1. Child Psychology, A Canadian Perspective Third Edition
Younger, Adler, Vasta

2. Chapter 12 Early Social and Emotional Development
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

3. Learning Objectives Learning Objective 12.1:
Understand the major theoretical approaches to early social development.
Learning Objective 12.2:
Understand the development of early communication between the infant and the caregiver.
Learning Objective 12.3:
Define temperament and describe its role in child development.
Learning Objective 12.4:
Explain the role of attachment in child development.
Learning Objective 12.5:
Explain how early experience can affect later social, emotional, and cognitive development
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

4. Early Social and Emotional Development
Humans form many social relations during development
Some are transitory
Some relations are enduring and important
Social relations are transactional
Infant influences caregiver
Caregiver influences infant
Infant is predisposed to form social relations
Behaviours such as crying and smiling are important tools for the infant
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

5. Theories of Early Social Development
Evolutionary approaches:
Babies are programmed with behaviours (crying) that draw the mother close and that the mother is programmed to detect and respond to the baby
Environmental/Learning approach:
Mother-infant attachment results from social learning processes (reward, punishment, modeling)
Cognitive-Developmental models:
Mother and child develop working mental models of each other’s behaviours
Sociocultural approaches:
Biology interacts with culture to influence social and emotional development
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

6. Emotions and the Affective System
Internal reaction or feeling that is positive or negative
Emotions are expressed in facial reactions
At birth, babies can indicate distress by crying, interest by staring, disgust to unpleasant tastes or odours
At 10 – 12 weeks, pleasure is indicated by smiling
At 7 months, facial expression of fear is evident in babies
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

7. Emotions and the Affective System
Infants can emit facial expressions and are capable of responding to or modeling the facial reactions of others
After 6 weeks of age
Babies are capable of scanning faces
Habituation studies reveal that infants can detect the difference between a smiling face and a frowning face
At 6 months of age
Infants can imitate facial expressions of smiling
Leads to social referencing
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

8. Emotions and the Affective System
Development and Expression of Emotions
Babies’ facial expressions of the basic emotions appear at different points in development
Babies display basic primary emotions:
Distress by crying
Interest by staring attentively
Pleasure by smiling
Sadness and anger
Fear
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

9. Emotions and the Affective System
Development and Expression of Emotions (continued)
In the middle of the second year, infants become more aware of themselves; recognize pictures of themselves or their reflection in a mirror
As their sense of self emerges, secondary emotions develops:
Embarrassment is displayed by repeatedly looking away, often with a shy smile
Empathy is displayed by crying in response to the crying of another
Jealousy, example jealousy of a new baby sibling
Later, children start comparing themselves to a standard, and develop other secondary emotions—shame, guilt, pride
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

10. Emotions and the Affective System
Socialization of Emotions
Emergence of emotions in infancy is guided primarily by biological processes; is universal across cultures
Even in early infancy, this development is shaped by cultural practices
Modelling is another way in which emotions are socialized
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

11. Emotions and the Affective System
Initially children’s affective expressions mirror their emotions, but over time, they learn to control their affective displays
Children mask their feelings:
To avoid negative outcomes
To protect self-esteem
To fit with norms and conventions
Out of a concern for others’ feelings and well-being
These reflect children’s increasing awareness of emotional display rules—expectations or attitudes regarding the expression of affect
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

12. Face-to-Face Interactions
Mothers and infants engage in face to face interactions
Mother and child develop an interactional synchrony
The mother learns to concentrate her interactions when the infant is paying attention to her and to withhold interactions when the infant is in a period of inattention
Mothers and infants develop a “turn-taking” style of interaction in which the mother and infant take turns responding to each other
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

13. Temperament Temperament:
Early indicators of personality such as emotional expressiveness and responsiveness to stimulation
Issues in temperament
Twin studies suggest a strong genetic influence on temperament
The negative aspects of temperament appear to be relatively stable across time
Not all behaviours that reflect temperament are evident early in life
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

14. Conceptualizing Temperament
Easy baby:
Has regular patterns of eating, sleeping, and toileting; adapts to new situations and shows low intensity reactions (40% of babies)
Difficult baby:
Has less predictable schedules, withdraws from new situations, and reacts intensely to stimuli (10% of infants)
Slow-to-warm-up baby:
Adapts poorly to changing situations, is less active (15% of infants)
The degree of goodness of fit determines the degree of influence of infant temperament on later development
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

15. Conceptualizing Temperament
Robert Plomin’s EAS Model
Emotionality:
How quickly an infant becomes aroused and responds negatively to environmental stimulation
Activity:
Infant’s tempo and energy use
Sociability:
Infant’s preference for being with other people
Shyness:
Infant’s response to unfamiliar persons
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

16. Conceptualizing Temperament
Rothbart’s Model
Temperament reflects individual differences in
Reactivity:
How easily and intensely an infant responds to stimulation
Self-regulation:
Infant’s inborn ability to increase or reduce the level of reactivity
An interactionist view
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

17. Temperament and Behaviour Problems
Thomas and Chess:
Infants classified as difficult displayed more behaviour problems later on in childhood but not adulthood
Other studies have found correlations with difficult temperament and behavioural problems from childhood through to adolescence and adulthood
Explanations for the stability of difficult temperaments
Poor child-caregiver relationships which lead to later behavioural problems
Parental attitudes, expectations, and approaches may dictate child ratings
Difficult temperaments may have ethological advantages
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

18. Temperament and Behaviour Problems
Kagan argues for the concept of inhibition to classify infants
Inhibition:
Refers to the tendency to react to unfamiliar events and people with timidity and avoidance
Kagan first examined how a group of 2-year-olds reacted to a strange laboratory setting
Selected those children who were most and least avoidant
Inhibited children showed evidence of greater fear (e.g. fear of the dark) when studied 6 years later
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

19. Attachment: Stages Phase 1 (Birth – 2 months)
Infants emit behaviours such as crying and smiling to many people (indiscriminant social responding)
Mother quickly learns to recognize her infant and to bond to that infant
Phase 2 (2 – 7 months)
Infant focuses attention on the mother
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

20. Attachment: Stages Phase 3 (8 – 24 months)
Fear emerges as a dominant emotion and is expressed in the absence of the mother
Phase 4 (3 years and on)
Child is better able to modulate own reactions and responses, so has decreasing need to seek proximity with their attachment figures
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

21. Assessing Attachment Mary Ainsworth’s Strange Situation procedure
Assesses the reactivity of the child to a situation involving the introduction of a stranger and a separation of the mother from the child
This procedure is limited in sampling time and restricts the mother to a limited style
Attachment Q-Set
Trained observers code the interactions of mother and child in the home setting
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

22. Strange Situation Procedure
Source: From Parke, R. & Clarke-Stewart, A. (2011). Social Development, Table 4.4, p Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Derived from Waters, E. (1987). Attachment Q-set (Version 3),
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

23. Assessing Attachment: Types
The Ainsworth procedure suggests four attachment patterns in infants
Securely attached infants: 65%
Distressed when their mother leaves, but are happy when she returns
Insecure-avoidant infants: 20%
Show little distress at separation and avoid the mother when she returns
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

24. Assessing Attachment: Types
The Ainsworth procedure suggests four attachment patterns in infants (continued)
Insecure-resistant infants: 15%
Distressed throughout the procedure but particularly during separation
Insecure-disorganized/disoriented infants
Displays an unpredictable, distressed response to separation from and reunion with the mother
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

25. Determinants of Attachment
Variables associated with attachment patterns
The kind of care the child receives from his/her caregiver, in part, predicts the security of the relationship
Adults’ memories and experiences of their childhood attachment patterns impacts their later attachment patterns
Infant temperament has been associated with attachment relationships
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

26. Consequences of Attachment
Securely attached infants are more likely to develop greater cognitive and social competence
Securely attached infants are less likely to develop emotional and behavioral problems
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

27. Effects of Early Experience
Effects of early daycare
Recent research evidence does not indicate negative effect of early daycare on attachment
An insensitive mother will be more likely to have a insecurely attached infant when
The daycare center also does not provide a high level of care
The child spends a great deal of time in daycare
The child has had many different daycare arrangements
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

28. Effects of Early Experience
Abuse may result in lack of secure attachment and further has negative effects on social and cognitive development
Chronic hospitalization has been associated with adverse outcomes
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

29. Persistent Crying and Shaken Baby Syndrome
The majority of infants who display persistent crying are healthy and not in distress
But persistent crying can have negative effects on parents
SBS (Shaken Baby Syndrome)
Parents frustrated with persistent crying shakes infant
Affects 25 to 31 out of 100,000 infants under 1 year old
SBS can result in severe brain injury
Lifelong neurological damage
In 25% of the SBS cases, brain injury is fatal
PURPLE project:
Stresses that persistent crying is normal
Helps parents understand and cope with persistent crying
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12

30. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. All rights reserved
Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation of this work beyond that permitted by Access Copyright (the Canadian copyright licensing agency) is unlawful. Requests for further information should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. The purchaser may make back-up copies for his or her own use only and not for distribution or resale. The author and the publisher assume no responsibility for errors, omissions, or damages caused by the use of these files or programs or from the use of the information contained herein.
Younger, Adler, Vasta/Child Psychology, Third Edition, Chapter 12