Chapter 10 Emotional Development I The Development of Emotion in Childhood A Definition of Emotion 1 Physiological factors a Hormone levels b Heart rate 2 Subjective feelings 3 Cognitions that accompany or interact with subjective feelings 4 Desire to act upon the environment B Problems with Studying Emotion 1 Subjective difference between people 2 Mixed emotions 3 How do we know what babies are experiencing a Can only measure physiological response b Facial expressions may represent multiple emotions C Theories on the Nature and Emergence of Emotion 1 Charles Darwin lifetime 2 Facial expression a Paul Ekman i Nativist theory emotion is universal and innate ii Adults agree on happiness sadness anger and disgust 3 Evidence for Innate Emotions a 1 m o infants express disgust and interest i Focused mainly around feeding and orienting b Videos of infant emotions Carroll Izard i Raters agreed on Interest joy surprise sadness ii Raters disagreed on Anger disgust and contempt c Blind versus sighted athletes i Took pictures of paraolympians a Emotions expressed in facial expression b All humans born with emotion and continue to express emotion throughout their Displayed similar patterns in victory v defeat pride v shame a Each emotion is innately associated with a specific set of physical and cognitive 4 Discrete emotions theory responses b Silvan Tomkins c Carroll Izard 5 Alan Sroufe and Affect Systems a Emotions are molded by effect of environment b Affect systems i Joy pleasure ii Anger frustration iii Wariness fear situations 6 Functionalist approach First expressed as pain but develops to incorporate fear directed at novel a Emotions exist to encourage action directed towards achieving a goal b Joseph Campos c Emotional reactions are affected by social goals and loved ones 7 Dynamic systems theory a Evaluates how personal traits and experiences of a child merge in emotional b Emotional processing becomes more coordinated every time systems are co processing activated a Smiling D The Emergence of Emotion in the Early Years and Childhood 1 Parents tend to overanalyze their infants emotional reactions 2 Positive Emotions i Newborns smile during REM sleep ii At 3 8 weeks of age infants smile in reaction to external sensory stimuli iii Social smiling 3 months of age Smiling in reaction to people iv Infants much more likely to smile in response to people as opposed to other stimuli v At 7 months infants smile in reaction to familiar faces vi Nature vs nurture Nature evidence Blind children smile Premature infants smile later Develop smiling at appropriate gestational age Nurture evidence Infants may not shift to social smiles Smiling needs to be reciprocal b Development of positive emotion i Positive expression increases in frequency during first year ii Laughter Begins around 3 4 months 3 Negative Emotions 1 year olds laugh at unexpected events 2 year olds try and make other people laugh a At beginning of life infants can only express generalized distress b By 2 months infants discriminate between expression of sadness anger and pain c Fear and distress i Fear begins to emerge at 6 or 7 months Stranger anxiety fear of novel objects loud noises and sudden movements Stranger anxiety intensifies until 2 years of age Fear of novel objects et cetera declines after 12 months Degree of fear depends on child s temperament and context of interaction Minimizing stranger anxiety Mother is present Let child leave parent Tell child what is going to happen Time to get to know stranger Secure attachment between baby and parent Experience regularly cared for by others Favorable interactions between adult and stranger ii Separation anxiety Expression of fear or upset at separation from primary caregiver Emerges around 8 months Similar trend across cultures Increases until 14 months of age then declines iii Control Predictability Monkey with cymbals 12 13 months old Control button pressing group Less distress No control random group More distress Loud noise Fixed interval group Less distress Random interval group More distress iv Reasons for initiation of anxiety Better recall memory new vs old events Better categorization trustworthy v not trustworthy Greater needs to be met Increased ability to signal needs to others Infants prefer consistent responders i Sadness and anger often accompany each other in infants and young children d Anger and sadness 4 Recognizing Emotion in Others a Discrimination i Perceive difference between one thing and another ii Habituation 6 week old infants display discrimination between smiling and fearful faces b Categorization i Ignoring natural variations within a category but still treat two slightly different members within a category as the same Inter modal between soundtrack of voice and image of face matching by 7 months of age ii 5 years of age Adult like visual acuity Can integrate features into wholes c Social referencing i Seeking of another s reaction to a situation to guide own behavior Begins developing at 6 months Not initially intentional Considered basis of observational learning ii Present in test of visual cliff d Empathetic Crying i 1 5 3 day old infants ii Another infant s cry caused greater distress in newborns than Silence White noise Synthetic cry sounds Non human cry sounds Own cry iii May be early precursor to empathic responding e Empathic Responding i 10 12 months no response to others distress ii 14 30 increased capability of helping behaviors Verbal comfort and advice Sharing Distracting the person in distress iii 3 years old capable of various empathy related behaviors Expressing verbal and facial concern Interest in another s distress iv Measures of empathic responding Concern Hypothesis testing Why What happened Prosocial behavior Hugging other comforting behaviors 5 Understanding Emotions a Development of understanding i 2 year olds Happiness ii 3 4 year olds Anger sadness 4 5 year olds iii Fear surprise disgust iv Elementary school age Pride shame guilt b Labeling emotions age 2 ii Emerging abilities i Labeling and identification of emotions and consequences develops around Matching a pictorial and verbal representation 3 4 years old 6 The Self Conscious Emotions Embarrassment Pride Guilt and Shame a Emotions that relate to the sense of self and consciousness of others reactions b Begin emerging during second year c Around 18 months children display embarrassment at being the center of toward us attention d Required cognitive capacities i