Personality and Social

Development of Children

Dr. Reem Al-Sabah Faculty of Medicine

Psychology 220

Emotional Development in Infancy

• The First Year ▫ At birth: distress and contentment ▫ Social smile appears around 6 weeks ▫ Anger (as early as 4 months) ▫ Fear (~ 9 months) Stranger wariness: an infant’s expression of

concern when a stranger appears. Separation anxiety: distress when a familiar

caregiver leaves.

• The Second Year

▫ Fear and anger, laughing and crying become

more discriminating

▫ New emotions appear: pride, shame,

embarrassment, guilt

These emotions require a sense of self

Self Awareness

• The realization that one is a unique person

separate from others

▫ “me”, “mine”

• Emerges around 15-18 months

Dot-of-rouge experiment: measured by reaction to

dot of rouge on face.

▫ Is the prerequisite for pride, guilt, shame,

embarrassment, jealousy, empathy

Pride and Shame

• “It seems that building self-esteem results not

from praising young children, but from enabling

them to accomplish things that make them feel

proud.”

(Berger, 2005)

Pride and Shame (Cont.)

• Strongly linked to self-concept

• Parental praise and self-esteem

▫ Negative comments diminish efforts and increase

shame

▫ Mixed evidence for effects of praise on self-

esteem

▫ Strong correlation between:

pretending

touching one’s own nose in the mirror,

using first person pronouns

Erikson’s theory of

Psychosocial Development

1. Trust vs. Mistrust

2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

3. Initiative vs. Guilt

4. Industry vs. Inferiority

5. Identity vs. Confusion

6. Intimacy vs. Isolation

7. Generativity vs. Stagnation

8. Integrity vs. Despair

1. Trust vs. Mistrust

• Birth-1year

• The development of trust is based on the dependability and quality of the child’s caregivers

• Trust= will feel secure and safe in the world

• Mistrust= fear and belief that the world is inconsistent and unpredictable

2. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

• Early childhood

• Toilet training

• Learning to control one’s body functions leads to

a feeling of control and a sense of independence

• Gaining control over other important events (food choices, toy preferences, clothing selection..)

3. Initiative vs. Guilt

• Preschool years.

• Children begin to assert their power and control over the world through directing play and other social interaction.

• Feeing capable and able to lead others, or,

having a sense of guilt, self-doubt and lack of initiative.

4. Industry vs. Inferiority

• Early school years (5-11years).

• Through social interactions children begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments and abilities.

• Encouragement by parents/teachers= children will develop a feeling of competence and belief in their skills.

• Little or no encouragement= children will doubt their ability to be successful.

5. Identity vs. Confusion

• Adolescence

• Children are exploring their independence and developing a sense of self.

6. Intimacy vs. Isolation

• Early adulthood.

• People are exploring personal relationships.

• It is vital that people develop close committed relationships with other people

7. Generativity vs. Stagnation

• Adulthood • Continue to build their lives, focusing on career

and family.

• A feeling of contributing to the world by being active in their home and in their community, or, a feeling of not being productive and uninvolved in the world.

8. Integrity vs. Despair

• Old age.

• Reflecting back on life.

• Looking back with few regrets and feeling satisfied. Proud of one’s accomplishments, or, feeling bitter with many regrets.

Temperament

• Inborn differences between one person and

another in emotions, activity, and self-control.

• Temperamental traits originate in one’s genes,

but are influenced by experience.

• Examples: Infants differ in their reactions to

new situations (fearful or bold); some infants cry

easily, others seem “born tough”.

Personality

▫ The distinctive and characteristic patterns of

thought , emotions and behavior that define an individual’s personal style of interacting with the physical and social environment.

▫ Personality includes traits that are primarily learned (e.g., honesty, humility)

▫ Temperamental traits (e.g., shyness and aggression) are primarily genetic.

Measuring Temperament

• Pioneering research (began in the 1950s)

▫ Thomas and Chess– collected information from

parents, teachers and children (140 infants)

• The NYLS relied on parent reports and direct observations to categorize infants as:

▫ EASY (40%)

▫ SLOW TO WARM UP (15%)

▫ DIFFICULT (10%)

▫ HARD TO CLASSIFY (35%)

Temperament and Caregiving

• It is important to appreciate each child’s

unique temperament.

• Goodness of fit: the match between the

child’s temperament and the environment

▫ This is especially important for a child with

a difficult temperament

Early Social Behavior

• 2 months– child smiles at the sight of its mother’s or father’s face. ▫ Same worldwide (maturation)

▫ Blind babies (innate response)

• 3 or 4 months– recognize and prefer members of their household. Fairly receptive to strangers.

• 7-9 months– begin to be fear strangers and show distress when left with unfamiliar person or place.

• Between 14 and 18 months--Distress over separation from parent peaks at this age

▫ Similar across many cultures around the world

▫ Two factors associated with this onset and decline of this fear: Memory and Autonomy

• By age 3 years---most children secure in their parents’ absence

The Development of Social Bonds

•Synchrony: coordinated

interaction

between

caregiver and

infant that starts

the process of

attachment

MYRLEEN FERGUSON CATE / PHOTO EDIT

Early Emotional Responses

• Interactions between caregiver and infant are

crucial for emotional development (i.e., synchrony).

• Still face technique = studying synchrony by

assessing infant’s reaction when caregiver halts

synchronous behavior…(infants don’t like it!).

Attachment

• An infant’s tendency to seek closeness to particular people and to feel more secure in their presence

Signs of Attachment

• Infants show their desire to be with a caregiver

through:

• contact-maintaining behaviors (e.g., smile,

hold on to person), and

• proximity-seeking behaviors (e.g., crawl

toward person).

• Pioneering research:

▫ Harlow (1969), Wire monkey versus terry cloth monkey.

▫ Bowlby (1975)

Attachment in human infants

Insecure early attachments leads to poor relationships in adulthood

Measuring Attachment

• Mary Ainsworth (1978) measured attachment through the “Strange Situation”

▫ Assessed the security of a child’s attachment at 12-18 months of age

▫ Results have correlated with child outcomes later in life

• Based on their behaviors, babies were

characterized as:

▫ Securely attached --- will interact with the mother when she returns

▫ Insecurely attached: avoidant--- avoid interacting with the mother during the reunion episodes.

▫ Insecurely attached: ambivalent--- show resistance to the mother during the reunion episodes.

• Disorganized: babies that show contradictory behavior

Secure Attachment is Likely When:

• The parent is:

▫ sensitive to child’s needs

▫ responsive to signals

▫ engages in infant-caregiver play

▫ not overly stressed

• And when the infant is “easy” (Baby’s

temperament and parent’s responsiveness)

Personality of Caregiver

The mother’s personality obviously affects the quality of interaction with her offspring

Attachment Over Time

• An infant can change attachment status over time, especially if the social setting changes.

▫ Examples: divorce, abuse, remarriage

• Overall, secure attachment in infancy is associated with positive outcomes later in life.