Socio-emotional Development
Human Development
Understanding Human Development
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Development – Continuity and change in human
capabilities over a lifespan.
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Physical
Cognitive
Social
Emotional
Issues in Developmental Psychology
Issue
Details
Nature/Nurture
How do genetic inheritance (our
nature) and experience (the nurture
we receive) influence our behavior?
Continuity/Stages
Is developmental a gradual,
continuous process or a sequence
of separate stages?
Stability/Change
Do our early personality traits
persist through life, or do we
become different persons as we
age. 3
Temperament
Temperament refers to characteristic patterns of emotional
reactions and emotional self-regulation
 Thomas and Chess identified three basic types of babies
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◦ Easy
 Good-natured, easy to care for, adaptable, regular behavior
◦ Difficult
 Moody and intense, react to new situations and people negatively and strongly,
cries a lot, irregular behavior
◦ Slow-to-warm-up
 Inactive and slow to respond to new things, and when they do react, it is mild,
inflexible behavior
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Kagan has added a fourth type
◦ Shy child
 Timid and inhibited, fearful of anything new or strange
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Temperament may predict later disposition
Temperament
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New research suggests we should look out children's abilities
in terms of
◦ Effortful control (self-regulation)
◦ Inhibition (Shyness in social situations)
◦ Negative Affectivity (how easily frustrated)
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Cultural differences
◦ 4-day-old with cloth over face
◦ European American: struggled
◦ Chinese American: calmer
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Genetic and environmental influences
◦ Womb
◦ Day care
Attachment
The most important
social construct an
infant must develop is
attachment (a bond
with a caregiver).
 Lorenz discovered
that some animals
form attachment
through imprinting.
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Attachment
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Emotional connection we share with those we
feel closest to
◦ Imprinting
◦ Critical periods
◦ Contact Comfort
Harry Harlow – Displayed our
need for social attachment with the
use of Rhesus Monkeys
Relates to human issues in:
Withdrawal
No sexual relations
Ignored & abused infants
Harry Harlow’s
Study
Forming Attachments
Mary Ainsworth Studies
 Secure Attachment – infants use mother
as a base from which to explore
 Usually attach to mother first
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◦ Caregiver
◦ Calming force
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Attach to father later
◦ Playmate
Attachment
Critical Periods: the
optimal period shortly
after birth when an
organism’s exposure to
certain stimuli or
experiences produce
proper development.
• Those who are deprived of
touch have trouble forming
attachment when they are
older.
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Click on the monkey to see
what a baby monkey does
when he HAS attachment and
imagine what it is like when
he does not (like above).
Strange Situation Study
Studies infants response to separation
from their mother
 Stranger anxiety – develops at 8-9
months, peaks at 1 year
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Strange Situation Results
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Three types of attachment:
Securely attached babies
◦ distressed when separated from mother, but easily
soothed
Insecure-avoidant
◦ Indifferent when mother leaves
◦ Doesn’t react upon return
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Insecure-anxious
◦ Panic when mother leaves
◦ Ambivalent upon return
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Disorganized
◦ Inconsistent, dazed, confused
Criticisms of Strange Situation
Mono-operation bias: drawing conclusions
on the basis of only a single measure
 Not very reliable
 Different attachment with mother than
father
 Children might elicit parental attachment
behaviors
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CLICK
Social Development
THE ROLE OF
PARENTING
Parenting
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Permissive
◦ Lenient, lots of freedom not a lot of discipline. Children have poor
social competence and are disrespectful, impulsive
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Authoritarian
◦ Very strict, lots of punishment, little affection. Sometimes lack social
skills, poor initiative, and compare themselves with others.
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Authoritative
◦ Happy medium – supportive but set limits. Children are self-reliant,
socially competent, responsible
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Uninvolved
◦ Neglectful, children feel less important, lose social competence
Parenting
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Cultural differences
◦ Individualistic: better with authoritative
◦ Collectivist: better with authoritarian
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Average expectable environment
◦ Provide basic needs for affection and discipline
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What about …..
◦ Peers?
 Group socialization theory
◦ Dad?
◦ Single parent homes?
◦ Homosexual parents?
◦ Divorce?
Self-Control
Ability to inhibit an impulse to act
 Delaying gratification at young age
predictive of future coping abilities
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Social Development
ERIK ERIKSON’S
THEORY OF SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
Erik Erikson
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A neo-Freudian
Worked with Anna
Freud
Thought our personality
was influenced by our
experiences with
others.
Stages of Psychosocial
Development.
Each stage centers on a
social conflict.
Erikson
Four stages in childhood, four after
puberty.
 Shows that socio-emotional development
occurs throughout a lifespan
 Focus on gaining competence and
maturity
 At each stage the person must master a
developmental task.
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◦ If not met can carry these concerns
throughout life
Erikson Evaluation
A giant in the field of development
 Only used case study research and
evidence, so lacks foundation.
 Leaves out some developmental
tasks
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◦ Work and career during young
adulthood
Socioemotional Development
LAWRENCE KOHLBERG VS.
CAROL GILLIGAN:
HOW DO WE DEVELOP MORALS?
Moral Development
Kohlberg (1958) – asked a series of
questions about moral scenarios.
 Answers to moral dilemma from
participants were used to display moral
development.
 The Famous Heinz Scenario
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Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral
Development
Studied the development of children’s moral thinking
 Follows a sequence and do not skip stages or go backwards
 Advance at different rates
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◦ PRECONVENTIONAL- Base decisions on the consequences
of behavior
 Stage One- What is good helps you avoid punishment
 Stage Two- What is good satisfies a person’s needs
◦ CONVENTIONAL- Decisions conform to society
 Stage Three- Do things to win approval (13 yrs)
 Stage Four- Don’t do anything that’s against law and order (16yrs)
◦ POSTCONVENTIONAL- Decisions based on your values
(adults)
 Stage Five- Obedience to accepted laws based on personal values
 Stage Six- Decisions based on moral beliefs without concern for laws
Carol Gilligan
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Argued that Kohlberg did not give
adequate attention to relationships
◦ Gender bias involved
Showed Kohlberg came from a justice
perspective, not a care perspective (her
approach)
 Gilligan puts more emphasis on
interpersonal communication,
relationships, and concern.
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Human Moral Development
Supportive parenting and parental
monitoring connected to pro-social
behavior in children
 Ability to engage in self-control also
shown to connect to willingness to
empathize (Eisenberg, 2010)
 When do children develop a conscious?
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Socioemotional Development
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT
IN ADOLESCENCE AND
ADULTHOOD
Adolescence
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The key lies in the search for identity as the
brain fully develops.
Biological-Socioemotional crossover period
Identity Status is formed through
exploration, experimentation and
commitment
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Identity Achievement
Identity Moratorium
Identity Foreclosure
Identity Diffusion
Emerging Adulthood
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Emerging transitional period
◦ 18-25 years patterned by a focus on the self,
being “in-between”, and instability in various
aspect of life.
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Early Adulthood = Point of Marriage
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Nurture fondness and admiration
Turning toward each other as friends
Giving up some power
Solving conflicts together
Adulthood
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Middle Adulthood
◦ Preventing the midlife crisis through
Generativity
◦ Engaged parenting is one way to due this
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Late Adulthood
◦ Need to look back and evaluate life’s meaning
◦ Ego Integrity vs. Despair (Erikson)
◦ Meaning is a central focus of the elderly
 Maximize life’s experiences