Emotional Devlopment Flashcards
Week 7 (2 lectures) (24 cards)
What is an emotion?
Emotion is a complex psychological state that involves what you feel (subjective experience), how your body responds (physiological changes), what you do (behaviour), and how you interpret the situation (cognitive appraisal).
(Goodvin et al.,2015)
Why are emotions useful?
Emotions can be contagious, allows for positive experiences
Eckman’s 6 basic emotions
Eckman’s 6 basic emotions
- Suggest emotions can be universal
The 6: Happy, Sad, Fear, Anger, Surprise, and Disgust
Describe the development of emotions in infancy & early childhood
First 6 months of life
Birth - 6 months
First 6 months of life: Primary emotions
Basic:
Contentment= Joy
Interest = Surprise
Distress= Sadness, disgust or Anger, fear
Primary Emotions?
Primary emotions are key for survival. They are biological programmed- to signal needs (e.g. food)
Emotional develop as they get older (brains develop), due to cognitive maturation- enabling more sophisticated emotions to emerge
Ensures caregivers respond approximately- to encourage emotional development. Examples: baby smiles+ caregiver smiles back= reinforces (contingent responding) the positive experience the baby is having feedback loop)
Infant temperament matters- every baby is different. Handles daily life easily (e.g. different intensities in emotions).
Describe the development of emotions in infancy & early childhood
1 - 3 years: Secondary or self-conscious emtions
Requires: self-awareness (Saying things like I, me, we. Recognises themselves in the mirror. Appreciate they are different and separate from the world)
Emotions: Embarrassment, envy, empathy, pride, shame, guilt.
Acquisition and retention of standards and rules/ Learning and remembering rules and expectations.
Social Referencing
STUDY: “Visual Cliff” studies Maternal emotional signalling
(Kim & Kwak, 2011; Ruba & Repacholi, 2019)
Infant monitor emotional reactions in other to help define ambiguous situation, and use this info to decide how they should behave.
Develops around 9-12 months of age
Understand/explain the socialisation of emotions (focus on caregivers)
STUDY: (Fitness, 2013; Thompson, 2020)
Babies gain experience with emotions through face to face interactions
- Parents model emotions
- Babies get experience feeling, expressing, and eliciting emotions
Modeling, imitating, and reinforcing emotions
Talking to children about emotions in daily life
- “it is sad when we have to go home from the park)
The emotion coaching parent
STUDY: (Gottman et al., 1996; 2020)
R- Recognizing
U- Understanding
L- Labeling
E- Expressing
R- Regulating
… Emotions
- Regulates and values their own emotions.
- Uses children’s emotions as teaching and bonding moments.
- Recognises, accepts, and empathises with children’s emotional experiences.
- Sees negative emotions as learning opportunities.
- Supports emotional expression and understanding.
- Guides problem-solving and coping with emotional triggers.
Parent-caregiver bond involves strong emotions
Rich environment for
- Shaping emotional responses
- Teaching emotion regulation
The emotion coaching parent STUDY: (Gottman et al., 1996; 2020)
Issues with emotion dismissing
- Child not able to express emotions, don’t learn how to cope with it
- Don’t feel that their caregivers understands and empathises with them and will be able to help 1them when needed
What is emotion coaching associated with
(Katz et al., 2012)
Is associated with fewer child emotional and behaviour problems, compared with emotion dismissing
What is emotion regulation?’
SOURCE (Gross, 2014, 2022)
Process involved in initiating, maintaining, and altering emotional responses.
Down-regulating: Reducing experiences of emotions (either positive or negative)
Up-regulating: Increasing experiences of emotions (either positive or negative)
May involve regulating one’s emotions or another emotions
Emotion Generation
SOURCE (Gross, 2014, 2022)
Situation – Something happens.
Example: You get a low grade on a test.
Attention – You focus on it.
Example: You keep thinking about how poorly you did.
Evaluation – You interpret or judge the situation.
Example: You think, “I’m a failure,” or “This test was unfair.”
Response – You feel and react emotionally.
Example: You feel sad, anxious, or angry, and maybe withdraw or cry.
Then, your emotional response might influence how you focus on future situations—starting the cycle again.
Emotion Generation: 5 types of emotion regulation strategies
SOURCE (Gross, 2014, 2022)
Situation
- Situation selection: Change the situation we are exposed, changing the emotions we have
- Situation modification: In the situation, modify the situation, to modify the situation
Attention
- Attentional deployment: Being in the situation, and shifting our attention, affecting emotions
Evaluation
- Cognitive change/reappraisal: In the situation, don’t like it, revaluate how you feel about it
Response
- Response modification: Modify your emotional responses
Can intervene at different stages to modify our experiences.
Emotion Generation: 2 key types of emotion regulation strategies
SOURCE (Gross, 2014, 2022)
Cognitive reappraisal and suppression
Evaluation= COGNITIVE REAPPRASIAL
- Cognitive change/reappraisal: In the situation, don’t like it, revaluate how you feel about it
- The “better” one
Response- SUPPRESSION
- Response modification: Modify your emotional responses
Suppression (Key emotion regulation strategy)
Decreasing emotion-expressive behaviour- the outward display of emotions (facial expressions, gestures, body language, tone of voice
Using energy and effort to stop external signals of emotions
THOUGHTS:
- No impact on emotional experience; it does not make us feel better.
- Up-regulates our blood pressure; nothing supportive about it.
- Increases negative emotions and depressive symptoms.
- Reduces memory.
- Leads to less close relationships.
- Associated with higher risk of cardiovascular disease.
Cognitive reappraisal (Key emotion regulation strategy)
Change the meaning of a situation to decrease its impact- change perspective of a situation to change emotional impact
THOUGHTS
- Decreases negative emotion-expressive behaviour and experiences
- Increased positive emotions
- Decreases physiological responses
- Greater life satisfaction
- Better interpersonal relationships
BUT…
Does not work in all contexts
Cognitive reappraisal (Key emotion regulation strategy)- CONTEXT MATTERS!
Less useful when emotions are extremely intense (sheppes et al.2011)
- Low emotions = use reappraisal
- Hight emotions= use distraction
Less useful when situation can be changed (Troy et al., 2013)
Measured:
Reappraisal ability
Stressor controllability
Life stress severity
Depression levels
Findings:
With uncontrollable stress, high reappraisal = less depression
With controllable stress, high reappraisal = more depression
➡️ Reappraisal is less helpful when the situation can be changed.
How does emotion regulation develop? (infants - 2 years)
Involves a mix of self and other oriented ER strategies:
🍼 Young Infants:
- Suck thumb/dummy to soothe → downregulating
- Turn away from unpleasant stimuli
👶 1-Year-Olds:
- Move away from unpleasant stimuli / move towards pleasant stimuli
- Seek caregivers when upset → downregulating
👧 2-Year-Olds:
- Try to control actions of others and objects
- Push away scary toys or noisy peers
- Distract self
- Suppress emotions (e.g., compress lips, furrow brow)
- Symbolic regulation of distress (e.g., saying “Mummy is coming back”)
How does emotion regulation develop?
STUDY: Locked Box Task
Locked Box Task (4-Year-Olds):
A child is shown a locked box filled with desirable toys and given a fake key. The experimenter leaves, and the child tries to open the box but fails. Researchers observe how the child regulates their emotions—whether they reappraise the situation (e.g., positive self-talk) or suppress their feelings (e.g., hiding frustration).
How does emotion regulation develop? (preschool years- 6 years)
Preschool years:
- Cognitive skills for emotion regulation develop, including:
- Inhibiting responses
- Theory of Mind
- Understanding that thoughts can influence emotions
3–4 year olds:
Can use simple reappraisal strategies, but require adult support.
5–6 year olds:
Can independently use reappraisal to regulate emotions.
7–8 year olds:
Self-reports show that reappraisal reduces negative feelings in response to negative stimuli.
Socialisation of emotions
STUDY: Soccer game
Michael reappraised the situation and changed it emotional meaning
Jacob supressed the external signs of his disappointment
Tripartite Model
(Morris et al., 2007)
Demonstrates the role that parents have or families have in helping us regulate our emotions.
Observations
Parenting practices
Emotional climate of the family
Parent and child characterises
ALL = Emotion regulation
