Psychosocial Development

During The First Three Years

Chapter 6

© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc 1

Guideposts for Study

 When and how do emotions develop, and

how do babies show them?
 How do infants show temperamental
differences, and how enduring are those
differences?
 What roles do mothers and fathers play in
early personality development?
 When and how do gender differences
appear?
© 2009 by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc 2
Guideposts for Study

 How do infants gain trust in their world and form

attachments, and how do infants and caregivers
“read” each other’s nonverbal signals?
 When and how does the sense of self arise,
and how do toddlers develop autonomy and
standards for socially acceptable behavior?
 How do infants and toddlers interact with
siblings and other children?
 How do parental employment and early child
care affect infants’ and toddlers’ development?
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Emotions

 Subjective responses to experience

 Sadness, joy, fear
 Associated with
– Physiological changes
– Behavioral changes
 Expressions depend upon culture
and personality

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First Signs of Emotion: Crying!

 It is obvious when newborns are upset!

– Piercing cries, flailing of limbs, stiff body
 Types of cries:
– Hunger
– Pain
– Frustration
 More difficult to tell when
the newborn is happy
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 Emotions: First Month

 Baby becomes quiet at:

 ound of human voice
S
 Being picked up
 Baby smiles when gently moved
– ‘Pattycake’
 Smiling and cooing

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Smiling & Laughing

 Involuntary smiles
– Appear at birth
– Result of subcortical brain activity
 Waking smiles after one month
– Considered more social
– Elicited through gentle jiggling,
tickling or kissing

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Self Emotions

 Self-Awareness
 A realization that one’s existence is separate
from others
 Self-Consciousness
– Depends on having self-awareness
– Embarrassment and empathy

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Self-Evaluative Emotions

 Pride, shame and guilt

 Require self-awareness and
knowledge of socially accepted
behaviors
 Children compare their own
thoughts and behaviors against
what is socially OK
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 Empathy

 Ability to put oneself in another’s place

– Requires social cognition
 Understanding that others have thoughts and
feelings
– Ideas about others’ feelings are used to
gauge own behavior
 Egocentrism – absence of empathy

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 Brain Growth and
Emotional Development

Four Major Shifts:

 Cerebral cortex becomes functional
 Frontal lobes interact with the limbic system
 Infant develops self-awareness and
consciousness
 Hormonal changes coincide with evaluative
emotions

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 Temperament

 A biological predisposition of
reactivity
 Highly heritable and stable
 Generally, how mellow are you from
situation to situation?

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 Three Temperaments

 Easy
– Generally happy
– Responds well to change and novelty
 Slow to Warm Up
– Generally mild reactions
– Hesitant about new experiences
 Difficult
– Irritable
– Intense emotional responses
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temperamental differences, and
how enduring are those
differences?

 Difficult Children: Some

babies come into the world
with an especially intense
and sensitive temperament.
They cry a lot, they react
intensely to any irritation or
discomfort, they want to be
carried and nursed
constantly, they fall asleep
with difficulty and never for
long. Because they have
higher-than-average needs,
these babies need more -
and more sensitive -
parenting.
14
2. How do infants show
temperamental differences,

 Slow to warm up: hard to

describe but here’s a story
about a baby that fits the
profile:"Brianna is really pretty
easy - until something new or
unexpected comes up. Then
she's like Ms. Hyde. New
food, new places, new people
disrupt her in a major way. I
thought playgroup was going
to be a complete no-go: a
group of toddlers she didn't
know in a place she hadn't
been before. But after weeks
and weeks on my knee she
got into it a bit, and now she
enjoys herself there."
15
 Easy Baby:Some
babies are relaxed and
easygoing. They are
eager to explore new
places and things. They
respond quickly to
change. They can often
calm themselves in
times of stress. These
babies are likely to be
sound sleepers and
eager eaters. 16
temperamental differences, and
how enduring are those
differences?

 Making a good fit: coming together

 "Fit" describes the way a baby's
environment - that is, her parents and
other caregivers - accommodates her
temperament. Parents make the fit
good by expecting a baby to behave
in a way that feels "right" for her: they
expect their shy toddler to take awhile
to get used to playgroup; they
anticipate that their active baby will
tear around Grandmas house; they
understand why their slow-to-warm-
up baby is upset by a new caregiver.
Good fit starts with acceptance: Your
child's behaviour reflects the way she
feels. No one chooses a
temperament, it just is.
17
 Goodness of Fit

 Adjustment is easiest when the child’s

temperament matches the situation
– Physically
– Socially
– Culturally

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temperamental differences, and
how enduring are those
differences?

 What challenges some

parents is not the
temperament of their baby,
but their own expectations
– another challenge is
support- parents need
support and advice.
 Acceptance of your child
the way s/he is is a
wonderful gift
19
Emotions During First 3 Years

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 The Mother’s Role:
Harry Harlow

 Research with rhesus monkeys

 Newborns placed with ‘foster mother’
– Cloth mother offered no food
– Wire mother provided food
 Babies preferred cloth mother
 The importance of ‘contact comfort’

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 Harry Harlow, 1950s
Surrogate mother experiments

 Critical period for attachment

Harlow’s experiment separated
infant monkeys from their mothers a
few hours after birth, then arranged
for the young animals to be “raised”
by two kinds of surrogate monkey
mother machines, both equipped to
dispense milk. One mother was Link to vi
made out of bare wire mesh. The deo of ha
other was a wire mother covered rlow
with soft terry cloth.
22
 The Father’s Role

 Entails emotional commitment and

direct involvement
 Amount of involvement can vary greatly
 In North America., father involvement
has increased dramatically since 1970s
– More women work outside the home

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 Gender Differences

 Gender
 What it means to be male or female
 Gender-typing
– Socialization by which children learn
gender roles
– Parents important in socialization

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Gender differences

 Measurable differences are few

 Behavioral differences between 1 and 2
years
– Boys play more aggressively
– Word choices
– Perceptions of gender

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 Basic Trust v. Basic Mistrust

 Newborns and infants develop a sense of

reliability of people and objects
 Erikson Stage 1: Basic Trust
– Sensitive, responsive and consistent care.
– ‘Can I count on you to feed me when I’m
hungry?’

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 Erikson’s theory of
psychosocial development list
trust v mistrust as the first
crisis that must be developed.
This stage lasts until about 18
months and requires infants
to develop a sense of being
able to rely upon their
caregivers. They need to
believe that their physical and
emotional needs will be met.

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 Attachment

 Attachment: Children develop

different styles of attachment based on
experiences and interactions with their
primary caregivers. Four different
attachment styles have been identified
in children: secure, anxious-
ambivalent, anxious
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Attachment in Strange Situation

Attachment Child’s Behavior

Plays freely when mother is near

Secure
Happy when mother returns
Insecure- Hovers around mother
Resistant Angry when mother returns
Inconsistent & erratic
Disorganized
Seems overwhelmed by stress

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 Disorganized children don’t
know what to expect from
their parents. Children with
relationships in the other
categories have organized
attachments. This means
that they have all learned
ways to get what they need,
even if it is not the best way.
 This happens because
a child learns to predict
how his parent will
react, whether it is
positive or negative.
They also learn that
doing certain things will
make their parents do
certain things.
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 Influences on Attachment

 Parental
– Level of warmth and responsiveness
– Employment and amount of separation
– Own memories about their attachment
 Baby’s temperament

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 Long-Term Effects
of Attachment

 More securely attached children develop

good relationships with others
 Larger vocabularies
 Higher levels of curiosity and self-
confidence
 Preparation for adult intimacy

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Box 1: Postpartum Depression

 Detrimental effects
 Babies may become depressed
themselves
 Unusual patterns of brain activity
 Insecurely attached
 Treatment strategies

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 Mutual Regulation
of Emotions

 Infant and caregiver responding to each

other’s emotional states
 Social Referencing
 Baby’s attempt to understand an
ambiguous situation by seeking out cues
from caregiver
–
 What would baby do if you said ‘YECH!’ to a toy?

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 Emergence of Self Concept

 Self-concept: The image of ourselves

 Personal agency
 ‘I can make that move!’
 Self-efficacy
‘I’m GREAT at making it move!’


 Self-awareness
– Knowledge of the self as a distinct being
– Rouge test

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Box 2: Toddler Struggles

 Are “terrible twos” universal?

 Methods of handling sibling conflict
 Individual needs versus group needs

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 Erikson identifies this period from 18
months to 3 years where a child solves
the crisis of autonomy vs. shame. The
virtue is “Will”

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 Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt. Between the
ages of one and three, children begin to assert
their independence, by walking away from their
mother, picking which toy to play with, and
making choices about what they like to wear, to
eat, etc. (negativism) If children in this stage are
encouraged and supported in their increased
independence, they become more confident and
secure in their own ability to survive in the world

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 If children are criticized, overly controlled, or
not given the opportunity to assert
themselves, they begin to feel inadequate in
their ability to survive, and may then become
overly dependent upon others, lack self-
esteem, and feel a sense of shame or doubt
in their own abilities.

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 Autonomy v. Shame

 Autonomy
– A shift from external control to self-control
– Emerges from trust and self-awareness
– The Terrible Twos
 Shame and doubt
– Help toddler recognize need for limits

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 Moral Development

 Socialization
• How children develop habits and values that
make them productive members of society
 Internalization
• Making the standards of society your own

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 Socialization: Human infants are born without any
culture.  They must be transformed by their parents,
teachers, and others into cultural and socially adept
people.  The general process of acquiring culture is
referred to as socialization.  During socialization,
we learn the language of the culture we are born into
as well as the roles we are to play in life.  We also
learn and usually adopt our culture's norms through
the socialization process. (internalization) 

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 Developing Self-Regulation

 Having control over own behavior

 Conforming with caregiver’s standards
….even if caregiver is not present
 Depends on attentional processes
– Ability to monitor negative emotions

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 Origins of Conscience

 Emotional discomfort about doing

something wrong
 The ability to refrain from doing something
wrong
 Refraining because they believe it is the
right thing to do…not just self-regulation

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Committed and
Situational Compliance

 Committed Compliance
– Willingly follows orders without lapses
– Shows internalization of household rules
 Situational Compliance
– Follows orders with prompting and
reminders

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Factors in the
Success of Socialization

 Security of attachment
 Receptive cooperation
 Mutual responsiveness of
parent and child

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Sociabililty with Siblings

 Becomes a vehicle for

understanding social
relationships outside the
home
 Constructive conflict helps
children with empathy

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Sociability with Non-Siblings

 Babies who spend more time

with other babies tend to be
more sociable
 Toddlers can learn by imitating
each other
– Playing follow-the-leader
– Paves the way for more complex
games

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 Effects of
Parental Employment

NLSY found little or no effect of maternal

employment on children’s:
 Compliance
 Behavioral problems
 Self-esteem
 Cognitive development
 Academic achievement
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Factors in Impact of Child Care

 Structural characteristics
– Staff training
– Ratio of children to staff
 Process characteristics
– Warmth and sensitivity of workers
– Appropriateness of activities

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 Types of Child Abuse

 Physical
 Neglect
 Sexual
 Emotional Maltreatment
– Causes behavioral, cognitive or mental
disorders
– May include rejection

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 Traits of Abusive &
Neglectful Families

 Perpetrator usually mother

 Aggravated by:
 Marital problems
 Stressful events (getting laid off)

 Lack of parental education

 Poverty

 Alcoholism

 Depression

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 Community & Cultural
Factors in Child Abuse

Abuse is more likely if:

 Criminal activity is rampant in community
 There are few community programs
 Violent crime is frequent in that country
– USA v. Japan

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 Abuse-Prevention Programs

 Teach parenting skills

 Offer ‘respite homes’ and ‘relief
parents’
 Investigate reports of maltreatment
 Provide shelters and therapy
 Facilitate foster care

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 Long Term Effects
of Maltreatment

 1/3 of adults abused as children victimize

own children
 Sexually abused children grow up with:
– Lower self-esteem
– Greater risk of depression and anxiety
– Risk of precocious sexual behavior

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