emotional development Flashcards
bonding
strong ties felt by parents towards their children. Developmental psychology. some believe strongest shortly after birth.
basic emotion
(primary emotion) Set of emotions present at birth or appearing within first year. Often thought to have a biological basis. Includes interest,distress,disgust and contentment (present at birth) and anger, joy, fear,surprise & sadness(develop between 2-7 months).
discrete emotion theory
states there are only limited number of original basic emotions
secondary (complex)emotion
displayed from 2 years. Include embarassment, shame, guilt, envy and pride. Sometimes called self-conscious emotions as involve damage or enhancement to our sense of self. Obviously, must develop a sense of self, first.
self-evaluative emotions
eg shame, guilt, pride. Requires both a sense of self and an understanding of the rules to evaluate one’s conduct.
shame
shame is a self-focussed emotion and not concerned for others. may cause one to view oneself negatively or hide away.
guilt
guilt is an interpretation of failure of obligations towards others.
adaptive regulation of emotions
involves maintaining or intensifying an emotion, in order to remain productively engaged. eg, parent may dwell and highlight a child’s uneasiness when broken a rule, to promote understanding of how another person has been wronged.
social regulation of emotions
acquire social emotional display rules and regulate emotions to conform (at least outwardly). By age 3, children start to be able to somewhat hide their true feelings. Continues to develop into adolescence. Learnt sooner in highly communal societies.
self-regulation of emotions
emotional arousal level is adjusted to appropriate level of intensity. 6month old boys less able than 6 month old girls. Strategies employed to reduce emotional arousal in infants is to turn their bodies away from a disliked stimulus or to suck on an object. By end of first year can rock themselves or move away from something/someone.
social references
use another’s emotion to gauge how should respond. By 7-10months infants use parents’emotional response to an unfamiliar situation, to adjust their own behaviour.By end of first year, will play with an unfamiliar toy near a smiling stranger but avoid if nearby stranger is fearful. By 2 years, often check the emotional raections of others after they themselves have appraised something , to test the veracity of their own responses.
emotional competence
consists of three components;
1. emotional expressivity (eg positive or negative emotions)(the degree to which an emotion is expressed)
2.emotional knowledge (ability to recognise and define emotions in self and others)
3.emotional self-regulation.
at age 3-4 a study found those expressing more positive emotions tended to be also more knowledgeable about emotions and better at self regulating. And those who were skilled at emotional regulation, were judged by teachers as more socially competent and as more likeable by peers.
social competence
ability to handle social interactions effectively. Being able to get along well with others, form close relationships and respond in adaptive ways in social settings.
temperament
infant personality. Characteristic way of responding emotionally and behaviourally to an environmental stimulus. Measured by qualities such as degree of: fearful distress,irritable distress, sociability,activity level,, attention span, and rythmicity (predictability of bodily functions).
Then often categorised into one of following:
1.Easy temperment:usually even-tempered, in a good mood, open and adaptable to experiences, predictable habits. 40%.
2.difficult temperament. active, irritable, irregular in habits.10%,respond to novelty with intense dislike
3. slow-to-warm up. 15%. slow to react, somewhat moody, respond to novelty with mild dislike.
Remainder 35% don’t fit a category.
goodness of fit
Thomas and Chess’ view that development is optimised when parents’ child-rearing is sensitively adapted to suit the child’s temperament.
Difficult children in the long run will do better if parents remain calm, stick to rules and for new situations, allow for adjustment over time.
