Chapter 10: Emotional DevelopmentI. The Development of Emotion in ChildhoodA. Definition of Emotion1) Physiological factorsa) Hormone levelsb) Heart rate2) Subjective feelings3) Cognitions that accompany or interact with subjective feelings4) Desire to act upon the environmentB. Problems with Studying Emotion1) Subjective difference between people2) Mixed emotions3) How do we know what babies are experiencing?a) Can only measure physiological responseb) Facial expressions may represent multiple emotionsC. Theories on the Nature and Emergence of Emotion1) Charles Darwina) Emotions expressed in facial expressionb) All humans born with emotion and continue to express emotion throughout their lifetime2) Facial expressiona) Paul Ekman(i) Nativist theory – emotion is universal and innate(ii) Adults agree on happiness, sadness, anger, and disgust3) Evidence for Innate Emotionsa) 1 m.o. infants express disgust and interest(i) Focused mainly around feeding and orientingb) Videos of infant emotions (Carroll Izard)(i) Raters agreed on:- Interest, joy, surprise, & sadness(ii) Raters disagreed on:- Anger, disgust, and contemptc) Blind versus sighted athletes(i) Took pictures of paraolympians- Displayed similar patterns in victory v. defeat, pride v. shame4) Discrete emotions theorya) Each emotion is innately associated with a specific set of physical and cognitive responsesb) Silvan Tomkinsc) Carroll Izard5) Alan Sroufe and Affect Systemsa) Emotions are molded by effect of environmentb) Affect systems(i) Joy/pleasure(ii) Anger/frustration(iii) Wariness/fear- First expressed as pain, but develops to incorporate fear directed at novel situations6) Functionalist approacha) Emotions exist to encourage action directed towards achieving a goalb) Joseph Camposc) Emotional reactions are affected by social goals and loved ones7) Dynamic-systems theorya) Evaluates how personal traits and experiences of a child merge in emotional processingb) Emotional processing becomes more coordinated every time systems are co-activatedD. The Emergence of Emotion in the Early Years and Childhood1) Parents tend to overanalyze their infants’ emotional reactions2) Positive Emotionsa) Smiling(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 reciprocalb) Development of positive emotion(i) Positive expression increases in frequency during first year(ii) Laughter- Begins around 3-4 months- 1-year-olds laugh at unexpected events- 2-year-olds try and make other people laugh3) Negative Emotionsa) At beginning of life, infants can only express generalized distressb) By 2 months, infants discriminate between expression of sadness, anger, and painc) 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- Increases until 14 months of age, then declines- Similar trend across cultures(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 respondersd) Anger and sadness(i) Sadness and anger often accompany each other in infants and young children4) Recognizing Emotion in Othersa) Discrimination(i) Perceive difference between one thing and another(ii) Habituation- 6-week-old infants display discrimination between smiling and fearful facesb) 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 7months of age(ii) 5 years of age- Adult-like visual acuity- Can integrate features into wholesc) 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 cliffd) 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 respondinge) 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 behaviors5) Understanding Emotionsa) Development of understanding(i) 2-year-olds- Happiness(ii) 3 – 4-year-olds- Anger, sadness(iii) 4 – 5-year-olds- Fear, surprise, disgust(iv)Elementary school-age- Pride, shame, guiltb) Labeling emotions(i) Labeling and identification of emotions and consequences develops around age 2(ii) Emerging abilities- Matching a pictorial and verbal representation 3 – 4-years-old6) The Self-Conscious Emotions: