Learning Objectives Unit Four Chapter 10 emotional development 1 What is an emotion What is the functionalist approach to emotional development An emotion is a rapid appraisal of the personal significance of the situation which prepares for you action For example happiness leads you to approach sadness to passively withdraw fear to actively move away and anger to overcome obstacles An emotion then expresses your readiness to establish maintain or change your relation to the environment on a matter of importance to you A number of theorists take a functionalist approach to emotion emphasizing that the broad function of emotions is to energize behavior aimed at attaining personal goals They believe that emotions are central in our endeavors cognitive processing social behavior and even physical health 2 How does the expression of happiness anger sadness and fear change during infancy Happiness smile from birth social smile 6 to 10 weeks laugh 3 to 4 months Fear 6 to 12 months stranger anxiety 8 to 12 months fears deline in the first two years fear also wanes as children acquire a wider array of strategies for coping with it Anger angry reactions increase with age particularly intense when a caregiver from whom they have come to expect warm behavior causes discomfort Rise in anger is also adaptive New motor capabilities also enable angry infants to defend themselves or overcome obstacles Sadness less common than anger but occurs when infants are deprived of a familiar loving caregiver or when a caregiver infant communication is seriously disrupted 3 What is stranger anxiety What is a secure base Stranger anxiety response to unfamiliar adults many infants and toddlers are quite wary of strangers although the reaction does not always occur It depends on temparement past experiences with strangers and the current situation When an unfamiliar adult picks up the infant in a new setting stranger anxiety is likely The strangers style of interaction reduces the baby s Secure base once wariness develops infants use the familiar caregiver as a secure base or point from which to explore venturing into the environment and then returning for emotional support 4 What are self conscious emotions Describe the development of self conscious fear emotions Humans are capable of a second higher order set of feelings including guilt shame embarrassment envy and pride These are called self conscious emotions because each involves injury to or enhancement of our sense of Appear in the middle to end of the second year as 18 to 24 month olds become firmly aware of the self as a separate unique individual Need adult instruction about when to feel these emotions Adult feedback is strongly related to self evaluation 5 What is emotional self regulation How does it develop Emotional self regulation refers to the strategies we use to adjust our emotional state to a comfortable level of intensity so we can accomplish our By 4 to 6 months the ability to shift attention and engage in self soothing helps infants control emotions Improves gradually as a result of brain development and assistance of self goals caregiver In the second year gains in representation and language lead to new ways of regulating emotion After age 2 children frequently talk about feelings and language becomes a major means of actively trying to control them Emotional self efficacy in young people the feeling of being in control of their own emotional experience favorable self image and optimistic outlook 6 What adaptive techniques do children use to cope with emotion regulation Problem centered coping they appraise the situation as changeable identify the difficulty and decide what to do about it If problem solving does not work they engage in Emotion centered coping which is internal private and aimed at controlling distress when little can be done about the outcome For example when faced with an anxiety provoking test or a friend who is angry at them older school age children view problem soliving and seeking social support as the best strategies But when outcomes are beyond their control receiving a bad grade they opt for distraction or try to redefine the situation in ways that help them accept it Cognitive development including gains in planning and inhibition and a wider range of social experiences contribute to flexible effective coping strategies When emotional self regulation has developed well young people acquire a sense of self efficacy a feeling of being in control of their own emotional experience This fosters a favorable self image and an optimistic outlook which help them further face emotional challenges 7 What is social referencing When does it appear and how does it develop Social referencing relying on another person s emotional reaction to appraise an uncertain situation Beginning at 8 to 10 months when infants start to evaluate unfamiliar people objects and events in terms of their own safety and security it begins to develop Caregivers expression and especially voice important caregivers can use this to teach children how to react At 11 months they respond appropriately after a delay o f a few mintues at 14 months after a delay of an hour or more By the middle of the second year social referencing expands to include indirect emotional experiences As toddlers began to appreciate the others emotional reactions may differ from their own social referencing allows them to compare their own and others assessements of events Social referencing allows toddlers to move beyond simply reacting to others emotional messages They use those signals to evaluate the safety and security of their surroundings to guide their own actions and to gather information about others intentions and preferences These experiences along with cognitive and language development probably help toddlers refine the meaning of emotions of the same valence happiness versus surprise during the second year 8 Define and distinguish empathy and sympathy Empathy involves a complex interaction of cognition and affect the ability to detect different emotions to take another s emotional perspective and to feel with that person or respond emotionally in a similar way In some children emphathizing with an upset adult or peer does not yield acts of kindness and helpfulness but instead escalates into personal distress In trying to reduce these feelings the child focuses on his own anxiety rather than on the person in need As a result empathy does not lead to sympathy
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