Prof. Greg Francis 7/16/081EmotionsIIE 366: DevelopmentalPsychologyGreg FrancisLecture 24EmotionI. Emotional Development:Understanding Causes ofEmotionsII. Temperament: Is a RestlessFetus an Active Baby?III. Attachment Across theLifespanI. Emotional Development:Understanding Causes ofEmotions By 2-3, children talk about emotionsand causes 3 year olds can distinguish happysituations and fearful situations Distinguishing anger from sadness ismuch more difficult and develops moreslowly.Why Is She Sad?Why Do Adults Feel Sador Mad?A good friend who borrowed your carwas in an accident. Your friend was nothurt but the car was totaled. Do you feelangry or sad? Intentional versus Accidental Cause: She was going 100mph in a school zone versus hit by a car that ran a stop sign. Presence of Something Aversive versus Absence ofSomething Liked: Without the car, you’ll need to ride the busto school versus another friend can give you a ride. A Goal That Can Be Reinstated versus One That Cannot:The car was a 1992 rust bucket versus a perfectly restored1966 Mustang convertible.Prof. Greg Francis 7/16/082Why Do Adults Feel Sad or Mad?NoYesReinstate?NoYesAversive?NoYesIntentional?SadnessAngerLevine (1995) studychildren’s understandingof emotions Studied 5- and 6-year-olds. Why?Because children at this age don’tseem to judge anger and sadness asadults do. Read them stories in which eventswere changed so that they might elicitanger or sadness. Jimmy loves to run around outside and playgames. The game he loves to play most isbaseball. One day, Jimmy and a friend arewalking to the park because they want to playbaseball. While they are walking, Jimmy tripsover a branch, falls down, and hurts his leg.Jimmy goes to see the doctor. The doctor tellshim that his leg is very weak. Jimmy can’t playbaseball for the rest of his life because his legwill never be strong again. Jimmy thinks abouthow he can’t play baseball for the rest of his life. In the version you just read, the child suffereda loss, not intentionally, and the goal could notbe reinstated. [For adults, all featuresassociated with sadness.] For intentional cause, another child trippedJimmy. For the goal to be reinstated, Jimmy would beable to play after his leg healed. For an aversive state, Jimmy has to stayinside (which he hates) until his leg heals.Results from Levine’s study Children more likely to feel anger when theevent is aversive and more likely to feel sadwhen the event involves loss. Children more likely to feel anger when thegoal could be reinstated and more likely tofeel sad when it could not be. Intention had no impact on children’sjudgments.II. Temperament: Is a RestlessFetus an Active Baby?Prof. Greg Francis 7/16/083 Yes. DiPietro & colleagues measuredfetal activity from 20 to 36 wk afterconception. Also measured infants’temperament and activity at 3 and 6months of age. More active fetuses at 36 weeks weremore likely to be fussy and moreactive at 3 and 6 months. Before 36 weeks, activity level wasnot related to later development.III. Attachment Acrossthe Lifespan Attachment is not a purely human trait Attachment in infancy reflects an internalworking model of infant-parentrelationships. Is this internal working model consistentacross the lifespan? When infants withsecure attachment grow up, do they viewtheir childhood experiences through thesame lens?Monkey studies Separated monkeysfrom mother Two “surrogate”mothers One cloth, one wire One would have bottleAmount of time Harlow monkey’s spentwith each Mom, based on who fed them Monkeys prefer the cloth “mother” regardless of whichon feeds them When afraid,monkeysalways go tothe clothmotherProf. Greg Francis 7/16/084Waters et al. (2000) Assessed attachment in 60 12-month-olds usingAinsworth’s “Strange Situation” Administered Adult Attachment Interview to 50 ofthe original participants, who were now age 20-21. Also determined whether participants hadexperienced major negative life events (loss ofparent, divorce, parental psychiatric disorder)before age 18.Classifications based on theAdult Attachment Interview Autonomous: adults describe childhoodexperiences objectively, including both positiveand negative aspects of parents. [secure] Dismissive: adults describe experiences in generalterms, often idealizing their parents. [insecure] Preoccupied: adults describe childhoodemotionally, often expressing anger or confusion.[insecure]Is the Internal Working ModelStable?169Insecure520SecureAsAdultsInsecureSecureAs InfantsDoes Life Stress Affect theInternal Working Model?0102030405060708090No Stress StressNo changeS > INSINS > SNext time Review for Exam 2 Take Exam 2 Sense of