Temperament

1
Temperament

• A persons characteristic or stable way of
  responding, both emotionally and physically, to
  environmental events
• Seems to be present from birth

2
Thomas Chess

• New York Longitudinal Study of 141 children
  starting in 1956 to study temperament over time.
• Found 3 main categories of temperament easy
  (40), difficult (10), and slow-to-warm-up
  (15).
• 35 did not fit neatly into any category.

3
Findings about temperament

• Temperament is not fixed and unchangeable.
• Need goodness of fit between parenting style
  and a childs temperament.
• Difficult children are at risk of later
  behavioral problems if parents dont respond
  sensitively and consistently to their needs.
• Cultural differences in how we value temperament.

4
Attachment

• Strong affectional ties between people a close
  emotional relationship characterized by mutual
  affection and a desire to maintain proximity.
• Early mother-infant bonding (within hours of
  birth) does NOT appear to be crucial for a strong
  lasting attachment to occur.

5
Interactional synchrony

• Like a conversational dance a mutual,
  interlocking pattern of attachment behaviors.
  Baby signals his needs, and parent responds
  appropriately.
• Easier to be in interactional synchrony with easy
  children.
• Kewpie doll syndromebabies look cute, and
  parents are biologically programmed to respond to
  them.

6
Feeding and attachment

• Feeding is NOT the most important determinant of
  attachment to a caregiver.
• Harlow Zimmerman (1959)study with monkeys.
  Monkeys preferred the soft cloth mother over the
  wire mother, even if the wire mother was the one
  who fed them.

7
Strange Situations Test

• Designed by Mary Ainsworth to test a childs
  attachment to the primary caregiver, usually the
  mother
• Given between 12-18 months of an age
• Consists of 9 strange situations (e.g., alone
  with Mom with Mom and stranger alone with
  stranger completely alone, etc.)

8
Attachment Styles (Ainsworth)

• Secure65--use parent as a secure base from
  which to explore. Seek contact with parent when
  she returns crying is reduced.
• Resistant10--fail to explore inconsolable when
  Mom leaves but may push her away when she returns
• Avoidant20--unresponsive to parent dont care
  when she leaves or when she comes back
• Disorganized5--greatest insecurity usually
  associated with neglect/abuse

9
How does a secure attachment style develop?

• One crucial ingredient for secure attachment is
  emotional availability on the part of the parent.
  
• Contingent responsiveness also
  importantparents need to be sensitive to babys
  cues and respond appropriately.

10
Development of avoidant and resistant attachment
styles

• Avoidant Mom could either reject infant or
  regularly withdraw from him/her or she could be
  overly intrusive or stimulating, causing baby to
  withdraw
• Resistant when primary caregiver is
  inconsistently or unreliably available to child
• Disorganizedwhen child is abused or if one of
  the parents has some unresolved trauma, such as
  abuse or the early death of a parent

11
How stable are attachment classifications?

• About 30 of children are securely attached to
  one parent and insecurely attached to the other.
• Its the quality of each relationship
  individually that determines the security of the
  attachment to each parent.
• Security of attachment can change over time if
  the quality of the relationship changes in a
  major way. Usually thought to be stable by age 4
  or 5 and generalizable to other relationships.

12
Attachment styles and romantic relationships

• Hazan and Shaver (1987) classified adults into
  secure, anxious-ambivalent (resistant), and
  avoidant.
• Securely attached people have the most loving,
  trusting, and longest-lasting romantic
  relationships.
• Avoidantsay that romantic love is hard to find
  have a fear of closeness, jealousy, lack of
  acceptance
• Anxious-ambivalentalways searching for soul
  mate emotional roller coaster, jealousy