Page 31 - Advanced Biblical Counseling Student Textbook

Maturation and Infant Memory: Our earliest memories seldom come before our third birthday. By 4 to
5 years, childhood “amnesia” is giving way to remembered experiences.

Reflection: What is your earliest memory? Write about it below. These memories are usually associated
with a strong emotion like happiness, sadness, fear or excitement.

Social Development
How do parent-infant attachment bonds form?
“From birth, babies in all cultures are social creatures, developing an intense bond with their caregivers.
Infants come to prefer familiar faces and voices, then to coo when given their mother’s or father’s
attention. Soon after object permanence emerges and children become mobile, a curious thing
happens. Object permanence is the awareness that things continue to exist even when not perceived.
At about 8 months, they develop stranger anxiety which is the fear of strangers that infants commonly
display around 8 months. They may greet strangers by crying and reaching for familiar caregivers. “No!
Don’t leave me!” their distress seems to say. At about this age, children create schemas of familiar
faces. A schema is a cognitive framework that helps organize and interpret information in the world
around us. When children cannot assimilate the new face into those remembered schemas, they
become distressed. Once again, we see an important principle: the brain, mind, and social-emotional
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behavior develop together.”

Origins of Attachment
“By 12 months, infants typically cling tightly to a parent when they
are frightened or expect separation. Reunited after being
separated, they shower the parent with smiles and hugs.
Attachment is an emotional tie with another person. No social
behavior is more striking than this intense and mutual infant-
parent bond. This attachment bond is a powerful survival impulse
that keeps infants close to their caregivers. Infants become
attached to those-typically their parents-who are comfortable and
familiar. For many years, developmental psychologists reasoned
that infants became attached to those who satisfied their need for
nourishment.
It made
sense. But an
accidental
finding
overturned
this
explanation.”

39 (photos: aviewfromtheright.com and justifiedgrid.com)

38 Myers, p. 75, 2009
39 Ibid.

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