While I disagree with the idea of National Character studies in the respect that one whole nation has one typical personality, not allowing for variations in individual personalities in a given culture, Gorer does make a good point in his swaddling hypothesis about how swaddling can affect the infant through adulthood. Erikson also supported this view comparing it to the use of cradleboards by the Oglala Sioux Indians. He proposed that the use of cradleboards in infancy led to the personality extremes of their stoicism and violent outbursts in war as well as their Sun Dance (Chisholm 1983). The Russian and Sioux mothers doing the swaddling shows one way that parent’s cognitions, which are shaped by their culture, can affect how they raise …show more content…
Developmental psychologist Mary Ainsworth did a comparative study of maternal behavior in Africa and the United States starting in 1967. She focused on the importance of breast-feeding and body contact to the development of infant attachment. She found that maternal availability and responsiveness to infant signal were clearly related to the growth of secure attachments (Bock 1999). Ainsworth identified three patterns of attachment that include the secure attachment style, anxious/ambivalent attachment style, and avoidance attachment style. Depending on the specific attachment style one was exposed to and learned as an infant will demonstrate specific adult attachment styles which involved the secure, preoccupied, fearful and dismissing adult attachment styles. Interactions we first have with our primary caregivers shape our relationships as adults (Power 2011). A longitudinal study started in 1971 in a Bantu speaking community in Kenya starting with infants six months to one year old, then followed up with the same children at ages five years old and twelve years old. The study focused on observations of interactions between caretakers and babies. The study concluded that the child’s early ties with the mother were most influential in his or her socioemotional development and that infant attachment styles may be
Early childhood is the most important phase of development in one’s lifespan as the experiences during childhood sets the course for later stages of development. It has been noted that a mother’s actions during pregnancy may influence the development of an infant. The developmental influences include prenatal, perinatal and neonatal environments. (Santrock, 2002) Although babies come into the world with no say or control over which family they will be placed into, or the environment in which they will begin to live in, theorists agree that the first two years are crucial, with early emotional, physical and social development influenced by the infant’s biological and environmental factors (Sigelman, Rider, & De-George Walker, 2013). The
When a person becomes a parent, their role in life undoubtedly changes. The person must become a teacher, a guide, and a helping hand in the life of the child. Research has shown that there is a distinct connection between how a child is raised and their overall developmental outcome. John Bowlby’s attachment theory emphasizes the importance of the regular and sustained contact between the parent-infant or parent-child relationship (Travis & Waul 2003). Yet, what happens when the only physical contact a child can share with their parent is a hand pressed on the shield of glass that separates the two? What happens when the last memory of their mother or father was from the corner of their own living room as they watched their parent
In the film Babies Thomas Balmès elegantly and wordlessly captures the first year of life through the eyes of four unique cultures. This film follows four babies Panijao from Namibia, Mari from Japan, Hattie from the United States, and Bayarjargal from Mongolia. The main purpose of the film is to show how the four cultures differ in their behaviors with infants. One of the striking differences is the role the parents play in the documentary and how they interact with their newborn infants. In contrast, the film also shows the similarities in infancy even in vastly different environments and cultures.
The movie “Babies” showed an abundance of behaviors and interactions that could unequivocally produce a secure attachment. One of the fundamental things that I noticed was the mothers that were reading books to their babies. Reading to children aids tremendously in their development and learning
If the mother is not available for that special attachment then the infant could attach to a mother-substitute, this attachment relationship is the prototype for all future relationships. Forming this special attachment is believed to build up an internal working model or to help them template for their future relationships. The internal working model can be changed as the infant develops new types of relationships to others, contact and attachments with a variety of people can lead to a fully developed internal working model. The internal working model is the vital part of forming
After watching the documentary, “Babies”, I learned specifically about the social interaction between babies and their mothers. Socialization is a huge part in the younger years of life because it sets a basis of social norms that should be followed in that certain baby’s society throughout their life. There were four families touched on in the documentary from four different countries; Japan, Mongolia, Africa and America. Many similarities and differences were recognized and easily helped illustrate how diverse the world is.
Infant attachment is the first relationship a child experiences and is crucial to the child’s survival (BOOK). A mother’s response to her child will yield either a secure bond or insecurity with the infant. Parents who respond “more sensitively and responsively to the child’s distress” establish a secure bond faster than “parents of insecure children”. (Attachment and Emotion, page 475) The quality of the attachment has “profound implications for the child’s feelings of security and capacity to form trusting relationships” (Book). Simply stated, a positive early attachment will likely yield positive physical, socio-emotional, and cognitive development for the child. (BOOK)
According to our textbook, Myron W. Lustig defines cultural patterns as “shared beliefs, values, norms, and social practices that are stable over time and that lead to roughly similar behaviors across similar situations”. By documenting the four infants from different regions of the world and capturing their first breaths throughout toddlerhood, it offers a glimpse of the major differences in cultures and methods of child-raising. The film carefully captures the different cultural contrasts of the babies through methods of sanitation and haircuts, differing pets and toys each interact with. From spit baths, tongue baths, and showering in the arms of the parent, we discover the sanitization methods of the differing cultures in the way the children are bathed. From haircuts with a knife or shears, we learn of the cultures development compared to one another. With Ponijao’s hair being cut with a knife rather than shears, we understand that Namibia is less developed. Also by analyzing their pets differing between cats, dogs, flies or farm animals and the toys they play with such as books, lego blocks, rocks, bones, we learn of their environments, their parents and their financial statuses.
In Meredith Small’s article Our Babies, Ourselves she focuses on people’s social and psychological development through examining the different cultural aspects of raising a child. During this process she compares the American perspective of treating babies, to those of the Gusii and the Dutch. Throughout her examination many points are made that I believe can give the reader’s a valuable understanding of the impact of different means of parenthood on a child’s future development.
Ainsworth (1967) conducted a ‘Ganda project’, which looked into the individual differences in children’s attachment to their mothers/primary carer. She used babies ranging from ages between 15 weeks – 2 years old; they were studied every 2 weeks for 2 hours a time over a nine months. Ainsworth
The four attachment categories that infants are put into are: secure, insecure/resistant (or ambivalent), insecure/avoidant, and disorganized/disoriented.
The concept of infant-mother attachment is as important to the child as the birth itself. The effect this relationship has on a child shall affect that child for its entire life. A secure attachment to the mother or a primary caregiver is imperative for a child’s development. Ainsworth’s study shows that a mother is responsive to her infant’s behavioral cues which will develop into a strong infant-mother attachment. This will result in a child who can easily, without stress, be separated from his mother and without any anxiety. Of course the study shows a child with a weak infant-mother relationship will lead to mistrust, anxiety, and will never really be that close with the mother. Without the
By responding with care and comfort, this enables for an “attachment bond” to form between the infant and caregiver, most commonly the mother (White et al., 2013). Following on from Bowlby’s theory, Mary Ainsworth investigated the theory of attachment through observing the reactions of infants when their mothers left them alone with strangers. The investigation was named as the “Ainsworth’s strange situation assessment” (White et al., 2013). It was discovered through this investigation that infants who had secure attachments with their mothers were upset when separated and were easily soothed when the mother returns. This investigation implies that infants with secure attachment to their mothers show signs of normal social development.
Experimental data suggest that the past experiences of the mother are a major determinant in molding her care-giving role. Children use adults, especially loved and powerful adults, as models for their own behaviour. Children development literature, states that the powerful process of imitation or modelling socially inclines children. Kennell and Klaus explain that unless adults consciously and painstakingly reexamine these learned behaviours, they will unconsciously repeat them when they become parents (Kennell and Klaus 11). Thus the way a woman was raised, which includes the practices of her culture and the individual idiosyncrasies of her own mother's child raising practices greatly influences her behaviour toward her own infant. Bob Brazelton in The Early Mother-Infant Adjustment says that, "It may seem to many that attachment to a small baby will come naturally and to make too much of it could be a mistake... but there are many, many women who have a difficult time making this adjustment...(Brazelton 10). He points out that we must understand the ingredients of attachment in order to help, because each mother-child dyad is unique and has individual needs of it's own (Brazelton 12).
“As infants grows older, they form close and enduring emotional attachments with the important people in their lives”. Reference 1. This essay will discuss the developmental period of infancy. Infancy is categorised as the development stage of a human from birth to 2 years of age. Infancy is a time in the human life that involves rapid growth and extraordinary changes in the first two years of life. Infants not only grow dramatically physically, their brains develop, and there is the start of locomotor skill development as well as the start of reflexes and sensory growth. The essay will also discuss anxiety and the role it plays with infants in regards to physical, cognitive and psychosocial stages an infant experiences. This essay will argue that the attachment of an infant to its mother is highly important. It will discuss the different way in which attachment affects an infant. This essay will discuss typical development milsetones in the first year years of human life. It will then go to analysis the relationship between infants being in day care or at home with their mother. T The typical physical development of a babys starts at borth. When a Baby is born on average it will weigh 3.4 kilograms and measure to be around 51 centimeters. A baby is typically 25 percent of its final adult weight when it is born but by its