Components of Emotion:

• Facial expressions

• Physiological factors (e.g., heart rate, hormone levels)

• Subjective experience/feelings

• Cognitions that may elicit or accompany subjective experience

• Structuralist Theories

– Basic emotions (e.g., anger, fear, surprise, sadness, joy, disgust) are the product of evolution—adaptive for survival and reproductive success

– Universal across cultures

– Discrete• Each emotion corresponds to a unique pattern of

facial expression, physiological arousal, subjective experience, and cognitions

• Functionalist Theories

– Emotions are not as discrete as structuralist theories claim

• Emotions are often blended

• There is not a one-to-one correspondence between emotions and patterns of facial expression, physiological arousal, subjective feelings, and cognitions

– Ex: smiling may not always indicate happiness; physiological changes such as increases in heart rate are not specific to one emotion

– “Basic emotions” are not necessarily culturally universal

• Emotional experience is influenced by the social/cultural environment

– “Emotion is thus the person’s attempt or readiness to establish, maintain, or change the relation between the person and the environment on matters of significance to that person” (Saarni, Mumme, & Campos, 1998, p. 238)

Identifying Others’ Emotions

• Between about 4 and 7 months, infants can discriminate some emotional expressions

– Assessed using preferential looking or habituation paradigms

• At about 7 months, infants “match” facial expression of emotion with vocal expression (intermodal perception)

• Between 8 and 12 months, some infants engage in social referencing

– Use adults’ facial or vocal cues to interpret novel or ambiguous situations

• Ex: visual cliff

Labeling Facial Expressions of Emotion

– Can distinguish happiness first

• Two-year-olds are skilled at identifying happiness

– Learn to distinguish different negative emotions (anger, fear, sadness) by late preschool/early school years

• Anger and sadness first, followed by fear, surprise, and disgust

– Learn to identify self-conscious emotions by early to mid-elementary school years

• Pride, shame, guilt

Understanding Causes of Emotion

• Between 2 and 3, children can identify happy situations

• By age 4, can identify sad situations– Fear- and anger-inducing situations are harder, but children

get better at identifying them in the preschool and elementary school years

• Ability to identify situations that elicit complex emotions often emerges after age 7– Pride, guilt, shame

Understanding of Real and False Emotions

• Between ages 4 and 6, children become better able to understand that one’s appearance (e.g., facial expression) may not match one’s true emotion

– Display Rules: Informal norms concerning the appropriate expression (or masking) of emotions

• May be used for different reasons

• Emotion regulation

– Processes or strategies that modify emotional reactions

Development of ER: Patterns of Change

• Role of Caregivers

– Parents help infants and young children regulate negative emotions

• Ex: distract a frustrated infant

– Over time, infants and young children gradually become better able to regulate emotions independently

• Use of cognitive strategies to regulate emotions increases with age

– Ex: mental distraction; focus on positive aspects of a situation

• Use of effective strategies to regulate emotion increases with age

– Ex: problem-focused vs. avoidant strategies; realistic vs. unrealistic strategies

Individual Differences in ER

• Often assessed using tasks designed to elicit negative emotions (e.g., anger)

– Infants:• Arm Restraint• Inaccessible Toy

– Toddlers and Preschoolers (24 months and older) • Inaccessible toy/snack • Compliance (e.g., clean-up task)• Resistance to Temptation• Delay of Gratification

• Observe children’s level of distress and their coping strategies

– Ex: distraction; seeking assistance; focusing on forbidden object; “venting”

• Coping strategies that decrease distress are considered to be more effective strategies (i.e., more effective emotion regulation)

• Emotion regulation skills are positively related to children’s social competence and negatively related to behavior problems

Socialization of Emotions and ER

• Emotions expressed in the family are related to children’s emotional development and adjustment

– Positive emotions expressed by parents are positively related to children’s expression of positive emotions, understanding of others’ emotions, and social skills and negatively related to aggression

– Negative emotions expressed by parents (anger, sadness) are positively related to children’s expression of negative emotions and behavior problems and negatively related to social skills

• Parents’ reactions to children’s emotions are also related to children’s emotions and adjustment

– Parents who criticize or dismiss children’s feelings (e.g., of anxiety, sadness) have children who are less emotionally and socially competent

• Exs: less sympathetic toward others, less able to cope with stress, express more negative emotions and problem behaviors such as aggression

• Parents who talk to their children about emotions have children who show greater understanding of others’ emotions

• Parents who “coach” their children about ways of coping with and expressing emotions appropriately have children who are more socially competent and less likely to show problem behaviors