Chapter 7 Socioemotional Development in Infancy

Summary

 

1.0 Images of Life-Span Development: The Newborn Opossum, Wildebeest, and Human

 

Newborns of different species vary in their ability to enter the world and function on their own. The newborn wildebeest is relatively independent whereas the newborn opossum is quite dependent on others. The human newborn falls between these two extremes.

 

2.0 Family Processes. Most children grow up in a family. Hence, families are important agents of socialization for children.

 

Reciprocal Socialization. The current view is that socialization is reciprocal: parents socialize children and, in turn, are socialized by them. When the infant is very young, the mother carries the load in facilitating the interaction through scaffolding. Scaffolding may help children learn social rules such as taking one's turn.

 

The Family as a System. The family is composed of various subsystems. Mother-infant and mother-father exemplify dyadic interactions; however, polyadic interactions are also common. Belsky highlights reciprocal influences of family members in terms of direct and indirect effects among marital relations, parenting, and infant behavior.

 

3.0Attachment

 

What is Attachment? Attachment is a relationship between two individuals in which each person feels strongly about the other and does a number of things to ensure the continuity of the relationship. Attachment is illustrated by the bond between infant and caregiver. There are alternative theoretical explanations for attachment. Freud viewed oral gratification as the mechanism for attachment. Harlow's work suggested that attachment results from contact comfort rather than nourishment. Lorenz viewed familiarity as critical for attachment, whereas Erickson nominated trust for that role. Bowlby’s ethological perspective argues that the infant and mother instinctively trigger each other's behavior to form an attachment bond. Attachment to the caregiver intensifies at about 6-7 months.

 

Individual Differences. Ainsworth describes secure attachment, in which infants (type B babies) use mothers as a secure base for exploration, respond positively to being picked up, and move away freely to play when put down. Insecure attachment can be either anxious-avoidant (type A babies) or anxious-resistant (type C babies). According to Bowlby, attachment security relates to the sensitivity and responsivity of the caretaker to signals from the infant. Attachment relationships carry forward into other relationships.

 

Attachment, Temperament, and the Wider Social World. Some developmentalists believe that the role of attachment is overemphasized. They believe that genetics, temperament, and diverse social agents and contexts are more important to a child's social competence than attachment theorists acknowledge.

 

4.0 Fathers as Caregivers of Infants

 

Over time, the father's role has changed. Contemporary fathers may be active, nurturant caregivers. Attachment between father and infant occurs at the same time as attachment between mother and infant. Fathers can be just as sensitive to infants as mothers; however, mothers operate more in a caregiving role than do fathers whereas fathers act more as playmates than do mothers.

 

5.0 Day Care

 

Day care has become a basic need for the American family. More children are in day care today than at any other time in history. In addition, infants may begin receiving day care at 1 or 2 years of age or earlier. For some infants, these are positive experiences, for others negative experiences. In day care centers that are university based or staffed, the programs for infants and young children are good, and the infants do not differ in attachment behavior from infants reared at home by their mothers. According to Belsky, poor-quality day care may have negative developmental outcomes for children, such as insecure attachment, increased aggression, and noncompliance. Other experts disagree with Belsky. For some infants, there may be positive benefits in social development from day care experience. Good-quality day care does not have any negative effects on the social or cognitive development of an infant, Zigler believes schools should provide quality day care within the school building, along with after-school care for school-aged children requiring such services.

 

6.0 Temperament

 

Temperament is another widely studied aspect and is defined in terms of a person's behavioral style. Chess and Thomas identified three temperamental clusters and have labeled children as easy, difficult, and slow-to-warm-up. Buss and Plomin have identified three dimensions in which infants differ: emotionality, sociability, and activity. Some experts further differentiate the broader domain of social withdrawal into subcategories of shyness, introversion, sociability, and extroversion. Temperament is conceived of as a stable characteristic of newborns that is shaped by later experiences. Temperament may become more malleable with experience. An important consideration is the fit between the temperament of an infant and the temperament of the parents.

 

7.0 Emotional Development

 

The Nature of Children's Emotions. Emotion is feeling that combines physiological arousal and overt behavior. Emotions can be classified in terms of positive affectivity and negative affectivity. Emotions serve three functions: (a) survival, (b) regulation, and (c) communication. Emotion are the first means of communication between infants and parents and serve to coordinate their interactions.

 

Emotional Development in Infancy. Emotions begin to develop during infancy. Carroll Izard developed a coding system for scoring facial expression of infants and observed a reliable pattern of emotional development. For example, interest, distress, and disgust are present at birth, a social smile appears at about 4-6 weeks, anger, surprise, and sadness emerge at about 3-4 months, fear is displayed at about 5-7 months, shame and shyness emerge at about 6-8 months, and contempt and guilt appear at about 2 years of age. Babies employ three different kinds of cries (basic, anger, and pain) to communicate with their world. An increasing number of developmentalists support Ainsworth and Bowlby’s idea that caregivers should respond immediately to a crying infant during the first year of life. Infants use reflexive and social smiles to communicate affect.

 

8.0 Personality Development

 

Trust. Erikson argues that the first year is characterized by the crisis of trust versus mistrust; his ideas share much in common with the concept of secure attachment.

 

The Developing Sense of Self and Independence. Infants develop a sense of self during the second half of the second year of life. Independence becomes a central theme during the second year of life. A mirror technique, observing infants' response to their reflections in a mirror, is often used as a measure of self-recognition. Margaret Mahler describes the process of separation-individuation as a critical development of the first three years, when the child acquires individual characteristics. A sense of trust and a sense of the self are both needed for separation-individuation to develop. Independence is also the theme of Erikson's stage, autonomy versus shame and doubt. Erikson believes that the resolution of this issue paves the way for identifying development in adolescence.

 

9.0 Problems and Disorders

 

Child Abuse. An understanding of child abuse requires information about cultural, familial, and community influences. Sexual abuse of children is now recognized as a more widespread problem than was believed in the past.

 

Infantile Autism. Infantile autism is a severe disorder that first appears in infancy. It involves an inability to relate to people, speech problems, and upsets over changes in routine or environment. Autism seems to involve some form of organic brain and genetic dysfunction.

 

10.0 Contemporary Concerns

 

Sociocultural Worlds of Development 7.1: Child-Care Policy around the World. Effective child-care policies aim to get infants off to a competent start in life and to protect maternal health while maintaining family income. Almost all of the industrialized countries other than the United States have developed maternity/paternity policies that allow parents time-off work after childbirth to physically recover, adapt to parenting, and improve the well-being of the infant.

 

Perspectives on Parenting and Education 7.1: Shattered Innocence—The Sexual Abuse of Children. Estimates indicate that 1 of every 6 children is sexually abused. Sexual abuse is most common for children between the ages of 9 and 12. Although certain signs may indicate child abuse, there is no widely agreed upon profile for the victim of child abuse.

 

Life-Span Practical Knowledge 7.1: Day care. Alison Clarke-Stewart reviews the options and consequences that allow parents to make informed decisions about day care. The book includes a checklist.

 

Life-Span Practical Knowledge 7.2: Touchpoints. T. Berry Brazelton's book addresses parental concerns and questions about children's feelings, behavior, and development from pregnancy through the first-grade.

 

Life-Span Health and Well-Being: Personal Characteristics of Competent Caregivers. La Visa Wilson has delineated eight personal characteristics of competent caregivers that range from being physically healthy to enjoying caregiving.

 

Key Terms

 

1.0 Images of Life-Span Development: The Newborn Opossum, Wildebeest, and Human

 

2.0 Family Processes

reciprocal socialization

mutual gaze

synchronization

scaffolding

social rules

dyadic family subsystem

polyadic family subsystem

direct and indirect effects

 

3.0 Attachment

attachment,

secure attachment,

anxious-avoidant attachment,

anxious-resistant attachment type A babies,

type В babies,

type С babies

 

4.0 Fathers as Caregivers of Infants

child care policy

non/traditional gender role

 

5.0 Day Care

day care

 

6.0 Temperament

Temperament,

easy child,

difficult child,

slow-to-warm-up child,

emotionality,

sociability,

activity,

shyness,

introversion,

sociability,

extroversion

 

7.0 Emotional Development

emotion

positive affectivity

negative affectivity

maximally discriminative facial movement coding system (MAX)

basic cry,

anger cry,

pain cry

reflexive smile

social smile

 

8.0 Personality Development

independence

trust versus mistrust

autonomy versus shame and doubt

 

9.0 Problems and Disorders

child abuse

infantile autism

 

10.0 Contemporary Concerns

 

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