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3 Social & Personality
Development in Infancy
Amelia Welch
Adapted from Dr. Scott
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Facial Expressions
Infants show
similar facial
expressions
relating to basic
emotions.
https://www.google.com/search?q=facial+expressions+in+infancy&rlz=1C1GCEA _enUS796US796&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi6xeGI-aPnA hV vg-
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Interest, distress, and disgust are present at birth. The degree of emotional
expressivity varies across cultures.
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Stranger
Anxiety
Appearance of
unknown person
causes fear
Common around
6 months
The caution and wariness displayed by infants when countering an unfamiliar
person.
As memory develops, they are able to separate the people they know from the
people they don’t know.
Source:www.metrokids.com
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Stranger
Anxiety
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Separation Anxiety
Distress displayed when
caregiver departs
7-8 months
Peaks 14 months
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Why do you think stranger anxiety and separation anxiety occur? Stranger anxiety
and separation anxiety represent important social progress. They reflect both
cognitive advances and the growing emotional and social bonds between infants
and their caregiver.
Daycare drop offs are really challenging for both children and parents. It can be
good to come up with a consistent routine that involved goodbye rituals.
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Smiling
Earliest smiles
Little meaning
6-9 weeks:
Begin reliable smiling
18 months:
Social smiling more frequent
End of 2nd year:
Use smiling purposefully
Reliable smile: smile at the sight of stimuli that please them
Social smile: a baby’s smile in response to another person
Source: Mama Natural
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Vocal
Expressions
Infants interpret others'
facial & vocal expressions
Understand underlying
emotions by 4 months
•Infants seem to be able to discriminate vocal expressions of emotion at a slightly
earlier age than they discriminate facial expressions.
•Although relatively little attention has been given to infants' perception of vocal
expressions, it does appear that they are able to discriminate happy and sad vocal
expressions at the age of 5 months.
Source: Wall Street Journal
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Social referencing
Firstoccurs around
8-9 months
Intentional search
for information
about others’
feelings.
Helps in understanding the significance of other’s behavior
Limited or completely lacking in children on the spectrum.
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Self-Awareness
Begin around 12 months
Reaction suggests that
they are conscious that
they lack the ability to
carry out difficult
tasks and are unhappy
about it—a reaction that
provides a clear
indication of self- https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS796US796&biw=1920&bih=969&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=Xu8uXrizCs-rytMP84-
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awareness.
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•Very young infants do not have a sense of themselves as individuals; they do not
recognize themselves in photos or mirrors.
•Roots of self-awareness, knowledge of oneself, begin to grow at around the age
of 12 months.
•By the age of 18 to 24 months, infants in western cultures have developed at least
an awareness of their own physical characteristics and capabilities, and they
understand that their appearance is stable over time. It is not clear how far this
awareness extends.
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Rouge
Test
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Attachment
Animal research
suggests based
on biologically
determined
factors.
•Imprinting: behavior that takes place during a critical period and involves
attachment to the first moving object that is observed.
•Harry Harlow gave infant monkeys the choice of cuddling a wire “monkey” that
provided food or a soft, terry cloth monkey that was warm but did not provide food.
Their preference was clear: Baby monkeys spent most of their time clinging to the
cloth monkey, although they made occasional expeditions to the wire monkey to
nurse. Harlow suggested that the preference for the warm cloth monkey provided
contact comfort.
•Harlow's work illustrates that food alone is not the basis for attachment. Given that
the monkeys' preference for the soft cloth “mothers” developed some time after
birth, these findings are consistent with the research showing little support for the
existence of a critical period for bonding between human mothers and infants
immediately following birth.
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Bowlby
Provides home base
through relationship with
individual who provides
safety.
•In Bowlby's view, attachment is based primarily on infants' needs for safety and
security—their genetically determined motivation to avoid predators. As they
develop, infants come to learn that their safety is best provided by a particular
individual.
•Source: The Psychologist
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Proximity Maintenance
Be near people
Safe Haven
Bowlby’s 4 Return for comfort and safety
characteristics Secure Base
of attachment Secure base from which to explore
environment
Separation Distress
Anxiety in absence
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Ainsworth’s Strange Situation
Staged episodes that illustrate strength of attachment
The “strange situation” follows this general eight-step pattern: (1) The mother and
baby enter an unfamiliar room; (2) the mother sits down, leaving the baby free to
explore; (3) an adult stranger enters the room and converses first with the mother
and then with the baby; (4) the mother exits the room, leaving the baby alone with
the stranger; (5) the mother returns, greeting and comforting the baby, and the
stranger leaves; (6) the mother departs again, leaving the baby alone; (7) the
stranger returns; and (8) the mother returns and the stranger leaves (Ainsworth et
al., 1978).
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Secure
Use mother as home base
Upset when mother leaves
Embrace mother upon return
Attachment
Styles:
Avoidant
Do not seek proximity to mother
Not distressed when mother leaves
Avoid when return
Linked to adult attachment styles.
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Ambivalent
Combination of positive and negative
reactions to their mothers
Close contact with mother; hardly
explore environment
Show great distress when mother leaves
Ambivalent reactions upon return
Attachment Example: Close but hit mother
Styles
Disorganized-Disoriented (recent)
Continued
Inconsistent and contradictory behavior
Least securely attached
Example: Run to mother but not look at
her
Example: Initially seem calm but then
angry
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Mothers of Secure Infants
Sensitivity to their infants'
needs and desires
Aware of moods and
feelings
Warmth and affection
Respond rapidly and
positively
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•Mothers of secure infants tend to provide the appropriate level of response with
interactional synchrony, in which caregivers respond to infants appropriately and
both caregiver and child match emotional states.
•Way for mothers to produce insecurely attached infants, according to Ainsworth, is
to ignore their behavioral cues, to behave inconsistently with them, and to ignore or
reject their social efforts.
•Attachment based parenting
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Fathers of securely
attached infants
Nurturance, warmth, affection, support, and concern.
•Little mention of the father and his potential contributions to the life of the infant in
early theorizing and research on attachment.
•Why do you think this is?
•First, John Bowlby, who provided the initial theory of attachment, suggested
that there was something unique about the mother–child relationship. He
believed the mother was uniquely equipped, biologically, to provide
sustenance for the child, and he concluded that this capability led to the
development of a special relationship between mothers and children.
•Second, the early work on attachment was influenced by the traditional
social views of the time, which considered it “natural” for the mother to be the
primary caregiver, while the father's role was to work outside the home to
provide a living for his family.
•What caused this to change?
•Societal norms are changing
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Peers
Babies react
positively to
presence of
peers from early
in life
•Young babies show more interest in peers than in inanimate objects and pay
greater attention to other infants than they do to a mirror image of themselves.
•They also begin to show preferences for peers with whom they are familiar
compared with those they do not know.
•Earliest months of life, they smile, laugh, and vocalize while looking at their
peers.
•Nine- to twelve-month-olds mutually present and accept toys, particularly to
familiar others and play social games, such as peek-a-boo or crawl-and-
chase.
•https://www.google.com/search?q=Infant+and+peers&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS
796US796&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjC96zY_KPnAhW
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Personality:
Sum total of
enduring
characteristics
differentiating
one individual
from another
Origins of personality, the sum total of the enduring characteristics that differentiate
one individual from another, stem from infancy.
•From birth onward, infants begin to show unique, stable traits and behaviors that
ultimately lead to their development as distinct, special individuals.
•How would you describe your personality?
•Source: Care.com
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Temperament
Patternof arousal and
emotionality
Tendsto be fairly stable into
adolescence
Can be modified by
childrearing practices
How would you describe your temperament?
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Temperament
Easy
Positive disposition
Adaptable
Regular body function
Difficult
Negative moods
Slow to adapt
Withdraw in new situations
Slow to Warm up
Inactive
Calm reactions to
environment
Withdraw from new
situations
No one temperament is best.
Goodness of fit important: Match between children’s temperament & demands of
environment.
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Dimensions of
Temperament
Activity
Low energy, high energy
Rhythmicity
Low predictability, high predictability
Mood
Negative, positive
Attention Span
Low persistence, high persistence
Distractibility
High distractibility, low distractibility
Approaching versus withdrawing
Bold, hesitant
Adaptability
Go with the flow, rigid
Intensity
Less responsive, more responsive
Sensitivity
Low sensitivity, high sensitivity
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Gender
• All cultures
prescribe gender
roles
• Differ greatly
between cultures
The term “gender”
is often used to
mean the same
thing as “sex,” but
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they are not
actually the same.
•Gender refers to our sense of being male or female (socially constructed)
•Sex typically refers to sexual anatomy and sexual behavior, while gender refers to
the social perceptions of maleness or femaleness.
•Ask: What do you think some of these gender differences might be?
•Most agree that boys and girls do experience at least partially different
worlds based on gender.
•Some gender differences are fairly clear from the time of birth. For example,
male infants tend to be more active and fussier than female infants.
•Boys' sleep tends to be more disturbed than that of girls. Boys grimace
more, although no gender difference exists in the overall amount of crying.
•There is also some evidence that male newborns are more irritable than
female newborns, although the findings are inconsistent.
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Gender Roles
By age 1
Distinguish between males and females
Girls
dolls or stuffed animals
Boys blocks and trucks
By age 2
Boys
behave more independently and less
compliantly than girls
•Gender differences emerge more clearly as children age—and become
increasingly influenced by the gender roles that society sets out for them.
•Bring Alexander's Doll to class and read it to students. Ask: Should boys be
allowed to play with dolls? Dress up in tutus? Should girls be allowed to play with
trucks and toy tools? Dress up like construction workers? What influences your
answer to these questions?
•For instance, when a child takes his or her first steps, parents tend to react
differently, depending on the child's gender: Boys are encouraged more to go off
and explore the world, while girls are hugged and kept close. It is hardly surprising,
then, that by the age of 2, girls tend to show less independence and greater
compliance.
•One study examined girls who were exposed before birth to abnormally high levels
of androgen, a male hormone, because their mothers unwittingly took a drug
containing the hormone while pregnant. Later, these girls were more likely to play
with toys stereotypically preferred by boys (such as cars) and less likely to play with
toys stereotypically associated with girls (such as dolls).
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Choosing the right
Childcare
Are there enough providers?
Are group sizes manageable?
Has the center complied with all
governmental regulations, and is it licensed?
•The American Psychological Association suggests that parents consider these
questions in choosing a program:
•Are there enough providers? A desirable ratio is one adult for every three
infants, although one to four can be adequate.
•For us, we wanted to make sure that our daughter is raised in a diverse
environment. The daycare that we chose discussed the importance of
diversity in curriculum. They also have dolls with different color skin tones
and books that are more representative.
•Are group sizes manageable? Even with several providers, a group of
infants should not be larger than eight.
•Has the center complied with all governmental regulations, and is it
licensed?
•Do the people providing the care seem to like what they are doing? What is
their motivation? Is child care just a temporary job, or is it a career? Are they
experienced? Do they seem happy in the job, or is offering child care just a
way to earn money?
•What do the caregivers do during the day? Do they spend their time playing
with, listening and talking to, and paying attention to the children? Do they
seem genuinely interested in the children, rather than merely going through
the motions of caring for them? Is there a television constantly on?
•Are the children safe and clean? Does the environment allow infants to
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move around safely? Is the equipment and furniture in good repair? Do the
providers adhere to the highest levels of cleanliness? After changing a baby's
diaper, do providers wash their hands?
•What training do the providers have in caring for children? Do they
demonstrate a knowledge of the basics of infant development and an
understanding of how normal children develop? Do they seem alert to signs
that development may depart from normal patterns?
•Finally, is the environment happy and cheerful? Child care is not just a
babysitting service: For the time an infant is there, it is the child's whole world.
You should feel fully comfortable and confident that the child-care center is a
place where your infant will be treated as an individual.
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