PSYC 2500H Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Kewpie, Attachment Theory, The Anatomy Of Dependence
26 Jun 2018
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Emotional Development
oDisplaying Emotions: The Development (and Control) of Emotional Expressions
Babies display 5 distinct emotional expressions: interest, surprise,
joy, anger, and fear
Adults can easily identify positive emotions in babies but have
difficulty with identifying negative emotions in babies
Babies communicate a variety of feelings through their facial
expressions
Each expression becomes a more recognizable sign of a specific
emotion with age
Sequencing of Discrete Emotions
Emotions appear at different times over the first two years
At birth: interest, disgust, contentment
At the end of the second month – babies display social smiles,
most often seen in interactions with caregivers
Basic emotions: the set of emotions, present at birth or emerging
early in the first year, that some theorists believe to be
biologically programmed
oEmerge between 2 -7 months
oAnger, sadness, joy, surprise and fear
Learning/cognitive development needed for babies to express
emotions not present at birth
Later in 2nd year beginning of complex emotions
Complex emotions: self-conscious or self-evaluative emotions that
emerge in the second year and depend, in part, on cognitive
oEmbarrassment, shame, guilt, envy, pride
Michael Lewis believe, embarrassment cannot be felt until one
can recognize oneself in a photo
Self-evaluative emotions (shame, guilt, pride) may require both
self-recognition and an understanding of rules or standards for
evaluating one’s conduct
By about age 3, children begin to show signs of pride when they
can evaluate their performance as good or bad
They also show signs of shame should they fail at an easy task
Preschool children may show evaluative embarrassment when
they fail to complete a task in an allotted time/to otherwise
match a standard
oStems from negative evaluation of one’s performance
oMuch more stressful than “simple” embarrassment of
being the object of other’s attention
oNervous smiles, self-touching, gaze aversion
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Later developing emotions are more complex and have different
implications for child’s behaviour
Guilt implies that we have in some way failed to live up to our
obligation to other people
oA child who feels guilty is likely to focus on the
interpersonal consequences of his wrongdoing and may
try to approach others to make reparations for his harmful
acts
Shame is more self-focused and is not based on a concern for
others
oCauses children to focus negatively on themselves and
may motivate them to hide or avoid other people
Parents influence a child’s experience and expression of self-
evaluative emotions
There is a clear relationship between the children’s signs of pride
over their successes, shame over their failures, and the mothers’
reactions to these outcomes
When mothers accentuated the negative by being critical of
failures, children displayed high levels of shame after a failure and
little pride after successes
When mothers reacted positively to successes, children displayed
more pride in their accomplishments and less shame on those
occasions when they did not achieve their objectives
Children more inclined to feel ashamed if parents belittle them
More likely to feel guilty rather than shameful if parents criticize
their inappropriate behaviour by emphasizing why it was wrong
and how it may have harmed others – while encouraging them to
do what they can to repair any harm they’ve done
Toddlers/young preschool children are likely to display self-
evaluative emotions only when an adult is present to observe
their conduct
oSuggests self-evaluative emotions may stem largely from
the reactions they anticipate receiving from adult
evaluators
oMay be well into elementary school before children fully
internalise rules or evaluative standards and come to feel
especially prideful, shameful, or guilty about their conduct
in the absence of external surveillance
Socialization of Emotions and Emotional Self-Regulation
Each society has a set of emotional display rules that specify their
circumstances under which various emotions should or should not
be expressed
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Emotional display rules: culturally defined rules specifying which
emotions should or should not be expressed under which
circumstances
Emotional codes of conduct are similar to the pragmatic rules of
language: children must acquire and use them to get along with
other people and maintain their approval
Mothers also respond selectively to their infants’ emotions:
oOver the first several months, they become increasingly
attentive to babies’ expressions of interest or surprise and
less responsive to the infants’ negative emotions
Through basic learning processes, babies are trained to display
more pleasant faces and fewer unpleasant ones
Emotions that are considered socially acceptable may be quite
different on one culture than in another
Regulating Emotions
oEmotional self-regulation: strategies for managing
emotions or adjusting emotional arousal to an appropriate
level of intensity
oCaregivers regulate babies’ emotional arousal by
controlling their exposure to events likely to overstimulate
them and by rocking, stroking, holding, singing, or
providing pacifiers
oBy middle of the first year babies are making some
progress at regulating their negative arousal by turning
their bodies away from unpleasant stimuli or by seeking
objects to suck
Are particular effective at reducing distress when
mothers notice them and offer their own
comforting to draw their babies’ attention away
from the source of discomfort
oBy the end of the first year additional strategies are
developed for reducing negative arousal
Rocking themselves, chewing on objects, or moving
away from people/objects that upset them
o18 – 24 months toddlers are likely to try to control the
actions of people or objects that upset them
oCope with frustrating by distracting themselves from the
source of their disappointment
oToddlers find it almost impossible to regulate fear – often
develop methods of expressing fear that successfully
attract the attention and comforting of caregivers
oAs young preschool children become more talkative and
begin to discuss their feelings, parents and other close
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Emotional development: displaying emotions: the development (and control) of emotional expressions. Babies display 5 distinct emotional expressions: interest, surprise, joy, anger, and fear. Adults can easily identify positive emotions in babies but have difficulty with identifying negative emotions in babies. Babies communicate a variety of feelings through their facial expressions. Each expression becomes a more recognizable sign of a specific emotion with age. Emotions appear at different times over the first two years. At the end of the second month babies display social smiles, most often seen in interactions with caregivers. Basic emotions: the set of emotions, present at birth or emerging early in the first year, that some theorists believe to be biologically programmed: emerge between 2 -7 months, anger, sadness, joy, surprise and fear. Learning/cognitive development needed for babies to express emotions not present at birth. Later in 2nd year beginning of complex emotions.
