Emotion and Self Regulation

Naomi Ekas9/28/09

Self-Regulation Children do not come into this world

with all of the skills necessary to regulate their behavior

It is around 2 years that we really start to see children monitoring behavior

Self-Regulation Ability to comply with a request, initiate and

cease activities according to situational demands, to modulate the intensity, frequency, and duration of verbal and motor acts in social and educational settings, to postpone acting upon a desired object/goal, and to generate socially approved behavior in the absence of external monitors (Kopp, 1982)

Self-Regulation Neurophysiological modulation

Birth to 2-3 months Reflexes

Self-Regulation Sensorimotor modulation

3 months - 9 months + Engage in voluntary motor acts (reach &

grab, hand to mouth, etc.) and change that act in response to environmental demands

No awareness of meaning of situation

Self-Regulation Control

9-12 months to 18 + months Emerging ability of children to show

awareness of social or task demands and modulate behavior/emotions

E.g. compliance to demands

Self-Regulation Emergence of self-control and the

progression to self-regulation 24 + months Compliance, delay an act on request Representational thinking and recall

memory Limited flexibility

Self-Regulation Self-regulation

36 + months Flexibility!!!

Emotion Regulation In addition to regulating behaviors,

children must also regulate emotional experiences

Development of emotion regulation abilities follows Kopp’s description of emergence of self-regulation Reflexes to flexible management

Emotion Regulation Emotion regulation consists of the

extrinsic and intrinsic processes responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and modifying emotional reactions, especially their intensive and temporal features, to accomplish one’s goals

Emotion Regulation Monitoring, evaluating, modifying

Not only negative emotions Not only dampening emotions, but also

increasing

Emotion Regulation Extrinsic influences

Parents!!! Critical in the early months

Intrinsic influences temperament

Emotion Regulation Intensive and temporal features

Intensity - subdue or enhance Speed or slow onset or recovery Reduce or increase lability (range) Limit or enhance persistence over time

Emotion Regulation Accomplish one’s goals

Must be regarded functionally What are regulator’s goals for that

situation?

Emotion Regulation What is regulated?

Control of underlying arousal processes through maturing systems of neurophysiological regulation

Diffuse excitatory processes decline in lability during first year

Cortical inhibitory controls emerge gradually during infancy

Nervous system reactivity

Emotion Regulation Attention processes

Emotion can be regulated by managing the intake of emotionally arousing information

Redirecting attention As they get older can do things like internal

redirection of attention (e.g. thinking of something pleasant during unpleasant situation)

Emotion Regulation Other components of information

processing Alter interpretations

“He didn’t really die, he just got frightened and ran away”

“It’s just pretend”

Emotion Regulation Increase access to coping resources Regulating emotional demands of

familiar situations

Emotion Regulation Importance of social interaction

Others can help regulate our emotions (e.g. mothers soothing young infant)

Importance of attachment relationship Others can help us with our interpretations

of situations Modeling behavior of those around us

Emotion Regulation Individual differences

Temperament Attachment Parenting Others???

Emotion Regulation Problems with the construct and

research area

Emotion regulation…• …viable scientific construct? • …proposes to account for how and why emotions

• organize, facilitate other physiological processes (e.g., promote problem solving)

– and/or • have detrimental effects (harm relationships)

• …integrates an understanding of typical and atypical development – emotions relate to cognition and behavior -->

developmental outcomes

Fernandez

• Concerns– Use the term without a definition

• define emotion & emotion regulation– Do not distinguish between emotion and emotion regulation

• emotions are inherently regulatory• physiological systems aren’t clearly distinct from

emotions – Use valence to provide information about emotion regulation

without evidence of regulatory process • regulating & regulated• intra/interdomain

– Optimal functioning only or includes maladaptive regulation – Emotions understood in context

Fernandez

• Areas of Research– Infant Temperament

• Reactivity (speed & intensity of initial activity)• Self-regulation (ability to modify the intensity & duration

by engaging in behavioral strategies)

– Mother-Child Interactions• regulated and regulating in social interactions• quality of emotional exchanges related to child’s ability to

regulate own behavior

– Early Emotional Self-Regulation• emergence of new (more complex) use of objects and

interactions (ages 2-4)• manner of self-regulation is predictive of later outcomes

Fernandez

• Direction for New Research– Independent measures of emotion & regulation

• Avoid confounding valence with regulation• Use of multiple measures

– Analysis of temporal relations between emotion & regulation• Demonstration of change over time

– Comparison of emotion & regulation in contrasting conditions

• Help the researcher infer emotion when its barely detectible • Disentangle activation of emotion & regulatory process

– Multiple converging measures• Self-report, expressive behavior, and physiological change• Heightens inferencing

Fernandez

Feldman, R. (2009). The development of regulatory functions from birth to 5 years: Insights from premature infants. Child Development, 80(2), 544-561.

Different perspectives of regulation Posner & Rothbart (1998) – interplay of b/mechanisms of excitation and

inhibition Calkins & Fox (2002) – integration of physiological, emo, attn, cog

processes Neuroscience – relations b/ brainstem, limbic, and cortex to produce

behavior Fogel (1993) – coregulatory function of early relationships

Common assumptions Integrated , hierarchically ordered system of multiple components of

functioning Synchronized in time Plastic interplay b/ coregulated and autoregulated processes in

development Hierarchical-integrative course of regulation development

1st year: Emotion regulation of external and internal stresses Based in brain-stem function (sleep-wake cycle, vagal tone)

2nd year: Attention regulation to achieve goals Based in both physiological and emotional regulation processes

Preschool years: Self-regulation of behavior and cognition Behavior adaptation, Executive functions, Conscience

Current StudyPremature infants from birth to 5 yrs Difficulties in physiological and behavioral regulation

Core Systems 32 wks

Neo-nate

3 mos

6 mos

12 mos

24 mos

5 yrs

Brain-stem

Physiological oscillators

LimbicEmotion regulation

Attention regulation

Cortex Self-regulation

Goals1) Describe expression of multiple regulatory processes in at-risk pop2) Describe longitudinal pattern of associations across levels

- Unique and interactive effects of levels 1-3 on 43) Test causal paths to self-regulation

- Vagal tone Attn regulation & behavior adaptation- Sleep-wake cyclicity Attn regulation

Current Study

High vs. Low Medical Risk Neonates: less organized sleep-wake cycle, higher neg emotion (boys also at

risk) 1 year: worse emotion reg, higher neg emotion 2 years: worse attn reg 5 years: poorer EF, no differences in behavior adaptation or self-restraint

Correlations between levels of regulation Mild – moderate correlations among levels

Predicting self-regulation at age 5 Vagal tone, sleep-wake, emo reg, attn reg predicted EF All but sleep-wake predicted behavior problems & self-restraint

Structural modeling

Results & conclusions High vs. Low Medical Risk

Neonates: less organized sleep-wake cycle, higher neg emotion (boys also at risk) 1 year: worse emotion reg, higher neg emotion 2 years: worse attn reg at 12 but not 24 mos, worse delayed response at 24 mos 5 years: poorer EF only, no differences in behavior adaptation or self-restraint

Vulnerability but effects diminish over time due to other protective factors

Correlations between & within levels of regulation Mild – moderate correlations between levels

Regulation construct is continuous across time Physiological measures capture basic feature of orientation to environment Most variance not shared – suggests malleability in development

Consistent relationship between low neg emotionality and regulatory functions (e.g. sleep-wake cyclicity & less cry states)

Bidirectional influence between development of negative affect and regulatory functions

Reactivity

Regulation

Negative Emotionalit

y

Regulation

Reactivity

Environmental stressors Fuccillo

Results & conclusions (cont.)

Structural model Sig better fit when indirect paths

included Consistent with hierarchical-integrative

model of brain maturation

Unanswered questions Physiological & emotional

regulatory processes across time Need for person-centered analysis

& study of predictors of resilience

• Predicting self-regulation at age 5

Fuccillo