The Importance Of Social Interaction And Development

Children are very complex, unique and varied individuals whose genetics, connections and backgrounds all perform significant roles in their emotional development (Wilson, 2003). The genetic blueprint a child inherits from its parents may plot a course for development but the environment and the influences within can affect how the child is shaped, how they connect with and are perceived by others and how their emotions are or are not expressed. Wilson (2003) points out emotions as an experience that is linked to cognitive interpretation, context, subjective feeling, physical reaction and behavioural expression. Campos, Campos, and Barrett (1989) suggest emotions are processes of establishing, maintaining, or disrupting the relations between the person and the internal or external environment, when such relations are significant to the individual.

Baby Jack displays a healthy attachment to mom, while Alice shows clear indicators of a strong and healthy bond with Jack. As indicated in the above chart, Jack is displaying all the behaviour expected for this stage of development (from 6-12 months), and accordingly, as related to attachment, he was friendly with me as long as mom was close, and vigilant in ensuring he was always aware of her location. The fact that Alice is able to soothe Jack quickly and consistently and that he is able to adjust to a new stranger so well points to development of the confidence that Vera Fahlberg (2012) maintains in her text, A Child’s Journey through Placement, as intrinsically tied to secure attachment to a “primary attachment object”

Emotion regulation involves intrinsic and extrinsic processing of monitoring and modifying emotional reactions in both positive or negative situations (Martins, 2012). In order for individuals to have the ability to regulate emotions, they must beware of their emotions. Although infants are unaware and lack the ability to regulate their emotions, it then becomes the role of a primary carer to nurture the infant, thus acting as a model for regulating emotions. Evidently, infants grow to reflect the ways in which their carers control and modify their emotions as well as social boundaries. Furthermore, emotion regulation is considered an important aspect of an individuals life as it 'can moderate emotions and keep them in a manageable range

Social Development: Child recognises mothers voice and face. They consider others if their needs are met by them.

At 6 weeks infants develop a social smile, at 3 month laughter and curiosity develop, at 4 months full responsive smiles emerge, from 4-8 months they develop anger, from 9014 months they develop a fear of social events, at 12 months the are fearful of unexpected sights and sounds, and at 18 months they are self-aware, feel pride, shame, and embarrassment. In the first two years, infants develop from reactive pain and pleasure to complex patterns of social awareness. Emotions in infants are produced from their body as opposed to their thoughts. Therefore fast and uncensored reactions are common in infants. During their toddler years, the strength of their emotions will increase.

In the pediatrician’s office that I work, there is a playroom for the children of parents that came to bring a sibling to the office. I work there at this playroom taking care of the children in this playroom. I often observe how the parents, usually the mother, interact with their children, and also how the children act when the mother needs to leave the room and when they come back. It was not until this week that I was able to name the interactions and to understand what is behind the children reactions. This week, in my developmental psychology class I learned about an experiment developed by Mary Ainsworth called ‘Strange Situation’ (Belsky, 2013, p. 115). In this experiment, a mother and a child enters a play room like the one that I work, and after the child is playing with the toys, a stranger comes in and interact with the child; after a while the mother leaves the room, the same way the mothers at the pediatrician’s office leave the playroom; after some minutes the mother returns and the stranger leaves the room; a couple of minutes after the child is situated again and playing, the mother leaves again leaving the child alone, and returns after another couple of minutes (Belsky, 2013, p. 115). While the researchers observed the children, their interaction with their mothers, and their reactions to the situations through a one-way mirror (Belsky, 2013, p. 115), I observed as the stranger that is in the room interacting with the child.

I observed Harper, a 23 month old little girl that is full of energy. Also participating in the interaction with Harper was her mother and five year old sister, Mya. Harper is very friendly and outgoing. She is very interested “reading books” and loves to be read to. She enjoys helping her mother clean and do simple tasks. She seems to be very confident with and without her mother in her sight. Harper’s father is not actively involved in her life because he lives in another state.

When Abigail became fussy, mother picked her up from the floor and began to walk her around the house. Melissa continued dialogue with Abigail as they walked. Abigail listened as her mother held her and felt content to be in her arms. She began babbling to Melissa. Melissa engaged her again demonstrating a strong emphasis on language development as well as strengthening the emotional bond between them. Melissa is able to understand Abigail’s needs and respond appropriately strengthening her ability to establish trust with her mother.

At a certain age infants begin to resist the unfamiliar and are very vocal in expressing their feelings (Brazelton, 1992).

Attachments are intrinsic to a child’s development both in the short term and for the duration of their lives. Infants have an innate need to develop an attachment with their mother to ensure their survival and are equipped with evolutionary characteristics called social releasers; physical social releasers such as large eyes and a small chin are found to be more aesthetically pleasing to the parents so they are more likely to care for them and behavioural social releasers for example, crying; very young infants typically only cry if they 're hungry, cold or in pain (Gross 2015 p535) this alerts the parents to an infants immediate need. At around 7 or 8 months of age children begin to make specific attachments for reasons other than survival, children display proximity maintaining behaviour normally with the mother,

Young children are in a dyadic dance with their caregiver, taking cues, mirroring emotion and behavior and constructing reciprocity, therefore they are greatly affected by parental stress (Hughes 2012). Parental stress is troubling and the child will work to mitigate it. By seven or eight months of age, an infant will send purposeful signals bidding caregiver’s attendance to their need, to be picked up and communicate comfort needs (Sroufe, 2011). They will also be looking for coregulation signals from their caregiver as the infant’s neural networks are not yet scaffolded to this task therefore the infant is not skilled in regulating their own emotions (cite).

Good mothering enables initial emotional development. Transitional objects enable the continuation of the emotional development by being the first instance of the initiation of a relationship between the toddler and the world (Wincott, 1953).

Observation of an infant in the family setting 'provides the observer with an opportunity to encounter primitive emotional states in the infant and his family...' (Rustin in Miller, 1989, 7). According to Rustin infant observation allows to 'explore the emotional events between infant and mother' and 'the aim is to describe the development of the relationship between infant and others (...) and try to understand the unconscious aspects of behaviour and patterns of communication' (Rustin in Miller, 1989, 7). Early infant observation plays a vital role in the psychodynamic training and it gives a thesis of how early emotional development is being influenced by subconscious family dynamics.

Child development is an amazing thing to watch in the way that children interact with one another and how they perceive the world that surrounds. While doing our research of child development we began to observe a group of kids ranging the ages 1 – 12. During these observations we noticed traits such as attachment, comfort, and love. Through the following examples we will proceed to observe development in our environment and explain its relativity to the text

Social interaction is a key concept and necessity each individual experiences. Throughout the lifespan there are different engagements he or she will interact with. There are many different aspects on how one’s social life can be affected, positively or negatively. Social interaction is one of the most important determinants in foreseeing how one is going to develop physically, emotionally, and mentally. This can include milestones that are passed successfully and others that were thwarted in the process.