Psychology of Social and Emotional Development

1. Psychology of Social andEmotional Development Daniel Messinger, Ph.D.

2. Today • Introducing social and emotional development • Introducing what and how we will study social and emotional development

3. Overview • Social and emotional development are intertwined. • Emotional development typically studied in social contexts.

4. Social Beings • We are social beings, living with others, thinking about others, motivated by others. • A human brain without a social upbringing is similar to a cabbage. • Geertz • One chimpanzee is no chimpanzee. • Lorenz

5. Importance of social development • Development is never in isolation • Infants have physical need for caregiving • As mammals, our infants will not survive unless we feed them, change them, keep them warm. • Harlow: Rhesus monkeys raised with food but without social contact become • inept social partners • aggressive or fearful • have trouble finding mates.

6. Scope of social development • Social development is attaining the capacity to fill social roles • Family roles • Work roles • Romantic roles • Topics typically include family and peer relationships, sex roles, self-control, moral development, and resilience in the face of social stressors.

7. Emotional Beings • Emotions may motivate all human action. • Emotions involve appraisals, feelings, autonomic responses, cerebral activity, and actions including facial and vocal behavior. • These often occur in a social context.

8. Emotional Development • Includes changes in all the constituents of emotion. • Typically involves study of the emergence of different emotional responses, and the socialization of emotions. • Emotional development within a social context is the course’s first topic.

9. Course in a Nutshell • Intensive study of several areas of socioemotional development. • Intensive reading of original sources, writing about the original sources, and discussion of the original sources. • A lot of internet stuff.

10. Class description • Critical questions class-by-class • Focus of class sessions • Weekly papers • Critical questions, final project • Select for in-depth study • Final paper • Empirical project • Honors credit available • Research opportunities • Psych 367-368 • Syllabus

11. Practical • Requirements for next class • Choose a preliminary idea for a final paper • Bring this to class • Send this idea to the class using Blackboard • Register your email with the University to have access to Blackboard • In general • This is a research-oriented class • You will be reading and writing about original research articles • You will be expected to complete a mini-research project as part of this class

12. Introductions • Your name • Your guess for a final project topic • Or what you are narrowing it down to • Or what you definitely don’t want to do