Sociale en Emotionele Ontwikkeling
HC 1. The family H4, H7 12-11-20
Role of the family sexual and cooperative bond that results in continuation of society
Theory core assumptions
Humans have an evolutionary origin
The family has played an important role in human evolution
The evolutionary origin of humans has an influence upon families today
Proximate biology has an influence on the family, and the family has an influence on the biology and the health of its
members
The biological domain is concerned with three factors: the biological, biosocial and social
Human biological and biosocial variables do not determine human condict but pose limitations and constraints as well
as possibilities and opportunities for families
Biosocial: intermediate position
Humans have a species history which distinguishes it form other animals: the coevolution of biology and culture
makes humans more complex than other animals
Causation
Proximate causation immediate influences
o Fundamental question how do biology and society interact to form the family of today?
o What are specific biosocial covariates?
o What are self-selection or niche-building effects?
Distal causation intermediate. Causes (effect of parent-infant bonding/attachment on later development)
Ultimate causation evolutionary influences
o Fundamental question how has the famlily contributed tot he success of humans?
o What was the character of our evolutionary past? How has our evolutionary history affected the attributes of
the family?
o Cultural diversity issues: where and under what ecological circumstances does the biosocial encourage
variety in kinship formation?
o Why is the family a universal phenomenon?
Main problems addresses by the theory (ultimate causation)
Reproduction and fertility
o What are the mechanism direcly affecting reproduction?
o What are some of the reproductive questions facing humans?
Parental investment
o What are the mechanisms that support parental investment and how are they likely to be interpreted?
o Who will do the investment and will it be through care, food, defense, or some other means?
Konrad Lorentz pointed out
Adults respond favorably to the typical infant facial structure – disproportionately large heads and eyes, small noses,
and chubby cheeks
Evolution, parenting and family relationships
Universal features
Between-family differences
Within-family differences
Evolutionary developmental psychology
Takes the ideas developed by Charles Dawerin and applies them to human behavior with particular emphasis on the
social and cognitive competencies neede tob e able to survive childhood and adolescence
According to Darwin
o Organisms show variation in every aspect of biology & behavior
o Variation is inherited
o Some features afford a better fit in the local environment than others
o Inherited variation affects survival & reproduction
o This mechanismis called natural selection
How can this variation occur? through mutations that arise when genetic information is copied during the formation
of sperm and eggs
Human nature
Universal aspects of psychological fucntioning that have evolved to solve relatively specific problems our ancestors
faced in the EEA
Social, hunters & gatherers, nomadics/sem-nomadic
Men polygamous, highly competitive
Women selective
Lifespan 40 years, high infant mortality
Environment of evolutionary adaptation
Coined by John Bowlby
, Set of historicaly recurring selection pressures that formed a given adaptation (includes the environmental events for
it to develop)
In the environment in which ducks evolved attachment tot he mother had great survival value, because the first
moving object the ducks were likely to see was the mother
Reproductive strategies
Evolved to maximize inclusive fitness
Inclusice fitness number of copies of one’s genes passed on
through one’s offspring, surviving collateral kin, or unrelated
others
Parenting is one means of increasing fitness
Quantitative strategies Qualitative strategies
Limited investment of Large investment of
Time, energy, resources, Time, energy, resources,
bad parenting good parentig
Many offspring Few offspring
High mating effort High parenting effort
Attachment
Deep and lasting connection that develops between a child and specific caregiver in the early years of life, particularly
between the ages of 0 and 5 years
From birth
o Figuring out the world around us
o Preference for human faces/voices
o Focus on social signals
Attachment behavioral system orients infant to caregiver and helps to ensure survival
This is the system by which the infant monitors
o His or ehr own internal states
o Availability and responsiveness of caregiver
o Threats in the environment
Infant experiences ‘felt security’ which when threatened, results in efforts t orestore proximity to caregiver
o If possible vigilant attention to threats and to caregiver availability
o If not possible deactivating, disengaging strategies
In no other relationship does a stranger (the baby) and mother (or father) form one of the most intense relationships
moments upon seeing each other
Unique relationship
o High maintenance
o Irrational
o Spend every waking movement caring fort his person – feed, bath, clean
o No other relationship in your life is so time consuming
Individual differences in attachment
o These experiences become the basis for emotion regulation and more enduring working models of
interpersonal relationships
o These models are a template for intimacy
o Key caregivers differ in their responsiveness
Numer one predictor on parenting style was mother’s metaparenting mothers that are able to justify why their
mothers were bad mothers can then use that tob etter thein parenting abilities- insight gained before or during
pregnancy. An insecure attachment can become secure
Theories of attachment
o Psychoanalytic theory i love you because you feed me drive reduction
o Learning theory rewards lead to love comfort
o Cognitive-developmental theory to love you i must know you object permanence
o Ethological (evolutionary) theory i was born to love we need each other
John Bowlby’s ethological explanation of attachment
Founder of attachment theory
Humans have evolved to come into the word helpless and dependent on others for care. Parents have evolved
mechanism that motivate them to care for infants
Caregiver infant caregiver
Attachment provides a sense of security and safe base from which to explore the world
How do internal working models affect our relationships in later life?
Guides behavior in future relationships, affects our perceptions and expectations about relationships
If i am sad, i will be comforted
I avoid conflict at all costs
I wish my partner would pay more attention to me
Family context child-rearing received psychosocial development somatic development reproductive strategy
There are within-family differences in how parents threat their children
Parental differntial treatment (PDT)
The degree to which parents treat each child in the family differently
, Strong social norm to treat children equally, but most parents report that they have to be a different parent to each of
their children
Birth order, age, gender, temperament have been linked to PDT
Parents can love their children equally, but threat them differently
Consequences and parental favoritism
o Children’s own perception of PDT what really matters: perceived fairness higher self-esteem
o Children often perceive PDT fair, as they consider age differences and personality factors
o Only when children perceive facvoritism, then i twill led to adjustment problems depression and
externalizing problems
o PDT can be problematic for each offspring (regardless who is the favorite)
Evolutionary perspective on within-family differences
Child characteristics that influence parental investment
o Reproductive fitness signals to parents and grandparents that the child is healthy and likely to
successfully reproduce
o Phenotypic resemblance to the investor signals that the child possesses the caregiver’s genes
1. Reproductive value and parenting evidence
o Mothers of high-risk infants shorten the duration of breast-feeding and inter-birth intervals
o Children with a serious handicap or health problem are more likely to be abused by their fathers en
stepfathers
o When presented with a healty and an unhealthy twin, mothers bias their investment towards the healthy
twin
o Attractive infants receive more attention and affection from their mothers than do less attractive babies
o Unattractive daughters were more like to receive harsh and punitive parenting from their fathers
o Among Dutch school age children, attractive children receive more affection and less physical punishment
than unattractive children
2. Phenotypic resemblance
o Mechanism: self-referent phenotype matching
o Involves learning particular phenotype features of oneself or of familiar relatives (parents or siblings),
thereby forming a mental template against which the phenotype of the other individual can be compared
o Because males are less certain of their paternity, similarity cues may be especially salient
o The degree to which fathers love and want their children is related tot heir paternal certainty
o The more similar, the more certain, the more investment
o Physical similarity
Hypothetical tasks mixed results for willingness to invest in children who resemble. In hypothetical
adoption tasks: men place greater emphasis on facial resemblance cues than do women
Actual Parents men report greater investment if children perceived as having greater resemblance and
greater cnfidence in spousal fidelity. Among spouse abusers, men reported better relationships with their
children they perceived as more physically similar. Among Dutch school-aged children fathers were
emotionally closer to their children that resembled them in one study but not in the second
Conclusion about similarity and parenting in contemporary societies
o In hypothetical tasks, similarity appears to be important for both male and females
o In actual parenting, if it matters, it is among fathers who are less certain
Family conflict theory
o It arise because family members are not identical genetically
o Parent-parent conflict/sexual conflict parents are not related. Not shared genetic interests. Benefits
shared. Therefore one parent should exploit the other to reduce his/her own costs
o Sexual conflict reflects conflict in how much each should contribtue
o Sibling conflict
o Parent-offspring conflict (Trivers) Parent: 50% jen en 50% jason
Jason: 67% jason en 33% jen
Jen: 67% jen en 33% jason
Comparing family conflict to family systems theory
o Parent-child pair may function differently when alone than when the other parent is present both
quantitative & qualitative changes of parenting behavior across contexts
o Parents in the dyadic interation elicit more symbolic play with their preschooler child than in triads
o The overall frequency of mothers and fathers child quidance behaviors with their preschoolers declines in
the other’s presence
o Both mothers en fathers displayed less negative affect and were less engaged with their children in triads
than in parent-child dyads
o Father’s vocalizatn towards their infants and preschoolers was inhibited in the presence of the other parent
o Mothers were seen as more structuring and fathers as less structuring in triadic than dyadic situation
Consistent with family systems theory core assumption
o A system must be understood as a whole Von bertalanfy: promoted the notion that a family, or any
system, is greater than the some of it’s parts. Lewin: the whole is different from the sum of it’s parts
o Second-order effect (emergents): mother father child
Possible theoretical explanations for family conflict theory
o Maternal gatekeeping theory mothers control father’s involvement
o Evolutionary theory sexual conflict partner manipulation (parents are not related no shared genetic
intersts, they are both related to their offsprings benefits shared, each parent had limited resources to
invest in current reproduction each parent would benefit i fits mate did more of the work sexual
conflict, one parent should exploit the other to reduce his/her own costs partner manipulation)
o Warmth dyadic (ouders gelijk) en triadic (moeder meer dan vader)
HC 1. The family H4, H7 12-11-20
Role of the family sexual and cooperative bond that results in continuation of society
Theory core assumptions
Humans have an evolutionary origin
The family has played an important role in human evolution
The evolutionary origin of humans has an influence upon families today
Proximate biology has an influence on the family, and the family has an influence on the biology and the health of its
members
The biological domain is concerned with three factors: the biological, biosocial and social
Human biological and biosocial variables do not determine human condict but pose limitations and constraints as well
as possibilities and opportunities for families
Biosocial: intermediate position
Humans have a species history which distinguishes it form other animals: the coevolution of biology and culture
makes humans more complex than other animals
Causation
Proximate causation immediate influences
o Fundamental question how do biology and society interact to form the family of today?
o What are specific biosocial covariates?
o What are self-selection or niche-building effects?
Distal causation intermediate. Causes (effect of parent-infant bonding/attachment on later development)
Ultimate causation evolutionary influences
o Fundamental question how has the famlily contributed tot he success of humans?
o What was the character of our evolutionary past? How has our evolutionary history affected the attributes of
the family?
o Cultural diversity issues: where and under what ecological circumstances does the biosocial encourage
variety in kinship formation?
o Why is the family a universal phenomenon?
Main problems addresses by the theory (ultimate causation)
Reproduction and fertility
o What are the mechanism direcly affecting reproduction?
o What are some of the reproductive questions facing humans?
Parental investment
o What are the mechanisms that support parental investment and how are they likely to be interpreted?
o Who will do the investment and will it be through care, food, defense, or some other means?
Konrad Lorentz pointed out
Adults respond favorably to the typical infant facial structure – disproportionately large heads and eyes, small noses,
and chubby cheeks
Evolution, parenting and family relationships
Universal features
Between-family differences
Within-family differences
Evolutionary developmental psychology
Takes the ideas developed by Charles Dawerin and applies them to human behavior with particular emphasis on the
social and cognitive competencies neede tob e able to survive childhood and adolescence
According to Darwin
o Organisms show variation in every aspect of biology & behavior
o Variation is inherited
o Some features afford a better fit in the local environment than others
o Inherited variation affects survival & reproduction
o This mechanismis called natural selection
How can this variation occur? through mutations that arise when genetic information is copied during the formation
of sperm and eggs
Human nature
Universal aspects of psychological fucntioning that have evolved to solve relatively specific problems our ancestors
faced in the EEA
Social, hunters & gatherers, nomadics/sem-nomadic
Men polygamous, highly competitive
Women selective
Lifespan 40 years, high infant mortality
Environment of evolutionary adaptation
Coined by John Bowlby
, Set of historicaly recurring selection pressures that formed a given adaptation (includes the environmental events for
it to develop)
In the environment in which ducks evolved attachment tot he mother had great survival value, because the first
moving object the ducks were likely to see was the mother
Reproductive strategies
Evolved to maximize inclusive fitness
Inclusice fitness number of copies of one’s genes passed on
through one’s offspring, surviving collateral kin, or unrelated
others
Parenting is one means of increasing fitness
Quantitative strategies Qualitative strategies
Limited investment of Large investment of
Time, energy, resources, Time, energy, resources,
bad parenting good parentig
Many offspring Few offspring
High mating effort High parenting effort
Attachment
Deep and lasting connection that develops between a child and specific caregiver in the early years of life, particularly
between the ages of 0 and 5 years
From birth
o Figuring out the world around us
o Preference for human faces/voices
o Focus on social signals
Attachment behavioral system orients infant to caregiver and helps to ensure survival
This is the system by which the infant monitors
o His or ehr own internal states
o Availability and responsiveness of caregiver
o Threats in the environment
Infant experiences ‘felt security’ which when threatened, results in efforts t orestore proximity to caregiver
o If possible vigilant attention to threats and to caregiver availability
o If not possible deactivating, disengaging strategies
In no other relationship does a stranger (the baby) and mother (or father) form one of the most intense relationships
moments upon seeing each other
Unique relationship
o High maintenance
o Irrational
o Spend every waking movement caring fort his person – feed, bath, clean
o No other relationship in your life is so time consuming
Individual differences in attachment
o These experiences become the basis for emotion regulation and more enduring working models of
interpersonal relationships
o These models are a template for intimacy
o Key caregivers differ in their responsiveness
Numer one predictor on parenting style was mother’s metaparenting mothers that are able to justify why their
mothers were bad mothers can then use that tob etter thein parenting abilities- insight gained before or during
pregnancy. An insecure attachment can become secure
Theories of attachment
o Psychoanalytic theory i love you because you feed me drive reduction
o Learning theory rewards lead to love comfort
o Cognitive-developmental theory to love you i must know you object permanence
o Ethological (evolutionary) theory i was born to love we need each other
John Bowlby’s ethological explanation of attachment
Founder of attachment theory
Humans have evolved to come into the word helpless and dependent on others for care. Parents have evolved
mechanism that motivate them to care for infants
Caregiver infant caregiver
Attachment provides a sense of security and safe base from which to explore the world
How do internal working models affect our relationships in later life?
Guides behavior in future relationships, affects our perceptions and expectations about relationships
If i am sad, i will be comforted
I avoid conflict at all costs
I wish my partner would pay more attention to me
Family context child-rearing received psychosocial development somatic development reproductive strategy
There are within-family differences in how parents threat their children
Parental differntial treatment (PDT)
The degree to which parents treat each child in the family differently
, Strong social norm to treat children equally, but most parents report that they have to be a different parent to each of
their children
Birth order, age, gender, temperament have been linked to PDT
Parents can love their children equally, but threat them differently
Consequences and parental favoritism
o Children’s own perception of PDT what really matters: perceived fairness higher self-esteem
o Children often perceive PDT fair, as they consider age differences and personality factors
o Only when children perceive facvoritism, then i twill led to adjustment problems depression and
externalizing problems
o PDT can be problematic for each offspring (regardless who is the favorite)
Evolutionary perspective on within-family differences
Child characteristics that influence parental investment
o Reproductive fitness signals to parents and grandparents that the child is healthy and likely to
successfully reproduce
o Phenotypic resemblance to the investor signals that the child possesses the caregiver’s genes
1. Reproductive value and parenting evidence
o Mothers of high-risk infants shorten the duration of breast-feeding and inter-birth intervals
o Children with a serious handicap or health problem are more likely to be abused by their fathers en
stepfathers
o When presented with a healty and an unhealthy twin, mothers bias their investment towards the healthy
twin
o Attractive infants receive more attention and affection from their mothers than do less attractive babies
o Unattractive daughters were more like to receive harsh and punitive parenting from their fathers
o Among Dutch school age children, attractive children receive more affection and less physical punishment
than unattractive children
2. Phenotypic resemblance
o Mechanism: self-referent phenotype matching
o Involves learning particular phenotype features of oneself or of familiar relatives (parents or siblings),
thereby forming a mental template against which the phenotype of the other individual can be compared
o Because males are less certain of their paternity, similarity cues may be especially salient
o The degree to which fathers love and want their children is related tot heir paternal certainty
o The more similar, the more certain, the more investment
o Physical similarity
Hypothetical tasks mixed results for willingness to invest in children who resemble. In hypothetical
adoption tasks: men place greater emphasis on facial resemblance cues than do women
Actual Parents men report greater investment if children perceived as having greater resemblance and
greater cnfidence in spousal fidelity. Among spouse abusers, men reported better relationships with their
children they perceived as more physically similar. Among Dutch school-aged children fathers were
emotionally closer to their children that resembled them in one study but not in the second
Conclusion about similarity and parenting in contemporary societies
o In hypothetical tasks, similarity appears to be important for both male and females
o In actual parenting, if it matters, it is among fathers who are less certain
Family conflict theory
o It arise because family members are not identical genetically
o Parent-parent conflict/sexual conflict parents are not related. Not shared genetic interests. Benefits
shared. Therefore one parent should exploit the other to reduce his/her own costs
o Sexual conflict reflects conflict in how much each should contribtue
o Sibling conflict
o Parent-offspring conflict (Trivers) Parent: 50% jen en 50% jason
Jason: 67% jason en 33% jen
Jen: 67% jen en 33% jason
Comparing family conflict to family systems theory
o Parent-child pair may function differently when alone than when the other parent is present both
quantitative & qualitative changes of parenting behavior across contexts
o Parents in the dyadic interation elicit more symbolic play with their preschooler child than in triads
o The overall frequency of mothers and fathers child quidance behaviors with their preschoolers declines in
the other’s presence
o Both mothers en fathers displayed less negative affect and were less engaged with their children in triads
than in parent-child dyads
o Father’s vocalizatn towards their infants and preschoolers was inhibited in the presence of the other parent
o Mothers were seen as more structuring and fathers as less structuring in triadic than dyadic situation
Consistent with family systems theory core assumption
o A system must be understood as a whole Von bertalanfy: promoted the notion that a family, or any
system, is greater than the some of it’s parts. Lewin: the whole is different from the sum of it’s parts
o Second-order effect (emergents): mother father child
Possible theoretical explanations for family conflict theory
o Maternal gatekeeping theory mothers control father’s involvement
o Evolutionary theory sexual conflict partner manipulation (parents are not related no shared genetic
intersts, they are both related to their offsprings benefits shared, each parent had limited resources to
invest in current reproduction each parent would benefit i fits mate did more of the work sexual
conflict, one parent should exploit the other to reduce his/her own costs partner manipulation)
o Warmth dyadic (ouders gelijk) en triadic (moeder meer dan vader)
