Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 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
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