Emotional development Flashcards
Emotional Development
One of the most basic and straightforward ways that psychologists gauge an infant’s emotional state is to assess their temperament.
Temperament
refers to characteristics of mood, activity level and emotional reactivity
Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess (1977; 153)
Alexander Thomas and Stella Chess (1977; 153) conducted a landmark study on the development of temperament.
They concluded that “temperamental individuality is well established by the time the infant is 2 to 3 months old.
- three basic styles of temperament.
1. Easy children = tend to be happy, regular sleep and eating patterns, adaptable, and not readily upset.
2. Slow-to-warm-up children = tend to be less cheery, less regular sleep and eating patterns, slower in adapting to change, wary of new experiences, and their emotional reactivity is moderate.
3. Difficult children = tend be glum, erratic sleep and eating patterns, resistant to change and relatively irritable.
Emotional Development
However, there are children that show or present with a mixture of the three temperaments.
Also, Thomas and Chess’s research showed that a child’s temperament at 3 months old was a fair predictor of the child’s temperament at 10 years old.
Infants who display difficult temperaments are more likely to develop emotional problems and require counselling.
Jerome Kagan (1992)
Other studies have been conducted by Jerome Kagan (1992) that confirm Thomas and Chess’s findings, which indentifies two types of temperament:
- Inhibited temperament = characterized by shyness, timidity, and wariness of unfamiliar people, objects and events.
- Uninhibited temperament = children are less restrained, approaching unfamiliar people, objects and events with little to no trepidation.
Attachment
Another way that psychologists have gauged the emotional development or functioning of infants and children is look at what they term attachment.
Attachment = refers to the close, emotional bonds of affection that develop between infants and their caregivers.
Psychologists have shown a keen interest in the quality of the infant-mother relationship or attachments, in general, formed early on life.
However, a child’s first important attachment does not have to be the mother, the primary caregiver could be a grandparent or the father, especially when we take into account same-sex households, child-headed households etc. where there is no mother present.
Contrary to popular belief, an infant’s attachment to the mother or primary caregiver is not instantaneous.
Initially, babies show relatively little special preference for the mother or the available primary caregiver.
At 2 or 3 months of age, infants may smile and laugh more when they interact with the mother/primary caregiver, but they can also generally interact well with with strangers such as a babysitter.
The situation changes over time, and by about 6 to 8 months, the infant begins to show a pronounced preference for for their mother/primary caregiver’s company.
separation anxiety
It is also during the 6th to 8th month that the infant begins to protest when they are separated from the mother/primary caregiver.
This is important because it demonstrates and it is evidence that the infant has formed an attachment.
This is also the first manifestation of what psychologists term separation anxiety = emotional distress witnessed during infancy when they are separated from people with whom they have formed an attachment.
Separation anxiety, importantly, can also occur with fathers and other family caregivers.
This type of anxiety peaks around 14 to 18 months, and declines thereafter.
Attachment Theory or The Theory of Attachment
This brings us to Attachment Theory or The Theory of Attachment put forth by John Bowlby (1969).
Bowlby argues that attachment is an evolutionary mechanism that is designed to ensure the survival of the vulnerable and dependent infant.
Bowlby argues further the infants and their primary caregivers are biologically predisposed to form attachments.
Infants are born with the ability to elicit attachment behaviour from carers, and carers are biologically predisposed to respond.
Early infant behaviours include reflexes such as crying and clinging, and later on proximity-seeking behaviours, which are designed to keep the carer nearby, and attentive to the child’s needs.
So we know from Bowlby that attachment is an important mechanism through which the infant’s needs are met by the caregiver.
Mary Ainsworth
Attachment theorist, Mary Ainsworth demonstrated that it was not so much about who the infant developed an attachment with, but rather the quality of the attachment between the infant and the caregiver.
Ainsworth (1979) conducted research on children’s reaction to the departure and return of their parents/caregivers, and through these controlled scenarios she was able to gauge the attachment quality.
Ainsworth found that attachment falls into 3 categories:
- Secure attachment
- Avoidant attachment
- Anxious-ambivalent attachment
secure attachments
Most infants form secure attachments; these infants play and explore comfortably with their mother present; they become visibly upset when she leaves, and are quickly calmed when she returns.
anxious-ambivalent attachments
However, some infants display a pattern of anxious-ambivalent attachments; they appear anxious even when the mother is present and they protest excessively when she leaves, but they are not particularly comforted when she returns.
avoidant attachments
Children in the third category i.e. avoidant attachments seek little contact with their mothers and are often not distressed when she leaves.
disorganised-disoriented attachment
Recent research has identified a 4th type of attachment called disorganised-disoriented attachment; these children appear confused as to whether they should approach or avoid their mother.
What are some of the factors that influence attachment?
The type of attachment that emerges between the infant and the mother may depend on the nature of the infant’s temperament, as well as the mother’s sensitivity.
For example, temperamentally difficulty infants will take longer to form an attachment with its caregiver, and at the same time this process is mediated by the responsiveness of the caregiver to the infant’s needs and wants.
Also the quality of the relationship between the mother and father influences the infant’s attachment security.
Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development.
We can also understand the emotional development of children through Erik Erikson’s psychosocial theory of development.
Erikson’s theory looks at 8 stages through which an infant’s progresses throughout their life that involves a sets of psychosocial crisis’s which the infant must resolve.
Each stage involves two opposing tendencies that pose a challenge for the infant/individual in terms of their emotional and social development.
Stage 1: Trust Versus Mistrust
The 1st year of life
Fundamental conflict: Is my world predictable, consistent and supportive or not?
This stage revolves around an infant’s dependence on its caregiver to meet its needs, and the extent to which the caregiver facilitates the infant’s basic needs.
Stage 2: Autonomy Versus Shame & Doubt
The 2nd and 3rd year of life
Fundamental conflict: Can I do things for myself or must I always rely on others?
This stage begins when parents began toilet training in an effort to regulate the child’s behaviour, which requires the child for the first time in their life to take on personal responsibility for feeding, bathing, eating, and cleaning. From this stage, the child can either acquire a sense of self-sufficiency or if parents are too harsh on the child it can leave them feeling a sense of personal shame and doubt.
Stage 3: Initiative Versus Guilt
4 to 6 years of age
Fundamental conflict: Am I good or am I bad?
This stage essentially deals with how children respond to authority figures like their parents rules, expectations and instructions. Overly critical and punitive parents can produce feelings of initiative or guilt within their children.
Stage 4: Industry Versus Inferiority
Age 6 through puberty
Fundamental conflict: Am I competent or am I worthless?
This stage centres around the challenge of learning to function socially in a way that extends beyond the family to the broader social realm of the neighbourhood and the school. Children learn the value of accomplishment and achievement, which has profound social implications.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Erikson’s Theory
It accounts for both continuity and transition in personality development.
It takes into consideration how new challenges in social relations stimulate personality development.
It draws connections between childhood, adolescence and adulthood.
Erikson’s theory tends to universalize the 8 stages of development.
Cognitive Development
Cognitive development refers to transitions in young people’s patterns of thinking, including reasoning, remembering, and problem solving.
Cognitive development is an area of study that is heavily influenced by the theory of Jean Piaget.
Jean Piaget is considered one of the most influential developmental psychologist of the 20th century, specifically in the area of cognitive development.
Piaget proposes a stage theory of development.
Piaget argues that children go through 4 major stages of cognitive development.
Importantly, Piaget argued that the environment and maturation gradually influence and alter children’s cognitive development.
The four stages include: (1) the sensorimotor period, (2) the preoperational period, (3) the concrete operational period, and (4) the formal operational period.
The Sensorimotor Period
From birth to 2 years of age.
This period is characterized by the infant learning how to coordinate their sensory input with their motor actions. For example, the infant is able to grab on object like a toy and draw the toy to its mouth.
By the end of this stage, the infant is able to use mental symbols to represent objects. For example, a mental image of their favourite toy.
In order for the infant to achieve this they must achieve object permanence.
Object permanence develops when a child recognises that objects continue to exist even when they are no longer visible.
Object permanence begins around 4 to 8 months and is mastered around 18 months.
The Preoperational Period
Around 2 to 7 years of age
According to Piaget, children need to master the the principle of conservation = a term for the awareness that physical quantities remain constant in spite of changes to their shape or appearance.
Piaget argues that children are unable to solve conservation problems because of flaws in their preoperational thinking related to centration, irreversibility, and egocentrism.
Centration is the tendency to focus on one feature of a problem, neglecting other important aspects.
Irreversibility is the inability to envision reversing an action.
Egocentrism in thinking is characterized by a limited ability to share another person’s viewpoint.
The Concrete Operational Period
Usually lasts from 7 to 11 years of age.
Children can only perform cognitive operations on images of tangible objects and actual events.
Among the operations children master during this phase are decentration and reversibility.
The child is able to coordinate several aspects of a problem, giving them insight into multiple ways of looking at things.
The Formal Operational Period
Typically begins around 11 years of age.
Children begin to apply their operations to abstract concepts alongside concrete objects.
For example, concepts such as justice, love, free will etc.
Children spend hours mulling over abstract concepts like these.
According to Piaget, children graduate to relatively adult modes of thinking during the formal operation period.
It is during this period that children learn to think things through, using logic and reason in order to find solutions to problems in life.
Strengths and Weaknesses of Piaget’s Theory
Piaget founded the field of cognitive development; he was the first to enquire about the intelligence of children.
He fostered a new view of children that saw them as active agents constructing their own worlds.
However, it seems that Piaget may have underestimated children’s cognitive development, as recent research has found that children achieve object permanence, for instance, much earlier.
Like most stage theories, Piaget’s theory makes general claims about children without taking into consideration individual and cultural differences.
Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory
Lev Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory, emerged as a response to some of the failures or weaknesses of Piaget’s theory.
For Piaget, cognitive development is primarily fuelled by individual children’s active exploration of the world around them i.e. the child is viewed as the agent and the site of change.
On the other hand, Vygotsky places enormous emphasis on how children’s cognitive development is fuelled by social interactions with parents, teachers and older children who can provide invaluable guidance.
Moreover, Piaget viewed cognitive development as a universal process that unfolds in largely the same way across different cultural contexts.
Conversely, Vygotsky asserts that culture exerts a great influence over the growth of a child’s cognitive development.
Finally, Piaget viewed children’s gradual mastery of language as just another aspect of cognitive development.
Vygotsky, however, argues that language acquisition plays a crucial role in fostering cognitive development.
Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Reasoning
Kohlberg’s theory attempts to explain how children develop a sense of right and wrong.
His work is derived from Piaget’s earlier work which states that moral development is determined by cognitive development.
The extent to which individual’s and children, more specifically, think about moral issues depends on their level of cognitive development.
Kohlberg argues that individuals progress through a series of 3 levels of moral development, each of which can be broken down into 2 sublevels, yielding a total of 6 stages.
Each stage importantly represents a different approach to thinking about right and wrong.
Cognitive Development:
The Preconventional level
Mostly young children function at this level, and their thinking is structured along the first 2 stages:
Stage 1 Punishment Orientation: right and wrong is determined by what is punishable
Stage 2 Naïve Reward Orientation: right and wrong is determined by what is rewarded or positive consequences.
Cognitive development:
The Conventional Level
Older children some times reach this level and their thinking is structured along rules that are necessary for maintaining social order, which fall within the second 2 stages.
Stage 3 Good Boy/Good Girl Orientation: right or wrong is determined by the approval or disapproval of significant others.
Stage 4 Authority Orientation: right or wrong is determined by society’s rules, and laws, which should be adhered to rigidly.
Cognitive development:
The Postconventional Level
During adolescence, some young people move into this level, which involves working on a personal code of ethics that unfold over the third and last 2 stages.
Stage 5 Social Contract Orientation: right or wrong is determined by society’s rules which are viewed as fallible rather than absolute.
Stage 6 Individual Principles and Conscience Orientation: right or wrong is determined by abstract ethical principles that emphasize equity and justice
Adolescence
Adolescence = is a transitional period between childhood and adulthood.
It is not always entirely clear as to what exactly is the age range, but in modern societies adolescence begins at age 13 and ends at 22.
Adolescence is not universal across all cultures; in some social and cultural contexts, young people move directly from childhood to adulthood.
A protracted period of adolescence is seen primarily in industrialized nations.
In modern societies, rapid technological development has increased the time that young people remain in educational institutions, thus prolonging their economic independence.
Even though adolescents are capable of reproduction and appear physiologically mature, they have not achieved emotional and economic independence from their parents, which are the hallmarks of adolescence.
Pubescence
describes the two year span that precedes puberty during which the changes leading to physical and sexual maturity take place.
Puberty
the stage during which sexual functions reach maturity, which marks the beginning of adolescence.
3 stages of Adolescence
early, middle and late adolescence.
Early adolescence
from ages 12 to 14.
Middle adolescence
14 to 16 years.
Late adolescence
17 to 19 years.
time of storm and stress
One of the reasons that adolescence is considered a time of storm and stress is because in highly industrial and modern societies they engage is risky behaviours.
Research strongly shows that adolescence more likely a period of storm and stress in highly industrialized and modern societies
Adolescence tends to be less challenging and stressful in traditional and preindustrial societies.
Erikson’s stage of Identity Versus (Role) Confusion coincides with adolescence.
Typically occurs around adolescence.
Fundamental conflict: Who am I and where am I going?
This stage centres around the individual grappling with their place in the world, their sense of identity, establishing peer groups and a sense of belonging based on ideas, beliefs, values, interests, norms, preferences etc.
Erikson’s theory offers some clues about the changing nature of adulthood and how there are different phases or stages of adulthood
Levinson
Levinson (1986) classifies human development or the human life span entirely around adulthood.
For example, he found that human’s life cycle is structured around four eras or seasons:
- Pre-adulthood = birth until 22 years
- Early adulthood = 17 to 45 years
- Middle adulthood = 40 to 65 years
- Late adulthood = 60 years and onward
Stage 6: Intimacy Versus Isolation
The last three stages of Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stage of development coincide with adulthood.
Stage 6: Intimacy Versus Isolation
Onset occurs during early adulthood
Fundamental conflict: Shall I share my life with another or live alone?
This stage is characterized by whether the individual has developed the capacity to share intimacy with others, enter into intimate partner relationships and able to create and sustain support groups and networks.
Stage 7: Generativity Versus Self-Absorption
Onset occurs around middle adulthood
Fundamental conflict: Will I produce something of real value or not?
The key challenge of this stage is to acquire a genuine concern for the welfare of future generations, which is about leaving behind a legacy, and providing unselfish guidance to younger people. On the other hand self-absorption is characterized by self-indulgent concerns with meeting one’s own needs and desires. This stage in many ways has to do with giving back to one’s community and society, with regard to its longevity.
Stage 8: Integrity Versus Despair
Onset occurs around late adulthood.
Fundamental conflict: Have I lived a full life or not?
The stage centres around the individual’s retirement years. The challenge is avoid the tendency to dwell on mistakes of the past and on one’s imminent death. People at this stage need to find meaning and satisfaction in their lives, rather than wallow in bitterness and resentment.
Vulnerable Children
- Children that are ill
- Children with physical disabilities
- Children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS
- Orphans
- Children that come from dysfunctional households
- Children that come from violent and poverty stricken communities
- Children that homeless and dwell in the streets
