Developmental Psychology

Achieve Test Prep: Developmental Psychology

sounds that babies produce, along with the sounds and phonemes which mothers produce in response are complex communications. These communications are a form of conservation of questions and commands. Social and Emotional Development: From the beginning, children begin to develop socially and emotionally. It is clearly evident that infants have distinct feelings towards different people, objects, and experiences. Children show clear attachment toward a loving primary caregiver. This attachment often leads to separation anxiety and stranger anxiety. Such anxieties peak at different ages for different children, with the average child peaking around twelve to sixteen months and declining after. Attachment is the infant’s tendency to seek interaction with particular individuals in order to feel more secure. Mary Ainsworth designed a series of experiments in order to better study infant attachment. She dubbed her study The Strange Situation, which gave insight into the different types of attachment that can form between a child and caregiver. The Strange Situation: 1. A mother and child were brought into a room with games and toys. The child was allowed to explore and play. 2. After a few moments, a stranger would enter the room and approach the child. The mother would then leave, leaving the child with the stranger. 3. The mother would return shortly thereafter and the stranger would leave. 4. The mother would leave again, after a few moments, and the stranger would return. Then the mother would return, again. The child was watched through a one-way mirror to see how he or she would react to each of these interactions. The interactions were categorized into three types of attachment: • Securely Attached: These children played with toys and were friendly towards the stranger. When the mother left, the child became distressed, cried, and searched for their mother. Upon the return of the mother, the child would approach her to be comforted. Once comforted by her presence, the child would return to playing with the toys. • Insecurely Attached and Avoidant: These children did not seem to pay special attention to their mother, whether or not shew as in the room. If the child was

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