she takes pleasure in attempting to dress herself and expresses frustration when her mother helps. Erin is progressing through the second stage in Erikson’s scheme of psychosocial development—autonomy versus shame and doubt—which is concerned with establishing a sense of autonomy, or the feeling that one can make choices and direct oneself.
Cultural Influences on Development
Father–Infant Interactions
Fathers tend to have different interaction styles than mothers. Father–infant interaction tends to be play-oriented. This is true of fathers in Western contexts as well as those in non-Western contexts, such as the Kadazan of Malaysia and Aka and Bofi of Central Africa
Gerard Fritz/Science Source
We know a great deal about the influence of mother–infant relationships on infant attachment and adjustment, but infants also develop attachments to their fathers (Lickenbrock & Braungart-Rieker, 2015). At birth, fathers interact with their newborns much like mothers do. They provide similar levels of care by cradling the newborn and performing tasks like diaper changing, bathing, and feeding the newborn (Combs-Orme & Renkert, 2009). This is true of fathers in Western contexts as well as those in non-Western contexts, such as the Kadazan of Malaysia and Aka and Bofi of Central Africa (Hewlett & MacFarlan, 2010; Tamis-LeMonda, Kahana-Kalman, & Yoshikawa, 2009; Ziarat Hossain, Roopnarine, Ismail, Hashmi, & Sombuling, 2007).
Early in an infant’s life, however, fathers and mothers develop different play and communicative styles. Fathers tend to be more stimulating while mothers are more soothing (Feldman, 2003; Grossmann et al., 2002). Father–infant play is more physical and play oriented compared with the social exchanges centered on mutual gaze and vocalization that is characteristic of mother–infant play (Feldman, 2003). Fathers tend to engage in more unpredictable rough-and-tumble play that is often met with more positive reactions and arousal from infants; when young children have a choice of an adult play partner, they tend to choose their fathers (Feldman, 2003; Lamb & Lewis, 2016).
Differences in mothers’ and fathers’ interaction styles appear in many cultures, including France, Switzerland, Italy, and India, as well as among White non-Hispanic, African American, and Hispanic American families in the United States (Best, House, Barnard, & Spicker, 1994; Roopnarine, Talukder, Jain, Joshi, & Srivastav, 1992; Zirat Hossain, Field, Pickens, Malphurs, & Del Valle, 1997). However, interaction styles differ more in some cultures than in others. For example, German, Swedish, and Israeli kibbutzim fathers, as well as fathers in the Aka ethnic group of Africa’s western Congo basin, are not more playful than mothers (Frodi, Lamb, Hwang, & Frodi, 1983; Hewlett, 2008; Hewlett et al., 1998; Sagi et al., 1985). Furthermore, across cultures, most of the differences between mothers and fathers are not large (Lamb & Lewis, 2016).
Father–child interaction is associated with social competence, independence, and cognitive development in children (Sethna et al., 2016). Rough-and-tumble play contributes to advances in emotional and behavioral regulation in children (Flanders, Leo, Paquette, Pihl, & Séguin, 2009). Fathers provide opportunities for babies to practice arousal management by providing high-intensity stimulation and excitement, like tickling, chasing, and laughing. Fathers who are sensitive, supportive, and appropriately challenging during play promote secure bonds with their children (Grossmann et al., 2002; Lickenbrock & Braungart-Rieker, 2015). When fathers are involved in the caregiving of their infants, their children are more likely to enjoy a warm relationship with their father as they grow older, carry out responsibilities, follow parents’ directions, and be well adjusted. Similar to findings with mothers, sensitive parenting on the part of fathers predicts secure attachments with their children through age 3 (Brown, Mangelsdorf, & Neff, 2012; Lucassen et al., 2011). The positive social, emotional, and cognitive effects of father–child interaction continue from infancy into childhood and adolescence (Sarkadi, Kristiansson, Oberklaid, & Bremberg, 2008).
What Do You Think?
1 What are some of the challenges of studying father–child relationships? How might researchers address these challenges?
2 Why do you think fathers are more likely to be “play mates” than mothers?●
Toddlers walk on their own, express their own ideas and needs, and become more independent. Their developmental task is to learn to do things for themselves and feel confident in their ability to maneuver in their environment. According to Erikson (1950), if parents encourage the toddler’s initiative and allow him to explore, experiment, make mistakes, and test limits, the toddler will develop autonomy, self-reliance, self-control, and confidence. If parents are overprotective or disapprove of the child’s struggle for independence, the child may begin to doubt his abilities to do things by himself, may feel ashamed of his desire for autonomy, may passively observe, and may not develop a sense of independence and self-reliance.
Both trust and autonomy develop out of warm and sensitive parenting and developmentally appropriate expectations for exploration and behavioral control throughout infancy and toddlerhood. Without a secure sense of trust in caregivers, toddlers will struggle to establish and maintain close relationships with others and will find it challenging to develop autonomy. Adjustment difficulties are more likely when children do not develop a sense of individuality and confidence in their own abilities to meet new challenges. Much of the research on parenting examines mothers, but infants’ interaction relationships with fathers also predict autonomy and social competence. This is true across cultures and the accompanying feature, Cultural Influences on Development, looks at father–infant interactions.
Thinking in Context 6.1
1 How do contextual factors, such as those that accompany being raised in an inner city, suburban neighborhood, rural environment, or nomadic society, influence how infants approach the psychosocial tasks of infancy—developing a sense of trust and autonomy? Would you expect infants in each of these contexts to demonstrate trust and autonomy in similar ways? Why or why not?
2 What kinds of behaviors on the part of parents promote a sense of trust in infants? Do trust-promoting activities, such as attentiveness and cuddling, also foster a sense of autonomy in infants? Why or why not?
Emotional Development in Infancy and Toddlerhood
What emotions do infants feel? Infants cannot describe their experiences and feelings, which makes studying infants’ emotional development quite challenging. How do you determine what another person is feeling? Most people show their emotions on their faces, such as by smiling or frowning. If we use facial expressions as a guide to what emotions infants might feel, the first and most reliable emotion that newborns show is distress. They cry, wail, and flail their arms and bodies, alerting caregivers to their need for attention. Newborns also show interest with wide-eyed gazes when something catches their attention, and they smile when they are happy.
Even young infants exhibit a wide range of emotions. Observation of newborn facial expressions suggests that newborns experience interest, distress, disgust, and happiness or contentment. Between 2 and 7 months of age, they begin to display other emotions, such as anger, sadness, surprise, and fear.
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Infants’
