Personality in Babies: Temperament and Attachment
Temperament:
-
Inborn predispositions to behave and react in a certain
way.
-
Caused by nature: based on genotype, inherited from
parents.
New York Longitudinal Study
Studied people's temperament from infancy to age 20+
Found 4 basic types of temperament show up in first
week of life:
1. Easy (40% of babies)
-
Pleasant moods
-
Approach people, look at people
-
Regular sleeping patterns
-
Regular patterns of eating and elimination
2. Difficult (10% of babies)
-
Generally unpleasant mood
-
Negative toward new situations and people
-
Very intense emotional reactions
-
Irregular patterns of sleeping, eating, elimination
3. Slow to Warm Up (15% of babies)
-
Somewhat negative moods
-
Withdraw from social situations
-
Slow to adapt to situations but eventually adapt
4. Combination or Average (35% of babies)
-
Show some characteristics of each group
Does temperament as a baby predict what you'll be like
as an adult?
-
By adulthood, over 70% of "difficult" children needed
psychiatric help, but only 18% of "easy" children did.
-
Difficult children tend to have less satisfying relationships
as adults
-
Difficult children 2.5 times as likely to be fired from
jobs as adults, compared with easy children
-
Difficult children more likely to be on welfare when adults
-
Slow to warm up children are less likely to become leaders
-
Slow to warm up children more likely to be depressed as
adults
Infant Attachment:
The emotional bond that forms between an infant and her
caregivers.
-
Caused by nurture: how caregiver interacts with infant
-
Infant's social development depends on quality of
attachment
-
Attachment with mother or other primary caregiver most important
Mary Ainsworth: Major attachment researcher
Observed Ugandan mothers interacting with their babies
from birth to about 1 year old.
-
Babies used mother as "secure base" for exploring the world
-
Babies search for mother when frightened or hurt
-
Mother reassures baby so baby can go on exploring
-
How the mother reassured the baby affected baby's emotional
bond with her
Types of attachment:
Secure attachment:
-
Occurs when parents are warm, responsive, sensitive to child's
needs
-
Infant learns that physical and emotional needs will be met
by caregiver
-
This security can persist to adulthood
Insecure attachment:
-
Occurs when parents are neglectful, inconsistent, or insensitive
-
Infant learns that physical and emotional needs may or may
not be met by caregiver
-
Infant becomes ambivalent or avoidant toward
parents
-
This insecurity can persist to adulthood