1. Slide
A Topical Approach to
LIFE-SPAN DEVELOPMENT
Chapter Ten:
Emotional Development
John W. Santrock
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2. Slide
Exploring Emotion
• What are emotions?
– Feeling or affect in a state or interaction
characterized by
• Behavior that reflects pleasure or displeasure
• Conscious feelings: specific, intense
• Physiological arousal
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3. Slide
Exploring Emotion
• What are emotions?
– Biological roots…but shaped by culture and
relationships
– Facial expressions of basic emotions
• Biological nature; same across cultures
– When, where, and how to express emotions are
not culturally universal
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4. Slide
Exploring Emotion
• Regulation of emotion
– A key dimension of development
• Effectively managing arousal to adapt and reach a goal
– Involves state of alertness or activation
– States (e.g. anger) can be too high for effective
functioning
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5. Slide
Exploring Emotion
• Regulation of emotion
– External sources regulate in infancy, childhood
– Shift to internal, self-initiated regulation with
increasing age
• Better at managing situations
• Selects more effective ways of coping
– Wide variations in children’s abilities; adolescents
have difficulty managing emotions
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6. Slide
Exploring Emotion
• Regulation of emotion
– Parents’ roles in helping children
• Emotion-coaching approach
– Monitor child’s emotions
– Negative emotion is a coaching opportunity
• Emotion-dismissing approach
– Deny, ignore negative emotions
– Linked to poor emotional regulation in child
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7. Slide
Emotional Competence Skills
– Has awareness of own emotional state
– Detecting others’ emotions
– Using the vocabulary of emotional terms in socially and
culturally appropriate terms
– Having empathic, sympathetic sensitivity to others
– Recognizing inner emotions do not reflect outer ones
– Adaptively coping with negatives; self-regulatory
– Aware of emotions’ major impact on relationships
– Seeing oneself as feeling the way one wants to feel
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8. Slide
Development of Emotion
• Infancy
– Primary emotions
• Present in humans and animals
• Humans: appears in first six months of life: surprise, joy,
anger, sadness, fear, and disgust
– Self-conscious emotions
• Self-awareness; emerges at 18 mos. or earlier
• Empathy, jealousy, and embarrassment
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9. Slide
Development of Emotion
• Emotional expression and social relationships
– Infants: two types
• Crying – most important for communication
– Basic cry: rhythmic pattern
– Anger cry: variation of basic cry
– Pain cry: long, sudden initial loud cry
• Smiling: has powerful impact on caregivers
– Reflexive smile: innate origins
– Social smile: response to external stimuli
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10. Slide
Development of Emotion
• Emotional expression and social relationships
– Fear: first appears about 6 mos.; peaks at 18 mos.
• Stranger anxiety: fear and wariness of strangers;
intense between 9 and 12 mos.
– Affected by social context, stranger’s characteristics
– Individual variations
• Separation protest — crying when caregiver leaves;
peaks about 15 months of age
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11. Slide
Separation Protest in Four Cultures
Fig. 10.4 © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights11
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12. Slide
Development of Emotion
• Emotional regulation and coping
– Infants use self-soothing strategies for coping
• Controversy: how caregivers should respond
– By age 2: language allows defining of emotions
– Contexts influence emotional regulation
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13. Slide
Development of Emotion
• Early childhood
– Young children experience many emotions
– Self-conscious emotions
• Pride, shame, embarrassment, and guilt
• First appear about age 18 months
• Ability to reflect on emotions increases with age
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14. Slide
Development of Emotion
• Early childhood
– Ages 2 to 4: increased number of ways and terms
to describe emotions
– Learn about causes, consequences of feelings
– Ages 4 to 5: increased ability to reflect on
emotions
• Middle and late childhood
– Marked improvement in understanding, managing
emotions
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15. Slide
Developmental Changes In Emotions
During Middle and Late Childhood
Improved emotional understanding
Marked improvements in ability to suppress or conceal
negative emotional reactions
Use of self-initiated strategies for redirecting feelings
Increased tendency to take into fuller account the
events leading to emotional reactions
Development of a capacity for genuine empathy
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16. Slide
Development of Emotion
• Coping with stress
– Older children have more coping alternatives and
use more cognitive coping strategies
• Intentional shifting of thoughts
• By age 10, most use cognitive strategies
• Unsupportive families, traumatic events may lessen
abilities
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17. Slide
Development of Emotion
• Middle and late childhood
– Recommendations for helping children cope
• Reassure children of safety and security
• Allow retelling and discussion of events
• Encourage discussion of feelings
• Help children make sense of events
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18. Slide
Development of Emotion
• Adolescence
– Time of emotional turmoil (“storm and stress”) but
not constantly
– Emotional changes instantly occur with little
provocation
• Girls more vulnerable to depression
• Adolescent moodiness is normal
• Hormonal changes and environmental experiences
involved in changing emotions
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19. Slide
Self-Reported Extremes of Emotions by
Adolescents and Their Parents
Fig. 10.5 © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights19
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20. Slide
Development of Emotion
• Adulthood and aging
– Adapt more effectively when emotionally intelligent
– Developmental changes in emotion continue
through adult years
– Older adults have more positive emotions, report
better control of emotions
• Feelings mellow; fewer highs and lows
• Positive connections with friends and family
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21. Slide
Changes in Positive & Negative Emotion
Across the Adult Years
Fig. 10.6 © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights21
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22. Slide
Development of Emotion
• Adulthood and aging
– Socioemotional Selectivity Theory
• Older adults become more selective about their social
networks
• Emotional satisfaction is highly valued, positive
emotional experiences maximized
• More frequent association with neighbors
• More motivated to achieve; gain knowledge
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23. Slide
Model of Socio-emotional Selectivity
Fig. 10.7 © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights23
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24. Slide
Temperament
• Temperament
– Tendencies reflecting behavioral style and
characteristic way of responding
• Describing and classifying temperament
– Chess and Thomas: three basic types
• Easy child — generally positive mood
• Difficult child — negative reactions, cries often
• Slow-to-warm — low intensity mood and activity levels;
somewhat negative
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25. Slide
Temperament
• Describing and classifying temperament
– Kagan’s behavioral inhibition
• Inhibition to unfamiliar
– Shy/avoidance, subdued, timid child
• Extremely uninhibited
– Extraverted, social, bold child
• Inhibition shows considerable stability from infancy
through early childhood
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26. Slide
Temperament
• Describing and classifying temperament
– Rothbart and Bates’ Classification
• Extraversion/surgency
– Positive anticipation, impulsivity
• Negative affectivity
– Easily distressed, fear and frustration often
• Effortful control (self-regulation)
– Attentional focusing, more cognition used
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27. Slide
Temperament
• Biological Foundations and Experience
– Physiological characteristics are associated with
different temperaments
– Heredity is aspect of temperament’s biological
foundations (twin and adoption studies)
– Attributes become more stable over time as self-
perceptions, behavioral preferences, and social
experiences form personality
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28. Slide
Developmental Connections
Child Adult
Easy temperament Usually well adjusted in life
Poor adjustment, more likely
Difficult temperament to have problems socially, in
school and marriage
Inhibition Low assertiveness, less social
support, job and school delays
Good emotional control Good emotional control
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29. Slide
Temperament
• Developmental contexts
– Gender may be important factor that influences
fate of temperament
– Many aspects of child’s environment encourage or
discourage persistence of temperament
characteristics
– Goodness of Fit
• Match between child’s temperament and environmental
demands
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30. Slide
Temperament
• Goodness of fit and parenting
– Some temperament characteristics pose more
challenges than others
– Management strategies that worked for one child
may not work for next one
• Be sensitive to individual characteristics of child
• Structure environment to be as good a fit as possible
• Avoid labeling as “difficult child”
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31. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Attachment
– Close emotional bond between two people
• Social orientation in infants
– Face-to-face play: infant-caregiver interactions
– Still-face paradigm: shows infants react differently
to people than objects
– Ages 1 to 2: more locomotion, social play with
peers, independence, goal-directed motivation
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32. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Social referencing
– Child reads emotional cues in others, reacts
– By second year of age: much better at this
– Social sophistication and insight reflected in
infant’s perceptions of others
– Advanced social cognitive skills are expected to
influence attachment awareness
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33. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Theories of attachment
– Freud: infants attach to person or object providing
oral satisfaction
• Harlow’s study proved otherwise
– Erikson: first year of life is critical time for
attachment development
• Sense of trust or mistrust sets later expectations
• Physical comfort plays a role in development
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34. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Theories of attachment
– Bowlby: stresses importance of attachment in first
year and responsiveness of caregiver
• Develops in series of phases
– Phase 1: birth to 2 months
– Phase 2: 2 to 7 months of age
– Phase 3: 7 to 24 months of age
– Phase 4: 24 months and older
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35. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Individual differences in attachment
– Ainsworth and the “strange situation”
• Measure of infant attachment to caregiver
• Requires infant to move through a series of introductions,
separations, and reunions
– Securely attached or insecure
• Criticisms:
– May not reflect real world behavior
– Culturally-biased to Western children
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36. Slide
Ainsworth’s Attachment Categories
Securely attached Caregiver is secure base to explore
environment from
Insecure avoidant Shows insecurity by avoiding caregiver
Insecure resistant Clings to caregiver, then resists by
fighting against the closeness
Insecure disorganized Shows insecurity by being
disorganized, disoriented
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37. Slide
Cross-Cultural Comparison of Attachment
Fig. 10.11 © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights37
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38. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Interpreting differences in attachment
– Secure attachment important in first year; provides
foundation for healthy development
– Some developmentalists believe too much
emphasis on attachment bond in infancy
• Ignores the diversity of socializing agents and contexts
that exists in an infant’s world
• Ignores highly resilient and adaptive infants
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39. Slide
Caregiving Styles and Attachment
Baby’s Attachment Caregiver Behavior
Secure Sensitive to signals, available
Avoidant Unavailable or rejecting
Resistant Inconsistent
Disorganized Neglect or physically abuse
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40. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Mothers and fathers as caregivers
– Dramatic increase in stay-at-home fathers
• Many have career-focused wives
• Fathers have ability to nurture, be as sensitive and
responsive as mothers
– Maternal interactions: mostly child-care centered
– Paternal interactions: more likely to include play,
engage in rough-and-tumble acts
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41. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Child care
– Most U.S. children have multiple caregivers
• Parental concerns: reduced emotional attachment to
parents, harm to cognitive development, improper
socialization
– About 2 million children currently receive formal,
licensed child care
• Types of child care vary extensively in United States
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42. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Parental leave
– Far more extensive in other countries than United
States
– Europe led the way: paid fourteen-week maternity
leave
• Most countries: restrictions as to minimal employment
period before leave taken
– In the United States: twelve weeks unpaid leave to
care for newborns
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43. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Parental leave
– In most European countries:
• Working parents get 70% or more of wages and paid
leave averages 16 weeks
• Gender-equality family leave policies in Nordic countries
(Denmark, Norway, Sweden)
• Sweden: most liberal of all — 18 month leave with
benefits for full and part-time workers
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44. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Five types of parental leave from work
– Maternity leave: before and after birth
– Paternity leave: more important if second child
born
– Parental leave: allows either parent
– Child-rearing leave: supplements maternity leave
but typically paid at much lower level
– Family leave: covers reasons other than birth
• United States does not have paid leave policy
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45. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Variations in child care
– Many factors affect child care:
• Age of child
• Type of child care
• Quality of program — this makes a difference
• Number of hours per week the child is in care
– High quality may not erase negative effects
• SES or families with few resources
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46. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Variations in child care
– Ongoing national study in U.S. (NICHD)
• Patterns of use: infants being placed sooner
• Quality of care: lower for low-income families
• Amount of child care: extensive time lessened
attachment sensitivity to mother, more behavioral issues
• Family and parenting influences are important
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47. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Variations in child care
– Child care strategies for parents
• Quality of parenting is key to child development
• Make decisions that enhance good parenting
• Monitor child’s development
• Take time to find the best child care
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48. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Adolescence
– Secure attachment to both parents positively
related to peer and friendship relations
– Types of attachment to parents
• Dismissing/avoidant: caregiver rejection
• Preoccupied/ambivalent: inconsistent parenting
• Unresolved/disorganized: high fear due to traumatic
experiences
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49. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Adolescence
– Dating and romantic relationships
• Spend lots of time dating or thinking about it
– Form of recreation
– Source of status or achievement
– A way to learn about close relationships
– Function for mate selection
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50. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Adolescence
– Dating and romantic relationships
• Younger adolescents getting involved
• Comfort in numbers; youth “hang out” in groups
– More time in mixed-gender peer groups
• Dating involvement linked to later adjustment
• Sociocultural contexts influences dating and role
expectations
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51. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Adulthood and attachment
– Adults count on romantic partners to be a secure
base to which they can return and obtain comfort,
security in stressful times
• Childhood attachment patterns can impact here
– Influences choices and behaviors
• Secure, avoidant, anxious attachments
• Other factors like communication can impact
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52. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Adulthood and romantic love
– Also called passionate love or eros
– Strong components of sexuality and infatuation
– Complex intermingling of emotions
– Often predominates early part of love relationship
• Affectionate love or companionate love
– Have deep, caring affection for person
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53. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Adulthood
– Sternberg’s triangular theory of love
• Stresses three main components/dimensions
– Passion: physical, sexual attraction
– Intimacy: warmth, closeness, and sharing
– Commitment: intent to remain together
• Varying combinations create qualitatively different types
of love
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54. Slide
Sternberg’s Triangle of Love
Fig. 10.15 © 2010 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights54
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55. Slide
Attachment and Love
• Adulthood
– Falling out of love
• Collapse of close relationship
– Tragic feelings initially
– Over time — happiness and personal development
may benefit
– One-sided relationships are harmful
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56. Slide
The End
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