Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I The nature of emotional development
- Part II The unfolding of the emotions
- Part III Emotional development and individual adaptation
- 9 The social nature of emotional development
- 10 Attachment: the dyadic regulation of emotion
- 11 The emergence of the autonomous self: caregiver-guided self-regulation
- 12 The growth of self-regulation
- 13 Summation
- References
- Index
12 - The growth of self-regulation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Part I The nature of emotional development
- Part II The unfolding of the emotions
- Part III Emotional development and individual adaptation
- 9 The social nature of emotional development
- 10 Attachment: the dyadic regulation of emotion
- 11 The emergence of the autonomous self: caregiver-guided self-regulation
- 12 The growth of self-regulation
- 13 Summation
- References
- Index
Summary
In becoming internalized, adopted strategies which first characterized regulatory relationships with the interpersonal surround will now function as features of self-regulation and eventually characterize personality idiosyncrasy.
Sander (1976)A psychological function … which is externally regulated in one phase of infancy is internalized and autoregulated in the succeeding phase.
Schore (1994)In contrast to the situation for the toddler, which is paradoxically referred to as “guided self-regulation,” the preschool-age child in Western culture is expected to assume a much larger role in the self-regulation of emotions and impulses. The task becomes to contain, modify, and redirect impulses even when briefly not under immediate adult supervision. While still requiring adult monitoring, reinforcement, and support, children must to a large extent follow rules and prohibitions without direct adult input; that is, they are to internalize the standards for behavioral control and conduct themselves in accordance with these standards, even inhibiting strong impulses on their own. Also, to an increasing extent they must protect themselves from being overwhelmed by stimulation or the disorganizing influences of their own feelings. In psychoanalytic terms such protective processes are referred to as “defenses,” which are a part of normative development but which may also become pathological.
The child is now expected to manage frustration and generally to modulate emotional expression.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Emotional DevelopmentThe Organization of Emotional Life in the Early Years, pp. 214 - 234Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996