Emotions Flashcards
What do emotions represent?
An evaluative response to a situation or stimulus
What are the 3 aspects involved in emotion?
1) Physiological response
2) Cognition
3) Behaviour
What is the term used to describe the physical effects of emotion?
e.g. slightly increased pulse rate, sweaty palms, “butterflies” in your stomach when you are feeling scared
Physiological response
What is the term used to describe a subjective, conscious experience or the cognitive interpretation of physiological arousal?
e.g. anxiety vs excitement
Cognition
What is the term used to describe an overt expression of our emotions?
e.g. facial expressions of emotion
Behaviour
What term is used to describe the changes in physiology, subjective feelings, and overt behaviour due to a motivational force or action
tendency?
Emotion
Who proposed the discrete emotions theory?
Tomkins (1962) and Izard (1991)
What did Tomkins (1962) and Izard (1991) argue about emotions? (Discrete emotions theory)
1) Emotions are innate and are distinct from one another from very early in life
2) Each emotion is packaged with a specific and distinctive set of bodily and facial reactions
Which emotion theory argued that emotions are innate?
Discrete emotion theory
Which emotion theory argued that emotions are different from one another from a very early age?
Discrete emotion theory
Which emotion theory argued that each emotion has a specific and unique set of body and facial expressions?
Discrete emotion theory
Who proposed the functionalist approach to emotion?
Campos et al. (1994) and Saarni et al. (1998)
What did Campos et al. (1994) and Saarni et al. (1998) argue about emotions in the functionalist approach?
1) Emotions are not different from one another early in life
2) The environment influences emotional development
3) The basic function of emotions are to promote action toward achieving a goal
Which emotion theory argues that emotions are not innate and each emotion is not different from one another in early life?
The functionalist approach
Which emotion theory argues that the environment influences emotional development?
The functionalist approach
Which emotion theory argues that emotions have a purpose and that we learn to associate certain environments with certain emotions?
The functionalist approach
How do researchers objectively study what emotions an infant is displaying/feeling?
Coding and classifying the emotional meaning of infants’ facial expressions
How does coding identify and classify the emotions of infants?
These systems identify emotions first by coding dozens of facial cues and then by analysing the combination in which these cues are present
What are the disadvantages of coding infants’ emotions?
- It is often hard to determine exactly which emotions infants are experiencing
- It is particularly difficult to differentiate among the various negative emotions that young infants express
How can we tell if an infant is feeling happy?
1) Smiling
2) Laughing
According to White (1985), what type of smile do infants direct towards people and first emerge as early as 6-7 weeks old?
Social smile
When do social smiles emerge in infants?
As early as 6-7 weeks old
Define social smile
Smiles that infants direct towards people
At what age do infants start to laugh as well as smile during a variety of activities?
After about 3-4 months old
At what age do infants start to smile primarily at familiar people, rather than at people in general?
At about 7 months old
At what age do infants start to clown around and are delighted when they can make other people laugh?
During their second year (before their 3rd birthday)
What is the first negative emotion infants display?
Generalised distress
At what age can infants’ facial expressions of anger or sadness be differentiated from distress/pain in some contexts?
By 2 months old
At what age is differentiating between infants’ anger and other negative emotions no longer difficult?
By their 2nd year (before their 3rd birthday)
What makes the interpretation of negative emotions in infants difficult?
Infants sometimes display negative emotions that seem unrelated to the situation they are experiencing
What is the term used to describe when infants have negative emotions (anger and distress/pain) that are not differentiated in most contexts?
Undifferentiated distress
At what age do infants show clear signs of fear?
At around 6-7 months old
When do 6-7-month-old infants show clear signs of fear? Under what circumstances?
When unfamiliar people no longer provide comfort and pleasure similar to that provided by familiar people (Camras et al., 1991)
How long does a fear of strangers last for in infants?
Until about 2 years old
At what age do children display fears of other things (i.e. loud noises)?
At around 7 months old
At what age do children’s fear of other things (i.e. loud noises) start to decline?
After about 12 months old
At what age is anger likely to be distinct from other negative emotions in infants?
By 4-8 months old
At what age do children often show anger when control is taken away from them or when they get frustrated?
During their 2nd year
At what age are children better at controlling their environment?
During their 2nd year
When young children are separated from their parents for extended periods of time, they can show intense and prolonged ….?
a. Anger
b. Sadness
c. Happiness
d. Frustration
b. Sadness
What is this type of emotion?
Feelings that relate to our sense of self, and our awareness of how others react to us
Self-conscious emotions
Guilt, shame, embarrassment and pride are all examples of what kind of emotion?
Self-conscious emotion
At what age do self-conscious emotions emerge in infants?
During their 2nd year
At what age do infants feel embarrassed when made the centre of attention (Lewis, 1995)?
At about 15-24 months old
At what age do infants feel pride that is increasingly tied to their level of performance (Lewis et al., 1992)?
At about 3 years old
What type of emotion is this?
This emotion is associated with empathy for others and involves feelings of remorse, regret, and the desire to make amends
Guilt
What type of emotion is this?
This emotion is unrelated to concern about others and involves a desire to hide and be less conspicuous
Shame
What type of emotion is this?
Feeling responsible of any wrong doings you have done
Guilt
What type of emotion is this?
Not feeling any remorse for the wrongdoings you have done as trying to run away from taking responsibility
Shame
Which emotion leads to more prosocial and responsible behaviour?
a. Shame
b. Guilt
b. Guilt
Why does guilt lead to more prosocial and responsible behaviour?
Because when you feel guilty, you behave in a prosocial way to make up for the “bad” things you’ve done
How can you influence infants’ feelings of guilt and shame?
Caregivers must address the child to take responsibility for their wrongdoing rather than simply scold them or raise their voice to scare them
What did Barrett et al. find in their study of 2-year-olds’ feelings of shame and guilt?
- 2-year-olds “broke” a rigged doll
- Those who showed shame avoided the adult when they returned to the room and delayed telling them about the broken doll
- Those who showed guilt repaired the doll and told the adult soon after they returned
When do children start to become less intense and less emotionally negative?
In the preschool and early school years
What do children of school-age fear compared to children younger than school age?
School-age children’s fears are generally related to real-life important issues rather than monsters (Silverman et al., 1995)
Where does happiness come from in school-age children?
From achieving goals and acceptance by peers
What determines whether school-age children will be angered or not?
Children’s perceptions of others’ motives and intentions
Angela is 7 years old and had just started elementary school.
She sees a younger girl steal 1 cookie from a cookie jar but nothing is broken
Meanwhile, she sees another younger girl accidentally knocking down the jar of cookies
Which girl is more in the wrong, according to Angela?
a. Young girl who took 1 cookie
b. Young girl who broke the jar
a. Young girl who took 1 cookie
What emotions are younger children best at identifying?
Happiness
When do children’s ability to distinguish different negative emotions appear?
During the late preschool and early school years (Eisenberg et al.,1997)
At what age can infants distinguish certain emotional expressions such as happiness and surprise?
By 4-7 months old
At what age can infants start using social referencing to read others’ facial, gestural, or vocal cues to decide how to deal with novel or ambiguous situations?
By 8-12 months old
Who proposed that 2-year-olds can identify happy situations in stories but were less accurate in identifying sad situations?
Borke (1971)
At what age are children good at identifying happy situations in stories but are poor at identifying sad situations in stories?
2 years old
At what age are children good at identifying happy situations in stories and are also good at identifying sad situations in stories?
4 years old
At what age do children’s explanations for why peers experience negative emotions (e.g., being teased or losing a toy) somewhat similar to those of adults?
At 4-6 years old
When do children’s understanding of the difference between real and false emotions improve considerably?
From 3-5 years old
When do children develop a more refined understanding of emotional display rules?
During the preschool and primary school years
What is the term used to describe a social group’s informal norms about when, where and how much one should display emotions, and when and where one should suppress them?
Emotional display rules
What contributes to children’s understanding of display rules?
- Cognitive development
- Social factors (i.e. gender)
What type of display rules are used for the purpose of protecting another’s feelings?
Prosocial display rules
What type of display rules are used for personal gain?
e.g. pretending not to be bothered by losing a race
Self-protective display rules
Who proposed a study investigating the development of display rules in children?
Gnepp and Hess (1986)
What happened in Gnepp and Hess’ study investigating the development of display rules in children?
1) Examined children in 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 10th grade (aged approx. 5, 7, 9 and 14 years)
2) Children were presented with 4 figures, each figure displaying an emotion verbally as well as having a facial expression of an emotion stuck to their chest
3) Children were told to predict and explain what characters would feel and say in the emotion-laden situations
What did the results in Gnepp and Hess’ study investigating the development of display rules in children suggest?
1) The use of display rules increased up to 5th grade (age 9)
2) Children’s understanding was greater for verbal display rules than for facial display rules
3) Children also understood prosocial display rules better than self-protective display rules
Children’s understanding was greater for (……..) display rules than for (…….) display rules
Verbal or Facial?
- Verbal
- Facial
Children understand (……..) display rules better than (………..) display rules
Prosocial or self-protective?
- Prosocial
- Self-protective
At what age do children realise that they can feel 2 compatible emotions at the same time?
e.g. “I’m happy and excited when I have a birthday”
Between 5-7 years old
When do children realise that they (and others) can simultaneously experience positive and negative emotions related to different sources (Harter & Buddin, 1987)?
e.g. “I was happy about my grade on the test but worried about my granny in hospital”
At around 7-10 years old
At what age do children begin to understand emotional ambivalence or experience both negative and positive emotions towards the same event (Donaldson & Westerman, 1986)?
At around 10 years old
Baby Andrew is 7 months old. Which of the following is Andrew likely to express?
a) Anger when their control of the environment is taken away
b) Fear of unfamiliar people
c) Smiling at strangers
d) Guilt and/or shame
b) Fear of unfamiliar people
Baby Alice is 9 months old and is afraid of loud noises and the visual cliff. By the time she is 20 months old, she is likely to show a fear response towards:
a) Loud noises only
b) Neither loud noises nor the visual cliff
c) Loud noises and the visual cliff
d) The visual cliff only
d) The visual cliff only
Rahim smiles when his aunt gives him a coconut cake on his birthday, even though he doesn’t like coconut. What sort of emotional display is Rahim using?
a) A prosocial display rule
b) An ambivalent display rule
c) A verbal display rule
d) A self-protective display rule
a) A prosocial display rule
Rahim smiles when his aunt gives him a
coconut cake on his birthday, even though he
doesn’t like coconut. What sort of emotional
display is Rahim using?
a) A prosocial display rule
b) An ambivalent display rule
c) A verbal display rule
d) A self-protective display rule
a) A prosocial display rule
