Emotion and Self Regulation
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Transcript of Emotion and Self Regulation
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