EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

• Considerable evidence seem to suggest that basic human emotions may occur as early as one month of age and continue to develop throughout infancy and early childhood:

– Interest– Surprise– Joy– Anger– Fear

Secondary Emotions

• Later in the second year of life, children develop:– Embarrassment– Shame– Guild– Envy– Pride

These emotions imply an initial awareness of self and competencies in relation to others

How do these emotions develop?

• Children initially look to their parents for feedback and emotional confirmation. When parents demonstrate positive emotions thru smiles, children are likely to internalize those emotions and behaviors.

– Social referencing starts in infants as early as 7 months

• When they get older (2 yrs), they look to their peers or others for information as to an ambiguous event or experience.

– This is known as social referencing.

• Three year olds are better at expressing their emotions and communicating.

– Parents who effective process children’s emotions develop children with greater social competence (prosocial behavior, problem-solving skills, and mastery orientation)

• What about cultural differences as a function of emotional expression?

• What of the ability of emotional self regulation?

Development of Empathy• Empathy.

– The ability to experience the same emotions that someone else is experiencing.

• Children become better understand the emotions of others around age 4 and 5.

• Between ages 6 to 9, children begin to understand that people can experience multiple emotions at one time

TEMPERAMENT AND DEVELOPMENT

• Temperament. A person’s characteristic modes of responding emotionally and behaviorally to environmental events, including such attributes as activity level, irritability, fearfulness, and sociability.

– Hereditary influences. • Twin studies (identical vs. fraternal) have provided

convincing evidence to temperament being based on genetic influences.

– Environmental influences. • Home environment has been found to be impactful on

temperament.

Parameters of Temperament

• Activity Level

• Irritability/Negative Emotionality

• Soothability

• Fearfulness

• Sociability

Temperament• Generally speaking, temperament is found to be relatively

stable over time and often seen as the cornerstone of human personality development. Researchers (Thomas and Chess, 1977) identified Temperament profiles

– Easy Temperament. • Easygoing children are even-tempered, are typically in a positive mood, and are

quite open and adaptable to new experiences. Their habits are regular and predictable.

– Difficult Temperament. • These children are active, irritable, and irregular in their habits. They often react

very vigorously to changes in routine and are very slow to adapt to new persons or situations.

– Slow-to-warm-up Temperament. • These children are quite inactive, somewhat moody, and can be slow to adapt to

new persons and situations. They typically respond to novelty in mildly negative ways

Emotional Attachment

• According to John Bowlby (1969), attachment is the strong affectional connection that we feel with the special people in our lives.

• Bowlby stressed that parent-infant attachments are reciprocal relationships

– Synchronized routines. • Generally harmonious interactions between two

persons in which participants adjust their behavior in response to their partner’s feelings or actions.

Schaffer and Emerson’s Phases of Attachment

• Asocial. Infants respond in an equally favorable way to interesting social and nonsocial stimuli.

• Phase of indiscriminate attachment. Infants prefer social to nonsocial stimulation and are likely to protest whenever any adult puts them down or leaves them alone.

• Phase of specific attachment. Infants are attached to one close companion (usually the mother).

• Secure base. Use of a caregiver as a base from which to explore the environment and to which to return for emotional support.

• Phase of multiple attachments. Infants are forming attachments to companions other than their primary attachment object.

Theories of Attachment

• Psychoanalytic.

• Learning.

• Cognitive.

• Ethological.

Mary Ainsworth• Developed an assessment of strange situations for infants 1 to 2

years olds. Developed eight natural infant-caregiver scenarios to assess infant’s behaviors in strange situations.

– Secure. An infant-caregiver bond in which the child welcomes contact with a close companion and uses this person as a secure base from which to explore the environment.

– Resistant. An insecure bond, characterized by strong separation protest and a tendency of the child to remain near but resist contact initiated by the caregiver, particularly after a separation.

– Avoidant. An insecure bond characterized by little separation protest and a tendency of the child to avoid or ignore the caregiver.

– Disorganized/Disoriented. An insecure bond, characterized by the infant’s dazed appearance on reunion or a tendency to first seek and then abruptly avoid the caregiver.

Cultural Variations in Attachment Classifications

• In Northern Germany, parents encourage their children to be more independent and discourage close contact and clinging behaviors.

• In Japan, infants indicate strong resistance to being separated from their parents.

Risk Factors for Poor Attachments

• Depression in Parents.

• Insensitive Parents/Parents with unresolved life experiences or issues.

• Parents who experience unplanned pregnancies.