Emotional Development

Module ObjectivesChapter 9

Why do people have emotions?

At what ages do children begin to experience and express different emotions?

What is attachment?

When do children begin to understand other people’s emotions?

Andriea was so excited to meet her 7-month-old nephew Colin. She rushed up to him while he

was playing on the floor with his truck and swept him up in a big hug. After a brief, confused look, Colin burst into angry tears, as if

to say “who are you? Put me down right now!

Think on your own…Identify some of the emotions Colin may

have felt. Also, what emotions could Andreia have felt?

Expressing EmotionsWhen reviewing the situation with Colin and Andreia joy, anger and surprise all appeared. These are considered “basic emotions”

Emotion is the language of a person's mental state of being, they are tied to the person's internal (physical) and external (social) sensory feeling.

Why do people feel emotions?

Modern research suggests that emotions are useful because they help people adapt to their environment (Izard & Ackerman, 2000).

For example, you’re walking down a dark street late one night. You become frightened…how does this affect your behavior?

The fear is adaptive because it allows you to organize your behavior around an important goal- avoiding danger.

Basic EmotionsJoy, anger, surprise, interest, disgust, distress, sadness and fear are all classified as “basic emotions” (Dragh-Lorenz, 2001).

Basic emotions are experienced by people worldwide and each consists of three elements:

‐ A subjective feeling‐ A physiological change‐ An overt behavior

For example- you wake to the sound of a

thunderstorm and then discover your roommate

took your umbrella.

Subjectively you might be angry, physiologically your heart might be

beating faster and overtly you might be scowling

How can we determine emotions in infants?

Facial expressions provide important clues about which

emotion the child is experiencing…but they are only one component

of emotion

Identify the Correct Emotion!

FearDisgustAnger

SadnessInterest

Joy

How did you do?

FEAR DISGUSTINTEREST

ANGER SADNESS JOY

Facial ExpressionsDo facial expressions accurately reflect an infant’s emotional state?

YES! Research has shown that infants (and adults) worldwide express basic emotions in the same way.

Humans have universal emotional expression, which suggests that we are biologically programmed to express emotions in a specific way.

Development of Basic EmotionsInfants experience only two general emotions‐ pleasure and distress.

This will rapidly change and more discrete emotions will develop, by 9 months infants are thought to experience all basic emotions.

Positive Emotions‐ Smiles

‐ First month reflex response‐ By 6 weeks the social smile appears‐ By 7 months smiles toward people;

encourages interaction and bonding

‐ Laughing‐ By 3 to 4 months during activities

(i.e., playing)‐ By 1 year response to unexpected

events‐ By 2 years response to own behavior

or attempting to make others laugh

Reflexive Smile in a Sleeping Newborn

Social Smile in an 8-Month-Old Infant

Negative Emotions‐ Generalized distress

‐ Newborns hunger, pain, overstimulation

‐ Anger and/or sadness‐ 2 months visible facial expression

matches situation

‐ Fear and/or distress‐ 6-7 months to 2 years stranger wariness‐ 7 to 12 months fear of novel toys,

noises, sudden movements‐ 8 to 15 months separation anxiety

Stranger WarinessThe emotion of fear is fully developed by 9 months and is expressed in two ways:‐ Stranger wariness ‐ Separation anxiety

Stranger wariness is the distress that young children experience when they are exposed to people who are unfamiliar to them.

When a stranger approaches, a typical 6-month-old looks away and begins to fuss.

This begins somewhere between 8-9 months of age‐ reaching its peak at 12-15 months.

Stranger WarinessAt this time infants begin to realize that all people are not the same, and that the relationship they have with their primary caregivers is special.

How wary an infant feels around strangers depends on a number of factors.

Infants tend to be less fearful of strangers:

‐ When the environment is familiar‐ If infants are given time to “warm up” to

the strangers‐ Who are female than those who are male

Stranger WarinessStranger anxiety is adaptive because it emerges at the same time that the child is being to master crawling

‐ Being wary of strangers provides a natural restraint and makes the infant less likely to wander away from familiar caregivers

Stranger anxiety gradually declines as infants learn to interpret facial expressions

Separation AnxietyThis is the intense fear or anxiety that occurs when a parent or caregiver leaves the child

‐ This typically develops around the same time as object permanence and is universal across cultures.

Infants’ growing cognitive skills allow them to ask questions with no readily apparent answers

‐ “Why is my mother leaving?”‐ “Where is she going?”‐ “Will she come back?”

Development of Complex Emotions

In addition to the basic emotions, people feel complex emotions such as embarrassment, pride, guilt and shame.

These are known as “self-conscious emotions” that involve feelings of success when’s standards are met and feelings of failure when they are not.

Research suggests that these complex emotions

depend on the child having self-awareness and

consciousness of adult reactions (Lewis, 2000).

These complex emotions usually develop between 18

months and 3 years

Self-awareness A foundation for emotional development is the realization that we are distinct individuals- separate from other people.

‐ The emerging sense of “me” and “mine” fosters self-conscious emotions.

The onset of self-awareness is evident when infants of various ages are compared.

‐ Very young infants have no sense of self. It is theorized that for the first 4 months, infants see themselves as part of their mothers (Mahler et al., 1975)

Later developmentsAs children grow they continue to experience basic and complex emotions but are elicited by different situations and events.

The cognitive growth elementary school children have means they experience shame and guilt in situations they would not have as preschool children (Reimer, 1996).

‐ Example: unlike preschool children, many school-age children would be ashamed if they neglected to defend a classmate who was wrongfully accused of theft.

Identifying Emotions in Others’

By 4 to 7 months infants begin to distinguish facial expressions associated with different emotions.

‐ Infants can distinguish a happy, smiling face from a sad, frowning face- but they may not understand the emotional significance (Ludemann, 1991).

How can we tell whether infants understand the emotions

expressed in a face?

The best evidence of this is that infants often match their own emotions to other people’s emotions (Walker-Andrews, 2001).

‐ When happy mothers smile and talk in a pleasant voice infants express happiness themselves

‐ When mothers are angry or sad infants become distressed

Twenty-three-month-old Stephanie watches as her older brother Erik and his friend Leo argue loudly with each

other and begin to wrestle. Uncertain of what is happening, Stephanie glances at her mother. Her mother, though, wears a smile, knowing that Erik and Leo are just playing. On seeing her mother’s

reaction, Stephanie smiles too, mimicking her mother’s facial

expression.

Social ReferencingBy the end of the first year, infants in an unfamiliar or ambiguous environment often look at their mother/father as if searching for cues to help them interpret the situation.

At this age, infants generally use parents’ emotional signals to guide their interpretations of, and reactions to, potentially upsetting or dangerous events and objects.

Parents influence how the child perceives a new

objectIf the parent looks afraid when shown a novel object, 12-month-olds are less likely to play with the toy than if a parent looks happy (Repacholi, 1998).

Also, social referencing shows that infants are remarkable skilled at using their parent’s emotions to direct their own behavior.

As their cognitive skills continue to grow, children begin to understand why people feel as they do.

‐ Example: a kindergarten child knows that unpleasant events often make a person sad or angry (Levine, 1995)

Children at this age also know that they more often feel sad when they think about the undesirable event itself

They can understand that remembering a past sad event can make a person unhappy (Lagattuta, 1997).

Display RulesA social group’s informal norms about when, where, and how much one should show emotions and when and where displays of emotions should be suppressed or masked by displays of other emotions

‐ Prosocial motive‐ Using verbal or facial display rules to

protect someone else’s feelings

‐ Self-protective motive‐ Using verbal or facial display rules to

protect their own feelings

Example of display rule:

Children in the US learn that they are supposed to express happiness or gratitude when

they receive a gift from grandma, and by all means, to suppress any disappointment they may feel should the gift

turn out to be pink fuzzy footed pajamas.

Display Rules Continued…

Same for boys and girls – NO

‐ In elementary school in the US:‐ Girls believe that it is more acceptable to express

emotions like pain whereas boys do not‐ Girls are more attuned than boys to the need to

inhibit emotional displays that may hurt someone else’s feelings

Children seem to be attuned to display rules if they are valued in their culture or if an awareness of them serves an important function in the family

Think on Your Own…

Recall a recent situation in which you engaged in social referencing.

Why did you look to the reactions of others to determine your own reaction to the situation?

Did you use display rules? Why?‐ If you didn’t -should you have?

Identifying Emotions

By age 3, children have the ability to label a few emotional expressions

‐ Best at labeling happiness

‐ The ability to label anger, fear, and sadness gradually appears between the ages of 4-6

‐ The ability to label pride, shame, and guilt gradually appears between the ages of 8-9

Between the ages of 4-8, children have the ability to label others’ emotions by

their body movements

-Four-year-olds good at sad movements-Five-year-olds good at sad, fear, and

happy movements-Eight-year-olds good at sad, fear, happy,

and anger movements

Measure of Children’s Ability to Label Others’ Emotions

Children are asked to view pictures like these and identify the emotions of the characters.

With age, children can better identify appropriate emotions.

The school age childElementary school children begin to comprehend that people can have “mixed feelings”.

By about 8 yrs. children can realize how people can feel good and bad at the same time, which coincides with concrete operational thinking.

A child recognizes that a situation can produce two opposing feelings

‐ For example- A child can be happy and scared about staying home alone.

What was Your first social-emotional

relationship?

The first special relationship we experience develops between parent

and child

It is believed that this relationship will influence the development of our

future relationships

Attachment is an enduring emotional connection‐ A close emotional bond that is “person-specific”

and is enduring across time and space.

Infants show their attachment through proximity-seeking behaviors, meaning infants (and adults) like to be near those we are attached.

Actions such as approaching, following, and climbing into the lap demonstrate the need to be physically close. As well as contact-maintaining behaviors such as clinging, resisting being put down all are evidence of attachment.

What is Attachment?

Think on Your Own…

Who are you attached to? List 5 people and reflect on why that

relationship involves attachment

Harry Harlow (1959) “The Monkey Love experiments”

Harlow evaluated whether feeding or contact comfort was more important to infant attachment.The young animals were “raised” by two kinds of surrogate monkey mother machines.One mother was made of soft terry cloth, the other made of wire mesh

“Monkey Love Experiments”

Harlow's monkey studies demonstrated that the need for affection created a stronger bond between mother and infant than did physical needs (food).

“Monkey Love Experiments”

Harlow’s work suggested that the development of a child’s love for their caregiver was emotional rather than physiological

Attachment was closely associated with critical periods in early life, after which it was difficult or impossible to compensate for the loss of initial emotional security.

What happened to these monkeys?

Monkeys raised without their mothers or other monkeys were socially maladjusted the rest of their lives.

‐ When confronted with fear, they displayed autistic and institutionalized behaviors-throwing themselves on the floor, clutched themselves, rocked back and forth, and screamed in terror.

They were incapable of having sexual relations and they were also unable to parent their offspring, either abusing or neglecting them.

What does this mean for humans?

Harlow showed that the development of attachment was closely associated with critical periods in early life, after which it was difficult or impossible to compensate for the loss of initial emotional security

Further experiments in which abusive conditions were created showed that no matter how abusive the mothers were, the baby monkeys always came back and displayed affection towards them.

‐ Even in the face of abuse, the need for love was overwhelming

Do we all need attachment and physical contact?

Yes, according the theories of John Bowlby (1969, 1991), that children who form an attachment to an adult are more likely to survive.

Attachment not only deepens the parent-child relationship, but may have contributed to human survival.

Bowlby’s Attachment Theory

According to Bowlby, the development of attachment takes place in four phases:

‐ Preattachment‐ Attachment-in-the-Making‐ Clear-cut (or True) Attachment‐ Reciprocal Relationships

PreattachmentBirth to 6 weeks

The infant produces innate signals (crying, clinging, smiling, or sucking) that bring others to his/her side and the infant is comforted by these interactions.

The infant’s behaviors and the response they evoke from adults create an interactive system that is the first step in the formation of attachment.

Attachment-in-the-Making6 weeks to 6-8 months

Infants begin to respond preferentially to familiar people

‐ Infants are forming expectations about how their caregivers will respond to their needs, and as a result, develop (or not) a sense of trust in them

Clear-cut Attachment6-8 months to 1.5-2 years

By 7-8 months, infants have singles out the attachment figure, usually the mother, as a special person.

‐ The mother now serves as a secure base

Infants actively seek contact with their caregivers‐ They happily greet their mother when she appears‐ They may exhibit separation anxiety when she

leaves

‐ This behavior reflects cognitive growth as well. The infant now has a mental representation of mother and an understanding that she will be there to meet the infant’s needs.

Reciprocal Relationships1.5-2 years and beyond

As the cognitive and language abilities of toddlers increase, they being to understand their parents feelings, goals and motives

‐ They are better able to act as partners in the attachment relationship

‐ They often take initiative in interactions and negotiate with parents

‐ They cope with separation more effectively because they can now anticipate the return.

The Quality of Attachment

Based on how the infant reacts to separation from the caregiver and the reunion by using a procedure known as the Strange Situation.

Ainsworth (1993) and others have identified 4 basic types of attachment relationships

Strange SituationEpisode Event Attachment Behavior

1Caregiver/Child enter room

None

2 Caregiver/Child aloneCaregiver as a secure base

3 Stranger enters Reaction to stranger

4 Child and StrangerSeparation anxiety and stranger comfort

5 Caregiver returns Reunion reaction

6 Child alone Separation anxiety

7 Stranger enters Stranger comfort

8 Caregiver returns Reunion reaction

Ainsworth’s Three Attachment Categories

1. Secure Attachment

2. Insecure/Resistant

3. Insecure/Avoidant

Classifications of Infant Attachment

LabelProximit

y Seeking

Contact Maintaining

Proximity Avoiding

Contact Resistin

gCrying

Secure HighHigh

(if distressed)

Low LowLow

High or LowLow

Avoidant Low Low High LowLow

High or LowLow

Resistant HighHigh

(often pre-separation)

Low High

OccasionallyHigh

Moderate to High

Types of AttachmentSecure attachment is a relationship of trust and confidence.

‐ The baby may or may not cry when the mother leaves, but when she returns, the baby wants to be with her and if the baby is crying, the baby stops.

During infancy this relationship provides a secure base for exploration of the environment.

‐ This group seems to say “I missed you terribly, but now that you’re back, I’m okay.”

60-65% of American children have secure attachment relationships (Kail, 2007).

A secure attachment relationship is likely to develop when parents

respond to their infant’s needs reliably and

sensitively

3 Types of Insecure Attachment A relationship that is unstable or unpredictable, characterized by the infant’s fear, anxiety, anger or indifference toward the caregiver

Insecure-Avoidant attachment:

A pattern of insecure attachment in which infants or young children seem somewhat indifferent toward their caregivers and may even avoid their caregivers

‐ The baby is not upset when the mother leaves, and, when she returns, may ignore her by looking or turning away

If they do get upset when left alone, they are as easily comforted by a stranger as

by a parent.As if to say, “you left me again,

I always have to take care of myself!”

20% of American infant have avoidant- attachment

Resistant/ambivalent Attachment

A pattern of insecure attachment in which infants or young children are clingy and stay close to their caregivers rather than exploring their environment.

The baby is upset when the mother leaves and remains upset or even angry when she returns, and is difficult to console

‐ Because the child can’t depend on the parent for attunement and connection, he develops a sense of anxiety and feelings of insecurity

Insecure Attachments (p.221)

Disorganized attachment is a pattern of insecure attachment in which infants or young children have no consistent way to coping with the stress of the Strange Situation

The baby seems confused when the mother leaves and, when she returns, seems as if the baby doesn’t really understand what’s happening…”what’s going on here?”

‐ They want to approach their mother, but they also seem to regard her as a source of fear from which they want to withdraw

Disorganized AttachmentDisorganized attachment leads to difficulties in the regulation of emotions, social communication, academic reasoning as well as to more severe emotional problems. This type of attachment occurs when the child’s’ need for emotional closeness remains unseen or ignored.

Less than 5% of middle-class Americans fall into this category. ‐ This rate is considerably higher in

samples in which parents are having difficulties with their own working models of attachment.

Identify the Attachment Relationship

A baby in this group might say “I missed you terribly, but now that you’re back, I’m okay.”

A baby in this group might say “You left me again. I always have to take care of myself.”

A baby in this group might say “Why do you do this? I get so angry when you’re like this.”

How Did You Do?

A baby in this group might say “I missed you terribly, but now that you’re back, I’m okay.”

A baby in this group might say “You left me again. I always have to take care of myself.”

A baby in this group might say “Why do you do this? I get so angry when you’re like this.”

Secure

Insecure/Avoidant

Insecure/resistant

Infants develop an Internal working model, which are a set of expectations about parents’ availability and

responsiveness

Adult Attachment

Adult attachment models are based on adults’ perceptions of their own childhood relationships with their parents and of the continuing influence of those relationships

‐ Autonomous or Secure

‐ Dismissing

‐ Preoccupied

The attachment

of parents is a significant

factor in the attachment

styles of their

children

Securely attached infants appear to grow up to be

better adjusted and more socially skilled than insecurely attached

children.