Emotional Development Flashcards
Feeling, or affect, that occurs when a person is in a state or an interaction that is important to him or her, especially to his or her well-being
Emotion
In ** infancy**, emotions have two important roles:
- Communication with others
Through emotions, infants communicate important aspects of their lives such as joy, sadness, interest, and fear
- Behavioral organization
Emotions influence children’s social responses and adaptive behavior as they interact with others in their world
Psychologists classify the broad range of emotions in many ways, but almost all classifications designate an emotion as either:
Positive or Negative
Emotions are influenced by:
- Biological foundations
- Cognitive processes
- Person’s experiences
_____ has endowed human beings with the capacity to be emotional, but _____ and _____ provide diversity in emotional experiences
- Biological evolution
Cultural embeddedness and relationships with others
How is emotion adaptive?
- It helps individuals live more competent, enriching lives
- They can be regulated to not interfere with daily functioning and relationships
- It consists of effectively managing arousal to adapt to circumstances and to reach a goal
- It is involved in many aspects of children’s and adolescents’ development
Emotion Regulation
It involves a state of alertness or activation, which can reach levels that are too high for effective functioning.
Ex: Anger often requires regulation.
Arousal
In infancy and early childhood, regulation of emotion gradually shifts from _____ to _____.
External sources to self-initiated, internal sources
Emotion-coaching vs Emotion-dismissing
EMOTION COACHING
Parents monitor their children’s emotions, view their children’s negative emotions as opportunities for teaching, assist them in labeling emotions, and coach them in how to deal effectively with emotions
EMOTION DISMISSING
Parents view their role as to deny, ignore, or change negative emotions.
- Emotions that are present in humans and other animals
- Emerge early in life, and are culturally universal;
Joy, anger, sadness, fear, and disgust
Primary Emotions
Emotions that require consciousness and a sense of “me”;
Empathy, jealousy, embarrassment, pride, shame, and guilt
Self-conscious emotions
When do self-conscious emotions emerge?
Most appear at some point after 18 months of age when a sense of self becomes consolidated in toddlers
Researchers debate about how early in the infant and toddler years these self-conscious emotions first appear and what their sequence is
When do primary emotions appear?
Appear in the first 6 months of life
It is the _______ of the infant brain that makes it unlikely that emotions requiring thought can be expressed during the first year
Structural immaturity
How are emotional interactions between infants and caregivers mutually regulated and reciprocal?
- The ability of infants to communicate emotions permits coordinated interactions with their caregivers and the beginning of an emotional bond between them
- Infants also modify their emotional expressions in response to their parents’ emotional expressions, and vice versa
Babies’ first forms of emotional communication:
- Crying
Crying is the most important mechanism newborns have for communicating with their world.
- Smiling
Smiling is critical as a means of developing a new social skill and is a key social signal
A rhythmic pattern that usually consists of a cry, followed by a briefer silence, then a shorter high pitched inspiratory whistle, then another brief rest before the next cry.
Basic Cry
Usually incited because of hunger
- A variation of the basic cry in which more excess air is forced through the vocal cords
- Loud and harsh; like shouting
Anger cry
A sudden long, initial loud cry followed by breath holding; no preliminary moaning is present.
Pain cry
Usually aroused by high-intensity stimulus
A smile that does not occur in response to external stimuli and appears during the first month after birth, usually during sleep
Reflexive smile
A smile that occurs in response to an external stimulus, typically a face in the case of the young infant.
Social smile
When does social smile first appear? Responding to?
As early as 4-6 weeks of age in response to caregiver’s voice
One of a baby’s earliest emotions is fear, which typically first appears at about (a). _____ and peaks at about (b). _____. However, abused and neglected infants can show fear as early as (c). ______
(a). 6 months
(b). 18 months
(c). 3 months
- The most frequent expression of an infant’s fear involves _____, in which an infant shows a fear and wariness of strangers
- Emerges gradually—appears at 6 months, intensifying at 9 months
Stranger anxiety
When do infants show less stranger anxiety?
Infants show less stranger anxiety when they are in familiar settings. It appears that when infants feel secure, they are less likely to show stranger anxiety.
Infants experience fear of being separated from their caregivers. It is crying when caregiver leaves.
- Initially displayed by infants at approximately 7 to 8 months and peaks at about 15 months
Separation protest
During the first year of life, the infant gradually develops an ability to _____ the intensity and duration of emotional reactions
Inhibit/Minimize
Before infants learn to self-soothe through thumbsucking, what do they depend on at first?
Infants mainly depend on caregivers to help them soothe their emotions
What do infants do in order to reduce their arousal?
They redirect their attention or distract themselves
By 2 years of age, toddlers can use _____ to define their feeling states and the context that is upsetting them
Language
_____ can influence emotion regulation. Infants are often affected by fatigue, hunger, time of day, the people who are around them, and where they are.
Contexts
Infants must learn to adapt to different contexts that require emotion regulation
Refers to individual differences in how quickly the emotion is shown, how strong it is, how long it lasts, and how soon it fades away
Temperament
A child that is generally in a positive mood, quickly establishes regular routines in infancy, and adapts easily to new experiences
Easy Child
A child that reacts negatively and cries frequently, engages in irregular daily routines, and is slow to accept change
Difficult child
A child that has low activity level, is somewhat negative, and displays a low intensity of mood
Slow-to-warm-up child
Beginning at about 7 to 9 months, these children react to many aspects of unfamiliarity with initial avoidance, distress, or subdued affect
Inhibition to the unfamiliar
- Often begins to characterize caregiver-infant interactions when the infant is about 2 to 3 months of age.
- Results in part from many mothers’ motivation to create a positive emotional state in their infants
Face-to-face play
- Newly developed self-produced _____ allow the infant to independently initiate social interchanges on a more frequent basis
- Consequently influences infant’s push for independence
Locomotor skills
_____ and _____ help the infant to understand that other people have intentions
Joint attention - occurs when the caregiver and infant focus on the same object or event.
Gaze following
_____ with others also is a key aspect of effectively engaging with others in the social world
Cooperating
The term used to describe “reading” emotional cues in others to help determine how to act in a specific situation.
Social referencing
- The development of social referencing helps infants to interpret ambiguous situations more accurately*
Attachment theories**
Freud: noted that infants become attached to the person or object that provides oral satisfaction
Erikson: Physical comfort establishes trust
Bowlby: biologically equipped to elicit attachment behavior
Four Phases of Attachment:
From birth to 2 months: Infants instinctively direct their attachment to human figures.
From 2 months to 7 months: Attachment becomes focused on one figure, usually the primary caregiver, as the baby gradually learns to distinguish familiar from unfamiliar people.
From 7 to 24 months: Specific attachments develop
24 months onward: Children become aware of other people’s feelings and take these into account
- Use the caregiver as a secure base from which to explore the environment.
- When the caregiver departs, infants might protest mildly, and when the caregiver returns these infants reestablish positive interaction with her, perhaps by smiling or climbing onto her lap.
Securely attached children
- Show insecurity by avoiding the mother
- engage in little interaction with the caregiver, are not distressed when she leaves the room, usually do not reestablish contact with her on her return, and may even turn their back on her
Insecure avoidant children
- often cling to the caregiver and then resist her by fighting against the closeness, perhaps by kicking or pushing away.
- When the caregiver leaves, they often cry loudly and push away if she tries to comfort them on her return, then want to be held again
Insecure resistant/ambivalent children
- these babies might appear dazed, confused, and fearful
- babies must show strong patterns of avoidance and resistance or display certain specified behaviors, such as extreme fearfulness around the caregiver
Insecure disorganized children
Developmental Social Neuroscience and Attachment
In sum, it is likely that a number of brain regions, neurotransmitters, and hormones are involved in the development of infant-mother attachment. Key candidates for influencing this attachment are connections between the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and hypothalamus; the nucleus accumbens; and the neuropeptide oxytocin and the neurotransmitter dopamine.
