Developmental Psychology – Chapter 10 (pp. 418-445) – Emotonal Development
Walter Michel’s Marshmallow test: designed to determine how well children can delay
gratficaton/have self-control in terms of gratficaton
Decision can have lifelong consequences
Decision has biological basis: diferences in prefrontal cortex between
high-delay/low-delay preschoolers
The Development of Emotons
Emotons – neural and physiological responses to the environment, subjectve feelings,
cognitons related to those feelings, and the desire to taee acton
Emotons have several components:
Neural responses
Physiological factors, including heart rate, breathing rate, and hormone levels
Subjectve feelings
Emotonal expressions
Desire to taee acton, including the desire to escape, approach, or change
people/things in the environment
Situaton (e.g. dog) Subjective feeling (e.g. fear) physiological factors (e.g. heart racing)
emotional eppression (e.g. raised eyebrows, pulled bace mouth) desire to take action
(e.g. getng away from dog) neural response (e.g. producton of hormones/mobilizaton
of muscles)
Theories on the Nature and Emergence of Emoton
Discrete emoton theory – here emotons are viewed as innate and discrete from one
another from very early in life, and each emoton is believed to be paceaged with a specific
and distnctve set of bodily and facial reactons (held by Tomeins, azard, and others)
First put forward by Darwin: expressions for certain basic emotonal states are innate
to the species and therefore are similar across all peoples, incl. babies
Adherents: infants express a set of recognizable, discrete emotons before they´ve
been actvely taught about them
Adherents: observatons around the world of similar emotonal facial expressions
Functonalist perspectve – argues that the basic functon of emotons is to promote acton
toward achieving a goal. an this view, emotons are not discrete from one another and vary
somewhat based on the social environment (held by Campos, and others)
Emotons are response to how an environment is appraised and whether factors in
the environment are promotng or hindering the well-being
Appraisal process occurs at subconscious level in both children & adults
o Excepton: when realizing that emotons can be faeed another way of
achieving the goal
both agree that cogniton & experience shape emotonal development
, The Emergence of Emotons
Happiness
First clear sign: smile (refexive, evoeed by biological state)
o During 1st month: smiling primarily in REM phase
o After 1st month: smiling when stroeed
o Between 3rd and 8th weee of life: smiling in reacton to external stmuli
o After 3/4 months of age: laughing & smiling during variety of actvites
o Around same tme: exhibitng social smiles – smiles that are directed at
people; they first emerge as early as 6 to 7 weees of age
early social smiles promote care from parents & other adults and strengthen
the infant´s relatonship with other´s
Expression of happiness when realizing they´re able to control event
At 7 months of age: smiling at familiar people (motvates parents to contnue
interactng prolongs positve social interactons)
Expression of happiness increases across 1st year of life
by late 1st year: cognitve development allows to taee pleasure from
unexpected/discrepant events
Fear
by 4 months of age: seemingly wary unfamiliar objects/events
by age of 6/7 months: appearance of inital signs of fear (e.g. of strangers)
o refects shift in recogniton that strangers don´t provide same
comfort/pleasure as family members
o fear of strangers is quite variable, is most clearly by 8 months, and lasts tll
age 2
fear of strangers & novel situatons: adaptve
at 8 months (increasingly to 13/15 months) of age: separaton anxiety – feelings of
distress that children, esp. infants & toddlers, experience when they´re separated, or
expected to be separated, from individuals to whom they´re emotonally aaached
(varies with context)
in preschool years: fear of imaginary creatures (development of cognitve ability to
represent imaginary phenomena)
school age: ability to diferentate between real and imaginary fears now: fearing
real-life issues
Anger
response to frustratng/threatening situaton & is an interpersonal experience
functonalist perspectve: individual is more lieely to be angry with another person &
in certain contexts
blended with other emotons (e.g. sadness)
at 4 months: moderate anger (steadily increasing in intensity over subsequent year)
by 1st year: frequent & clear expression of anger peaeing around 18-24 months
from age 3-6 years: less negatve emotons are expressed (due to increasing ability to
express oneself with language & regulate one´s emotons)
Walter Michel’s Marshmallow test: designed to determine how well children can delay
gratficaton/have self-control in terms of gratficaton
Decision can have lifelong consequences
Decision has biological basis: diferences in prefrontal cortex between
high-delay/low-delay preschoolers
The Development of Emotons
Emotons – neural and physiological responses to the environment, subjectve feelings,
cognitons related to those feelings, and the desire to taee acton
Emotons have several components:
Neural responses
Physiological factors, including heart rate, breathing rate, and hormone levels
Subjectve feelings
Emotonal expressions
Desire to taee acton, including the desire to escape, approach, or change
people/things in the environment
Situaton (e.g. dog) Subjective feeling (e.g. fear) physiological factors (e.g. heart racing)
emotional eppression (e.g. raised eyebrows, pulled bace mouth) desire to take action
(e.g. getng away from dog) neural response (e.g. producton of hormones/mobilizaton
of muscles)
Theories on the Nature and Emergence of Emoton
Discrete emoton theory – here emotons are viewed as innate and discrete from one
another from very early in life, and each emoton is believed to be paceaged with a specific
and distnctve set of bodily and facial reactons (held by Tomeins, azard, and others)
First put forward by Darwin: expressions for certain basic emotonal states are innate
to the species and therefore are similar across all peoples, incl. babies
Adherents: infants express a set of recognizable, discrete emotons before they´ve
been actvely taught about them
Adherents: observatons around the world of similar emotonal facial expressions
Functonalist perspectve – argues that the basic functon of emotons is to promote acton
toward achieving a goal. an this view, emotons are not discrete from one another and vary
somewhat based on the social environment (held by Campos, and others)
Emotons are response to how an environment is appraised and whether factors in
the environment are promotng or hindering the well-being
Appraisal process occurs at subconscious level in both children & adults
o Excepton: when realizing that emotons can be faeed another way of
achieving the goal
both agree that cogniton & experience shape emotonal development
, The Emergence of Emotons
Happiness
First clear sign: smile (refexive, evoeed by biological state)
o During 1st month: smiling primarily in REM phase
o After 1st month: smiling when stroeed
o Between 3rd and 8th weee of life: smiling in reacton to external stmuli
o After 3/4 months of age: laughing & smiling during variety of actvites
o Around same tme: exhibitng social smiles – smiles that are directed at
people; they first emerge as early as 6 to 7 weees of age
early social smiles promote care from parents & other adults and strengthen
the infant´s relatonship with other´s
Expression of happiness when realizing they´re able to control event
At 7 months of age: smiling at familiar people (motvates parents to contnue
interactng prolongs positve social interactons)
Expression of happiness increases across 1st year of life
by late 1st year: cognitve development allows to taee pleasure from
unexpected/discrepant events
Fear
by 4 months of age: seemingly wary unfamiliar objects/events
by age of 6/7 months: appearance of inital signs of fear (e.g. of strangers)
o refects shift in recogniton that strangers don´t provide same
comfort/pleasure as family members
o fear of strangers is quite variable, is most clearly by 8 months, and lasts tll
age 2
fear of strangers & novel situatons: adaptve
at 8 months (increasingly to 13/15 months) of age: separaton anxiety – feelings of
distress that children, esp. infants & toddlers, experience when they´re separated, or
expected to be separated, from individuals to whom they´re emotonally aaached
(varies with context)
in preschool years: fear of imaginary creatures (development of cognitve ability to
represent imaginary phenomena)
school age: ability to diferentate between real and imaginary fears now: fearing
real-life issues
Anger
response to frustratng/threatening situaton & is an interpersonal experience
functonalist perspectve: individual is more lieely to be angry with another person &
in certain contexts
blended with other emotons (e.g. sadness)
at 4 months: moderate anger (steadily increasing in intensity over subsequent year)
by 1st year: frequent & clear expression of anger peaeing around 18-24 months
from age 3-6 years: less negatve emotons are expressed (due to increasing ability to
express oneself with language & regulate one´s emotons)
