Social development during childhood is based on the relationship formed with other of the same or opposite sex. As an infant you are gaining basic experience, skills, and emotions that permits you to form close relationships and interact with others effectively in many settings. Several aspects of social development includes temperament, attachment: the beginnings of love and friendships and loneliness.
Temperament is "the stable individual differences in quality and intensity of emotional reaction" and is present at birth (Berk, 1998). Some psychologists believe that temperament is the foundation for later personality development. However, there is much controversy surrounding the stability of temperament. Most experts agree that they involve positive emotionality, which is the extent to which infants show pleasure and are typically in a good, happy mood; distress/anger which is the extent to which infants show distress and the emotion of anger; fear which is the extent to which infants show fear in various situations; and activity level which is their overall level of activity or energy.
Most infants show secure attachment; they feel safe around their caregiver as a "safe home base" and are sociable playful. In contrast other infants show insecure/avoidant attachment. They don't rely on their caregivers for security and often avoid close contact with them. They explore new environments but don't seem to view their caregiver as a source of safety and comfort. A third group of infants shows a pattern known as insecure/ambivalent attachment. A pattern of attachment in which a child seeks contact with the caregiver before separation but then, after she leaves and then returns, first seeks her but then resists or rejects her offers of comfort. The contact comfort is an important role in attachment. This is close physical contact between infants and their caregivers. Such contact known as contact comfort involves the hugging, cuddling, and caresses infants receive from their caregivers, and it seems to be an essential ingredient in attachment.
The research that first established this fact is a "classic" in the history of psychology, and was conducted by Harry Harlow and his co-workers (Harlow & Harlow, 1966). In this research, baby monkeys were exposed to two artificial "mothers". One consisted if bare wire, while the other possessed a soft terrycloth cover. The wire mother, not the soft one, provided milk. According to basic principles of conditioning, the monkeys should soon have developed a strong bond to this cold wire mother, but in fact, the opposite happened. The infants spent almost all their time clinging tightly to the soft cloth-covered mother and only left her to visit the wire mother when driven by pangs of hunger. On the basis of these and related findings, Harlow concluded that a baby monkey's attachment to its mother rests, at least in part, on the mother's ability to satisfy the baby's need for contact comfort-direct contact with soft objects. The satisfaction of other physical needs, such as that for food, is enough.
Loneliness is a significant problem that can predispose young children to immediate and long-term negative consequences. Children who feel lonely often experience poor peer relationships and therefore express more loneliness than peers with friends. They often feel excluded a feeling that can be damaging to their self-esteem. In addition, they may experience feelings of sadness, malaise, boredom, and alienation. Furthermore, early childhood experiences that contribute to loneliness may predict loneliness during adulthood. Consequently, lonely children may miss out on many opportunities to interact with their peers and to learn important lifelong skills. Several factors contribute to feelings of loneliness in young children.
Some that occur outside of the school setting are conflict within the home; moving to a new school or neighborhood; losing a friend; losing an object, possession, or pet; experiencing the divorce of parents; or experiencing the death of a pet or significant person. Equally important are factors that occur within the child's school setting, such as being rejected by peers; lacking social skills and knowledge of how to make friends; or possessing personal characteristics ( shyness, anxiety, and low self-esteem) that contribute to difficulties in making friends. Kindergarten children who are victimized by peers (picked on, or physically or verbally attacked or taunted) report higher levels of loneliness, distress, and negative attitudes toward school than non-victimized children
