Week 3 - (C) - Emotional and social development Flashcards
temperament
innate responses to the physical and social environment, including qualities of activity level, irritability, soothability, emotional reactivity and sociability
Dimensions of temperament
Activity level
Frequency and intensity of gross motor activity
Attention span
Duration of attention to a single activity
Emotionality
Frequency and intensity of positive and negative emotional expression
Soothability
Responsiveness to attempts to soothe when distressed
Sociability
Degree of interest in others, positive or negative responses to social interactions
Adaptability
Adjustment to changes in routine
Quality of mood
General level of happy versus unhappy mood
goodness-of-fit
theoretical principle that children develop best if there is a good fit between the temperament of the child and environmental demands
primary emotions
most basic emotions, such as anger, sadness, fear, disgust, surprise and happiness
Primary emotions are all evident within the first year of life.
secondary emotions
emotions that require social learning, such as embarrassment, shame and guilt;
also called sociomoral emotions because infants are not born knowing what is embarrassing or shameful but have to learn this from their social environment.
Secondary emotions develop mostly in the second year of life
Three primary emotions are evident in the early weeks of life:
distress, interest and pleasure
Gradually, in the first months of life, distress, interest and pleasure become differentiated into other primary emotions:
distress into anger, sadness and fear; interest into surprise; and pleasure into happiness.
Fear develops by _____ months of age
6
Sadness is rare in the first
year of life
By ___ months, nearly all the infants showed a definite anger response.
7
Surprise, indicated by an open mouth and raised eyebrows, is first evident about _______
halfway through the first year
Finally, the development of happiness is evident in changes in infants’ smiles and laughter that take place during the
early months.
social smile
expression of happiness in response to interacting with others, first appearing at age 2–3 months
emotional contagion
in infants, crying in response to hearing another infant cry, evident beginning at just a few days old
How soon do infants perceive other’s emotions
first days of life
By __________, infants’ eyesight has improved substantially and they have begun to be able to discriminate between happy, sad and angry faces
2–3 months old
social referencing
term for process of becoming more adept at observing others’ emotional responses to ambiguous and uncertain situations, and using that information to shape one’s own emotional responses
common features of the infant’s social world (across cultures)
- Infants are with their mothers almost constantly during the early months of life.
- After about 6 months, most daily infant care is done by older girls rather than the mother.
-Infants are among many other people in the course of a day.
-Infants are held or carried almost constantly.
-Fathers are usually remote or absent during the first year.
attachment theory
Bowlby’s theory of emotional and social development, focusing on the crucial importance of the infant’s relationship with the primary caregiver
