Chapter 6: Socioemotional Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood

Question 1

Trust Versus Mistrust

Answer 1

The first psychosocial crisis in Erikson’s theory in which infants must develop a basic sense of trust of the world as a safe place where their basic needs will be met

Question 2

Autonomy Versus Shame and Doubt

Answer 2

In Erikson’s theory, the psychosocial crisis of toddlerhood in which individuals must establish the sense that they can make choices and guide their actions and bodies

Question 3

Basic Emotions

Answer 3

Emotions that are universal in human, appear early in life, and are believed to have a long evolutionary past. Includes happy, anger, sadness, surprise, fear, disgust, and interest

Question 4

Social Smile

Answer 4

A smile the emerges between 6 and 10 months that is in response to seeing familiar people

Question 5

Self-Conscious Emotion

Answer 5

Emotions that require the cognitive development of a sense of self. Includes empathy, shame, guilt, and embarrassment. Emerge at about 15-18 months but don’t fully develop until the second or third year of life

Question 6

Emotion Regulation

Answer 6

Our ability to adjust our emotional state in order to influence how and when our emotions are expressed

Question 7

Social Referencing

Answer 7

Looking to parents’/caregivers’ and other adults’ emotions in order to interpret ambiguous events

Question 8

Emotional Display Rules

Answer 8

Unstated cultural guidelines of acceptable emotions and emotional expressions that are communicated to children by watching their parents’ behavior

Question 9

Stranger Wariness (Stranger Anxiety)

Answer 9

An infant’s expression of fear of unfamiliar people

Question 10

Temperament

Answer 10

The characteristic way in which a person approaches and reaction to people and situations

Question 11

Easy Temperament

Answer 11

Easy temperament babies are often in a positive mood, even-tempered, open, adaptable, regular and predictable in biological functioning. They establish regular feeding and sleeping schedules early

Question 12

Difficult Temperament

Answer 12

Difficult babies are active, irritable, and have irregular biological rhythms. They are slow to adapt to change in routine and new situations, react vigorously to change, and have trouble adjusting to new routines

Question 13

Slow-to-warm-up Temperament

Answer 13

Slow-to-warm-up babies tend to be inactive, moody, and slow to adapt to new situations and people. They react to new situations with mild irritability but adjust faster than difficult temperament babies

Question 14

Extraversion/Surgency

Answer 14

The tendency toward positive emotions. Infants who are high in extraversion/surgency tend to approach experiences with positivity, confidence, and energy, as indicated by smiles, laughs, and approach-oriented behaviors

Question 15

Negative Affectivity

Answer 15

The tendency towards negative emotions such as sadness, fear, distress, and irritability

Question 16

Effortful Control

Answer 16

The degree to which one can focus attention, shift attention, and inhibit responses in order to manage arousal. Infants who are high in effortful control are able to regulate their arousal and soothe themselves

Question 17

Goodness of Fit

Answer 17

The compatibility between a child’s temperament and his/her environment, especially the parents’ temperament and child-bearing methods; the greater degree of match, the more favorable the child’s adjustment

Question 18

Attachment

Answer 18

A lasting emotional tie between two people who each strive to maintain closeness to the other and act to ensure that the relationship continues

Question 19

Bowlby’s Ethological Perspective on Attachment

Answer 19

Early family experiences influence emotional development through an inborn tendency to form close relationships. Evolutionarily stems from an increase in survivability if attached with other people

Question 20

Phase 1: Preattachment - Indiscriminate Social Responsiveness (Birth to 2 months)

Answer 20

Infants instinctively elicit caregiving responses from caregivers such as crying, smiling, and making eye contact with adults. Infants respond to any caregiver that reacts to their signals

Question 21

Phase 2: Early Attachments - Discriminating Sociability (2 through 6-7 months)

Answer 21

When caregivers are sensitive and consistent in responding to babies’ signals, babies learn to associate their caregivers with the relief of distress, forming the basis for an initial bond. Babies begin to discriminate among adults and prefer familiar people. They direct their responses toward a particular adult(s) who are best able to soothe them

Question 22

Phase 3: Attachments (7-24 months)

Answer 22

Infants develop specific attachments to caregivers who attend, accurately interpret, and consistently respond to their signals. Infants can gain proximity to their caregiver via motor efforts such as crawling

Question 23

Phase 4: Reciprocal Relationships (24-30 months and onward)

Answer 23

With advances in cognitive and language development, children can engage in interactions with their primary caregivers as partners, taking turns and initiating interactions within the attachment relationship. They begin to understand others’ emotions and goals and apply this understanding through strategies such as social referencing

Question 24

Secure Base

Answer 24

The use of a caregiver as a foundation from which to explore and return to for emotional support

Question 25

Separation Anxiety

Answer 25

A reaction to separations from an attachment figure that is characterized by distress and crying

Question 26

Internal Working Model

Answer 26

A set of expectations about one’s worthiness of love and the availability of attachment figures during times of distress

Question 27

Security of Attachment

Answer 27

The extent to which they feel that parents can reliably meet their needs

Question 28

Strange Situation

Answer 28

A structured observational procedure that reveals the security of attachment when the infant is placed under stress

Question 29

Secure Attachment

Answer 29

Uses the parent as a secure base