1. Chapter 10 Outline
Please note that much of this information is quoted from the text.
I. Exploring Emotion
A.What are Emotions
•Emotion is defined as feeling, or affect that occurs when a person is engaged in an
interaction that is important to him or her, especially to his or her well-being.
•Emotions are influenced both by biological foundations and by a person’s experience.
•Emotions serve important functions in our relationships.
•Social relationships, in turn, provide the setting for the development of a rich variety of
emotion.
•Biological evolution has endowed human beings to be emotional, but embeddedness in
relationships and culture with others provides diversity in emotional experiences.
B.Regulation of Emotions
•The ability to control one’s emotions is a key dimension of development.
•Emotion regulation consists of effectively managing arousal to adapt and reach a goal.
•In infancy and early childhood, regulation of emotion gradually shifts from external
sources to self-initiated, internal sources.
•Also, with increasing age, children are more likely to improve their use of cognitive
strategies for regulating emotion, modulate their emotional arousal, become more
adept at managing situations to minimize negative emotion, and choose effective
ways to cope with stress.
•There are wide variations in children’s ability to modulate their emotions.
•Parents can play an important role in helping young children regulate their emotions.
oEmotion-coaching parents monitor their children’s emotions, view their
children’s negative emotions as opportunities for teaching, assist them in
labeling emotions, and coach them in how to deal effectively with emotions.
oEmotion-dismissing parents view their role as to deny, ignore, ore change
negative emotions.
C.Emotional Competence
•The concept of emotional competence focuses on the adaptive nature of emotional
experience.
•Becoming emotionally competent involves developing a number of skills in social
contexts.
•Emotionally competent children are more effective in managing their emotions and
display greater resiliency in the face of stressful circumstances.
II.Development of Emotion
A.Infancy
1. Early Emotions
• Primary emotions:
o Present in humans and animals
o Appear in the first six months after birth in humans
o Include: surprise, interest, joy, anger, sadness, fear, and disgust
• Self-conscious emotions:
o Require self-awareness that involves self-consciousness and a sense
of “me”
o Include jealousy, empathy, embarrassment, pride, shame, and guilt

2. o Occur for the first time somewhere between 18 months and the third
birthday
• There is debate about how early in the infant and toddler years these
emotions first appear and what their sequence is.
2. Emotional Expression and Social Relationships
• Emotional expressions are involved in infants’ first relationships.
• Parent-infant interactions are described as reciprocal, or synchronous.
• Cries and smiles are two emotional expressions that infants display when
interacting with parents. These are babies’ first forms of emotional
communicating.
a.Cries
•Crying is the most important mechanism newborns have for
communicating with their world.
•Babies have at least three types of cries:
o Basic cry – A rhythmic pattern that usually consists of a cry,
followed by a briefer silence, then a shorter inspiratory
whistle that is somewhat higher in pitch than the main cry,
then another brief rest before the next cry.
o Anger cry – A variation of the basic cry in which more
excess air is forced through the vocal cords.
o Pain cry – A sudden, long initial cry followed by breath
holding.
•Most adults can determine whether an infant’s cries signify anger or
pain.
•Parents can distinguish the cries of their own baby better than those
of another baby.
b.Smiles
•Two types of smiling can be distinguished in infants:
oReflexive smile – A smile that does not occur in response to
external stimuli.
oSocial smile – A smile that occurs in response to an external
stimulus.
•The infant’s social smile can have a powerful impact on caregivers.
•From two to six months after birth, infants’ social smiling increases,
both in self-initiated smiles and in smiles in response to others’
smiles.
•At six to 12 months, smiles that couple what is called the Duchenne
marker and mouth opening occur in the midst of highly
enjoyable interactions and play with parents.
•In the second year, smiling continues to occur in interactions with
parents and peers. Toddlers become increasingly aware of the
social meaning of smiles.
c.Fear
•One of the baby’s earliest emotions is fear.
•Infant fear is linked to guilt, empathy, and low aggression at 6 to 7
years of age.
•The most frequent expression of an infant’s fear involves stranger
anxiety, in which an infant shows a fear and wariness of
strangers.

3. •Stranger anxiety appears around 6 months of age and increases until
it peaks around the first birthday.
•Individual differences, social context, and characteristics of the
stranger are all factors in stranger anxiety.
•Infants express fear of being separated from their caregivers.
Separation protest may result.
•Separation protest appears around 7 to 8 months of age and peaks
around 13 to 15 months of age.
3. Emotional Regulation and Coping
• Infants gradually develop an ability to inhibit, or minimize, the intensity and
duration of emotional reactions.
• Early in infancy, infants depend upon others to assist them in soothing their
emotions; however, later in infancy they are sometimes able to redirect
their attention or distract themselves.
• By 2 years of age, toddlers can use language to define their feeling states and
the context that is upsetting them.
• Contexts can influence emotional regulation.
• Controversy still characterizes the question of whether or how parents should
respond to an infant’s cries.
B.Early Childhood – the young child’s growing awareness of self is linked to the ability to
feel an expanding range of emotions.
1. Self-Conscious Emotions – these emotions become more common during the
early childhood years.
2. Young Children’s Emotion Language and Understanding of Emotion – there is
an increased ability to talk about their own and others’ emotions and an
increased understanding of emotion in early childhood.
a.When children are 4 to 5 years of age, children show an increased ability to
reflect on emotions.
C.Middle and Late Childhood – children show marked improvement in understanding and
managing their emotions.
1. Developmental Changes in Emotion:
• Improved emotional understanding
• Marked improvements in the ability to suppress or conceal negative
emotional reactions
• The use of self-initiated strategies for redirecting feelings
• An increased tendency to take into fuller account the events leading to
emotional reactions
• Development of a capacity for genuine empathy
2. Coping with Stress
• An important aspect of children’s lives is learning how to cope with stress.
• As children get older, they are able to more accurately appraise a stressful
situation and determine how much control they have over it.
• The ability to generate coping strategies improves with age.
• The use of cognitive coping strategies improves with age.
• Some recommendation for helping children cope with the stress of especially
traumatic and devastating events include:
o Reassure children of their safety and security
o Allow children to retell events and be patient in listening to them
o Encourage children to talk about any disturbing or confusing feelings

4. o Help children make sense of what happened
o Protect children from re-exposure to frightening situations and
reminders of the trauma
D.Adolescence
•Adolescence can be a time of emotional highs and lows.
•The intensity of emotions may be out of proportion to the eliciting event.
•Adolescents may struggle in appropriately expressing their emotions.
•Adolescents may experience more negative emotions and moods than during childhood.
•Adolescents’ emotional regulation and mood may play a pivotal role in their academic
success.
E.Adulthood and Aging
•Adults adapt more effectively when they are emotionally intelligent.
•Developmental changes in emotion continue through the adult years.
•Older adults report better control of their emotions and fewer negative emotions than do
younger adults.
•Older adults experience more positive emotions and less negative emotions than
younger adults.
•Older adults are more inclined to use passive emotion self-regulation strategies than
younger adults.
•Older adults experience less intense emotions than younger adults.
•Socioemotional selectivity theory states that older adults become more selective about
their social networks.
•Socioemotional selectivity theory also focuses on the types of goals that individuals are
motivated to achieve.
oMotivation for knowledge-related goals decrease across the adult years.
oEmotion-related goals increase across the adult years.
oPerception of time is one reason for these changes in goals.
III.Temperament – an individual’s behavioral style and characteristic way of responding
A.Describing and Classifying Temperament
1. Chess and Thomas’s Classification
a.An easy child is generally in a positive mood, quickly establishes regular
routines in infancy, and adapts easily to new experiences.
b.A difficult child reacts negatively and cries frequently, engages in irregular
daily routines, and is slow to accept change.
c.A slow-to-warm-up child has a low activity level, is somewhat negative,
and displays a low intensity of mood.
2. Kagan’s Behavioral Inhibition
a.Another way of classifying temperament focuses on the differences
between a shy, subdued, timid child and a sociable, extraverted, bold
child.
b.Kagan regards shyness with strangers as one feature of a broad
temperament category called inhibition to the unfamiliar.
c.Kagan has found that inhibition shows considerable stability from infancy
through early childhood.
3. Rothbart and Bates’ Classification
a.Extraversion/surgency includes “positive anticipation, impulsivity, activity
level, and sensation seeking”
b.Negative affectivity includes “fear, frustration, sadness, and discomfort”

5. c.Effortful control (self-regulation) includes “attention focusing and shifting,
inhibitory control, perceptual sensitivity, and low-intensity pleasure”
B.Biological Foundations and Experience
1. Biological Influences
• Physiological characteristics have been linked with different temperaments.
• Twin and adoption studies suggest that heredity has a moderate influence on
differences in temperament within a group of people.
2. Developmental Connections
• Some aspects of temperament (such as activity level) show continuity across
time.
• Some aspects of temperament (such as emotionality) show discontinuity
across time.
• There may be connections between certain aspects of temperament (such as
emotionality and inhibition) and adult adjustment.
3. Developmental Contexts
• Physiological and heredity factors likely are involved in continuity; however,
experiences and context may shape how different characteristics develop.
• Gender can be an important factor shaping the context that influences the fate
of temperament.
• Culture may be another factor that shapes reactions to an infant’s
temperament.
• In summary, many aspects of a child’s environment can encourage or
discourage the persistence of temperament characteristics.
C.Goodness of Fit and Parenting
•Goodness of fit refers to the match between a child’s temperament and the
environmental demands the child must cope with.
1. Applications in Life-Span Development: Parenting and the Child’s
Temperament
•Sanson & Rothbart propose the following parenting strategies to use in relation
to children’s temperament:
oAttention to and respect for individuality
oStructuring the child’s environment
oThe “difficult child” and packaged parenting programs
IV.Attachment and Love – Attachment is a close emotional bond between two people.
A.Infancy and Childhood
1. Social Orientation/Understanding
a.Social Orientation
oFrom early in their development, infants are captivated by the social
world.
oFace-to-face play often begins to characterize caregiver-infant
interactions when the infant is about 2 to 3 months of age.
oInfants respond differently to people than they do to objects, showing
more positive emotion to people than inanimate objects, such as
puppets.
oThe still-face paradigm is a method used to study infant reaction to
caregiver behavior.
oInfants also learn about the social world through contexts other than
face-to-face play with a caregiver, such as peer interaction.

6. oPeer interaction and play improves considerably between 18 months
and 24 months.
b.Locomotion
oAs infants develop the ability to crawl, walk, and run, they are able to
explore and expand their social world.
oOnce infants have the ability to move in goal-directed pursuits, the
reward from these pursuits leads to further efforts to explore and
develop skills.
c.Intention, Goal-Directed Behavior, and Cooperation
oPerceiving people as engaging in intentional and goal-directed behavior
is an important social cognitive accomplishment, and this initially
occurs toward the end of the first year.
oCooperation is dependent upon children connecting their own
intentions with peer intentions and using this understanding in
interacting with peers to reach a goal.
d.Social Referencing
oSocial referencing is the term used to describe “reading” emotional
cues in others to help determine how to act in a specific situation.
e.Infants’ Social Sophistication and Insight
oResearchers are discovering that infants are more socially sophisticated
and insightful at younger ages than previously envisioned.
oThis social sophistication and insight is observable in their perceptions
of others’ actions as intentionally motivated and goal-directed and
their motivation to share and participate in that intentionality by their
first birthday.
2. What is Attachment?
•Freud theorized that infants become attached to the person or object that
provides oral satisfaction. Harlow’s classic study rebuked this idea.
•Harlow’s class monkey study clearly demonstrated that feeding is not the
crucial element in the attachment process and that contact comfort is
important.
•Erikson theorized that physical comfort and sensitive care are key to
establishing a basic trust in infants. This trust is the foundation for
attachment and sets the stage for a lifelong expectation that the world will be
a good and pleasant place to be.
•Bowlby stresses the importance of attachment in the first year of life and the
responsiveness of the caregiver. He stresses that both infants and its primary
caregivers are biologically predisposed to form attachments.
•Following are four phases of attachment development based on Bowlby’s
conceptualization:
oPhase 1 (from birth to 2 months): Infants instinctively direct their
attachment to human figures.
oPhase 2 (2 to 7 months): Attachment becomes focused on one figure,
usually the primary caregiver, as the baby gradually learns to
distinguish familiar form unfamiliar people.
oPhase 3 (7 to 24 months): Specific attachments develop. With
increased locomotor skills, babies actively seek contact with regular
caregivers, such as the mother or father.

7. oPhase 4 (24 months +): Children become aware of others’ feelings,
goals, and plans and begin to take these into account in forming their
own actions.
•Recent research suggests that some of the characteristics of Bowlby’s phase 4,
such as understanding the goals and intentions of the attachment figure,
appear to be developing in phase 3 as attachment security is taking shape.
•Bowlby argued that infants develop an internal working model of attachment, a
simple mental model of the caregiver, their relationship, and the self as
deserving of nurturant care.
•This internal working model influences future relationships, emotion
understanding, conscious development, and self-concept.
3. Individual Differences in Attachment
• Ainsworth devised the Strange Situation as an observation measure of
infant attachment.
• In using the Strange Situation, researchers hope that their observations will
provide information about the infant’s motivation to be near the caregiver
and the degree to which the caregiver’s presence provides the infant with
security and confidence.
• Based on how babies respond in the Strange Situation, they are described as
being securely attached or insecurely attached (in one of three ways) to the
caregiver.
a.Securely attached babies use the caregiver as a secure base from which to
explore the environment.
b.Insecure avoidant babies show insecurity by avoiding the mother.
c.Insecure resistant babies often cling to the caregiver and then resist her
by fighting against the closeness.
d.Insecure disorganized babies are disorganized and disoriented.
4. Evaluating the Strange Situation
• The Strange Situation may be culturally biased.
• Some critics stress that behavior in the Strange Situation might not indicate
what infants do in a natural environment. However, research does not
seem to support this criticism.
5. Interpreting Differences in Attachment
• Secure attachment in infancy provides an important foundation for
psychological development later in life.
• Early secure attachment is linked with positive outcomes during childhood
and adolescence, although not all studies have found such continuity.
• Attachment and subsequent experiences, especially maternal care and life
stresses, interact to influence children’s later behavior and adjustment.
• Some developmentalists feel that too much emphasis has been placed on the
attachment bond in infancy.
• Another criticism of attachment theory is that it ignores the diversity of
socializing agents and contexts that exist in an infant’s world.
• Despite such criticisms, there is ample evidence that security of attachment is
important to development.
6. Caregiving Styles and Attachment
• Securely attached infants have caregivers who are sensitive to their signals
and are consistently available to respond to their infants’ needs.
• Avoidant babies tend to have unavailable or rejecting parents.

8. • Resistant babies tend to have inconsistent parents.
• Disorganized babies often have parents that are neglectful or physically
abusive.
7. Mothers and Fathers as Caregivers
• An increasing number of U.S. fathers stay home full-time with their children.
• Observations of fathers and their infants suggest that fathers have the ability
to act as sensitively and responsively as mothers with their infants,
although many do not choose to follow this pattern.
• Maternal interactions with their baby usually center on child-care activities.
• Paternal interactions with their baby are more likely to include play.
• There are also gender differences in style of play.
8. Childcare
• Many children today do not have a parent staying home to care for them;
instead, the children have some type of care provided by others – “child
care.”
a.Parental Leave
o About 2 million children in the U.S. currently receive formal,
licensed child care, and uncounted millions of children are cared
for by unlicensed baby-sitters.
9. Contexts of Life-Span Development: Child-Care Policies Around the World
o Child care policies around the world vary in eligibility criteria, leave
duration, benefit level, and the extent to which parents take
advantage of the policies.
o There are five types of parental leave from employment:
• Maternity leave
• Paternity leave
• Parental leave
• Child-rearing leave
• Family leave
o Most countries restrict eligible benefits to women employed for a
minimum time prior to child birth.
• Variations in Child Care
o Because the U.S. does not have a policy of paid leave for child care,
childcare has become a major national concern.
o The type of child care varies extensively.
o The quality of child care varies widely.
o Children are more likely to experience poor-quality child care if they
come from families with few resources (psychological, social, and
economic).
• The NICHD initiated a longitudinal study of child care in the U.S. in 1991.
Some of their findings are:
o Patterns of use: Many families placed their infants in child care very
soon after the child’s birth, and there was considerable instability
in the child care arrangements.
By 4 months of age, nearly 75% of the infants had entered
some form of nonmaternal child care.
o Quality of care: Only 12% of the children studied experienced
positive nonparental child care.

9. o Amount of child care: The longer children spend in child care, the
less optimal their outcomes.
o Family and parenting influences: The influence of families and
parenting was not weakened by extensive child care.
• McCartney offers the following advice to parents in regard to child care:
o Recognize that the quality of your parenting is a key factor in your
child’s development.
o Make decisions that will improve the likelihood you will be good
parents.
o Monitor your child’s development.
o Take some time to find the best child care.
B.Adolescence
1. Attachment to Parents – secure attachment to parents in adolescence is linked to
many positive outcomes; including, emotional adjustment, physical health,
successful autonomy, good peer relations, and less depression and delinquency.
a.Dismissing-avoidant attachment is an insecure category in which
adolescents deemphasize the importance of attachment. It is linked with
violent and aggressive behavior in some adolescents.
b.Preoccupied-ambivalent attachment is an insecure category in which
adolescents are hyper-tuned to attachment experiences. There may be
high levels of parental conflict hindering optimal development.
c.Unresolved-disorganized attachment is an insecure category in which the
adolescent has an unusually high level of fear and is often disoriented.
2. Dating and Romantic Relationships
• Dating and romantic relationships can lead to attachment.
• Functions of dating include recreation, a source of status and achievement, a
setting for learning about close relationships, and mate selection.
a.Types of Dating and Developmental Changes
oMixed-gender group provide a safe setting for young adolescents to
begin exploring relationships with the opposite sex.
b.Dating and Adjustment
oTeens who date are often more accepted by peers and perceived as
more attractive.
oDating is linked to a number of problems in adolescence:
oMore externalized problems (such as delinquency)
oMore substance use
oMore genital sexual behavior
oDepression in females
oIncreased co-rumination (predictive of symptoms of
depression)
oPregnancy
oProblems at home and school
c.Sociocultural Contexts of Dating
oThe sociocultural context exerts a powerful influence on adolescents’
dating patterns.
oDating may be a source of cultural conflict for many adolescents whose
families come from cultures in which dating begins at a late age with
little freedom, especially for adolescent girls.
C.Adulthood

10. 1. Attachment
o Although relationships with romantic partners differ from those with parents,
romantic partners fulfill some of the same needs for adults as parents do for
their children.
o Secure attachment to parents in childhood is predictive of secure attachment
in adult relationships; however, stressful and disruptive experiences can
lessen this link.
a.Secure attachment style – Security attached adults have positive views of
relationships, find it easy to get close to others, and are not overly
concerned with their romantic relationships.
b.Avoidant attachment style – Avoidant individuals are hesitant about
getting involved in romantic relationships and once in a relationship tend
to be distant.
c.Anxious attachment style – These individuals demand closeness, are less
trusting, and are more emotional, jealous, and possessive.
o Secure attachment in adulthood is linked with many positive outcomes such
as longevity, providing support to those in distress, resiliency, mindfulness,
emotional control, and experiencing trust and commitment in relationships.
o Insecure attachment in adulthood is linked with some suboptimal outcomes,
such as unwanted (yet consensual) sex and relationship problems.
o Attachment categories are somewhat stable in adulthood, but adults do have
the capacity to change their attachment thinking and behavior.
2. Romantic Love
o Romantic love is also called passionate love, or eros.
o It has strong components of sexuality and infatuation, and it often
predominates in the early part of a love relationship.
o Romantic love includes a complex intermingling of emotions – fear, anger,
sexual desire, joy, and jealousy.
3. Affectional Love
o Affectionate love, also called companionate love, is the type of love that
occurs when individuals desire to have the other person near and have a
deep, caring affection for the person.
o Passion and sexual intimacy are more important to young adults than older
adults.
o Affection and loyalty are more important to older adults.
o At all ages, emotional security is ranked as the most important factor in love.
4. Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love
o The triangular theory of love states that love has three main dimensions:
passion, intimacy, and commitment.
o Infatuation occurs when there is only passion.
o Affectionate love is when intimacy and commitment are strong, but passion
is lacking.
o Fatuous love occurs when there is passion and commitment, but no intimacy.
o If passion, intimacy, and commitment are all strong, the result is consummate
love, the fullest type of love.
5. Falling Out of Love
o Falling out of love may be painful, yet, beneficial if the relationship was
harmful.

11. o Being in love when the feelings are not returned can lead to many negative
feelings.
o Some people get taken advantage of in relationships.
a.Research in Life-Span Development: Personal Growth Following a
Romantic Relationship Breakup
oSometimes, personal growth can follow the breakup of a romantic
relationship.
oGrowth can occur in various domains; including, personal, relational,
and environmental.
oWomen report more positive growth than men.