Task 5 - Laughing and Crying

Question 1

Differential (or discrete) emotions theory

Answer 1

each emotion is innately packaged with a specific set of physiological, bodily, and facial reactions and that distinct emotions can be differentiated very early in life – similar to what Charles Darwin proposed

Question 2

Three basic affect systems

Answer 2

joy/pleasure
anger/frustration
wariness/fear

Question 3

Functionalist approach

Answer 3

a theory of emotion, proposed by Campos and others, that argues that the basic function of emotions is to promote action toward achieving a goal. In this view, emotions are not discrete from one another and vary somewhat based on the social environment → nurture

Question 4

Social smiles

Answer 4

• -> smiles directed toward people

- by the 3rd month of life babies begin to exhibit them

Question 5

Separation anxiety

Answer 5

distress due to separation from the parent who is the child’s primary caregiver – especially salient and important type of fear or distress that emerges at about 8 months of age – tends to increase from 8 to 13 or 15 months of age, and then begins to decline

Question 6

Self-conscious emotions

Answer 6

they relate to our sense of self and our consciousness of others reactions to us – this occurs during the second year of life (probably because that is when children gain the understanding that they themselves are entities distinct from other people and begin to develop a sense of self)

Question 7

Rumination

Answer 7

a perseverative focus on one’s own negative emotions and on their causes and consequences, without engaging in efforts to improve one’s situation (increases the chance of becoming depressed)

Question 8

Co-rumination

Answer 8

• extensively discussing and self-disclosing emotional problems with another person (usually a peer) – it predicts greater severity of depression and anxiety in boys as well as girls

Question 9

Emotional self-regulation

Answer 9

a complex process that involves initiating, inhibiting, or modulating the following aspects of emotional functioning:

1. Internal feeling states: the subjective experience of emotion
2. Emotion-related cognitions: e.g., thoughts about one’s desires or goals; one’s interpretation of an evocative situation; self-monitoring of one’s emotional states
3. Emotion-related physiological processes: e.g., heart rate and hormonal or other physiological reactions, including neural activation, that can change as a function of regulating one’s feeling states and thoughts
4. Emotion-related behavior: e.g., actions or facial expressions related to one’s feelings

Question 10

Social competence

Answer 10

the ability to achieve personal goals in social interactions while simultaneously maintaining positive relationships with others

Question 11

Temperament

Answer 11

Incentive motivation

Question 12

Three characteristics infants can be grouped in:

Answer 12

1. Easy babies - adjusted readily to new situations, quickly established daily routines such as sleeping and eating, and generally were cheerful in mood and easy to calm
2. Difficult babies - were slow to adjust to new experiences, tended to react negatively and intensely to novel stimuli and events, and were irregular in their daily routines and bodily functions
3. Slow-to-warm-up - babies were somewhat difficult at first but became easier over time as they had repeated contact with new objects, people, and situations

Question 13

The temperament of infants is captured by six dimensions

Answer 13

1. Fearful distress/inhibition - distress and withdrawal, and their duration, in new situations
2. Irritable distress - fussiness, anger, and frustration, especially if the child is not allowed to do what he or she wants to do
3. Attention span and persistence - duration of orienting toward objects or events of interest
4. Activity level - how much an infant moves (e.g., waves arms, kicks, crawls)
5. Positive affect/approach - smiling and laughing, approach to people, degree of cooperativeness and manageability
6. Rhythmicity - the regularity and predictability of the child’s bodily functions such as eating and sleeping

Question 14

Behavioural inhibition

Answer 14

the tendency to be high in fearful distress and restrained when dealing with novel or stressful situations – a temperamentally based style of responding characterized by the tendency to be particularly fearful and restrained when dealing with novel or stressful situations
– Children who are behaviorally inhibited are more likely than other children to have problems such as anxiety, depression, phobias, and social withdrawal at older ages

Question 15

Goodness of fit

Answer 15

the degree to which an individual’s temperament is compatible with the demands and expectations of his or her social environment – determines how children adjust

Question 16

Securely attached

Answer 16

who have high-quality, trusting relationships with their parents
children who are securely attached tend to show more positive emotion and less social anxiety and anger than do children who are insecurely attached

Question 17

Insecurely attached

Answer 17

whose relationships with their parents are low in trust and support

Question 18

Social referencing

Answer 18

their use of a parent’s or other adult’s facial expression or vocal cues to decide how to deal with novel, ambiguous, or possibly threatening situations