emotional and social development Flashcards
temperament
- constitutionally based individual differences in emotional, motor, and attentional reactivity and self-regulation
- believed to be innate and appear at around 4 months, but a lot of physical factors could affect it before then
thomas and chess study
- 1977
- classified babies into three categories: easy (40), difficult (10), slow to warm up (15)
- a lot didnt fit into this
modern assessment of emotion
- assess positive and negative emotions as separate compponent of temperament
- can be high and low in both or opposite
- assesses different types of regulatory capacity
6 dimensions of infant temperament
- rothbart and bates 2006
1. fearful distress
2. distress to limitations
3. attention span and persistence
4. activity
5. positive affect
6. soothability
3 components of temperament
- surgency
- negativ reactivity
- orienting regulation/effortful control
surgency
measure of infants activity evel and intensity of pleasure
- displays of happiness
- positive affect, activity
negative reactivity
easily becomes distresses by unfamiliar events or people
- fear, frustration
orientating regulation/effortful control
ability to regulate attentions towards their goals
- attention span and persistence and soothability
- better at regulating their emotions
behavioral inhibition
babies who are high on negative reactivity
- associated with anxiety, depression and social withdrawal later in life
- asssociated with high levels of neuroticism
why is temperament stable
evocative effects: gene-environment association where a child’s inherited characteristics evoke responses from others, which then reinforce the child’s characteristics
goodness to fit
the extent to which a person’s temperament matches the requirements, expectation and opportunities of their environment
- supportive caregiver support infants at emotional regulation
cultural affects
- culture shapes expectations about infant behaviours and emotions
- fit of culture and infant temperament: infants with temperaments that fit their cultural values show better adjustment
attachment
special affective relationship between infant and caregiver characterized by mutual affection and desire to maintain proximity
- mutual and a relationship construct, not an individual trait
- promotes infant survival
Bowlby’s ethological theory of attachment
all species born with innate behavioural tendencies that contribute to the survival of the species
- develop over the first year of life
- evolved to help survival
stranger anxiety
negative reactions of infants to an unfamiliar person
- appear when attachment relationship is forming at 7-9 months
separation anxiety
negative reactions of infants when the caregiver temporarily leave
- starts to show at 7-9 months and peaks at 13
- can be greater for children who spend more time with caregiver
greeting reactions
positive reactions from the infants when caregiver returns
secure-base behaviour
infant using the caregiver as a home base for exploration
- staying close in a new environment but they get more comftorable and explore more but will return to caregiver periodically
attachment theory
- attachment formation is almost universal
- they have been evolutionary selected for
- qualities varies depending on quality of care that the child receives
strange situation procedure
series of 8 separations and reunions with caregiver and introduction to strangers
- 1-2 year olds
- simulates infant-caregiver interactions in everyday life
- designed to put mild stress on baby so that they show their attachment
attachment styles
- secure
- insecure-resistant
- insecure-avoidant
- disorganized
secure
infants explore while mother is present, upset when mother leaves but is happy when she returns and can easily be soothed
- majority
insecure-resistant
infants stay close to mother, even when shes been around for a while, upset when she leaves
- high negativity when she leaves
- mixed reactions when she comes back
- always weary of strangers
-insecure-avoidant
very little distress when mother leaves
- seem to ignore her
- may be sociable or ignore strangers
disorganized-attachment
express contradictory emotions and behaviours
- might approach caregiver but then ignore them
- display odd behaviours that are inconsistent
- results from abuse/neglect
ceregiving context
sensitive caregiving fosters secure attachment
caregiver intervention
recruited babies at 6 month old at risk for insecure attachment and provided sensitivyt training to
- at 9 months babies in sensitivty condition were securely attached and not the others
- remained
