Thematic Block 2: Socio-affective dimension
2.1 Emotional and Social Development
How are emotions related to feelings and other affective states?
Mood (sensation): The emotional states that persist are called “mood" (they are temporal, hence they change). They are more ambiguous than emotions or sentiments and they are more related with physical or emotional perceptions.
Self-regulation: It change by maturing, chances analyzing the situations are bigger than when you’re a child.
Emotions: Complex state of the organism characterized by an excitation or perturbation that predisposes to an organized answer which is automatic and physical, so we cannot avoid it. The emotions change depending on the context in which they are found, for this reason we can state that the emotions are not universal but unipersonal and also adapted to the context.
Related to emotions we have the aforementioned author Ekman and his theory Psychosocial theory, he states that the basic emotions are universal even across different cultures.
Emotional experiences are still in our body, self-awareness start recognizing the emotional signs of our experiences in our body. Usually we find more cognition in sentiments than emotions.
Feelings: It is an emotion made CONSCIOUS, which we identify, classify and evaluate thanks to the LANGUAGE mastery (Emotions became on sentiments due to cognitive processes and time). Feelings tend to PERSIST and LINGER if the stimulus that provoke them remains. They are related with an accumulation of experiences (Implies the past, the present and the future), for this reason, we can realize when this emotion will appear and why we feel that way, we can anticipate our feelings in a similar situation.
Feelings have nothing to do with moral or objective situations because they are subjective. !
In realtion with the emotions, we can study now an interesting analysis of Claudio Naranjo about the differemt Emotional types which are explained thanks to the famous enneagram. It is used to understand human emotional types.
There are 3 groups of personality: thinker, feeling and instinctive.
1. Thinker: Observer/Intellectual; Loyal/Static; Enthusiast.
2. Feeling: Perfectionist; Romantic/Artist; Helper
3. Instinctive: Performer/achiever; Leader/authoritarian (protective with others: idea of mafia, follow my own rules); Pacifist.
There are identified 9 different emotional types related to 9 feelings..
In front of painful experience/situation we use different ways to respond to the situation. We are specialized in one mechanism (more developed) allows us to survive.
Ego types: we construct a mask to defend ourselves, we loose our real self. For this reason an educational goal is to recover our authenticity, to love yourself, to deconstruct your ego (self-awareness, mindfulness processes), to educate in real love (admirative, romantic, maternal).
Mood (sensation): The emotional states that persist are called “mood" (they are temporal, hence they change). They are more ambiguous than emotions or sentiments and they are more related with physical or emotional perceptions.
Self-regulation: It change by maturing, chances analyzing the situations are bigger than when you’re a child.
Emotions: Complex state of the organism characterized by an excitation or perturbation that predisposes to an organized answer which is automatic and physical, so we cannot avoid it. The emotions change depending on the context in which they are found, for this reason we can state that the emotions are not universal but unipersonal and also adapted to the context.
Related to emotions we have the aforementioned author Ekman and his theory Psychosocial theory, he states that the basic emotions are universal even across different cultures.
Emotional experiences are still in our body, self-awareness start recognizing the emotional signs of our experiences in our body. Usually we find more cognition in sentiments than emotions.
Feelings: It is an emotion made CONSCIOUS, which we identify, classify and evaluate thanks to the LANGUAGE mastery (Emotions became on sentiments due to cognitive processes and time). Feelings tend to PERSIST and LINGER if the stimulus that provoke them remains. They are related with an accumulation of experiences (Implies the past, the present and the future), for this reason, we can realize when this emotion will appear and why we feel that way, we can anticipate our feelings in a similar situation.
Feelings have nothing to do with moral or objective situations because they are subjective. !
In realtion with the emotions, we can study now an interesting analysis of Claudio Naranjo about the differemt Emotional types which are explained thanks to the famous enneagram. It is used to understand human emotional types.
There are 3 groups of personality: thinker, feeling and instinctive.
1. Thinker: Observer/Intellectual; Loyal/Static; Enthusiast.
2. Feeling: Perfectionist; Romantic/Artist; Helper
3. Instinctive: Performer/achiever; Leader/authoritarian (protective with others: idea of mafia, follow my own rules); Pacifist.
There are identified 9 different emotional types related to 9 feelings..
In front of painful experience/situation we use different ways to respond to the situation. We are specialized in one mechanism (more developed) allows us to survive.
Ego types: we construct a mask to defend ourselves, we loose our real self. For this reason an educational goal is to recover our authenticity, to love yourself, to deconstruct your ego (self-awareness, mindfulness processes), to educate in real love (admirative, romantic, maternal).
AS TEACHER... HOW WOULD I APLLY IT IN MY CLASS?
The above-mentioned information would help me in my performance as teaching in taking care about the way that I use feeling in class and the effect that my actions have in their emtoional world. It is also improtat to take into account that there are several types of Personality and that we have to live with all of them. This will dirve me to implemetn respect and colivign experiences at class that could be developmed, for example, in an excursion or in a camp.
2.2 Socio-affective development and emotional regulation
Hypothesy of the Triune Brain:
The triune brain consists of the reptilian complex (which is more automatic like active personalities, so it is instinctive), the mammalian complex (that is related to social abilities like caring, feelings, memories and interaction with others), and the neomammalian complex or neocortex (which is the one that make us able to think and reason) viewed as structures sequentially added to the forebrain in the course of evolution. It is like if we had 3 different brains and some sides were less evoluted than others.
The Mammalian Brian and the Neocortex are the ones that we can work more with children at class because they are not automatic, so reasoning is able to be worked and with it the emotional and reasoning regulation. The Reptilian Brain is also very interesting because is the cause of the involuntary reaction that we can find for example in front of a negative stimulus so we have a negative reaction and it produces the emotions that we are going to regulate in a close future.
How does feelings influences our lives?
As we live in society in a social context, all interactions affect us immensely. In each event of the day we all experience a combination of emotions; both positive and negative and we have to canalize them in order to live in harmony; it is important no inhibit our feelings but recognize them. Emotions control every facet of our life, including; decision making, objective and subjective thinking as a result of our interactions with others (also the learning processes are always influenced by emotions)
Direction of development
Since education is wider than learning a few concepts, it also aims to develop the emotions and for this reason also to self-regulate the afore-mentioned emotions.
With the help of the attachment figures (parents and close family such as brothers), their interpersonal relations (such as friends at school, teachers, etc) and the emotional educational programs that aim to develop their emotional skills, children develops their emotional abilities through a process that goes from inside-outside. The first mentioned group (parents) is the one that shares more time with the children in their early ages, so they are the ones that influence them more in this development process. We can identify several actions used by them in order to self-regulate them:
The more used strategies are the following ones: regulation strategies as the distraction from the problem, to favor positive emotional states and reduce the negatives ones and parents philosophy about emotions and affections that can help children to understand them better. But, apart from them we can also find the relaxation techniques, reframing and planning problem resolution and the use of humor. This regulation first is done by the parents and then it is interiorized by the child as a self-regulatory strategy (8-10 years old) so they can be regulated in absence of the attachment figures.
Firstly, they have to identify their own emotions though a progressive cognitive development (physical reactions, differentiation between reactions and emotions) and to describe and to give them a name: In order to identify their feelings, kids focus on concrete effects of the feelings, not general. Crying = Sadness. As they can recognize them, they’ll be able to recognize a feeling by a name (I am sad … I am happy… I am concern…). Once children are able to identify emotions they can comprehend social labels of emotions. They expand the former experienced emotions, and they start to understand the verbal and no-verbal language of emotions and for this reason they expand their emotional vocabulary. Since they are able to recognize them they have to learn what to do with those emotions, so they have to learn to express and canalize them. So at the point that children can identify and can canalize their own emotions they are able to start to recognize the others’ emotions so they can develop empathy.
With the following video we will be able to understand better the Truine Brain theory.
The triune brain consists of the reptilian complex (which is more automatic like active personalities, so it is instinctive), the mammalian complex (that is related to social abilities like caring, feelings, memories and interaction with others), and the neomammalian complex or neocortex (which is the one that make us able to think and reason) viewed as structures sequentially added to the forebrain in the course of evolution. It is like if we had 3 different brains and some sides were less evoluted than others.
The Mammalian Brian and the Neocortex are the ones that we can work more with children at class because they are not automatic, so reasoning is able to be worked and with it the emotional and reasoning regulation. The Reptilian Brain is also very interesting because is the cause of the involuntary reaction that we can find for example in front of a negative stimulus so we have a negative reaction and it produces the emotions that we are going to regulate in a close future.
How does feelings influences our lives?
As we live in society in a social context, all interactions affect us immensely. In each event of the day we all experience a combination of emotions; both positive and negative and we have to canalize them in order to live in harmony; it is important no inhibit our feelings but recognize them. Emotions control every facet of our life, including; decision making, objective and subjective thinking as a result of our interactions with others (also the learning processes are always influenced by emotions)
Direction of development
Since education is wider than learning a few concepts, it also aims to develop the emotions and for this reason also to self-regulate the afore-mentioned emotions.
With the help of the attachment figures (parents and close family such as brothers), their interpersonal relations (such as friends at school, teachers, etc) and the emotional educational programs that aim to develop their emotional skills, children develops their emotional abilities through a process that goes from inside-outside. The first mentioned group (parents) is the one that shares more time with the children in their early ages, so they are the ones that influence them more in this development process. We can identify several actions used by them in order to self-regulate them:
The more used strategies are the following ones: regulation strategies as the distraction from the problem, to favor positive emotional states and reduce the negatives ones and parents philosophy about emotions and affections that can help children to understand them better. But, apart from them we can also find the relaxation techniques, reframing and planning problem resolution and the use of humor. This regulation first is done by the parents and then it is interiorized by the child as a self-regulatory strategy (8-10 years old) so they can be regulated in absence of the attachment figures.
Firstly, they have to identify their own emotions though a progressive cognitive development (physical reactions, differentiation between reactions and emotions) and to describe and to give them a name: In order to identify their feelings, kids focus on concrete effects of the feelings, not general. Crying = Sadness. As they can recognize them, they’ll be able to recognize a feeling by a name (I am sad … I am happy… I am concern…). Once children are able to identify emotions they can comprehend social labels of emotions. They expand the former experienced emotions, and they start to understand the verbal and no-verbal language of emotions and for this reason they expand their emotional vocabulary. Since they are able to recognize them they have to learn what to do with those emotions, so they have to learn to express and canalize them. So at the point that children can identify and can canalize their own emotions they are able to start to recognize the others’ emotions so they can develop empathy.
With the following video we will be able to understand better the Truine Brain theory.
You can chechk in the Readings' page above the Reading III that is a reflection about my own Management of the Emotions in my daily life. Quite interesting!
Below you can also check a funny Prezi presentation about the regulation process and the child own management of emotions during his growth.
Below you can also check a funny Prezi presentation about the regulation process and the child own management of emotions during his growth.
AS TEACHER... HOW WOULD I APLLY IT IN MY CLASS?
As I had said before, it would be interesting for me as a teacher to take into account the children emotions and among that their developmental process. This developmental process is very delicate and important for the children development because it implies the separation from their Caregivers and therefore there can appear Separation Axiety.
It is important to identify those cases in order to take care of this anxiety, so the teachers' community could help the children to end or reduce this concerning feeling. As teacher, I also would apply in class this attention and analysis procedures so the children can be better attended and more cared.
It is important to identify those cases in order to take care of this anxiety, so the teachers' community could help the children to end or reduce this concerning feeling. As teacher, I also would apply in class this attention and analysis procedures so the children can be better attended and more cared.
2.3 Personal identity and Gender identity formation
IDENTITY “Who am I?”
The identity is an experienced self-representation. It implies a developmental process that aims to structure and balance image of oneself.
Different identity process: is a procedure that occurs along life that permits to construct our self-image different from others.
Self-awareness (emotional awareness, body consciousness and self-image) it implies control and regulation of our own body. When children start being conscious about his/her body we say that they have a responsive consciousness.
One-self representation (Self-Reaffirmation process): one’s self representation that is related to relations with others. It’s related with cognitive process.
Self-image: How others see you and how you are significant to others through the way you think that the others’ see you. This self-image is determined by the Relationship with others (Social Comparison process that is related to cognitive and linguistic aspects) mainly about the close kinship, the friendships and lately the Couple relationship. For this reason, we see that the identity is built trough relations, bonds, affections and the adults’ feedback helps to shape their identity in a positive or negative way. In the development we can also see that there is a participatory appropriation of language through dialog, which permit the self-construction of identity.
The identity creation starts at newborn stages and normally it has a crisis at the adolescence.
As with other social agents, children construct a bond with their teachers. Teachers’ feedback is going to construct as well our students’ identity.
The identity formation context is placed in a tense relation between bonds and acquiring autonomy.
When the identity formation takes place, there are different considerations between bonds (we care more about ones opinions than another’s’) which are complemented with the progressively acquired autonomy that help us to evolve.
The Autonomy is the capacity of each to have independence; it is the ability to act according your own criteria. Through the formation of our identity process we became more autonomous, more independent and to do that, children must take distance from our closest ones. Doing that, their our own criteria is bigger, hence the individual must pass through a process of examination/discovery (who one may be? Who do you want to be? Kind of person...? how do you imagine yourself in a future). There is an exploration of the different social models in order to generate an unconscious exploration and comparison between them. The development is complemented by the Sense of belonging (to be part of something). For scholar children this sense is given by the peers of the school. In order to be part of the group, the individual has to receive the acceptance and them he can participate and therefore the children start to have things in common with the group. A differentiation process occurs also at the same time with the first social agents, so since they differentiate, they also integrate others representations (family first, friendship later) about social aspects of the different identities. During all this process the friendship becomes gradually more important than in early years due to the aforementioned differentiation process and the autonomy gaining. So, it is important to know that ddiscovery and breaking rules it’s not bad, they are constructing their identity.
According to the aforementioned concepts of parental effects and involvement in educationa and socio-affective development of children we have a quite interesting Review abou the article Parents' influence on Friendship from Krappmann, Lothar; Uhlendorff, Harald. It is also in the Reading page, and it is named Reading IV.
IDENTITY DIMENSIONS:
The identity has 4 dimensions:
Here we can see a video abou the Erik Erikson theory about the identity formation that will help us to complement the aforementioned theory. I hope you enjoy it!
The identity is an experienced self-representation. It implies a developmental process that aims to structure and balance image of oneself.
Different identity process: is a procedure that occurs along life that permits to construct our self-image different from others.
Self-awareness (emotional awareness, body consciousness and self-image) it implies control and regulation of our own body. When children start being conscious about his/her body we say that they have a responsive consciousness.
One-self representation (Self-Reaffirmation process): one’s self representation that is related to relations with others. It’s related with cognitive process.
Self-image: How others see you and how you are significant to others through the way you think that the others’ see you. This self-image is determined by the Relationship with others (Social Comparison process that is related to cognitive and linguistic aspects) mainly about the close kinship, the friendships and lately the Couple relationship. For this reason, we see that the identity is built trough relations, bonds, affections and the adults’ feedback helps to shape their identity in a positive or negative way. In the development we can also see that there is a participatory appropriation of language through dialog, which permit the self-construction of identity.
The identity creation starts at newborn stages and normally it has a crisis at the adolescence.
As with other social agents, children construct a bond with their teachers. Teachers’ feedback is going to construct as well our students’ identity.
The identity formation context is placed in a tense relation between bonds and acquiring autonomy.
When the identity formation takes place, there are different considerations between bonds (we care more about ones opinions than another’s’) which are complemented with the progressively acquired autonomy that help us to evolve.
The Autonomy is the capacity of each to have independence; it is the ability to act according your own criteria. Through the formation of our identity process we became more autonomous, more independent and to do that, children must take distance from our closest ones. Doing that, their our own criteria is bigger, hence the individual must pass through a process of examination/discovery (who one may be? Who do you want to be? Kind of person...? how do you imagine yourself in a future). There is an exploration of the different social models in order to generate an unconscious exploration and comparison between them. The development is complemented by the Sense of belonging (to be part of something). For scholar children this sense is given by the peers of the school. In order to be part of the group, the individual has to receive the acceptance and them he can participate and therefore the children start to have things in common with the group. A differentiation process occurs also at the same time with the first social agents, so since they differentiate, they also integrate others representations (family first, friendship later) about social aspects of the different identities. During all this process the friendship becomes gradually more important than in early years due to the aforementioned differentiation process and the autonomy gaining. So, it is important to know that ddiscovery and breaking rules it’s not bad, they are constructing their identity.
According to the aforementioned concepts of parental effects and involvement in educationa and socio-affective development of children we have a quite interesting Review abou the article Parents' influence on Friendship from Krappmann, Lothar; Uhlendorff, Harald. It is also in the Reading page, and it is named Reading IV.
IDENTITY DIMENSIONS:
The identity has 4 dimensions:
- Gender Identity/differentiation: How we construct our gender identity according to society convictions about both sex and the identification with role models. They can reaffirm their sexual identity by differentiation (boys with boys, girls with girls).
- Self-concept: Cognitive aspect of our self-identity, (how am I?).
- Self-esteem: Value given to our identity by their own. This aspect influences the development and the children performance in almost all the aspects of his life in the sense of conviction in his-self and capacity of achieving. It is related with other psychological contents: the control, the styles of success and failures that can be either with control and competence or without control on the learning process. The self-steem is determined by several agents: the educative family practices (democratic style), the teachers, the peer group and everyone’s personal history and the social comparison with others.
- Group identity: Sense of belonging to a group. To form part to something. Group is very important because it complements the other’s needs
Here we can see a video abou the Erik Erikson theory about the identity formation that will help us to complement the aforementioned theory. I hope you enjoy it!
Also you can enjoy a Prezi presentation about the Loneliness effect on children and their own notion about the loneliness idea. It is foccused on the differentation of being alone and feeling alone.
AS TEACHER... HOW WOULD I APLLY IT IN MY CLASS?
To study the childen Identity development it is interesting to see from where the different agents come in order to empower them if they were positive (to work on their own identity definition) and to reduce them if tehy were negative (sex stereotypes). The Group identity can be worked very well at class, and specially in my school where there is such as diversity as it is. A lot of interesting activities could be done in order to work the afore-mentioned Group identity in order to empower and strengthen it so the children at class could be more confortable during the school atime and therefore, as tehy would work in a better environement, their learning and Developmental processes will be better developed.
