Socioemotional Development
Infancy and Early ChildhoodChapter 5
Erikson’s 1st 3 Stages
•Infancy
–Basic trust vs Mistrust
•1-3 Years
–Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt
•3-5 Years
–Initiative vs Guilt
Attachment
•Mom vs Dad
•Four forms
–Secure attachment
–Avoidant attachment
–Resistant attachment
–Disorganized attachment
Alternate Caregiving
•~6 million US toddlers/infants are not cared for by their mothers
–1/3rd cared for in their home
•Dads or grandparents
–1/3rd cared for in a provider’s home
•Often a relative’s
–1/3rd cared for in day care/nursery
Effects of Day Care
•National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (1997, 2001)
–Followed mothers and their newborns
–No overall effect on mother-child attachment
–Insecure attachment
•Less sensitive moms + low quality/large amounts of care
What to look for?
•Low child to caregiver ratio
•Well trained, experienced staff
•Educational & social opportunities
•Effective communication between parents and day care workers.
Emotion
•Basic emotions
–a subjective feeling
–a physiological change
–an overt behavior
•Measuring emotions
–Infants
–5-6 months
Developing Emotions
•Basic
–Newborns = Pleasure & distress
–2/3mo = joy
–4-6mo = anger
–6mo = fear
–8/9mo = all basic emotions
•Complex
–Pride, guilt, embarrassment
–18 to 24mo
–Requires understanding of self
•Cultural Differences
–Encouragement of expression
–Emotional triggers
Recognizing Emotions
•Parental cues are important
•Social referencing
–Infants look to their parents for cues on how to react to new situations
•Affective Perspective Taking
–Having the ability to understand how someone else feels
Regulating Emotions
•Begins in infancy
–Looking/moving away from frightening objects
•Rely less on others
–More on mental strategies
•Start matching strategies with settings
Interaction
•Play
–12mo; parallel play
•Play alone but pay attention to what the other is doing
–15-18mo; simple social play
•Do similar activities
–24mo; cooperative play
•Organized play with special roles
•Make-believe
Interaction
•Solitary play
–Problem?
•Not normally
•Warning signs: wandering, hovering
•Gender Differences
–Naturally select same sex friends
–Resist playing with the opposite sex
•Different type of play
•Girls enable
•Boys constrict
Cooperation
•Age
–Egocentrism
–Communication skills
•Response to cooperation
•Encouragement
Helping Others
•Prosocial behavior
–Behavior that benefits someone else
•Altruism
–Feelings of responsibility
•Helping/sharing
•Skills Needed
–Affective perspective taking
–Empathy (experience others’ emotions)
•Socialization
Gender Roles
•Stereotypes
•Gender differences
–Verbal ability
–Mathematics
–Spatial ability
–Social influence
–Aggression
–Emotional sensitivity
Gender Typing
•Reward children for actions congruent with their sex
•Respond differently
•Talk differently
•Different household chores
•Fathers more likely
•Peers also critical
Gender Identity
•Gender labeling (2-3yrs)
–Am I a boy or girl?
•Gender stability (3-4yrs)
–Boys=Men; Girls=Women
•Gender constancy (4-7yrs)
–Doesn’t change situation to situation
•Gender-schema theory
–Children first decide if something is male or female; then whether to learn more about it