Emotion regulation is comprised of both internal and external influences on the modulation of emotional intensity and reactivity (Morris et al., 2007). Because humans come into the world almost completely dependent on caregivers for modulation of emotion, the external strand of regulation must precede development of internal self-regulation. Over time, through the external process of caregiving, infants internalize models of self-regulation – and if the caregiving received is sensitive and responsive, strategies for autonomous self-regulation develop successfully (Gross, 2013). Chris internalizes the sensory soothing behaviors that he receives from caregivers, thereby learning to self-regulate. As such, he often utilizes sensory exploration
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This afternoon, Chris was crying because he had not been fed in a few hours. I couldn’t feed him yet, as his bottle was still warming, but I tried to soothe his crying in the meantime. “I’m going to pick you up.” I said, signing ‘up.’
I picked him up and pressed him against me, rocking him back and forth. This consoled him for a few minutes, but then, he soon began to whimper again. Suddenly, he spotted something on the ground and craned his neck to peer down. It appeared he was trying to look at something under the bench in the infant area, so I slowly lowered him to the ground to give him more mobility. He reached for a wooden giraffe in a basket under the bench, [and] placed its leg in his mouth briefly…He was no longer crying and appeared significantly calmer now (A. Blake, Fieldnotes, …show more content…
By providing him with comforting sensory experiences, caregivers facilitate his ability to modulate his own arousal through oral exploration of objects that shift his attention from distressing events. Undoubtedly, it must be stated that an alternate pathway of regulatory internalization exists: that of attachment. A rich line of theory and research details the role of secure attachment figures in projecting consistency, which are then internalized by the infant through internal working models that guide expectations of security and wellbeing (Bowlby, 1988). Internal working models, in turn, guide autonomous regulation of negative arousal as the child develops. Although the process of attachment-driven emotion regulation is certainly occurring for Chris, tangible evidence of self-regulation through this route is more difficult to apprehend at this early stage in infancy and without observation of parent-child interactions. Nevertheless, sensory- and attachment-driven regulation will likely coalesce to reveal increasingly complex and effective strategies for self-regulation over the course of Chris’s
This afternoon, Chris was crying because he had not been fed in a few hours. I couldn’t feed him yet, as his bottle was still warming, but I tried to soothe his crying in the meantime. “I’m going to pick you up.” I said, signing ‘up.’
I picked him up and pressed him against me, rocking him back and forth. This consoled him for a few minutes, but then, he soon began to whimper again. Suddenly, he spotted something on the ground and craned his neck to peer down. It appeared he was trying to look at something under the bench in the infant area, so I slowly lowered him to the ground to give him more mobility. He reached for a wooden giraffe in a basket under the bench, [and] placed its leg in his mouth briefly…He was no longer crying and appeared significantly calmer now (A. Blake, Fieldnotes, …show more content…
By providing him with comforting sensory experiences, caregivers facilitate his ability to modulate his own arousal through oral exploration of objects that shift his attention from distressing events. Undoubtedly, it must be stated that an alternate pathway of regulatory internalization exists: that of attachment. A rich line of theory and research details the role of secure attachment figures in projecting consistency, which are then internalized by the infant through internal working models that guide expectations of security and wellbeing (Bowlby, 1988). Internal working models, in turn, guide autonomous regulation of negative arousal as the child develops. Although the process of attachment-driven emotion regulation is certainly occurring for Chris, tangible evidence of self-regulation through this route is more difficult to apprehend at this early stage in infancy and without observation of parent-child interactions. Nevertheless, sensory- and attachment-driven regulation will likely coalesce to reveal increasingly complex and effective strategies for self-regulation over the course of Chris’s