Lecture 3 - Social development in infancy

Question 1

Developing recognition of the mother

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Imitation

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Smiling

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Babbling

Answer 4

2 months babies coo and laugh when people are talking to them or smiling.

Question 5

Social referencing

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Recognition of emotion expression

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Shared visual attention

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Joint attention

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Attachment

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Attachment theories

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

Key influences of Bowlby

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Attachment patterns

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Bowlby methodology

Answer 13

Interest from working in a school for maladjusted children

Interviewed 44 adolescents who had been convicted for thieving about their childhood experiences

Question 14

Development of Bowlby’s views on nature of attachment

Answer 14

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)

Question 15

Schaffer and Emerson

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Strange Situations - Method

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Strange Situations - Results

Answer 17

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%

Question 18

Maintaining attachment style

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Influences on attachment quality

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Attachment and postnatal depression - contradictory evidence

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Adult attachment

Answer 21

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

Question 22

McMahon et al. (2006)

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Implication of Bowlby

Answer 23

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?

Question 24

Day care and attachment

Answer 24

High secure if mother care -> then full time care

Avoidant -> also highest in full time care

Question 25

Full-time child care and attachment - effect of temperament

Answer 25

Outcome on children in non-maternal care
Low negativty= better temperament= quality of childcare doesnt have much effect
High negativity= quality is more important- has a large impact but with high quality can be much closer to normal

Low negativity= thrive in most enviroment

Early signs of temperament and emotional development

Question 26

Problems with the ‘Strange Situations’

Answer 26

Attachment is a continuum and classification into discrete categories is misleading
Only assesses attachment behaviour in one situation -> not real life (lab= unfamiliar)
Does not take cultural practice into account
Does not identify all children with abnormal social relationships (e.g., autistic children)