EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 

EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

EMOTION:

        Mental thinking or feeling of a person at a particular instance knowingly or unknowingly is called emotion. Emotion is often intertwined with mood, temperament, personality, disposition, and motivation. Emotions are complex. According to some theories, they are states of feeling that result in physical and psychological changes that influence our behaviour.

Etymology: The term emotion is derived from Latin term “emovere” which means to stir, to agitate, to move.

        An emotional state consists of feelings, impulses, physical and physiological reactions. A feeling is the experience of pleasantness or unpleasantness. Emotions are very important for an individual as well as for the child.

The following are some of the characteristics of emotion:

1.       Emotion is a stirred-up state of the organism.

2.       It is a specific condition of the mind.

3.       Emotion is a feeling of pleasantness and unpleasantness.

4.       An emotion is always aroused by a certain stimulus.

5.       The same stimulus may arouse different emotions.

6.        Maturation plays an important role in emotional development.

7.        There are objective and subjective factors in the development of emotions.

8.        Core of emotion is feeling

9.       Emotions are products of perception

10.   There are positive and negative emotions

11.   Some emotions are constructive and others are destructive

Emotional development

         Emotional development refers to the ability to recognize, express, and manage feelings at different stages of life and to have empathy for the feelings of others. The development of these emotions, which include both positive and negative emotions, is largely affected by relationships with parents, siblings, and peers.

       Emotional development is emergence of the experience, expression, understanding, and regulation of emotions from birth and the growth and change in these capacities throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The development of emotions occurs in conjunction with neural, cognitive, and behavioral development and emerges within a particular social and cultural context.

           Infants between the ages of six and ten weeks begin to show emotion with a social smile accompanied by actions and sounds that represent pleasure. The social smile develops in response to caregivers’ smiles and interactions. Around three to four months infants begin to laugh, which demonstrates that they can recognize incongruity in actions that deviate from the norm. Laughter fosters reciprocal interactions with others, which promotes social development. From six to twelve months infants can begin to express emotions, such as fear, disgust, anger, and sadness, which indicate to caregivers that they are experiencing discomfort or displeasure and need attention. Infants will respond to their emotions to the degree that their caregivers respond and then learn from their emotional facial cues.

         During a child’s second year, toddlers begin expressing shame, embarrassment, and pride, which are learned emotions based on their culture. As they acquire language and learn to verbalize their feelings, they can express their emotions of affection, distress, pain, and fatigue. The ability to recognize and label emotions and then to control emotional expression in ways that are consistent with cultural expectations is called emotion regulation. Children learn to self-regulate their emotions to be able to cope with difficult situations. Usually by age two, children also begin to acquire the complex emotional response of empathy by reading others’ emotional cues and understanding their perspectives.

          By the age of three, children begin to understand society’s rules regarding the appropriate expression of emotions. They are taught by caregivers that expressions of anger and aggression are to be controlled in the presence of adults, but they are less likely to suppress negative emotional behavior around their peers. This difference is the result of differing consequences of their behavior with adults or with peers.

          Children acquire the ability to alter their emotional expressions by around age four. They can display external expressions that do not match their internal feelings, such as thanking a gift giver when the gift is not really liked. This ability requires complex skills of understanding the need to alter their expression, realizing the perception of another, knowing that their expression does not need to match their actual feelings, and having the motivation and control to mask their true feelings convincingly.

        A wider variety of self-regulation skills is displayed by children ages seven to eleven. Factors that influence their emotion management decisions include the type of emotion experienced as well as the relationship, age, and gender of the person involved. Children develop a set of expectations of the outcomes they will receive from different people. Parents might handle some emotions better than peers, who might belittle or tease them.

         As school age children deal with their emotions and the people involved with them, they develop social skills. Based on how they perceive they compare with their peers, they either develop confidence and are competent in useful skills or feel inferior and unsuccessful.8 Their self-esteem is influenced by how they feel others view them. If their performance does not match their personal aspirations, they are likely to feel inferior and inadequate. Conditions that threaten to expose their inadequacies can cause anxiety. If children believe in themselves and their abilities, they can have a stable, positive self-concept about themselves.

          During play, children increase their emotional maturity and social competence by interacting with other children. Play helps children practice their communication skills as they negotiate roles and appreciate others’ feelings. They learn to share, wait their turn, and handle conflicts while playing with others. Play also allows children to express and cope with their feelings through pretend play, which allows them to think out loud about their experiences and feelings.

For children’s emotional balance following suggestions may be taken into considerations:

1.       For acquiring emotional balance, the causes of emotional outbursts should be eliminated.

2.       Children should be helped to express their emotions by organizing different activities in the school.

3.       Sometimes children are not permitted to express many of their emotional feelings due to social restrictions. So, they should be given opportunities to verbalize their emotions.

4.        Education should be provided to the child not only to express his emotions but also to control them.

5.       A child should be helped to develop a realistic understanding about the situation which creates unpleasant emotions.

      Sometimes emotions may also interfere in a learning process. During the state of anger and emotion we are unable to learn or read properly. When we are excited or inactive, it becomes difficult for us to think or study. However, it is seen that due to fear of failure in the examination, the children labour hard for better performance. So, this is clear that emotion interferes in learning.

 

 

There are four main stages of emotional development

1. During infancy

2. During childhood

3. During adolescence

4. During adulthood

INFANCY STAGE

         At birth and shortly afterword the first sign of emotional behavior in general excitement to strong stimulation. There are no indications of clear-cut definite emotional pattern that can be recognized and identified as specific emotional state.  Right from the time of the birth, the infant cries and his bodily movement seem to give evidence of the presence of emotional element in him. what are the specific emotion, if any, he experiences at this stage is a difficult to be answered.

       The stage of undifferentiated excitement is over in a very short time when the general excitement becomes differentiated into simple response that suggests pleasure and displeasure. Stimuli like sudden loud noise, wet, cold, and objective applied to the baby skin feeling hungry, and uncomfortable etc.

ü  Emotions are frequent.  They express common emotional expressions like anger, joy, fear etc.

ü  Emotions is related to concrete objects.

ü  Each emotion is temporary in nature.

ü   Each emotion is temporary in nature. There is shift in emotional expression rapidly. If the child is in an unpleasant mood, he gets a chocolate become happy.

ü  Children cannot hide their emotion.

ü  They do not bother the social situation where they engaged.

ü  As the child grows the strength of the emotion varies.

ü  Intensity of the emotional expression is relatively less

CHILDHOOD STAGE

        During childhood, peer group relationships and school atmosphere and other environmental factors influence his emotional behaviour. His emotion gets linked with the new experiences and interests and his emotional behaviour get linked with new stimuli. At the same time, he does not react to various old stimuli. For example, he does not show any anger during bathed, or dressed and no fear.

      In childhood, child is in position to express his feeling through language. In later childhood, the child tries to express his behaviour through reasonable means.

• Child cannot control their emotional expressions in social situations.
• They express their emotion at the time of the perception.
• Emotional expressions become less diffuse, random and undifferentiated.
•  The emotion cannot be spread to other social situations.
•  There is a mixture of emotional expressions related to a particular stimulus and cannot be differentiate it. Eg. Excitement is accompanied by fear
•  Emotions are expressed in the absence of concrete objects. In this stage the child needn,t any physical object to express his emotions.
• Emotions are most contagious. Because children are most suggestible and dependent on others.
•  Cannot hide their emotions.
• As the child grows the strength and intensity of the emotion varies.

ADOLESCENCE

1.Complexity

• An adolescent person has undergone a lot of stress and strain-ful situations.

• We cannot understand him by his overt behavior.

• They learn to hide their emotions from others.

• So, it is very complex to identify the individual.

2.Development of abstract emotions

• They needn’t any concrete objects to express their emotions.

• It is highly individualized and can’t be identified it proper root.

3.Emotional feelings are widened

• The social contacts of an individual are more widen.

• He is related to classmates, elders and young people, emotionally attached heros etc. the influence of all these which sharpen their emotions.

• They develop an integrity about their past experiences and future expectations.

• So, they become more patient and tolerate any delay in their life circumstances.

4. Bearing of emotions

• They can tolerate stress and tensions in various life situations.

• So, they develop a sense of self control.

5. Capacity of sharing emotions

• They have a tendency to consider others feelings and share their emotions to others.

• Sharing of emotions reaches its peak at this stage.

• Satisfaction of others is important.

• So, they engaged in the activities of others and take role for others.

6. Loyalty expands

• Their social contact expands to neighbors and other social organizations.

• So, they maintain a loyalty towards others.

7. Realism in emotional experiences

• He entered into the world of reality.

• He becomes aware of his strength and weakness.

• This awareness reflects in their emotional expressions.

8. Reviewing hopes and aspirations

• It is period of high expectation for his future. Some realistically hard-work for it. So, they feel a positive emotion in it.

• Others engaged in day dreams, fantasy or remain in illusion. Later they became unrealistic.

9. Tolerance of aloneness

• Develop a feeling of aloneness.

• So, they like to be alone in homes.

10. Increased compassion

• Develops sympathy & empathy.

• Can enter into his own feelings and appreciate the feeling of others.

ADULTHOOD

Individuals attain emotional maturity

Characteristics of an emotionally matured person

1.       Almost all emotions can be distinctly seen in him.

2.       Manifestation of emotions is very much refined. Expresses emotions in socially desirable way.

3.       Able to exercise control over his emotions

4.       Perceives things in their perspective…he is not a day dreamer

5.       Guided more by his intellect than his emotion.

6.        Never argues in defense of his undesirable or improper conduct.

7.        Never shifts the responsibility of his mistakes on others.

8.       Always honest in his behaviour.

9.       Self-concept and self-respect.

10.   Not confined to himself. Keen to maintain social relationships.

11.   Can exercise his emotions at a proper time in proper place.

Need of emotional development

1. emotional development, emergence of the experience, expression, understanding, and regulation of emotions from birth and the growth and change in these capacities throughout childhood, adolescence, and adulthood.
2. Positive social and emotional development is important. This development influences a child's self-confidence, empathy, the ability to develop meaningful and lasting friendships and partnerships, and a sense of importance and value to those around him/her.
3. Increased emotional intelligence allows students to better understand themselves, thus allowing them to better connect with others. It's also the key to helping them understand different perspectives so that they can make responsible choices and fully understand the consequences of their actions.
4. Positive social and emotional development is important. This development influences a child's self-confidence, empathy, the ability to develop meaningful and lasting friendships and partnerships, and a sense of importance and value to those around him/her.

 

IMPORTANCE OF EMOTIONS IN TEACHING AND LEARNING

        The importance of emotions in teaching and in learning cannot be ignored. Emotion is generally defined as blends of sensations caused by the profound and wide-spread changes within the body. It involves generalized inner adjustment, or feelings, impulses, and physiological reactions with varying degrees of satisfaction or annoyance.

    It is a general stirred-up feeling of the whole body; it is something we feel or experience; and it is also a motive or an urge. Crow and Crow think of emotion as “an effective experience that accompanies generalized inner adjustment and mental and physiological stirred-up states in the individual, and that shows itself in his overt behavior.”

     They state further that “emotion is a dynamic internal adjustment that operates for the satisfaction, protection, and welfare of the individual.” In the language of Taylor, “emotions are power. They evolved to help him in getting food or mate, for defending them, or for flight to escape from threats too great to face.”

      Fear, love, anger, joy, sympathy, confidence, enthusiasm, and goodwill are some examples of emotions, which are met in schools as well as in the home. Emotion enters into every activity of life, and therefore of school. It enters in the whole business of teaching and learning.

      Emotion is at the very basis of modern education, an essential element in the adjective nature of life process. According to the UNESCO report, “all learning has emotional correlates.” It also conditions the effectiveness and the amount of learning.

      Education depends upon emotions for the motivation of learning and for personal development. It is now recognized that certain emotional conditions are favourable to learning. In school work, it has been found that praise following the performance of an activity leads to learning better than a negative attitude.

ü  Learning in the classrooms can be better facilitated if the learner practices with satisfaction and if success crowns his efforts.

ü  Effective learning requires that conditions be controlled so they will be satisfying.

ü   A wholehearted desire to learn will make the practice more pleasurable and will consequently tend to strengthen the reactions involved in the process of learning.

ü  Pleasure in learning has an additional value. Intense emotions, whether pleasurable or annoying, may inhibit learning.

ü  Affective factors in the individual’s experiences influence the amount of his learning.

ü  Emotions, feelings, and attitudes play many roles in the teacher’s teaching and in the pupil’s learning.

ü  Emotions act as drives or motives in getting their work done.

ü   The teacher must bear in mind that emotional reactions are integral parts of every learning situation. They should be studied in relation to the part they play in learning.

ü   The teacher must recognize that learning proceeds more effectively when pupils are not emotionally disturbed.

ü  Teaching depends upon emotions for the motivation of learning.

ü  In teaching, the emotions of fear, anger, and love can be used as spurs or drives to greater activity on the part of the learner.

ü   Emotions can also be used as checks on the pupil’s behavior, in or outside the classroom.

ü   It is necessary to act upon the knowledge that fear and anger are handicaps to effective learning. Here is the psychological justification for avoiding shamming and sarcasm. Fear of punishment should be replaced by more positive means of motivation.

ü  The teacher can also make use of the emotion of fear to help the pupils in the attainment of social virtues.

ü  Anger can be utilized to drive away fear in cases where a pupil is overcome by fear to talk before a class or group of pupils. However, the teacher should avoid derogatory remarks that may arouse anger.

ü  The emotion of love can be utilized best in developing appreciation and proper attitude toward things, places, or people.

ü  Praise can also be utilized to best advantage in teaching, especially when it comes from the person held in esteem by the learner. Limited experimental evidence on the subject tends to show that praise stimulates average and below average pupils, but has less effect on those of superior intelligence. However, regardless of ability, age, or sex, praise plays an important position in teaching and in learning.

METHODS BY TEACHER TO FOSTER EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

ü  Build positive relationships with every child every day.

ü  Build meaningful partnerships with families

ü  Structure routines, transitions, and activities.

ü  Create activities that are fun and engaging.

ü  Model and acknowledge appropriate social behavior.

ü  Pay attention to the function of the child’s behavior.

ü  Teach with intention.

ü  Create a consistent, but play-based, classroom structure.

ü  Teach—and reinforce—empathy.

ü  Actively teach conflict resolution.

ü  Story-telling.

ü  Art education.

ü  Dramatisation.

ü  Practical teaching.

How does emotional factors affect the teaching and learning process of a pupil?

          Affective factors in the individual's experiences influence the amount of his learning. ... In teaching, the emotions of fear, anger, and love can be used as spurs or drives to greater activity on “the part of the learner. They can also be used as checks on the pupil's behavior, in or outside the classroom.