Psychology Chapter on Developmental Stages

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Questions and Answers

What is the focus of Freud's oral stage in the first two years of development?

Development of motor skills

Emotional and social interactions

Satisfaction derived from oral activities (correct)

Formation of attachment styles

Which of the following best describes Erikson's stage of Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt?

Creating close relationships with peers

Developing trust in caregivers

Gaining independence and self-control (correct)

Experiencing fear of separation

What does the concept of 'goodness of fit' refer to in the context of temperament?

The ability to adapt one's personality to social expectations

The attachment style a child develops with their caregivers

The overall compatibility of a child's personality with their peers

The match between a child's temperament and their environment (correct)

Which of the following is NOT a recognized outcome of the psychodynamic perspective on infant development?

Delayed language acquisition (B) Signup and view all the answers

In terms of temperament, how can sociable infants be characterized compared to shy infants?

More likely to establish close emotional connections (A) Signup and view all the answers

During which stage is the libido focused in the mouth?

Oral stage (C) Signup and view all the answers

What part of personality develops during the anal stage?

Ego (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is a potential outcome of overstimulation during the oral stage?

Oral fixation (C) Signup and view all the answers

What does Freud identify as the focus during the anal stage?

Toilet training (B) Signup and view all the answers

How did Erikson's perspective differ from Freud's regarding the early stages of development?

Emphasis on social contexts (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary task in the second stage of psychosocial development?

Developing a sense of autonomy (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which temperament category is characterized by adaptability and generally cheerful demeanor?

Easy temperament (A) Signup and view all the answers

What do mistrusting infants experience as a result of caregiver interactions?

Feelings of shame and doubt (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best defines 'goodness of fit' in terms of temperament?

The compatibility between an individual's temperament and the environment (A) Signup and view all the answers

In which stage of psychosocial development does the infant begin developing a sense of trust?

The trust versus mistrust stage (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is a characteristic of a child with a difficult temperament?

Fussy and irritable demeanor (D) Signup and view all the answers

What impact does an infant's social context have on their psychosocial development?

It can greatly influence the sense of trust and autonomy (C) Signup and view all the answers

Which temperament is characterized by initial withdrawal from new experiences before gradual adjustment?

Slow-to-warm-up temperament (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is the first facial expression of pleasure that infants display?

Social smile (A) Signup and view all the answers

At what age do infants begin to express basic emotions in response to environmental situations?

From birth (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which type of emotion is most likely innate and present early in life?

Primary emotion (B) Signup and view all the answers

What significant emotional development occurs around 2-3 months of age?

Development of social smile (B) Signup and view all the answers

What contributes to separation anxiety in infants around 6 months?

Developing memories of caregivers (D) Signup and view all the answers

By the end of the second year, toddlers gain awareness of which concepts?

Past and future events (A) Signup and view all the answers

The emergence of pride as an early secondary emotion typically occurs between which ages?

9-20 months (A) Signup and view all the answers

Empathy and sympathy begin to become evident in children around which point in their development?

End of second year (C) Signup and view all the answers

At what age do infants typically begin to show signs of separation anxiety?

6 months (C) Signup and view all the answers

What is meant by the term 'social referencing'?

Reading emotional cues from caregivers to understand situations (D) Signup and view all the answers

Which emotion is considered a secondary emotion that emerges with cognitive development?

Guilt (B) Signup and view all the answers

According to Piaget, when do infants begin to develop self-awareness?

14-18 months (B) Signup and view all the answers

How do parents typically communicate messages through emotional cues?

By using a combination of facial expressions and tone of voice (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which statement is true regarding the role of attachment in infant development?

Attachment plays a critical role in both early-childhood development and beyond. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What function does emotional support from primary caregivers serve in infants?

It reduces anxiety and supports social development. (D) Signup and view all the answers

When do infants typically start to read emotional cues in others as part of their social development?

6-12 months (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is the primary function of attachment according to Bowlby’s theory?

To ensure infant survival and development (A) Signup and view all the answers

What is a characteristic of securely attached infants?

Show flexible proximity to their caregiver (A) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following behaviors is an example of separation anxiety in infants?

Crying when left with a caregiver (A) Signup and view all the answers

What role does sensitive caregiving play in attachment security?

It helps the infant learn to manage their emotions. (B) Signup and view all the answers

How do fathers’ attachment patterns typically differ from those of mothers?

Fathers tend to show the same level of sensitivity to both sons and daughters. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What does the term 'synchrony' refer to in attachment relationships?

The mutual responsiveness between caregiver and infant. (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which attachment style is characterized by inconsistent behavior upon separation and reunion?

Disorganized/Disoriented Attachment (B) Signup and view all the answers

What social outcomes are commonly associated with secure attachment?

Increased sociability with unfamiliar adults (A) Signup and view all the answers

What distinguishes sex differences from gender differences?

Sex differences are based on anatomical and biochemical traits. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What was the primary finding from Harlow's studies with infant monkeys?

Comfort is essential for forming attachments. (B) Signup and view all the answers

What describes 'insecure-resistant attachment' in infants?

Infants display a mix of reactions upon reunion. (B) Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following statements about attachment patterns across cultures is true?

Distribution of secure and insecure attachment is consistent across diverse cultures. (D) Signup and view all the answers

What factor is associated with lower rates of secure attachment in lower socioeconomic status (SES) samples?

Lower maternal sociability and extraversion (B) Signup and view all the answers

What is mainly influenced by cognitive and behavioral differences between sexes?

Gender differences (C) Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Visualizing The Lifespan: Canadian Edition

Textbook title: Visualizing The Lifespan, Canadian Edition
Authors: Tanner, Warren, Bellack, MacQuarrie
Publisher: Wiley

Chapter 4: Socio-emotional Development in Infancy: The First Two Years

This chapter focuses on socio-emotional development in infants during their first two years of life.

Chapter Outline

Personality Development: Understanding the psychodynamic perspective and temperament in infancy.
Social Influences: Exploring attachment styles, developmental challenges, and gender.
Emotional Development: Examining early emotions, social referencing, and self-awareness.

Personality Development

Learning Objectives: Discuss early personality development from the psychodynamic perspective, explain the concept of temperament and its role in personality development, explain temperamental differences between sociable and shy infants/toddlers, and describe the concept of goodness of fit.

The Psychodynamic Perspective

Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson: Psychodynamic perspectives on infant development.
Freud's Stages: Oral and Anal stage, Fixation
Erikson's Stages: Trust versus Mistrust, Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt

Freud's Psychodynamic Perspective: Assumptions

Individuals are passive agents
Personalities are driven by the unconscious
Conflict exists between biological survival and societal rules
Two stages of development: Oral stage, Anal stage
Stages are named based on the erogenous zone where libidinal energy is focused

Freud's Psychodynamic Perspective: Oral Stage

Libido is centered in the mouth during the oral stage
Desire for oral stimulation
Babies satisfy oral desires by nursing or putting objects in their mouth
Gives rise to the id part of personality

Freud's Psychodynamic Perspective: Anal Stage

Libido migrates to the anal area
Focus on toilet training
Controlling bowel movements
Gives rise to ego

Freud's Psychodynamic Perspective: Fixations

Challenges during the oral or anal stages can lead to later personality issues
Overstimulation or understimulation can lead to fixation
Oral fixation: Return to the oral stage (smoking, gum chewing) from too much or too little gratification during the oral stage
Anal fixation: Return to the anal stage (obsessive personality issues) from too much or too little gratification during the anal stage

Erikson's Psychodynamic Perspective

Focus on social contexts, Early development is acutely influenced by infant's social contexts
First two stages of development: Trust versus mistrust, Autonomy versus shame and doubt
Must resolve previous stage before progressing successfully

Erikson's Psychodynamic Perspective: Trust versus Mistrust

First stage of psychosocial development
Primary task: Develop a sense of trust in caregivers, themselves, and the world
Trust develops when caregivers consistently and competently respond to babies' needs
Trusting infants are more comfortable with toilet training
Mistrusting infants experience shame and doubt

Erikson's Psychodynamic Perspective: Autonomy versus Shame and Doubt

Second stage of psychosocial development
Infants begin to understand self-control through key accomplishments
Trusting infants are more comfortable attempting toilet training
Mistrusting infants experience shame and doubt

Temperament

Biologically based individual differences in how one responds to the environment that influence emotions, activity level, and attention
Dynamic across the lifespan, Allows for developmental changes, Three categories: Easy temperament, Difficult temperament and Slow-to-warm-up temperament

Temperament: Dimensions

Adaptability
Quality of mood
Distractibility
Attention span/persistence
Rhythmicity
Activity level
Threshold of responsiveness
Approach/withdrawal
Intensity of reactions

Temperament: Categories

Easy temperament: Adapts readily to new experiences, generally cheerful, and has regular eating and sleeping patterns
Difficult temperament: Does not respond well to new experiences or people, is fussy and irritable, with irregular eating and sleeping patterns.
Slow-to-warm-up temperament: Characterized by low activity level and initial withdrawal from new experiences and people, gradually adjusting over time.

Temperament: Sociable vs. Shy

Some biological tendencies don't change drastically as we grow out of infancy.
Goodness of fit: The relationship between environmental forces and predisposed temperamental behavior.

Learning Objectives: Describe the stages of attachment during infancy and toddlerhood, understand the origins and outcomes of individual differences in attachment security, and differentiate between sex and gender differences in early development.
Attachment: An enduring, emotional bond that connects two people across time and space, Evolved for infant survival and development.
Caregivers enable infants to learn how to be a member of their social group. Physical proximity keeps infants safe. Offers security needed for confident exploration. Contributes to infant self-regulation. Self-regulation: the ability to deliberately modulate one's behavior and emotion

Attachment: Bowlby's Attachment Theory

Perspective that social, emotional, and cognitive development occurs within the context of caregiver-infant attachment.
Separation anxiety: A set of seeking and distress behaviors that occur when the primary caregiver is removed from the immediate environment of the infant/child. Stranger anxiety: Distressed avoidance of a novel individual.

Attachment: Other Perspectives

Behaviourist theorists focus on feeding: Attachment results from positive reinforcement associated with feeding.
Ethological perspective: Harlow's studies with infant monkeys demonstrated that the terrycloth mothers were a significantly greater source of comfort than the food-providing mothers. Suggesting attachment as a basic need and necessary for survival.

Attachment Styles

Mary Ainsworth's studies: Created the Strange Situation procedure to elicit and observe attachment behavior.
Strange Situation: A means of categorizing attachment styles, consisting of a series of episodes in which a mother and her child are observed together, separated, and reunited in the presence of a stranger.
Attachment behavior: A behavior that promotes proximity or contact (approaching, following, clinging).
Secure attachment, Insecure-avoidant attachment, Insecure-resistant attachment, Disorganized/disoriented attachment

Attachment Security

Over two-thirds of typically developing middle-class infants and toddlers are securely attached.
Consistenly smaller in lower SES samples.
Characteristics of mothers with securely attached children: higher sociability, lower depression, more insight into infant's internal states and motives, higher marital satisfaction.
Sensitive caregivers consistently attend to infant's cues and accurately interpret the meaning of these cues.
Promptly and appropriately responds to these cues in a way that enhances the infant's trust-Synchrony: the reciprocal and mutually rewarding qualities of an infant-caregiver attachment relationship.

Attachment Security: Fathers

Research suggests that fathers have slightly different attachment patterns compared to mothers.
Child gender is associated with these differences.
Ainsworth Strange Situation studies in the 1970s observed different gender compositions (father/son, father/daughter, mother/son, mother/daughter).
Fathers and mothers showed similar levels of sensitivity to sons.
Fathers were less sensitive to daughters compared to mothers.

Attachment Patterns

Distribution of secure versus insecure attachment is similar across diverse cultures.

Attachment and Socioemotional Outcomes

Positive Outcomes: More harmonious parent-child relationships, more sociable with unfamiliar adults, more likely to exhibit good emotional health, and self-confidence, and social competence later on.
Negative Outcomes: Insecurity in infancy, behavioral problems, linked to anxiety disorders in adolescence, less sociable, less likely to exhibit self-confidence, and social competence later on.

Gender

Influences on gender begin early in life.
Gender is related to both biological and social factors.
Gender social constructions and expectations regarding what it means to be a male or a female.
Factors interact in predictable and unpredictable ways to affect development

Gender: Differences vs. Sex Differences

"Gender differences" refer to cognitive and behavioral differences between males and females.
Result from biological predispositions and social influences.
"Sex differences" refer to anatomical and biochemical, hormonal differences, Influenced by genetics, Interaction with social forces.

Gender Differences in Infancy

Fetal period: Boys weigh more and are more active than girls.
Activity-level differences continue throughout childhood.
Boys more likely to die in childbirth.
Boys are more vulnerable to early illnesses.
Girls are more emotionally expressive.
Girls may be more attentive to social cues and exhibit more eye contact. Do these differences continue into childhood and adulthood?

Emotional Development

Learning Objectives: Distinguish between primary and secondary emotions, explain what social referencing is and how it develops, and describe the development of self-awareness and how researchers have investigated this topic

Early Emotions

Emotion = language of the infant, Only way that infants can communicate, Affects attachment, Involved in most social interactions, Physical and cognitive associations with emotions, Emotion is present at birth, Social smile: First facial expression of pleasure enabled by neurophysiological maturation, Increasing readiness for social interactions with caregivers, Primary emotion is present early in life and is most likely innate.

Early Emotions: Milestones

From birth infants express instinctive, general positive or negative emotions in response to environmental situations, or states of need (e.g., hunger)
At 2-3 months: Awakening sociability leads to emotion complexity.
About 6 months: Infants' developing memories let them enjoy new games, such as peek-a-boo, Memory contributes to separation anxiety.
From 9-20 months: Emergence of secondary emotions.
End of second year: Toddlers are aware of rules and morality. Abstract emotions such as disappointment, guilt & shame. Emotions such as empathy and sympathy become more evident.

Emotional Milestones

Key emotional milestones: Appearance of separation anxiety by 6 months, Emergence of secondary emotions, Guilt and Empathy

Infants develop an understanding of the communicative power of emotions
Social Referencing: Reading the emotional cues of others
Self-Awareness: Developing an understanding of oneself

Infants become increasingly social and interactive with their caregivers and others between 6 and 12 months.
In distress, infants look to primary caregiver's facial/vocal cues (social referencing).
Social referencing: using a caregiver's emotional cues to help understand an uncertain or ambiguous event or stimulus.
Important part of social development

Attachment perspective suggests that infants look to their primary caregivers for emotional support and anxiety reduction.
Social referencing hypothesis suggests that infants look in an effort to understand the social situation and to reduce ambiguity.
Parents are aware of their infants' and toddlers' social referencing behaviors and use these cues to send messages (e.g., furrowed brow for caution, broad smile for reassurance)

Self-Awareness

Infants are undifferentiated from their surrounding environment during the first months of their lives
Piaget believed that infants have no early awareness of themselves as separate beings.
Researchers suggest that "self-awareness" does not exist until 14-18 months, when language and cognitive complexities have developed.
Increasing awareness of oneself as separate from parents is essential for the development of one's attachment relationships
These relationships continue to play a critical role in early-childhood development and beyond

Chapter Summary

Personality Development: The Psychodynamic Perspective, Temperament
Social Influences: Attachment, Challenges in Development: Failure to Thrive, Gender
Emotional Development: Early Emotions, Social Referencing and Self-Awareness

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Description

This quiz explores key concepts in developmental psychology, focusing on Freud's psychosexual stages and Erikson's psychosocial development theory. Test your understanding of temperament, personality development, and the outcomes of different stages in the first few years of life.