Chapter 7 - First Two Years Psychosocial Flashcards
Psychosocial development
The combination
of emotional and social development.
During infancy, interactions with sensitive, responsive ___ foster psychosocial development.
caregivers
What are two identifiable emotions at birth?
Distress and contentment. They cry when they are hungry and in pain, tired.
Reflexive fear
When infant is startled.
Not an emotional reaction – not a conscious perception.
Emotional Development in Infancy - first year
– Social smile appears around 6 weeks
– Curiosity/interest
– Laughter at 3-4 months
– Anger emerges later (as early as 4 months) – usually triggered by frustration (goal attainment is blocked)
– Fear – emerges around 9 months and builds rapidly and clearly expressed in 2 ways:
• Stranger wariness – when an infant no longer smiles at any friendly face and cries if an unfamiliar person moves too close too quickly (fleetingly seen at 6 months, full blown at 10-14 months)
• Separation anxiety – Typically expressed in tears or anger when a beloved caregiver leaves, even for just a few minutes. Peak time is between 9-14 months
Stranger wariness
When an infant no longer smiles at any friendly face and cries if an unfamiliar person moves too close too quickly
Separation anxiety
Typically expressed in tears or anger when a beloved caregiver leaves, even for just a few minutes
Emotional Development in Infancy - The Second Year
– Fear and anger, laughing and crying become more discriminating and targeted
– New emotions appear mid to end of second year:
• pride, shame, embarrassment, guilt, jealousy
• These emotions require a sense of self and of what others think
• Some cultural variation (shame and pride) (in a culture where pride is very culturally important, you’ll see higher levels of pride than in a place where pride is frowned upon)
Temperament
Aspects of an individual’s personality, such as introversion or extroversion, that are often regarded as innate rather than learned.
– Primarily genetic and biological and it emphasizes those behaviours that make each person somewhat different from all others (cautious vs. risk taker)
Temperamental traits originate in ones genes, but are influenced by ____.
experience
Examples:Infants differ in their reactions to new situations(fearful or bold); some infants cry easily, others seem born tough.
Measuring Temperament in 9 characteristics:
– Activity – Adaptability – Approach-withdrawal – Attention Span – Rhythmicity – Reaction Intensity – Threshold for Responsiveness – Mood Quality – Distractibility
Measuring Temperament 4 categories?
– EASY (40%)
– SLOW TO WARM UP (15%)
– DIFFICULT (10%)
– HARD TO CLASSIFY (35%)
Goodnessoffit
The match between the child’s temperament and the environment – includes family, school, community
i.e. hyperactive parents and hyperactive kid, then the hyperactive kid is in an environment that supports this level of activity
if the kids parents were not active, then that is not as good for the child
Two specific psychosocial responses that directly affect infant emotions:
Social referencing and self awareness.
Interactions between caregiver and infant are ___ for emotional development
crucial
Synchrony can begin at _ months
3
Synchrony
A coordinated interaction between caregiver and infant, who response to each other’s faces, sounds, and movements very rapidly and smoothly – ATTUNEMENT (imperative in development of emotions)
– Helps them learn to express their own feelings
– Imitation is key – they imitate and then feel the emotions that go with the expressions
• Parents imitating back shows synchrony
Still face technique
studying synchrony by assessing infants reaction when caregiver halts synchronous behavior…(infants dont like it – they are more upset than if the caregiver leaves)
Synchrony and early emotional communication is most evident not through serious dialogue, but through ___
play
Synchrony can be initiated by ___ or ____
infant or caregiver
Social referencing
Seeking information about an unfamiliar or ambiguous object or event by observing someone else’s expressions and reactions. The other person becomes a reference, consulted when the infant wants to know how to react.
i.e.
when a baby falls and uses social referencing to see if they should cry or not
Mother’s more ___, father’s more ____
protective, encouraging
Father’s are more physical and vocal during play – help develop ___ ___
motor skills
Father’s tease more – helps foster ___-____
self-regulation
Self Awareness
The realization that one is a unique person who’s body, mind and actins are separate from others
First 5 months infants see themselves as what?
An extension of their mothers
When does self awareness emerge?
Emerges around 15-18 months
What happened in the rouge on face experiment? (Lewis and Brooks, 1978)
Little kids were placed in front of the mirror with a red dot on their forehead. Infants that were 15-18 months old realized that the person in the mirror was them, and touched the red dot on their forehead. The infants less than 15 months old didn’t care.
