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288  CHAPTER 7

Habituation event: Separation

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Test event Responsive caregiver

Unresponsive caregiver

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■ CLOSING THOUGHTS Cultivating Emotional and Social Competence Reflect for a moment on the following question. How would you define a socially and emotionally healthy person? Perhaps several vital characteristics spring to mind. Someone who understands other people. Someone who can resolve conflicts, cope with stress, and handle the emotions of self and others. Someone who has developed close and secure relationships with other people. Someone who can make and keep friends. Someone who reaches out to help people in need. Someone who spontaneously displays magnanimity without expecting to receive anything in return. Now, review your list. Notice that the qualities that characterize this fictitious person align with many of the topics that we reviewed in this chapter. Indeed, the seeds of social and emotional development are planted and cultivated in infancy. When those seeds are placed in toxic soil, they will struggle to grow, just as was the case of orphaned and institutionalized children who failed to thrive under conditions of neglect. The dire circumstances surrounding a lack of love and social connection suffocate infants’ social and emotional develop- ment and compromise skills across motor, language, and cognitive domains. But, when soil is rich and nourished, the planted seeds will thrive and reach their full genetic potential. The same goes for infants. On Erikson’s account, consistent, predictable, and reliable care allows infants to feel secure and trust others even when they face challenges. But of course, plants can wither without continued watering and care. And so, we will see in later chapters that although the groundwork for social and emotional development is established in infancy, the future of the child depends on continued care and nourishment. Healthy emotional and social develop- ment, therefore, is a lifelong goal. Tamis-LeMonda Child Development: Context, Culture, and Cascades 1E Sinauer Associates/OUP Morales Studio TL1e_07.28 03-18-21 FIGURE 7.28  Internal working models of attachment in infancy.  Researchers sug- gest that infants have “internal working models” of the responsiveness of their attach- ment figures. Infants were shown a scene of two animated characters, a large ellipse (mother) and a small ellipse (child). During habituation trials, the “mother” and the “child” were together at the foot of a hill. Then the “mother” climbed up the hill and rested halfway on a small plateau. The “child” below started crying (presented in an audio recording of an actual crying infant). During test trials, infants were shown two scenes, one in which the mother responded by descending to help her child, and one in which the mother was unresponsive and kept climbing the hill. Infant attachment status related to their patterns of looking at responsive and unresponsive figures. (After S. C. Johnson et al. 2007. Psychol Sci 18: 501–502.) PROPERTY OF OXFORD

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