Emotional Development In Infancy Flashcards
Infant temperament - Cattell
‣ Causes
• What causes their temperament, and why do they do things. Some may just simply follow family lines.
◦ Genetics
‣ Some temperaments may simply follow genetics and the familial line
◦ Biological environment
‣ The biology around you and your genes
◦ Social environment
‣ From the start they pick up on the things that others say and do around them
Infant temperament - Rothbart and Derryberry
• reactivity
◦ We all have our own levels of it. An example would be if someone sneezed really loudly or there was a loud boom, some of us may be startled and jump while others may not have a strong physiological reactivity and may not respond much if at all. Some people may simply just be highly reactive.
‣ This is also multi-dimensional and can be different for all of the kinds of dimensions of life (cognitive, physical, emotional, etc).
• Self-regulation
‣ Your ability to soothe yourself and calm yourself down.
‣ Some people may be high in self-regulation and high in reactivity
Rothbart’s rating system - exuberant surgency
‣ Having a positive affect, when something good happens what do they do, or how do they react, or how happy they get/are.
◦ Extraversion
‣ How much they show there happiness can be an indicator of becoming an extravert
Rothbart’s rating system - negative affectivity
‣ How things are affecting someone, typically take a lot of new things harder, and tend to get more stressed.
◦ Neuroticism
Rothbart’s rating system - effortful control
‣ (Self regulation)
‣ Has to do with being on time, getting things done on time or ahead of time, and wanting things done a specific way
◦ Conscientiousness
Goodness of fit
‣ Where the caregiver and the child have temperaments where they understand each other or what their temperament is. Being able to see these patterns, adjust to it, and learn from it to help with growth.
• Also one of the reasons why sometimes adopting is hard, because the child temperament may not be as easily understood by the family.
Stability
‣ Know that the temperament will ebb and flow throughout life, as the environment changes they may change in some ways
Caregiver
Anyone who provides support, care, and comfort in the ways that an infant or child needs. does not have to be a woman
Thomas and Chess’s temperament style - story
• Told a story about a super annoying women who was quizzing and drilling them on what they know then showing that she thinks they don’t know anything. She then admitted why she was there, that she went back and studied temperament and then had two children, then shared that she was a difficult temperament. Her first child had a difficult temperament and would cry about all things. The second child was a good temperament, but was not crying when they needed anything ended up being malnourished and having a burst eardrum. The mom assumed the baby was fine because it almost never cried.
◦ Thomas and Chess’s Temperament Styles -easy
rhythmic, positive affect, approach, moderate activity, high adaptability
◦ Has 9 different scales to rate them on.
◦ When we talk about ‘easy’ babies we talk about how easy it is to parent them. We call them rhythmic babies, where their schedule is predictable within the first few days. This is sleeping schedule, eating schedule, and bodily function schedule.
◦ Have a positive affect on others and a positive attitude
◦ Approachable
◦ Are able to be a nice medium between lethargic and too much
◦ Can adapt to changing schedules and plans
‣ These babies are considered the ideal baby. This is because not only can they be predictable, but can also be each to see change.
◦ Thomas and Chess’s Temperament Styles - difficult
low rhythmicity, negative affect, withdrawal, low adaptability, etc
◦ Tends to not be able to control individual things yet, may not like new people and will shy away from them. Will likely withdrawal when around other people and not want to be there, has more trouble adapting to change or new things. Some are more likely to cry in certain environments, and in some cultures the crying baby may be the best.
‣ Some cultures saw that the crying babies are showing
◦ Thomas and Chess’s Temperament Styles - slow to warm up
low rhythmicity, withdrawal, low activity, etc.
◦ has a lot of positive tendencies, but some more negative things. They may struggle to regulate things. When something new happens thy really don’t want those things, for people, scenarios, and all things. The time that they may spend observing before speaking in the long run will help.
Benefits, limitations, and difficulties of ◦ Thomas and Chess’s Temperament Styles
The roots of attachment theory Freud
The theory that kids are attached to their parents because of sex
Harry Harlow attachment theory
• He always believed there was something else.
• He proved that attachment was not about feeding, but something else was critical for attachment. Comfort matters. He took the monkeys away from their mothers at birth and then put them in cages, they would do things to scare the mother and see where it went. It showed that the baby went to the ‘cloth mother’ instead of the ‘food mother,’ which shows a sense of wanting comfort when in fear or stress.
‣ Some others believed it was about the mothers milk
