Deck 10: Emotions and Temperament in Infancy

Question 1

Briefly list some problems researchers encounter when attempting to study emotion in infancy.

Answer 1

$\bullet$ Definition of emotions - how to define them
$\bullet$ Measurement of emotion in infancy - facial expressions, physiological measures

Question 2

Briefly list some problems researchers encounter when attempting to study temperament in infancy

Answer 2

$\bullet$ Definition of temperament - what dimensions should be included
$\bullet$ Measurement of temperament - parent report vs. direct observation
$\bullet$ Stability vs. change in temperament over time and research costs associated with longitudinal studies to assess these questions

Question 3

What are primary and secondary emotions and what are the differences between them?

Answer 3

Primary emotions are the basic emotions that are thought to be innate or develop very early on Examples are joy, anger, sadness. Secondary emotions are more complex and require advanced developmental capacities, and therefore develop later. Examples are pride, guilt, envy.

Question 4

What are some weaknesses of the structural view of emotion development?

Question 5

What are primary theories about emotions in infancy?

A) Structural theories.
B) Functional theory.
C) Differentiation and dynamical integration perspective.
D) All of the above.

Question 6

Lewis (2000) proposed that emotions have five defining characteristics. Among these five are emotion

A) Elicitors, receptors, states.
B) Affectors, descriptors, attenuators.
C) Expressions, engagement, decline.
D) None of the above.

Question 7

Which of the following emotions could be considered basic or primary?

A) Guilt.
B) Anger.
C) Self-consciousness.
D) All of the above.
E) None of the above.

Question 8

Which of the following emotions could be considered complex or secondary?

A) Guilt.
B) Anger.
C) Self-consciousness.
D) All of the above.
E) None of the above.

Question 9

The structural view of emotion development:

A) Focuses on emotion component and constituent processes.
B) Focuses on the role of emotions in interactions.
C) Emphasizes role of emotion in language development.
D) All of the above.
E) None of the above.

Question 10

The functional theory of emotion development:

A) Focuses on emotion component and constituent processes.
B) Focuses on the role of emotions in interactions.
C) Emphasizes the role of emotion in language development.
D) All of the above.
E) None of the above.

Question 11

Weaknesses of the functional theory of emotion are:

A) It does not explain why functions of emotions emerge.
B) It overlooks how emotion influences perception and cognition.
C) It does not emphasize the role of emotion on development.
D) All of the above.

Question 12

Ethological theories of emotion:

A) Are based on animal research.
B) Emphasize adaptive function of emotions.
C) Focus on maturational or biological determinants of emotion.
D) All of the above.

Question 13

According to Campos and colleagues (1983), as adapted in your textbook, the "action tendency" of the emotion joy is:

A) Disengagement.
B) Flight, withdrawal.
C) Approach, energizing.
D) Elimination of obstacles.

Question 14

Messinger and his colleagues (2008) described four types of smiles. Which of the following is a type of smile as classified by Messinger et al. (2008)?

A) Happy smile.
B) Sad smile.
C) Open-mouth smile.
D) Play smile.

Question 15

In addition to facial expressions, which of the following is a reliable measure of emotion in infancy?

A) Skin temperature.
B) Heart rate.
C) Auditory evoked potentials.
D) Blood oxygenation level difference (BOLD).

Question 16

Using vocal expressions to measure emotion, how is the emotion "happiness" characterized on this measure?

A) Low pitch, low intensity, low tempo.
B) High pitch, low intensity, high tempo.
C) High pitch, high intensity, high tempo.
D) Low pitch, high intensity, low tempo.

Question 17

Which of the following emotions is the earliest to emerge developmentally (i.e., can be elicited or observed at the youngest age)?

A) Fear.
B) Guilt.
C) Distress.
D) All appear around the same time.

Question 18

What are probably reasons for depressed social behavior in infants of mothers suffering from depression?

A) Genetic factors.
B) Fewer opportunities to observe and learn about emotions at home.
C) Psychological effects related to mother's depression.
D) All of the above.

Question 19

Key features of temperament behaviors are:

A) Latency, rise time, duration, decay.
B) Intensity, threshold, refractory period, cycle.
C) Valence, direction, amplitude, continuation.
D) Stability, emotionality, activity level, repetition.

Question 20

The effects of temperament on development depend on

A) A child's age.
B) A child's gender.
C) A child's environment.
D) The age of a child's caregivers.

Question 21

Niche picking refers to

A) How the environment influences behavior and choices.
B) How own behavior and choices influence environment.
C) How choices can alter the development of temperament.
D) None of the above.

Question 22

According to the New York Longitudinal Study's four-way topology of temperament profiles, most infants showed the following profile:

A) Difficult babies.
B) Slow-to-warm-up babies.
C) Easy babies.
D) Happy babies.

Question 23

According to the Behavior Genetics Perspective by Buss and Plomin (1984), three core temperament dimensions are:

A) Activity level, soothability, attention orienting.
B) Sociability, negative emotionality, distractibility.
C) Attention orienting, soothability, distractibility.
D) Activity level, sociability, negative emotionality.

Question 24

What are some shortcomings of the New York Longitudinal Study?

A) Rated 9 temperament dimensions.
B) Biased assessments due to examiners' close knowledge of family and due to use of parent-report measures.
C) Long time-period of study.
D) Use of the Infant Temperament Questionnaire (ITQ).

Question 25

Direct observation or assessment of temperament is associated with which of the following concerns?

A) Observer effects.
B) Limited sampling.
C) Examiner biases.
D) All of the above.

Question 26

How can some of the shortcomings found in assessing temperament in infancy be solved?

A) Use of standardized observation measures.
B) Use of standardized parent-report measures.
C) Combined used of parent-report and observation measures.
D) Longitudinal assessments.

Question 27

Twin studies can inform our understanding of the heritability of temperament because

A) Monozygotic twins are more similar to each other than dizygotic twins.
B) Dizygotic twins are more similar to each other than monozygotic twins.
C) Monozygotic and dizygotic twins share 100% of genes.
D) Dizygotic and monozygotic twins share 50% of genes.

Question 28

Dr Jones conducts a study and finds that the temperament dimension attentional focusing measured at 3 months of age predicted children's vocabulary size at 20 months. This finding suggests:

A) Temperament is stable over time.
B) Temperament affects cognitive development.
C) Temperament is heritable.
D) Temperament has a biological basis in maturation.

Question 29

Dr Smith wants to study temperament differences associated with gender. What problem will Dr Smith face in her research?

A) Temperament is stable and changes little over time.
B) Temperament is heritable and determined by the parents, not their offspring.
C) Caregivers respond differently to boys and girls from birth, confounding experiential with genetic influences.
D) So far, no gender differences in temperament are known to exist.

Question 30

Describe the differences and similarities between temperament and emotion.

Question 31

Describe what is meant by goodness-of-fit and how it can affect the development of a child with "easy" temperament and a child with "difficult" temperament. Discuss the lasting impact temperament has on these children.

Question 32

Mothers are highly responsive to their children's emotions. During face-to-face interactions, mothers change their facial expressions seven to nine times per minute and imitate positive expressions of the child but ignore negative ones. Discuss the implications of these behaviors and their potential role during development.