L11 Emotional and Temperamental Development

What is an Emotion?

“An inferred complex sequence of reactions to a stimulus(including) cognitive evaluations, subjective changes, autonomic and neural arousal, impulses to action, and behavior designed to have an effect upon the stimulus that initiated the complex sequence” (Plutchik, 1980)

• emotion is not just a feeling, it has several components involved - change in thoughts, feeling, behaviours to respond to important events (reactions to events)

  • cognitive appraisal of situation

  • subjection emotional experience

  • physiological changes

  • impulse to action

  • behavioural response (flight vs. fight)

• e.g. snake - heart rate increases, experience fear, then flight vs. fight (anger + fear fit these situations well b/c they meet all criteria)

Is Happiness an Emotion or something else?

• happiness can be reaction to an event + happiness remains relatively stable over time, although momentary happiness varies daily

• although associated with smiling, researchers have not defined a characteristic physiological, behavioural signature to define happiness

• does not have a clear adaptive function + more closely linked to personality or overall wellbeing → doesn’t fit definition of emotion as well as others

• subjective well-being: An overall evaluation of one’s life as pleasant, interesting, and satisfying (not part of emotion criteria)

  • Life satisfaction

  • Frequent positive emotions

  • Infrequent negative emotions

Emotional Development - review

• is smiling/crying emotions or natural reactions?

• young infants express specific emotional states through facial expressions

Basic/Discrete or Primary Emotions

• Present at birth: interest, distress, disgust, contentment

• Emerge between 2 and 7 months: anger, sadness, joy, surprise, fear

• Basic emotions are biologically based and seen at similar times across all cultures

• with age, emotions becomes more connected to how they are understanding the world (e.g., excitement for being able to hold a toy) → therefore not just not biological, but also environmental + related w cog dev

Complex (Self-Conscious) Emotions

• In second year, self-conscious (self-evaluative) emotions emerge: embarrassment, shame (something wrong w me), guilt (related to self), envy, pride

• These emotions require:

  • Self-recognition (sense of self)

  • Understanding social rules and standards

Emotions and social behavior

• Emotional display rules

  • Cultural rules that guide when and how emotions should be expressed (e.g., being pleased + saying thank you even when disappointment w g

• Children learn to:

  • Express appropriate emotions

  • Suppress inappropriate emotions

• parents respond positively to positive emotions, etc. to guide how to act in certain situations

  • Western cultures: excitment + joy encouraged

  • emotional calmess + restraint may be more encouraged in other cultures

Can Facial Expressions Influence Feelings?

• hypothesis, evidence, limitation

• Facial Feedback Hypothesis

  • Facial expressions may slightly influence emotional experience. (facial expressions send feedback to brain to influence emotional experience; e.g., smiling may increase feeling of happiness, frowning may intensify feelings)

• Evidence

  • Smiling can enhance positive feelings in some situations.

• Limitation

  • People with Möbius syndrome experience emotions despite being unable to smile, showing facial expressions are not necessary for emotion (facial paralysis)

  • video:

Emotional Self-Regulation - review

• Ability to control and manage emotional reactions

• Early development (Infants):

  • Infants rely on caregivers for soothing (to regulate emotions)

• Later development (1-2 years old):

  • Self-soothing strategies emerge (turn away from unpleasant things, thumb-sucking, playing w toys) by half of 1st yr

  • Language helps regulate emotions (language development helps children express their emotions + for regulation)

Social Referencing

• Using others’ emotional reactions to guide behaviour (response)

• Typically emerges around: 7-10 months of age (when they start encountering unfamiliar situations)

• Example: Infants look to caregivers to decide whether a situation is safe or dangerous (e.g., visual cliff experiment)

Empathy and Emotional Competence

• Empathy: Understanding another person’s emotional experiences of others → motivates prosocial behaviour

• Emotional competence includes:

  • Recognizing emotions, understanding emotional causes, regulating emotions, responding appropriately in social situations

  • closely related to Emotional Intelligence (EQ) - perceiving emotions accurately, understanding them, managing them effectively

    • higher EQ - get along with peers better (less EQ may experience peer rejection, social withdrawal) → hence emotional development closely tied to social development

Measuring Emotional Intelligence, MSCEIT

• Perceiving Emotions: Correctly identify emotions expressed by people, designs.

• Understanding Emotions: Predict others’ emotional responses to situations.

• Managing Emotions: Select best strategy to regulate one’s own, others’ emotions.

• Using Emotions: Select helpful emotion for addressing a particular situation.

• each has a key aspect in how we react

• The Meyer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) assesses ability to solve problems thought to require emotional intelligence.

  • MSCEIT-type item → expressions of 2 emotions combined

Temperament - review last bit

• helps explain why children react differently in situations

• Constitutionally based individual differences in: Emotional reactivity, Motor activity, Attention and Self-regulation

  • child’s typical style for responding to an event, stimuli, etc.

• 6 Common dimensions:

  • Fearful distress (Ex., withdrawal in new situations)

  • Irritable distress (ex., crying when goals are blocked)

  • Positive affect (willingness to approach others)

  • Activity level (how physically active the child tends to be)

  • Attention span/persistence (how long the child can focus on something)

  • Rhythmicity (Predictability/ regularity of functions, e.g. eating pattern)

• some dimensions become more clear w age, like fearful distress until 6-7m

• early foundations for how personality traits will develop (but not the same as traits)

Hereditary Influences on Temperament

• Temperament has a biological basis

• Twin studies show:

  • Identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins on many temperament dimensions

  • Heritability is moderate, not absolute → Genes influence temperament, but do not determine it completely

  • temperament involves both genetics + environment

Environmental and Cultural Influences

• Environment also shapes temperament

• Shared environmental influences (e.g., family life)

  • Contribute more to positive traits like sociability, soothability

• Nonshared environmental influences (get example review)

  • Contribute more to negative traits like irritability, fearfulness

• Culture matters

  • Temperamental traits are valued differently across cultures

  • shyness viewed as a disadvantage in western cultures, but in earlier studies, in asian cultures this was seen as a sign of maturity + social appropriateness (e.g., China from collectivist → individualistic viewed outgoing children more positively)

Stability of Temperament

• Temperament is moderately stable over time

• More stable dimensions include: • Activity level • Irritability • Sociability • Positive and negative emotionality • Fearfulness

• Behavioural inhibition: Tendency to withdraw from unfamiliar people or situations (tensions, high physical arousal)

  • Often shows moderate stability over time (

• Stability is strongest at the extremes.

Thomas and Chess Temperament Profiles

• some features can be clustered into broader categories

• Thomas and Chess: three common temperament profiles

  • Easy (40%) • Positive mood • Regular habits • Adaptable to novelty

  • Difficult (10%) • Active and irritable • Irregular habits • React negatively and intensely to change + harder to soothe and require more time to adapt

  • Slow-to-warm-up (15%) • Less active, somewhat moody • Mildly negative to novelty • Adapt gradually over time (may withdraw at beginning but gradually adapt)

• Many children do not fit one clear profile

Temperament and Later Development

• Temperamental patterns can influence later adjustment (development)

• Examples:

• Difficult temperament → greater risk for behavior problems • Slow-to-warm-up temperament → greater risk for shyness or peer neglect (but does not determine development.. review)

• Goodness-of-fit model: Development depends on the match between:

  • Child’s temperament

  • Parenting style / caregiving environment - how well parenting style may match children’s developmental needs

  • highlights importance of mother’s nutrition, parenting styles, as there is a biological aspect underlying development

• A good fit supports positive outcomes.

Temperament: Key Takeaways

• refers to early individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation

• shaped by both heredity and environment (as well as parenting + culture)

• Some traits are moderately stable over time

• Behavioural inhibition is one important temperamental style

• Goodness of fit helps explain later adjustment

Attachment and Development

John Bowlby

• Attachment: a strong emotional bond between two people (in infancy, bond b/w baby + caregiver)

• Key features: Mutual affection, Desire to maintain closeness, Comfort in times of stress (securely attached infants smiles more when attached to caregiver, crawl more towards them, etc.) → meaningful, emotional relationships (just not about contact)

• Attachments are reciprocal

  • Infants become attached to caregivers

  • Caregivers become attached to infants

  • important that attachment is built gradually thru interactions

  • depends on responsive, reciprocal relationships (not just early contact or w biological families)

Interactional Synchrony

• Coordinated back-and-forth interaction between infant and caregiver (over first few months) (coordinated social exchanges)

• Features:

  • Each partner adjusts to the other (responses to signals)

  • Often described as a “dance”

  • Occurs many times each day

  • Helps attachment grow

• Examples: Mutual gaze, Smiling back, Turn-taking vocalizations

• Still-Face Procedure (Edward Tronick) - children become distressed when mother is not responding/reacting (not just about skin-to-skin touch or feeding

Phases of Attachment Development

Schaffer & Emerson, 1964

• Asocial phase (0-6 weeks): Little protest due to limited skills; responds positively to many stimuli

• Indiscriminate attachments (6 weeks–6/7 months): Prefers people > objects, but enjoys attention from many adults

• Specific attachment (7-9 months): Strong attachment to one familiar caregiver, Stranger wariness begins → (often when first real attachment occurs)

• Multiple attachments (9-18 months): Attachments expand to other familiar people

Secure Base

• A caregiver can serve as a secure base, allowing the infant to explore the environment, return for comfort when needed, balance independence + safety

  • infant uses caregiver as point of safety to gain more confidence to explore environment + surroundings; and when tired or fearful, the parent is there for comfort

  • it doesn’t make them dependent on parent in -ve way, they are able to explore more effectively due to trust in their parent; security + emotional safety supports exploration

• secure attachments are more common than insecure ones, though child-rearing traditions vary dramatically across cultures (e.g., dependence favoured in Japanese culture + there is more closeness)

• Secure attachment supports exploration

Early Theories of Attachment

• learning + psychoanalytic theory

• Do infants become attached because caregivers feed them?

  • believed that attachment arises through satisfaction of biological needs

• Learning theory

  • Food is a primary reinforcer (reduces hunger + feels pleasurable)

  • Caregiver becomes a secondary reinforcer through association (w feeding, comfort, etc.)

• Psychoanalytic theory

  • Attachment linked to oral gratification

  • Freud argued that pleasure is through sucking/feeding and because caregiver provides feeding, they become attached to the caregiver (review)

• Problem: feeding alone does not fully explain attachment → became clear through Harlow tests

Harlow and Zimmerman (1959)

• tested the feeding hypothesis

• Infant rhesus monkeys were raised with two surrogate “mothers”:

  • Wire mother

  • Cloth mother covered in soft material

• Design:

  • For some monkeys, the wire mother provided milk

  • For others, the cloth mother provided milk

• Question: Would infants prefer the one who fed them or the one who provided comfort?

Harlow’s Monkeys

• Key finding: Infants formed stronger attachment to the cloth mother, even if it was the wire mother who fed them.

• Stayed with the cloth mother most of the time, Went to the wire mother mainly to feed, Sought the cloth mother when frightened

• challenged attachment theory - for attachement, comfort is important, not just feeding

Other Theories of Attachment

• cognitive-development view

• ethological view (imprinting)

Cognitive-developmental view

• Attachment depends partly on cognitive development

• Infants must distinguish familiar people from strangers before developing attachment

• Object permanence helps support attachment (familiar people still exist when out of sight) → same age when Piaget suggested the 4th motor substage enters (where they find hidden objects according to just description)

Ethological view (Imprinting)

• Humans are biologically prepared to form attachments

• Attachment is adaptive because it promotes survival, more likely for needs to be met

• Inspired by Lorenz’s work on imprinting

  • gooselings follow first movement they say after hatching; imprinting only occurs in birds but now scientists say it occurs in a sensitive period? review

Adaptive Behaviours That Promote Attachment

• Infants show built-in behaviours that elicit caregiving

• Examples:

  • Rooting, sucking, grasping (reflexive)

  • Crying • Smiling • Cooing and babbling (social)

• These behaviors:

  • Attract care and attention • Help maintain closeness to caregivers • Support survival and later development

  • these behaviors increase likelihood of care, projection, and attachment, which in turn increases chances of survivals

Bowlby’s Ethological Theory (Human Attachment)

• Argued that both Infants and caregivers are biologically predisposed (prepared to form this attachment) to respond to each other

• Secure attachment develops through repeated responsive interactions (when parents can understand + respond to signals appropriately)

• Insecure attachment may develop when signals are not responded to consistently

• combined both biology + relationship quality (levels of responding, attention)

Attachment-Related Fears of Infancy + Explaining Attachment-Related Fears

• Stranger Anxiety

  • Fear or distress in response to unfamiliar people

  • Appears after infants form a primary attachment

  • Typically peaks around 8–10 months

• Separation Anxiety

  • Distress when separated from primary caregiver

  • Reflects strength of attachment bond

  • Typically peaks around 14–18 months (review last bit of this)

Explaining Attachment-Related Fears

Ethological Perspective

• Fear responses are biologically programmed that evolve to protect infants

• Promote survival by keeping infants close to caregivers (they are genetically predisposed to be close to caregivers)

Cognitive-Developmental Perspective

• Fear reflects advances in perception and memory

• Infants recognize unfamiliar people and missing caregivers

Assessing Attachment Security

• Strange Situation + episodes

• The strange situation procedure (Anisworht)

• Laboratory procedure used to measure infant attachment

• Consists of 8 structured episodes

  • Simulates everyday caregiver–infant interactions

  • Includes separations, reunions, and interaction with a stranger

  • assess if infant uses parent as secure base + level of distress when parent leaves + returns back

  • Infant behaviour is observed to classify attachment style that reflect the quality of emotional bonding w parents

Episodes

1. Parent and infant enter playroom

2. Infant explores while parent is present

3. Stranger enters and talks to parent

4. Parent leaves (first separation)

5. Parent returns and greets infant

6. Parent leaves again (second separation)

7. Stranger attempts to comfort infant

8. Parent returns and comforts infant

Attachment Styles-Secure (view end of video to add to notes + Caregiver Sensitivity Hypothesis)

• Secure Attachment (65% in NA samples) - associated w better social + emotional outcomes later

  • Infant explores environment when caregiver is present (use caregiver as secure base)

  • Shows distress when caregiver leaves + seeks comfort when caregiver returns

  • Quickly calms and resumes exploration

  • Comfortable with strangers when caregiver present

• Avoidant (20%)

  • Little distress when caregiver leaves

  • Avoids or ignores caregiver on reunion

  • May treat caregiver and stranger similarly

• Resistant/Anxious-Ambivalent Attachment (10%)

  • Infant remains close to caregiver

  • Limited exploration

  • Extremely distressed by separation, Ambivalent during reunion, May seek contact but resist comfort → thought to develop when parenting style is inconsistent (varying levels of responsiveness to their needs)

• Disorganized/Disoriented (5%) (review)

  • Confused or contradictory behaviour toward caregiver; May approach caregiver but then avoid or withdraw; May freeze, appear dazed, fearful, or anxious

  • Often shows distress even when caregiver is present

  • Linked to frightening, inconsistent, or highly stressed caregiving environments

Attachment and Development

• Cultural Differences in Attachment

  • Attachment patterns vary across cultures

  • Reflect cultural caregiving practices

  • Example: Amae in Japan; emphasis on dependence and closeness - show strong distress upon separation

• Fathers as Caregivers

  • Fathers can form strong attachments with infants

  • Often engage in playful stimulation (while mothers often soothe)

  • Contribute to social and emotional development

Influences on Attachment - Caregiving hypothesis

Caregiving hypothesis (Ainsworth)

• Attachment quality reflects caregiver sensitivity (behaviour that is senstitive, responsive to infant’s needs)

• Secure attachment → sensitive caregiving

• Resistant attachment → inconsistent caregiving

• Avoidant attachment → rejecting or overstimulating caregiving

• Disorganized attachment → frightening or abusive caregiving

Risk Factors for Insensitive Caregiving

• Parental depression

• Emotionally insecure caregivers

• Unplanned or unwanted pregnancies

• Financial, health, or legal stress

• Marital conflict

Temperament and Attachment review

• Temperament hypothesis

• Integrative theory

• Temperament hypothesis: Infant temperament influences attachment behaviour

  • Evidence against pure temperament explanation:

    • Infants may show different attachments with different caregivers

    • Improving caregiving can change attachment outcomes

• Integrative theory:

  • Attachment = caregiving quality + infant temperament

  • Quality of caregiving determines secure/insecure, but temperament predicts type of insecurity

Attachment and Later Development - Internal working models

Mental representations of: (internal mental relationships children develop about them self + others based on early caregiver interactions) → start to form relationships expectations

• The self (am I lovable?)

• Others (are people reliable?)

  • e.g., develops positive model of self + others (they can be trusted + provide support when needed)

• These models influence: Future relationships Emotional regulation Expectations about social interactions

• Four perspectives on close emotional relationships that evolve from the positive or negative “working models” of self and others that people construct from their experiences with intimate companionsou

Attachment: Key Takeaways

• Attachment is a strong emotional bond with a caregiver

• It develops gradually through reciprocal interaction

• Interactional synchrony helps attachment grow

• Specific attachment emerges around 7-9 months

• A secure attachment figure serves as a secure base

• Contact comfort matters more than feeding alone

• Bowlby’s ethological theory emphasizes biology + responsive caregiving

• Stranger and separation anxiety often emerge after attachment forms

Q.1 What is the central developmental claim being made? (What is being argued about development, change, or risk?)

• Kindness develops across childhood and adolescence

• It is a multidimensional construct

  • Kind emotions, Kind cognitions, Kind behaviors

• These components can be self-oriented or other-oriented

• Development is influenced by social

Q.2 What type of evidence is used? (Correlational, longitudinal, experimental, animal models, review?)

• Conceptual / theoretical framework

• Integrates findings from: Developmental studies, Longitudinal research, Prosocial behaviour research, Moral development research

• Includes evidence on: Empathy development, Prosocial behaviour, social-emotional learning interventions

Q.3 What does the article not claim? (Where are the limits, cautions, or unresolved questions?)

The article does not claim that:

• Humans are naturally born fully kind (kindness is developed thru social interactions)

• Kindness develops in a simple or linear way

• All children develop kindness at the same rate (environmental influences, culture, social relationships)

• Kindness is determined only by individual traits

• Development depends on

  • context ▪ socialization ▪ developmental capacities

Q.4 How would this evidence be misused in the media or public discourse? (Correlation vs causation, overgeneralization, determinism)

• Possible misinterpretations:

  • “Children are naturally kind or unkind”

  • “Kindness can be taught instantly”

  • “Kindness is only about helping behaviour”

  • Ignoring the role of development and context

Q.5 Which developmental lens or theory helps interpret these findings best? (Biological, learning, cognitive, sociocultural, transactional)

Cognitive lens perspective - taking moral reasoning

Sociocultural lens - socialization cultural values

Emotional lens - empathy sadness over wrongdoing

Transactional lens - interaction between child and environment

Applied Activity

• Case 1: A 12-month-old baby becomes extremely upset when their mom leaves the room. When the mom returns, the baby clings to her but also pushes her away and remains difficult to soothe.

  • Developmental Concept: Resistant (anxious-ambivalent) attachment

  • Mechanism: Inconsistent caregiving; the child cannot predict caregiver responsiveness.

  • Developmental Period: infancy - 12-18m

• Case 2: A child sees another child falls and begins to feel sad for them before helping them stand up.

  • Developmental Concept: kind emotions

  • Mechanism: Empathy and perspective

  • Developmental Period: Early childhood.

• Case 3 : A child believes: “People will help me when I need them.”

  • Developmental Concept: Positive internal working model of others

  • Mechanism: Secure attachment from responsive caregiving

  • Developmental Period: Formed in infancy but influencing later development