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the infant gradually forms a close emotional relationship with his/her mother (or other care-givers), a process called attachment. A half century ago, developmental psychologists thought that babies became attached to the caregiver who fed them. Harry Harlow’s experimental research with monkeys disproved that belief when he found that baby monkeys separated from their mothers preferred to spend time with and sought comfort from a soft cloth-covered substitute (surrogate) rather than a bare wire substitute with a feeding bottle. More recent research has revealed that human infants become attached to familiar care-givers, usually parents, who not only provide them with nourishment, but also a soft, warm, reassuring environment where the baby feels safe and secure.

Secure and Insecure Attachment

Mary Ainsworth studied attachment using a “strange situation” where a mother and baby play in an unfamiliar room, the baby interacts with the mother and an unfamiliar woman, the mother leaves the baby with the other woman briefly, the baby is left alone briefly, then the mother returns to the room. A majority of babies played happily when their mothers were present, explored their environment and returned to their mothers periodically, and, when their mothers returned after an absence, they were happy to see them and receptive to their contact, displaying secure attachment. The mothers were generally sensitive and responsive to their babies’ needs. On the other hand, some babies showed insecure attachment. When their mothers were present, they avoided or ignored them, and were upset when they left, but were angry and rejected them when they returned, or they behaved inconsistently. Securely attached babies tend to become socially competent children.

Temperament

The baby’s temperament, or natural disposition to show a particular mood at a particular intensity for a specific period, affects his/her behavior. Both the infant’s heredity and his/her intrauterine environment affect whether the neonate is easy or difficult. Easy babies are cheerful, relaxed, and follow predictable patterns of eating and sleeping, while difficult babies are irritable, intense, and unpredictable. In general, easy babies tend to become sociable children, and difficult babies tend to become less sociable children. How the primary caregiver responds to the baby affects how the baby will react to an extent. Jerome Kagan showed that shy, inhibited babies can become more relaxed and less fearful with responsive parenting.

Awareness of Self and Others

Becoming aware of ourselves and others is crucial to social development. Self-awareness, consciousness of oneself as a person; and social referencing, observing the behavior of others in social situations to obtain information or guidance, both develop between ages 1 and 2. The “rouge test,” in which a spot of rouge is secretly put on a baby’s nose, then the baby is placed in front of a mirror to see if the baby realizes it is his/her own nose with the red spot, has revealed that self-awareness typically develops at age 11/2.

Parenting Styles

Diana Baumrind studied how parenting styles affect the emotional growth of children. Authoritarian parents set up strict rules, expect children to follow them, and punish wrongdoing. In contrast, more democratic authoritative parents set limits, but explain the reasons for rules with their children, and make exceptions when appropriate. Permissive parents tend not to set firm guidelines, if they set any at all. They tend to be more responsive than demanding. Uninvolved parents make few demands, show low responsiveness, and communicate little with their children. While these parents fulfill the children’s basic needs, they are generally detached from their children’s lives. In extreme cases, these parents may even reject or neglect the needs of their children. Baumrind and other researchers found that for European and American families, the most self-reliant, socially competent children with the highest self-esteem have warm, authoritative parents. Since these findings come