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.
