Emotions are useful because they help people adapt to their environments

Emotions are useful because they help people adapt to their environments

• Emotions are useful because they help people adapt to their environments

• Fear leads to avoiding danger

• Happiness strengthens relationships

• Disgust keeps people away from things that make them ill

Basic emotions: universal and consist of subjective feeling, physiological change, and overt behavior

• Basic emotions: universal and consist of subjective feeling, physiological change, and overt behavior

• Interest, disgust, sadness, & fear

• Stranger wariness appears around 6 months

• Self-conscious (complex) emotions such as pride, guilt, embarrassment appear later

• Cultures differ in degree of emotional expression

By 4-6 months, infants can identify facial expressions associated with different emotions

• By 4-6 months, infants can identify facial expressions associated with different emotions

• Social referencing: in unfamiliar or ambiguous environment, infants look to parents for cues to interpret situation

• During elementary school, children understand that people can have mixed feelings

Regulation of emotions begins in infancy

• Regulation of emotions begins in infancy

• For example, infants will look away when they encounter something frightening or confusing

• With age, children develop even more effective strategies

• Children who don’t regulate their emotions tend to have problems with peers

Temperament: behavioral styles that are fairly stable across situations and are biologically based

• Temperament: behavioral styles that are fairly stable across situations and are biologically based

• Thomas and Chess identified 3 patterns: easy, difficult, and slow-to-warm-up

• Five dimensions: activity level, positive affect, persistence, inhibition, and negative affect

Twin studies show genetic influence: identical twins more alike in most aspects of temperament than fraternal twins

• Twin studies show genetic influence: identical twins more alike in most aspects of temperament than fraternal twins

• Influence of heredity depends on dimension and child’s age

• Infants more likely to develop intense, difficult temperaments when mothers are abrupt and lack confidence

• Asian infants less emotional than European American

Temperament moderately stable through infancy, childhood, and adolescence

• Temperament moderately stable through infancy, childhood, and adolescence

• Fearful preschoolers tend to be inhibited as older child and adolescent

• Inhibited children more likely to be introverted adults

• Research also reveals many instances where temperament is not related to adult personality

Various aspects of temperament are related to school success, peer interactions, compliance with parents, accidents, and helping others

• Various aspects of temperament are related to school success, peer interactions, compliance with parents, accidents, and helping others

• Influence of temperament depends on environmental influences (children who resist control are less likely to have behavior problems when mothers exert control)

Temperament and Helping Behavior

Attachment: enduring social-emotional relationship

• Attachment: enduring social-emotional relationship

• Relies upon infant’s growing perceptual and cognitive skills

• By about 7 months, have identified a single attachment figure

• Usually first attach to mothers, then to fathers

• Prefer to play with fathers, but prefer mothers for comfort

Types: secure, avoidant, resistant, disorganized

• Types: secure, avoidant, resistant, disorganized

• Positive consequences of secure attachment in later social relationships

• Predictable, responsive parenting is important for secure attachment

• Parents’ attachment to their parents may influence responsiveness to their children

• Characteristics of child care and mother affect quality of attachment

Cross-cultural Data on Attachment