Unit 10 - Emotional Development Flashcards
emotions
changes in: neural activity, physiological state, subjective experience, expressions reflecting one’s internal experience, thoughts, motivations, actions
do you feel or think about your emotions first?
we feel the affect on our physiological state before it enter our cognition to determine what that emotion is
discrete emotion theory
- basic emotions and their expressions are innate products of evolution
- each has a unique psychobiological basis and found across all cultures
- paul ekman
functionalist perspective on where emotions come from
- emotions are goal-oriented and accordingly vary by social context
- does not draw hard distinctions between emotions and their roots
- Lisa Feldman barret
- still evolving theory
what are the 6 basic emotions?
- anger
- happy
- fear
- sadness
- surprise
- disgust
happiness
expression: smiling, rasing cheeks, squinting eyes
first signs: in the first month, babies can start to smile in the REM sleep, this decreases with age
- between 3-8 weeks, smile response in a range of stimuli (social smiling)
- by 7 months, familiarity plays a role, smile at people hey normally see but not so much with strangers
- by age 1, kids can find pleasure in funny noise, appearances, language, behaviuor
fear
expression: mouth open or closed (corners are pulled backwards and down), eyes are wide open, middle eyebrow raised
first signs: little evidence in first few month (sensory systems are still developing), rely on adults to keep them safe
- develop stranger anxiety around 7-8months, will continue to intensify until year 2
- lots of variability in fearfulness (individual differences and contextual factors)
- necessary for survival (evolutionary perspective)
- develop separation anxiety (distress when one is separated from the figure of attachment), shown to increase between 8 to 15 months
anger
expression: furrowed brows, flared nostrils, square mouth, baring teeth
first signs: hard to pinpoint (can be mixed with sadness), better to use distress as the signal to say that something is wrong
- by 4 months, anger can be clearly evoked (study with baby and interrupting their goal of reaching for the toy)
- react with anger peaks between 18-24 months and has a general decline from age 3 onwards due to language skills increased, understanding others pov, and sensitivity to social norms
sadness
expression: downturned corners of mouth, lips pushed together, slightly furrowed brow
first signs: some signs in early infancy but hard to distinguish from anger (distress), starts to become evident when not being shown care
- study with toy being taken away, when they look towards their mother, most children showed sadness to elicit social support
surprise (something unpredictable has occurred)
expression: eyes wide open, arched eyebrows, mouths in O shape
first signs:
- not the same thing as the startled response, which is more of a reflex (attention-grabbing stimulus), present at birth
- when something defies your expectations, you are surprised (not a relfex), challenge to expectations< emerges over 6 months
disgust
expression: nose crinkled, nostrils flared, mouth open and lips pulled back
- important as it promotes us from avoiding things that might make up sick (avoid this)
- study with just birhted babies a sour and sweet solution to suck on, they show obvious difference in expression
- begin calling things yucky.gross early in toddlerhood
- before age 9, they often confuse disgust with anger
self0consciuos emotions
emotions related to one’s senstivity to the perception and reactions fo others and one’s perception of oneself (guilty, shame and shyness)
guilt
- focused specifically on one’s actions and thier consequences for others
- feelings of remorse, regret, empathy for other
- associated with attempts to remedy the situation
shame
- focused more broadly on one’s feeling of self-worth, inherent value
- feelings of being a failure, exposed, needing to hide
- associated with social avoidance, withdrawal, not making amends
guilt and shame in kids
- guilt increases from 2nd to 3rd year
- promote feeling guilt vs shame by focusing on behaviour not traits, guiding empathy to repair, avoiding humiliation
- cultural difference in shame and guilty
- more guilt is shown to have fewer behaviours in the future
- more shame is shown to lead to more risky behaviuors
shyness
fear, discomfort, and reticence when faced with new social situations and the potential for social evaluation
- conflict between social approach and social avoidance motivations
- starts to emerge in early middle childhood
- strong predictor of later social anxiety
temperament
the root of shyness in biology and genetics
how do children understand others emotions?
by 3 months, infants are able to distinguish happiness, surprise and anger in others by doing habituation studies
how do infants learn from others emotions?
- two age groups: 12 months and 16 months
- paired toys with videos of people expressing emotions
- when given the chance to choose a toy, 12-month-olds had no preference but 16-month-olds were more likely to choose the toys that were associated with happiness/surprise
social referencing
using facial expressions and vocal cues from others to learn how to respond to new, ambiguous, or maybe threatening situations
when can children label emotions?
- happiness by age 2
- anger, sadness, and fear are by age 3
- surprise and disgust is later in school year
emotional intelligence
ability to process information about emotions and to use the info to guide one’s thoughts and behaviours
- emotion identification
- understand why people experience emotions
- essential for effective emotion regulation
emotion socialization
acquiring the values, standards, skills, knowledge, and behaviours that are regarded as appropriate in one;s culture
how does how a parents respond to their child emotions affect them?
responding to a children’s expression of engative emotions with anger, mockery or dismissiveness is associated with:
- lower social competence
- lower sympathy
- poor stress management
- problems with aggression
reliable, supportive responding is associated with positive outcomes:
- social competence
- school success
why is exposure to emotion language important?
- more use by mother in first few years of life with promote between emotion understanding at age 6
emotion coaching
- discussing meotions with kids
- providing tips on how to cope with them
- related to higher social competence and empathy
- lower risk for depression
emotion regulation
a set of conscious and unconscious processes used to monitor and modulate emotional experiences and expressions
- newborns experience negative emotions but the only thing they know how to do is cry to signal distress
Co-regulation: emotion regulation that is facilitated by an interaction with a caregiver
emotion regluating behaviuors in infants
- self-soothing: repetitive actions to regulate arousal by giving mild positive physical sensation (thumb-sucking), will decrease over first year
- self-distraction: looking away from upsetting stimuli to reduce arousal, increases over first year
- communicating about emotions with others
emotion regulation is early childhood
- increasing with age, children start to develop self-control skills
- ability to inhibit negative bahviuors
- ability to inhibit positive emotions
Marshmallow Test
- looking at children delay of ratification
- choice between small immediate reward and a larger reward later on
- able to delay reward as the delayed rewards increased or the time they need to wait decrease, as they get older they are able to delay gratification and chose self-control
-kids have lot of difference variability in how they regulate their temptations (exposure, distraction,etc.)
- kids had the choice to have the reward covered or uncovered (3rd to 6th graders would rather cover it up as they knew about their desire to self-regulate)
temperament
individual differences in emotion, activity elvels, and attention; exhibited in a wide variety of context
- emerge in infancy and thought to be rooted in biology
what is the origin of temperament
- thomas and chess
- interviewed parents about their babies pattern of behaviour
- asked about stability of mood, reactions to new people/situations, regularity of their schedules, attention span/curiosity
- 3 categories of babies
- between-subjects approach
what are the 3 categories of babies in Thomas & Chess’s study?
Easy babies: highly adaptable, adjust quickly, show interest to novelty, quick to establish routines, cheerful, regulated, flexible, 40%
difficult babies: withdraw, hard time adapting, intense negative negative response to novelty, irregular in daily routines, fussy, emotional, irritable, cry more, 10%
slow-to-warm-up babies: withdrawn at first but warm up and adapt over time, wary of novelty but lower intensity, fairly regular in routines, low energy, shyer, not so cheery, 15%
what are the different appraoch to temperament by Rothbart?
- proposed a within-subjects approach
- wanting to look at many characteristics within a child
- breaking down temperament into several continuous dimensions
- 5 central dimensions at infancy but as you age, there are more dimensions added to your temperament (ex.shyness)
- 3 broad factors
what are the 5 central dimensions of infant temperament?
- fear
- distress at limitations
- attention span
- activity level
- smiling and laughter
what are the 3 broad factors of temperament from Rothbart?
- surgency: a tendency toward positive emotions, seeking stimulation and high activity levels
- high surgency: lots of positive emotions, enjoys physical activities, initiates social activities - negative affectivity: a tendency toward negative emotions and difficulty settling down when aroused, NOT THE OPPOSITE OF SURGENCY
- high negative affectivity: quick to sadness, many fears, frustrated when goals are interrupted, hard to soothe when upset - effortful control: the ability to focus and shift attention, inhibit impulses, and cope with low-intensity, complex and new activities
- high effortful control: resist temptations, remain attentive and content in low-stimulation, persevere through tough tasks, self-soothe when distressed, good self-regulators
how does temperament adapt over time?
- quite consistent over the course of development
- strongly influenced by genetics
- but still is plenty of room for growth and change
goodness of fit
the degree to which one’s temperament is compatible with the demands and expectations of one’s social environment
differential susceptibility
the same temperament that puts some kids at risk in negative conditions might cause them to excel in positive conditions
- dandelions do well anywhere but in high-risk environments
- orchids will flourish under supportive conditions but can struggle under difficult conditions
mental health
chdilren’s senes of psychological well-being
- internally: emotions and stress levels
- externally: in relationships with family and peers
stress
a physiological reaction to some change or threat in the environment
- evolved to help us survive immediately threats to out lives or well-being
toxic stress in childhood
the experience of overwhelming sustained levels of stress without support from adults to mitigate its effects
- results in long-lasting structural and physiological changes to the brain
sources: maltreatment, poverty, societal events
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
traumatic childhood experiences linked to mental and physical health problems later in life
study:
- looked at the relationship between ACe and mental health
- the more ACE that a person experiences, the more likely they are to suffer from things such as depression, substance abuse, cancer, heart disease, income, school success, etc.
