8.8 Flashcards
One of the first ways in which infants demonstrate that they have different personalities is in their
temperament
- characteristics that are fairly well established at birth, the enduring behavioral characteristics such as “easy,” “difficult,” and “slow to warm up.”
Temperament
have identified three (3) basic temperament styles of infants:
Chess & Thomas; easy, difficult, slow to warm up
regular in their schedules of waking, sleeping, and eating and are adaptable to change. __ babies are happy babies and when distressed are easily soothed.
Easy
tend to be irregular in their schedules and are very unhappy about change of any kind. They are loud, active, and tend to be crabby rather than happy.
almost opposite of easy ones
Difficult
associated with infants who are less grumpy, quieter, and more regular than difficult children but who are slow to adapt to change
Slow to warm up
an emotional bond that forms between an infant and a primary caregiver
a significant development in the social and emotional life of the infant, usually forming within the first 6 months of the infant’s life and showing up in some ways during the second 6 months e.g.
Attachment
- Wariness of strangers
Stranger Anxiety
- Fear of being separated from the caregiver - the mother is usually the primary attachment, but infants can attach to fathers and other caregivers as well.
Separation Anxiety
devised a special experimental design to measure the attachment of an infant to the caregiver
Mary Ainsworth
exposing an infant to a series of leave-takings and returns of the mother and a stranger
“Strange Situation”
Ainsworth and her colleague identified four (4) attachment styles:
Secure, Avoidant, Ambivalent, Disorganized-Disorganized
willing to get down from their mother’s lap soon after entering the room with their mothers
explored happily, looking back at their mothers and returning to them every now and then
when the stranger came in, these infants were wary but calm as long as their mother was nearby
mother leaves, infants upset
mother returns, infants happy
Secure
somewhat willing to explore, did not go back-and-forth to their mothers
did not look at the stranger or the mother and reacted very little to her absence or her return, seeming to have no interest or concern
Avoidant
clinging and unwilling to explore
very upset by the stranger regardless of the mother’s presence, protested mightily when the mother left, and were hard to soothe
when the mother returned, the babies would demand to be picked up but at the same time push the mother away or kick her in a mixed reaction to her return
Ambivalent