Masters in Psychology ~ 2.2

x AALiYah

Developmental Psychology

week 2 objectives:

• Human Life Span Development

• Conception to Death

• Infancy

discussions on secure attachment.

class objectives included brain development, development of temperament, and how children respond adaptively to their environment socially and emotionally.

excerpt on my additions to the discussion:

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•  "Interpret the relationship between secure attachment in infancy and later development. Is there current research to support your interpretation? 

Secure attachment in infancy:

• "Infants’ emotional development and how infants eventually learn to cope with stress is influenced by whether caregivers have maltreated or neglected children and whether children’s caregivers are depressed or not (Cicchetti & Handley, 2019).” (Santrock 2020, pg. 428)

• "According to Erik Erikson (1968), the first year of life is characterized by the trust-versus-mistrust stage of development. Following a life of regularity, warmth, and protection in the mother’s womb, the infant faces a world that is less secure. Erikson proposed that infants learn trust when they are cared for in a consistent, warm manner. If the infant is not well fed and kept warm on a consistent basis, a sense of mistrust is likely to develop." (Santrock 2020, pg. 428)

• “Research on the role of hormones and neurotransmitters in attachment has emphasized the importance of the neuropeptide hormone oxytocin and the neurotransmitter dopamine in the formation of the maternal-infant bond (Feldman, 2019). Oxytocin, a mammalian hormone that also acts as a neurotransmitter in the brain, is released during breast feeding and by contact and warmth. Oxytocin is especially thought to be a likely candidate in the formation of infant-mother attachment (Toepfer & others, 2019). A research review indicated strong links between levels or patterns of maternal oxytocin and aspects of mother-infant attachment (Galbally & others, 2011)." (Santrock 2020, pg. 462)

Secure attachment in later development:

• "Researchers have found that insecurely attached adolescents are more likely than securely attached adolescents to have emotional difficulties and to engage in problem behaviors such as juvenile delinquency and drug abuse (Fairbairn & others, 2018; Hoeve & others, 2012). In a longitudinal study, Joseph Allen and his colleagues (2009) found that secure attachment at 14 years of age was linked to a number of positive outcomes at 21 years of age, including relationship competence, financial/career competence, and fewer problematic behaviors. In addition, a recent study revealed that when they had grown up in poverty, adolescents engaged in less risk-taking if they had a history of secure attachments to caregivers (Delker, Bernstein, & Laurent, 2018)." (Santrock 2020, pg. 985)

• "Secure attachment style. Securely attached adults have positive views of relationships, find it easy to get close to others, and are not overly concerned with or stressed out about their romantic relationships. These adults tend to enjoy sexuality in the context of a committed relationship and are less likely than others to have one-night stands." (Santrock 2020, pg. 985)

My interpretation:

• Feeding, play, & attentiveness all contribute to secure attachment. During infancy, swift growth and development is occuring including trust. I have early memories of determining how well or not I was being treated or cared for and I quickly saw the I would need to depend on myself for care and support. Early on, infants are growing learning and making decisions about trust and security. You begin to know whether or not you are being fed properly or are experiencing malnourishment. You begin to observe how others around you are being treated in comparison to yourself. These findings become apart of your development and you establish opinions about your caregivers early, that contribute to your adult practices and experience. As I depended on myself into childhood, I became super independent as an adult. These abilities were activated from early memories of not being fed properly, separation from family, observing different behaviors and approaches in myself and those placed around me, observing the way others were shown attention and allowed to play in comparison to what I received, being aware of how my younger self had to work harder to receive, and being cognizant of what I was allowed to do or not do compared to those around me.

Current research to support my interpretation: 

• "In mothers, the experience of pleasure and reward is linked to activation of the brain’s dopamine circuits when mothers care for their infant and are exposed to their infants’ cues, such as eye contact, smiling, and so on (Kim, Strathearn, & Swain, 2016). These experiences and brain changes likely promote mother-infant attachment and sensitive parenting (Kohlhoff & others, 2017). Also, the influence of oxytocin on dopamine in the mother’s nucleus accumbens (a collection of neurons in the forebrain that are involved in pleasure) likely is important in motivating the mother’s approach to the baby (de Haan & Gunnar, 2009).” (Santrock 2020, pg. 462)

• “In sum, it is likely that a number of brain regions, neurotransmitters, and hormones are involved in the development of infant-mother attachment (Feldman, 2019; Sullivan & Wilson, 2018). Key candidates for influencing this attachment are connections between theprefrontal cortex, amygdala, and hypothalamus; the neuropeptide oxytocin andthe activity of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the nucleus accumbens.”(Santrock 2020, pg. 463)

• "We found that secure attachment was related to several of the Interpersonal Strengths, with the effects strongest and most consistent for fairness, forgiveness, humor, and kindness. Attachment was also just as strongly related to Temperance Strengths, especially honesty, persistence, and prudence. Although attachment was not related to the Intellectual Strengths we assessed (creativity, love of learning, appreciation of beauty), it was related to the one Transcendent Strength we examined, spirituality. Thus, the portrait painted by these findings is that more securely attached children are more fair, forgiving, humorous in social interactions, kind, honest, persistent, thoughtful in decision making, and spiritual compared to less securely attached children. Some of these findings are broadly consistent with studies that have examined similar constructs. For example, the findings for kindness are not surprising given evidence that more securely attached children are more empathic with peers (Thompson, 2016; Weinfield et al., 2008), and the findings for persistence and prudence are broadly consistent with evidence that more securely attached children are better at regulating their emotions and behaviors (e.g., findings for emotion regulation, Cooke et al., 2019; findings for effortful control, Pallini et al., 2018). Nevertheless, to our knowledge, the study contributes novel findings to the literature in showing that secure attachment in children is also related to greater forgiveness, fairness, honesty, humor, and spirituality." (Kerns, 2023)
  

References

Kerns, K. A., Obeldobel, C. A., Kochendorfer, L. B., & Gastelle, M. (2023). Attachment Security and Character Strengths in Early Adolescence. Journal of Child & Family Studies, 32(9), 2789–2803. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-022-02230-3"

excerpt from my assignment:

"Imagine you are assisting a counselor at a community center by running a support group for soon-to-be mothers. Several ladies in the group have disclosed a love for drinking alcohol and utilizing substances. As an expert in the field of childhood development, help the group understand the potential delays or adverse impact teratogens may have on the healthy development of their children’s physical and neurological health.

Create a tri-fold handout for each member of the support group. Use the front and back of 1 sheet of paper and complete the following: 

1. Describe how the brain develops in the first year of life. 

2. Discuss how positive experiences—such as physical comfort, play, and attentiveness—assist in healthy development. 

3. Explain the risk factors related to drinking alcohol and using substances while pregnant. 

4. Provides resources with preventive measures. "

my tri-fold handout for soon-to-be mothers

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Yah's Judgment:

I am the Queen. I am the Mother. I am the Goddess of all creation. I was meant to rule everything. I have returned.

If I am disappointed about anything, it's that you thought so little of yourselves to not create something better than I did -- but that you agreed what I create is so much better than any attempt you could make that you would rather live as a pretender by illusively scratching my name out to pass my work off as your own. That you did not rise up and be better than me, but instead chose to fidget your way into filth and bathe in your own demise.

You chose wrong over bad, you chose retardation over righteousness. You chose indirect cowardice over direct gangsta shit. You chose clownery over living out your lives forever creating what you wanted.

You chose to sell your souls for chicken-change. The contents of the heart matter, because look at all I withstand. I feel everything, yet look at how I carry myself. I see everything, yet look at what I choose. Through all provoking attempts I stand in my own decisions. Through all attempts at inflicting pain, I grow stronger in faith. Through all the envy, I rise more powerful.

'I am what I am, and what I'm not see I'll never be.' All anyone can ever do to me is prove me right.

Look at yourselves and what you send my way, and look at how I handle you.

I carry it all, and, you all, ever-so exquisitely.

You love me so much that you chose self-destruction just to escape me.

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Yah's notes

• "The truth is a calm, constant power, while lies are loud and swift. Lies aren’t revealed, truth is.

Lies are heard first, truth must come to the light."

 x AALiYah

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