Guidepost 1 When and how do emotions develop, and how do babies show them?

• The development and expression of emotions seem to be tied to brain maturation and cognitive development.
• Crying, smiling, and laughing are early signs of emotion. Other indices include facial expressions, motor activity, body language, and physiological changes.
• The repertoire of basic emotions seems to be universal, but there are cultural variations in their expression.
• Complex emotions seem to develop from earlier, simpler ones. Self-consciousness and evaluative emotions arise after the development of self-awareness.
• Separate but interacting regions of the brain may be responsible for various emotional states.

Guidepost 2 How do infants show temperamental differences, and how enduring are those differences?

• Many children seem to fall into three categories of temperament: "easy," "difficult," and "slow-to-warm-up." Temperamental patterns appear to be largely inborn and to have a biological basis. They are generally stable but can be modified by experience.
• Goodness of fit between a child's temperament and environment demands aids adjustment.
• Cross-cultural differences in temperament may reflect childraising practices.

Guidepost 3 What roles do mothers and fathers play in early personality development?

• Childraising practices and caregiving roles vary around the world.
• Infants have strong needs for maternal closeness and warmth as well as physical care.
• In most cultures, mothers do more infant care than fathers. Mothers and fathers in some cultures have different styles of play with babies.
• Although significant gender differences typically do not appear until after infancy, parents begin gender-typing boys and girls almost form birth.
• Distance or divorce may diminish the connection with grandparents; but many grandparents are heavily involved in grandchildren's lives.

Guidepost 4 How do infants gain trust in their world and form attachments?

• According to Erikson, infants in the first 18 months experience the first crisis in personality development, basic trust versus basis mistrust. Sensitive, responsive, consistent caregiving is the key to successful resolution of this crisis.
• Research based on the Strange Situation has found four patterns of attachment: secure, avoidant, ambivalent (resistant), and disorganized-disoriented.
• Newer instruments measure attachments in natural settings and in cross-cultural research.
• Attachment patterns may depend on a baby's temperament, as well as on the quality of parenting, and may have long-term implications for development. A parent's memories of childhood attachment can influence his or her own child's attachment.
• Separation anxiety or stranger anxiety may arise during the second half of the first year and appear to be related to temperament and circumstances.

Guidepost 5 How do infants and caregivers "read" each other's nonverbal signals?

• Mutual regulation enables babies to play an active part in regulating their emotional states.
• A mother's depression, especially if severe or chronic, may have serious consequences for her infant's development.
• The belief that babies, after about 6 months of age, display social referencing is in dispute.

Guidepost 6 When does the sense of self arise, and what are the steps in its development? (Note, the following bullets are pulled from the bottom of the tear sheet.)

• William James identified two "selves": the I-self and the Me-self, or self-contempt.
• The I-self is believed to develop early in infancy, in the context of emotional experiences involving the relationship with a caregiver.
• The Me-self is believed to emerge between 15 and 30 months in conjunction with the development of self-awareness.

Guidepost 7 How do toddlers develop autonomy and standards for socially acceptable behavior?

• Erikson's second crisis concerns autonomy versus shame and doubt. Negativism is a normal manifestation of the shift from external control to self-control.
• Socialization, which rests on internalization of societally approved standards, begins with the development of self-regulation.
• As precursor of conscience is committed compliance to a caregiver's demands; toddlers who show committed compliance tend to internalize adult rules more realistically than those who show situational compliance.
• Parenting practices, a child's temperament, the quality of the parent-child relationship, and the cultural and class standards may be factors in the ease and success of socialization.

Guidepost 8 How do infants and toddlers interact with siblings and other children?

• Siblings influence each other from an early age. Parents' actions and attitudes affect sibling relationships.
• Contact with other children, especially during toddlerhood, affects cognitive and psychological development. Sociability increases with contact.

Guidepost 9 How do parental employment and early child care affect infants' and toddlers' development?

• Mothers' workforce participation during a child's first three years seems to have little impact on development.
• Substitute child care varies widely in type and quality. The most important element in quality of care is the caregiver.
• Although quality, quantity, stability, and type of care have some influence on the psychosocial and cognitive development, the influence of family characteristics seems greater.