Life Span Development

The First Two Years: Psychosocial Development – Chapter 7

June 22, 2004Class #5

Theories About Early Psychosocial Development

Psychoanalytic Theory Erikson’s Stages of

Psychosocial Development Behavioral Theory Cognitive Theory Epigenetic Theory Sociocultural Theory

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939): Background Information

1881: At age 25, earned MD and went into private practice specializing in neurological disorders Became interested in hidden aspects

of personality when he found himself confronted with patients whose apparent disorders made no neurological sense

Classic Freudian Setting

What is the classic setting? Why this set-up?

He used hypnosis and then free association Iceberg Theory of the Mind

Our access to what goes on in our mind is very limited

The majority is in our unawareness Freud felt nothing was accidental – dreams,

slips of tongue, slips of pen, etc.

Freud’s Life 1884: Began to experiment with cocaine

Felt that this “magical substance” relieved depression

Deeply scarred by this “cocaine episode” 1885: He bounces back and gets grant to

study hysteria and hypnosis under Jean Charcot in Paris Major break in his career All of psychology might be different today These five months changed his life and maybe ours

forever

Freud’s Life 1902: Vienna Wednesday

Psychoanalytic Society Initially took place in

Freud’s apartment Founded officially in 1910

and Alfred Adler became first president

After a dispute with Freud, Adler resigned and Freud took over as president of the Society until 1938

Agree or be uninvited next week…

Freud saw himself as the leader, teacher, and prophet of this group of intellectuals

Freud’s Life 1906

Begins correspondence with Carl Jung From “crown prince” to traitor Freud couldn’t deal with Jung’s belief in

mythology and the collective unconscious and ghosts

1913 Breaks all ties with Jung and his followers

1918 Loses entire fortune which was tied up in

Austrian State Bonds

Freud’s Life 1923

The first signs of Freud’s oral cancer are detected

1920’s Honors, honors,

and more honors 1930

A heart attack forces him to give up smoking (for awhile anyway)

1930’s More honors

1939 Freud dies

The Psychosexual Stages Oral Anal Phallic Latency Genital

Freud’s Oral Stage

About first 12-18 months of life Focus: sucking, biting, etc.

According to Freud, a fixation here causes which problems as an adult?

Freud’s Anal Stage

Approx. 18 months to three years of age Anal region is focus

Toilet-training, etc.

Fixation causes???

Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

Erikson was a follower of Sigmund Freud who broke with his teacher over the fundamental point of what motivates or drives human behavior… For Freud it was biology or more specifically the

biological instincts of life and aggression For Erikson, who was not trained in biology

and/or the medical sciences the most important force driving human behavior and the development of personality was social interaction

Erik Erikson (1902-1994)

Felt we developed in psychosocial stages… Emphasized developmental change throughout the

human life span In Erikson’s theory, eight stages of development unfold

as we go through the life span Each stage consists of a crisis that must be faced According to Erikson, this crisis is not a catastrophe but

a turning point of increased vulnerability and enhanced potential

The more an individual resolves the crises successfully, the healthier development will be

Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development

Trust vs. Mistrust Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt Initiative vs. Guilt Industry vs. Inferiority Identity vs. Role Confusion Intimacy vs. Isolation Generativity vs. Stagnation Integrity vs. Despair

Trust vs. Mistrust

Experienced in the first year of life… A sense of trust requires a feeling of

physical comfort and a minimal amount of fear and apprehension about the future

Trust in infancy sets the stage for a lifelong expectation that the world will be a good and pleasant place to live

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt

Occurs in late infancy and toddlerhood (1-3 years)… They start to assert their sense of independence,

or autonomy They realize their will Parents need to allow them to do things for

themselves If infants are restrained too much or punished too

harshly, they are likely to develop a sense of shame and doubt

Behavioral Theory Infant’s emotions and personality

are molded as parents reinforce or punish child’s spontaneous behavior social learning adds to personality

formation social referencing strengthens learning

by observation

Cognitive Theory

• Individual’s thoughts and values determine perspective on the world

• Working model—set of assumptions used to organize perceptions and experiences

Epigenetic Theory Each child is born with a genetic predisposition

to develop certain traits that affect emotional development

Temperament—“constitutionally based individual differences in emotion, motor, and attentional reactivity and self-regulation.” inhibited uninhibited epigenetic—though personality traits not

learned, environment affects their expression

Temperament and Caregiving

Inhibited vs. Uninhibited responsive care and encouragement can help

inhibited children become less so Match between parent and child

goodness of fit

Sociocultural Theory Emphasizes the many ways social

context can have impact on infant-caregiver relationship

If social context changes, child can change

Emotional Development in Infancy

In the first 2 years of emotional development, infants progress from simple reactions to complex patterns of social awareness

The First Year Newborns’ first discernable emotions

distress contentment

Later emotions (after first weeks) anger fear, expressed clearly by stranger wariness

and separation anxiety

The Second Year Fear and anger typically decrease Laughing, crying: more discriminating New emotions appear

pride shame embarrassment guilt

Self-Awareness

Foundation for emotional growth realization of individual distinctions

At about 5 months begin developing a sense of self apart from mother

15-18 months the “Me-self” rouge experiment

Pride and Shame

Self-awareness becomes linked with self-concept early on

Negative comments more likely to lead to less pride or shame

Own pride can be more compelling than parental approval

Synchrony

Synchrony—coordinated interaction; attunement

Helps infants learn to express own feelings Imitation is pivotal Becomes more elaborate and more frequent

with time Learning through play

playful interactions by both partners important for both to be responsive

Attachment A deep, affectionate, close, and

enduring relationship that an infant has to his or her caregivers during their first year of life is of utmost importance

This is illustrated in Harry Harlow’s experiments with monkeys at the Primate Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin

Harlow (1959) In Harlow's initial experiments infant monkeys

were separated from their mothers at six to twelve hours after birth and were raised instead with substitute or 'surrogate' mothers made either of heavy wire or of wood covered with soft terry cloth

In one experiment both types of surrogates were present in the cage, but only one was equipped with a nipple from which the infant could nurse

Some infants received nourishment from the wire mother, and others were fed from the cloth mother

Even when the wire mother was the only source of nourishment, the infant monkey spent a greater amount of time clinging to the cloth surrogate

Harlow’s Surrogate Mothers

Unfortunately… The actions of surrogate-raised

monkeys became bizarre later in life… They engaged in stereotyped behavior

patterns such as clutching themselves and rocking constantly back and forth

They exhibited excessive and misdirected aggression

To make matters worse…

Sex behavior was for all practical purposes destroyed… Sexual posturing was commonly

stereotyped and infantile Frequently when surrogate-raised female

monkey was approached by a normal male monkey, she would sit unmoved, squatting upon the floor…

Harlow referred to this as a posture in which “only her heart was in the right place”

And worse… When a typical surrogate-raised male

approached an in-estrus female he would clasp the head instead of the hind legs, and then engage in pelvic thrusts

Other surrogate-raised males would grasp the female's body laterally, whereby all sexual efforts were futile

And still worse…

Later in life, the behavior of these monkeys as mothers themselves – the 'motherless mothers' as Harlow called them – proved to be very inadequate ... These mothers tended to be either indifferent or

abusive toward their babies The indifferent mothers did not nurse, comfort, or

protect their young, but they did not harm them The abusive mothers violently bit or otherwise

injured their infants, to the point that many of them died

Fortunately… Most infants do have a consistent

caregiver… Usually this is the mother to whom they can

form an attachment By the age of six or seven months infants

show signs of preferring their mother to anyone else

Once this attachment has been formed, even a 30 minute separation can be very stressful to the infant

Later on, infants develop attachments to their fathers as well

Variations in attachment The amount of closeness and contact

the infant seeks with either parent depends on: The infant

Those who are ill or tired may require more closeness

The parent If a parent is absent or unresponsive then the

infant is likely to need more contact when the parent is around

Secure Attachment

Sroufe et al. (1983) Studied securely attached infants (12-18

months of age) and then again when were 2-3 years of age…

They found they were more outgoing, responsive, enthusiastic and persistent

Functioning much better than insecurely attached toddlers

The infant’s urge to be close to mother is balanced by urge to explore the environment

Types of Insecure Attachment

Avoidant Infant tends to avoid or ignore mother when she

approaches or returns after a brief separation Ambivalent

Infant is upset when mother leaves, but acts angry and rejects mother’s efforts at contact after a brief separation

Disorganized Infant’s behavior is inconsistent, disturbed, and

disturbing

Measuring Attachment Strange Situation—lab procedure to

measure attachment; observed are exploration of the toys (caregiver present) reaction to caregiver’s departure reaction to caregiver’s return disorganized behavior—neither secure nor

insecure attachment—marked by inconsistent behavior of caregiver and infant toward each other

Insecure Attachment as a Warning Sign

Stressed mother (although not always an indicator)

Mother too withdrawn Inconsistent behavior of mother

(conflicting messages sent by her) Insecure attachments repairable

Social Referencing

Looking to others for cues

Referencing Mom Look to mother for comfort Mother’s tone and expression can

become guide to how to react to unfamiliar or ambiguous event

Fathers play more than mothers Infants look to fathers for fun and physical play Physically active play with fathers may

contribute to development of social skills and emotional expression

Physically active play with fathers helps children master motor skills and develop muscle control

Referencing Dad

Cultural Differences Fathers, single mothers, grandparents,

and cultures with other family structures still provide needed referencing

Father’s involvement can benefit later development of child raise mother’s self-confidence and two parents working together are better

able to meet infant’s needs than either alone

Infant Day Care Almost all infants cared for by

people other than parents part of the time

Specifics vary from culture to culture

The older the child and the more money the family has, the more likely possibility of day care

Family day care Center care Day care generally beneficial High-quality programs include

adequate attention to each infant encouragement of sensorimotor exploration and

language development attention to health and safety well-trained professional caregivers

Infant Day-Care

Infant Day-Care

Cognitive and biosocial development are more advanced by day care than at home

Poor day care has detrimental effects