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Chapter 10 Social-Emotional Development in the First Year 289
part of social development. How much a person
trusts or does not trust other people affects how he
or she interacts with them.
Erikson stated that two key factors are essential
in whether infants learn to trust. First, infants need a
consistent environment, which includes sameness
in routines, caregivers, and surroundings. Second,
infants learn to trust by having their basic needs
met promptly each time. According to Erikson,
if a baby’s basic needs are consistently met, then
babies feel the world is a good and happy place.
This helps them learn to trust others and adapt to
their world. If basic needs go unmet or partly met
and the surroundings are unstable, then babies
feel helpless and confused and develop mistrust.
Aiding Baby-Adult
Interactions
Interacting with the baby is the baby’s means
to social contact. In an earlier chapter, you read
about a baby’s learning agenda. Part of a baby’s
agenda is seeking signifi cant relationships and
learning to interact with people. Just as parents aid
their baby’s motor, sensory, concept, and language
development, they must also aid social-emotional
development through interactions with their baby.
Parents can develop positive interactions with
their baby by respecting the baby’s temperament,
interacting with newborns when alert, soothing
infants when discomforted, serving and responding,
and encouraging attachment.
Respecting the Baby’s
Temperament
One of the most important aspects of baby-
adult interaction involves respecting the baby’s
temperament. Each baby comes into the world with
a unique temperament. Adults respond positively
or negatively toward the newborn’s temperament
and convey their feelings mainly through the
way they hold, touch, and look at the baby. The
newborn reacts to adults’ feelings and actions
(Figure 10.11). For example, if adults are tense or
the newborn’s needs are unmet, then he or she
Babies
have needs that must be met for
healthy social-emotional development. Each baby
is an individual. Some babies are more active, some
like to be cuddled, some cry a lot, and others seem
happy. This individuality infl uences the parents’
responses to the baby, just like a person’s person-
ality affects the way others respond to him or her.
During the fi rst year, social-emotional devel-
opment seems to center on baby-adult interac-
tions, the baby’s developing self-awareness, and
adults’ ways of handling special problems. Social-
emotional development affects the baby’s mental
health both now and in the future.
Erikson’s Psychosocial
Theory
Psychologist Erik Erikson was concerned about
confl icts that occur between a child’s needs and
social demands. He theorized that people go through
eight stages of personality development in their
lifespan. His theory is known as psychosocial theory.
Each stage of Erikson’s psychosocial (relating
to psychological and social aspects) theory of
development presents a specifi c developmental
task for each age group (Figure 10.10).
Erikson believed that each task can have either
a positive or negative outcome. Depending on
the outcome of each stage, a person’s personality
could develop in healthy or unhealthy ways. If
the person successfully resolves the confl ict, he or
she will feel a sense of achievement, resulting in
healthy personality development. If the person is
unsuccessful in resolving the confl ict, he or she is
more likely to feel inadequate, causing his or her
personality to be more vulnerable during other
stages. Erikson believed a person can overcome
failures in resolving past confl icts, but positive
changes later in life are more diffi cult. He saw the
family and other factors as major infl uences on
personality.
Infants are in the fi rst stage of Erikson’s
psychosocial theory, called trust versus mistrust.
In this stage, infants are tasked with learning
whether to trust or mistrust others. Trust is a key