CHAPTER 14

EMOTIONS,
ATTACHMENT, & SOCIAL
RELATIONSHIPS
GROUP 9
Irish Jaye Asturias
Rosario Dangan
Angel Delos Santos
Hanz Amithy Ness Panes
Arianne Socrates
EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
OBJECTIVES:
Distinguish between primary and secondary or self-conscious
emotions, giving examples and indicating when they emerge.
Discuss age-related changes in mastery of emotion regulation skills,
the concept of mixed emotions, and display rules for emotion.
Using socioemotional selectivity theory, explain why older adults
typically have greater emotional well-being than adolescents
 WHAT IS EMOTION?
It is a complex phenomenon that involves a subjective feeling, physiological
changes, behavior, and often a cognitive appraisal as well.

Emotions are detectable in the first days of life, but their character changes as
we develop cognitively and as we learn to express and regulate or control them.
Parent– child relationships involve strong emotions, and caregivers are critical in
shaping the course of emotional development.
 FIRST EMOTIONS AND EMOTION
REGULATION
Carroll Izard and his colleagues maintain that basic emotions are biologically
based, develop early in life, and play critical roles in motivating and organizing
behavior.
Izard has established that very young infants express distinct emotions in
response to different experiences and that adults can interpret which
emotions they are expressing
 FIRST EMOTIONS AND EMOTION
REGULATION

PRIMARY EMOTIONS
These are distinct basic emotions that emerge within the first 6
months of life. At birth, babies show contentment (by smiling), interest
(by staring intently at objects), and distress (grimaces in response to
pain or discomfort).
 PRIMARY EMOTIONS

JOY SADNESS DISGUST ANGER FEAR SURPRISE

 FIRST EMOTIONS AND EMOTION
REGULATION

SECONDARY EMOTIONS
Self-conscious emotions. These emotions require self-awareness and begin to
emerge at about 18 months of age, the age when infants become able to
recognize themselves in a mirror and may start using words like “I” and “me.”
Later in the second year, when toddlers become able to judge their behavior
against standards of performance, they may display the self-conscious
emotions that involve evaluating the self: Embarrassment, Envy, Empathy
pride, shame, and guilt.
NATURE, NURTURE & EMOTIONS
Primary or basic emotions such as interest and fear seem to be biologically programmed. They emerge in all
normal infants at roughly the same ages and are displayed and interpreted similarly across cultures

John Bowlby emphasized, infants’ emotional signals—whether expressions of joy or distress—prompt their
caregivers to respond to them and have adaptive value for that reason as well.

Mothers mainly display interest, surprise, and joy, thus serving as models of positive emotions and eliciting
positive emotions from their babies.

Through basic learning processes, then, infants are trained to show happy faces more often than grumpy or sad
ones—and they do just that over time. This early emotion socialization takes different shapes in different cultures

Social referencing - a phenomenon in which at around 9 months of age, infants also begin to monitor their
companions’ emotional reactions to stimuli and use this information to decide how they should feel and behave.

Parents also socialize their infants’ and young children’s emotions by talking about emotions in daily life for
example, by saying things like, “What a happy baby you are now!” and “You’re mad that you can’t
have more, aren’t you?”
 EMOTION REGULATION
Emotion regulation is the processes involved in initiating, maintaining, and
altering emotional responses.
can be accomplished through such tactics as not putting oneself in, or thinking
about, situations likely to arouse unwanted emotions, reappraising or
reinterpreting events or one’s reactions to them, or altering one’s emotional
responses to events.
often involves suppressing or otherwise controlling negative emotions like anger
and fear, but it also includes trying to heighten or prolong positive emotional
experiences.
the development of emotion regulation skills is influenced by both an infant’s
temperament and a caregiver’s behavior
 EMOTIONAL LEARNING IN CHILDHOOD
Emotional competence - children develop characteristic patterns of
emotional expression, greater understanding of emotion, and better
emotion regulation skills.

Emotional display rules - cultural rules specifying what emotions should and
should not be expressed under what circumstances
children must develop (a) the understanding of emotions and emotional display rules
needed to know what to do, and (b) the self-control skills needed to hide their negative
reactions
Display rules and how parents react to and socialize their children’s emotions differ
from culture to culture
TWO DIFFERENT APPROACHES PARENTS TAKE TO EMOTIONS

EMOTION COACHING
• being aware of even low-intensity emotions;
• viewing children’s expressions of emotion, including negative ones, as
opportunities for closeness and teaching;
• accepting and empathizing with children’s emotional experiences;
• helping children understand and express their feelings; and
• helping children deal with whatever triggered their emotions
TWO DIFFERENT APPROACHES PARENTS TAKE TO EMOTIONS

EMOTION DISMISSING
• involves ignoring, denying, or even criticizing or punishing negative
emotions or trying to convert them as quickly as possible into positive
emotions.
 ADOLESCENTS’ EMOTIONAL LIVES
G. Stanley Hall, founder of developmental psychology, characterized
adolescence as a time of storm and stress, adolescents have been viewed as
moody and emotionally volatile.
One reason is that adolescents experience more negative life events than children
do and so may simply have more to be depressed, anxious, angry, or moody about
Teens may have somewhat more negative emotional lives than children or adults,
then, because they lead stressful lives, because they have difficulty regulating
their emotions at times, and because they sometimes actively choose to savor
negative and mixed emotions
 EMOTIONS AND AGING
Older adults seem to live more positive emotional lives than other age groups. They
are also skilled at emotion regulation, especially at achieving their main emotion
regulation goal: maximizing positive emotions and minimizing negative ones.

Socioemotional selectivity theory (Carstensen,1992) - according to this view, the

perception that one has little time left to live prompts aging adults to put less
emphasis on the goal of acquiring information for future use and more emphasis
on the goal of fulfilling current emotional needs.

Positivity effect - a tendency for older adults to pay more attention to, better
remember, and place more priority on positive information than on negative
information.
 PERSPECTIVES ON
RELATIONSHIPS
Objective 1 Objective 2
Outline the main argument of Bowlby and
Ainsworth’s attachment theory, with emphasis Discuss two theorists who claim that
on the role of nature and nurture in attachment peers are more important than parents in
and the mechanism through which early development.
attachments have lasting effects on
development.
 ATTACHMENT THEORY
Attachment theory was formulated by British psychiatrist John Bowlby and it was
elaborated on by his colleague Mary Ainsworth, an American developmental psychologist.
Attachment theory therefore asked how attachment might have helped our ancestors
adapt to their environment. Bowlby also drew on concepts from psychoanalytic theory,and
cognitive theory.
 ATTACHMENT

According to Bowlby (1969), an attachment is a strong affectional tie that binds a

person to an intimate companion. It is also a behavioral system through which
humans regulate their emotional distress when under threat and achieve security by
seeking proximity to another person. For most of us, the first attachment we form,
around 6 or 7 months of age, is to a parent.
HOW DO WE KNOW WHEN A BABY BECOMES ATTACHED
TO HIS MOTHER?
He will try to maintain proximity to her—crying, clinging,
approaching, following, doing whatever it takes to
maintain the desired closeness to her and expressing his
displeasure when he cannot. He will prefer her to other
people, reserving his biggest smiles for her and seeking
her when he is upset, discomforted, or afraid; she is
irreplaceable in his eyes. He will also be confident about
exploring his environment as long as he knows that his
mother is there to provide the security he needs.
NATURE, NURTURE, AND ATTACHMENT
Imprinting - an innate form of
learning in which the young will
follow and become attached to a
moving object (usually the
mother) during a critical period
early in life.
WHAT ABOUT HUMAN INFANTS?
Bowlby argued that they come equipped with
several other behaviors besides proximity-seeking
that help ensure adults will love them, stay with
them, and meet their needs. Among these
behaviors are sucking and clinging, smiling and
vocalizing (crying, cooing, and babbling), and
expressions of negative emotion (fretting and
crying)
 NATURE, NURTURE, AND ATTACHMENT

Human attachments form during

what Bowlby viewed as a sensitive
period for attachment, the first 3
years of life.
According to Bowlby, a responsive social
environment is critical: An infant’s
preprogrammed signals to other people
may eventually wane if caregivers are
unresponsive to them.
ATTACHMENT AND LATER DEVELOPMENT
Bowlby maintained that the quality Internal working models —cognitive
of the early parent–infant representations of themselves and
attachment has lasting impacts on other people that guide their
development, especially on later processing of social information and
relationships. their behavior in relationships

Securely attached infants who have received responsive care will

form internal working models suggesting that they are lovable and
that other people can be trusted to care for them. By contrast,
insecurely attached infants subjected to insensitive, neglectful, or
abusive care may conclude that they are difficult to love, that other
people are unreliable, or both.
 ATTACHMENT AND LATER DEVELOPMENT
In sum, attachment theory, as developed by John Bowlby and elaborated
with Mary Ainsworth, claims the following:
• The capacity to form attachments is part of our evolutionary heritage.
• Attachments unfold through an interaction of biological and environmental
forces during a sensitive period early in life.
• The quality of the attachment between infant and caregiver shapes later
development and the quality of later relationships.
• Internal working models of self and others are the mechanism through which
early experience affects later development.
 PEERS: THE SECOND WORLD
OF CHILDHOOD
A peer is a social equal, someone who functions at a similar level of behavioral
complexity—often someone of similar age (Lewis & Rosenblum, 1975).

Although the parent–child relaitionship is undoubtedly important in development,

some theorists argue that relationships with peers are at least as significant. In effect,
they argue, there are “two social worlds of childhood”— one involving adult–child
relationships, the other involving peer relationships—and these two worlds contribute
differently to development (Rubin et al., 2015; Youniss, 1980).
 PEERS: THE SECOND WORLD
OF CHILDHOOD
Jean Piaget believed that because peers are Harry Stack Sullivan also believed in the power
equals rather than powerful authority figures, of peer relationship especially friendship.
they help children learn that relationships are Sullivan stressed that social needs change as
reciprocal, force them to hone their perspective- we get older and are gratified through different
taking skills, and contribute to their social kinds of social relationships at different ages.
cognitive and moral development in ways that
parents cannot.

the parent-child relationship is central up to about age 6 in providing

tender care and nurturance, but then peers become increasingly
important.
 14.3
OBJECTIVE
Discuss how both the caregiver’s attachment and the infant’s attachment grow during the first
year of life.

• Distinguish among the four types of parent-infant attachments and explain how a parent’s
behavior, an infant’s temperament, and the cultural context can influence which type of
attachment develops.

• Summarize the main lessons learned about attachment and later development from studies of
infants in deprived institutions, infants separated from parents, infants attending day care, and
infants with secure versus insecure attachments.

• Characterize the ability of infants to participate in relationships with peers.

 THE INFANT
CAREGIVER’S ATTACHMENT TO INFANT
Parents often begin to form emotional attachments to their babies even before they are born.
Parents who have an opportunity for skin to skin contact with their babies during first few hours of
after birth often feel a special bond.
Smiling is an especially important social signal. Although it is initially a reflexive response to almost
any stimulus, it is triggered by voices at 3 weeks of age and by faces at 5 or 6 weeks (Bowlby, 1969:
Wolff, 1963)
over the weeks and months, caregivers and infants develop SYNCHRONIZED ROUTINES.
 THE INFANT
INFANT ATTACHMENT TO THE CAREGIVER
Infants progress through 4 phases in forming attachments
1. Undiscriminating social responsiveness (birth to 2 or 3 months)
2. Discriminating social responsiveness (2 or 3 months to 6 or 7 months
3. Active proximity seeking or true attachment (6 or 7 months up to 3 years)
4. Goal-corrected partnership (3 years and older)
 ATTACHMENT-RELATED FEARS
stranger anxiety:
separation anxiety:
Appears after the first attachment a wary or fretful reaction to the
forms, peaks between 14 and 18 months approach of an unfamiliar person that can
and gradually become less frequent and vary in strength from staring and
less intense. whimpering to screaming.
Once attached to a parent, a baby
often become wary or fretful when
separated from that parent.
 EXPLORATORY BEHAVIOR
safe haven
secure base
a point of safety from which an infant which the infant can return for comfort
can feel free to venture. if frightened.
The child can count on the caretaker to
welcome them their in return, comfort
them if they are upset and reassure
them if they are scared
 QUALITY ATTACHMENT
Ainsworth’s most important contribution to attachment theory was to devise a
way to assess differences in the quality of parent–infant attachments. She and
her associates created the Strange Situation, a now-famous procedure for
measuring the quality of an attachment (Ainsworth et al., 1978).

1. SECURE ATTACHMENT
The securely attached infant actively
explores the room when alone with his
mother because she serves as a secure base.
The infant is upset by separation but greets
his mother warmly and is quickly comforted
by her presence when she returns, securely
attached child is outgoing with a stranger
when his mother is present.
The securely attached child is outgoing with a
stranger when his mother is present. In the
Bowlby–Ainsworth view, the securely attached
infant “stays close and continuously monitors [the
caregiver’s] whereabouts (proximity maintenance),
retreats to her for comfort if needed (safe haven),
resists and is distressed by separations from her
(separation distress), and explores happily as long
as she is present and attentive (secure base)”
(Hazan, Campa, & Gur-Yaish, 2006, p. 190).
2. RESISTANT ATTACHMENT
Resistant infants are also wary of strangers,
About 10% of 1-year-olds show a
even when their mothers are present. It
resistant attachment, an insecure attachment
seems, then, that resistant or ambivalent
characterized by anxious, ambivalent reactions
infants do all they can to get affection and
(and also called anxious/ambivalent
comfort but never quite succeed.
attachment). The resistant infant does not
dare venture off to play even when her mother
is present; her mother does not seem to serve
as a secure base for exploration.
3. AVOIDANT ATTACHMENT
. Infants with avoidant attachments (up to
15% of 1-year-olds) may play alone but are not
very adventuresome, show little apparent
distress when separated from their mothers, and
avoid contact or seem indifferent when their
mothers return. These insecurely attached
infants are not particularly wary of strangers but
sometimes avoid or ignore them, much as these
babies avoid or ignore their mothers
4. DISORGANIZED-DISORIENTED ATTACHMENT
Ainsworth’s work initially focused on
secure, resistant, and avoidant attachment
styles, but some infants do not develop any of
these consistent attachment styles. They seem
confused. Up to 15% of infants—more in high-
risk families—display what is now recognized as
a fourth attachment classification, one that is
associated with later emotional problems
 THE CAREGIVER’S CONTRIBUTIONS

According to Freud, infants in the oral stage of psychosexual development become attached
to the individual who provides them with oral pleasure, and the attachment bond will be most
secure if a mother is relaxed and generous in her feeding practices. In a classic study
conducted by Harry Harlow and Robert Zimmerman (1959), Freud’s psychoanalytic view was
put to the test—and failed.

Harlow’s research demonstrated that contact comfort, the pleasurable tactile sensations
provided by a soft and cuddly “parent,” is a more powerful contributor to attachment in
monkeys than feeding. Contact comfort also promotes human attachments (Anisfeld et al.,
1990). Moreover, many infants become attached to someone other than the adult who feeds
them (Schaffer & Emerson, 1964)
 CULTURAL AND SOCIAL CONTEXT
The broader social context surrounding caregiver and infant can affect how
they react to each other.

The cultural context in which caregiver and baby interact also color their
relationship.

A number of researchers conclude that secure attachment may mean somewhat

different things in different societies (Miller, Goyal, & Wice, 2015; Rothbaum &
Morelli, 2005). At the same time, many of the key signs of a secure attachment
are consistent across cultures.
 IMPLICATION OF EARLY ATTACHMENT
SOCIAL DEPRIVATION SEPARATIONS
consider babies who form an attachment but
Infants who spent their first several months or more in
are separated from their caregivers as a result
deprived orphanages displayed a host of problems—
of illness, war, death, divorce, or other
poor growth, medical problems, brain abnormalities, and
circumstances. Bowlby (1960, 1980)
delays in physical, cognitive, and social-emotional
discovered that these infants go through a
development.
grieving process in which they first protest and
A meta-analysis of many studies of institutionalized and
search frantically for their loved one, then
otherwise maltreated and neglected children concluded
become sad and listless once they give up, and
that those who are adopted before 1 year of age have a
sometimes then ignore or avoid their caregiver
good chance of becoming as securely attached to their
if she returns, only gradually warming up to her
caregivers as other children (van den Dries et al., 2009).
again.
Bowlby claimed, that early social deprivation can leave
lasting marks on development.
 IMPLICATION OF EARLY ATTACHMENT
DAY CARE
Infants who experienced routine care by someone other than their mothers were not much different
than infants cared for almost exclusively by their mothers in the many aspects of development studied.
Most importantly, infants who received alternative care were no less securely attached to their mothers
overall than infants who were tended by their mothers (Friedman & Boyle, 2008; Phillips, 2015; NICHD
ECCRN, 1997).
Quality of parenting was a much stronger influence on these infants’ attachments and later
development than whether they had day care experience. Quality of day care also had impacts, though;
infants fared poorest if their mothers were insensitive and unresponsive and they were subjected to
poor-quality day care on top of it.
Infants and young children who spend time in day care are not less securely attached to their parents
than infants and young children cared for at home, on average.
 LATER DEVELOPMENT OF SECURELY AND
INSECURELY ATTACHED INFANTS
3 main qualities distinguish children who were securely attached infants from those who
were insecurely attached:
INTELLECTUAL COMPETENCE:
Children who were securely attached as infants are described by teachers as more curious, self
directed, and eager to learn than insecurely attached children and they are more engaged in classroom
activities

SOCIAL COMPETENCE
Children who had been securely attached as infants are more able to initiate play activities, are more
sensitive to the needs and feelings of other children, and are more popular and socially competent.Their
positive interactions with caregivers have allowed them to develop good social skills and positive internal
working models of self and others
 LATER DEVELOPMENT OF SECURELY AND
INSECURELY ATTACHED INFANTS
3 main qualities distinguish children who were securely attached infants from those who
were insecurely attached:

EMOTIONAL REGULATION:
Secure attachment in infancy is also linked to good emotion regulation and coping skills (Gunnar,
1998; Kochanska, 2001). The comforting and help with emotion regulation securely attached babies
receive from their sensitive parents make them less reactive to stress than children who had insecure
attachments (Diamond & Fagundes, 2010).
 14.4
OBJECTIVES
Describe the shift in children's reliance on parents to seeking social and
emotional support from peers as they grow older.
Examine the potential consequences of growing up in a relatively age-segregated
and gender-segregated social world.
Evaluate the role of play in the transition from fanciful preschool play to more
organized and rule-governed play in school-age children.
Classify children into categories based on sociometric status: popular, rejected,
neglected, controversial, and average.
Understand the role of friendships in providing emotional intimacy, social
support, and comfort during stressful events.
 THE CHILD
PARENT–CHILD ATTACHMENTS
Around age 3, parent-child attachment, as
per Bowlby (1969), transforms into a goal-
corrected partnership, fostering mutual
accommodation. Children become more
sensitive and independent, seeking attention
and approval from parents. While still reliant
on parental support, they increasingly turn to
peers for social and emotional needs as they
grow older (Furman & Buhrmester, 1992;
Kerns, Tomich, & Kim, 2006).
PEER NETWORKS
Between ages 2 and 12, children shift towards
spending more time with peers compared to
toddlerhood, influenced by age-segregated
environments like daycare and school. Cross-cultural
studies reveal that American children, in contrast to
some traditional cultures, experience less interaction
with older individuals. This age-segregation might limit
opportunities for American children to learn from a
diverse range of age groups. Additionally, gender-
segregation intensifies with age in most cultures,
influencing distinct social relationships and activities for
boys and girls (Ellis, Rogoff, & Cromer, 1981; Munroe &
Romney, 2006).
 PLAY
Children's play evolves through various forms, such as locomotor,
object, social, and pretend play, fostering physical activity, creativity,
and social interaction. The 'play years' (ages 2-5) are crucial,
featuring activities like hopping, dragon hunts, and creative baking.
PL Notably, play transforms from infancy to age 5, becoming more
AY

social and imaginative. Post age 5, preschool play shifts to more

serious, rule-governed, and skill-building activities, reflecting
developmental changes
 PLAY
PLAY BECOMES MORE SOCIAL
Mildred Parten (1932) categorized preschool children's play into distinct types, ranging from less
social to more social. The classifications are as follows:
1. Solitary play: Children engage in play alone, typically with objects, demonstrating high
involvement in their activities.
2. Parallel play: Children play alongside each other, performing similar activities, with minimal
interaction (e.g., drawing pictures without much conversation).
3. Associative play: Children interact by exchanging materials, conversing, or following each
other's lead, although they don't share a common goal (e.g., swapping crayons and
commenting on drawings).
4. Cooperative play: Children collaborate to achieve a shared goal, working as a pair or group,
coordinating activities and dividing labor (e.g., collaborating on a mural).
 PLAY
PLAY BECOMES MORE IMAGINATIVE
By age 2, toddlers readily engage in pretend play, demonstrating the ability to
construct mental representations of imaginary events. Pretend play continues to
develop from ages 2 to 5, increasing in both frequency and sophistication.
During this period, children combine their capacity for social play with pretense,
engaging in cooperative social pretend play. The universality of social pretend
play is acknowledged, but the content and quality of preschoolers' play are
culturally influenced.
 PLAY
PLAY BECOMES MORE RULE-GOVERNED
As children enter school, there is a decline in the frequency of pretend play, and they
increasingly become part of peer groups with their own norms and hierarchies. Organized
games with rules, such as board and computer games, tag, hide-and-seek, and sports,
become more common during this stage. Play continues to play a vital role in healthy
emotional development by providing a means to express feelings, regulate emotions, and
resolve conflicts. Although children engage in play for enjoyment rather than skill
development, it significantly contributes to their overall development. Experts emphasize
that young children often learn most effectively through self-chosen, hands-on, and playful
activities.
 WHAT GOOD IS PLAY?

WHAT GOOD IS PLAY?

Play is crucial for child development, as it helps young people adapt during
childhood and prepare for adulthood.
Social pretend play helps children understand others' perspectives, social
skills, and popularity. Play also contributes to healthy emotional
development by providing opportunities to express feelings, regulate
emotions, and resolve conflicts. Experts agree that young children learn best
when they can do so in self-chosen, hands-on, and playful ways.
 PEER ACCEPTANCE

PEER ACCEPTANCE
Researchers assess peer-group acceptance through sociometric techniques. It
surveys involve nominations or ratings by children to determine who is liked and
disliked in a group. This process helps classify children into distinct social
categories: Popular, Rejected, Neglected , Controversial, and Average.
Understanding these social categories provides insight into children's peer
relationships and their impact on normal development.
 14.4
INFLUENCES ON SOCIOMETRIC
STATUS
Popularity in a child's peer group is influenced by personal
characteristics such as physical attractiveness and
intelligence. Social competence, such as skillful social
interactions and emotional regulation, strongly predicts
popularity. Rejecting or highly disliked children are often
aggressive, socially isolated, shy, or unassertive. Controversial
children, while having good social skills and leadership
qualities, are often viewed as aggressive bullies. In summary,
popularity is influenced by factors such as attractiveness,
intelligence, social competence, and emotion regulation.
Children with secure parent relationships tend to become
popular due to their learned social and emotion regulation
skills.
IMPLICATIONS OF PEER ACCEPTANCE
Childhood popularity polls can significantly impact the
acceptance of 10%-15% of children who are rejected
by their peers. Neglectful children may gain greater
acceptance later due to their social skills. Socially
withdrawn children, who experience social anxiety and
victimization, may have poorer outcomes. Rejection
can lead to poor self-esteem, loss of social skills
opportunities, negative attitudes, negative influences,
and poor academic performance. Stress from peer
rejection can also contribute to health problems later
in life. Social skills training and coaching programs can
improve acceptance.
 FRIENDSHIPS
Children's acceptance and close friendships serve
different functions. Popular children are more likely to
have friends, but many unpopular children do not.
Friendships increase happiness, social competence, and
reduce loneliness and depression, especially if supportive.
Harry Stack Sullivan's theory suggests that close friends
or chums have developmental benefits, teaching
emotional intimacy and paving the way for romantic
relationships in adolescence. Friends provide critical social
support and comfort, helping children weather stressful
events like kindergarten, bullying, or divorce.
  HE
T
ADOLESCENT
 ATTACHMENTS TO PARENTS
Adolescents need the security, as well as the
encouragement to explore, provided by
supportive parents in order to become
independent and autonomous individuals.
 Adolescence who enjoy secure attachment
relationships with their parents generally have a
stronger sense of identity, higher self-esteem, greater social
competence, better emotional adjustment, and fewer
behavioral problems than their less securely attached peers.
They are likely to form
higher quality attachment to friends and later to romantic
partners—than adolescents with insecure attachments to
their parents. They also show better adjustment during the
potentially difficult transition to college than students who
are insecurely attached.
 FRIENDSHIPS
Friendships change qualitatively with age.
They are based largely on:
1. enjoyment of common activities in early
childhood
2. mutual loyalty and caring in late childhood
3. intimacy and self-disclosure in adolescence
Adolescents increasingly choose friends whose psychological
qualities—interests, attitudes, values, and personalities—
match their own. In adolescence—and this applies to both
males and females and across racial and ethnic groups—
friends become like-minded individuals who understand you
and whom you can tell anything, people you can trust with
your secrets and count on to be there when you need them.

Ruth Sharabany and her colleagues (Sharabany, Gershoni, &

Hofman, 1981) found that same-sex friendships were
emotionally intimate throughout adolescence but that cross-
sex friendships did not attain a high level of emotional intimacy
until 11th grade. These findings and others support Harry Stack
Sullivan’s view that children learn lessons about intimate
attachments in their chumships or friendships that they later
apply in their romantic relationships.
 SOCIOMETRIC POPULARITY
AND PERCEIVED POPULARITY

SOCIOMETRIC POPULARITY
- being liked by many peers

PERCEIVED POPULARITY
-being viewed as someone who has status, power, and visibility
in the peer group
 SOCIOMETRIC POPULARITY
AND PERCEIVED POPULARITY
Teens with high perceived popularity have good social and leadership
skills and are often attractive and well dressed. Some are even very
likeable (that is, sociometrically popular). But others seek control and
status and sometimes do a lot of damage by snubbing, excluding,
bullying, and otherwise being mean to others kids. They often excel at
RELATIONAL AGGRESSION —subtle and indirect aggression that
involves gossiping about and ignoring or excluding others.
 CHANGING SOCIAL NETWORKS
How do boys and girls who live in their own
gender-segregated worlds and often seem to
hate each other eventually come to date each
other?
Dexter Dunphy (1963) offered a plausible account of
how peer-group structures change during
adolescence to pave the way for dating relationships.

Five steps in understanding how peer

relations lay the foundation for
romantic attachments:
1. In late childhood, boys and girls typically become members of same-
sex cliques, or small friendship groups, and have little to do with the
other sex.
2. Boy cliques and girl cliques then begin to interact. Just as parents provide a secure
base for peer relationships, same-sex cliques provide a secure base for romantic
relationships. For an adolescent boy, talking to a girl at the mall with his friends and
her friends there is far less threatening than doing so on his own.

3. In early adolescence, the most popular boys and girls lead the way and form a
heterosexual clique.

4. As less popular teens also form mixed-sex cliques of their own, a new peer group
structure, the crowd, completes its evolution during the high school years. The
crowd, a loose collection of heterosexual cliques with similar characteristics,
provides a vehicle for socializing with the other sex through organized social
gatherings such as parties. 
In larger schools, there are likely to be multiple crowds, each with its own distinctive
identity and lifestyle. Those adolescents who become members of a mixed-sex clique
and a crowd (not all do) have many opportunities to get to know members of the
other sex as both friends and romantic partners.

5. More and more couples form and the crowd disintegrates in late high school,
having served its purpose of bringing boys and girls together.
CROWDS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS

Highschool crowds not only bring boys and

girls together but give adolescents a social
identity and a place in the social order.
CROWDS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS
CROWDS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS
CROWDS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS
CROWDS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS

DANIEL MCFARLAND AND

HIS COLLEAGUES (2014)
shows that characteristics of a school’s ecology, such
as its size and racial/ethnic composition, strongly
infuence who hangs out with whom.
CROWDS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS

DO CROWDS REALLY SHAPE ADOLESCENTS’

FUTURE CHARACTERISTICS OR DOES CROWD
MEMBERSHIP MERELY REFLECT AN
ADOLESCENT’S EXISTING CHARACTERISTICS?
 CROWDS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS

This question concerns the peer selection versus peer

socialization issue. Crowd membership does partly reflect
personality traits, abilities, and values that existed before the
adolescent ever got involved with a particular crowd; teens
often select or are selected into the crowds that suit them.
However, experiences in a crowd then socialize behavior and
shape development.
 PEER INFLUENCE

Around age 14 or 15, adolescents are more dependent on

their peers and more susceptible to peer influence than before
or after; they may “go along with the crowd” and take risks
that they would not take when alone (Steinberg, 2015). The
nature of peer pressure depends on the crowd to which an
adolescent belongs.
 PEER INFLUENCE

The influences of peers and friends on development are

usually healthy but can be destructive, depending on what
cliques and crowds adolescents belong to, how good their
relationships with their parents are, and how much they
need the security of peer acceptance.
 DATING
In B. Bradford Brown’s (1999) view,
adolescent romantic relationships evolve
through the following four phases:
 1. Initiation phase. In early adolescence, the focus is on
coming to see oneself as a person capable of a romantic
relationship. This is a time of crushes, posturing, and
awkward beginnings.

2. Status phase. In mid-adolescence, peer approval is

what counts; having a romantic relationship, and having
it with the “right kind” of partner, is important for the
status it brings in the larger peer group.
 3. Affection phase. In late adolescence, the focus is
finally on the relationship rather than on self-concept or
peer status. Romantic relationships become more
personal and caring.

4. Bonding phase. In the transition to emerging

adulthood, the emotional intimacy achieved in the
affection phase may be coupled with a long-term
commitment to create a lasting attachment.
 DATING
How does dating affect
development and
adjustment overall?
 Dating at an early age seems to have more negative than positive
implications for social and emotional adjustment, either because
troubled adolescents start dating early or because early daters get
hurt or become involved in problem behavior such as sex, drinking,
and drug use before their time.

By late adolescence or emerging adulthood, having a romantic

partner becomes a plus; it is associated with less substance use
and fewer emotional and behavioral problems, possibly because
finding a romantic partner has become an appropriate
developmental task by this age.
Adolescence is clearly a tremendously important
time of change in attachment relationships. As
adolescents get older, they look more to peers,
both friends and romantic partners, to fulfill
some of the attachment needs that parents
fulfilled when they were younger - needs for
closeness, a secure base for exploration, and a
safe haven in times of trouble.
 Secure attachments to friends, like secure attachments to
parents, can help adolescents cope with stress, and a lack
of such attachments is linked to anxiety and depression
(Gorrese, 2016). Even so, parents, especially mothers,
remain a critical source of security and support throughout
the adolescent years. Moreover, the quality of parent–
adolescent relationships and parents’ parenting styles have
a lot to do with the quality of an adolescent’s relationships
with peers and romantic partners.
 THE ADULT
OBJECTIVES:
Explain how social networks change over the adult years and how
socioemotional selectivity theory accounts for this change.

Characterize romantic relationships in terms of the primary basis for partner

choice, the triangular theory of love, and the four adult attachment styles.

Describe the positive effects on adult development of a secure adult

attachment style and of having at least one close friend or confidant and the
negative effects of social isolation and loneliness.
 SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
YOUNG ADULTS
Young adults are busily forming romantic
relationships and friendships and work
contacts. Because of all their social
network building, young adults typically
have more friends than middle-aged and
older adults do.
ADULTS
As adults have children, take on increasing job
responsibilities, and age, their social networks
of not-so-close friends and acquaintances
shrink, but their numbers of close relationships
with family and friends stay about the same.
The trend toward smaller social networks with
age after early adulthood can be seen in many
ethnic groups, but ethnic group differences
are also evident.
 SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
LATE ADULTHOOD
Shrinking social networks in late adulthood may be forced in part by chronic illness and disability.
Life events and changes in roles also affect network size.

Socioemotional Selectivity Theory by Laura Carstensen states that older adults actively choose to
shrink their social networks to better meet their emotional needs as they realize that little time is left
to them.

Factors Affecting the Decline of Social Relationships

1. Socioemotional Selectivity
2. Loss of Roles
3. Failing Health
 ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS
PARTNER CHOICE

Filter theories of mate selection or partner Once homogamy is assured, people may also
choice have envisioned it as a process in which look for complementarity.
we progress through a series of filters leading us
partners who are different from
from all possible partners to one partner in
them but who have strengths
particular. There is little agreement, though, on
that compensate for their own
how many such filters there might be. weaknesses or otherwise
However, researchers do agree on one thing: The complement their own
greatest influence on mate selection is similarity, characteristics.
or homogamy.
the tendency for people to choose a mate from
within one's own religious, social, economic
and educational surroundings.
 ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS
LOVE

A part of our evolutionary heritage that plays a role in committing us to a particular partner and
then investing in the rearing of children with that partner. We can think about romantic
relationships as a merger of sexual attraction and emotional attachment.

The Triangular Theory of Love by Robert Sternberg identifies different types of love based on the
strength of three components of love.

3 Components of Love
1. Passion - sexual attraction, romantic feelings, and excitement.
2. Intimacy - feelings of warmth, caring, closeness, trust and respect in the relationship. It is about
emotional togetherness, attachment, and communication.
3. Commitment - involves first deciding that one loves the other person and then committing to a
long-term relationship.
 ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS
TRIANGULAR THEORY OF LOVE

LIKING
(Intimacy only)

ROMANTIC LOVE
COMPANIONATE LOVE
(Intimacy + passion)
(intimacy + commitment)
CONSUMMATE LOVE
(Intimacy + Passion +
Commitment)

INFATUATION FATOUS LOVE EMPTY LOVE

(Passion alone) (Passion + Commitment) (Commitment alone)
 T A T T A C H M E N T S T Y
D U L L E S
A
MODEL OF SELF
POSITIVE NEGATIVE

SECURE PREOCCUPIED
Secure attachment history Resistant attachment history

Healthy balance of attachment and Desperate for love to feel worthy as a

autonomy; freedom to explore person; worry about abandonment; express
anxiety and anger openly
MODEL OF OTHER

POSITIVE

Low anxiety, low avoidance High anxiety, low avoidance

DISMISSING FEARFUL
Avoidant attachment history Disorganized–disoriented attachment
history
Shut out emotions; defend against hurt by
Need relationships but doubt own worth
avoiding intimacy, dismissing the
NEGATIVE

and fear intimacy; lack a coherent strategy

importance of relationships, and being
for meeting attachment needs
“compulsively self-reliant”

Low anxiety, high avoidance High anxiety, high avoidance

 ADULT RELATIONSHIPS AND
ADULT DEVELOPMENT
Adults are better off in many ways when they enjoy close social relationships. The quality rather
than the quantity of an individual’s social relationships is most closely related to that person’s
sense of well-being and life satisfaction.

The size of an adult’s social network is not nearly as important as whether it includes at least one
confidant
a spouse, relative, or friend to whom the individual feels especially attached and with whom
thoughts and feelings can be shared.

Adults benefit not only from having at least one confidant but also from having interactions that
are rewarding rather than stressful.
 ADULT RELATIONSHIPS AND
ADULT DEVELOPMENT
Similarly, perceived social support is more important than the social support actually received
(Uchino, 2009). Just as people can feel lonely despite being surrounded by other people, or
deprived of social support even though they receive a lot of it, they can have small social networks
and receive little social support yet be quite satisfied.

Probably because of their personality traits and attachment styles, people who have positive (or
negative) interactions in one relationship tend to have similar experiences in other relationships,
creating a constellation of supportive (or stressful) relationships.

So a small number of close, harmonious, and supportive relationships can improve the quality of an
adult’s life, whereas negative relationships (or a lack of relationships) can make life miserable
THANK YOU!