Social & Emotional Development

- Life is more than learning about physical objects & social scripts,
doing math problems & getting good grades – its about
exploring people, experiencing the feelings & forming
relationships
- An attractive creatures – attracted people surrounding including
the parents
- Early form of relationships & bond – both the infants & the
mother gazes to each other, touching and cuddling (Klaus &
Kennell, 1976)
- The learn about feelings & behaviours through facial expression
& touch – they signal when they want to interact by looking &
smiling
- they do not want to interact by turning away & sucking their
thumbs (Tronick, 1989)
- they do not want to interact by turning away & sucking their
thumbs (Tronick, 1989)
- If the parents do not respond to their infant’s emotional signals,
the baby will not learn that their behaviour has consequences –
the emotional development is hindered (Lewis & Goldberg,
1969)
Infants who are generally healthy & parents are attentive &
responsive, where infants are part of a mutual communication
system in which parents aid their attempt to achieve a goal
- Strong foundation for emotional development
- The children will thrive
Individual Temperament
- Temperament refers to the individual style & frequency of
expressing needs & emotions – its constitutional, biological &
genetically based
- Differences can be seen as early as they were born the way they
express the emotions – some happy, active & vigorous, lie still
most of the time
- Thomas & Chess (1977) – 3 main temperament babies:
a. Easy babies
b. Difficult babies
c. Slow-to-warm-up babies
- The nature interacts with nurture – the events take place during
stages influence the development of temperament
Attachment
Mary Ainsworth (1973) – attachment relationship develops in
several phases
1. Infants respond to anyone who come around
2. Infants respond differently to familiar & unfamiliar people
3. Infants respond to a single person with whom he shared many
experiences – true attachment

• Different types of experience & respond will influence the

attachment of the child
Variations in Attachment
- The amount of closeness & contact the infant seeks depends on
characteristics of the infant & the parent
- Secure attachment – the infants urge to be close is balanced by
their urge to explore the environment
- Anxious insecure attachment – mothers who are rejecting,
abusive or neglectful are likely to have children with insecure
attachment (Schneider-Rosen et al., 1985)
- Those who are securely attached tend to be more socially &
emotionally competent, more cooperative, enthusiastic &
persistent, better at solving problems, more compliant &
controlled, more popular & cheerful (Elicker &Sroufe, 1993)
- The effect of daycare services & environment ??
Variations in Attachment

The effect of daycare services & environment ??

- Attachment to parent after brief separation?

- Negative & positive effects of the daycare?
- The quality of the daycare?
- Duration of separation?
- Difficult temperament child?
- Insensitivity parent?

Erikson Stages of Psychosocial Development

Relationships with Parents & Peers
- Socialisation – channeling children’s impulses & teach skills &
rules needed to function in the society
- Cultural values & environmental conditions shape the process of
socialisation
- Baumrind (1971) found 3 distinct patterns of socialisation styles:
i. Authoritarian – children are unfriendly, distrustful & withdrawn
ii. Permissive – immature, dependent & unhappy, most likely to
have tantrums or asking for help when encountered slight
difficulties
iii. Authoritative – children are friendly, cooperative, self-reliant,
socially responsible
Relationships with Parents & Peers
- Broader perspective of socialisation – the brothers, sisters,
playmates, classmates
- Dunn (1992) – since early stage of development, children
interested in the behaviour of others
- Start to learn social skills – sharing, exchange, helping each other
though at the beginning more to the toys not the relationship
- Selman (1981) – children begin to understand that feelings, not
things that keep friends together
- Berndt & Hawkins (1987) – children who have supportive friends
become popular with other children
- Parker & Asher (1987) – children who do not have friends
usually have problems in later life
Social Skills & Understanding
- Parent can aid the learning process – through interactions
- Learn through games, group activities, elaborate & appropriate
ways of helping & comforting each other (Zahn-Waxler, Iannotti
& Chapman, 1982)
- Learn the rules that govern the social interactions & society
- Learn to control emotional expressions to conform the social
norms (Ekman, 1980) – slowly learn various types of rules &
become more flexible in complying
- Related to the growing ability to detect & interpret emotional
signals & social situations – facial expressions, behaviours,
actions
- Learn about roles
Gender Roles
- Rooted in biological differences between male & female
- Female is found to develop maturity earlier than male – girls
speaks & writes earlier than boys, boys are more skilled at
manipulating objects & physically active & aggressive
- Linked to differences in brain structure (Hines & Green, 1991) &
hormonal factors (Berenbaum & Hines, 1992)
- Parental approach to the child according to the gender
i. Encourage girls to be expressive, nurturant, reflective, dependant, domestic
obedient & unselfish (Archer & Llyod, 1985)
ii. Encourage boys to achieve, compete & explore, more control, act
independent & personal responsibility
Thank you very much for your attention…