Week 9 Flashcards
Basic Emotions
- Happiness, anger, surprise, disgust, sadness, fear, interest
- Experienced universally
- Subjective feeling
- Physiological change (blood rush to face)
- Overt Behaviour (facial expression)
Development of basic emotions
- One month: infants smile; pleasant vs unpleasant
- 2-3 months: social smiles
- 4-6 months: anger
- 6 months: fear
Which basic emotion is least understood
Disgust
Stranger wariness
Distress in presence of an unfamiliar adult
- starts around 6 months
Complex emotions
- Self-conscious or secondary emotions
- pride, shame, guilt, embarrassment
- involve feelings of success when standards or expectations are met; failure when they are not
- 18-24 months because it requires development of self-concept
Later development of emotions
- Complexity increases
- Regret and relief develop around age 9
- Context in which emotions are experienced varies: shame and guilt for actions that younger children do not feel
Cultural differences in emotional development
- Same emotions experienced universally
- Cultures differ in extent to which expression is encouraged - Asian cultures favor restrain
- Variation in what triggers pride, embarrassment and shame based on cultural contexts
Recognizing emotions
By 6 months: differentiate happy from sad face
Social referencing
in unfamiliar situations, infants look to their caregiver
Regulating emotions
ways in which one controls own emotions
Regulating emotions in infants
Infants show some regulation
- Thumb-sucking or holding security blanket
-looking away from disturbing events
- 2 way communication system develops in which infant signals distress, and when caregiver responds, distress is reduced
- infants with secure attachments have better emotion regulation
Emotional regulation through attention
Divert attention to other less emotional stimuli, thoughts, feelings
Temperament
Infants emotional reactivity & regulation
- Categorized on 9 dimensions
Easy temperament
usually happy, cheerful, adjust well to new situations, regular routines for eating, sleeping and toileting
Difficult temperament
unhappy, irregular in eating/sleeping, respond intensely to unfamiliar situations
Slow-to-warm-up
Often unhappy, but not upset by unfamiliar situations
- Subcategory of difficult temperament
Rothbarts 3 Dimensions underlying temperament
- Extraversion: happy, active, seeks intersting stimulation
- Negative affect: angry, fearful, frustrated, shy, not easily soothed
- Effortful control: Focus attention, not readily distracted, can inhibit response
Support for rothbart (2011)
- Cross-cultural evidence supports biologically based differences in determining temperament
- Parenting applications match the temperament of your baby
Heredity of Rothbart dimensions
- Negative affect more influenced by heredity
- Temperament in childhood shows higher heritability than in infancy
DRD4 Gene
- Implicated in regulating attention, motivation and reward, novel-seeking in adults
- Systems likely involved in temperament
- Some variants of DRD4 gene make individuals more susceptible to environmental effects
Kitayama et al. DRD4 gene independent vs interdependent social orientation
- Genes mediate the effect of culture on cognitive development
- Greater sense of independence in European Americans
- Greater sense of interdependence
- more pronounced in gene carriers
Attachment
Social-emotional relationship between baby and caretaker
John Bowlby: Preattachment
0-8 weeks
- recognize mother’s smell and sound
- smiles and cries to engage with caregiver
John Bowlby: Attachment in the making
6-8 weeks to 6-8 months
-Infants behave differently to familiar vs unfamiliar adults
John Bowlby: True attachment
6-8 to 18 months
- Singled out attachment figure
John Bowlby: Reciprocal relationship
18+ months
- Growing cognitive and language skills allows for a true partnership
4 types of attachment based on strange situation
Secure attachment, avoidant attachment, resistant attachment, disorganized attachment
Secure Attachment
Baby may cry when mom leaves, but when mom returns, baby is relieved
- 60 - 65%
Avoidant attachment
Baby not upset when mom leaves, and when mom returns, may ignore her by looking/turning away
- 20%
Resistant attachment
Baby is upset when mom leaves, but remains upset or even angry when mom returns; difficult to console
-10-15%
Disorganized attachment
Baby seems confused when mom leaves, and when she returns, still not responsive
-5-10%
Culture differences in attachment
- Majority of infants have secure attachment
- In cultures valuing independence children demonstrate avoidant attachment
- In cultures valuing interdependence children demonstrate resistant attachment
Developmental outcomes of attachment styles
- Secure attachment provides the foundation for future social relationships
- Secure infants have better friendships and better romantic relationships
- Insecure attachment associated with behaviour problems
Trust
To develop secure attachment, infants must develop an internal working model of caregiver’s availability and responsiveness generally, in times of stress
Types of Adult attachment
Secure, Dismissive, Preoccupied
Secure Adults
Describe childhood experiences objectively; value impact of their caregiver-child relationship
Dismissive Adult Attachment
Sometimes deny value of childhood experiences and sometimes unable to recall experiences, yet often idealize their caregivers
Preoccupied adult attachment
Describes experiences emotionally and often express anger/confusion regarding relationships
