We focus now on ideas regarding infant development from three theories first mentioned in Chapter 1—psychoanalytic, behaviorist, and cognitive. Highlighting these three does not imply that other theories are irrelevant to infancy. In fact, one theory (attachment theory) has just been explained. Another theory, evolutionary theory, has been instrumental in describing allocare, which is crucial for infant development. However, psychoanalytic, behaviorist, and cognitive theories are now explained because each has explicit predictions regarding infant emotions.

Psychoanalytic theory connects biological and social growth. Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson each described two distinct stages of early development, one in the first year and one beginning in the second.

FREUD: ORAL AND ANAL STAGES According to Freud (1935/1989, 2001), the first year of life is the oral stage, so named because the mouth is the young infant’s primary source of gratification. In the second year, with the anal stage, pleasure comes from the anus—particularly from the sensual satisfaction of bowel movements and, eventually, the psychological pleasure of controlling them.

Freud believed that the oral and anal stages are fraught with potential conflicts. If a mother frustrates her infant’s urge to suck—weaning too early, for example, or preventing the baby from sucking a thumb or a pacifier—that may later lead to an oral fixation. An adult with an oral fixation is stuck (fixated) at the oral stage, and therefore, eats, drinks, chews, bites, or talks excessively, still seeking the mouthy joys of infancy.

Similarly, if toilet training is overly strict or if it begins too early, then the toddler’s refusal—or inability—to comply clashes with the wishes of the adult, who denies the infant normal anal pleasures. That may lead to an anal personality—an adult who seeks control, with a strong need for regularity and cleanliness in all aspects of life.

ERIKSON: TRUST AND AUTONOMY According to Erikson, the first crisis of life is trust versus mistrust, when infants learn whether or not the world can be trusted to satisfy basic needs. Babies feel secure when food and comfort are provided with “consistency, continuity, and sameness of experience” (Erikson, 1993, p. 247). If social interaction inspires trust, the child (later the adult) confidently explores the social world.

The second crisis is autonomy versus shame and doubt, beginning at about 18 months, when self-awareness emerges. Toddlers want autonomy (self-rule) over their own actions and bodies. Without it, they feel ashamed and doubtful. Like Freud, Erikson believed that problems in early infancy could last a lifetime, creating adults who are suspicious and pessimistic (mistrusting) or easily shamed (lacking autonomy).

Erikson was aware of cultural variations. He knew that mistrust and shame could be destructive or not, depending on local norms and expectations.

For example, Westerners expect toddlers to go through the stubborn and defiant “terrible twos”; that is a sign of the urge for autonomy. Parents in some other places expect toddlers to be obedient. Those parents use shame to control misbehavior.

Cultural pressures are conveyed to children. For example, a study of children found the Japanese highest in shame, the Koreans highest in guilt, and the U.S. children highest in pride (Furukawa et al., 2012). Not surprisingly, U.S. children are less fearful but also less obedient.

From the perspective of behaviorism, emotions and personality are molded as parents reinforce or punish a child. Behaviorists believe that parents who respond joyously to every glimmer of a grin will have children with a sunny disposition. The opposite is also true, according to one of the early behaviorists:

Failure to bring up a happy child, a well-adjusted child—assuming bodily health—falls squarely upon the parents’ shoulders. [By the time the child is 3] parents have already determined … [whether the child] is to grow into a happy person, wholesome and good-natured, whether he is to be a whining, complaining neurotic, an anger-driven, vindictive, over-bearing slave driver, or one whose every move in life is definitely controlled by fear.

[Watson, 1928, pp. 7, 45]

Later behaviorists recognized that infants’ behavior also has an element of social learning, as infants learn from other people. You already saw an example, social referencing. Social learning occurs throughout life, as Bandura and many others demonstrated. Sensitive parents are able to teach because infants are eager to learn from them, as in this example.

Kevin is a very active, outgoing person who loves to try new things. Today he takes his 11-month-old daughter, Tyra, to the park for the first time. Tyra is playing alone in the sandbox, when a group of toddlers joins her. At first, Tyra smiles and eagerly watches them play. But as the toddlers become more active and noisy, Tyra’s smiles turn quickly to tears. She … reaches for Kevin, who picks her up and comforts her. But then Kevin goes a step further. After Tyra calms down, Kevin gently encourages her to play near the other children. He sits at her side, talking and playing with her. Soon Tyra is slowly creeping closer to the group of toddlers, curiously watching their moves.

[Lerner & Dombro, 2004, p. 42]

A more general example of social learning is that toddlers express emotions in various ways—from giggling to cursing—just as their parents or older siblings do. For example, a boy might develop a hot temper if his father’s outbursts seem to win his mother’s respect; a girl might be coy, or passive-aggressive, if that is what she has seen at home. These examples are deliberately sexist: Gender roles, in particular, are learned, according to social learning theory.

Parents often unwittingly encourage traits in their children. Should parents carry infants most of the time, or will that spoil them? Should babies have many toys, or will that make them too materialistic?

Answers to these questions refer to the distinction between proximal parenting (being physically close to a baby, often holding and touching) and distal parenting (keeping some distance—providing toys, encouraging self-feeding, talking face-to-face instead of communicating by touch). Caregivers tend to behave in proximal or distal ways very early, when infants are only 2 months old (Kärtner et al., 2010).

Every parental action is influenced by whatever assumptions the culture holds. According to behaviorism, each action reinforces a lesson that the baby learns, in this case about people and objects.

Cognitive theory holds that thoughts determine a person’s perspective. Early experiences are important because beliefs, perceptions, and memories make them so, not because they are buried in the unconscious (psychoanalytic theory) or burned into the brain’s patterns (behaviorism).

According to many cognitive theorists, early experiences help infants develop a working model, which is a set of assumptions that becomes a frame of reference for later life (S. Johnson et al., 2010). It is a “model” because early relationships form a prototype, or blueprint; it is “working” because it is a work in progress, not fixed or final.

Ideally, infants develop “a working model of the self as lovable, and competent” because the parents are “emotionally available, loving, and supportive of their mastery efforts” (Harter, 2012, p. 12). However, reality does not always conform to this ideal. A 1-year-old girl might develop a model, based on her parents’ inconsistent responses to her, that people are unpredictable. She will continue to apply that model to everyone: Her childhood friendships will be insecure, and her adult relationships will be guarded.

The crucial idea, according to cognitive theory, is that an infant’s early experiences themselves are not necessarily pivotal, but the interpretation of those experiences is (Olson & Dweck, 2009). Children may misinterpret their experiences, or parents may offer inaccurate explanations, and these form ideas that affect later thinking and behavior.

In this way, working models formed in childhood echo lifelong. A hopeful message from cognitive theory is that people can rethink and reorganize their thoughts, developing new models. Our mistrustful girl might marry a faithful and loving man and gradually develop a new working model. The form of psychotherapy that seems most successful at the moment is called cognitive-behavioral, in which new thoughts about how to behave are developed. In other words, a new working model is developed.