DS - Chapter 10

emotions

____ are physiological, cognitive, and behavioral responses to thoughts or experiences

emotions components

neural, physiological, subjective experience, cognitive appraisal, facial expressions, desire to act

Darwin

argued for discrete emotions that are automatic and innate.

Ekman

argued for 6 basic emotions, each with a characteristic facial expression

Functionalist Approach

the ___ ___ proposes that the function of emotions is to promote action toward achieving a goal.

Behavioral measures

• facial expressions (smiling, distress, surprise)

• vocalizations (coos, cries)

• body movements (reaching, turning away)

physiological measures

• HR, skin conductance

• EMG to detect subtle muscle activation

• neural measures (EEG, fNIRS)

Machine learning Approaches

• computer vision models to classify infant expressions

• (increasingly used in developmental labs and naturalistic settings)

muscle movements

systems for coding and classifying infants’ facial expressions rely on underlying ___ ___

separation anxiety

negative emotions in response to caregiver separation

3 months

distinguish facial expressions of happiness, surprise, and anger

7 months

attentional biases towards fear expressions

12 months

social referencing of other's’ emotions

16 to 18 month olds

prefer toys associated with surprise and happy faces

2 years old

labeling emotions

Preschool / early school years

• children overall become less intense and less emotionally negative

early school years

perceptions of others’ motives are important in determining whether or not they will be angered

early to middle childhood

acceptance by peers and achieving goals become increasingly important sources of happiness and pride

school-age children

fears are generally related to real-life important issues rather than imaginary creatures

age 3

identify situations that make people happy

age 4

identify situations that make people sad

age 5

identify situations likely to elicit anger, fear, surprise

age 7

self-conscious social emotions (pride, guilt, shame, embarrassment, guilt) emerge

emotional regulation

the ability to monitor and modulate which emotions one has when you have them, and how you experience and express them.

co-regulation

a caregiver provides the needed comfort or distraction to help a child reduce his or her distress

self-comforting behaviors

repetitive actions that regulate arousal by providing a mildly positive physical sensation

self-distraction

looking away from or disengaging in an upsetting stimulus in order to regulate one’s level of arousal

self-control

is not solely WITHIN the child

emotional regulation

emerges from multiple factors (person, situation, strategy)

caregiver scaffolding

infants rely on adults for co-regulation

internalization of strategies

self-talk, problem-solving

cognitive development

• working memory improves

• better attentional control

executive function growth

delaying gratification (classic marshmallow test), planning, flexibility