Chapter 6: Socioemotional Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood Flashcards
Trust Versus Mistrust
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
Autonomy Versus Shame and Doubt
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
Basic Emotions
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
Social Smile
A smile the emerges between 6 and 10 months that is in response to seeing familiar people
Self-Conscious Emotion
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
Emotion Regulation
Our ability to adjust our emotional state in order to influence how and when our emotions are expressed
Social Referencing
Looking to parents’/caregivers’ and other adults’ emotions in order to interpret ambiguous events
Emotional Display Rules
Unstated cultural guidelines of acceptable emotions and emotional expressions that are communicated to children by watching their parents’ behavior
Stranger Wariness (Stranger Anxiety)
An infant’s expression of fear of unfamiliar people
Temperament
The characteristic way in which a person approaches and reaction to people and situations
Easy Temperament
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
Difficult Temperament
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
Slow-to-warm-up Temperament
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
Extraversion/Surgency
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
Negative Affectivity
The tendency towards negative emotions such as sadness, fear, distress, and irritability
Effortful Control
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
Goodness of Fit
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
Attachment
A lasting emotional tie between two people who each strive to maintain closeness to the other and act to ensure that the relationship continues
Bowlby’s Ethological Perspective on Attachment
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
Phase 1: Preattachment - Indiscriminate Social Responsiveness (Birth to 2 months)
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
Phase 2: Early Attachments - Discriminating Sociability (2 through 6-7 months)
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
Phase 3: Attachments (7-24 months)
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
Phase 4: Reciprocal Relationships (24-30 months and onward)
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
Secure Base
The use of a caregiver as a foundation from which to explore and return to for emotional support
Separation Anxiety
A reaction to separations from an attachment figure that is characterized by distress and crying
Internal Working Model
A set of expectations about one’s worthiness of love and the availability of attachment figures during times of distress
Security of Attachment
The extent to which they feel that parents can reliably meet their needs
Strange Situation
A structured observational procedure that reveals the security of attachment when the infant is placed under stress
Secure Attachment
Uses the parent as a secure base
