Emotional Development (1)

PSY5002M Infant & Child Development

Week 5: Emotional Development

What is Emotion?

Agreement on Structures of Emotion (Izard, 2010)

  • Neural Systems: 8.92 mean rating

  • Response Systems: 8.61 mean rating

  • Feelings/Feeling State: 7.84 mean rating

  • Expressive Behavior: 6.56 mean rating

  • Cognitive Appraisal: 6.54 mean rating

  • Cognitive Interpretation: 4.79 mean rating

Agreement on Functions of Emotion (Izard, 2010)

  • Recruits Response Systems: 8.87 mean rating

  • Motivates Cognition and Action: 8.23 mean rating

  • Organizes Responses: 7.78 mean rating

  • Monitors Events Significance: 7.77 mean rating

  • Provides Information or Meaning: 7.35 mean rating

  • Relational: 6.82 mean rating

  • Social: 6.38 mean rating

  • Controls Responses: 6.22 mean rating

  • Motivates Behavior: 4.96 mean rating

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, you should be able to:

  • Understand a child’s emotional expression, understanding, and regulation development over time.

  • Describe and evaluate evidence supporting emotional development theories.

  • Understand links between emotional development and self-awareness in children.

  • Contextualize emotional development within broader developmental psychology.

Emotional Development Process

  • Express Own Emotion: Ability to show feelings.

  • Recognize, Label & Understand Emotions of Others: Emotional intelligence.

  • Regulate Own Emotion: Control emotional responses.

Expressing Emotion

Developmental Capacity to Express Emotion

  • Evidence suggests that babies can express emotion from birth.

  • Research Findings:

    1. Adults can categorize infant photos by emotion (Izard et al., 1980).

    2. Full range of facial expressions developed in infants.

    3. Fetal facial actions in third trimester resemble postnatal emotions (Hata et al., 2013).

    4. Blind infants show emotional expressions involuntarily (Cole et al., 1989).

  • Parents can accurately interpret infants' emotions:

    • Happy baby: smiles; unhappy baby: pursed lips/crying.

Emotional Responses in Infants

Research by Steiner et al. (2001)

  • Videotaped facial expressions of 23 neonates during tasting sucrose and quinine.

    • Positive Response: Sucrose leads to positive facial affect.

    • Negative Response: Quinine leads to negative facial affect.

  • Results replicated in non-human primates suggest an evolutionary basis.

Attachment & Stranger Distress (Bowlby, 1958; 1969)

Five Stages of Attachment Development

  1. 0-2 Months: Indiscriminate social responsiveness, smiling and crying urge caregiver proximity.

  2. 2-7 Months: Attachment beginnings, smiling at primary caregivers, acceptance of strangers.

  3. 7 Months - 2 Years: Proximity seeking, separation protest, stranger fear.

  4. 2-5 Years: Goal-corrected partnership, understanding caregiver's needs, can wait for presence.

  5. School Age: Reduced proximity seeking based on internal working model of attachment.

Emotional Development Timeline

Age and Emotional Changes

  • 0 to 3 Months: Startle, disgust, distress, social smile.

  • 3 to 6 Months: Laughter, anger, interest, surprise, sadness.

  • 7 Months: Fear begins; stranger distress starts at 7-9 months.

  • 12 Months: Social referencing develops.

  • 18-24 Months: Emergence of shame and pride.

  • 2 to 3 Years: Development of envy, guilt, embarrassment.

  • 3 to 5 Years: Introduction of emotional display rules.

  • 6 to 8 Years: Recognition of sequential emotions.

  • 9 Years and Beyond: Awareness of simultaneous affective reactions.

Secondary Emotions & Self-Awareness

  • Self-Awareness: Capacity to reflect on oneself as an object (Morin, 2011).

  • Development of Secondary Emotions:

    • E.g. pride, shame, guilt, jealousy linked to self-awareness.

    • Preference for own image noted at 9-12 months.

    • Self-recognition typically emerges at 18-24 months.

Self-Recognition in Infants

  • Babies often smile and vocalize at mirror reflections.

  • Criteria for true self-recognition include understanding reflection vs reality (Brandl, 2016).

The Rouge Test (Gallup, 1970)

  • Colored mark placed on infant; self-recognition tested via gaze response in the mirror.

    • Reliable self-recognition at 18-24 months.

Display of Secondary Emotions

  • Self-conscious emotions (guilt, shame, jealousy) require integrated knowledge structures.

Shame vs. Guilt

Guilt

  • Involves empathy for others, regretful feelings, desire to undo actions (Lewis, 2016).

  • Example: Children show proactive behavior for repairing mistakes.

Shame

  • Tied to self-worth; leads to vulnerability and self-focus (Lewis, 2016).

  • Example: Children hide actions or avoid adults after mistakes.

Pride and Shame in Children

  • Positive emotion encouraging behavior; pride linked to task completion.

  • Children demonstrate pride by age 3, more frequently for difficult tasks.

Recognizing Emotions

Mother-Baby Interaction Study (Haviland & Lelwica, 1987)

  • Observations indicated babies mimic mothers' facial expressions; coordination in happy and angry expressions noted.

Peekaboo Study (Montague & Walker-Andrews, 2001)

  • Emotional response differences noted in infants presented with various emotional expressions during peekaboo.

Social Referencing

  • The practice of using others' emotional cues to navigate own emotional responses (Feinman, 1982).

Emotion Labelling in Children

Brechet et al. (2009) Study

  • Importance of language ability in labeling emotions investigated.

Montirosso et al. (2010) Study

  • Explored the impact of intensity of expressions on children's emotion labelling capabilities.

Face Masks and Emotion Recognition During COVID-19

Findings

  • Masks influenced the perception of happiness and sadness more than anger.

  • Greater exposure to masks correlated with improved recognition of masked emotions in young children.

Emotion Regulation

Definition

  • Processes involved in managing emotions and their expressions (Gross, 2015).

Importance

  • Infants rely on parental support for emotional management, while older children develop self-regulation through social learning.

Regulatory Strategies in Childhood

Findings from 2-5 Years Studies (Ratcliffer et al., 2024)

  • Significant developmental milestones contribute to emotion regulation, including increased motor function and cognitive development.

Conclusion

Summary of Key Points

  • Emotional expressions from birth; complex emotions develop later.

  • Social referencing responds to emotional cues, aiding in emotional understanding.

  • Self-recognition emerges between 18-24 months; emotional display rules become evident in middle childhood.

  • Emotion regulation is crucial for developing social skills and improving life outcomes.