1. CHAPTER SIX SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT IN INFANCY

2. I. THEORIES OF SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT Two influential perspectives that formulate hypotheses about infant social and personality development are the psychoanalytic and the ethological perspectives

3. A. Psychoanalytic Perspectives Freud’s psychosexual stages: – Oral stage (from birth to two): infants derive satisfaction through the mouth – The weaning process needs to be managed so that the infant’s need to suck is neither frustrated nor over-gratified – Freud believed that fixation would manifest itself in oral behaviours such as nail-biting and swearing – Emphasis on the symbiotic relationship between the mother and young infant (continued)

4. Psychoanalytic Perspectives (continued) Erikson’ psychosocial stages: – Emphasized the importance of responding to the infant’s other needs by talking to her, comforting her, and so on – The first two years: the trust versus mistrust stage – A period during which the infant learns to trust the world around her or becomes cynical about the social environment’s ability to meet her needs

5. B. Ethological Perspectives John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth – Attachment theory: the view that the ability and need to form an attachment relationship early in life are genetic characteristics of all human beings – Affectional bond: the emotional tie to an infant experienced by a parent – Attachment: the emotional tie to a parent experienced by an infant, from which the child derives security – Reactive attachment disorder: a disorder that appears to prevent a child from forming close social relationships

6. II. ATTACHMENT The majority of parents manage to respond to their infants in ways that foster the development of a close relationship It is important to look at both sides of the relationship equation—at the development of both the parents’ bond to the child and the child’s attachment to the parents

7. A. The Parent’s Attachment to the Infant Synchrony: a mutual, interlocking pattern of attachment behaviours shared by a parent and child The father’s bond with the infant is as dependent on the development of synchrony as the mother’s Fathers and mothers interact differently with infants Fathers are less consistent than mothers in responding to infant cues Babies benefit from interactions with both parents

8. B. The Infant’s Attachment to the Parents Establishing Attachment – Bowlby suggests there are 4 phases Nonfocused orienting and signaling (0 – 2 months) – Uses an innate set of behaviour patterns to signal needs – Proximity promoting behaviours (Ainsworth) Focus on one or more figures (3 – 6 months) – Smiles more at people who regularly care for her – Still uses proximity promoting behaviours with many Secure base behavior (6 – 7 months) – Proximity seeking behaviours (Ainsworth) – Most important person used as a safe base for explorations Internal model (24 months and beyond) – Plays a role in later relationships with early caregivers and in other significant relationships (continued)

9. The Infant’s Attachment to the Parents (continued) Attachment Behaviours: – Stranger anxiety: expressions of discomfort, such as clinging to the mother, in the presence of strangers – Separation anxiety: expressions of discomfort, such as crying, when separated from an attachment figure – Social referencing: an infant’s use of others’ facial expressions as a guide to his or her own emotions (continued)

10. The Infant’s Attachment to the Parents (continued) Internal Models: – Child’s confidence concerning availability of the attachment figure – Child’s expectation of rebuff or affection – Child’s sense of assurance in the safe base Internal models become elaborated from the time a child is 1 year until the age of 4 or 5.

11. C. Variations in Attachment Quality Secure and Insecure Attachments – Ainsworth’s system distinguishes between a secure attachment and 2 types of insecure attachment – These are evaluated using a series of 8 episodes, with children between 12 and 18 months (continued)

12. EPISODES IN THE STRANGE SITUATION 1.Observer brings mother and baby into experimental room and leaves. 2.Mother sits in chair while baby explores. 3.Stranger comes in and is silent for a minute, talks to mother for a minute, and then approaches baby. Mother leaves. 4.Stranger and baby are alone. 5.First reunion: Mother returns, greets, and comforts baby. After engaging baby in play, mother says “bye-bye” and leaves. 6.Second separation: Baby is alone. 7.Stranger enters and is alone with baby. 8.Second reunion: Mother enters, greets, and picks up baby. Stranger leaves.

13. Variations in Attachment Quality (continued) Secure and Insecure Attachments – Secure attachment – Insecure attachments: Avoidant attachment Ambivalent attachment Disorganized/disoriented attachment (continued)

14. Variations in Attachment Quality (continued) In a secure type of relationship, mothers are more sensitive to their infant’s needs and their infant tends to be less fussy and enjoy physical contact (Pederson & Moran, 1996) (continued)

15. Variations in Attachment Quality (continued) Stability of Attachment Classification: – Significant changes in the relationship can change the attachment pattern – Bowlby suggests that by age 4 or 5 the child has internalized the attachment pattern, and that model tends to be imposed on other relationships, for example with teachers or peers

16. D. Caregiver Characteristics and Attachment Factors influencing secure attachment – Emotional Responsiveness Primary caregiver’s emotional availability Contingent responsiveness – Marital Status and SES Higher educational background Higher socio-economic status Older parents Marital conflict – Mental Health Depressed mothers who interact less tend to create insecure attachments

17. E. Long Term Consequences of Attachment Quality Characteristics of Securely attached children – Children rated as securely attached to their mothers in infancy are later: More sociable and more positive in their behaviour toward friends and siblings Less clinging and dependent on teachers and less aggressive and disruptive More empathetic and more emotionally mature in their interactions in school and other settings outside the home (continued)

18. Long Term Consequences of Attachment Quality (continued) Characteristics continue into adolescence and adulthood – More socially skilled in early years – More likely to be leaders – Have higher self-esteem – Increased sociability throughout early, middle, and late adulthood – Affects their parenting behaviours – Demonstrates that the attachment relationship becomes the foundation for future social relationships

19. III. PERSONALITY, TEMPERAMENT, & SELF-CONCEPT Personality: a pattern of responding to people and objects in the environment Temperament: inborn predispositions such as activity level that form the foundations of personality

20. A. Dimensions of Temperament Thomas and Chess’ three dominant temperament types: 1.The easy child 2.The difficult child 3.The slow-to-warm-up child (continued)

21. Dimensions of Temperament (continued) Key temperament dimensions include: 1.Activity level is a tendency to move often and vigorously, rather than to remain passive or immobile. 2.Approach/positive emotionality is a tendency to move toward, rather than away, from new experiences, usually accompanied by positive emotion. 3.Inhibition is the flip side of approach and is a tendency to respond with fear or withdrawal in new situations. This seems to be a precursor to shyness. 4.Negative emotionality is the tendency to respond with anger, fussing, loudness, or irritability or a low threshold of frustrations. 5.Effortful control/task persistence is the ability to stay focussed and to manage attention and effort.

22. B. Origins and Stability of Temperament Heredity – Identical twins are more alike in temperament than fraternal twins – Adult personality studies support innate temperament Neurological processes – Underlying physiological processes – Kagan Shyness – Differing thresholds for arousal – Dopamine and serotonin problems – Frontal lobe asymmetry (continued)

23. Origins and Stability of Temperament (continued) Environment – Are neurological differences a cause or an effect of temperament? – Sandra Scarr describes ‘Niche-Picking’: People of all ages choose the experiences that reflect their temperaments – Parents may also be able to either increase or decrease the effects of an infant’s inborn temperamental tendencies – Goodness-of-fit is the degree to which an infant’s temperament is adaptable to his or her environment, and vice versa (continued)

24. Origins and Stability of Temperament (continued) Long Term Stability: – Temperamental patterns seen in infancy tend to persist through childhood – Researchers have found considerable consistency at various ages in measures of inhibition

25. C. Self-Concept The Subjective self: – An infant’s awareness that she or he is a separate person who endures through time and space and can act on the environment – Like object permanence, babies are usually fully aware of the subjective self by 8 to 12 months of age (continued)

26. Self-Concept (continued) The Objective (categorical) self: – The toddler’s understanding that she is defined by various categories such as gender or qualities such as shyness – A child develops the initial self-awareness that delineates the formation of the objective self by about the middle of the second year of life – By late in the second year a child can label themselves in several ways: by name and gender, for example (continued)

27. Mirror Recognition and Self-Naming

28. Self-Concept (continued) The Emotional Self: – Development of the emotional self begins when the baby learns to identify changes in emotions expressed in others’ faces, at 2 – 3 months – As the infant’s understanding of self advances, it is matched by parallel progressions in the baby’s expression of emotions – Near the end of the first year, babies use the caregiver’s emotions to guide their own feelings (continued)

29. Self-Concept (continued) Awareness of the Intentions of Others: – An infant becomes aware that other people have separate intentions or “internal mental states” (a mind of their own) at 2 years – A child’s capability to pay attention to both another person’s intentions and an object at the same time (for example to draw someone’s attention to a toy) is a form of joint attention and is related to later language, intellectual, behavioural, and emotional adjustment

30. IV. EFFECTS OF NONPARENTAL CARE In 1967, only 17% of Canadian mothers with pre-school children were in the labour force By 2007, roughly 70% of such women were working outside the home In 2000 Canadian Employment Insurance Act increased length of benefit payments for parental leave – In 2007 55.2 % of fathers took some time off for the birth or adoption of a child – Mothers are more likely to take more time off to spend with infants and toddlers – Breastfeeding time increased to World Health Organization standard 54% of children under 5 receive some non-parental care

31. Trends in Dual Earner and Single Earner Families

32. Family Income Level vs. Child Care Arrangements

33. A. Difficulties in Studying Non- Parental Care Non-parental daycare of children is now a part of the Canadian way of life The most common pattern—especially for infants and toddlers—is for a child to be cared for in an unregulated setting outside the home by a nonrelative The second most prevalent type of non-parental child care is provided in regulated licensed daycare centres When there is congruency between a mother’s employment preference and her employment decision, she is less depressed and more stable care is provided Studying alternative forms of child care in Canada, such as care provided by relatives or in a home setting, is difficult because of its “private nature”

34. B. Effects on Cognitive Development, Peer Relations, and Attachment High-quality, cognitively enriched daycare has beneficial effects on children’s overall cognitive development especially for infants and children from poor families who show significant and lasting gains in IQ and later school performance The impact of daycare on children’s personalities is not entirely rosy (continued)

35. Effects on Cognitive Development, Peer Relations, and Attachment (continued) One study has found that coupled with insensitive mothering, insecure attachment is amplified by the child averaging more than 10 hours per week in any type of nonparental care, regardless of quality; multiple child- care arrangements; or exposure to low-quality daycare Jay Belsky concludes that the quality of attachment to parents is dependent on the larger familial, community, societal, and cultural context in which child care occurs

36. C. Interpreting Research on Nonparental Care Cortisol levels increase over the course of the day in children in centre-based daycare and decrease in home-reared children which has been theorized to lead to higher levels of problem behaviour in the former Stress may be a factor related to quality of daycare Individual and gender differences have been found to interact with nonparental care High-quality care is linked with positive or neutral outcomes; poor-quality care can be detrimental