Emotional development

Emotional Competence

What is emotional competence? What does it involve?

Definition: The ability to effectively manage and express emotions while maintaining social relationships.

Involves:

• Recognizing and understanding one's own emotions

• Recognizing and understanding others' emotions

• Using emotional vocabulary appropriately

• Showing empathy

• Managing emotional expression according to cultural and social contexts

Infant Emotional Experience (Birth - 7 Months)

What are the 4 primary emotions present at birth?

1. Interest – recognizing novel stimuli

2. Distress – response to discomfort, pain, or unmet needs

3. Disgust – response to unpleasant tastes or odors

4. Contentment – state of calm satisfaction

Infant Emotional Experience (Birth - 7 Months)

What basic emotions emerge between 2-7 months, and at what ages?

• Anger – response to frustration (4-6 months)

• Sadness – response to loss

• Joy – begins as social smiling (2-3 months)

• Surprise – reaction to unexpected events

• Fear – emerges around 6-7 months

Infant Emotional Experience (Birth - 7 Months)

What is the social smile? When does it emerge?

Definition: Smiling specifically in response to seeing familiar faces, particularly caregivers

Emerges around 6-10 weeks of age

Represents a shift from reflexive smiling (present from birth) to intentional social communication.

Self-Conscious Emotions

What are self-conscious emotions? When do they emerge and what do they require?

Definition: Emotions that require self-awareness and the ability to evaluate oneself against social standards.
Emerge around 15-24 months.

Require:

• Development of self-recognition

• Understanding of rules or standards

• Ability to reflect on one's own behavior

Self-Conscious Emotions

Name the 4 self-conscious emotions and their definitions

1. Embarrassment – awareness of being the center of attention

2. Pride – positive evaluation of meeting standards

3. Shame – negative evaluation of the entire self

4. Guilt – negative evaluation of a specific behavior

Self-Conscious Emotions

How do cultures differ in emphasizing self-conscious emotions?

• Western cultures: Emphasize pride and individual achievement

• Eastern cultures: Emphasize shame and guilt related to group harmony

• Caregiver responses shape which emotions are emphasized

Emotional Development - Recognition & Understanding

Describe the developmental progression of emotion recognition from ages 2-8.

Children develop increasingly sophisticated understanding of emotions

• Age 2-3: Can identify basic emotions (happy, sad, angry)

• Age 4-5: Understand situations cause emotions; begin using emotion language

• Age 5-6: Understand that thoughts/memories can trigger emotions

• Age 7-8: Recognize multiple emotions can be felt simultaneously (mixed emotions)

Emotional Development - Recognition & Understanding

What is theory of mind, and how does it relate to emotion understanding?

Theory of mind: Understanding that others have thoughts, beliefs, desires, and perspectives different from one's own.

It enables children to understand that others may feel differently than they do about the same situation.

Emotional Development - Recognition & Understanding

Describe the developmental progression of understanding mixed emotions

• Preschoolers: View emotions as either/or (happy OR sad)

• Ages 5-7: Begin to understand two emotions can occur sequentially

• Ages 7-10: Understand two conflicting emotions can occur simultaneously (e.g., happy AND nervous about first day of school)

• Adolescence: Can understand complex, layered emotional experiences and ambivalence

Social Interaction & Emotional Understanding

How does pretend play with siblings and peers contribute to emotional understanding?

• Provides a safe context for emotional exploration

• Children practice emotional scripts (e.g., comforting a crying doll)

• Role-taking requires understanding others' feelings

• Negotiation during play builds emotional vocabulary

• Conflict in play teaches emotion regulation

Social Interaction & Emotional Understanding

What did Castro et al. (2015) find about parent-child interactions and emotional understanding?

• Elaborative parental discussions about emotions help children understand causes and consequences of feelings

• Parents who label and explain emotions have children with better emotional competence

• Supportive responses (validating feelings, problem-solving) promote healthy development

• Dismissive or punitive responses may lead to poor emotional outcomes

Emotion Regulation - Infancy

What is emotion regulation?

The ability to control one's emotional experiences and expressions, particularly the intensity and duration of emotional arousal.

Emotion Regulation - Infancy

Describe the developmental progression of emotion regulation strategies from 0-24 months

Age	Strategy	Description
0-3 mo.	Caregiver-dependent	Caregiver soothes (holding, rocking, feeding)
3-6 mo.	Simple self-regulation	Sucking thumb, turning away from overstimulation
6-12 mo.	Social referencing	Looking to caregiver for emotional cues
12-24 mo.	Emerging self-control	Distraction, seeking comfort objects, avoidance

Emotion Regulation - Infancy

How does vocabulary development relate to emotion regulation?

Language development is strongly associated with improved emotion regulation.

• Words allow children to label feelings ("I mad!")

• Language enables children to think about emotions rather than just react

Emotion Regulation - Childhood & Social Influences

What is the key concept of reciprocal interactions in emotional development?

Emotional development is bidirectional – infants influence parents just as parents influence infants.

• Infant temperament affects parental responses

• Infant emotional expressions elicit specific caregiver behaviors

• Parental mood affects interactions

• Difficult infant behavior increases parental stress

Emotion Regulation - Childhood & Social Influences

What were the key findings of Roben et al. (2015) on maternal depression and infant negativity?

Reciprocal relationships identified:

1. Early maternal depression → infant negative reactions (depressed mothers show less sensitivity, less positive emotion, lower responsiveness)

2. Infant negativity → later maternal depression (difficult infant behavior increases parental stress, worsens depressive symptoms)
   → Creates a negative feedback cycle

Long-term effects (27 mo.): Children of depressed mothers show more negative emotionality; cumulative effects on child outcomes.

Emotion Regulation - Childhood & Social Influences

What are the clinical implications of Roben et al. (2015)?

• Early intervention is important

• Screen for maternal depression

• Support parent-child interactions

• Improve both maternal mental health and child outcomes

• Supporting mothers benefits infant development

Social Referencing & Key Paradigms

What is the still-face paradigm? What does it demonstrate?

Caregiver suddenly becomes expressionless. Infants become distressed and attempt to re-engage.

Demonstrates: Infants expect responsive social interaction

Social Referencing & Key Paradigms

What is social referencing? When does it emerge? Give an example.

Definition: The tendency to look to caregivers' emotional expressions for clues on how to respond to uncertain situations.

Emerges around 8-10 months.

Process: Infant encounters uncertainty → looks to

caregiver's expression → reads emotional signal → adjusts behavior (if caregiver shows fear → infant avoids; if joy → infant approaches).

• Examples: Visual cliff, reaction to stranger, response to new toys.

Social Referencing & Key Paradigms

Why is social referencing particularly challenging for infants of mothers with postpartum depression?

Depressed mothers show:

• Less facial expression

• More negative expressions

• Unpredictable responses

This makes it difficult for infants to get reliable emotional cues.