Lecture 3 - Social development in infancy Flashcards
Developing recognition of the mother
Rapid recognition of mother’s voice
Mother’s voice can be heard clearly inside the womb
4 weeks - preference to mother’s voice over another
Rapid recognition of mother’s face
Babies of 7 hours preferred to look at picture of mother than of stranger with same colour hair even when image was colour reversed
Imitation
Babies imitate facial expressions from birth
Beginnings of social communication?
At 3 months babies smiled and vocalized more when mothers imitated them.
The more mother imitates baby, the more baby imitates mother
Smiling
Newborn’s reflex smile
6 weeks -> smile to mother’s face and voice
3 months -> smiles are synchronised with the mother’s
6 months -> social smile
Babbling
2 months babies coo and laugh when people are talking to them or smiling.
Social referencing
9 - 10 months Novel or uncomfortable situation -> infants may look to their caregivers (mother, father, daycare) for cues as to how to respond. Need to note: Changes in expression Nature and intensity of expression How this reflects internal mental state Attention direction
Recognition of emotion expression
7-month-olds’ brains react differently to happy & fearful expressions
Can distinguish between happy & surprised expressions
8 months -> can distinguish happy from angry faces
Understanding of emotion expression: Visual cliff experiment
Shared visual attention
Emerges between 6 and 12 months
Flom et al. (2004)
3 Conditions
- Look
- Look & point
- Look, point, & verbalize
Better than chance performance with look & point (but not if object out of visual field)
When object is 2nd in visual field, better than chance performance when look, point & verbalize
Explored if parent’s small or large head turns mattered
Only mattered if looking in front of the infant
Infants followed larger turns more than smaller turns
In particular when outside visual field
Joint attention
Pointing with full hand is different than pointing with index finger (Liszkowski & Tomasello, 2011)
Prodoimperative= pointing for a goal, they want the object, not looking at parent
Prododeclerative= shared understanding on something, look to parent and look back
First start pointing with full hand pointing
Research showing those who point with index finger all used whole hand pointing also
Parents point more= children more likely to point
12 months -> pointing fore communication
10-12 -> pointing is to try and get objects that are out of reach
2 years -> point then look at parent, then look back at object they are pointing to
Attachment
Stable over time
Attachment attempts to explain the origins of social and emotional behaviour
Two main theories of attachment:
- Bowlby -> attachment as a model of close relationships
- Ainsworth -> considers a set of overt behaviours
Attachment theories
Freudian psychoanalytic theory
Attachment to caregiver forms because they provide the oral gratification
Learning theory
Attachment to caregiver forms because they are the secondary reinforcer
Food (primary reinforcer) associates to caregiver (secondary reinforcer)
Cognitive development theory
Attachment occurs after the infant is able to differentiate between the self and others, and have object permanence
Ethological theory
Attachment forms due to instinctual responses to ensure it’s protection and survival.
Key influences of Bowlby
Harlow’s (1971)
Rhesus monkey’s reared apart from their mother
Explain the formation of the earliest attachment bonds between infant and mother using ethological principles reformulated in human terms
Mother = secure base from which the developing infant can explore the world and periodically return in safety (1907-1990)
Given the choice of cloth covered support, no food (security and comfort)
Wire support, dispensed food
Attachment patterns
Secure attachment -> psychologically healthy developmental pathways and independence Insecure attachment (i.e. loss of attachment figure or no attachment) -> contributed to later abnormal behaviour Forms working model of self
Bowlby methodology
Interest from working in a school for maladjusted children
Interviewed 44 adolescents who had been convicted for thieving about their childhood experiences
Development of Bowlby’s views on nature of attachment
Monotropy (Bowlby)
Usually only to one person
Fathers role -> “fathers have their uses even in infancy”, provide for their wives (enable devotion to care), emotional support (love and companion)
Schaffer and Emerson
Attachment is often to more than one key figure (e.g. father, siblings, grand parents, family pets)
Poor attachment to one person can be offset by strong attachment to another
Strange Situations - Method
Mother and infant enter observation room -> infant play observed
Stranger enters and talks to mother -> infant reaction to stranger observed
Mother leaves -> infant reaction observed
Mother returns -> infant reaction to mother observed infant reaction observed
Mother leaves
Stranger enters -> infant reaction to stranger observed
Mother returns -> infant reaction observed
Strange Situations - Results
Securely attached
Plays happily but keeps close eye on mother
Positive reaction to stranger
Cries when mother leaves room
When mother returns baby is rapidly comforted
Insecure-avoidant
Indifferent to mother
Often does not cry when mother leaves room
Stranger can provide comfort if baby cries
When mother returns baby may turn or look away
Insecure-resistant
Stays close to mother
Does not move away to play with toys
Cries when mother leaves room
When mother returns baby is not comforted (possible anger)
Baby seeks contact with mother but resists her attempts at comfort
Inconsistant parents/ presence of parents, parenting
10-15%
In the past saught comfort and was not available
Insecure-disorganised
Lacks organised ability to deal with stress
When mother returns, child may appear disorganized and confused by caregiver’s return
May act dazed at mothers return, or cry loudly while trying to get on mother’s knee
Show eliments of all
Unclear pattern
Heavily incconnistent parenting
Possible abusive situations or parents with mental health problems such as depression
10-15%
Maintaining attachment style
Formation of attachment in infancy does not have inevitably irreversible consequences
Lewis et al (2000) found that attachment at 1 year was not related to attachment style at 18 years
Important attachments are formed throughout life
Individual differences in temperament and sociability affect attachment
Influences on attachment quality
Caregiver factors:
Depression -> often have insecure children
Previous experience
Day care arrangements
Maternal sensitivity and interactions -> low = less secure attach
Child factors:
Child temperament -> could be that temperament = predisposition, or better temperament = more prone to better treatment
Attachment and postnatal depression - contradictory evidence
More common in low SES groups
Maybe it is more to do with intergenerational history of depression/attachment???
Low-socioeconomic background + depression= more likely have insecure attachment than those in higher socioeconomic background
Adult attachment
Autonomous= feel like had strong attachment, satisfied with attachment, closest to secure Dismissing= put down attachment, forming bonds unimportant Preoccupied= not objective when asked about attachment, thinking more about how couldve been different and what could've been done
McMahon et al. (2006)
Mothers who suffer from postnatal depression were more likely to have insecure attachment styles themselves
Children whose mothers suffer from chronic postnatal depression were more likely to have insecure attachment styles
Decline in secure attachment with increased depression severity
Implication of Bowlby
Introduction of facilities in hospital for parents to stay with young children
Child care in orphanages
Not always possible to apply theory directly because no one model works for all children (e.g., daycare, multiple caretakers) Babies in Romanian orphanages
Sparked further research
Secure attachment more specific to western, does it really suit other cultures- sometimes better to be more needy or resistant or disorganised -> more likely to thrive in different cultures
Some cultures have shared parenting, multiple caregivers -> attach differently
Working –> day care? impact on development?
Day care and attachment
High secure if mother care -> then full time care
Avoidant -> also highest in full time care
