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The Neufeld Scientific Research Centre

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Key Insights about Emotions

  1. THE PURPOSE OF EMOTION IS TO MOVE US

  • Bretherton. I, Fritz, J., Zahn-Waxler, C., & Ridgeway, D. (1986). Learning to Talk About Emotions: A Functionalist Perspective. Society for Research in Child Development, 57, p.  529-548.

  • Sroufe,  L.  A.  (1979).  Socioemotional  development. In:  J.  Osofsky  (Ed.),  Handbook  of  infant  development  (pp. 462-515). New  York: Wiley. (“affective  life is the meaning and  motivational  system   that   cognition  serves”, p. 462)

 

Emotions has also motivational function, cause they are triggering goals connected with the states we desire (by avoiding or favouring smith).

  • Frijda, N. H. (1986). The emotions. New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.

  • Plutchik, R. (1984). Emotions: A general psychoevolutionary theory. In K. R. Scherer & P. Ekman (Eds.), Approaches to emotions (pp. 197-219). Hillsdale, NJ, USA: Erlbaum 

 

  1. EMOTION IS ELECTRICAL IN NATURE< OBEYING ITS LAWS

  2. EACH EMOTION HAS SPECIFIC WORK TO DO

    • Berrett, K.C. (1998). A Functionalist Perspective to the Development of Emotions. In book: What develops in emotional developmentPublisher: PlenumEditors: M. F. Mascolo & S. Griffin.
    • The attachment seeking response as the most immediate reaction on the sense of danger

      Bowlby, R. (2007). Babies and toddlers in non-parental daycare can avoid stress and anxiety if they develop a lasting secondary attachment bond with one carer who is consistently accessible to them. Attachment & Human Development, 9(4), 307-319.

  • Feeling positive emotions ensures brain development, including the proper development of affective and cognitive processes.

Schore, A.N. (2000). Attachment and the regulation of the right brain. Attachment & Human Development, 2 (1), 23-47.

Schore, A.N. (2009a). Attachment trauma and the developing right brain: Origins of pathological dissociation. W. PF. Dell, J.A. O’Neil (ed.). Dissociation and the dissociative disorders. DSM-V and beyond (pp. 107-145). New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

  1. EMOTIONS NEED SUFFICIENT REST IN ORDER TO CONTINUE TO WORK EFFECTIVELY

  2. EMOTIONS NEED TO BE FULLY FELT TO COMPLETE THEIR WORK OF ADAPTATION AND GROWTH

  • Saarni, C. (1999). The development of emotional competence. New York: Guilford Press.
  • Salovey, P., Mayer, J.D. (1990). Emotional Intelligence. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 9 (3), 185-211.
  • The more stress a person is, the more primitive parts of the brain take control of behaviour:

Perry, B.D. (1993). Neurodevelopment and the neurophysiology of trauma: (I) conceptual considerations for clinical work with maltreated children. The APSAC Advisor, 61 (1) ), 14-8.

Schore, A.N. (2009a). Attachment trauma and the developing right brain: Origins of pathological dissociation. W. PF. Dell, J.A. O’Neil (ed.). Dissociation and the dissociative disorders. DSM-V and beyond (pp. 107-145). New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.

 

  1. EMOTIONS NEED TO BE RESOLVED IN SOME WAY OR ANOTHER OR THEY WILL GET STUCK AND STALE

  2. EMOTIONS SEEK DISCHARGE THROUGH EXPRESSION WHICH,  IF RESTRICTED, CAN ADVERSELY AFFECT EMOTIONAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT

  • Lieberman, M.D., Eisenberger, N.I., Crockett, M.J., Tom, S.M., Pfeifer , J.H., Way, B.M. (2007). Putting Feelings into Words: Affect Labeling Disrupts Amygdala Activity in Response to Affective Stimuli. Psychological science, 18 (5), p. 421-428. (“These findings begin to shed light on how putting negative feelings into words can help regulate negative experience, a process that may ultimately contribute to better mental and physical health.”)
  • Thompson, R. A. (1994). Emotion regulation: A theme in search of definition. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59(2-3), 25–52, 250–283.

  • Pennebaker, J.W. & Smyth, J.M. (2016). Opening Up by Writing It Down, Third Edition: How Expressive Writing Improves Health and Eases Emotional Pain. New York: Guilford Publications. (Keeping various emotions or information secret involves great physical exertion and a state of physiological stress. This impairs the ability to think, because not talking to others about difficult experiences makes it much more challenging to put them in a coherent form and organize them in the mind.)

  1. THE EMOTIONAL SYSTEM TAKES MANY YEARS AND CONDUCIVE CONDITIONS TO FULLY DEVELOP

    • During the long maturation process, when children are under the care of guardians, their emotions, instincts and impulses slowly begin to be under their system of intention

      Jun, P. (2018). The importance of play: An interview with Dr. Jaak Panksepp. Retrieved from https://brainworldmagazine.com/the-importance-of-play-an-interview- with-dr-jaak-panksepp/ 

The role of emotions in healthy development:

  • Damasio, A. (2005). Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain, revised Penguin edition.
  • James, W. (1884). What is an Emotion?. Mind, 9, 188-205.

  • Whitebread, D. (2012). Developmental psychology and early childhood education: A guide for students and practitioners. London, United Kingdom: Sage.

Attuned emotional attachment as a precursor to improved learning and behaviour:

  • Bergin, C., & Bergin, D. (2009). Attachment in the Classroom. Educational Psychology Review, 21, 141-170.
  • Commodari, E. (2013). Preschool teacher attachment, school readiness and risk of learning difficulties. Early Childhood Research Quarterly 28, 123-133. 
  • Dubinsky, J. M. (2010). Neuroscience Education for Prekindergarten-12 Teachers. The Journal of Neuroscience, 30, (24):8057-8060. 
  • Geddes, H. (2003). Attachment and the child in school. Part 1. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 8:3, 231-242.
  • Geddes, H. (2005). Attachment and Learning. Part 2. The Learning Profile of the Avoidant and Disorganised Attachment Patterns. Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, 10:2, 79-93. 
  • Hook, C. J., & Farah, M. J. (2012). Neuroscience for Educators: What are they seeking and what are they finding? Centre for Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania. 
  • Howard-Jones, P. (2014). Evolutionary perspectives on mind, brain and education. International Mind, Brain and Education Society and Wiley Periodicals, Inc., 8, No. 1., 21-33. 
  • Howard-Jones, P. (2014). Neuroscience and education: myths and messages. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, October 15, 2014. 
  • Wetz, J. (2010). Is initial teacher training failing to meet the needs of all our young people? Bristol, UK: CFBT Education Trust. 

 

Emotions and development

  • Perry, D.P. et al. (1995). Childhood trauma, the neurobiology of adaptation, and “use-dependent” development of the brain: How “states” become “traits”. Infant Mental Health Journal. 16 (4), 271-291.