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Brain Science of Emotions

CONCEPTUAL
Personal & Social DevelopmentEmotional Literacy|Ages 11—12|ID: mt_gf4RUcACLg

Understand how the amygdala triggers emotional responses and how the prefrontal cortex (still developing in adolescence) regulates them; explain why stress hormones (cortisol, adrenaline) affect thinking and memory; understand that the adolescent brain's dopamine system makes feelings more intense; distinguish between emotion regulation (managing feelings effectively) and emotion suppression (pushing feelings down, which is counterproductive); introduce cognitive reappraisal as a research-backed technique for changing how we interpret a situation

Mastery Evidence

    Assessment Prompt

    “Can [child] explain, in basic terms, why teenagers tend to feel emotions more intensely than adults — what's happening in the developing brain that makes feelings so powerful during adolescence, and what's the difference between managing a feeling and suppressing it?”

    Prerequisites3

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