Development psychology : Early social development

Development psychology : Early social development

1. Learning Theory

   • Classical conditioning
     • Learning through association
       • Ivan Pavlov : salivation of a dog
         • The dog salivating before fed, then made the dog associate food with a door, Therefore can control the dogs salivating.
       • Food produces pleasure for a baby then the person who is feeding the child then becomes associated with the food eventually then the feeder is then associated with pleasure. A conditioned reasponse
   • operant conditioning
     • Learning through being rewarded
       • Dollard and Miller 1950:
         • Hungry infants feel uncomfortable and therefore creates a drive to reduce discomfort. When being fed the discomfort is removed and this is seen as pleasure, which is rewarding ( food is the primary reinforcer) The person who feds the child is then associated with the remover of discomfort and therefore is the secondary reinforcer. The attachment is formed to the person who supplies the reward
   • evaluation
     • strengths
       • can provide an adequate explanation of how attachments form. We do learn through association and reinforcement.
     • weaknesses
       • food is not the main reinforcer there are others the can form attachments like comfort and safety
         • Harlow:
           • Created two wirer mothers. One had a fedding bottle and the other was wrapped in a soft cloth but was offered no food. The monkeys spent most time with the cloth-covered mother and would cling on to it especially when scared (proximity seeking behaviour)
         • Schaffer and Emerson 1964
           • Observed 60 babies from workingclass homes in glasgow for a year. They found that the babies were more attached to the person who was most responsive and who interacted with them most.

2. Bowlbys attachment theory (1969

   • The attachment is adaptive and innate
     • children have innate drive to become attached to a caregiver because attachment has long-term benefits, similuar to the benefits pf imprinting.
     • Attachment and imprinting are adaptive behaviours that increase the likihood of survival.
     • Infants that no not form attachments are less likey to survive.
   • sensitive period
     • Critcal or sensitive period. The second quarter of the first year is when the infants are most sensitive to the development of attachments. The crittal perios in which must take place is in the first two years
   • caregiving is adaptive
     • Infants are born with social releases, which are crying, smiling.
   • A secure base
     • Protection, a secure base for the infant. The spring of mother and child always coming back to each other.
   • Monotropy and hierarchy
     • He believes that child make many attachments but one is special. The primary attachment is called monotrphy. The secondary attachment is hierarchy.
     • Sensitive responsiveness was the key. The primary attachment is to the person who responds to the social releases.
   • Internal working model
     • emotional relationships. whether the relationships involve consistent or inconsistent love, whether others make you feel good or anxious.
   • the continuity hypothesis
     • the idea that emotionally secure infants go on to be emotionally secure, trusting and socially confident adults.

3. The strange situation

   • Ainsworth (1971
     • The security of attachment in one- to two-year-olds was investigated using the 'strange situation' procedure, in order to determine the nature of attachment behaviors and styles of attachment. found 3 types of attachments secure attachment, insecure avoidant attachment and insecure resistant attachment