Emotional & Social Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood

Ch6 of textbook

Attatchment Theory

• Attachment - A long-term affectionate relationship
• Harlow (1959) - Rhesus monkey attachment study
  • Preference of comfort over food

Theory of Attatchment

• John Bowlby (1969)- theory rooted in psychoanalysis
  • Infant attatchment is basis of future relationships
  • Form "Internal working model" of expectations
    • Preattachment Phase - 0 to 6wks
    • Attatchment in the making - 6wk to ~7mo
    • Clear-cut attachment- ~7mo to ~21 mo
    • Formation of reciprocal relationship- onward

• Attachment - A long-term affectionate relationship
• Harlow (1959) - Rhesus monkey attachment study

The Strange Situation

• Ainsworth (1978)- measurement of infant attachment

Initially, yield 4 types of Attachment:

• Secure

• Anxious/Avoidant

• Ambivalent/Resistant

• Disorganized/Disoriented

Attatchment Theory

• Focus on mothers, but Bowlby's theory allows more.
• Impact of SES
  • Poverty and life stressors promote insecure attatchment
• Impact o Culture
  • Individualistic (eg US) vs Collectivist (eg Japanese)
• Interactional synchrony- When a caregiver responds to infant signals in appropriate fashion ("a dance")

Big Moods

• Self-conscious emotions- around 1.5 - 3yrs old
  • Shame
  • Embarrassment
  • Guilt
  • Pride
  • Envy
• Need to understand adult instructions on when/how to feel emotions
• Need a sense of "self"

Development of "Self"

• What is the "self" again? Is there such a thing as an individual?
• self-recognition & self-awareness
  • Mirror/rouge study (Lewis & Brooks-Gunn, 1979)

• Empathy
  • Understanding of "self" in others
  • "What is it like to be a bat?" Thomas Nagel
• Categorical self

Self-regulation

• Self-control; self-regulation
  • Delay of gratification – Marshmallow Test

• Effortful control Rothbart (2003):
  • capacity to voluntarily suppress a dominant response in order to execute a more adaptive response (executive functioning, inhibition of impulsivity)
  • Role of prefrontal cortex (PFC)?

Structure of Temperament

• Thomas and Chess (1991) study
  • Easy: 40%
    • Good mood and quick to adapt. More social.
  • Difficult: 10%
    • Irregular routines and frequent crying
  • Slow-to-warm-up: 15%
    • low activity, somewhat negative
  • Unclassified: 35%
• Mix of Emotionality, Socialibility, and Activity level
• Stability is low in infancy and toddlerhood