddlerhood could affect later adjustment
If unable to trust or to control self, the child would develop into a suspicious, pessimistic person who was easily shamed
But--autonomy, while valued in the US, is not universally valued, and is seen as immaturity (i.e, the terrible twos)
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Behaviorism:
Behaviorists believe that emotions and personality are formed as parents reward or punish a child’s spontaneous behaviors
Later behaviorists also believed that social learning (learning that is accomplished by observing others) happens
Albert Bandura demonstrated this in his “Bobo” doll experiment
For Behaviorists:
The role of the parents is emphasized
Especially that of the mother (like Freud)
Problem with this focus on the mother is that it is too narrow
Fathers, siblings, and other caretakers matter in formation of emotions and personality
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Cognitive theory:
Is the idea that thoughts and values determine a person’s perspective
Early experiences are important because beliefs, perceptions, and memories make them so, not because they are buried in the subconscious or burned into the brain
Infants use their early relationships to for a working model, a set of references
Working model: In cognitive theory, a set of assumptions
that the individual uses to organize perceptions and experiences.
For example, a person might assume that other people are trustworthy and be surprised by evidence that this working model of human behavior is in error.
Working model:
Ideally, infants develop a working model of the self as valued, loved, and competent, but this doesn’t always happen
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Epigenetic theory:
Holds that every human characteristic is strongly influenced by each person’s unique genotype
This with this theory, an infant might be happy or anxious, not because of experience, but because of inborn predispositions
This theory looks at temperament
Temperament:
Inborn differences between one person and another in emotions, activity, and self-regulation.
It originates in genes, but is affected by child-rearing practices.
Similar to personality, may overlap with personality characteristics
But personality is considered to be primarily learned, temperament is genetic
Temperament can be modified: Long-term studies have shown that
temperament often changes in the early weeks, becomes stable by age 3 or so
Includes Easy (40%), Difficult (10%), Slow to warm up (15%) and Hard to classify (35%) types
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Temperament:
Children with extreme temperaments, difficult or easy, are likely to become adolescents or adults with the same traits
The Big Five personality traits OCEAN acronym
Openness (imaginative, curious, welcomes new experiences)
Conscientiousness (organized, conforming, deliberate)
Extroversion (outgoing, assertive, active)
Agreeableness (kind, helpful, easygoing)
Neuroticism (anxious, moody, self-critical)
Big Five:
Found in many cultures
Only proportion of each vary
More complex that easy/difficult/slow to warm up
But somewhat analogous
Can see these traits in infants
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Sociocultural theory:
Argues that culture, society, has considerable influence through its impact on the caregiver-child relationship, thus on the infant’s development
Includes Ethnotheories: ethnotheories underlie the values and practices of a culture, but are not usually apparent to the people in the culture
How ethnotheories work:
If a culture believes that ancestors are reincarnated in the younger generation, then children are not expected to show respect for adults, but adults are expected to show respect for their reborn ancestors
They have indulgent child-rearing practices
Also explains different ideas of child-rearing between generations
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Proximal and Distal Parenting Proximal parenting: caregiving practices
that involve being physically close to a baby, with frequent holding and touching
Distal parenting: caregiving practices that involve remaining distant from a baby, providing toys, food, and face-to-face communication with minimal holding and touching
In research, the latter resulted in more independent and self-aware infants
Developing social bonds
Healthy infant development depends on forming social bonds
Social exchanges are reuired for language learning
Emotions elicit social reactions
Infants are healthier when their caregivers, especially mothers, are nearby
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Goodness of Fit:
A similarity of temperament and values that produces a smooth interaction between an individual and his or her social context, including family, school, and community
For baby, this means that parents need to adjust to temperament that allows smooth caregiver-infant interaction
It is how they get along
Examples of Goodness of fit:
An anxious (high neuroticism) baby will react more strongly to parents’ responses than an easygoing baby
If parents are ineffective or harsh in actions, the temperament of baby will end up being antisocial, destructive
If a shy child has parents who are patient, providing positive experiences for growth, that shyness may lessen
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It isn’t all genetic
Temperament may be inborn, but it can be modified by parenting, care-giving
Phenotype doesn’t necessarily reflect genotype
Synchrony:
A coordinated, rapid, and smooth exchange of responses between a baby and caregiver
Becomes more frequent and more elaborate as infant ages
Parents spend about 1 hour a day in face to face play, with variations between cultures
Parents learn to “read” their babies, interaction becomes more sensitive
And synchrony does matter: This is tested by the “Still Face
Technique”
An adult and baby are filmed face to face
The adult synchronized expressions (or exaggerated expressions) with baby, then stops, displaying an expressionless face
The baby will become upset, fuss, frown, look away, becoming more upset if the adult is a parent
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Why does the baby display this? Researchers conclude that a parent’s
responsiveness to an infant helps the infant’s development
This is measured not only by psychosocial means, but biologically
Babies with responsive parents display increased weight gain, better brain maturation, and a better heart rate
Thus baby’s development is dependent upon parenting
Attachment:
Toward the end of the first year, face to face play almost disappears as baby becomes more mobile
Explores the world
Starting to walk and talk, and synchrony is not as important
Is replaced by attachment, an “affectional tie,” that an infant forms with a caregiver, a tie that binds them together in space and endures over time
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Attachment:
Begins to form in early infancy
Solidifies by age 1
Influences relationships throughout life
Infants demonstrate attachment through proximal-seeking behaviors (following, staying near, caregiver)
And through contact-maintaining behaviors
Caregivers reciprocate, watching for infants
Stages of Attachment:
Birth to 6 weeks: pre-attachment; newborns signal via crying, body movements, when they need others
When people respond positively, a newborn is comforted
Learns to seek more interaction
Also learns to recognize familiar voices and faces (is primed neurologically to do so)
Stages of attachment:
6 weeks to 8 months: attachment in the making
Infants respond preferentially to familiar people by smiling, laughing, babbling
Caregivers’ voices, touch, expressions, and gestures are comforting, overriding the impulse to cry
Trust develops (Erikson)
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Stages of attachment:
8 months to 2 years:
Classic secure attachment
Infant greets primary caregiver
Shows separation anxiety when caregiver leaves
Plays happily when caregiver is present
Both seek each other, seek proximity and frequently look at each other, and make contact
Stages of attachment:
2 to 6 years:
Attachment as launching pad
Young children seek their caregiver’s praise and reassurance as their social world expands
Interactive conversations and games
Children expect caregivers to comfort and entertain
Stages of attachment:
6 to 12 years: mutual attachment
Children seek to make their caregivers proud by learning what adults want them to learn
Adults reciprocate
In concrete operations stage (Piaget)
Specific accomplishments are valued by adults and children
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Stages of attachment:
12 to 18 years: new attachment figures
Teens explore and make friendships on their own, using their working models of earlier attachments as a base
More advanced, operational thinking (Piaget)
Physical contact is less important
Shared ideals and goals are more influential
Stages of attachment: 18 years on: attachment revisited
Adults develop relationships with others, especially romantic partnerships and parent-child relationships
These are influenced by earlier attachment patterns
Primary caregivers continue to be supportive, & adults continue to seek their praise, but are they’re no longer the prime source of attachment
Past insecure attachments can be repaired but this doesn’t always happen
Secure and Insecure Attachment: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth
researched this in the 1960s & 1970s
While there are some different cultural expressions, there are 4 distinct patterns of attachment
A: insecure/avoidant
B: Secure
C: Insecure-resistant/ambivalent
D: Disorganized
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A: Insecure-Avoidant
A pattern of attachment in which an infant avoids connection with the caregiver, as when the infant seems not to care about the caregiver’s presence, departure, or return
About 10 to 20 % of toddlers
B: Secure
A relationship in which an infant obtains both comfort and confidence from the presence of the caregiver
The caregiver is a base for exploration
About 50 to 70 % of toddlers
A caregiver’s departure may cause distress, and the caregiver’s return results in positive social contact (smiles, hugs)--a balanced reaction
C: Insecure-Resistant/Ambivalent A pattern of attachment in which an
infant avoids connection with the caregiver, as when the infant seems not to care about the caregiver’s presence, departure, or return
About 10-20% of toddlers
When caregiver leaves, infant is unhappy, stops playing, but is angry or clingy, may even hit caregiver, when caregiver returns
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D: Disorganized
A type of attachment that is marked by an infant’s inconsistent reactions to the caregiver’s departure and return
Cautious at play, scared or confused when caregiver leaves, acts oddly on caregiver’s return--may freeze, hit out, scream, or throw things
5-10% of toddlers
Measuring attachment:
Done with “Strange Situation”
Caregiver and child are in well-equipped playroom, caregiver leaves, child is observed, caregiver returns, reaction of child is assessed
A secure toddler will explore the toys, will miss the caregiver on her/his departure, and will welcome caregiver upon return
Predictors of attachment:
A child is more likely to have secure attachment if:
Parent-child relationship is high in synchrony
Infant’s temperament is “easy”
Parents are not stressed about income, other children, or their marriage
Parents have a model of secure attachment to their own parents
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Predictors of attachment: Child is more likely to have insecure
attachment if:
Parent mistreats child (neglect increases type A, abuse increases C and D)
The mother is mentally ill (paranoia increases type D, depression type C)
Parents are highly stressed about income, marriage, other children (A and D)
Parents are intrusive and controlling (A)
Parents are active alcoholics (father-A, mother D)
Child’s temperament is difficult (C,) or slow to warm up (A)
What does this mean?
Generally, securely attached infants are more likely to become socially competent preschoolers, academically skilled school-aged children, and capable parents
But the type of attachment can change if family circumstances change
Children can shift from one type of attachment to another
The most troubled are D because this prevents them from developing an effective strategy for social interaction
Social referencing:
Seeking information about how to react to an unfamiliar or ambiguous object or event by observing someone else’s expressions and reactions. The other person becomes a social reference.
Has many practical applications as child explores the world
Mealtime is a big one--teaches what is food and what is good
Generally can lead to compliance, and obedience, but not always
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Social referencing:
Includes learning what expressions mean
Mothers are very good at getting across what they mean through facial expression, body language, tone of voice
Children gain LOTS of information
Also learn to be anxious through social referencing
Fathers as social partners Fathers tend to spend less time with
infants than mothers
Stereotyped ideas of how a father interacts with baby also shape interaction, some ethnically-influenced
Latino fathers are stereotyped as macho--assertively masculine, but studies show Latino fathers are more involved with their infants than almost any other ethnic group
Fathers and mothers
Fathers can do a lot to enhance their children’s social and emotional development
Are especially good at helping infants modulate their anger
Teenagers are less likely to lash out at authorities and friends if they had a responsive and warm relationship with their fathers as infants
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Mothers and fathers:
Infants can be securely attached to both
Close attachment with infants is correlated with less depression in fathers
Fathers encourage infants to explore, mothers are more cautious
Toddlers learn to expect fun from fathers
In this, they show social intelligence
Infant Day Care:
Worldwide, most infants are cared for by their mothers
Percentage of children cared for outside the home depends in part by subsidies--common in France, Israel, Sweden, rare in Ethiopia, India, and most of Latin America
In Canada, 70% of infants spend their first year with their mothers, in the US, 80% are cared for by someone else as well
Canada provides more support for mothers, so most can afford to take time off work
Mrs. Weber’s research:
Countries provide different levels of support for mothers with children
Italy mandates paid maternity leave for up to 3 years, but has very few resources for day care--and a very low birth rate
The UK and US do not generally subsidize day care, but most mothers manage to find quality child care, and have better birth rates
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Types of non-relative care:
More than half of all 1-year-olds are in regularly scheduled non-maternal care
Family day care--children are cared for in the home of a non-relative; called “family” because children of different ages are together, in a relatively small group
Can be problematic because infants and toddlers can get less attention than older children
Other day care:
A center day care is child care that takes place in a setting especially designed for the purpose, usually with several paid adults care for many children
Usually the children are grouped by age
The day care center is licensed
Staff is trained and certified in child development
High Quality Child Care
Adequate attention to each infant (low caregiver to infant ratio)
Encouragement of language and sensorimotor development (games, talk, songs, easily manipulated toys)
Attention to health and safety (clean, well-maintained, safe areas to explore)
Well-trained and professional staff
Warm and responsive caregivers
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Effects of Infant Day Care
Overwhelming that good preschool education is beneficial for young children
But still much disagreement about the wisdom, morality of non-maternal care for the very young
Results are uneven--as is quality of child care, but good can have good effects on language development
The warmth of the mother-child relationship is far more influential
Other considerations:
Depressed mothers can negatively affect their children’s development
Mothers who make child care their priority even though they work outside the home spend as much time in face-to-face play and care as mothers who do not work outside the home
Day care has been found to be detrimental when quality is poor, and maternal care is likewise insensitive
A final look at infancy:
Norms:
3 months--infants should laugh, roll over, stay half-upright when in a stroller, grab for an object, use two eyes together, if a rattle is in hand can shake it, make cooing noises, display joyous recognition of familiar people
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6 months norms: Sits up without adult support, but
sometimes uses arms
Grabs and grasps objects with whole hand
Babbles, listens, and responds
Tries to crawl (on belly, not yet on all fours)
Stands and bounces with support
Begins to show anger, fear, and attachment
12 months norms: Stands without holding on
Crawls well
Takes a few unsteady steps
Uses fingers, including pincer grasp
Can feed self with fingers
Speaks a few words (mama, dada, baba)
Strong attachment for caregivers
Apparent fear of strangers, of unexpected noises and events
Norms at 18 months:
Walks well
Runs (also falls)
Tries to climb on furniture
Speaks 50-100 words, most are nouns
Responds to requests
Likes to drop things, throw things, take things apart
Recognizes self in mirror
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Norms at 24 months:
Runs well
Climbs up (down is harder)
Uses simple tools (spoon, large marker)
Combines words (usually noun/verb, sometimes noun/verb/noun)
Can use fingers to unscrew tops, open doors
Interested in new experiences and new children
Review:
Emotional development--goes from contentment and distress to fear, anger, and joy; mediated to some extent by brain maturation, and by social interaction
Infant psychosocial development theories: Freud & Erikson, Behavioral, Epigenetic, sociocultural
Development of Social bonds: parental practices moderate these as does temperament, attachment