secure base

infants use the familiar care-giver as a secure base

* they go to explore, and return to the care-giver for emotional support

self-conscious emotions

besides basic emotions, humans are capable of a second, higher-order set of feelings, including shame, embarrassment, guilt, envy and pride.

These self-conscious emotions are called this because each involves injury or enhancement of our sense of self.

emotional self-regulation

emotional display rules

all societies have emotional display rules that specify when, where and how it is appropraite to express emotions

* at first children modify emotion expressions to serve personal needs, and they exaggerate their true feelings (so they can have a cookie.) Soon they learn to damp down their expressive behavior and substitute other reactions, such as smiling when feeling anxious or disappointed.

social referencing

involves relying on another person's emotional reaction to appraise an uncertain situation.

* beginning at 8-10 months, when infants start to evaluate unfamiliar people, objects, and events in terms of their own safety and security.

empathy

current theorists agree that empathy involves a complex interaction of cognition and affect the ability to detect different emotions

to take anothers emotional perspective, and to feel with that person, or respond emotionally in a similar way

prosocial behavior

beginning in the preschool years, empathy is an important motivator of prosocial behavior. 

actions that benefit another person without any expected reward for the self

sympathy

sympathy - feelings of concern or sorrow for another's plight

* children empathizing with an upset adult or peer does not yield acts of kindness and helpfulness but instead escalates into personal distress. In trying to reduce these feelings, the child focuses on his own anxiety rather than on the person in need

temperament

stable individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation.

example; when we describe a person as cheerful and upbeat, another as active and energetic, and still others as calm, cautious, persistant, or prone to angry outbursts we are referring to temperament.

easy child

difficult child

slow-to-warm-up child

shy child

attachment

separation anxiety

internal working model

set of expectations about the availability of attachment of figures, their likelihood of providing support during times of stress, and the selfs interaction with those figures.

• becomes a vital part of personality, serving as a guide for all future close relationships.
• With age children continually revise and expand their internal working model as their cognitive, emotional, and social capacities increase and as they interact with parents and form other close bonds with adults, siblings, and friends.

secure attachment

infants use the parent as a secure base. When separated, they may or may not cry, but if they do, it is because the parent is absent and they prefer her to a stranger.

• When the parent returns, they actively seek contact, and their crying is reduced immediately.

avoidant attachment

• these infants seem unresponsive to the parent when she is present
• When she leaves, they usually are not distressed, and they react to the stranger in much the same way as to the parent. 
• During reunion, they avoid or are slow to greet the parent, and when they are picked up, they often fail to cling.

resistant attachment

• before separation, these infants seek closeness to the parent and often fail to explore.
• When the parent leaves, they are usually distressed, and on her return, they combine clinginess with angry, resistive behavior, struggling when held and sometimes hitting and pushing. 
• Many continue to cry and cling after being pick up and cannot be comforted easily.

disorganized/disoriented attachment

this pattern reflect the greattest insecurity.

• At reunion, these infants show confused, contradictory behaviors

example; looking away while the parent is holding them or approaching the parent with flat expressed emotion.

• Most displayed a dazed facial expression, and a few cry out unexpectedly after having calmed down or display odd, frozen pastures.

developmentally appropriate practice

stranger anxiety