Chapter 10 - Emotional Development Flashcards
Describe the marshmallow test.
What is it supposed to test?
How valid is it?
What does it demonstrate?
- intended to emotional development of children
- parents give their kids a marshmellow, tell the they can have another one if they don’t eat the first one while the parent leaves the room, parent leaves the room for some time
- now valid test for emotional development
- demonstrates children’s lack of impulse control
- What made researchers notice how invalid the marshmallow test is?
- there were large discrepancies between the performances of high and low SES kids
- likely due to the low SES kids having more a scarcity mindset
What are the cognitive components that contribute to emotional intelligence?
- self awareness
- empathy
- social skills
- self regulation
- motivation
What is emotional intelligence a valid predictor for?
academic achievement
Are emotion and feeling the same thing?
no, emotion is more complex
What are the key components of emotion?
- neural responses
- physiological factors
- subjective feelings
- cognitions or perceptions
- expressive behavior or cognitive interpretations
Describe the discrete emotions theory
- we are hardwired to express 8 basic emotions
- we can express more emotions when the 8 basic emotions overlap
What is the earliest clear sign of happiness?
- smiling
At what age is smiling the reaction to external biological stimuli
3 - 8 weeks old
Is social smiling present in earliest development of positive emotions?
no
When does communicative smiling begin?
around 3 - 4 months old
When do babies begin to primarily smile at familiar faces?
around 7 months old
After 2 years of life, what is a common motivation for smiling?
when children are able to make those round them smile
What negative emotion is the generalized negative emotion displayed after birth?
generalized distress
Out of all the emotions present in early life, which is the hardest to interpret?
negative emotions
Around 4 months what evokes negative emotions
weariness to unfamiliar objects and events
Around 6-7 months, what negative emotions begin to develop?
initial fear begins, particularly fear of strangers
- fear intensifies and lasts until about 2 years old
Describe the patterns of anger in early development.
What is a potential explanation for this trend?
- drastic increase in anger around 1 1/2 years old, then steady decline
- this trend coincides with the period for language development. Anger is likely a result of the frustration of not being able to communicate effectively, and decreases as language develops
- at peak girls are angrier, as anger declines, boys general remain angrier
What is emotional regulation?
- the ability to monitor and control emotional experiences and expressions
- controlling wants and desires to dictate what you do or don’t want
Are young children able to regulate emotion? If so, how do they do it?
- they are unable to self-regulate
- instead their emotions are co-regulated by those around them (often their parents)
How does co-regulation work?
parents help infants control emotional arousal by controlling their exposure to stimulating events
How do children regulate emotions around 6 months old?
- self-soothing
- engaging in stylized or repetitive rubbing or stroking of their bodies or clothing
How do children regulate emotions between ages 1 and 2?
- behavioral self-soothing
- increasingly turn their attention to non-distressing objects or people to distract themselves from distress
Generally how does emotional regulation shift during development
- co-regulation, physical self-soothing, behavior self-soothing, cognitive self-soothing
- from early life to later life, children move from co-regulation with caregivers to increasing self-regulation through self-soothing
What past theory/ model is emotional regulation a good example of?
the overlapping wave model/ theory
What are emotional regulation abilities a good predictor of?
social competence
What are some findings on trends in social abilities of children depending on their emotional regulation abilities?
- high ER kids are well-adjusted and liked by their peers and adults
- poor-regulated kids are at higher risk of becoming victims of bullying
- well-regulated kids do better in school
Do all kids respond to regulation techniques in the same manner? what causes they to respond the same or differently?
- no, differing temperaments cause differences in responses
Define temperament
individuals differences in emotion, activity level, and attention
Describe the findings of the Stella Chess and Alexander Thomas (1977) study on child temperaments
Three general categories for baby temperaments:
1)Easy - excited, easygoing baby
2) difficult - opposite of easy
3) Slow to Warm - shy initially, but after some time they’re like the easy baby
What did Mary Rothbart’s studies on temperament comprise of? How did they collect data? What questions/ categories did they investigate?
- gave surveys to parents about their baby’s behavior to categorize their temperament into 1 of 5 categories
- survey asked questions about fearful distress, irritability, attention span, activity level, positive affectivity (smiling and laughing)
What are the researched differences in brain activity between different temperaments?
- people with overactive left frontal lobes are more social (associated with easy babies)
- people with overactive right frontal lobes are more withdrawn, fearful, and anxious (associated with difficult babies)
Are temperaments stable over time?
yes, for the most part
Do environmental factors effect a child’s emotional expression abilities?
yes, children from homes/ families where parents encourage emotional expression are better at it
