1. Chapter 3
Birth to Thirty-Six Months: Social
and Emotional Developmental
Patterns
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

2. Patterns of Emotional Development
• Human infants are totally dependent upon the
environment
• Children should feel secure initiating responses to
the environment based on interest and curiosity
• Infants experience and express the full range of
human emotion from ecstasy to deep sorrow
• Adults should help children learn to cope with pain
and sorrow
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

3. Patterns of Emotional Development
Erikson’s Psychosocial theory
– Theory adds to our understanding of how children
develop emotionally by responding to life’s
challenges
– Children need reasonable freedom and
expectations
• Basic trust versus mistrust
• Autonomy versus shame and doubt
• Initiative versus guilt
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

4. Patterns of Emotional Development
• Separate and Together: Mahler
– Personality development, security, trust, and self-
concept are all related to the attachment between
infant and caregivers and how separation-
individuation from caregivers is conducted and
experienced by the child
• Separation-Individuation
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

5. Patterns of Emotional Development
• Temperament: Chess, Thomas & Birch
– All children are born with particular temperaments,
the basic style which characterizes a person’s
behavior.
– A growing body of research strongly suggests that
child-rearing practices and other environmental
factors can dramatically influence temperament
during the first three years.
– Nine behavioral categories of Temperament
– Goodness of fit model of caregiver:child match
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

6. Patterns of Emotional Development
• Emotional Intelligence
• Emotional competence and self-regulation
• The limbic system of the brain is responsible for
emotional control
• High levels of cortisol are negatively associated with
cognitive abilities and attachment
• Research shows a relationship between quality child
care and levels of cortisol in children
• Unresponsive, harmful, stressful or neglectful
caregiving behaviors affect the development of the
brain negatively
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

7. Patterns of Emotional Development
Goleman defined five domains that are learned
early in life and are necessary for high emotional
intelligence and healthy identity development:
– Knowing one’s emotions
– Managing emotions
– Motivating oneself
– Recognizing emotions in others
– Handling relationships
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

8. Patterns of Social Development
• Relationship Development
– When the caregiver respects the baby’s body, the
baby feels secure and loved.
– When the caregiver respects the baby’s feelings
and provides a positive emotional connection, the
baby feels secure.
– The skill of handling relationships requires that
the caregiver manage her own emotions,
demonstrate sensitivity to the child’s feelings, and
communicate in a way that creates interactional
synchrony.
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

9. Patterns of Social Development
• Attachment Theory
–The infant’s first years of life are dedicated
to the development of strong emotional
ties to the caregiver (Bowlby)
–Researchers measure attachment for young
toddlers using an experimental design
called Strange Situations (Ainsworth)
–Attachment correlates to specific caregiver
behaviors
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

10. Patterns of Social Development
• Attachment (continued)
• Infants need to establish emotional attachment with
their caregivers (primary caregiving)
• Each child needs to have a caregiver respond
sensitively and consistently to cries and cues of
distress
• Each child and primary caregiver need special times
together
• The caregiver must treat each child as a special,
important person
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

11. Patterns of Social Development
• Relationships with Peers
– Infants demonstrate an increased desire to interact
socially with peers over the first year of life
– Toddlers develop friendships and social skills of
more complexity
– As language increases, so does the toddler’s social
world
– Securely attached children tend to be more
independent, empathic, and socially competent
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

12. Patterns of Social Development
• Self-Esteem
– Self-responsibility: caregivers should help children
take responsibility for their own wants and needs
appropriate to their developmental level
– Enlightened self interest: toddlers learn to balance
awareness of own needs and feelings with the needs
and feelings of others
– Positive attitude: caregivers help infants and toddlers
internalize the moral values, beliefs and attitudes of
people in their environment
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

13. Patterns of Social Development
• Prosocial behaviors
–Adults who provide feedback about
appropriate, helpful behaviors, emphasizing
the impact of the child’s actions on another
person, tend to be associated with children
who engage in more prosocial behavior
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

14. Early Intervention: Children with
Special Rights
• Areas of special rights in regards to emotional
and social development:
– Children with Autism
– Attachment Disorder
– Mental Health Disorders
– Children with Multiple Disabilities
– Children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome or Fetal Alcohol
Effect (FAS/FAE).
– Environmentally-Promoted Problems for Infants and
Toddlers
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

15. Spotlight on Research
• Father-child interactions and developmental outcomes
– Researchers have shifted their focus to include the
important and differential roles that fathers play in
developmental outcomes
– Fathers seem to provide an important context as children
are learning to regulate their emotions
– Various aspects of father involvement were associated
with greater babbling and exploring objects with a
purpose as well as a lower likelihood of infant cognitive
delay, and with complex symbol use and symbolic play
– Educators need to create policies and engage in practices
that actively involve fathers in the care and education of
their infants and toddlers
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

16. Checkpoint Discussion Questions
• How do parent-child interactions impact healthy
identity development according to Erikson, Mahler and
Stern?
• What factors influence how teachers use the concept
of goodness-of-fit with children in their care? Why is it
important to realize this concept with each child?
• How does a child’s brain development and emotional
IQ skills influence his or her relationships with others?
• Explain why caregivers should establish interactional
synchrony with children.
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

17. Checkpoint Discussion Questions
• What does it mean for a child to be securely
attached? Insecurely attached? Why is it
important for caregivers to establish secure
relationships with the infants and toddlers in
their care?
• What role does having and enforcing limits have
on the development of healthy self-esteem?
Why?
• Provide and explain an example of a teacher
facilitating the development of prosocial skills in
a toddler.
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

18. Checkpoint Discussion Questions
• Explain three special rights very young children
might have in relationship to emotional and
social development.
• What is your role as an professional educator
regarding children with special rights?
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.