Attachment Theory and Child Development

Early Childhood Psychosocial Development

• Learning Objectives: This chapter explores emotional, attachment, caregiving, dominance, aggression, gender identity, self-development, conscience, self-regulation, play, childcare, and infant mental health in early childhood.

Emotional Development in Early Childhood

• Cognitive Behavioral Model: Emotions are motivational states arising from situational appraisals. Appraisals trigger body changes and emotional expression.

• Situational Appraisals: Children evaluate situations based on desires and beliefs influencing their emotional responses (e.g. desire for cookie vs. expected cake).

• Emotional Scripts: Children learn and use scripts about common emotional situations to express emotions in those situations.

Development of Pride

• Overestimation of Control: Preschool children often overestimate their control over events and link this to social approval.

• Authentic Pride vs. Status-Based Pride: Preschoolers experience intrinsic motivation based on skill mastery rather than social status when feeling pride.

Development of Embarrassment

• Focus of Attention: Embarrassment arises when a person become aware they are the focus of others' attention.

Development of Shame and Guilt

• Negative Self-Evaluation (Shame): Shame stems from a negative evaluation of the self leading to feelings of worthlessness and powerlessness.

• Negative Behavior Evaluation (Guilt): Guilt is associated with repairing a wrong and a desire to make amends.

• Temperament: Children’s temperament (e.g. fearfulness or exuberance) can influence whether shame or guilt dominates. Children who are more fearful develop guilt more readily.

Development of Jealousy and Envy

• Desire for Resources: Jealousy is the desire to maintain a valued relationship; envy is the desire for what another has.
• Social Comparison: Jealousy and envy often involve social comparisons and feelings of inferiority.

Social Behavioral Systems in Early Childhood

• Attachment and Caregiving: Attachment and caregiving systems are acquired through relationships with caregivers.
• Mental Models/Schemas: Children develop behavioral models for attachment, caregiving, dominance, and sexual experiences with caregivers from internal schemas.
• Developmental Significance: These schemas inform emotional, identity, and social decisions, affecting future relationships.
• Social Cognition: Children's ability to observe, understand, and predict other's behaviors develops over the early years of life. Key stages in this development include understanding that different people can have different desires, diverse perspectives, and knowledge.

How can Attachment be Assessed After Age 2?

• Protocols, Measures: Measures include the Cassidy-Marvin system and the Preschool Assessment of Attachment, along with the Attachment Q-Sort to measure child behaviours within the home environment.

Caregiving System: Capacities

• Empathy and Sympathy: Empathy, understanding another's emotions, and sympathy, concern for another's distress, are critical capacities of the caregiving behaviours which are learned through early social experiences.

Emotional Regulation Skills

• Self-Care: Strategies to manage emotions during early childhood include sleep, diet, and exercise.
• Methods to Increase Self-Regulation Skills: Strategies also include comfort, avoidance and distractions, as well as cognitive reappraisal.
• Emotion Regulation: Processes support emotional management during the early years.

Dominance System Changes and Continuity

• Resource Control: Children use both prosocial (sharing, cooperation) and coercive (aggression) strategies to achieve resource control.
• Power Differentials: Preschoolers understand power differences and use strategies accordingly.

Sex Development Issues

• Gender Identity Development: Children's understanding of gender identity, sex, and roles develops progressively, using gendered clothing, behaviors, and activities.
• Caregiver Behaviors: Caregivers may differ in their interactions and expectations with boys and girls, potentially influencing their experiences and developmental trajectories.

Preschool-Age Children

• Play Styles: Different types of play emerge including unoccupied, solitary, onlooker, parallel, associative, and cooperative. Pretend and rough and tumble play develop later.

Children and Media

• Early Childhood Media Usage: Children are exposed to significant levels of media in their early years.
• Potential Impacts: Excessive exposure to media can negatively impact aspects of development including behavior, cognitive abilities, and social-emotional regulation.

Childcare and Preschool

• Caregiver Contributions: Parental, teacher, and family characteristics have stronger impacts on developmental outcomes as opposed to childcare alone.
• Preschool: High quality childcare plays a vital role in supporting cognitive, language, and social competence, while lower quality care can be associated with problems.

Infant Mental Health

• Developing Capacity: Infant Mental Health is defined by developing capacity in five developmental areas including: security, emotions, relationships, exploration, and learning.