Lecture 21 - Social and Emotional Development 4: Emotional Regulation and Temperament Flashcards
What is emotion?
Emotions are hard to define.
They seem to involve physiological, neural events, cognitive processes,
What some theories about why we have emotions?
Some researchers believe that emotional expression is what allows us to communicate about we are feeling to others.
Some researchers believe that emotions are what give us the incentive or desire to take action in a way that will benefit us/aid in survival.
Are feelings subjective?
Yes. Feelings are subjective.
What elements contribute to emotion?
What are some theoretical models of emotion? (We looked at four well-supported models).
Discrete Models
Functionalist Models
Cognitive Models
Dynamic Models
From a dynamic systems approach to emotion the complexity of emotions/emotional experiences develops alongside the development of other cognitive abilities.
True or false?
True.
What is emotional regulation?
Emotional regulation is the conscious and unconscious processes we engage in to monitor, modify, modulate our emotional experiences and expressions.
Is emotional regulation innate?
No. Children’s ability to to regulate their emotions is a learned skill that develops over time.
Is emotional regulation innate?
No. Children’s ability to to regulate their emotions is a learned skill that develops over time.
How does emotional regulation develop across childhood?
What happens to the development of Emotional Regulation in adolescence?
Hint: hormonal, physiological changes
What is temperament?
Temperament is how we characteristically respond to our emotions and the unfolding of life.
What are the 9 proposed dimensions of temperament?
- Approach-Withdrawal
- Adaptability
- Positive-negative mood
- Activity level
- Emotional reactivity
- Responsiveness
7, Rhythmicity - Distractibility
- Attention Span
Can temperament change over time?
Yes. Temperament can change over time, i.e be modified, however, it tends to remain quite stable for many people from infancy to adulthood.
What are long-term affects on a person’s development seen in children with difficult temperaments?
Adjustment Difficulties
Mental health struggles
Learning Problems
If intervention occurs in the early years of life for a child with a difficult temperament can their temperament be changed?
Yes.
What contributes to emotion/makes up emotion?
Physiological experiences, e.g beating heart, neural responses, e.g release of certain neurotransmitters, cognitive processes, a desire to act in a certain way, subjective feelings.
Emotions convey to what is going on for us and what we need from others.
True or false?
True.
Emotions are important for survival and our safety.
What does SUBJECTIVE FEELINGS mean?
Subjective feelings reflect that even if we have the same “events” happening in our body for a given emotion we may respond to the emotion differently. We feel different.
What are the four theories of emotion we studied?
- Discrete Models - sees emotions as distinct and experienced similarly across people
- Functionalist Models - focuses on how emotions dictate/drive our actions and behaviours and allows for individual differences between people
- Cognitive Models - focuses on the cognitive processes that arise from or generate emotions
- Dynamic Models - essentially opposite to discrete model
These models are not competing with each other necessarily. Cognitive, Functional and Dynamic models can often exist together.
According to the Cognitive Model of Emotion we engage in a primary and secondary appraisal of an antecedent.
What are the two questions that represent these appraisals?
What is happening?
What can I do about it?
Action then results from these appraisals. This feels very much like a functionalist model…
How does a dynamic model of emotion understand emotion?
Emotions are a dynamic system made up of many different elements that influence each other.
E.g physiological responses, eg heart rate, feelings, e.g, fear, thoughts, expressions of the feelings, desires and actions.
These elements are all interconnected and a change in one element will influence the other elements.
E.g. with experience she can say to herself “I have done difficult things before and I know I am capable.” These thoughts will alter her feelings, her desires, and expressions of the emotion, the physiological response.
Discrete Model of Emotion sees emotional capacity increasing over time.
Dynamic Systems Model of Emotion also sees emotional capacity increasing in complexity over time, but emphasises that this is due to experience and therefore one person’s experience of emotion will be different to someone elses.
Is this a key difference in these two models?
Yes.
