Emotions and Development Flashcards
Emotions
The instant experience of subjective significance of a situation preparing the individual for action
- The same situation may evoke different emotions and reactions
What can emotions influence?
- Whether we establish, maintain, change or terminate our relation (thoughts and feelings) to the environment
What is the Functionalist Approach to emotions?
- Emotions effect the desire to repeat a behaviour or achieving personal goals
- Emotions and environment are interrelated
- Emotions are key to all human actions, cognition, social behaviours and physical health
- Emotions contribute to self-awareness and sense of self-efficacy
- Emotional self-regulation
Adapting to physical and social worlds
Is there a link between emotions and cognitive processes?
- Yes there is
- Emotional reactions - learning, for survival
- Very evident in impact of anxiety to performance
Anxiety; impairs thinking and problem solving - Emotions are related to memory
- The relationship is bidirectional
What is the link between emotions and social behaviour?
- Dynamic interplay
- Parent-child interactions
Happy vs Crying kid - Emotional expression gets more deliberate with age
- Social referencing in absent of previous experience to a situation
What does other display?
Does emotions affect health?
- Yes, in various ways
- Psychological stress affect physical health, especially chronic stress (long-term)
Living in an orphanage - Dynamic interplay between emotions and illness
Work or school related stress
What is the link between emotions and emotional expression?
- Infants, children and adults express emotions differently
- Emotional expression is source of information
To understand infants feelings and emotions
But not a reliable source - Outward expression may not show inward feelings truthfully
What are basic emotions?
- Universal in humans
- Evolutionary importance for survival
- Infants show signs of attraction
- Emotions get clear and well organized gradually (CNS growth)
Dynamic-systems perspective
- Infants construct expression through interaction with parents
Happiness
- Smiles to laughter, social smile
Learning new things
Praise/Encouragement - Smiles to touch at first but increases
- More complex at 8-10 months
Anger
- Unpleasant experiences, often physical needs
- Intensity increases with age
Autonomy - Temper tantrums
- Develop alongside motor skills
Sadness
- Not as common as anger
- Unpleasant experiences
Deprived of care - Cries
Fear
-Hesitant to new things
- Stranger anxiety
Parent-child relationship influence
- 6-12 months
- Keeping exploration in check
- Secure base
- Cognitive development, decrease in fears around 2 years of age
What is higher-order feelings in humans?
- Self-conscious emotions
Guilt, shame, embarrassment, envy and pride - Signs around 18-24 months
- Developing inner standards
- Involves self-awareness
Parental guidance and instructions are necessary - Cultural variation
What is emotional self-regulation?
- Voluntary and effortful strategies to adjust emotional states to a manageable level to accomplish goals
- Requires certain cognitive capacities
- Active control
How does self-regulation develop in infancy?
- Emotions are too intense
Easily overwhelmed - Increase tolerance linked with prefrontal cortex development
- Parent-child interaction
Attentive to emotional needs - Language development, basic
How does self-regulation develop in early childhood?
- More verbal expression and control alongside language development
- Social references
- Parenting styles, guidance and interactions (conversations)
Ineffective parenting leads to child having harder time to calm down and being anxious and fearful
How does self-regulation develop in middle childhood and adolescence?
- Rapid gains
- Regulating negative feelings is a challenge
Social media
School performance
Family - Cognitive development leads to flexible, effective strategies or ineffective strategies
Emotional self-efficacy
Problem-solved coping
Appraise the situation
What can be changed, what is difficult
What can I do about it
Emotion-centered coping
Internal process
- Controlling distress when nothing can be done
What is emotional display rules?
-“Rules” on what type of emotional expression you should communicate
When
How
Where
How does emotional display rules develop?
- Gradually becomes aware of what is “correct”
- Influences from
Culture
Sex differences
Parenting styles
How does understanding emotions of others develop?
- Gradually but depends on age and age specific cognitive capacities
- Social referencing
- Family context, communicating and expressing emotions
- Reading emotional expression is important for survival
Appraising uncertain situations - Rapid changes during preschool years
- Often one feeling at a time, at first
Empathy
Need to understand emotions of other, take their emotional perspective and feel with what that person
- Develop in preschool years
- Important for prosocial behaviours
Sympathy
When you are concerned or feeling sorrow for those in difficult times
How does empathy develop?
- Signs in newborns who cry to another babies cry
- Gradual increase along cognitive skills
Differences
- Heritability
- Experiences
- Parents
What is temperament?
Describes someones personality or psychological traits
- Cheerful and optimistic
- Active and energetic
Linked with experience of psychological problems - Study
Reactivity
Quickness and intensity in emotional excitement & attention, and motor actions
Self-regulation
Strategies to regulate/change reactivity to a situation
What is the Goodness-of-Fit model?
- To understand the link between temperament and parenting practices
How a child’s temperament and environment jointly produce positive or negative outcomes - Adapting tasks or parenting practices to fit the child’s need
- Provide structure and clear instructions
- Provide sensitive approach when interacting with baby - linked with emotion regulation
- Parental sensitivity, clear expectations and support linked with reduced problems for the child
