Socioemotional Development in Infancy Chapter 4 Socioemotional Development in Infancy

What Are Emotions? Emotion -- feeling, or affect, that occurs when a person is in a state or an interaction that is important to him or her, especially to his or her well-being Emotions involve an individual’s communication with the world In infancy, it is the communication aspect that is at the forefront of emotion (Campos, 2009)

Biological and Environmental Influences Emotions are influenced both by biological foundations and by a person's experience Facial expressions of basic emotions such as happiness, surprise, anger, and fear are the same across cultures Display rules—when, where, and how emotions should be expressed—are not culturally universal (Shiraev & Levy, 2010)

Early Emotions In the first six months, infants may express surprise, interest, joy, anger, sadness, fear, and disgust Other emotions appear in the second half of the first year and by the second year jealousy, empathy, embarrassment, pride, shame, and guilt these have been called self-conscious emotions or other-conscious emotions Example: Don’t cry over spilled milk?, glass for Mommy, his toy is better – always! (Lewis, 2007; Saarni & others, 2006)

Emotional Expressions and Relationships Emotional expressions -- infants’ first relationships Infants communicate emotions and this enables coordinated interactions with their caregivers Parents change their emotional expressions in response to infants’ emotional expressions Infants also modify their emotional expressions in response to their parents’ emotional expressions “Synchrony”

Crying Crying -- most important mechanism newborns have for communicating Babies have at least three types of cries: basic cry some infancy experts believe that hunger is one of the conditions that incite the basic cry anger cry pain cry the pain cry may be stimulated by physical pain or by any high-intensity stimulus

Should Parents Respond to an Infant’s Cries? Many developmentalists recommend that parents soothe a crying infant, especially in the first year This reaction should help infants develop a sense of trust and secure attachment to the caregiver

Smiles Two types of smiling can be distinguished in infants: Reflexive smile -- does not occur in response to external stimuli and appears during the first month after birth, usually during sleep Social smile -- occurs in response to an external stimulus Social smiling often occurs in response to a caregiver’s voice (Campos, 2005)

Fear Fear -- one of a baby’s earliest emotions first appears at about 6 months and peaks at about 18 months abused and neglected infants can show fear as early as 3 months stranger anxiety -- most frequent expression of an infant’s fear usually emerges gradually depends on the social context and the characteristics of the stranger Examples: Quivering lip, Santa Claus/Easter Bunny (Campos, 2005; Emde, Gaensbauer, & Harmon, 1976)

Frequency of Stranger Anxiety Less stranger anxiety when they are in familiar settings When infants feel secure, they are less likely to show stranger anxiety Less fearful of child strangers than adult strangers Less fearful of friendly, outgoing, smiling strangers than of passive, unsmiling strangers Separation protest -- crying when the caregiver leaves Example: Babysitters, daycare (Bretherton, Stolberg, & Kreye, 1981)

Social Referencing Social referencing -- reading emotional cues in others to help determine how to act in a particular situation Examples: Falling? Thunder? helps infants to interpret ambiguous situations more accurately by the end of the first year, a parent’s facial expression influences exploration of an unfamiliar environment social referencing improves in the second year of life

Emotional Regulation and Coping During the first year of life, infant develops ability to minimize the intensity and duration of emotional reactions From early in infancy, babies may put their thumbs in their mouths to self-soothe In their second year, they may say things to themselves to help self-soothe (Eisenberg, Spinrad, & Smith, 2004)

Emotional Regulation and Coping Caregivers’ actions influence the infant’s neurobiological regulation of emotions Good strategy to soothe an infant before the infant gets into an intense, agitated, uncontrolled state Later in infancy, infants sometimes redirect their attention or distract themselves in order to reduce their arousal (Laible & Thompson, 2007; de Haan & Gunnar, 2009; Thompson, 2006; Grolnick, Bridges, & Connell, 1996)

Contextual Adaptation Contexts can influence emotional regulation Often affected by fatigue, hunger, time of day, which people are around them, and where they are Must learn to adapt to different contexts Example: no birthday party (Thompson, 2010)

Describing and Classifying Temperament Researchers have described and classified the temperament of individuals in three different ways “Individual differences in emotion, motor, and attentional reactivity and self-regulation” (Rothart & Bates, 1998) Chess and Thomas’ Classification Easy, difficult, and slow-to-warm-up child Kagan’s Behavioral Inhibition Inhibition to the unfamiliar Effortful Control (Self-Regulation)

Effortful Control (Self-Regulation) Effortful control (self-regulation) is an important dimension of temperament Infants high on effortful control show an ability to keep their arousal from getting too high and have strategies for soothing themselves Infants low on effortful control are often unable to control their arousal; they are easily agitated and become intensely emotional (Bates, 2008)

Biological Foundations and Influences Physiological characteristics have been linked with different temperaments (nature) Inhibited temperament is associated with a unique physiological pattern high and stable heart rate high level of the hormone cortisol high activity in the right frontal lobe of the brain (Kagan, 2010)

Personality Development Personality -- the enduring personal characteristics of individuals Emotions and temperament form key aspects Trust Erikson -- first year of life is characterized by the trust versus mistrust stage/crisis

Self-Recognition Infants begin to develop a rudimentary form of self-recognition -- being attentive and positive toward one’s image in a mirror as early as 3 months A more complete index of self-recognition -- the ability to recognize one’s physical features emerges in the second year Examples: Hats, Rouge, floor image (Pipp, Fischer, & Jennings, 1987; Thompson, 2006)

Independence Erikson (1968) stressed that independence is an important issue in the second year of life Erikson’s second stage of development is identified as “autonomy versus shame and doubt” autonomy builds as the infant’s mental and motor abilities develop when caregivers are impatient and do for toddlers what they are capable of doing themselves, shame and doubt develop

Attachment Attachment -- a close emotional bond between two people Freud theorized that infants become attached to the person or object that provides oral satisfaction Harry Harlow’s classic study Attachment, fear, exploration Four phases based on Bowlby’s conceptualization of attachment Phase 1: From birth to 2 months Phase 2: From 2 to 7 months Phase 3: From 7 to 24 months Phase 4: From 24 months on

Theories of Attachment Bowlby -- belief in an internal working model of attachment, keep the caregiver near a simple mental model of the caregiver, their relationship, and the self as deserving of nurturant care Mary Ainsworth (1979) created the Strange Situation the degree to which the caregiver’s presence provides the infant with security and confidence (Thompson, 2006; Ainsworth, 1979)

Individual Differences in Attachment Based on how babies respond in the Strange Situation securely attached babies use the caregiver as a secure base insecure avoidant babies show insecurity by avoiding the mother insecure resistant babies often cling to the caregiver and then resist, fighting against the closeness insecure disorganized babies -- disorganized and disoriented

Criticisms of Attachment Theory Kagan and others believe that too much emphasis has been placed on the attachment bond in infancy Jerome Kagan sees infants as highly resilient and adaptive they are equipped to stay on a positive developmental course Attachment theory ignores the diversity of socializing agents and contexts in an infant’s world (Kagan, 1987, 2002)

Reciprocal Socialization Socialization that is bidirectional children socialize parents just as parents socialize children Scaffolding -- timing interactions so that the infant experiences turn-taking with the parents scaffolding involves parental behavior that supports children’s efforts caregivers provide a positive, reciprocal framework for interaction

Maternal and Paternal Caregiving Mothers spend considerably more time in caregiving with infants and children than do fathers Mothers are more likely to have managerial role Fathers have the ability to act sensitively and responsively with their infants Typical father behaves differently toward an infant than the typical mother Father’s presence in a child’s life is beneficial Leads to more success in school (Lamb, 2010; Parke & Buriel, 2006)

Parental Leave More young children are in child care than at any other time in U.S. history U.S. adults tend not to receive paid leave to care for their young children The United States allows up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for parents who are caring for a newborn The European Union has mandated a 14-week maternity leave

Variations in Child Care Factors that influence the effects of child care the age of the child the type of child care the quality of the program

Types of Child Care Large centers with elaborate facilities Private homes Commercial operations or nonprofit centers run by churches, civic groups, and employers Child care providers vary Professionals Untrained adults who want to earn extra money

Quality of Care Makes a Difference Poor-quality child care is more likely for families with few resources (psychological, social, and economic) Extensive child care was harmful to low-income children only when the care was of low quality High-quality care was linked with fewer internalizing problems (e.g., anxiety) and externalizing problems (e.g., aggressive and destructive behaviors)

Strategies to Follow in Choosing Child Care Recognize that the quality of your parenting is a key factor in your child’s development Make decisions that will improve the likelihood you will be good parents Monitor your child’s development Take some time to find the best child care (Kathleen McCartney, 2003)