PSYC 2290 - Chapter 10 - Emotional Development

What are some of the functions of emotion?

Adapt to environment, avoid danger, facilitate healthy relationships, self dfeence, solicit support

Subjective feeling

how people feel internally

Physiological change and emotion

what is happening in the brain? What parts of the brain are active?

What part of the brain is active when children feel happiness?

Left cortex

What emotions do newborns feel?

pleasure and distress

Development of emotions - 2-3 mo

infants express sadness and social smiles

Development of emotions - 6 mo

infants laugh and smile more for familiar people, also express fear and stranger anxiety

Development of emotions - 4-6 mo

infants express anger - typically associated w/ frustration (not getting what they want when they want)

Development of emotions - preschool

disgust emerges

What is the first aspect of anger to develop?

Not being able to achieve a goal (ex. baby not getting something they want in the moment)

Stranger anxiety

Baby doesn’t recognice someone, continues to develop over first two years then adapt to strangers better, less afraid of strangers if baby is in a familiar context

Complex emotions - 1.5-2 yr

self conscious emotions such as pride, guilt, shame develop

Complex emotions - Guilt

child did something they should not have done, or didn’t do something they should have

Complex emotions - Shame

child often perform self-effacing behavior (put eyes down, hide face, etc)

Complex emotions - Pride

when child does something good

Adult feedback - shame

Negative effects when authority figures tie child’s (bad) performance to their worth as a person

What facilitates feelings of shame, pride, or guilt in children?

Meeting standards of success and failure

Complex emotions - 7-9 yr

emotions like regret and relief are experienced

Culture and emotional expression

different cultures focus on certain emotions, or encourage certain emotion expressions and discourage others

Reading emotions - 4-6 mo

infants are able to identity facial expressions linked to different emotions

Reading emotions - 5 yr

start to understand the types of events that lead to certain emotions and thoughts can lead to emotions, emotions can alter performance of certain tasks

Social referencing

look at other people to distinguish what a situation means

Reading emotions - elementary school

understand the concept of mixed feelings

Display rules

what emotions are appropriate to express in certain contexts

Emotional regulation - 4-6 mo

babies use simple strategies to regulate their emotions

Age and emotional regulation

As babies age they rely more on mental rather than physical strategies to regulate emotion (distractions, reappraisal, etc)

Positive influence of parents on emotional regulation

Parents that are positively responsive to child’s emotional cues have children that tend to be less fidgety, more relaxed, have more positive emotions

Negative influence of parents on emotional regulation

Negative responses of parents teaches child that feeling certain emotions are bad, will last a long time, or they will get worse. child is hard to soothe or calm down

Emotional self-efficacy

confidence that child can deal with their own emotions - child who has more of this has better ability to deal w/ charged emotional situations, has better interpersonal relationships, better conflict-resolution skills

Lower emotional regulation skills

child gets more irritated or angry/stressed when it comes to conflict, doesn’t deal well w/ frustration, doesn’t get along well with others

Temperament

This is a biologically based behavioral style that can affect a child’s environment, linked to personality

Thomas & Chess - 9 dimensions of temperament

Activity, persistence, regularity, initial reaction, adaptability, intensity, mood, distractability, sensory threshold

Activity - Temperament

typical level of motor activity

Persistence - temperament

amount of time on an activity

Regularity - temperament

routines and patterns

Initial reaction - temperament

reaction to new stimuli

Adaptability - temperament

adjustment to change

Intensity - temperament

emotional response to events

Sensory threshold - temperament

reaction to sensory stimuli

Mood - temperament

typical emotional outlook

Distractability - temperament

ability to focus

3 patterns of temperament - Thomas & Chess

Easy babies, difficult babies, slow to warm up babies

Easy babies - Thomas & Chess

usually happy, in positive mood, adapt well to new situations, have a set routine and stick to it, easy-goin

Difficult babies - Thomas & Chess

usually unhappy, don’t set up routines/patterns easily, hard time adapting to changes/new stimuli, tend to become upset and hard to soothe

Slow to warm up babies - Thomas & Chess

general mood is not a happy one, like routine, don’t like new stimuli

Rothbart’s 3 dimensions of temperament

Surgency/extraversion, Negative emotion, Effortful control

Surgency/extraversion - Rothbart

extent to which child is happy, active, involved, seeks out new stimuli, is curious, not afraid of exploring

Negative emotion - Rothbart

does a child generally have more of a negative mood? Do they get upset/angry easily? How easily are they soothed

Effortful control - Rothbart

extent to which child can focus their attention or are distractable, how much child persists at an activity, inhibiting responses

DRD4

gene on chromosome 11 linked to regulation of attention, motivation, novelty seeking, and reward

Temperament - brain activity

Amygdala becomes more active when perceiving danger, unfamiliar things, etc

Temperament & personality - Extraversion

Extraversion, activity level, novelty seeking (openness to experience)

Temperament & personality - Introversion

linked to poorer social skills, poorer conflict resolution, depression

Temperament & personality - impulsivity

have social contacts but also more prone to aggression and social conflict, depression

Goodness of fit model - Thomas & Chess

environmental response to temperament (parents, peers & teachers, etc) - whatever the child’s temperament, and environmental response that brings a more positive outcome brings a better level of goodness of fit

Bowlby’s 4 phases of attachment development

Preattachment, attachment, true attachment, reciprocal relationships

Preattachment - Bowlby

(newborn-2mo) - baby building connection based on touch, smell, sensory input

Attachment - Bowlby

(2-8mo) - children pay more attention to familiar people, more social smiles/laughing more w/ familiar people, more easily soothed

True attachment - Bowlby

(8-18mo) - more motor skills developed, see parents as safe base to explore from, stranger/separation anxiety emerges

Reciprocal relationships

(18mo+) - children begin to understand that parents have needs of their own, start to deal w/ separation easier

Moms & dads - childcare

moms spend more time in daily care

Moms & dads - playtime

dads spend more time playing w/ child

The strange situation

observe moms coming in w/ children and seeing how child reacts to new environment, then mom leaves and watch how the child reacts to her leaving, then mom comes back and see how she reacts to her return (or stranger came back and watch child react to that)

Secure attachment

comes from responsive parenting, get comfortable exploring w/ strange situation but gets anxious when mom leaves, when mom returns they want connection back

Avoidant attachment

comes from neglectful homes, don’t get as worried when mom leaves, don’t get as anxious or needy for reconnection when mom returns

Resistant attachment

comes from inconsistent parenting, take long time to go explore, visibly upset when mom leaves, ask for reconnection w/ mom but gets resistant when picked up

Disorganized attachment

comes from abusive home, babies appear confused when mom leaves and comes back, uncertain as to what to do, emotional response doesn’t match situation

Attachment stability - relationship w/ parents

sets up child to have expectations to what their parents will be like and what other relationships will be like as well

Impact of insecure attachment

Insecure attachments (neglect, emotional neglect) associated w/ problems in development of the frontal lobe, children have more difficulty reading other’s emotions, have harder time identifying their own emotions

Impact of secure attachment

Emotionally responsive parents, child can read emotions better, daycare ??wuality is not as important if parental attachment is secure