1. Chapter 3
Birth to Thirty-six Months: Social
and Emotional Developmental
Patterns
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

2. Patterns of Emotional Development
• Evolution of Feelings
– Infants experience and express the full range
of human emotion from ecstasy to deep
sorrow.
– Infants and toddlers are especially vulnerable
to painful experiences because of their lack of
defenses.
– Infants are limited in their ability to understand
the impact of their behaviors on others.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

3. Patterns of Emotional Development
• Erikson’s Psychosocial theory
• Eight crises or stages from infancy through
old age, the first three are extremely
important in the development of infants and
toddlers:
– Basic trust versus mistrust
– Autonomy versus shame and doubt
– Initiative versus guilt
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

4. Patterns of Emotional Development
• Mahler’s Bonding and Separation-
Individuation Theory
• 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
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

5. Patterns of Emotional Development
• Temperament
• All children are born with particular
temperaments.
• 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
(Chess, Thomas, and Birch)
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

6. Patterns of Emotional Development
• Emotional Intelligence
• 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
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

7. Patterns of Emotional Development
• Self-Esteem
• It is important that children think they are
worthy people.
• Coopersmith’s three conditions for
fostering self-esteem:
– Acceptance
– Limits
– Respect
©2011 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.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

9. Patterns of Social
Development
• The Importance of Attachment
• Most research on caregiver-child relationships
has examined infants with their parents. The
findings from this research apply equally well
to infant-caregiver relationships.
• When caregivers learn the child’s
needs, schedules, likes and dislikes, and
temperament and respond to the child’s
preferences, they teach infants that they are
an important person.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

10. Patterns of Social
Development
• The Importance of Attachment (continued)
• The primary caregiver has two main
responsibilities:
– (1) to establish a special attachment with the
child and
– (2) to gather, coordinate, and share
information about the child with other
caregivers and the family.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

11. Patterns of Social
Development
• Locus of Control Development: Self-Control
and Self-Responsibility
• Two domains of emotional intelligence are self-
motivation and self-control, and good self-esteem
requires self-responsibility.
• Therefore, understanding development of a healthy
internal locus of control is essential for caregivers
of young children.
• Development of an internal locus of control
requires that caregivers respect the right of young
children to make many choices within their
environment, including choosing their behavior.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

12. 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.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

13. 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
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

14. 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.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

15. Checkpoint Discussion
Questions
• How can you apply Margaret Mahler’s separation-
individuation substages to your work with very
young children?
• 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 emotional IQ influence her
relationships with others?
• Explain why caregivers should establish
interactional synchrony with children.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

16. 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 are the pros and cons of a child developing
an internal locus of control? An external locus of
control?
• Provide and explain an example of a teacher
facilitating the development of prosocial skills in a
toddler.
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

17. 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 education
professional regarding children with special
rights?
©2011 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.