This document discusses psychosocial development in infancy. It covers emotional development from 6 weeks to 18 months, including emotions like happiness, fear, anger and pride. Temperament is described as inborn differences in emotions and self-regulation. Infant attachment patterns include secure, avoidant, resistant and disorganized attachments. Theories of development discussed include psychoanalysis, behaviorism and cognitive approaches. Early relationships help form working models that guide later assumptions.
2. PART II: INFANCY
TOPIC 7: Psychosocial Development
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1. Introduction
2. Fact or Fiction?
3. Emotional Development
4. The Development of Social Bonds
5. Theories about Infant Socioemotional Development
6. Closing Thoughts
3. Fact or Fiction? Fiction Fact
1. Infant fear, as expressed in stranger
wariness, signals abnormal behavior.
2. In part because of inborn temperamental
characteristics, some children are more
difficult to raise and harder to live with.
3. Attachment patterns established in
infancy almost never change.
4. High-quality day care, even during the infant’s first
year, does not lead to negative developmental outcomes.
Socioemotional Development
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PART II: Infancy
TOPIC 7: Psychosocial Development
4. Specific Emotions
6 weeks - social smile
3 months- laughter; curiosity
4 months - full, responsive
smiles
Infant Emotions
Happy or Content
Fearful
Angry or Sad
Pride or Shame
4-8 months - anger
Angry - healthy response to
frustration
Sadness - indicates
withdrawal
9-14 months - with strangers
(stranger wariness; separation
anxiety)
12 months - fear of
unexpected sights and sounds
18 months—self-awareness;
pride; shame; embarrassment
How do infants express emotions?
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PART II: Infancy
TOPIC 7: Psychosocial Development
8. Self-Awareness
9 months
baby
20 months
baby
How do younger and older infants react to the “rouge test”?
self-awareness:
Realization that
one is a distinct
individual.
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PART II: Infancy
TOPIC 7: Psychosocial Development
10. Temperament
Inhibited (fearful) at 4 months and... Positive (exuberant) at 4 months and...
Do Babies’ Temperaments Change?
temperament: Inborn differences between one person
and another in emotions, activity, and self-regulation.
Fearful at 9,14,24
and 48 months
Positive
(every later time)
Variable (sometimes
fearful, sometimes not)
Fearful
(every later time)
Positive at 9,14,24
and 48 months
Variable (sometimes
fearful, sometimes not)
42%
44%
12%
5%
15%
80%
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PART II: Infancy
TOPIC 7: Psychosocial Development
12. Synchrony
synchrony: A coordinated,
rapid, and smooth exchange
of responses between a
caregiver and an infant.
How do infants learn of
others’ emotions?
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PART II: Infancy
TOPIC 7: Psychosocial Development
13. PATTERNS OF INFANT ATTACHMENT
Type Name of Pattern In Play Room Mother Leaves Mother Returns
Toddlers in
Category (%)
A Insecure-avoidant Child plays happily
Child continues
playing
Child ignores her 10-20
B Secure Child plays happily
Child pauses, is not
as happy
Child welcomes her,
returns to play
50-70
C
Insecure-
resistant/ambivalent
Child clings, is
preoccupied with
mother
Child is unhappy,
may stop playing
Child is angry; may
cry, hit mother, cling
10-20
D Disorganized Child is cautious
Child may stare or
yell; looks scared,
confused
Child acts oddly—may
scream, hit self,
throw things
5-10
Attachment
attachment: According to Ainsworth, an affectional
tie that an infant forms with a caregiver.
What are patterns of infant attachment?
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PART II: Infancy
TOPIC 7: Psychosocial Development
15. Social Referencing
social referencing: Seeking
information about how to
react to an unfamiliar or
ambiguous object or event
by observing someone else’s
expressions and reactions.
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PART II: Infancy
TOPIC 7: Psychosocial Development
16. What are the two main psychoanalytical
views of stages in infancy?
Psychoanalytical Theory
Developmental
crises involve trust
versus mistrust,
followed by
autonomy versus
shame and doubt!
Sigmund Freud
Erik Erikson
Sexual interest and
pleasure expressed
first in the oral stage,
then the anal stage!
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PART II: Infancy
TOPIC 7: Psychosocial Development
17. Behaviorism
social learning: Learning by observing others—both what
they do and how other people react to their behavior.
How do children learn aggression?
Experimental
Group
Control
Group
Watched
model act
aggressively
toward doll
Did not
watch the
model
Experienced
frustration
Experienced
frustration
Was placed
in room
with doll
Was placed
in room
with doll
Displayed highly
aggressive behavior
imitating model’s actions
Displayed less aggression,
mainly limited to
punching doll with fists
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PART II: Infancy
TOPIC 7: Psychosocial Development
19. Photo credits, left to right: Fancy Collection/SupersStock; Corbis/SuperStock; Fancy Collection / SuperStock; Stockbyte/Getty Images
Cognitive Theory
working model: In cognitive theory, a set of
assumptions that the individual uses to organize
perceptions and experiences.
How do early relationships help form a person’s later assumptions?
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TOPIC 7: Psychosocial Development
20. Humanism & Evolutionary Theory
Humanism: Both infants and their parents have needs that influence
caregiving practices.
Evolutionary Theory: Infant emotions ensure their survival; humans can
raise multiple children through allocare.
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TOPIC 7: Psychosocial Development
21. Infant Day Care
center day care: Child care that occurs in a place especially designed
for the purpose, where several paid adults care for many children.
How much do different countries use center-based care for infants?
Most use of center-
based infant care
In-between use of
center-based infant care
Less use of center-
based infant care
France
Central America
Latin America India
Ethiopia
Israel
China
Sweden
North America
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PART II: Infancy
TOPIC 7: Psychosocial Development
22. If you were to give advice to a friend with a
newborn, what would you tell him about the keys to
creating a strong social bond with his infant?
Closing Thoughts
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Corbis/SuperStock
PART II: Infancy
TOPIC 7: Psychosocial Development