Chapter 6
Social and Personality
Development in Infancy
Chapter Outline
I.
Forming the Roots of Sociability
A. Emotions in Infancy: Do Infants Experience Emotional Highs and
Lows?
1.
Across every culture, infants show similar facial expressions relating
to basic emotions.
a)
Nonverbal encoding, the nonverbal expression
of emotions is consistent across the life span.
b)
DIFFERENTIAL EMOTIONS THEORY suggests that emotional
expressions not only reflect emotional experiences but also help in the
regulation of emotion itself.
2. Stranger Anxiety and
Separation Anxiety
a) STRANGER ANXIETY is the caution and wariness displayed by infants when encountering an unfamiliar person.
(1)
Appears in the second half of the first year.
(2)
The same cognitive advances that allow infants to respond so positively
to those with whom they are familiar also mean they are able to recognize
people who are unfamiliar.
(3)
Infants with more experience with strangers tend to show less anxiety.
(4) Infants tend to show less anxiety with female strangers and other children than males.
b)
SEPARATION ANXIETY is the distress displayed
by infants when a customary care provider departs.
(1)
Usually begins about 7 or 8 months and peaks at 14 months.
(2) Largely attributable to the same cognitive skills as stranger anxiety.
c)
By 6-9 weeks babies exhibit the SOCIAL
SMILE, smiling in reference to other
individuals.
d) Infants are able to discriminate facial and vocal expressions of emotion early in infancy.
B. SOCIAL REFERENCING is the intentional search for
information to help explain the meaning of uncertain circumstances and events.
1. First occurs in infants at
about 8-9 months.
2. Infants make particular use
of facial expressions in their social referencing.
3. Social referencing is most
likely to occur in uncertain and ambiguous situations.
C. The Development of
Self: Do Infants Know Who They Are?
1.
The roots of SELF-AWARENESS,
knowledge of self, begin to grow
around 12 months.
a) Self-awareness is assessed
by the mirror-and-rouge task.
b)
Most infants touch their nose to attempt to wipe off the rouge at 17 -
24 months.
c) Crying, when presented with complicated tasks, also implies consciousness that infants lack capability to carry out tasks.
D. Theory of Mind: Infants’ Perspectives on the Mental Lives of
Others – and Themselves
1.
Infants have a THEORY OF MIND,
knowledge and beliefs about the mental world, at a fairly early age.
a)
Infants see others as compliant
agents, beings similar to themselves who behave under their own power and
respond to the infant's requests.
b)
Children's capacity to understand intentionality and causality grow
during infancy.
c)
By age two, infants demonstrate EMPATHY,
an emotional response that corresponds to the feelings of another person.
d)
By age two, children can "pretend."
II. Forging Relationships
A. The most important form of
social development that occurs during infancy is ATTACHMENT, the positive
emotional bond that develops between a child and a particular individual.
1. Lorenz studied imprinting in animals, the rapid, innate
learning that takes place during a critical period and involves attachment to the
first moving object observed.
2. Freud suggested that
attachment grew out of a mother's ability to satisfy a child's oral needs.
3.
4. The earliest work on humans
was carried out by John Bowlby, who suggested that attachment had a biological
basis based on infant's needs for safety and security.
a) Since safety and security is
provided by the mother, this attachment is different than others.
b) Having a strong, firm
attachment provides a home base from which the child can gain independence.
5. Based on Bowlby's work, Mary
Ainsworth developed the AINSWORTH
STRANGE SITUATION, a sequence of 8
staged episodes that illustrate the strength of attachment between a child and
(typically) his or her mother.
a) Two-thirds of one-year-olds
have the SECURE ATTACHMENT PATTERN, a style of attachment in which
children use mother as a home base
and are at ease as long as she is present; when she leaves, they become upset
and go to her as soon as she returns.
b) 20 percent have the AVOIDANT ATTACHMENT PATTERN, a style of attachment in which children do
not seek proximity to the mother; after the mother has left, they seem to avoid
her when she returns as if they are angered by her behavior.
c) About 12 percent have the AMBIVALENT ATTACHMENT PATTERN, a style of attachment in which children
display a combination of positive and negative reactions to their mothers; they
show great distress when the mother leaves, but upon her return they may
simultaneously seek close contact but also hit and kick her.
d) A more recent expansion of
Ainsworth’s work suggests a fourth category: DISORGANIZED-DISORIENTED
ATTACHMENT PATTERN, a style of
attachment in which children show inconsistent, often contradictory behavior,
such as approaching the mother when she returns but not looking at her; they
may be the least securely attached children of all.
e) Infant attachment may have
significant consequences for relationships at later stages in life.
f) Not all children who are not
securely attached as infants experience difficulties later in life; some
research suggests that those who had avoidant and ambivalent attachment do
quite well later in life.
6. Producing Attachment: The Roles of the Mother and Father
a) Mothers are most often the
attachment figure.
(1) They are sensitive to their
infant's needs.
(2) They are aware of the
infant's moods.
(3) They provide appropriate
responses.
(4) Mothers whose communication
involves interactional synchrony, in which caregivers respond to infants
appropriately and both caregiver and child match emotional states, are more
likely to produce secure attachment.
(5) There is substantial
stability in attachment patterns from one generation to another.
b) Changing societal norms and
current research show that some infants form strong initial attachment to their
fathers and with multiple individuals simultaneously.
c) There are differences in
attachment to mothers and fathers.
(1) When stressed, infants tend
to prefer their mothers.
(2) Almost all fathers do
contribute to child care.
(3) Fathers engage in more
rough-and-tumble play; mothers spend more time feeding and nurturing.
B. Developmental Diversity: Does Attachment Differ Across Cultures?
1.
Cross-cultural studies confirm that there are differences in the
proportions of infants who fall into the various attachment categories, and
that subcultural differences also exist.
2.
Recent approaches view attachment as not entirely biologically
determined, but susceptible to cultural norms and expectations.
3.
Secure attachment may be seen earlier in cultures that promote
independence, and may be delayed in societies in which independence is less
important.
C. Infant Interactions: Developing a Working Relationship
1. The development of
relationships occurs according to the MUTUAL
REGULATION MODEL, which states that
infants and parents learn to communicate emotional states to one another and to
respond accordingly.
2. Attachment is further
increased by the process of RECIPROCAL
SOCIALIZATION, by which infant's
behaviors invite further responses from parents and other caregivers.
D. Infants’ Sociability with
Their Peers: Infant-Infant Interaction
1. Infants react positively to
the presence of other infants.
a) They laugh, smile, and
vocalize.
b) They show more interest in
infants than inanimate objects.
2. By 1 year they show stronger
preferences for familiar people than for strangers.
3. 14-month-olds imitate each
other.
4. Infants can learn new
behaviors, skills, and abilities from exposure to other children.
III. Differences among Infants
A. The origins of PERSONALITY, the sum total of the enduring characteristics that differentiate one
individual from another, begin in infancy.
B. Erik Erikson's THEORY OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT considers how individuals come to understand
themselves and the meaning of others — and their own — behavior.
1. Infancy marks the time of
the TRUST-VERSUS-MISTRUST STAGE
(birth to 18 months) during which infants
develop a sense of trust or mistrust, largely depending on how well their needs
are met by their caretakers.
2. From around 18 months to 3
years, infants enter the AUTONOMY-VERSUS-SHAME-AND-DOUBT
STAGE during which, according to
Erikson, toddlers develop either independence and autonomy if they are allowed
the freedom to explore or shame and doubt if they are restricted and
overprotected.
3. Erikson argues that
personality is largely shaped by infant's experiences.
C. TEMPERAMENT is the patterns of arousal and
emotionality that are consistent and enduring characteristics of an individual.
1. Temperament refers to how children behave.
2. Temperamental differences
among infants appear from the time of birth.
3. Temperament shows stability
from infancy through adolescence.
4. There are several dimensions
to temperament.
a) Activity level is the degree of overall movement.
b) Irritability reflects the fact that some infants are easygoing while others are
easily disturbed.
5. Alexander Thomas, and Stella
Chess carried out a large-scale study known as the New York Longitudinal
Study (1984) where they describe three profiles of temperament.
a) EASY BABIES have a positive disposition;
their body functions operate regularly and they are adaptable.
(1) 40 percent of infants
b) DIFFICULT BABIES have negative moods and are slow
to adapt to new situations; when confronted with a new situation, they tend to
withdraw.
(1) 10 percent of infants
c) SLOW-TO-WARM-UP BABIES are inactive, showing relatively calm reactions to their environment;
their moods are generally negative, and they withdraw from new situations,
adapting slowly.
(1) 15 percent of infants.
(2) The remaining 36 percent
cannot be consistently categorized.
d) No temperament is inherently
good or bad.
(1) Long-term adjustment depends
on the GOODNESS OF FIT, the notions
that development is dependent on the degree of match between children’s temperament
and the nature and demands of the environment in which they are being raised.
(2) A key determinant is the way
parents react to the infant's behavior.
(3) Culture also has a major
influence on the consequences of a particular temperament.
(4) Buss and Plomin argue that
temperament represents inherited traits that make up the core of personality.
D. An infant's GENDER, the sense of being male or female, has effects throughout life.
1. Fathers interact more with
sons than daughters; mothers more with daughters.
2. Infants wear different
clothes and are given different toys based on gender.
3. Infants' behavior is
interpreted differently depending on gender.
4. Male infants are more active
and fussier than females.
5. By age one, infants are able
to distinguish between males and females.
6. Differences within gender
are greater than those between genders.
7. Gender differences become
increasingly influenced by gender roles in society.
E. Family Life in the 21st
Century
1. 27 percent of all families with children are headed by a single parent.
2. 65 percent of African
American children and 37 percent Hispanic children live in single-parent homes.
3. The average size of families
is shrinking from 2.8 to 2.6 persons per household.
4. 25 percent of births are to
unwed mothers.
5. More than 5 million children
under the age of 3 are cared for by other adults while their parents work, and
more than half of mothers with infants work outside the home.
6. One in six children live in poverty.
Key Terms and Concepts
Differential emotions theory
Stranger anxiety
Separation anxiety
Social smile
Social referencing
Self-awareness
Theory of mind
Empathy
Attachment
Ainsworth Strange Situation
Secure attachment pattern
Avoidant attachment pattern
Ambivalent attachment pattern
Disorganized-disoriented attachment pattern
Mutual regulation model
Reciprocal socialization
Personality
Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development
Trust-versus-mistrust stage
Autonomy-versus-shame-and-doubt stage
Temperament
Easy babies
Difficult babies
Slow-to-warm babies
Goodness-of-fit
Gender