Psych review, chapter 9 - emotional development

What are emotions?

a state of limited duration that arises from an event (external or internal) that entails a physiological, expressive, and cognitive component. Emotions are not feelings (i.e. prolonged emotional states).

• value - positive (enthusiasm, joy) or negative (sadness, anger)

• triggers - activating (joy, anger) or de-activating (boredom)

Darwin claims that facial expressions and emotions are universal and thus are evolutionarily/biologically based. emotional expression is regulated by culture.

What is the functionalist approach to emotional development?

Sustains that emotions allow an individual to adapt to their surroundings and the surroundings to adapt to the individual. This approach has 3 functions:

• communicative function - emotions inform us about the state of pursuit of certain goals (i.e. happiness = one accomplished a goal, sadness= inability to reach goal)

• motivational function - emotions inform our future actions, and thus have the power to foster or hinder commitment of the pursuit of our goals (joy=reached a goal = stay committed to pursuit of another)

• relational function - emotions inform others how we feel and are important in terms of relationships because:

  • they allow others to adapt to our emotional state

  • they allow us to adapt our behavior towards others (seeing another person sad, led to my consolation of him)

What is emotional competence and its components?

Consists in the ability to confront one own emotions or the emotions of others in a functional manner in daily life, maintaining or modifying our interactions with the environment in an appropriate way.

This concept changes depending on the socio-cultural context and developmental level of the child.

Emotional competence is strictly related to social exchanges:

• a child learns to be emotionally (in)competent through interaction, and in turn, social exchanges are fostered by good emotional competence (like a feedback loop)

There are the main dimensions that form emotional competence:

1) expression - the ability to communicate one’s emotional state verbally and non-verbally (facial expressions, gestures, intonation)

2) comprehension - the capacity to give meaning to emotions (mine and others). This develops gradually in different ways:

• of facial expressions

• use of emotional vocabulary

• of complex emotions (guilt, shame, pride)

• that one can experience multiple complex emotions simultaneously

• ability to recognize causes of emotions (internal or external)

3) regulation - emotional intensity varies. The ability to effectively control or mitigate one’s emotional state (through breathing, mindfulness). Regulation techniques increase with age.

What is Carroll Izard’s theory on emotional development?

The Differential Emotions Theory is an innatist theory, where amotions are innate and universal, all of which are present from birth as discreet and distinct experiences. She claims that fundamental emotions exists (joy, anger, sadness) that are biologically preprogrammed and are triggered by specific stimuli.

What is Alan Sroufe’s theory on emotional development?

The Differentiation Theory contrasts Carroll Izard’s, claiming that emotion are not predefined, but progressively evolve during child development. Newborns have basic emotional states (not considered emotions, but general positive or negative states of excitement). With time, through interaction and experience, basic emotional states evolve into emotions.

How does socio-cultural context determine emotional expression?

Emotional expression is governed by display rules that are based on the socio-cultural context, which dictates how, when, and where emotions should be appropriately expressed. These rules are originally learned in the home.

What are the primary and secondary emotions?

Primary (early childhood): emotions found in humans AND animals (joy, sadness, fear)

Secondary (late childhood): emotions that involve consciousness of the self (human emotions)

• year 2 = embarrassment

• year 3 = pride, shame, guilt

The acquisition of emotions comes with the learning of sociocultural rules/ norms

What are the fundamental components of emotional development in early childhood?

• the cry and smile

• fear of the stranger/ separation anxiety

• social referencing

• external emotional regulation

What are the fundamental components of emotional development in late childhood and school age period?

Progress in emotional competence (expression, comprehension, and regulation)

Late childhood: complex emotions and self-consciousness evolve.

• expression - emotional lexicon appears

• comprehension - emotions influence the behavior of the child and others

• regulation -

  • for parents who train their children - children are hearing names for their emotions and strategies for how to confront them

School age period:

• expression - increased ability to suppress or hide emotional reactions

• comprehension - increased ability to understand complex emotions and the fact that you can experiment with emotions in certain situations

• regulation - autonomous strategies are used to redirect feelings

What is attachment?

the way we function in our relationships —> influenced by the way we learned to manage and regulate our emotions through our primary significant relationships (parents)

What does Freud say about attachment?

he was one of the first to prove the importance of the connection with the primary caregiver (mother), saying that newborns attach themselves to the person that feeds them

what does Harlow say about attachment?

he challenges Freud, saying that nurture (oral satisfaction) is important, but the desire for proximity and contact is more important

This is shown by the experiment with the baby monkeys, where time spent with the clothed “mother” superseded that of the “mother” that fed the monkey.

What does Bowlby say about attachment?

in Bowlby’s theory, there are three factors:

1) motivation system - seen as an innate system of attachment where everyone has a tendency to seek out the protective closeness of a figure every time we encounter situations of need, danger, pain, fear, struggle, or solitude.

• this system of attachment seen in the child, prompts a system of care in the parent whose adequacy is based on

  • accurate perception of a baby’s signals

  • behavioral response to signals (consistency, readiness)

2) behavior (2+ months) - where a child will ensure the proximity and protection through concrete behavior/ actions

• proximal behavior= smiling, clinging

• distant behavior = following, crawling, crying

3) bond (7+ months) - affective relationship between the child and the caregiver

• child seeks proximity of the mother (or preferred person)

• “safe base” effect: presence of the caregiver acts as a trampoline for curiosity and environmental exploration

• child protests separation

What are the internal working models (IWM) of attachment?

internal working models are a reference to the cognitive schemas where knowledge on the bond of attachment between caregiver and child are symbolically represented. They are sets of memories and expectations regarding:

• the self of the child (as loveable or not)

• the caregiver (as available/responsive or not)

• and the self with the other (functioning of the relationship)

These models are “working;” meaning they regulate/affect the individual’s behavior in current and future relationships —> intergenerational transmission of attachment

How many attachment bonds can there be?

there are 2:

• multiple attachments- where the child can be attached to more than one caregiver (i.e. in addition to the maternal figure)

  • as long as there are multiple bonds of attachment, the internal working models are subject to change.

• monotropy- where the child’s primary bond is with a singular figure (usually the mother)

What is the strange situation?

An experiment done by Mary Ainsworth that assesses the quality of attachment to a child’s caregiver. This is a lab technique based on the systematic observation of interaction between mother and child during early childhood. This requires the child to undergo a series of separation and reunion with the caregiver and a stranger.

What are the attachment styles?

1) Secure attachment - the child protests separation from the caregiver, but relaxes upon their return. This shows that the caregiver is stably available and ready to respond to the child’s needs —> provokes an internal working model of the lovable self and allows for development based on a sense of stability.

2) Avoidant - the child doesn’t protest separation from the caregiver (no crying or following) and actively avoids them upon return. This shows that the caregiver is generally unavailable, unaffectionate, and ignores the needs of the child —> provokes an intern working model of the unlovable self and causes future detachment form relationships and hyper-autonomy and self-sufficiency.

3) Anxious/ resistant - the child intensely protests separation from the caregiver, but is not reassured upon their return. This shows that the caregiver has unpredictable and inconsistent behavior in responding to the child’s needs, which causes the child to appear passive, clingy, and in constant need of care.

4) Disorganized - the child exhibits disorganized behavior during separation from the caregiver and doesn’t not approach them upon their return as if the child cannot organize their behavior into a coherent direction. This shows that the caregiver threatens, inflicts violence on the child/ that the child has suffered through serious traumatic events. This type of care provokes an internal working model of the self that revolves around the self-assessment of strength/weakness, and causes dysfunctional personalities in children.

What is attachment style influenced by?

It is heavily influenced by culture. For example, Japanese mothers tend to stay close to their children, while German mothers tend to encourage more autonomy.

What are the critiques of the Strange Situation?

• It cannot always be generalized to “natural contexts”

• It is not necessarily predictive of attachment later in life

• It cannot be applied outside of the first two years of life

What is the Kagan and Thomas Chess temperament model?

This model includes 9 specific traits that characterize a child’s behavior and reactions

• activity level

• approach or withdrawal

• adaptability

• intensity of reactions

• mood

• attention span

• distractibility

• persistence

• rhythmicity (the following of daily routines)

Based on the classification of these traits, a child is categorized into one of three main temperament types:

• easy - positive attitude, adjust quickly, follow routines

• difficult - trouble adjusting, irregular routine, often cry

• slow to warm up- cautiously adjust, mild emotional reactions

Goodness of fit: a child’s temperament should align with their environment. A good fit promoting security and well-being.

What are the biological and environmental influences of temperament?

biological: level of norepinephrine (produced by the sympathetic nervous system, increases heart rate and pushes towards reactivity), level of amygdala activation, level of sympathetic activation

environmental: parenting style

What is temperament?

the innate characteristics of an infant, including mood, activity level, and emotional reactivity that are noticeable soon after birth.

This is different from personality, which is a pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving shaped by one’s temperament and environment/experience.

Kagan believes that temperament coincides with differing levels of inhibition in children