Lecture 8: Emotional and moral development Flashcards
The emergence of human emotion
Developmental psychologists seek to describe and understand which emotions develop when and how.
- Emotion expression
- Timing of appearance of specific emotions
- Emotion regulation
- Emotion understanding
- Theoretical models date to at least the 1930s.
- Brief review of recent trends: Pollak et al. (2019)
Emotion- a by product of cognition
The James-Lange theory
- Emotional experiences are inferred from cognitive appraisal of our own physiological reactions (James 1884; Lange 1885).
Physiological arousal–> perception of one’s bodily state –> Inference of a feeling based on situational clues–> Emotional feeling
What is the two factor theory? - Schachter and singer
Our experience of emotions depends on physiological arousal and our cognitive interpretation of the arousal
- Physiological arousal is generalised (the same stress mechanism is mobilised in the body irrespective of specific stressor)
- Specific felt emotions are inferred situational clues (a cognitive process)
The computer metaphor of mind 1970-1980
Information-processing models described abstract mental processes from input (stimulus event) leading to output (emotion feeling).
Neuroscience
- Research identifies what is happening in the brain when we feel emotions
- Brain imaging reveals a continous interaction between brain systems associated with emotion and what with cognition
Yes but… knowing what happens in the brain cannot tell us:
- What it feels like (qualia - subjective, conscious experience)
- The social functions of emotions.
Socialisation into emotional experiences
From infancy onwards, we learn to interpret and label emotional states including our own.
Different cultures may:
- Attach different moral values to feelings
- Have different display rules
- Have emotion labels that other cultures do not
Socialisation into emotion- parenting
Halberstadt and Lozada (2011): Parenting practices are embedded within cultural structures, beliefs, and practices about:
- Power distance (vertical versus horizontal family systems)
- Children’s place in the family and culture
- Ways children learn (beliefs about when, whether, who, how to learn what)
- Value of emotional experience and expression
Halberstadt A. G. and Lozada, F.T. 2011. Emotion development in infancy through the lens of culture. Emotion Review 3, pp. 158–68.
Boys don’t cry
- socialisation processes in relation to the display of emotions is gendered
Culture, language and emotions
The Ifaluk word fago overlaps Western concepts of compassion, love and sadness. It is used in contexts in which someone confronts another who is in need (the needy person evokes nurturing feelings in others = fago) (Ratner 2000).
Basic emotions and their expressions are universal
Ekman, 1960s onward: evidence for the universality of basic emotions
Paul Ekman- New Guinea
- Established there was a continuity of emotions
- Found the same basic emotions
- Asked the people of new Guinea questions
- From this he came up with a set of emotions which are universal
The view from evolutionary psychology
The basic emotions are…
- Adaptations enabling adequate responses to threats and opportunities in the ancestral environment.
- Strategic (track costs and benefits in given situations).
Discrete systems:
- Each has specialised in processing only certain kinds of information
- Each is associated with innate expressions, neurophysiological and anatomical substrates.
The Duchenne Smile
(‘smiling with the eyes’) is not unique to humans
–> chimps
Babies smile and laughter
- Birth-1 month: spontaneous reflex smiling.
- By 2 months: smiling in response to faces, bouncing, other forms of attention (an expression of pleasure).
- By 10 months: the Duchenne Smile.
Most of the expression repertoire can be seen in the first few months of months
What do babies’ expressions signify?
Camras and Shutter (2010)
- Infants’ facial expressions do not represent discrete emotions
- Infant’ facial expressions cannot easily be matched to the facial expressions of adults
–> Differentiation models
Hoehl and Striano (2010)
- Evidence that infants perceive discrete emotional facial expressions and are sensitive to the social context of the emotional expression
–> discrete systems models
Differentiation models
- Rudimentary physiological states present at birth are differentiated first into a few basic emotions and later progressively into self-conscious emotions.
eg. excitement –> birth
distress –> 3 months
- First proposed by Bridges (1932).
- Later elaborated by others with some slight changes.
Differential emotions theory (DET)
A discrete system model developed by Izard
- The basic emotions are innate, but their expressions develop during infancy.
- Their timing of appearance in the child’s behaviour is related to cognitive development and social experiences.
Silvan Tomkins emotion 1960s onwards
- Developed his theory of emotion 1960s onwards
Nine innate effects
- Distress-Anguish
- Interest-Excitement
- Enjoyment-Joy
- Surprise-Startle
- Anger-Rage
- Fear-Terror
- Shame-Humiliation
- Disgust
- Dissmell (reaction to bad smell/impulse to avoid – similar to distaste)
Tomkins’ script theory
- The nine affects combine with life experiences to form ‘scripts’ (tacit rules how to get positive affect and avoid negative affect).
eg. of script= the baby awakens, feels hunger and begins to cry with distress - The pattern of scripts that the individual uses to modulate affect constitutes his/her personality.
Current Status
- Contribution to understanding emotional development in infancy.
- Other theorists dispute his list of nine affects.
- Contribution to understanding how emotional experiences influence personality development.
Guilt and shame: moral development
Embarrassment, guilt, pride, and shame are a special class of emotions:
- Involve self-evaluation
- Are involved in a sense of oneself as a social-moral agent.
- Guilt, shame, and empathy have a fundamental role in moral action and therefore moral development.
Is Newborn smiling really just a reflex?
- Most textbooks still suggest that the first ‘social smile’ occurs only after the second month of life.
- But 957 parents who observed and recorded smiling in their children for a study reported the first ‘social smiles’ of their babies just after four weeks on average
- ‘Babies learn about the power of smiling early. While caregivers often smile at their newborns, this behaviour will be dependent on the baby’s state – they are less likely to smile if the baby is crying. As a result, babies quickly gain a remarkable ability to regulate the behaviour of their parents. If a baby keeps eye contact, blinks and smiles, their parent will likely smile back – making the smile rewarding’
1990s guilt
1990s: Increased focus on guilt and shame, their relation to moral development and socialisation.
Guilt in very young children may have a different significance than later in life (notions of responsibility and causality are acquired later).
Gender differences Eisenberg 2000)
- In early childhood, a link between guilt/shame and other negative emotions appears primarily in girls.
- Fear is related to guilt in male but not female toddlers (might reflect mothers’ beliefs about boys/girls).
Alessandri and Lewis (1996) : experiment in schools
- An experiment exposing preschool children to success/failure situations (solving a puzzle).
- Maltreated girls were strikingly more likely to display shame.
- Mothers might be more tolerant of sons’ mistakes.
Freud’s model of the psyche
Freud (1920s): The superego is formed by age 5 through the child’s internalisation of the parents’ moral code as part of the Oedipus Complex
Are we born good or bad?
A centuries-long philosophical debate: are humans fundamentally good or evil?
Hobbes (17th century)
- The life of man is ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.’
Rousseau (18th century)
- We are born good, but society corrupts us.
Freud (20th century)
- Humans are driven by primal sexual and aggressive instincts, which are kept under control by society.
Freud: Id- Unconsious
Basic impluses (sex and aggression) seeking immediate gratification; irrational and implusive
Operates at unconscious level
Freud: Superego Preconcious
Ideals and morals; striving for perfection incorporated from parents, becoming a person’s conscience.
Operates mostly at a preconsious level
Freud- Ego:Conscious level
Executive mediating between id impulses and superego inhibitions; testing reality; rational. Operates mainly at consious level but also at preconsious level
Whose is little hans?
A five year old boy who was afraid of horses
- Freud (1909)
–> Hans transfered his unconcious fear of his father (castration anxiety) to horses
–> This demonstates the Opedipus Complex
What is the Opedius complex
A young child’s unconscious sexual desire for the parent of the opposite sex and wish to exclude the same-sex parent. A stage of psychosexual development in 3–5-year-olds, leading to the formation of the superego.
Phallic stage (3-5 years)
- Oral and anal stages set up a pattern for solving problems in later life (see Lecture 7)
- Possession and absence of the phallus
- Oedipus complex (Electra complex)
- Identification
- Sex appropriate behaviour is seen as a by-product of identification
- Internalisation the prohibiting voice of the parent
- Super-ego, or conscious derives through the resolution of the Oedipus complex
Why developmental scientists are sceptical
- Little scientific support (see Lecture 1)
- Method was critiqued as ‘non-scientific’
BUT Freud claimed the status of ‘natural science’ - Empirical observation, recognised subjectivity, cautious, changing and evolving understandings - resonant of modern qualitative research
- However, contradictory research evidence
–> Two-year-olds begin to internalise moral codes, much earlier than Freud believed (age 4-5).
Early moral development
Emotions signal moral values to young children.
- Children begin to internalise rules in the second year of life – reflecting the toddler’s increasing ability to recognise anger and displeasure in caregivers’ reactions.
- Moral development builds partly on exposure to social reactions elicited by transgressions.
Are we born naturally helpful?
- Evolutionary theory: survival benefits of altruism.
- Tomasello and associates’ comparisons of collaboration among chimps vs. children.
Toddlers help without promoting (Warneken and Tomasello)
Are the behaviours shown by toddlers in Warneken and Tomasello’s studies recognisable as moral conduct?
- Not obviously
- Morality is closely related to notions of praise and blame, expectations of reward and punishment, and assumptions about what’s right and wrong.
- Babies and toddlers might not know any of that yet – but you could argue that their actions in helping illustrate empathy
- Traditional theories (Piaget and followers) have focused on age-typical stages in the development of moral reasoning.
Kolhberg’s stages (1960s)
- Pre-conventional level
Avoid punishment, get reward. - Conventional level
Conform to majority norms. - Post-conventional level
Individual principles of conscience, perception of laws based in a social contract.
What is Piaget’s theory
Child’s moral judgements are an aspect of cognitive development (Piaget 1932)
Stage 1: Moral realism - judgements made in view of the act’s consequences.
Stage 2: Moral relativism - judgements made in view of the actor’s intentions.
Is Kohlberg’s approach narrowly grounded in Westerm Philosophy?
Kohlberg claimed that the stages are the same across cultures.
Sneary (1985) analysed 45 cross-cultural studies.
Individualistic cultures emphasise personal rights.
Collectivist cultures stress the importance of society and community – moral outlooks that Kohlberg’s theory does not account for.
Knowing right from wrong is not the same as moral action.
Real life situations are often more complex that hypothetical dilemmas.
Moral development involves acquiring a concern for others’ wellbeing (affective empathy).
Hoffman (1970 onward)
Affective empathy and prosocial behaviour are the foundations of morality.
Empathy is evident in emotional contagion as early as 8 months of age.
I justice the only aspect of moral reasoning we should consider?
Kohlberg’s theory equates morality with justice.
Compassion, caring and interpersonal feelings play an important part in moral action.
Socialisation matters: typical parenting practices socialise differently boys and girls.
Gilligan (1982) - in Western society, women’s moral judgments are typically made ‘in a different voice’
What is emotional contagion
A tendency to ‘pick up’ others’ emotions, evident in automatically mimicking and synchronizing facial expressions, vocalizations, postures, and movements.
Summary
- Moral and emotional development are interwoven.
- Together, these reflect the child’s socialisation into a particular sociocultural milieu.
- Terms and ideas you should be able to describe:
The discrete systems view of emotions
Differentiation models of emotional development
Differential Emotions Theory (DET)
Tomkins’ script theory
Kohlberg’s theory and criticisms of it.
