Early Emotional Development/Temperament

Personality

the enduring characteristics and behavior that comprise a person's unique adjustment to life, including major traits, interests, drives, values, self-concept, abilities, and emotional patterns

Emotion

conscious mental reactions subjectively experienced as strong feelings... and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body

Feelings

positive or negative

Physiological correlates

changes in heart rate, galvanic skin response, brain activity, etc.

Cognitions

that elicit accompanying feelings and physiological changes

Goals

the desire to take such actions as escaping noxious stimuli, approaching pleasant stimuli, influencing the behavior of others, communicating needs, or desires, etc.

Functional perspective on emotions

the purpose of emotion is to establish, maintain, or change one's relationship with the environment to accomplish a goal

Discrete Emotions Theory

Emotions are inborn products of our evolutionary history; specific basic (primary) emotions are universal, biologically programmed, and are accompanied by distinct sets of bodily and facial cues

Basic emotions

universal; common facial expressions present at birth such as interest, distress, disgust, and contentment

Happiness

Social smiling: 6-10 weeks; Laughter: 2-6 months; Example: Satisfaction with a growing capacity to exert control over the environment

Anger and sadness

Emerge ~ 2 months; Early on, associated with violated expectancies, thwarted objectives

Comprehending and matching emotions

Emerges ~ 3-4 months; Brought about within social contexts

Temperament

individual differences in quality and intensity of our internal and external responses to our environment that emerge very early in life, show some stability over time, and are pervasive across a wide range of situations

Thomas & Chess (1977)

the tendency to respond in characteristic & predictable ways to environmental events

Longitudinal Study (N = 141)

clinical interviews with mothers of 2-to-3-month-old infants; continued interviewing children from infancy to young adulthood

Behavioral Inhibition

a temperament that reflects one's tendency to withdraw from unfamiliar people, situations, or things

Heterotypic Continuity

Phenotypes in infancy >> Different phenotypes in adulthood; Still represent the same trait

Inhibited temperament in infancy

anxiety in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood

Amygdala

Learning what is safe/not safe in your environment