Chapter 5 Emotional Development

5 components of an emotion Subjective change in feelings Physiological changes Behavior Change Cognitive Appraisal Eliciting Event

Valence – how positive or negative is the emotion? Arousal – how arousing is the emotion? Emotion Terms

What is the valence and arousal? Anger Joy Sadness Contentment Emotion Terms

Moods Not an emotion Not specific to a personally relevant event (objectless) Generally longer-lasting Occupy background of thoughts and consciousness (not immediate)

Basic Emotions Theory (biological) Learning Functionalist Theories of Emotional Development

Basic Emotions Theory Specific emotions are innate, universal, and rooted in human evolution Each emotion has distinct bodily and facial changes ◦ These bodily/facial changes are the same in different cultures ◦ Can you tell? Can you tell? Discriminable from early in life ◦ All infants began to smile at 46 weeks post conception— regardless of how long they have been exposed to smiling faces ◦ Hemispheric Lateralization ◦ Left hemisphere = approach emotions (e.g., joy anger) ◦ Right hemisphere = avoidance emotions (e.g., fear) Genetics contribute to emotional development ◦ Identical twins are more similar than fraternal twins in the age at which they first smile, the amount they smile, the onset of their fear reactions to strangers, and their general degree of emotional inhibition

Learning Theory Class Cond: Children may learn to fear an object because the object was associated with a fearful stimulus Operant Cond: Children may acquire fear after a negative experience Observational Learning: Children learn to fear certain objects by observing other people’s reactions Reciprocal Determinism: When adults respond to a baby’s smiles with positive stimulation, the baby’s rate of smiling increases

Functional Perspective Purpose of emotions is to help people achieve social and survival goals Emotional signals provide feedback that guides other people’s behavior Memories of past emotions shape how people respond to new situations Newborns and very young infants do not display discrete emotions Have global experiences e.g. excitement, distress

Type of Emotions Primary emotions ◦ emerge early in life ◦ do not require introspection or self- reflection Secondary or self-conscious emotions ◦ emerge in the second year of life ◦ depend on a sense of self and the awareness of other people’s reactions

How PE differ from NE Negative Emotions ◦ Strongly in the moment ◦ Generally thought to be evolutionarily adaptive in situations where immediate action is needed (i.e, fear) Positive Emotions ◦ Influence occurs over the long-term ◦ Important for multiple aspects of well-being ◦ Generally do not occur in life-threatening situations ◦ Less need for them to have specific responses

Specific Positive Emotions Joy Urge to play, push the limits, be creative Interest Urge to explore, new information, expand the self Contentment Urge to sit back and enjoy current circumstances Low-arousal vs. High-arousal positive emotions

Appear over the first 6 months of age ◦ Anger (red-face) ◦ Sadness Anger and sad expressions increase with age ◦ Loss of control  Realization that goals can be interrupted by people and objects in environment ◦ Different response by caregiver Negative Emotions

QUICK OVERVIEW: DEVELOPMENT OF EMOTIONS

0 – 6 MONTHS Positive Emotions: joy, contentment Negative Emotions: distress, sadness, disgust, anger, fear Baby and Puppy: First Meeting

0 – 6 MONTHS Positive Emotions: joy, contentment Negative Emotions: distress, sadness, disgust, anger, fear Interest Surprise Disinterest Baby and Puppy: First Meeting

0 – 6 MONTHS Positive Emotions: joy, contentment Negative Emotions: distress, sadness, disgust, anger, fear Interest Surprise Disinterest Baby and Puppy: First Meeting General Bipolar Valence State

0 – 6 MONTHS Positive Emotions: joy, contentment Negative Emotions: distress, sadness, disgust, anger, fear Interest Surprise Disinterest Baby and Puppy: First Meeting General Bipolar Arousal State

First few weeks Show, but not aware of Basic / Distinct Emotions 6 weeks Smile for people, but not objects Around 6 mos. Separation Anxiety; Distress; Anger and Surprise! At 7 mos. Discriminate b/w familiar unfamiliar people; Fear appears At 12 mos. Amusement/Hap piness distinct PE; Emotion Regulation CHANGES IN YEAR 1

1.5 – 2 yrs ↑ in Anger; Show Empathy 2.5 – 3 yrs Self- conscious emotions Middle Childhood Show and experience mixed emotions CHANGES AFTER YEAR 1

Primary Emotion - Joy Newborns: Reflex smiles - Upturned mouth ◦ Spontaneous and due to on some internal stimulus 2-6 Months: Duchenne smile – upturn mouth + eye crinkles ◦ Smile in response to external stimulus ◦ Familiar vs. unfamiliar faces Individual differences in smiling ◦ Gender differences ◦ Cultural differences Laughing ◦ Type of stimulus ◦ Increases with age

3-7 mos: wariness 7-9 mos: genuine fear ◦ Stranger distress Primary Emotion - Fear

Emde, R. N., Gaensbauer, T. J., & Harmon, R. J. (1976). Emotional expression in infancy: A biobehavioral study. Psychological Issues, 10 (37).

3-7 mos: wariness 7-9 mos: genuine fear ◦ Stranger distress ◦ Heights Primary Emotion - Fear

Separation Anxiety/Distress Primary Emotion – Types of Fear

Fear of Heights – Visual Cliff Primary Emotion – Types of Fear

Newborns: First negative facial expressions = startle, disgust, distress 2-3 mos: facial expressions of anger Eliciting event = frustration, pain Primary Emotion - Anger

AGE ANGER

Babies show an increase in anger and assertiveness (Dunn, 1988) ◦ This declines around age 3 Terrible Twos: 1 ½ - 2 years Why would babies experience more anger at age 2?

Terrible Twos: 1 ½ - 2 years Tantrum Mother is neutral/positive Toddlers more interested in environment more positive emotions favorable responses to strangers in mother’s absence Mother is negative/angry Increased tantrums noncompliant behavior More negative emotions, lower empathy

At 4 months, infants pulled a string to see a picture. Later, babies learned that the pull no longer resulted in the picture (Lewis et al., 2006) Anger Face → ↑ Pulling → ↑ ANS Sad Face → No Pulling → No ↑ ANS Do babies show anger before 2?

Infancy ◦ Experienced less than anger For young infants For older infants Primary Emotion - Sadness

Secondary Emotions Pride: feeling pleased with accomplishments ◦ First signs ◦ 7-years vs. 10-years Shame and Guilt: moral violations ◦ Shame = more intense, unexpected Embarrassment Jealousy: ◦ Younger vs. older children (Kagan, 1981; Lewis, 1993)

Secondary Emotions Empathy: sharing another person’s emotions Home Observations ◦ Parents express distress ◦ Siblings experience distress Development of emotion shifts from reactions to others’ emotions to understanding others’ emotions.

Secondary Emotions Development of Empathy ◦ Newborn ◦ Age 1 ◦ months ◦ End Year 2 ◦ Mid-Late Childhood ◦ Adolescence

Mixed Emotions: Middle Childhood Understand feelings of mixed emotions Early School Years (Harris, 1989) ◦ Children commented on vignettes in which protagonists were likely to experience ME ◦ Children reported protagonist’s experience will elicit positive and negative emotions

Identifying others’ emotions Emotional Regulation (ER) Individual Differences in ER Emotional Understanding

3-6 months: recognize positive emotions first ◦ Functionalist vs. Learning 3-4 years: recognize happiness, sadness, anger, fear Identifying Others’ Emotions

Emotional Scripts: schema child uses to identify the emotion elicited by a certain event ◦ 3-4 years ◦ 5 years ◦ 7 years Identifying Others’ Emotions

Emotion Regulation The managing, monitoring, evaluating, and modifying of one’s own emotions emotional reactions to reduce the intensity and duration of emotional arousal Reduce negative emotions Increase positive emotions Increase arousal Decrease arousal

Emotion Regulation In womb: suck thumbs Young infants simple ER tactics ◦ Turning away; self-distraction Preschoolers ◦ Self-distraction, orientation of attention toward or away from a stimulus, approach or retreat from a situation, use of language skills Elementary school children ◦ Increasingly use cognitive and behavioral coping strategies to regulate their emotions

Individual Differences in Emotion Regulation Temperament and ER related Emotion regulation abilities predict children’s later adjustment