2 its just emotions taking me over Flashcards
(35 cards)
Which emotions are there and when do they become visible?
crying – birth
smiling– 1st month of birth usually during sleep
social smile increase significantly – 2-6 months
duchenne smile – 6-12 months
fear– 6 months abd peaks at about 18 month
abused and neglected kids show fear as early as 3 months
stranger anxiety – gradually around 6 months and peak at 1 year
separation protrest – 15 months peak, depends on culture
4 steps of emotions and when
- expressing emotions
18 months - recognizing and interpreting emotions
3-5 month
social referencing
labeling emotional expression - understanding emotion
supports learning perspective
understanding that certain situations evoke particular emotions
ability to reflect on emotions 2-4 years
emotional knowledge 3-5 years
accurately identify emotions by 5 years - regulating emotions
fundamental to social competence
6 months (boys have it harder to contain negative emotions than girls)
year 1 develop additional ways to reduce negative arousal
emotional coaching by parents
emotional display rules
What influences differences in emotional development?
family and peers
Reciprocal emotional influence – child’s expression may influence parent’s emotions and
vice versa
* Conversations about emotions – 18-24 months start talking about emotions
* the more a 3 y.o. discussed emotional experiences with family members, the better
they were at interpreting other’s emotions and settling disputes
* Emotional expressiveness of the family members
* Pretend play – conflicts and resolution
How do children regulate their emotions? OR is there a connection between emotions and self-
regulation?
Emotional regulation and coping – during the 1st year of life, the infant develops the ability to
inhibit, or minimize the intensity and duration of emotional reactions
* Coping – thumb sucking, stroking, rocking to sleep, singing lullabies
* The caregiver’s actions influences the neurobiological regulation of emotions → reducing
stress hormone levels
* 2 years old:
1. can already redirect its attention (distraction) and distract themselves to reduce
arousal
2. can use language to describe the source e.g. “dog scare”
* Contexts can influence emotional regulation
* New demands appear when parents modify expectations
* 6-months-old can scream in a grocery store but it is less acceptable for a 2-
year-old
* How parents should respond to an infant’s cry – infants cannot be spoiled in the first year of
life, parents should always soothe the infant
How does someone understand another person’s emotions? OR what is necessary to recognize
and understand another person’s emotions?
Which function does it have to understand another person’s emotions?
emotions
subjective reaction to the environment
– feeling or affect, that occurs when people are in a state or interaction that is important to them,
especially one that influences their well-being
* Positive/negative
* Primary/secondary
emotion functions
to communicate
(especially) for children pleasant/unpleasant
Used as type of communication (for children)
Functions:
Create bonds with caregivers + others
Indicate (infants) social/biological needs
organize/regulate behavior
Influence cognitive processes
Survival (adaptation)
theories of emotions: name 3
genetic maturation perspective
learning perspective
functionalist perspective
emotion regulation + types
re-evaluation: looking from a different perspective
suppression
maintaining emotions (positive)
intensification: feel more strongly when appropriate
replacement: emotion is expressed differently externally than experienced internally
understanding emotions: how?
Influenced by biological foundations → development of the nervous system, structures of
the limbic system and brain stem
* Infants are able to show distress, excitement, rage → biologically rooted emotional brain
systems
Advances in emotional responding occur during infancy and childhood as a result of
changes in neurobiological systems (frontal region of the cerebral cortex) that can exert
control over the more primitive limbic system
* Maturation in the cerebral cortex → decrease in unpredictable mood swings and increase in
self-regulation of emotion
o Mood swings again increase in adolescence as a result of earlier development of the
limbic system, especially amygdala and the frontal cortex (reasoning and selfregulation)
* Cultural variations – role of experience in emotion – when where and how emotions should
be expressed
o Biology makes all humans emotional, but culture and relationships with others
provide the diversity of emotional experiences
understanding emotions in class notes:
3-6mths children are exposed to 32000 expressions -> communication of feelings to non-speaking child
More likely to understand positive emotions
4-5yrs + abused: recognize more negative emotions
Culture dependent interpretation of expressions
Emotional display rules (= guide on when to express what emotion appropriately)
Cultural dependent
Emotional scripts (= experienced expression of emotion –> display them again)
Social referencing (= read others’ emotional cues -> determine how to react in unfamiliar situation)
understanding emotions: why?
primary emotions
Developed very early on
* Appear in the first 6 months of an infant’s
development
* Surprise, interest, joy, anger, sadness,
fear, disgust
secondary emotions
Require self-awareness, consciousness
and sense of “self”
* Jealousy, empathy, embarrassment, pride,
shame, and guilt
* 18 months +
* Also called other-conscious emotions
because they involve emotional reactions
of others when they are generated e.g. people laughing – shame, third person – jealousy
* Controversy: some researcher’s argue jealousy does not occur until 18 months (can be
expression of frustration not jealousy in younger children)
1. Structural immaturity – unlikely the emotions that requires thought can be
experienced in the first year
2. “self-conscious” emotions don’t occur until after the 1st year
The genetic-maturational perspective
- Emotions are products of biological factors
- Individual differences in temperament → how intensely a child reacts to a situation and how
well they are able to regulate the reaction - Identical twins show greater similarity than fraternal twins in the onset of smiling
- Babies smile 6 weeks after they are born, premature babies also start smiling about the
same times cca 12 weeks after birth - Girls usually smile more than boys
Genetic-maturation: emotions are a product of biology + genetics AND how people mature > nature + nurture influence
Use twins studies to show importance of it
Temperament
The learning perspective
Parents can help their child learn to manage and understand their emotions by rewarding
only certain types of emotional displays
* Explains individual differences in emotional expression – based on environment where they
are raised
* Parental styles (dismissing or emotional coaching)
* Operational conditioning – climbing a ladder and painful fall
* Observational conditioning – Imitation of mother’s reaction e.g. to a bee → “I should fear
this when mom does”
expressive emotions are learned from parents/environment + emotional conditioning > nurture influence
The functionalist perspective
- Emotions help us achieve our goals and adapt to our environment
- Emotional responses cannot be separated from the situations in which they were evoked
- Past experiences influence emotional expression e.g. traumatic experience – avoiding
those situations - Implications:
1. Emotions are relational rather than strictly internal, intrapsychic phenomena - Parent’s facial expression influences whether a child will explore an unfamiliar
environment - When a positive mood is induced in a child → more likely to comply with
parent’s directions
2. Emotions are linked with an individual’s goals in variety of ways - Individuals who overcome and obstacle to achieve a goal → happiness
- Individual who must abandons a goal → sadness
- One that experiences obstacles to achieve a goal → frustration
Functionalist perspective is most predominant – but the interplay of all is important
nature + nurture
Emotions are relational (affected by others)
Personal goals affect you (positive feelings when goals are achieved, negative feelings when opposite)
Evolutionary to adapt to environment
!!Biological + environmental factors both play a role in the development of a child!!
social referencing
7-10 months ability to recognize and interpret emotional expressions
* Monitoring parents facial expression to uncertain situation for regulating their
own behavior
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* 2
nd year – often look at the parent after they have done something or reacted
→ parents emotional reaction as information to assess the accuracy of their
own judgement
Labeling emotional expressions
lousy before year 3, during 4-5 begin to correctly
infer whether a person is happy, angry or sad from body movements
emotional display rules
specify circumstances under which various emotions
should or should not be expressed
* Children acquire and use them in order to get along with other people and to
maintain their approval
* Babies learn to display more pleasant faces and fewer unpleasant ones
* Girls generally more motivated and skilled at complying with rules than boys
* Depends on the culture
* Disorder: autism – Theory of mind (difficulty with empathy)
* antisocial personality disorder → conduct
Which important emotional milestones occur during infancy, early childhood, middle and late childhood,
3 components of emotional competence
Competent emotional expressivity - frequent expressions of more positive emotions and relatively infrequent displays of negative emotions
Competent emotional knowledge - ability to correctly identify other people’s feelings and factors responsible for those emotions
Competent emotional regulation - ability to adjust one’s experience and expression of emotional arousal to an appropriate level of intensity of successfully achieve one’s goal
happiness
primary
End of 1mth
Reflex smile: from birth (no stimuli)
Social smile: 4-6wks (external stimuli)
Duchenne: eye smile at 6-12mths
*after 7mths smiles are for pleasure
*2nd yr awareness of social smile meaning
usefulness:
Social signal
Feedback to caregiver
sadness
primary
Right after birth
*2-7mths for actual sadness
Basic cry: hunger/birth
Anger cry: frustration
Pain cry: painful stimuli
usefulness: Indicating comfort/chaos
Communication
