Chapter 10 - Emotional Development

Emotions

• combination of physiological and cognitive responses to thoughts/experiences.

• They have several components which are neural responses, physiological factors, subjective feelings, emotional expressions, and the desire to take action.

discrete emotions theory

* argues that emotions are innate and each emotion has a specific and distinctive set of bodily and facial reactions.

6 basic emotions

• happiness, fear, anger, sadness, surprise, disgust.

• Each emotion serves important survival and communication functions.

Basic emotions appear very early in life leading to support the idea that emotions may be partly ____.

innate

By the age of 7 months, initial signs of fear begin to appear as well as the ability to ____ fear in other faces.

recognize

seperation anxiety

* feelings of distress children feel when they are seperately from those they are emotionally attached to, and this tends to appear around 8 months.

_____ is an adaptive emotion as it helps marshal self-defense mechanisms and can motivate to work towards goals.

anger

Causes of anger change as children develop a _________ of other's intentions and motives.

better understanding

Sadness is an _____ emotion because it draws in attention and support from a caregiver.

adaptive

Disgust has an ___________ as it helps humans avoid potential poisons/disease-causing bacteria.

evoluntionary basis

self-conscious emotions

* emotions like guilt, shame, embarrassment, and pride that relate to our sense of self and our consciousness of other's reactions to us.

Guilt is associated with specific behaviours, but feelings of _____ are associated with self-worth.

shame

The situations likely to induce self-conscious emotions in children vary across ____ along with the freuquency.

cultures

social referencing

* use of a parent's or other adult's facial expression/vocal cues to decide how to deal with possibly threatening situations.

Children’s facility for reading other’s emotions can be determined by their _______ as those who grow up in environments with violence may develop heightened awareness to emotional cues of conflict.

environments

By age 5, children’s understanding of false emotion _______ considerably.

improves

display rules

* social/cultural group’s informal norms about when, where, and how much one should show emotions, as well as when and where displays of emotion should be suppressed or masked by displays of other emotions.

Children experience a steep increase in their understanding and implementation of display rules in ___________.

middle childhood

Social factors affect children’s understanding of display rules as cultures have display rules that reflect __________ (different rules for males and females).

societal beliefs

emotional regulation

* a set of conscious and unconscious processes used to monitor and modulate emotional experiences and expressions.

The emotional states of young infants are controlled by a process called ________

co-regulation

co-regulation

when a caregiver provides the needed comfort or distraction.

self-comforting behaviours

* repetitive actions that soothe them by making mildly positive physical sensations (sucking fingers, rubbing hands).

self-distraction

* looking away from the upsetting stimulus.

These changes are partly due to increasing ________ of neurological systems that are central to managing attention and inhibiting thought and behaviours, and because that is what adults expect them to do.

maturation

Younger children regulate emotional distress by using behavioural strategies, but older children use ________ and problem solving to adjust to emotionally difficult situations.

cognitive strategies

social competence

* the ability to achieve personal goals in social interactions while maintaining positive relationships with others.

Children who can stop inappropriate behaviours, delay gratification, and use cognitive methods of controlling their emotion and behaviour tend to be ________

well-adjusted

Children who are unable to successfully regulate their emotions are at a _________ of becoming victims of bullying compared with their peers.

higher risk

* Parent’s expression of emotion provides children with a model of _________ to express emotion

when and how

emotional socialization

* the process thorugh which children acquire the values standards, skills, knowledge and behaviours that are regarded as appropriate for their present and future roles in their culture

Culture plays a very significant role in influencing which _________ are encouraged or discouraged by parents

emotional expressions

Parents who invalidate and threaten their kids make their kids less _________ than parents who are emotionally supportive

emotionally and socially competent

emotion coaching

* the use of discussion and other forms of instruction to teach children how to cope with and properly express emotions
* children who recieve this tend to display better emotional understanding than children who do not

temperament

* the individual differences in emotion, activity level, and attention that are exhibited across contexts that are present from infancy.
* Some infants are relatively mellow and others are quite emotional and they differ in their timidity, expression of emotions and ways they deal with emotions.

3 groups of infants

1. easy babies

2. difficult babies

3. slow-to-warm-up babies

easy babies

Readily adjusted to new stiuations and quickly established daily routines and are generally cheerful or easy to calm.

difficult babies

Slow to adjust to new experiences, react negatively and intensely to new events, irregular daily routines and bodily fucntions.

slow-to-warm-up babies

Somewhat difficult at first but became easier over time as they had repeated contact with new objects, people and situations.

Temperament in _______ predicted how children were doing years later.

infancy

5 key dimensions of temperament

* fear, distress/anger, frustration, attention span, activity level, and smiling and laughter.

Parents may not always be ________ in their observations and they do not have enough knowledge of other children’s behaviour to use as basis, making parent’s reports of temperament not entirely reliable.

objective

Temperament is believed to have a strong basis in biology and genetics, but ____________ plays a role as well even from before birth (teratogens).

environment

Temperament is relatively _________ over time but it does change over time as genes switch on and off throughout development this impacts when and how temperament and behaviours that relate to it are expressed.

consistent

Temperament plays a role in development of children’s social and psychological development but it varies depending on the child’s _________ and how challenging the child is to the parent.

social environment

* A large portion of the variance in three aspects of temperament (_) was explained in heritability.

* effortful control, negative affectivity, and extraversion

goodness of fit

* How well a child’s temperament matches the demands of a particular context

differential suspectibility

* they have the same temperament characteristic that puts some at high risk for negative outcomes when exposed to harsh environment but leads them to blossom when home environments are positive.

mental health

* a sense of well-being internally (emotions and stress levels) and externally (relationships with family and peers).

* The absence of safe and healthy environments or supportive and nurturing caregivers ________ the risk of development of stress and related mental health disorders (genetics play a role too).

increases

stress

* a physiological reaction to some change or threat in the environment.

Periodic stress serves the beneficial function of ________ the child to take actions to handle the situation appropriately. However, stress can become quite problematic when children - and adults- experience it repeatedly.

mobilizing

toxic stress

* the experience of overwhelming levels of stress without support from adults to help mitigate the effects.

adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)

* traumatic experiences such as abuse, neglect, violence exposure or death of a parent
* linked to mental and physical health problems later in life.

* Experiences of toxic stress in childhood may prime children to experience high levels of stress in adulthood as well which can lead to physical health problems like _______.

severe obesity

traumatic stress

* sudden stress brought on by a sudden catastrophic event like hurricanes, or terrorist attacks.

Exposure to non-stressful environments and treatment can ______ some of the harmful effects of toxic stress and public health research is focused on preventing the circumstances in the first place.

reserve

mental disorders

* developed with exposure to repeated or tramatic stress and they are chronic negative emotional reactions to aspects of the environment or social relationships that affect daily life.

categories of mental disorders

* psychotic disorders, eating disorders, personality disorders, and behaviour disorders.

internalizing mental health disorders

* those that involve internal emotional states including depression and anxiety.

equifinality

* the concept that various causes (genetic predisposition, chaotic home, traumatic event) can lead to the same mental disorder.

multifinality

* the concept that certain risk factors do not always lead to a mental disorder (children who have been maltreated are more likely to develop depression or anxiety but not everyone does).

depression

* a mental disorder that involves a sad or irritable mood along with physical and cognitive changes that negatively affect daily life.

rumination

* the act of focusing on one’s own negative emotions and causes and consequences without trying to improve their situation and the more they do this, the more likely they are to be depression.

co-rumination

* discussing emotional problems with another person extensively, and both these acts are more common for girls than boys.

Low levels of parental sensitivity, support, or acceptance have been linked with ______ levels of depressive symptoms in children.

higher

anxiety disorders

* a set of mental disorders that involve the inability to regulate fear and worry.

Anxiety disorders are believed to involve _________ of areas of the brain associated with reaction to threat (amygdala, hippocampus brain structures, sympathetic nervous system).

overactivation

____________ has been found to be very effective in treating both depression and anxiety in children.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

Children living in disadvantaged familie are ____ likely to receive services or treatment despite having a higher rate of diagnosed mental disorders than peers.

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