Infancy: Self and Others

This is Unit Four, part one, on the infant's emerging self, temperament, and first emotions. Unit Three closed on the Romanian orphans: severe early harm, and real recovery. Unit Four turns from the infant's body and mind to the self, and to other people. Carry one question through this part: what does an infant bring into the world, and what does the world add? Temperament is present from birth, yet the same baby can thrive in one home and struggle in another. At the entry on goodness of fit, the part gives the answer: temperament meets an environment, and the match shapes what follows. By the end you will be able to explain the mirror test and what it shows. To tell sex from gender identity. To name Thomas and Chess's three temperament groups. To explain goodness of fit. And to tell primary from secondary emotions, and say what divides them.

Four entries on how a sense of self emerges, and on the test used to detect it.

Where the self begins.

HGD 0451 No Self at Birth

Newborns cannot tell me from not me. An early step toward a self is autonomy, discovering what they can control: a baby learns it can wiggle its own feet but cannot make itself be picked up. Relatedness develops alongside, through caregivers' smiles, touch, comfort and use of the infant's name.

How a sense of self forms.

HGD 0452 A Sense of Self

A sense of self, awareness of oneself as different from others, grows from combined milestones, such as reaching the feet, sitting up and repeating interesting actions, and later develops into a self-concept. Many Western middle-class parents stress autonomy; many non-Western cultures stress the child's place in the family. Senses of self still share much across cultures.

The classic test of self-recognition.

HGD 0453 The Mirror Test

In the mirror, or rouge, test, a red mark is placed unnoticed on a baby's nose, and touching one's own nose shows self-recognition. Most infants recognise themselves between about fifteen and twenty-four months. Before that, the reflection is treated as another baby.

Self-recognition across cultures.

HGD 0454 Self-Recognition Across Cultures

Scottish eighteen-month-olds, most with regular mirror access, did better on the mirror test than Zambian infants, few of whom had mirrors. But on the body-as-obstacle test, stepping off a mat before trying to pull it, the Zambian infants did significantly better. One task measures self-awareness in only one way.

Three entries on sex and gender: two terms to keep apart, how roles are taught, and a debated difference in toys.

Two terms that are often confused.

HGD 0455 Sex and Gender Identity

Sex is assigned at birth from the body; gender identity is a person's psychological sense of their gender, which develops later. The misconception is that a gender reveal party reveals gender. It announces a fetus's biological sex. Gender identity is not visible before birth.

How gender roles are taught.

HGD 0456 Gender Socialization

Gender socialization is learning a culture's gender roles and expectations. Parents handle girls more softly and play with boys more energetically, and adults play and talk differently with the same infant dressed in different gender-typed clothes. By two, toddlers identify the genders of family members; by three, they label their own.

Early toy preferences, and a debate.

HGD 0457 Toy Preferences

At twelve to twenty-four months, girls tend to look longer at dolls and boys at trucks, and gendered toy preferences increase with age. Toddlers choose toys by parents' attitudes, past exposure and whether the toy moves. Why the differences arise is debated: the course's source reads them as socialization, while the meta-analysis it cites reports sizable early differences.

Six entries on temperament: the view it replaced, the nine traits, three groups, a shy profile, and a second model.

The view that temperament research replaced.

HGD 0458 Beyond the Blank Slate

The blank-slate view held that infants arrive with nothing and environment writes everything, as in John B. Watson's boast that he could train any of a dozen healthy infants to become any specialist he chose. That view misses the biological traits infants bring, and the active part infants play in their own development.

The inborn side of individuality.

HGD 0459 Temperament

Temperament is the innate, biological side of individuality, present from birth: consistent patterns of behaviour that stay relatively stable through infancy and beyond. One newborn stays calm through a noisy room; another startles at every sound. Temperament is observable behaviour; personality, which grows from it, adds inner motives and preferences.

The first major study of temperament.

HGD 0460 Thomas and Chess's Nine Traits

Thomas and Chess rated nine temperament traits from parent and teacher interviews: activity, rhythmicity, approach, adaptability, intensity, mood, persistence, sensitivity and distractibility. An infant may score high on activity and low on rhythmicity, eating and sleeping at unpredictable times. Each trait runs from high to low rather than on or off.

The three groups they found.

HGD 0461 Easy, Difficult and Slow to Warm Up

Thomas and Chess grouped infants as easy, about forty percent; difficult, about ten percent; and slow to warm up, about fifteen percent. About a third fit none of the three, showing a mix of traits instead. The misconception is that tantrums mean a difficult temperament. Occasional tantrums are typical; temperament is a consistent pattern.

Shy, cautious infants.

HGD 0462 Behavioral Inhibition

Behavioral inhibition, strong caution and withdrawal with anything new, marks slow-to-warm-up infants and has strong genetic roots, as Jerome Kagan found. Picture a toddler hiding behind a parent at a party, then joining the play an hour later. Inhibited infants often stay shy decades later, but supportive environments can improve their regulation and social skills.

A second model of temperament.

HGD 0463 Rothbart's Three Dimensions

Mary Rothbart described three dimensions of temperament: surgency, or extraversion; negative affectivity, or distress; and effortful control, the ability to restrain impulses. A low-surgency, high-control toddler may stay happily absorbed in a puzzle for twenty minutes. The dimensions combine: high surgency with high negative affectivity makes a child prone to anger.

Two entries on what happens when temperament meets the world, and on the personality that grows from it. The opening question is answered here.

The payoff: temperament meets its environment.

HGD 0464 Goodness of Fit

Goodness of fit, a concept from Thomas and Chess, is how well an infant's temperament matches the demands and expectations of the environment, and it answers this part's question. An adaptable, curious infant with a parent who loves travel is a high fit; an active, distractible infant with a parent who expects long, settled focus is a low fit. Difficult infants do better with calm, caring responses than with power assertion, and slow-to-warm-up infants with extra time to adapt. The misconception is that temperament is fixed at birth. It is biologically based, but it interacts with experience from the start.

How temperament leads to personality.

HGD 0465 Temperament and Later Personality

Personality traits link back to infant temperament: sociability in infancy predicts later extraversion, and early persistence predicts conscientiousness in the Five Factor Model, also called the Big Five. A persistent baby stacking blocks may grow into a hardworking student. The five are openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism, and unit six covers them fully.

Three entries on Erikson's first two crises, and on whether responding to a crying baby spoils it.

Erikson's first crisis.

HGD 0466 Trust Versus Mistrust

Erikson's first crisis, trust versus mistrust, fills the first year. Reliable, responsive care builds trust, as an infant who cries and is fed and comforted, again and again, learns the world responds; unpredictable care builds mistrust. A poor start is not final. Erikson held that trust can still develop with consistent care.

The toddler's crisis.

HGD 0467 Autonomy in Toddlerhood

In autonomy versus shame and doubt, toddlers build autonomy when caregivers encourage their attempts at dressing, feeding and exploring, as when a parent waits while a two-year-old buttons a coat slowly rather than taking over. Intrusive caregivers who prevent those attempts foster shame and doubt about the child's own abilities.

Whether picking up a baby spoils it.

HGD 0468 Will Picking Up a Baby Spoil Them?

Infants do not cry to manipulate. They cry because they are hungry, wet, cold, lonely or scared, and cuddling in the early months means less crying later. The misconception is that responding spoils a baby. Many infants learn to self-soothe around six months.

Five entries on emotion: what it is, the first emotions, and the two waves in which emotions arrive.

Emotion, and mood.

HGD 0469 Emotion and Mood

An emotion is a temporary affective state that shapes physiology, facial expression and motivation; a mood is a longer-lasting disposition. Moods can be placed on two dimensions, arousal and pleasure: excited when both are high, lethargic when both are low. Brazelton described six states of arousal in newborns, from deep sleep to active alertness.

The first emotions.

HGD 0470 The First Emotions

Newborns show two states, pleasure and displeasure, approaching or withdrawing. The social smile appears around two months and laughter at three to five, and at six to eight months distinct fear, sadness and anger show for the first time. Anger often follows a blocked goal, a toy taken away; sadness often follows separation from a caregiver.

Emotions shared across humanity.

HGD 0471 Primary Emotions

Primary emotions are biologically based, appear in the first year, and have universal facial expressions: joy, sadness, fear, anger, disgust and surprise. The same expressions are recognised across cultures and shown by people blind from birth. Researchers disagree on the full list; Ekman's six are the ones the major theories share.

Emotions that need a sense of self.

HGD 0472 Secondary Emotions

Secondary emotions, such as pride, embarrassment, jealousy and empathy, appear from about eighteen months and require a sense of self: a toddler beams at a finished tower, then hides after knocking over a sibling's. The misconception is that infants feel guilt and pride from the start. These emotions wait for self-awareness.

The two kinds, compared.

HGD 0473 Primary and Secondary Emotions

Emotions arrive in two waves. Primary emotions are biologically based, appear in the first year, and look the same across cultures. Secondary emotions appear from about eighteen months and depend on a sense of self. Some are self-conscious, responding to how others see the child: pride, guilt, shame and embarrassment. Others are other-evaluative, judging other people: love, empathy, jealousy and envy. The dividing line is the self, which is why pride and shame follow self-recognition in the mirror test rather than preceding it. Culture then shapes when they are felt: individualistic cultures teach pride in accomplishment, while collectivist cultures discourage calling attention to oneself.

Look at what you can now do. You can explain the mirror test: a baby who touches the red mark on its own nose recognises itself, usually between fifteen and twenty-four months, though one task measures self-awareness in only one way. You can tell sex, assigned from the body, from gender identity, a psychological sense that develops later. You can name the three groups: easy, about forty percent; difficult, about ten; slow to warm up, about fifteen; with a third fitting none. You can explain goodness of fit, the match between a temperament and its environment, and say that temperament is biologically based yet interacts with experience from the start. And you can tell primary emotions, universal and present in the first year, from secondary emotions, which wait for a sense of self. Part two covers how infants calm down.