Lecture 7: Emotional Development

Question 1

emotion

Answer 1

a complex phenomenon that includes a subjective feeling, along with physiological changes (heartbeat), behavior (shutting the door), and cognitive assessment (justifying your emotion)

Question 2

affect

Answer 2

a positive or negative feeling state that can be more or less intense

Question 3

mood

Answer 3

a diffuse (temporary) affective state that either has no object (in contrast to an emotion) and/or generalizes beyond its original object

Question 4

subjective well-being

Answer 4

a term used to describe happiness
- a cognitive evaluation combined with affective evaluations

Question 5

primary emotions

Answer 5

emotions which can already be observed within the first 6 months
- satisfaction, interest, distress
- later changes to pleasure, surprise, disgust, sadness, anger, and fear

Question 6

self-aware emotions

Answer 6

emotions displayed when a child is 1.5 years old
- shame, pride, regret

Question 7

social referencing

Answer 7

young children adopting their parents’ emotions

Question 8

rules for expressing emotions

Answer 8

culture-specific rules about how you should and should not express emotions in certain circumstances

Question 9

socio-emotional selectivity theory

Answer 9

since elderly have less time to live, they focus mainly on fulfilling emotional needs

Question 10

positive effect

Answer 10

older adults pay more attention to positive information and remember it better

Question 11

emotions in babies

Answer 11

• social referencing
• initially have simple expressions that later become more complex
• by 1 year, they can distance themselves from unpleasant events and seek comfort
• 18-24 months, they can gain control over what upsets them and deal with it by distracting themselves

Question 12

emotions in early childhood

Answer 12

• improvement in emotional competence during kindergarten and school age
• better understanding of emotions
• better emotion regulation skills
• learning emotional display rules

Question 13

individualistic vs collectivistic cultures’ emotional display rules

Answer 13

• individualistic cultures: encourage of open expression of emotions
• collectivistic cultures: suppress self-focused emotions, encouragement of expression of other-focused emotions (e.g. empathy or shame)

Question 14

emotions in middle and late childhood

Answer 14

• improved emotional understanding
• greater ability to understand complex emotions
• rely less on reactions from others
• mental time travel
• improved suppression and hiding of emotions
• much more emotion regulation through conditioning

Question 15

mental time travel

Answer 15

children anticipate and recall cognitive and emotional aspects of events, and there is an improvement in the understanding of emotions

Question 16

emotions in puberty

Answer 16

• more extreme fluctuations in emotions
• potential ineffective emotion regulation due to difficulties at school, lower level of moral development, not able to deal adequately with stress and difficulties in relationships with peers

Question 17

emotional choices during adolescence and beyond

Answer 17

• behavioral discovery
• goals are to broaden horizons, acquire knowledge, meet new people, and take risks
• efforts to create a lifestyle that is emotionally satisfying, predictable, and manageable

Question 18

behavioral discovery

Answer 18

gathering information in preparation for a future in which it may be needed

Question 19

social priorities

Answer 19

as people get older social priorities change
- until young adulthood, people are preoccupied with leaving attachment figures and want to meet new people
- when life goals are achieved, people focus on the family and friends they have and are less interested in making new contacts

Question 20

paradox of well-being

Answer 20

the complex fact that happiness, optimism, and satisfaction with life rise sharply in later life

Question 21

causes of the paradox of well-being

Answer 21

• older people prioritize positive states of mind (positivity bias)
• watching time fly by can stimulate flow, because one still wants to accomplish meaningful actions in the world
• elderly people have less stressful lives, as they no longer have to look after children, or worry about work, and people are often nicer to older people

Question 22

integrity

Answer 22

according to Erikson, integrity is the primary task in late adulthood
- one must look back on life and be satisfied with what one has done in the past

Question 23

conflict-avoiding behavior

Answer 23

older adults prefer to use disengagement strategies to reduce emotional stress
- they ignore or avoid conflict situations (do not confront others)
- feel less emotionally disturbed by the use of disengagement strategies

Question 24

better regulation of negative emotions

Answer 24

older adults can exit negative emotional states more quickly, are less emotionally reactive to stressors, use less destructive strategies to resolve conflicts, and find negative interpersonal situations less stressful