chapter 10: emotional development Flashcards
(39 cards)
what is an emotion
- accompanied by distinct changes in heart rate and blood pressure
- emotions can be outwardly expressed in several ways (facial expressions, body language)
- prefrontal cortex influences the conscious experience of emotion
- motivate us to engage in different types of behav.
what are basic emotions
experienced by people worldwide, and each consists of three elements:
1. a subjective feeling
2. a physiological change
3. an overt behaviour
list of basic emotions
- joy
- fear
- anger
- surprise
- sadness
- disgust
these expression ensure an infants basic needs are met, promote making connections w caregiver and others in community
video - baby human to feel 1 facial reactions
- micheal lewis lab
- infant able to express emotions
- frustration, surprise, delight, anger
- able to understand when the string is pulled something will happen
happiness
“social smile”
- begins at about 6-10 weeks (also when infants start to make out features of the human face”
- smiles encourage caregivers to smile even more
- a child’s first laugh (at 3-4 months) occurs in response to active stimuli
Anger
- increases in intensity and frequency from 4-6 months into the 2nd year
- when infants become capable of intentional behav. they want to control own actions
- young children get angry when someone blocks from achieving desired goal
fear
- increases during 2nd half of first year
- stranger anxiety
- most frequent expression of fear is to unfamilar adults
- depends on temperament
- parents are used as a secure base
what are self conscious emotions
emotions such as guilt, pride, shame and embarrassment
- involves injury to or enhancement of our sense of self
- appears at 18-24 mo
how do toddlers show shame and embarrassment
lowering eyes, hanging their heads, covering face with han ds
- dependent on culture
(ex. in china told to not call attention to success but in canada reinforces personal accomplishment)
self conscious emotions in society
- guilt is more adaptive than shame
guilt is related to better adjustment, as it helps children resist harmful impulses, motivates a misbehaving child to repair the damage they’ve done, and behave more considerately
shame used more in collectivist culture to teach right from wrong (ex. china)
social referencing
use of parents facial expression or vocal cues to decide how to deal with unfamilar situations
- infants read facial expressions to make decisions
recognizing and using other emotions
- infants are first able to identify others emotions by 4-6 months (happiness, surprise, anger)
at 12 months: stay near caregiver if he or she shows fear and will go towards a new object or person if caregiver shows no emotion
vocal cues
young children rely on their parents vocal cues, rather than facial expression s to determine if a new object or person is safe to approach
- voice conveys both emotional and verbal information
voice cues = more effective than facial cues
display rules
culture specific norms that dictate the appropriate expression of emotions
- children outwardly express an emotion that doesnt match felt emotion
ex. react with gratitude when u get a present, but if u dont like it majority of kids will show they dont
- when reach age 8: can do more successfully
regulating emotions
strategies we use to adjust the intensity and duration of our emotional reactions to a comfortable level
- requires attention focus and shifting, inhibit thoughts and behaviour
- requires voluntary, effortful management of emotions
- improves gradually w brain development
ex. telling yourself a stressful exam will be over soon
regulating emotions by age
4-6 mo: ability to shift attention and engage in self soothing helps infants control emotion
12 mo: can crawl or walk away from source of distress
2-6 yo: develop strategies for regulating emotions (e.g. closing eyes, turning away, putting hands over ears)
how caregivers affect regulating emotion responses
contingently & sympathetically = less fussy child, more positive, more interested , easier to soothe
impatiently or angrily = intensified fussiness, brain structures fail to develop, emotionally reactive
IV. Temperament
the characteristics of infants that indicate a consistent style or pattern to their behaviour
- is a precursor to the type of personality they will develop as older children
- resembles personality
- linked to school success, good peer relations, compliance with parents, depression
Mary Rothbart’s theory of temperament highlights three basic dimensions of personality:
- negative affect
- irritable distress (fussiness/anger when desires are frustrated)
- fearful distress (wariness in new situations) - surgency/extraversion
- frequency of smiling, laughing, willingness to approach and cooperate with others - attention span/effortful control
- length of time child focuses on objects and events of interest
others:
- dimensions of activity level
- biological naturation
- experiences in enciorment
Infant Behaviour Questionnaire (IBQ)
measure where infant falls on each dimension
- requires parents or other caregivers to rate the extent to which several statements characterize their infant
Children with “difficult” temperaments (i.e., scoring higher on the dimensions of irritability and fear, lower on surgency) are more likely to retain this type of temperament throughout childhood if parents are impatient and forceful with them
stability of temperament
plays an important role in determining childrens social adjustment in school
- temperament styles in early childhood often persist into middle childhood
- highly reactive to both positive and negative family enviorments
harsh parents: high behavior problems
positive family enviorment: low behavioural problems
gene x environment interaction
the same reactive temperament (associated with a specific allele pattern in the DRD4 gene) that predisposes children toward high risk for negative outcomes when exposed to a harsh home environment also causes them to thrive / blossom when home environments are positive
- genetic predisposition can put children at risk for problems, but the child’s outcome is going to depend to a large extent on their environmental surroundings
attachment
an emotional special bond between children and their caregivers characterized by mutual affection and a desire to maintain proximity
- develops around 7-9 months
- for infants first and closest is with parents
- comfort and security met
Bowlbys Ethological Explanation
attachment provides a sense of security and safe base from which to explore the world
- research showed that those seperated from their parents showed a worse emotional and behavioural outcomes compared to those that kept contact w parents
