Lecture 7: Chapter 8 – Emotional Development Flashcards
What is the emotional expression readily apparent from birth?
Crying
What are the 2 reasons why newborns cry?
- Express distress – undifferentiated protest against anything unpleasant or threatening
- E.g. Being hungry, sleepy, gassy, uncomfortable
- Quickly allows an infant to get others’ attention and care
- Was this an evolved trait to communicate?
Why can’t contagious crying be attributed to infants sympathizing with other babies?
They are too young to understand other newborns’ existence
Contagious crying is not instantaneous, but after listening to another infant crying for 2-3 minutes T or F?
T
- Over the few months following birth, infants gradually increase social reactions with others, but ______ ______ decreases
Contagious crying
What happens in infants following 8 months?
Only after 8 months do infants show signs of understanding another infant is in distress, and even then the reaction looks more like interest than concern
- In infants 18+ months old reaction to another child’s distress are greater among children who ______________________?
Have an older sibling
Infants learn to pay more attention to emotional displays by interacting with their older siblings
Crying (in infancy) in response to vaccination injection is almost _________, accompanied by ____ ____ eyes
Crying in response to vaccination injection is almost instantaneous, accompanied by tightly closed eyes
Crying (in infancy) in response to emotional events occurs ____________, with eyes _____
Crying in response to emotional events occurs after a delay and builds up, with eyes open/ partly open
Crying (in infancy) in response to fear (e.g. sudden noise) is about the same as ____ (e.g. being immobile) → can’t differentiate yet
Anger
Crying in response to fear (e.g. sudden noise) is about the same as anger (e.g. being immobile), what theory is this against?
Basic emotions theory because it states that physiological responses you exhibit should be somewhat differentiated enough that you can tell one situation from another & crying at infancy is not similar to crying as an adult because the same level of crying can be used for different emotions
Crying in response to fear (e.g. sudden noise) is about the same as anger (e.g. being immobile), what theory is this akin to ?
Component process model where you can have similar aspects across emotions but their magnitudes change slightly
Describe the emotional reactions of smiling and laughing in infancy
- Newborn will sometimes curl up corners of mouth when relaxed
- At 3 weeks, eyelids begin to crinkle, may open mouth into full grin
- Occur occasionally throughout the day, but mainly in
REM sleep, could be interpreted as from happy
dreams, or just random
- Occur occasionally throughout the day, but mainly in
At 2 months, infants begin ____ ____ mainly with ____ at first
Social smiling: smiling in response to seeing others smile
- At first begins mainly with parents/other caregivers
- Occurs much more frequently in some mother-infant pairs than in others
Social smiling corresponds with the development of _____ ____ in infants
Visual acuity
- In first few weeks infants only have blurry vision, tend to look at eyes rather than mouth
- At 6-8 weeks will start to look at people’s features more closely (ex: look at the mouth)
Why does smiling seem like more of an innate response?
Smiling occurs without need for learning, since blind at birth infants smile as much as sighted people do and in the same situations
Why is social smiling not necessary (but could help) to strengthen parent-child relationship?
- Blind children can establish an attachment just as strong
- Parents of blind children play physically with their
babies (tickling, bouncing etc.) more than parents of
sighted children - Babies respond by smiling from both play (tacile
cues) and sounds
- Parents of blind children play physically with their
Contagious crying (in babies and adults) develops slowly, while contagious laughter occurs ___ or not at all
Contagious crying develops slowly, while contagious laughter occurs quickly or not at all
What is an infant’s emotional reaction to danger called?
Moro reflex (infant startle): a sequence in which the infant flings out its arms and spreads its fingers, then contracts quickly into a fetal position with fingers bent
What 3 situations does the Moro reflex (infant startle) occur in? How does it aid the infant?
- Occurs when being dropped, hearing a sudden loud noise, or seeing large figure moving quickly toward them
- Helps infant reach out and grab onto whatever it can (e.g. an adult to prevent falling)
Moro reflex does not equal fear, why?
- Does not include prototypical facial expression of fear
- Fear requires cognitive appraisal of danger (flinching alone doesn’t count)
- After a moro reflex, infants will cry regardless of
whatever is happening
- E.g. if they start to cry at the sound of fireworks,
they will continue to cry despite the lack of
danger
- After a moro reflex, infants will cry regardless of
Fear in infancy seems to be more reactionary. T or F?
T
Expressions in newborns such as crying, smiling, startle are responses to ____ _____ _____.
Simple biological states
E.g. Crying because they are hungry or in pain, not because of hurt feelings
E.g. Smiling because they feel comfortable, not because they are happy
E.g. Moro reflex/startle in response to sudden bright lights and loud noises or when dropped, not because of fear
Emotions in response to cognitive appraisals of events occur in infancy. T or F?
F