Attachment to Others and Development of Self

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Attachment to Others and Development of Self

• How Children Develop (3rd ed.)
• Siegler, DeLoache Eisenberg
• Chapter 11

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Attachment

• An emotional bond with a specific person that is
  enduring across space and time
• The observations of John Bowlby and others
  involved with institutionalized children led to
  an understanding of the importance of
  parent-child interactions in development.

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Attachment

• Many investigators now believe that childrens
  early relationships with parents influence the
  nature of their interactions with others from
  infancy into adulthood, as well as their feelings
  about their own worth.

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Overview

• I. The Caregiver-Child Attachment Relationship
• II. Conceptions of the Self
• III. Ethnic Identity
• IV. Sexual Identity or Orientation
• V. Self-Esteem

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I. The Caregiver-Child Attachment Relationship

• A. Attachment Theory
• B. Measurement of Attachment Security
• C. Cultural Variations in Attachment
• D. Factors Associated with the Security of
  Childrens Attachment
• E. Does Security of Attachment Have Long-Term
  Effects?

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I. Caregiver-Child Attachment Relationship

• Harry Harlows experimental work with monkeys who
  were deprived of all early social interactions
  strongly supported the view that healthy social
  and emotional development is rooted in childrens
  early social interactions with adults.

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A. Attachment Theory

• John Bowlby proposed attachment theory, which is
  influenced by ethological theory and posits that
  children are biologically predisposed to develop
  attachments with caregivers as a means of
  increasing the chances of their own survival.

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1. Bowlbys Attachment Theory

• Secure base is Bowlbys term for an attachment
  figures presence that provides an infant or
  toddler with a sense of security that makes it
  possible for the infant to explore the
  environment.
• Mary Ainsworth, Bowlbys student, extended and
  tested his ideas.

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Bowlbys Four Phases of Attachment

1. Preattachment phase (birth to 6 weeks)The
   infant produces innate signals that bring others
   to his or her side and is comforted by the
   interaction that follows.
2. Attachment-in-the-making (6 weeks to 6-8
   months)The phase in which infants begin to
   respond preferentially to familiar people.

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Bowlbys Four Phases of Attachment

1. Clear-cut attachment (between 6-8 months and
   1½-2 years)Characterized by the infants
   actively seeking contact with their regular
   caregivers and typically showing separation
   protest or distress when the caregiver departs
2. Reciprocal relationships (from 1½ or 2 years
   on)Involves children taking an active role in
   developing working partnerships with their
   caregivers

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Internal Working Model of Attachment

• The child develops a mental representation of the
  self, of attachment figures, and of relationships
  in general.
• This working model guides childrens interactions
  with caregivers and other people in infancy and
  at older ages.

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2. Ainsworths Research

• Ainsworth developed a laboratory procedure called
  The Strange Situation to assess infants
  attachment to their primary caregivers.
• In this procedure, the child is exposed to seven
  episodes, including two separations and reunions
  with the caregiver and interactions with a
  stranger when alone and when the caregiver is in
  the room.
• Using this procedure, Ainsworth identified three
  attachment categories.

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Episodes in Ainsworths Strange Situation
Procedure
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B. Measurement of Attachment Security in Infancy

• Secure attachment is a pattern of attachment in
  which an infant or child has a high-quality,
  relatively unambivalent relationship with his or
  her attachment figure.
• In the Strange Situation, a securely attached
  infant, for example, may be upset when the
  caregiver leaves but may be happy to see the
  caregiver return, recovering quickly from any
  distress.
• When children are securely attached, they can use
  caregivers as a secure base for exploration.
• About two-thirds of American middle class
  children are securely attached.

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Attachment Classifications

• Insecure/resistant (or ambivalent) attachment is
  a pattern in which infants or young children
  (about 15 of American middle class children) are
  clingy and stay close to their caregiver rather
  than explore the environment.
• In the Strange Situation, insecure/resistant
  infants tend to become very upset when the
  caregiver leaves them alone in the room, and are
  not readily comforted by strangers.
• When the caregiver returns, they are not easily
  comforted and both seek comfort and resist
  efforts by the caregiver to comfort them.

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Attachment Classifications

• Insecure/avoidant attachment is a type of
  insecure attachment in which infants or young
  children (about 20 of infants from middle-class
  U.S. families) seem somewhat indifferent toward
  their caregiver and may even avoid the caregiver.
• In the Strange Situation, these children seem
  indifferent toward their caregiver before the
  caregiver leaves the room and indifferent or
  avoidant when the caregiver returns.
• If these children become upset when left alone,
  they are as easily comforted by a stranger as by
  the caregiver.

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Attachment Classifications

• Because a small percentage of children did not
  fit into these categories, a fourth category,
  disorganized/disoriented attachment, was
  subsequently identified.
• Infants in this category seem to have no
  consistent way of coping with the stress of the
  Strange Situation.
• Their behavior is often confused or even
  contradictory, and they often appear dazed or
  disoriented.

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C. Cultural Variations in Attachment

• To a great extent, infants behaviors in the
  Strange Situation are similar across numerous
  cultures, including in China, Western Europe, and
  various parts of Africa.
• There are, however, some important differences in
  behavior in the Strange Situation in certain
  other cultures.

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Attachment Across Cultures

• Types of insecure attachment in the United States
  and Japan differ, with all insecurely attached
  Japanese infants classified as insecure/resistant.
  
• This may reflect the emphasis on dependence and
  closeness between Japanese infants and their
  mothers and Japanese infants anger and
  resentment at being denied contact in the Strange
  Situation.

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Parents with secure adult attachments tend to
have securely attached children.
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D. Factors Associated with the Security of
Childrens Attachment

• Parental sensitivity contributes to the security
  of an infants attachment.
• Can be exhibited in a variety of ways
• Responsive caregiving when children are
  distressed or upset
• Helping children to engage in learning situations
  by providing just enough, but not too much,
  guidance and supervision
• Intervention studies, in which parents in an
  experimental group are trained to be more
  sensitive in their caregiving, indicate a causal
  relationship between parental sensitivity and
  security of attachment.

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Interventions and Attachment

• In a study conducted in the Netherlands, half of
  a group of mothers of 6-month-old babies at some
  risk for insecure attachment were randomly
  assigned to a condition in which sensitivity was
  trained, with the remaining half in a comparison
  condition.
• Three months later, more of the infants of the
  mothers in the experimental group were securely
  attached than were those in the control group.
• The differences in attachment were still apparent
  when the children were 18 months, 24 months, and
  3½ years old.

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E. Does Security of Attachment Have Long-Term
Effects?

• Children who were securely attached as infants
  seem to have closer, more harmonious
  relationships with peers than do insecurely
  attached children.
• Secure attachment in infancy also predicts
  positive peer and romantic relationships and
  emotional health in adolescence.
• Securely attached children also earn higher
  grades and are more involved in school than
  insecurely attached children.

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Long-Term Effects

• It is unclear, however, whether security of
  attachment in infancy has a direct effect on
  later development, or whether early security of
  attachment predicts childrens functioning
  because good parents remain good parents.

• It is likely that childrens development can be
  better predicted from the combination of both
  their early attachment status and the quality of
  subsequent parenting than from either factor
  alone.

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II. Conceptions of the Self

• A. The Development of Conceptions of Self
• B. Identity in Adolescence

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The Self

• Refers to a conceptual system made up of ones
  thoughts and attitudes about oneself
• An individuals conceptions about the self can
  include thoughts about ones own physical being,
  social roles and relationships, and spiritual
  or internal characteristics.

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A. Development of Conceptions of Self

• Childrens sense of self emerges in the early
  years of life and continues to develop into
  adulthood, becoming more complex as the
  individuals emotional and cognitive development
  deepens.
• Adults contribute to the childs self-image by
  providing descriptive information about the child.

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1. The Self in Infancy

• Infants have a rudimentary sense of self in the
  first months of life, as evidenced by their
  control of objects outside of themselves.
• Their sense of self becomes more distinct at
  about 8 months of age, when they respond to
  separation from primary caregivers with
  separation distress.

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1. The Self in Infancy

• By 18 to 20 months of age, many children can look
  into a mirror and realize that the image they see
  there is themselves.
• By 30 months of age, almost all children
  recognize their own photograph.
• Two-year-old childrens exhibition of
  embarrassment and shame, their self-assertive
  behavior, and their use of language also indicate
  their self-awareness.

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2. The Self in Childhood

• At age 3 to 4, children understand themselves in
  terms of concrete, observable characteristics
  related to physical attributes, physical
  activities and abilities, and psychological
  traits.
• Their self-evaluations during the preschool years
  are unrealistically positive.
• Children begin to refine their conceptions of
  self in elementary school, in part because they
  increasingly engage in social comparison, the
  process of comparing aspects of ones own
  psychological, behavioral, or physical
  functioning to that of others in order to
  evaluate oneself.

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The Developing Sense of Self

• By middle to late elementary school, childrens
  conceptions of self begin to become integrated
  and more broadly encompassing, reflecting
  cognitive advances in the ability to use
  higher-order concepts.
• In addition, older children can coordinate
  opposing self-representations and are inclined to
  compare themselves with others on the basis of
  objective performance.

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3. The Self in Adolescence
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III. Ethnic Identity

• A. Ethnic Identity in Childhood
• B. Ethnic Identity in Adolescence

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Ethnic Identity

• Refers to individuals sense of belonging to an
  ethnic group, including the degree to which they
  associate their thinking, perceptions, feelings,
  and behavior with membership in that ethnic group

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A. Ethnic Identity in Childhood

• Childrens ethnic identity has five components
• Ethnic knowledge Knowledge that their ethnic
  group has certain distinguishing characteristics
• Ethnic self-identification The categorization of
  themselves as members of their ethnic group
• Ethnic constancy The understanding that the
  distinguishing characteristics of their ethnic
  group that they carry in themselves do not change
  across time and place
• Ethnic-role behaviors Engagement in the
  behaviors that reflect the distinguishing
  characteristics of their ethnic group
• Ethnic feelings and preferences Feelings about
  belonging to an ethnic group and their
  preferences for its members and the
  characteristics that define it

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Examples of Components of Ethnic Identity
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Development of Ethnic Identity

• Ethnic identity develops gradually during
  childhood and is not universal.
• By the early school years, ethnic-minority
  children know the common characteristics of their
  ethnic group, start to have feelings about being
  members of the group, and may have begun to form
  ethnically-based preferences.

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Development of Ethnic Identity

• Children tend to identify themselves with their
  ethnic group between the ages of 5 and 8.
  Shortly after that, they begin to understand
  their ethnicity as unchanging.
• The family and the larger social environment play
  a major role in the development of ethnic
  identity.

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B. Ethnic Identity in Adolescence
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IV. Sexual Identity or Orientation

• A. The Origins of Youths Sexual Identity
• B. Sexual Identity in Sexual-Minority Youth

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Sexual Orientation

• A persons preference in regard to males or
  females as objects of erotic feelings
• A core component of adolescent identity
• Dealing with new feelings of sexuality is
  difficult for many adolescents, but establishing
  a sexual identity is much harder for some
  adolescents than for others.

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A. The Origins of Youths Sexual Identity

• Puberty is the most likely time for youth to
  begin experiencing feelings of sexual attraction
  to others.
• Most current theorists believe that feelings of
  sexual attraction to others are based primarily
  on biological factors, although the environment
  may also be a contributing factor.

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B. Sexual Identity in Sexual Minority Youth

• Sexual-minority youth are young people who
  experience same-sex attractions and for whom the
  question of personal sexual identity is often
  confusing and painful.
• It is difficult to know exactly how many youth
  fit in this category, but current estimates
  indicate that 2-4 of high students in the U.S.
  identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual.
  However, many sexual-minority youth dont
  self-identify until early adulthood or later.
• Increasing numbers of sexual-minority youth are
  disclosing this information to others (i.e.,
  coming out) and are doing so at earlier ages
  than in previous cohorts.

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2. Consequences of Coming Out

• Typically, sexual-minority youth do not disclose
  their same-sex preferences to peers or siblings
  until about 16½ to 19 years of age and do not
  tell their parents until a year or two later, if
  at all.
• Surveys show that about 20-40 of sexual-minority
  youth are insulted or threatened by relatives
  after they reveal their sexual identity.
• Heterosexual adolescents tend to be not very
  accepting of same-sex preferences in peers.
• Presumably because of the pressures of coping
  with their sexuality, sexual-minority youth have
  higher reported rates of attempted suicide than
  other youth.

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V. Self-Esteem

• A. Sources of Self-Esteem
• B. Self-Esteem in Minority Children
• C. Culture and Self-Esteem

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Self-Esteem

• Ones overall evaluation of the worth of the self
  and the feelings that this evaluation engenders
• Related to how satisfied people are with their
  lives and their overall outlook
• Starts to develop early and is affected by a
  variety of factors throughout life

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A. Sources of Self-Esteem

• Involves the interaction of nature and nurture,
  including the sociocultural context.
• There are large individual differences in
  self-esteem.

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1. Heredity

• Heredity contributes to self-esteem in terms of
  physical appearance, athletic ability, and
  aspects of intelligence and personality (e.g.,
  self-esteem is more similar in siblings who are
  closer genetically).
• The genetic contribution to self-esteem appears
  to be stronger for boys than for girls.

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2. Others Contributions to Self-Esteem

• Children begin to become concerned about winning
  their parents love and approval at about age 2.

• Parents who tend to be accepting and involved
  with their child and who use supportive yet firm
  child-rearing practices tend to have children
  with higher self-esteem.
• Parents who reject their children for
  unacceptable behavior (rather than condemning the
  specific behavior) are likely to instill their
  children with a sense of worthlessness.

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Factors Contributing to Childrens Self-Esteem
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2. Others Contributions to Self-Esteem

• Over the course of childhood, self-esteem is
  increasingly affected by peer acceptance and is
  also likely to affect how peers respond to
  individual children.
• Self-esteem is increasingly affected by
  internalized standards as children approach
  adolescence.

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3. School and Neighborhood

• A decline in self-esteem is associated with the
  transition from elementary to junior high school.
• Living in poverty in an urban environment is
  associated with lower self-esteem among
  adolescents in the United States.

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B. Self-Esteem in Minority Children

• Although young Euro-American children tend to
  have higher self-esteem than their
  African-American peers, the trend reverses
  slightly after age 10.
• Less is known about the self-esteem of Latino and
  other minority children.
• Minority-group parents can help their children
  develop high self-esteem and a sense of
  well-being by instilling them with pride in their
  culture, by being supportive, and by helping them
  to deal with prejudice.

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C. Culture and Self-Esteem

• Self-esteem scores tend to be lower in China,
  Japan, and Korea than in many Western nations.
• There appear to be fundamental differences
  between Asian and Western cultures that affect
  the very meaning of self-esteem.