Week 6 Post 2

Early in Chapter 10, it talked about emotional regulation and finding emotional balance. I was amazed that things like: culture, hormones, genes, gender, and brain development all contribute to emotional regulation. I always knew that boys and girls dealt with their emotions differently but I never really understood why. Gender is not just a reflection of the types of problems boys and girls will have but it also contributes to the differences in their forms of expression. Generally speaking, boys externalize their problems by hitting or throwing things because of their masculine stereotype of being aggressive and impulsive. While on the other hand, girls tend to internalize their problems because girls are supposed to both submissive as well as socially sensitive to others. Often, girls apologize and hug after an argument whereas boys will just forget about the situation and move on (Berger, p. 268). Unfortunately, neither externalizing nor internalizing situations are a good ways of handling one’s problems. That is why it is so important to find an emotional balance to help regulate emotions. I also found it extremely interesting that though the development of the brain for boys and girls is different, they both require thinking before acting to have emotional regulation. For both genders, this thinking happens in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. As children grow older, the development of their prefrontal cortex should help them to control more of their emotions and have better self-control (Berger, p. 269). Therefore, children around the age of five should know to avoid either externalizing or internalizing their emotions.