From The Development of Emotional Competence by an acknowledge expert: Carolyn Saarni

Social Emotional Development : Saarni

http://www.child-encyclopedia.com/emotions/according-experts/emotional-development-childhood

Emotional Development in Childhood  Carolyn Saarni, PhD  Sonoma State University, US  September 2011

PDF version   Excerpts Below from a 6 page article        

See Also Saarni’s book: The Development of Emotional Competence, c 1999 (old but classic/still relevant) One chapter for each skill

“Introduction and Subject

Theoretical Perspective 

The theoretical perspective taken toward emotional development in childhood is a combination of functionalist theory and dynamical systems theory¹: A child’s encounters with an environment can be seen as dynamic transactions that involve multiple emotion-related components (e.g., expressive behaviour, physiological patterning, action tendencies, goals and motives, social and physical contexts, appraisals and experiential feeling) that change over time as the child matures and in response to changing environmental interactions. Emotional development reflects social experience, including the cultural context. Elsewhere I have argued that emotional development should be considered from a bio-ecological framework that regards human beings as dynamic systems embedded within a community context.² Table 1 summarizes noteworthy descriptive markers of emotional development in relation to social interaction.  Full range Infancy to 15+

Age                       Social/Emotional Coping

Age Period                 Regulation/Coping                       Expressive Behavior         Relationship 

[Not sure why these charts are not printing....see original article]

Table 2. Skills of Emotional Competence

 1. Awareness of one’s emotional state, including the possibility that one is experiencing multiple emotions,…..

 2. Skills in discerning and understanding others’ emotions, based on….

3. Skill in using the vocabulary of emotion and expression in terms….

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, …

6. Capacity for adaptive coping with aversive or distressing emotions by using self-regulatory strategies ..

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 …

……Conclusions Strengths in the area of emotional competence may help children and adolescents cope effectively in particular circumstances, while also promoting characteristics associated with positive developmental outcomes, including feelings of self-efficacy, prosocial behaviour and supportive relationships with family and peers. Furthermore, emotional competence serves as a protective factor that diminishes the impact of a range of risk factors. Research has isolated individual attributes that may exert a protective influence, several of which reflect core elements of emotional competence, including skills related to reading interpersonal cues, solving problems, executing goal-oriented behaviour in interpersonal situations, and considering behavioural options from both an instrumental and an affective standpoint.”