Social Referencing In Childhoods

15. How is social referencing important to infancy?
Social referencing is the act of looking for ways to react to an unknown stimulus or event by seeing others expressions and reactions. An infant will likely use a family member to gage how to react in social situations. It is particularly interesting that a baby will become accustomed to new foods because their parents emoted and showed they enjoyed the foods. (p.147,148)
16. How does father involvement affect infants?
It is important to note that a father can become an even greater source for emotional and social attachment than the mother. A father involved in a baby’s life can influence him in many ways. A child may be less likely to be difficult when their father has provided love and
guidance. A father may even encourage an infant to be more courageous by partaking in actions that may be more “dangerous”. In other ways, a father that is depressed may spank their child more often than those that show no signs of depression. Either way, A fathers involvement in a child’s life can be beneficial and produce a happy and healthy child.
17. What might happen if a person is stuck in the oral or anal stage of development?
A child stuck in the oral stage was unable to ease out of the stage and became orally fixated. When this happens, he may eat, talk, chew, bite, or drink excessively to achieve the oral stimulation he was denied as a child. Similarly, a child denied the right to successfully ease out of the anal stage may feel the need to have regulation and self-control in later years. (p.150)
18. How might the crisis of “trust versus mistrust” affect later life?
Trust vs. Mistrust is a theory by Erikson stating that an infant must learn to trust the world to satisfy needs. A child that cannot achieve stress may become an adult that feels fear at exploring and experiencing what the social world has to offer. (p.150)
19. How might the crisis of “autonomy versus shame and doubt” affect later life?
Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt arises in a child at eighteen months when she is expected to become independent. If this is not achieved, a child may not ashamed of themselves. In later life, an adult that was not able to achieve autonomy may feel mistrusting of the world and even feel shame. (p.150)
20. How do behaviorists explain the development of emotions and personality?
According to page 151, Behaviorists believe that parent’s discipline and reinforcement shape the child’s personality and emotions.
In this right, a parent that encourages a child at every step may create a child that is happy and kind. Behaviorists also claim children develop from social learning, or learning from other people. (p.151)
21. Why does “working model” arise from cognitive theory instead of from the other theories?
The cognitive theory claims that values and thoughts decide an individual’s perspective in life. The working model revolves around assumptions that become a guidebook for later life. The reason this model is a part of the cognitive theory is because it involves the thoughts made to determine values. (p.153)
22. According to humanism, how might caregivers’ needs affect their response to an infant?
Humanists believe that parents have needs that determine the way they will nurture their child. The book talks about a caregiver not receiving the care she needed as an infant, influencing the way she nurtures. Although a child may need some form of nourishing milk to survive, a mother may need to wean the child to feel relief in her breasts. (p.154)
23. How does evolution explain the parent-child
bond?
Although it is not necessary to nuzzle an infant to bond like some animals, bonding is an essential part of development and does happen as is much larger to human beings. According to page 156, it is a part of human nature to want to care for babies and for babies to give care as well. (p.156)
24. Why is allocare necessary for survival of the human species?
Allocare is taking care of children by people other than the parents.
According to page 156, it would be next to impossible for a mother to have more than two children without help from others. If this happened, the human species would not be able to survive. (p.156)
25. What are the advantages and disadvantages of nonmaternal infant care?
Some disadvantages include a child not getting the attention he craves. A baby may receive an advantage by getting the basic needs he or she needs. This ensures that a child is benefiting developmentally from a person that is not his mother. (p.158)
26. Compare costs and benefits of infant care by relatives versus center day care.
It is true that day care of any kind can be beneficial for each child. This provides a method of education and care. Center day care can be much more expensive but may provide a community for enrichment of learning. On the other hand, relatives are much less costly and can be familiar faces that the child already knows. (p.160)
27. Why is it difficult to draw conclusions about infant day care?
There are many reasons for the need and circumstances for infant day care. We can’t be certain about these tests because the development of a child is not just about their day care experience. A child may not be difficult just because of how long they were in day care, but instead because of their quality of home life.
(p.160)
28. What are the benefits and problems for infants if their mothers are employed?
There is no evidence to support that a child develops emotional problems based on their mother being employed. However a child may not have as close of a relationship to a parent that spends a lot of time at work compared to one that is always home. This is not to say that a parent that works has no time to attend to the children, just needs to juggle her time better. A benefit to the mother working could be less stress and depression and a higher income, which produces children that have the potential to be happier and more successful. (p.160, 161)