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Cognitive Development Theory is the theory that a child's development grows as they grow. It shows the importance of the abillity to differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar others. There is much importance of object permanence in understanding that objects, including people, have a continuous existence apart from the baby's own interactions with them. Examples of cognitive development theory are less need for physical proximity and understanding of need for and temporary nature of separations from familiar people.

Reflection:

I don't have much memory of my cognitive development age, but I do remember pretty distinctly when I started to understand around the age of four that my sister was going to join our family and how that would affect the family as well as noticing that it was going to affect my parents.

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There are four different types of attachment that describe how people are expected to go into relationships with others. These four types of attachment are: Insecure Avoidant (Type A), Secure Attachment (Type B), Insecure-Ambvient (Type C), and Insecure-Disorganized (Type D).

Secure Attachment example= when babies are able to explore novel environments are minimally disturbed by brief separations from their primary caregiver, and their separation distress is efficiently and effectively alleviated when they return.

Insecure-Avoidant example= babies seem not to be bothered by their caregiver's brief absences but specifically avoid him/her when she returns, sometimes becoming visually upset

Insecure-Ambvient example= babies tend to become very upset at the departure of their caregiver and exhibit inconsistent behavior on the mother's return, sometimes seeking contact, sometimes pushing their mother away.

Insecure-Disorganized example= babies seem disorganized and disoriented when reunited with their mother after separation.

Reflection:

During this chapter we did an assessment where we were able to discover our attachment style and my attachment style was secure. I would say my attachment style has changed quite a bit over the years. I would say I am probably more secure now with fewer relationships in my life that made me feel more insecure. I think knowing your attachment style can be incredibly important during relationships to know where you are coming from and the other person.

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As children develop, the quality of their attachments to their parents has consequences for other relationships and cognitive, social, and emotional skills.

Children with secure attachments:

exhibit more complex exploratory behavior

are more interested, persistent, and effective when solving a problem

display more advanced cognitive abilities at age 7

Securely attached children vs. insecurely attached children

rated by teachers as more emotionally positive, more empathic, and more socially competent at ages 4-5

Whined less and were less aggressive

Had more friends and were considered more popular by classmates

The security of attachment affects the way children process emotional information and understand and regulate their emotions.

Description of Consequences for Self-Esteem:

securely attached children: view themselves more positively, although they are able to acknowledge their less-than-perfect qualities

insecure-avoidant children: tend to view themselves as perfect

insecure-ambvient children: show no clear pattern

An example of a securely attached child would be much more likely to develop close friendships versus an insecurely attached child would not be able to develop as many close friendships.

Reflection:

With the consequences of attachment, I can determine that I had an insecure attachment style as a child as I tended to have the view of perfection towards myself and was often whinier than I was not.

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Primary emotions: Fear, joy, disgust, surprise, sadness, and interest, which emerge early in life and do not require introspection or self-reflection.

Secondary or self-conscious emotions: pride, shame, guilt, jealousy, embarrassment, and empathy, which emerge in the second year of life and depend on a sense of self and the awareness of other people's reactions.

Primary emotions are directly related to the events that cause them. Fear is a direct response to a visible threat; distress is a direct result of pain; and joy often results from interacting with a primary caregiver.

Secondary emotions depend on children's abilities to be aware of, talk about, and think about themselves in relation to others.

Reflection:

I have lots of fond memories with both primary and secondary emotions and having them defined is a very useful tool. With primary emotions, there have always been an array of events to reflect on that have caused those emotions such as a fear of heights after being exposed to tall rollercoasters at a young age. My secondary emotions would have been more on the side of the time slid down the bleacher in front of my whole elementary school on my first day there and the embarrassment that ensued.

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For emotions to develop, children must acquire knowledge about emotions and be able to recognize them in themselves and in others. It is also important that the child learns the consequences and causes of emotions, the situations in which it is appropriate to display certain ones, and how to modify them in themselves and others. An example of emotional development in a 5 month old would be a 5th month old who is gleeful and pleased but sometimes frustrated and shows primitive resistant behaviors. They would also turn their head from dislike of food and smile at their own image in mirror and may begin to show wariness of strangers.

Reflection:

Currently teaching a kindergarten class is showing me the importance of the learning of these emotions for children. There are some children who understand emotions and how they work together as a 5-6 year old should. Some of the children however struggle with understanding that there are external causes for all of their emotions daily.

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During the first 3-6 months of a child's life they are exposed to facial expressions of their parents' or caregiver's 32,000 times and start to recognize emotions. Most infants recognize their mother's emotional expressions earlier than those of their father's or a stranger as they are spending more time with her. There is also a very important tie to the quality of parent-child interactions for example, an abused or neglected child is poorer at emotional regulation than an emotionally healthy child.

Reflection:

Watching children start to recognize their parents emotions has been a huge part of the care providing I do. I watched as a four year old with significant disabilities started to recognize facial expressions as well as make his own and it showed how important that can be as the child had lots of hardship with emotions and seeing others.

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Puberty and changes in cognitive functioning influence identity development.

Puberty:

signals break from childhood

awareness of self as a sexual being

Changes in cognitive functioning:

abstract reasoning influences thinking about the self

ability to recognize different selves in different contexts

Identity formation is when a person starts to discover who they are as a separate entity for example learning that they like to play outdoors versus indoors.

Reflection:

I remember starting to form my identity when choosing to swim over dance as a competitive sport because I enjoyed being outdoors and in the water more than being inside and performing.

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Ethnic Identity is a huge part of a person's identity formation. Having achieved a clear, positive ethnic identity is related to high self-esteem, more optimism, more social competence, and more positive feelings toward the ethnic group. Peer and parent socialization promote ethnic identity. An example of ethnic identity could be ethnic behaviors where a child starts to feel as though they belong to their ethnic group and prefer their ethnic group's behavior patterns. So if a child belongs to a Scottish family they could start wearing kilts with their ethnic group.

Reflection:

I never quite understood ethnic identity growing up as a caucasian American, there have never been really any ethnic groups I identified with due to being a mixing pot of ethnicities, but I always loved seeing friends of different ethnicities start to embrace their culture and wear or participate in cultural rituals.

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Within developing knowledge about others, a prejudice set in, in which a person develops a set of attitudes by which an individual defines all members of a group negatively. This prejudice is evident by the age of 5 and can decrease from 7-9 and then increase again in late childhood. In early childhood, a child may avoid and socially exclude due to their prejudices and in late childhood it could lead to conflict and hostility.

Reflection:

I never thought I had a prejudice, but in recent years have noticed a certain stereotyping and prejudice that was instilled in me at a young age growing up in a white middle class neighborhood. I have over the last few years been trying to rewrite that prejudice and inform myself on different ethnicities and cultures.

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Through this portfolio, I have learned a great deal about the social development of children. I found it quite interesting to go through and find examples as well as reflections for each component. There was a lot of learning done even outside of the learning already done due to the class. I think this portfolio helped me recognize other sides of the social development especially in emotions and attachment. There are often times where I can see how attachment can change throughout a person’s life. I recognized that in my earlier years I had unhealthy attachment styles that have improved since growing up, changing relationships, and also learning more about development as a child development major. I think that a lot of my earlier thinking on emotions as well was just the idea that children had them, not the development of emotions and how a child can continuously start understanding more and more their emotions and the reactions of others and their emotions. Growing up I was always incredibly aware of others emotions in regard to myself which I have learned through this assignment is the development of secondary emotions and how others regard me. I think a huge part of this assignment as well was focusing on the biases and prejudices I had and others may have that they are not even aware of that could have been their prejudices that were placed at a young age by their parents or the community they grew up in. Overall, this portfolio was a great way for me to take a deeper dive into the work we have already been doing and the material we have been studying.