Emotion Development_Jan2025

Developing Emotions

• Professor: Alice Jones Bartoli

• Course: Mental Health and Wellbeing I

• Date: January 2025

• Contact: a.jones@gold.ac.uk

• Student ID: 283438

• Version: Mished V4

• Module Code: PLASSE

Lecture Schedule

Week 1

• Lecture 1: What is an emotion?

• Seminar 1: Role of the environment on emotion processing

• Lecture 2: Emotion in the body

• Lecture 3: The emotional brain

• Seminar 2: Measuring emotion in the body

Week 2

• Lecture 1: Development of emotion

• Seminar 1: Emotion development

• Lecture 2: Interpersonal emotion

• Lecture 3: Introduction to assessment: Behavioral experiment

• Seminar 2: Planning your behavioral experiment

Week 3

• Lecture 1: Emotion regulation

• Seminar 1: Practicing emotion regulation

• Lecture 2: Individual differences in emotional experiences

• Lecture 3: Emotion and motivation

• Seminar 2: Emotion deception

Overview

• Examination of how emotion expression and understanding develop in early childhood

• Focus areas:

  • Babies’ expression of emotion

  • Role of relationships and environment

  • Concepts of attachment and mind-mindedness

  • Impact of early emotional development on later socioemotional functioning

  • Biological and environmental influences

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

• Describe attachment theory and evaluate its predictive utility.

• Explain how mind-mindedness fosters emotional understanding through secure attachment.

• Understand the influence of genetic and environmental factors on a child’s emotional development (e.g., temperament and abuse).

Importance of Emotions in Child Development

• Emotions crucial for social cohesion and survival:

  • Parent-infant bonds essential for infant survival

  • Learning to interpret social cues through emotions:

    • Facial expressions indicating danger (e.g., fear, disgust)

    • Eye gaze direction signaling points of interest or threats

    • Social referencing where infants look to caregivers for guidance on new objects

Are Babies Born with Emotions?

• Evidence suggests yes, with newborns showing:

  • Interest, distress, distaste, contentment

  • Question remains whether these are true emotions as understood in adults.

Developing Emotional Understanding

• Certain brain regions are prewired for processing basic emotions.

• Learning to understand, label, and regulate emotions occurs through social interactions.

• Attachment relationships are foundational for this early learning.

Significance of Love

• Defined as an enduring affectional tie (Ainsworth & Bell, 1970).

• Provides emotional security and comfort; emphasizes need for proximity and connection.

Attachment Dynamics

• Characteristics of Attachment:

  • Selective focus on specific individuals

  • Physical proximity seeking

  • Provides comfort and security, causing separation distress

  • Observable behaviors:

    • Preferential attention, touching, clinging, and emotional signals.

Theoretical Perspectives on Attachment

• Learning Accounts:

  • Attachment to the mother reinforced through basic needs (e.g., food, comfort).

• Psychoanalytic Theories:

  • Freud's emphasis on oral gratification linked to attachment

  • Harlow challenges this, showing that comfort can be more critical than food.

• Imprinting:

  • Observed in ducklings (Lorenz); suggests innate attachment processes.

• Ethological Theory:

  • Bowlby’s idea of biological predisposition for infant-mother attachment.

Case Study: The Young Thieves

• Bowlby’s 1944 study on children referred for stealing

• Noted that 14 out of 44 were affectionless due to maternal deprivation before age 5.

• Criticisms highlighted potential biases and implications for maternal roles post-war.

Assessing Attachment: The Strange Situation

• Developed by Ainsworth and colleagues to observe infant responses to caregiver separation and reunion.

Classification of Attachment Security

• Types:

  • A: Secure (60-65%): Uses caregiver as a base; exhibits distress but seeks reunion.

  • B: Insecure-Avoidant (20%): Explores freely; minimal distress during separation.

  • C: Ambivalent-Resistant (14%): Clingy and distressed; shows anger post-reunion.

  • D: Disorganized (~5%): Displays confused behavior upon caregiver return.

Criticisms of the Strange Situation

• Critiques focus on:

  • Overemphasis on mother figures

  • Variability in attachment behaviors with fathers

  • Cultural differences affecting infant behavior in testing scenarios.

Predictive Nature of Attachment

• Secure attachment linked to positive developmental outcomes:

  • Curiosity, problem-solving, social confidence, empathy, and reduced behavioral issues in later years.

Continuity in Attachment

• Complexity exists in the continuity of attachment styles across development.

• Studies suggest some stability; however, later attachment may differ from earlier experiences.

Overall Criticisms of Attachment Theory

• Concerns about simplification of attachment categories and resilience narratives.

• Emphasis on dynamic developmental processes and the individual’s unique trajectory rather than rigid classifications.

Infants as Active Participants

• Shift from 'blank slate' ideology; infants possess inherent capabilities impacting social relationships.

Mutuality in Early Relationships

• Infants are responsive to caregivers, establishing mutual connections.

• Reciprocity observed during interactions termed the 'dance' (Stern, 1971).

Developmental Milestones of Intentionality

• Around 8-9 months, children show increased intentionality and become active social participants.

Origins of Individual Differences in Attachment

• Maternal deprivation can lead to insecure attachment; however, confounding variables exist.

• Mind-mindedness in caregivers enhances responsive interactions with infants.

Understanding Mindmindedness

• Research by Elizabeth Meins highlights the importance of caregivers' communications about infants' mental states in fostering attachment.

Role of Temperament in Attachment

• Temperament may influence attachment style development:

  • Defined dimensions include surgency, orienting/regulation, and negative affect

  • Suggests genetic predispositions may impact attachment formation.

Implications of Non-Typical Development

• Early trauma and abuse can disrupt emotional understanding, leading to individual differences in emotional responses.

Impact of Trauma on Emotion Recognition

• Research indicates abused children may recognize fear and anger more quickly, showing the impact of parental behavior on emotional perception.

Developmental Cascade Model

• Addresses interaction of genetic and environmental factors in shaping emotional experiences and skills development over time.

Strategies for Supporting Development

• Emphasis on responsivity, parental warmth, and informed parenting programs to support healthy emotional development.

Further Reading

• Key studies and works on impulse, behavior, and attachment literature provide additional context for exploring child emotional development.