Temperament in Infancy and Toddlerhood- Social and Emotional Development Flashcards
Temperament
early-appearing, stable individual differences in reactivity and self-regualtion
Easy child (part of Thomas and Chess)
relaxed, happy
Difficult child (part of Thomas and Chess)
cry a lot, difficult to calm down, don’t like changes in their environment
Slow-to-warm-up child (part of Thomas and Chess)
shy (not necessarily upset); sad and down; hiding behind their mother or caregiver’s backs
Rothbart: activity level
how much are they playing with their toys vs sitting and watching; how much are they active?
Rothbart: attention span/persistence
How long can they sustain their attention for?; length of sticking with something over a period of time
Rothbart: Fearful distress
being scared of a new situation
Rothbart: Irritable distress
crying because you’re hungry or tired or need something
Rothbart: Positive affect
being happy
Rothbart: Effortful control
self-regulatory dimension of temperament, the capacity to voluntarily suppress a dominant response on order to plan and execute a more adaptive response (focus and shift attention, inhibit impulses, and manage negative emotion; persistence and task mastery are some positives)
Goodness-of-fit
Matching environment to child’s temperament; setting them up for success; slow to warm child would need preparation before going out to public somewhere (or new environment)
Mirror of self-regulation
identification of the self as a physically unique being (around age 2, and children point to themselves)
Empathy
understanding another’s emotional state, feeling what they feel
Emotional regualtion
infants have little emotional control; early on they develop ways to cope (thumb sucking, blankies, looking away from something and being sensitive to infants signals help with regulation); routines; parental assistance; effortful control; delay of gratification
Sympathy
concern for others’ welfare that often leads to helping or comforting them
