1. Socioemotional Development in Infancy
Chapter 4
Socioemotional Development in Infancy

2. 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)

3. 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)

4. 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)

5. 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”

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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)

9. 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)

10. 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)

11. 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

12. 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)

13. 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)

14. 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)

15. 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)

16. 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)

17. 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)

18. 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

19. 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)

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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)

23. 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

24. 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)

25. 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

26. 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)

27. 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

28. 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

29. 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

30. 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)

31. 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)