Understanding Emotional Development

Emotional Development

• Modern theories place emphasis emotions helping people adapt to their environment.
• Fear aids in avoiding danger
• Happiness strengthens relationships.

Basic Emotions

• Basic emotions encompass subjective feeling, physiological change, and overt behavior.
• Happiness, anger, and fear are basic emotions.
• During happiness, someone may smile and experience an increased heart rate.

Happiness as a Basic Emotion

• Happiness stands out as a universal basic emotion
• Happiness involves a subjective feeling, physiological change, and overt behavior.

Components of Basic Emotions

• Basic emotions consist of three components:
  • subjective feeling
  • overt behavior
  • a physiological change
• When scared, people feel fear (subjective), their heart races (physiological), and they run away (overt behavior).

Subjective Feeling

• The subjective feeling of an emotion is how a person personally experiences it
• Example: Feeling like floating on air due to happiness

Assessing Infants' Emotional State

• Researchers often use facial expressions to gauge an infant's feelings, as babies lack verbal expression.

Early Experience of Basic Emotions

• Children experience basic emotions like happiness and anger early in life, often shown through smiles and cries.

Adaptiveness of Happiness

• Happiness is adaptive as it helps build and maintain relationships
• Smiling makes others happy, which strengthens social bonds.

Emotional States in Young Babies

• Young infants experience broad positive (comfort) and negative (distress) emotional states
• They do not have specific emotions like guilt or pride.

Social Smiles

• Social smiles, or smiling in response to seeing another person, initially appear at two to three months
• These smiles mark the beginning of social interaction.

Social Smiles in Infants

• A social smile happens when infants see others
• This signifies a key milestone in early social development.

Emergence of Fear

• Fear emerges earliest among emotions around 6 months
• A key sign of fear is stranger wariness.

Emergence of Anger

• Initial clear expressions of anger typically show between four and six months
• This happens as babies start expressing frustration, like when a toy is taken away.

First Signs of Fear

• One of the initial fear signs in an infant occurs when infants are in the presence of an unfamiliar adult
• The earliest sign is stranger wariness, appearing around six months, when babies become wary of unfamiliar people.

Stranger Wariness

• Stranger wariness is an early sign of fear, showing around 6 months
• This is when infants start distinguishing familiar and unfamiliar people.
• Stranger wariness is a fear response to unfamiliar people, emerging around six to seven months as infants become more aware of surroundings.
• Stranger wariness serves as a natural protective mechanism
• This keeps mobile infants close to their caregivers and prevents them from wandering into danger.

Minimizing Stranger Wariness

• Babies feel more comfortable meeting new people in familiar settings, minimizing stranger wariness and promoting positive interaction.

Complex Emotions

• Complex emotions, such as embarrassment, guilt, and pride, need self-awareness and typically emerge around 18–24 months.
• Complex emotions involve self-evaluation
• This means a person compares their behavior to social expectations
• Example: feeling guilt after doing something wrong
• Complex emotions need self-recognition
• A child must understand they exist as an individual before feeling emotions like pride or shame.

Child's Understanding of Self

• At roughly 15 to 18 months, children usually have some understanding of the self
• This paves the way for complex emotions
• Children around 15 to 18 months begin to recognize themselves in a mirror, a milestone marking self-awareness development that is crucial for complex emotions.

Fears in Preschool Children

• Preschool children are sometimes afraid of the dark or imaginary creatures.
• These fears typically diminish as cognitive abilities develop
• Preschoolers learn to distinguish real from imaginary, reducing irrational fears like fear of monsters.

School-Related Anxiety

• Mild anxiety related to school is common
• More evaluation is needed if a child refuses to attend school or experiences extreme distress.

Cultural Differences in Pride

• Collectivist cultures emphasize group success
• Asian children show more pride in a class achievement.

Differentiation of Basic and Complex Emotions

• Unlike basic emotions, complex emotions are triggered by different events in different cultures.
• What causes pride, guilt, or shame varies across cultures
• This is due to different social norms and expectations.

Infant Distinction of Facial Expressions

• By six months, infants can recognize happy, sad, and angry facial expressions, which aids them in interpreting social interactions.

Emotional Mirroring in Infants

• Infants engage in emotional mirroring, reflecting the emotions of caregivers to understand and react to social cues.

Social Referencing

• Social referencing is when infants observe caregivers for guidance on reacting to unfamiliar situations.
• Social referencing allows infants to observe caregivers' reactions
• Infants use caregivers reactions to determine if something is safe or dangerous.

Recognizing Others' Emotions

• The ability to recognize others' emotions is important in social referencing because it helps infants respond appropriately to social cues.

Mixed Feelings

• During elementary school years, children start realizing that people can have mixed feelings.
• By middle childhood, children understand people can experience mixed emotions, like feeling both excited and scared about being home alone.

Display Rules

• Display rules dictate when and how emotions should be expressed
• They vary across cultures and social contexts.
• Different cultures teach different expectations for expressing emotions
• Some cultures discourage public displays of sadness, while others encourage emotional openness.

Children's Emotional Understanding

• Children learn about emotions through social interactions with family members
• Family interactions shape how they interpret and express feelings.
• Emotion regulation begins in infancy, with even very young babies using techniques like sucking their thumbs or looking away to reduce distress.
• As children grow, they manage emotions with cognitive strategies, such as reminding themselves not to be afraid or distracting themselves from frustration.
• An example of emotion regulation is when Maggie, a seven-month-old infant, moves closer to her mother when a stranger approaches
• Maggie manages her fear by seeking comfort from her mother, demonstrating early emotional regulation strategies.

Temperament

• Temperament influences how infants respond to their environment
• Temperament remains relatively stable, though experiences can modify specific traits over time.
• Early temperament is a moderate predictor of later temperament
• Environment also has a role.
• Shy (inhibited) toddlers are likely to remain shy at age four, although experiences can modify this trajectory.

Defining Temperament

• Temperament is a biologically based and stable aspect of personality
• Temperament is an infant's behavior style that is stable across situations and biologically based
• Temperament is largely genetic but can be shaped by environmental influences, affecting how infants respond to stimuli.

New York Longitudinal Study

• Result from the New York Longitudinal Study show easy babies are typically cheerful, adaptable
• They establish routines easily, making them the largest temperament group.

Thomas and Chess Temperament Categories

• Easy babies adapt quickly, are predictable in daily routines, and have a generally positive mood.
• Difficult babies are more reactive, have irregular routines, and take longer to adjust to new experiences.
• Slow-to-warm-up babies are cautious, initially withdraw from new situations, but gradually adjust over time.
• Difficult and slow-to-warm-up babies often appear unhappy
• They also may appear withdrawn or fussy.

Universal dimensions of temperament

• Basic temperament dimensions (e.g., reactivity, self-regulation) appear to be universal.
• Cultural norms shape this expression.

Negative Effect

• Negative effect refers to how easily an infant becomes upset and how difficult they are to soothe.
• Persistence involves a child's ability to stay focused and continue efforts despite challenges or distractions.
• Activity level refers to how much physical movement and energy a child displays
• Highly active infants are always on the move.
• Negative affect is strongly linked to genetic factors, and effortful control is more influenced by experience.

Twin Studies of Temperment

• Identical twins share 100% of genes
• Identical twins have a greater similarity in temperament, indicating a genetic influence.
• Parental behavior influences temperament
• Harsh or inconsistent interactions can contribute to a more difficult temperament in infants.

DRD4 Gene Variant

• Children with the DRD4 gene variant are highly sensitive to environmental influences.
• Poor caregiving can have stronger negative effects.

Cultural and Temperament

• Cultural differences influence temperament expression
• Asian infants tend to be calmer, while European American infants show more intense emotions in distressing situations.
• Asian infants are generally calmer and show lower emotional reactivity than European American infants according to cultural research.
• Japanese mothers tend to use more physical closeness (e.g., holding, soothing) to promote emotional regulation in infants.
• The influence of temperament depends on the environment in which children develop and Supportive environments can help kids manage difficult temperaments.

Relationship Between Family

• The family environment and support that children get influences shyness and relationships with peers
• The ability to regulate emotions affects future life success.

Evolutionary View of Attachment

• Attachment patterns that are more adaptable to specific environments will survive
• Attachment ensures infants get care, resulting in protection
• Attachment behaviors help infants stay close to caregivers
• This increases their chances of protection and survival.

Four Phases of Attachment

• Bowlby's attachment theory outlines four stages where infants develop trust and secure bonds with caregivers
• These stages are preattachment, attachment in the making, true attachment, and reciprocal relationships.

Attachment Timeline

• Secure attachments develop at seven months.
• Around seven months, infants show a clear preference for their primary caregiver
• This indicates a strong attachment bond formation.
• By seven months, infants begin to show attachment preferences, seeking comfort primarily from one caregiver.

Influence of Fathers

• Fathers are often engage in more vigorous and physical play than mothers, which helps infants develop motor and social skills.

Attachment Formation

• Infants can form strong attachments to multiple caregivers, including both parents.
• Fathers typically spend more time playing with their babies
• Mothers often take on more caregiving responsibilities.
• The Strange Situation assesses infant attachment styles.
• Strange Situation assesses infant attachment styles by observing their reactions to separations and reunions with caregivers.
• Strange Situation experiment evaluates infants' attachment security by observing their responses to caregiver separation and reunion.

Secure Attachment

• Securely attached infants seek comfort upon reunion with caregivers and aew willing to explore independently.
• Most North American babies have secure attachment relationships.
• Secure attachment is the most common pattern
• It reflects caregivers who are responsive and consistent in meeting infants' needs.
• Avoidantly attached infants show little distress upon separation and avoid or ignore their caregiver upon reunion.
• Resistantly attached infants remain distressed even after their caregiver returns, showing anger and difficulty calming down.
• Disorganized attachment is marked by inconsistent, contradictory behaviors, often seen in infants who have experienced neglect or inconsistent caregiving.

Distribution of Attachment

• Secure attachment is the most common form worldwide
• The distribution of insecure attachment types (avoidant, resistant, disorganized) varies significantly across different cultures.

Later Life Outcomes of Secured Attachment

• Secure attachment is associated with better social skills, confidence, and stronger peer relationships in early childhood.
• Secure attachment in infancy is linked to better emotional regulation and healthier relationships in adulthood.
• Sensitive and responsive parenting fosters secure attachment by ensuring infants feel safe, valued, and cared for.
• Consistent, warm, and predictable caregiving helps infants develop secure attachment and trust in their caregivers.
• Hallie's parents are responsive and predictable, which fosters a secure attachment by making her feel safe and valued.
• Internal working models are mental representations of relationships that guide expectations for future social interactions.
• Celia has developed a secure internal working model
• Shannon has an unpredictable/insecure working model based on inconsistent caregiving.
• Secure adults reflect on childhood positively, acknowledging imperfections in parental relationships.

Dismissive Attachment

• Dismissive attachment involves minimizing the importance of relationships, often idealizing parents despite inconsistent caregiving.
• Dismissive attachment is marked by an idealization of caregivers, often without specific supporting details.
• Children raised by sensitive and responsive caregivers are more likely to develop secure attachment representations as adults.
• Indigenous children face a higher risk of insecure attachment due to the historical and ongoing removal from families by child welfare services.

Influences of Maternal Employment

• The combination of low parental sensitivity and poor daycare quality increases the risk of insecure attachment, rather than maternal employment itself.
• Parental sensitivity helps the child achieve attachments with parents.
• Parental sensitivity and responsiveness remain the strongest predictors of secure attachment, regardless of daycare arrangements.

Government's Role in Indigenous Families

• Government interventions, including policies like residential schools and child welfare removals, have disrupted Indigenous family structures.
• This makes parenting more challenging for Indigenous fathers.
• Indigenous children face a higher risk of insecure attachment due to historical and ongoing removal from families by child welfare services.