Emotional Development

Presentations 1 article from reputable journal (e.g. see reference sections of other articles) Outline it (see sample on class website) me outline and paper the morning before. 5-7 mins each person + few mins of thought Qs/discussion Presentation should roughly follow the outline Judged for clarity and depth of thought Final papers can be, but need not be, on the same topic. Peoples presentations/outlines are fair game for quizzes

Environment Shapes Evolution Evolution Shapes Environment Please feel free to respectively disagree, add a different opinion, etc. A Note on Discussion

Emotions are not just “feelings” Components:  Desire to take action  Physiological changes  Subjective feelings  Cognitions Emotions

Why Emotions are so Important Emotional Expressions Communicative Facilitates learning (e.g. social referencing) Emotional Physiology Motivational (makes us want to change our state or keep it the same (i.e. operant learning) Strengthens memory for important events

Theories of Emotion Common Sense View –Stimuli  Emotion  Physiological Changes James-Lange View –Stimuli  Physiological Changes  Emotion –Support: Pen in mouth studies Interpretive View –Stimuli  Physiological Changes  Interpretation  Emotion –Support: adrenaline shot studies: known side-effects (no emotional change), near happy guy (happy) vs. near angry guy (angry)

Emotional Expression Positive Emotions  Smile  First month = reflex response  By 3 rd month = social smiles toward people  Laughing  By 3 rd or 4 th month = during play activities (e.g bouncing)

Negative Emotions  Newborns: Generalized Distress (facially an undifferentiated distress state? But different cries)  Anger and Sadness  2 nd month = visible facial expression matches situation  Fear and Distress  6–7 months to 2 years = stranger anxiety  8 months to 15 months = separation anxiety  ~7–12 months = fear of novel toys, noises, sudden movements, heights (e.g. visual cliff)

Emotional Expression in Infancy Birth –interest, distress, disgust, contentment

Emotional Expression in Infancy 2-7 months –sadness, joy, surprise and anger

And anger…You think you’ve had a bad day? Listen, so far today I’ve shit my pants, puked on myself, and had my temperature taken you know where…SO COUCHIE-COO THIS!

Self-Conscious Emotions Embarrassment, pride, guilt, and shame (~ 2 years of age) Shame does not include concern for others Guilt includes empathy for others Children show no signs of self conscious emotions until after they pass the mirror self- recognition test (e.g. ~21 months).  These emotions demonstrate self-awareness and consciousness of adult reactions

Phases of Emotional Dev. 1.Basic emotional understanding (~ 7mths - ~18 mths??) 2.Mentalistic understanding of emotion 3.Utilizing mentalistic understanding in practice

Understanding Affect Detection (Perceptual capabilities) Discrimination (can tell expressions apart) Recognition (understanding the “meaning”)

Discrimination (~3mths) vs. Recognition (~7mths)

Recognition Understand meaning (e.g. positive vs. negative) 8–12 months = social referencing 7 months = Matching of face expressions to vocal indications of emotion. Before 7 months, infants looks equally long at videotapes where happy faces are played with unhappy soundtracks and those where the face matches the sound. (Video!)

Emotions Most 2-year-olds know words for the 6 universal basic emotions Happiness: Santa will be happy if I pee in the potty Sadness: You sad, Daddy? Fear: Bees everywhere. Scared me! Anger: Don’t be mad, Mommy! Surprise: Daddy surprised me. Disgust: Tastes yucky, Mom!

Emotions They also understand something about the links between events emotions and actions “I give hug. Baby be happy.” “Grandma mad. I wrote on wall.” They recognize that if someone felt a certain way there must be a reason for it: “You sad, Mommy? What daddy do?” And they realize that you can tell something about how people feel by how they look: “Katie not happy face. Katie sad.”

Emotions 2-year-olds understand that it is not reality or the outcome per se that leads to an emotion but that the outcome must be consistent with someone’s desire. For example, 2-year-olds were able to judge that a boy who was looking for his rabbit would be sad if he found his dog, whereas a boy that was looking for his dog would be happy if he found his dog. They do not assume that desirability or emotions are a the result of the situation (that everyone would be happy to find a dog).

Emotions Example, Gross Cracker study (Repacholi & Gopnik, 1997) – Crackers versus broccoli? – Experimenter uses her facial expression to suggest that crackers are gross but she likes broccoli – infants hand the experimenter the food that she likes, the broccoli, even if that doesn’t agree with their own preferences! 18-month-olds understand that someone else’s desires don’t have to be consistent with their own AND They can use person’s facial expressions to interpret emotions Video!

Understanding Emotions Causes abilities to understand that memories of past events can causes emotions develops with age. 39% of 3-year-olds understood that memories might cause emotions… while all 5-year-olds did.

Understanding Emotions Real vs. False Feelings “Michelle is sleeping over at cousin Johnny’s house but she forgot her teddy bear. She is feeling sad inside but she doesn’t want to show it because he will call her a baby”. 3-4 years olds were about 50% correct. 5 year olds were about 80% correct

 ~10 years = mixed feelings; both positive and negative emotions can exist toward the same source or different source at the same time Understanding Emotions The bottom-line is that the understanding of emotions continues to develop throughout childhood. Those that understand emotions better also tend to engage in more prosocial behavior Those with limited emotional knowledge (e.g. mislabel expressions) tend to be angry, aggressive, and fearful.

abilities that are key to competent social functioning Components:  Persistence when frustrated  Identify (and express) one’s own feelings  Identify other’s feelings (e.g. ability to read non-verbal cues)  Empathy (an emotional reaction to another’s emotional state)  Secure attachment  Impulse control/Delay gratification  Regulate emotions  Understanding of display rules Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Impulse Control/Delay of Gratification

What’s involved in Delay Gratification? Comparison of rewards Inhibition Strategizing to simplify inhibition (e.g. distraction, imagination) A notion of temporally-extended self!!! (e.g. Povinelli’s video- delayed self-ID study)

Masking Guilt “ i’m going out don’t look in the box ” Lewis and colleagues set up a situation where a child was left alone in a room and told not to peek at a toy in a box…. If they peeked, could they lie and hide their guilt afterwards?

Emotional Display Rules What is culturally and socially appropriate? E.g., displaying happiness when you receive a gift, even if it is very disappointing. children were better at generating positive behaviors in reaction to the disappointing gift as they got older. girls were better than boys at all ages

Empathy

Display Rules Quick Time Clip

Early EQ predicts later social functioning EQ is a better predictor than IQ of how well people do in life (though the 2 are related)! e.g. single best predictor: early delayed gratification performance? related to later social functioning, academic performance, relationship success, self-esteem, drug-use, criminal behavior etc etc. up to 20 years later

Culture and Emotional Development Cultural differences in parenting practices and values contribute to differences in emotional expression.

Culture and Emotional Development Parents’ ideas about the usefulness of particular emotions vary within subcultures of the major culture – (e.g. M others living in a dangerous neighborhoods more tolerant of aggression, especially in girls)

How Parents Socialize Their Children Parents socialize their children’s emotional development through: –Their expression of emotion with their children and other people (e.g. Expression of positive related to social competence, low aggression, high self-esteem; Negative expressions related behavioral problems and social and learning difficulties). Correlational!!! –Their reactions to their children’s expression of emotion –Their discussions with their children about emotion and the regulation of emotion

Depression by Gender and Age

Emotional Expression in Adolescence Is the gender difference genuine? Is it a difference in level of emotionality or expression? What factors might be underlying this gender difference?