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Psychology 3260: Personality & Social Development

Don Hartmann Spring 2007

Lecture 14: Emotion & Schooling

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Supplementary References

Mac Iver, D. J., Reuman, D. A., & Main, S. R. (1995). Social structuring of the school: Studying what is, illuminating what could be. Annual Review of Psychology, 46, 375-400.

Reynolds, D., & Cuttance, P. (Eds.). (1992). School effectiveness: Research. policy, and practice. London, England: Cassell.

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Overview of Emotions & Schooling Lecture

Overlap: 115-117 Lecture:

Psychosocial factors place children at risks for emotional problems

Emotional problems: types & causes Emotional problems and their association

with school problems Identification of at-risk children Levels and intensity of interventions

Next: Lecture #15: Attachment I

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Psychosocial Risk Factors… Social (and distal): Poverty, mental illness,

drug addiction, low educational attainment of parents, reliance on public assistance, single parents Risks are cumulative

Psychological (and proximal): Parents who express more negative

emotion, engage in more conflict, and are ineffective in helping children deal with

their feelings.

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Emotional Disturbances:

The big 31. Poor physiological regulation

2. Poor emotional-regulation

3. Poor self-regulation

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Physiological Regulation

Training typically begins the early weeks of life with gradually emerging control of bio-physiological systems, such as sleep and attention.

Physiological dys-regulation is found in babies exposed to prenatal/perinatal risks and in chaotic rearing contexts and inadequate parenting.

The consequences of bad training: children who continue to have disturbed sleep, heightened irritability, and erratic alertness.

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Dysfunctional Parenting

Physiological

Dys-regulation

Disturbed

Sleep

Heightened

Irritability

Erratic

Alertness

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Emotion-Regulation (a)

Begins during the 1st years of life, and depends on appropriate caregiver inputs; e.g., Soothing & facilitation of infant

attention to potential sootherscontrolling for the infant extreme

emotional stimulationdescriptions of feelings

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Emotion-Regulation (b)

Later is a function of children’s Emotional Knowledge (EK) and their ability to reason about and talk about emotions.

EK skills are normally developed through Emotion expression and discourse about

emotion feelings in the home Parental use of emotion coaching Child factors of emotionality/temperament

and verbal ability

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Self-Regulation

Well underway in the 2nd yearDelay of gratification (a la Walter

Mischel)Complying with family norms

Requires perceptive parenting & an emotional bond between parent and child

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Schooling & Regulation (a) The relationships that children build

with peers and teachers arebased on children’s ability to regulate emotions in prosocial versus antisocial ways

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Schooling & Regulation (b) Those relationships then serve as a

“provision” that either help or hurt children’s chances of doing well academically in school…--e.g., children who act in antisocial

ways are less likely to be accepted by classmates and teachers, participate less in classrooms and do more poorly in school.

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Schooling & Regulation (c)

Disruptive kids are…--Tough to teach--Lose opportunities to learn from

their classmates….--Children who are disliked by

teachers and classmates grow to…

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Identification & Intervention Identify children— earlier

rather than later Intervene with them

Either at the preschool or early school years. School as a locale for change!

Interventions can be focused on the child and the school, the child and the home (parents), social risk factors such as poverty and crime, or some combination of these

For example, low-intensity intervention in the classroom…

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Summary of Emotions & Schooling Lecture

Introduction: The Thesis The Argument:

Psychosocial factors place children at risks for emotional problems

Emotional problems: types & causes Emotional problems association with school

problems Identification of at-risk children Levels and intensity of interventions

Next: Lecture #15: Attachment I Go in Peace