psych248 emotional development

Question 1

what are components of experiencing emotions?

Answer 1

when experiencing emotions we :

1. undergo physiological changes i.e. increased heart rate and hormones for stress and fear
2. Subjective internal feeling of the emotion you are experiencing
3. Triggers motivation and desire to take action, beneficial or hindering behaviours
4. cognitive processes which underlie emotion

Question 2

Why do we have emotions and where do they come from?

Answer 2

1) Physiological theories: Suggest that emotion is a direct result of increase in physiological arousal
2) Cognitive theories: Physiological changes are not implicitly interpreted they undergo a cognitive analysis which then identifies which emotion you are feeling
3) Functional theories: Emotions are functional and adaptive mechanism which has a motivational component which triggers action response, or as a body language communication tool.
4) Discrete Emotions theory: That there are some basic emotions which are innate and distinguishable from one another very early in life

Question 3

What four primary emotions do babies have within the first few weeks of life?

Answer 3

1. Distress: Mechanism triggers caregiver response
2. Interest: More attentive to certain things
3. Pleasure: More content to certain stimuli
4. Disgust:

Question 4

Within the first three to six months what do babies 4 primary emotions develop into?

Answer 4

Distress:
-Anger, Sadness & Fear
Interest:
-Surprise
Pleasure:
-Happiness, smile when in social company
Disgust
-stays disgust

Question 5

What’s the difference between primary and secondary emotions?

Answer 5

Primary emotions are the basic innate emotions that a primary survival. Secondary emotions develop after 12 months of development where emotions are developed by goal attention, and environmental and social responses.

Question 6

what are examples of secondary emotions?

Answer 6

social and moral emotions like…
-Shame
-Guilt
which are negative and can be noticed by a child shrinking into themselves trying not to be seen
-Envy
-Pride
Are positive and are associated with a child’s taller stance and puffed out chest.

Question 7

The rouge test/ Mirror self recognition test

Answer 7

These secondary emotions are correlated with a child’s self awareness where they can recognise and distinguish themselves from others.

Question 8

what is the rouge test?

Answer 8

Red dot on the child’s face if they can recognise that the image is their reflection they will move to touch their face where they see the dot.

Question 9

Embarrassment test

Answer 9

self-recognition experiment, at age two they can recognise themselves in the mirror. when parent point and say the child’s name if they have self awareness they will stop what they’re doing and show signs of embarrassment.

Question 10

what has an effect on individuals behavioural signs of emotion?

Answer 10

Child temperament: Their attachment style which guides the way the respond to their environment:
Fearful distress (ability to adjust to new situations) , Irritability, Attention span, activity level, positive effect.

Question 11

what has an effect on individuals behavioural signs of emotion?

Answer 11

Child temperament: Their attachment style which guides the way the respond to their environment:
Fearful distress (ability to adjust to new situations) , Irritability, Attention span, activity level, positive affect.

Question 12

three features of temperament

Answer 12

1. consistent across situations
2. stable across time
3. present since birth

Question 13

evidence that temperament is an innate feature

Answer 13

twin studies, where identical twins have a way similar temperament then fraternal twins suggesting a biological component

Question 14

Evidence of Temperaments stability

Answer 14

NZ Longitudinal study
where they found that children with a negative temperament and respond to new situations with negative emotions have shown to grow up with lower adolescent adjustment and adult prosocial behaviours.
Other longitudinal studies found that high children with high inhibition -tendency to be higher in stress and restrained in new situations - as children grow up with a higher chance of developing anxiety, depression, social withdrawal during adulthood.

Question 15

child who act distressed at 4 months of distress …

Answer 15

child may grow up to be socially withdrawn

Question 16

child who stays calm and low motor movement to moving mobile at 4 months

Answer 16

tend to grow up a non fearful outgoing one year old

Question 17

Outgoing children show higher brain activity in one area of the brain hemisphere compared shy fearful children

Answer 17

A “Normal” child will have equally balanced neuro activity across both hemispheres of the brain

Believes that your fate is not in your genetics. Instead it is how your caregiver responds to the child’s innate temperament.

Question 18

Is temperament a fixed state?

Answer 18

No child temperament dimensions changes at different stages of development E.G incentive motivation which develops in adolescents in general. - this causes reduced self-regulation-restraint and make risky behaviours.

Caused by hormonal and cognitive development through adolescences i.e. puberty

Question 19

Temperament and fit

Answer 19

i.e.
Negative child temperament can adjust better with a supportive rather then punishing and inconsistent parenting

Children prone to negative emotions like anger grow up with a hostile or neglectful environment are likely to share the same traits in adulthood.

Question 20

understanding other’s emotions

Answer 20

children use social referencing in order to learn other people’s emotions:

Question 21

what is social referencing?

Answer 21

When you use a parent of other adult’s facial expressions or vocal tone to infer how to respond to ambiguous situations