Lecture 21 - Social and Emotional Development 4: Emotional Regulation and Temperament

Question 1

What is emotion?

Answer 1

Emotions are hard to define.
They seem to involve physiological, neural events, cognitive processes,

Question 2

What some theories about why we have emotions?

Answer 2

Some researchers believe that emotional expression is what allows us to communicate about we are feeling to others.
Some researchers believe that emotions are what give us the incentive or desire to take action in a way that will benefit us/aid in survival.

Question 3

Are feelings subjective?

Answer 3

Yes. Feelings are subjective.

Question 4

What elements contribute to emotion?

Question 5

What are some theoretical models of emotion? (We looked at four well-supported models).

Answer 5

Discrete Models
Functionalist Models
Cognitive Models
Dynamic Models

Question 6

From a dynamic systems approach to emotion the complexity of emotions/emotional experiences develops alongside the development of other cognitive abilities.

True or false?

Answer 6

True.

Question 7

What is emotional regulation?

Answer 7

Emotional regulation is the conscious and unconscious processes we engage in to monitor, modify, modulate our emotional experiences and expressions.

Question 8

Is emotional regulation innate?

Answer 8

No. Children’s ability to to regulate their emotions is a learned skill that develops over time.

Question 9

Is emotional regulation innate?

Answer 9

No. Children’s ability to to regulate their emotions is a learned skill that develops over time.

Question 10

How does emotional regulation develop across childhood?

Question 11

What happens to the development of Emotional Regulation in adolescence?

Hint: hormonal, physiological changes

Question 12

What is temperament?

Answer 12

Temperament is how we characteristically respond to our emotions and the unfolding of life.

Question 13

What are the 9 proposed dimensions of temperament?

Answer 13

1. Approach-Withdrawal
2. Adaptability
3. Positive-negative mood
4. Activity level
5. Emotional reactivity
6. Responsiveness
   7, Rhythmicity
7. Distractibility
8. Attention Span

Question 14

Can temperament change over time?

Answer 14

Yes. Temperament can change over time, i.e be modified, however, it tends to remain quite stable for many people from infancy to adulthood.

Question 15

What are long-term affects on a person’s development seen in children with difficult temperaments?

Answer 15

Adjustment Difficulties
Mental health struggles
Learning Problems

Question 16

If intervention occurs in the early years of life for a child with a difficult temperament can their temperament be changed?

Answer 16

Yes.

Question 17

What contributes to emotion/makes up emotion?

Answer 17

Physiological experiences, e.g beating heart, neural responses, e.g release of certain neurotransmitters, cognitive processes, a desire to act in a certain way, subjective feelings.

Question 18

Emotions convey to what is going on for us and what we need from others.

True or false?

Answer 18

True.

Question 19

Emotions are important for survival and our safety.

Question 20

What does SUBJECTIVE FEELINGS mean?

Answer 20

Subjective feelings reflect that even if we have the same “events” happening in our body for a given emotion we may respond to the emotion differently. We feel different.

Question 21

What are the four theories of emotion we studied?

Answer 21

1. Discrete Models - sees emotions as distinct and experienced similarly across people
2. Functionalist Models - focuses on how emotions dictate/drive our actions and behaviours and allows for individual differences between people
3. Cognitive Models - focuses on the cognitive processes that arise from or generate emotions
4. Dynamic Models - essentially opposite to discrete model
   These models are not competing with each other necessarily. Cognitive, Functional and Dynamic models can often exist together.

Question 22

According to the Cognitive Model of Emotion we engage in a primary and secondary appraisal of an antecedent.
What are the two questions that represent these appraisals?

Answer 22

What is happening?

What can I do about it?

Action then results from these appraisals. This feels very much like a functionalist model…

Question 23

How does a dynamic model of emotion understand emotion?

Answer 23

Emotions are a dynamic system made up of many different elements that influence each other.
E.g physiological responses, eg heart rate, feelings, e.g, fear, thoughts, expressions of the feelings, desires and actions.
These elements are all interconnected and a change in one element will influence the other elements.
E.g. with experience she can say to herself “I have done difficult things before and I know I am capable.” These thoughts will alter her feelings, her desires, and expressions of the emotion, the physiological response.

Question 24

Discrete Model of Emotion sees emotional capacity increasing over time.
Dynamic Systems Model of Emotion also sees emotional capacity increasing in complexity over time, but emphasises that this is due to experience and therefore one person’s experience of emotion will be different to someone elses.
Is this a key difference in these two models?

Answer 24

Yes.

Question 25

What is emotional regulation?

Answer 25

Emotional regulation refers to the conscious and unconscious processes we use to monitor, modify, modulate our emotional experiences and expressions.
Modulate refers to manipulating the strength of an emotion and or how we express the emotion.
Modify refers to changing the emotion fully.

Question 26

Why is emotional regulation important?

Answer 26

Emotional regulation is key for social coherence and connection - survival and safety.

Answer 27

e

Question 28

Emotional regulation is not innate. Emotional regulation develops throughout childhood and beyond.
Why do we see this?

Answer 28

The infant does not have the cognitive abilities to engage in emotional regulation. A large driver of emotional regulation is for fostering good relationships. We cannot of the desire to foster good relationships if we do not understand that others feel differently to us and see things differently - ToM. This is one example of why emotional regulation doesn’t start to develop until certain other abilities develop.

Question 29

What are some of the cognitive developments that allow for emotional regulation?

Answer 29

ToM, Role Taking, Attachment Style, Social Experiences, Self-Concept.

Question 30

At what age do students develop the ability to manipulate their emotions and behaviours for shared goals?

Answer 30

9-11 years.

Question 31

What is it about puberty that makes it challenging for emotional regulation?

Answer 31

The hormonal changes can be very confusing for the child. It suddenly becomes a lot more difficult for the child to regulate their emotions because now they are dealing with a whole new set of inner experiences.

Question 32

What is temperament?

Answer 32

A person’s characteristic way of feeling and responding to emotions.

Question 33

What are 4 temperament styles for infants?

Answer 33

Easy, Difficult, Slow and Mixed Temperament

Question 34

One of the largest and longest studies of temperament in Australia found a few key findings.
What are some of these?

Answer 34

• Temperament is relatively stable from infancy to adulthood, but can be modified.
• Difficult Temperaments were correlated with mental health issues and learning problems
• Early Interventions can help guide children into develop more “easy” temperament styles and mitigate the risks of mental health issues, adjustment difficulties and learning problems.