Views & Opinion Experiences shape our emotions
Comment by ALICIA BLANCO-BAYO, Early Years lecturer and consultant *
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Emotional responses occur as a result of how we experience life. The emotional impact emotions have on the brain depends on what we gain from the experiences we go through. In fact, the brain develops one way or another after certain types of experiences. Therefore, supporting children as they learn to express their emotions has to become a priority.
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1. Awareness of one’s emotional state, including the possibility that one is experiencing multiple emotions, and at even more mature levels, awareness that one might also not be consciously aware of one’s feelings due to unconscious dynamics or selective inattention.
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2. Skills in discerning others’ emotions, based on situational and expressive cues that have some degree of consensus as to their emotional meaning.
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3. Skill in using the vocabulary of emotion and expression in terms commonly available in one’s subculture and at more mature levels to acquire cultural scripts that link emotion with social roles.
4. Capacity for empathic and sympathetic involvement in others’ emotional experiences.
5. Skill in realizing that inner emotional state need not correspond to outer expression, both in oneself and in others, and at more mature levels the ability to understand that one’s emotional-expressive behaviour may impact on another and take this into account in one’s self-presentation strategies.
6. Capacity for adaptive coping with aversive or distressing emotions by using self-regulatory strategies that ameliorate the intensity or temporal duration of such emotional states (e.g., “stress hardiness”).
7. Awareness that the structure or nature of relationships is in part defined by both the degree of emotional immediacy or genuineness of expressive display and by the degree of reciprocity or symmetry within the relationship (e.g., mature intimacy is in part defined by mutual or reciprocal sharing of genuine emotions, whereas a parent-child relationship may have asymmetric sharing of genuine emotions).
8. Capacity for emotional self-efficacy: The individual views her- or himself as feeling, overall, the way he or she wants to feel. That is, emotional self-efficacy means that one accepts one’s emotional experience, whether unique and eccentric or culturally conventional, and this acceptance is in alignment with the individual’s beliefs about what constitutes desirable emotional “balance.” In essence, one is living in accord with one’s personal theory of emotion when one demonstrates emotional self-efficacy that is integrated with one’s moral sense.
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• They take account of one another’s ideas about how to organise their activity.
• They work as part of a group or class, and understand and follow the rules.
• Children talk about how they and others show feelings, talk about their own and others’ behaviour, and its consequences, and know that some behaviour is unacceptable.
• They show sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings, and form positive relationships with adults and other children.
• They are confident speaking in a familiar group, will talk about their ideas, and will choose the resources they need for their chosen activities.
• They adjust their behaviour to different situations, and take changes of routine in their stride.
• Children play co-operatively, taking turns with others.
• Children are confident about trying new activities, and say why they like some activities more than others.
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I recently chose to explore whether a group of practitioners from different international schools used emotions when they planned learning opportunities in their settings. As I listened to the different perspectives I realised how often emotions were hidden underneath behaviour. It was interesting to hear practitioners highlight how behaviour often had an impact on how they responded to children. However, it was perhaps not always analysed enough so that the learning environment could be arranged hoping that it would contribute to more positive emotional responses. It is not easy to identify emotions, especially when we are used to a system
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Skills of Emotional Competence (Saarni, 1999, p. 5)
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Early Years Foundation Stage Profile 2018 Handbook. Descriptors under ELGs 6, 7 & 8 (DfE, 2017, p. 30-31)
• They say when they do or don’t need help. '
that still has rigid behavioural expectations that no longer marry social connections. My last piece of research established a relationship between the skills of emotional competence described by Saarni and the EYFS descriptors under Early Learning Goals 6, 7 & 8 for Personal, Social and Emotional Development. This table highlights the importance of supporting socio- emotional children’s needs. If practitioners insist on supporting the development of emotional competence, children can acquire the skills they need to become strong emotionally.
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June 2018
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