Emotions

Last update: September 2022

Topic Editor:
Michael Lewis, PhD, Institute for the Study of Child Development, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School,
USA

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Table of content
Synthesis 5

Approach and Withdrawal in Early Emotional Development 8

MARGARET W. SULLIVAN, PHD, SEPTEMBER 2022

The Self-Conscious Emotions 17

MICHAEL LEWIS, PHD, SEPTEMBER 2022

Emotions and Psychopathology in the First 5 Years of Life 23

DIONE M. HEALEY, PHD, 2NATHAN S. CONSEDINE, PHD, SEPTEMBER 2022
1

Autonomic state: A neurophysiological platform for feelings, emotions, and 31

social engagement
STEPHEN W. PORGES, PHD, SEPTEMBER 2022

Emotional Development in Childhood 38

CAROLYN SAARNI, PHD, LINDA A. CAMRAS, PHD, SEPTEMBER 2022
1 2

Cultural Differences in Emotional Development 46

HEIDI KELLER, PHD, SEPTEMBER 2022

Emotional Intelligence in the First Five Years of Life 54

SUSANNE A. DENHAM, PHD, KATHERINE ZINSSER, PHD, CRAIG S. BAILEY, PHD, SEPTEMBER 2022
1 2 3

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Topic funded by:

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Synthesis

How important is it?

Emotional competence (EC) is a developmental process that comprises three interrelated

competencies: 1) emotion expression; 2) emotion knowledge; and 3) emotion regulation (i.e.,
being aware of one’s emotions and modifying them when necessary). At a young age, children
already display a range of emotions in social situations through non-verbal messages (e.g., giving
a hug, sulking). Then, advances in cognitive development allow children to identify their own and
others’ emotions, and the circumstances that lead to their expression. This emotional
understanding, in turn, allows children to monitor and to modify their emotions in order to cope
with difficult situations.

Emotional development in infancy and early childhood is important for several interrelated skills.
In comparison to children with deficits in emotional development, children with a developed EC
are more likely: 1) to sustain learning; 2) to engage in empathic and prosocial behaviours; 3) to
express appropriate emotions in various contexts; 4) to use adaptive strategies to deal with
negative/upsetting emotions (e.g., anger); and 5) to reduce several risk factors associated with
psychopathology. Taken together, these abilities predict children’s early school success and
positive interpersonal relationships with peers and family members.

What do we know?

Emotions do not all emerge at the same time. Primary emotions (e.g., fear, anger, sadness,
interest, and joy) appear in the first year. Secondary emotions (e.g., embarrassment, guilt, and
shame) are usually expressed by the end of the second year of life. Children’s mental
representation about the “self” is acquired around the age of two, and the standards, rules, and
goals (SRGs) conveyed by their entourage set the stage for self-conscious emotions, such as
embarrassment.

Development of emotional competence depends on the child’s temperament and social-emotional

experiences, such as caregiver responses and socialization. The culture in which children grow up
will also influence the intensity and the type of emotions expressed, depending on different
cultural models of socialization, family practices, and values. The occurrence, expression and

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social regulation of emotions can therefore differ substantially between cultures. For example, in
some non-Western cultures, emotional neutrality is the social norm.

Along with environmental factors, temperament and cognitive development, emotional

competence is also influenced by the child’s approach/withdrawal behaviours. Approach refers to
behaviours and facial expressions that move a child towards stimuli. Withdrawal refers to
behaviours that move a child away from stimuli. Approach emotions (i.e., interest, smiling, joy,
and anger) are related to positive aspects of behaviours, such as sustained efforts when minor
difficulties are encountered, and they predict emotional competence in children. In contrast, the
expression of withdrawal emotions (i.e., sadness and fear) in face of negative events is associated
with behavioural difficulties, poor emotion regulation, and helplessness. Withdrawal behaviours
are also a risk factor for childhood depression.

Emotions play an important role in the onset of psychopathologies in childhood. Developmental

challenges and early adverse experiences can affect the way in which a child’s autonomic nervous
system regulates emotional responses and behaviours. Children with a history of negative social
experiences, such as maltreatment or insecurity attachment, have a tendency to be hyper vigilant
for signs of threats. Accordingly, they display anxiety, aggressive and fear behaviours as a mean
of self-protection. Their negative affectivity, poor emotion regulation, and imbalances within their
emotional systems predict both internalizing and externalizing disorders (e.g., depression and
aggression, respectively).

What can be done?

In order to promote emotional competence in children, parents are encouraged to model various
emotional expressions. Given that the emotions displayed at home largely influence those
expressed by children with their peers and in the larger school setting, positive parent-child
interactions are valued. Specifically, parents are encouraged to engage in positive parenting
practices and to play a supportive role when children encounter challenges. Early interventions
aimed at improving emotional control and the goodness-of-fit between the parent’s and child’s
emotional state are strongly encouraged. Examples of such programs include Parent-Child
Interaction therapy and the Incredible Years program. For chronically defensive behaviours that
result from early adverse experiences, therapeutic interventions that employ the calming
influences of cues of safety may be a promising management tool.

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There are emerging findings that teachers’ modeling, reactions and teaching can contribute to
children developing emotional competence. Policies should therefore encourage teacher
awareness and training in EC-related programs, such as preschool PATHS, to be able to foster
children’s emotional understanding. Not only will children benefit from these skills across social
and learning contexts, but teachers will likely enjoy more harmonious classroom environments.

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Approach and Withdrawal in Early Emotional
Development
Margaret W. Sullivan, PhD

Institute for the Study of Child Development, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Child
Health Institute, USA
September 2022, Éd. rév.

Introduction

The capacity to approach or withdraw from stimulation is a key aspect of emotional life. Approach
and withdrawal have been studied since Darwin initially described them in 1872.1 They are core
systems of emotional behaviour and personality.2-5 Individual differences in approach and
withdrawal underlie children’s emotional behaviour.6-7 Adopting this system’s model for emotional
development allows findings in cognitive neuroscience, and psychophysiology to be integrated
into our understanding of how emotional life develops. This view also does not equate specific
facial expressions with discrete emotion states or brain centers but views emotions as neuro-
biological processes that are integrated with cognition throughout development. This article
describes approach and withdrawal emotion in infancy and the role of individual differences in
these core aspects for young children’s subsequent functioning.

Relevance

Approach behaviours and emotion can be observed in the first months of life and become more
elaborated with development. Facial expressions, behaviours and underlying physiological
changes that move the child toward stimuli index approach. Newborns will turn their eyes and
head toward novel stimulation of moderate intensity. Interest and smiling are examples of
approach emotion, as are anger expressions to blocked goals.7-9 Anger, supported by increased
heart rate, facilitates action toward regaining goals via persistent approach. Thus, anger, with the
same directional valence as the positive emotion expressions of interest and enjoyment, is part of
the approach system.5 In contrast, low activity toward goals, increased cortisol response,
expressions of sadness or fear, and behaviour promoting movement away from a stimulus index
withdrawal.10-11

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Approach and withdrawal differences may persist over time and thus have importance for
understanding emotional risk and resilience.12 Withdrawal is a risk factor for childhood depression.
13
Greater fear, sadness and behavioural inhibition to negative events have been linked to
behavioural difficulties and poor emotion regulation.13-15 Differences in withdrawal in novel stimulus
contexts are thought to reflect temperament differences resulting from gene by environment
interaction.13,16 Less is known about early differences in approach, but “exuberance” or sociable
temperaments have been proposed to reflect strong approach tendencies.17-18 Individual
differences in approach and withdrawal are clearly important features in young children’s
emotional competence.

Problems

Developmental theorists have been slow to adopt a view of emotions as neuro-biological

processes rather than feeling states. Rather than viewing anger and sad expressions as read-outs
of discrete negative states or as assembled facial “attractor patterns,”19-20 viewing them as
approach or withdrawal responses offers a contextually sensitive and functional approach to early
individual differences in emotion.

Past work on negative emotion in infancy also tended to focus on the specificity of emotions to
eliciting contexts. It is clear by now that such specificity does not exist for most of the contexts
studied.21-22 Approach and withdrawal allows a functional categorization of contexts based on
children’s action and physiological responses. Contexts that elicit positive emotions and orienting
(interest and enjoyment) and anger to blocked goals are all classed as approach activating, while
those eliciting fear, sadness and cortisol increases are classed as initiating withdrawal. The degree
to which any context promotes approach or withdrawal can be examined empirically so research
can now focus on describing specific contexts and the variation in the approach or withdrawal
behaviour, including facial and vocal expression as well as correlated physiological patterns
observable within them.

Research Context

The study of approach and withdrawal to goal blockage has revealed the early onset of these
emotions as well as individual differences. When goals are blocked, most babies act to regain
what was lost, and appear angry. Others become passive and appear sad. Observable in 2- to 6-
month-olds, these individual differences are stable across the first year of life.9 Infants learn to

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expect an event (goal) followed by briefly blocked access: they activate a musical slide show by
pulling a ribbon attached to the wrist. A baseline of two minutes allows infants to acclimate to the
standard setting. During learning, pulling triggers the brief slideshow. Infants must tug repeatedly
to regain access. Infants learn this contingency within 6 minutes, the majority within one session.
Approach emotions of interest and enjoyment occur during this period and set the stage for
assessment of response to goal blockage when the slideshow is unexpectedly turned off.

Among babies who learn, reactivity to goal loss is either approach or withdrawal.11 Babies who
appear angry actively try to get the slideshow back. These characteristic responses characterize
to goal loss and do not occur in “baby bot” machine simulations of infant learning since machines
do not experience “wanting” or “loss”.23,24 Infants’ heart rates increase, but despite being aroused,
they are not distressed. Cortisol, a stress hormone measured in saliva remains stable. They
remain interested in obtaining the goal and smoothly re-engage when access is returned to them.
25
A smaller group of babies show sad facial expressions and decreased heart rate. These babies
tend to slow their pulling and show increased cortisol response, suggesting that they are more
stressed by goal blockage.11 They appear to give up easily and when access is restored, they show
less interest and enjoyment.25

Key Questions

Does maternal caregiving influence the emergence of individual differences in early goal blockage
responses? Sensitive maternal behaviour between birth and 4 months attunes infants to social
contingencies and promotes a generalized expectancy of a responsive world and should therefore
also promote greater approach emotions.26-27

How are approach and withdrawal related to subsequent adaptive and dysregulated behaviour?
Vulnerability to behavioural inhibition is only one axis along which emotional difficulties may
develop. Helplessness or hostility in response to challenges are problem behaviours likely to be
linked to difficulty in regulating approach and withdrawal emotions. Approach emotion, including
anger, should be related to positive aspects of behaviour including sustained effort when minor
difficulties are encountered, but be unrelated to uncontrolled bouts of negative emotion, such as
tantrums and other forms of dysregulated behaviour. Sadness, if adaptive, might be related to
greater help- or comfort-seeking, although it may be associated with greater helplessness and
passivity.28

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Recent Results

Studies considering both the biological and experiential contributions to individual differences in
approach and withdrawal are, as yet, few but thus far support that early individual differences in
anger/approach are unrelated to dysregulated behaviour. Evidence suggests that tantrums
starting in the second year through preschool age are sequential displays of anger and sadness
with the secondary, sad component being the prolonged, more slowly dissipating emotional
reaction while anger dissipates more quickly.29

In one study, the time that it took the toddlers to stop playing, the degree of protest shown, and
the rapidity with which toddlers calmly re-engaged in play with the toys were reliable indices of
persistent motivation to play. More anger to goal blockage in infancy was related to toddler’s
persistence in playing, indicating consistency of approach emotion from 4 to 20 months. While
earlier maternal sensitivity was related to showing less negative emotion by 4 months in general,
early maternal sensitivity did not affect anger and sadness differentially and was unrelated to
toddlers’ persistence or to protest.30

Approach and withdrawal emotions at 5 months and maternal reports of infant negative
temperament are not related in a simple or direct fashion.31-32 Some relations have been found
between sadness/withdrawal and maternal reports, but not anger. Sadness was related 1) to low
activity, suggesting that infants who are low in approach are more passive, and 2) to composite
ratings of negative temperament, but not to distress to novelty or limits dimensions individually.31-
32

Maternal reports of tantrum onset and a composite score of their severity at 12 and 20 months
were unrelated to the infants’ anger to goal blockage.32 Supporting this view, anger predicts
emotional competence in older children and is related to the persistence of instrumental
responses during repeated goal blockage in young infants.31,33 Increased anger was observed only
among children whose mothers reported that they themselves were angry, supporting a
hypothesized transactional model of coercive parental-child interactions.34,35

Gaps in Knowledge

Work on approach and withdrawal in infancy and later consequences is still limited. The stability of
individual differences in goal blockage emotions has been established, but the cross-contextual
consistency of approach and withdrawal emotions should be examined. Withdrawal responses to

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goal blockage and behavioural inhibition appear to be different emotion styles, based on maternal
reports, but direct behavioural study is needed. Excessive inhibition and greater passivity/low
approach reflect different axes of emotional risk, so it is important to determine to what extent
these represent distinct vulnerabilities in children.

Continued study of early sensitive maternal caregiving in relation to early approach and
withdrawal emotion is needed. To examine how experience effects approach and withdrawal both
dyadic in-home interactions, and global ratings assessments of caregiving should be examined. If
results continue to support approach and withdrawal emotions are relatively independent of
maternal influence before 6 months, we must examine whether later maternal responses
moderate initial approach and withdrawal tendencies. Mothers may not entrain early differences
but may subsequently support approach or withdrawal responses directly as they respond to their
children, or indirectly through their structuring of infants’ play and learning experiences. Such
studies will allow us to examine how approach and withdrawal styles become consolidated as well
as how they are linked to experience, remembered, and eventually form the basis of the child’s
emotion concepts and emotional scripts.

Finally, once anger and sad responses are elicited, individual differences in how they are
regulated are of considerable interest. This will require continued study of the interface of
approach and withdrawal emotions in relation to physiological responses, developmental changes
in attention and cognition, as well as maternal behaviour.

Conclusions

Study of early individual differences approach and withdrawal emotion promises to expand our
knowledge of the development, regulation and socialization of emotional competence.
Understanding how experience contributes to the adaptive, appropriate expression and regulation
of approach and withdrawal emotion is important in developing models of early development.
Examination of contextual differences between withdrawal emotion to novelty, and withdrawal
emotion in goal blockage contexts, currently thought to reflect low approach and/or passivity, will
help to identify those children who may show greater emotional vulnerability.

Implications

Individual differences in approach and withdrawal emotions and their developmental trajectories
will become increasingly apparent as young children expand their horizons in the preschool

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period. As the number of children entering group care settings during infancy and preschool is
likely to increase, understanding the developmental trajectories emotions that promote
appropriate emotional development is necessary to help identify and support children who may
have emotional vulnerabilities.

References

1. Darwin C. The expression of emotion in man and animals. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press; 1965.

2. Carver CS, Sutton SK, Scheier MF. Action, emotion, and personality: Emerging conceptual
integration. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin 2000;26(6):741-751.

3. Gray JA. Neural systems, emotion and personality. In: Maden J, IV, ed. Neurobiology of
learning, emotion and affect. New York: Raven Press; 1991:273-306.

4. Schneirla TC. An evolutionary and developmental theory of biphasic processes underlying

approach and withdrawal. In: Jones MR, ed. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation. Vol 7.
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press; 1959:1-42.

5. Panksepp J. Neurologizing the psychology of affects: How appraisal-based constructivism

and basic emotion theory can coexist. Psychological Science 2007;2(3):281-296.

6. Buss KA, Kiel EJ. Comparison of sadness, anger, and fear facial expressions when toddlers
look at their mothers. Child Development 2004;75(6):1761-1773.

7. Harmon-Jones E, Lueck L, Fearn M, Harmon-Jones C. The effect of personal relevance and

approach-related action expectation on relative left frontal cortical activity. Psychological
Science 2006;17(5):434-440.

8. Harmon-Jones E. Clarifying the emotive functions of asymmetrical frontal cortical activity.

Psychophysiology 2003;40(6):838-848.

9. Lewis M, Alessandri SM, Sullivan MW. Violation of expectancy, loss of control, and anger
expressions in young infants. Developmental Psychology 1990;26(5):745-751.

10. Buss KA, Schumacher JRM, Dolski I, Kalin NH, Goldsmith HH, Davidson RJ. Right frontal brain
activity, cortisol, and withdrawal behavior in 6-month-old infants. Behavioral Neuroscience
2003;117(1):11-20.

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 11. Lewis M, Ramsay D, Sullivan MW. The relation of ANS and HPA Activation to infant anger and
sadness response to goal-blockage. Developmental Psychobiology 2006; 48:397-455.

12. Davidson R. Affective style and affective disorders: Perspectives from neuroscience.
Cognition and Emotion 1998;12:307-330.

13. Fox N, Calkins SD. Pathways to aggression and social withdrawal: Interactions among
temperament, attachment, and regulation. In: Rubin KH, Asendorf J, eds. Social withdrawal,
shyness and inhibition in childhood. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum; 1993:81-100.

14. Buss KA, Davidson RJ, Kalin NH, Goldsmith HH. Context-specific freezing and associated
physiological reactivity as a dysregulated fear response. Developmental Psychology
2004;40(4):583-594.

15. Kochanska G, Tjebkes TL, Forman DR. Children's emerging regulation of conduct: Restraint,
compliance, and internalization from infancy to the second year. Child Development
1998;69:1378-1389.

16. Fox N, Hane A, Pine D. Plasticity for affective neurocircuitry: How the environment affects
gene expression. Current Directions in Psychological Science 2007;16:921-926.

17. Fox N, Henderson HA, Rubin KH, Calkins SD, Schmidt LA. Continuity and discontinuity of
behavioral inhibition and exuberance: Psychophysiological and behavioral influences across
the first four years of life. Child Development 2001;72:1-21.

18. Rothbart MK. Longitudinal observation of infant temperament. Developmental Psychology

1986;22:356-365.

19. Izard CE. Basic emotions, natural kinds, emotion schemas, and a new paradigm.
Perspectives on Psychological Science 2007;2(3):260-280.

20. Camras L, Fatani SS. The development of facial expressions: Current perspectives on infant
emotions. In: Lewis M, Haviland-Jones J, eds. Handbook of emotions. 3rd ed. The Guildford
Press; 2008: 291-303.

21. Bennett DS, Bendersky M, Lewis M. On specifying specificity: Facial expressions at 4 months.
Infancy 2004;6(3):425-429.

22. Camras L, Oster H, Bakeman R, Meng, Ujiie, Campos JJ. Do infants show distinct negative
facial expressions for fear and anger? Emotional expressions in 11-month-old European
American, Chinese, and Japanese infants. Infancy 2007;11:131-155.

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 23. Mascolo MF, Harkins D, Harakal T. The dynamic construction of emotion: Varieties in anger.
In: Lewis M, Granic I. Emotion, development, and self-organization: Dynamic systems
approaches to emotional development. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press;
2000:125-152.

24. Zaadnoordijk L, Otworowska M, Kwisthout J, Hunnius S. Can infants' sense of agency be

found in their behavior? Insights from babybot simulations of the mobile-paradigm.
Cognition 2018;181:58-64.

25. Lewis M, Sullivan MW, Ramsay D, Alessandri SM. Individual differences in anger and sad
expressions during extinction: Antecedents and consequences. Infant Behavior &
Development 1992;15(4):443-452.

26. Dunham P, Dunham F, Hurshman A, Alexander T. Social contingency effects on subsequent

perceptual-cognitive Tasks in young infants. Child Development 1989;60(6):1486-1496.

27. Lewis M, Goldberg S. Perceptual-cognitive development in infancy: A generalized expectancy

model as a function of mother-infant interaction. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly 1969;15:81-100.

28. Seligman MEP. Learned optimism. New York: Knopf; 1991.

29. Green JA, Whitney PG, Potegal M. Screaming, yelling, whining, and crying: Categorical and
intensity differences in vocal expressions of anger and sadness in children's tantrums.
Emotion 2011;11:1124-1133.

30. Lewis M, Sullivan MW, Mi-Sung Kim H. Infant approach and withdrawal in response to a goal
blockage: Its antecedent causes and its effect on toddler persistence. Developmental
Psychology 2015;51(11):1553-1563.

31. Crossman AM, Sullivan MW, Hitchcock DM, Lewis M. When frustration is repeated: behavioral
and emotion responses during extinction over time. Emotion 2009;9(1):92-100.

32. Sullivan MW, Lewis M. Relations of early goal blockage response and gender to subsequent
tantrum behavior. Infancy 2012;17(2):159-178.

33. Dix T, Stewart AD, Gershoff ET, Day WH. Autonomy and children's reactions to being
controlled: Evidence that both compliance and defiance may be positive markers in early
development. Child Development 2007;78:1204-1221.

34. Lorber MF, Egeland B. Parenting and infant difficulty: Testing a mutual exacerbation
hypothesis to predict early onset conduct problems. Child Development 2011;82(6):2006-

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 2020.

35. Sullivan MW & Carmody DP. Approach‐related emotion, toddlers' persistence, and negative
reactions to failure. Social Development 2018;27(3):586-600.

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The Self-Conscious Emotions
Michael Lewis, PhD

Institute for the Study of Child Development, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Child
Health Institute, USA
September 2022, Éd. rév.

Introduction

Until recently, the self-conscious emotions have been poorly studied.1 Little research on their
meaning, how they develop, and how individual differences arises have been conducted, even
though Charles Darwin discussed them in some detail as far back as his book, The Expression of
the Emotions in Man and Animals.2 Darwin’s observations were not followed up by neither
psychoanalysis nor developmental psychopathology until about 40 years ago. In part, this was due
to Freud’s focus on guilt and on the confusion between such self-conscious emotions as
embarrassment, guilt and shame. In fact, Darwin’s observations and theorizing were not able to
differentiate these different self-conscious emotions, in large part due to his measurement of the
self-conscious emotions, where he used blushing behaviour. While blushing is a useful behaviour
to measure, many people do not blush. Moreover, blushing is a measure of self reflection in the
presence of other people, most noticeable embarrassment, but is not a measure of all the other
self-conscious emotions such as shame, guilt or pride. While Darwin recognized the role of a
person’s thoughts, especially around the emotion of embarrassment, he did not use cognitive
capacities as a way to differentiate between them.

Subject

Michael Lewis, in his studies of the origins of the self-conscious emotions, makes the point that to
understand the ontogenesis of these emotions in children, it is necessary to consider the cognitive
development of the child which likely give rise to them.3,4,5 Indeed, using the evolution of the
cognitive capacity to represent the self, he has suggested that the emergence, both
phylogenetically and ontogenically, of the mental representation of “me” or self-reflected
awareness, provides the capacities most necessary for the emergence of these self-conscious
emotions.4 It is the capacity to think about the self (self reflection or awareness) along with other
emerging cognitive capacities that provides the basis for these emotions starting at the end of the

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second year of life. Thus, while early action patterns such as fear, anger and joy emerge in the
first year of life, some even in the early months of life, it is not until self reflection/awareness – or
what Lewis has called “consciousness,” the mental representation of “me,” – emerges in the
second half of the second year of life that we see the earliest of these self-conscious emotions.5,6

Problem

What are the Self-Conscious Emotions?

The set of the self-conscious emotions include embarrassment, jealousy, empathy as well as
shame, guilt, hubris and pride. I have called the first group the exposed self-conscious emotions
since they require the cognitive ability to reflect on the self but do not require elaborate cognitive
capacities such as the understanding of rules and standards. These first self-conscious emotions
appear in the second half of the second year of life when the emergence of self awareness gives
rise to such emotions as embarrassment, empathy and jealousy.

Embarrassment is a complex emotion that first emerges when self awareness allows for the idea
of “me.” At this point the child comes to understand that “she/he” is the object of another’s
attention. The attention of others acts as an elicitor of embarrassment. So, for example,
complimenting a toddler may cause the child embarrassment; even pointing to the child and
saying his/her name can produce this effect. Empathy also emerges at this time since the child
can now place himself/herself in the role of the other.7 Finally, jealousy also appears since, again,
the child is capable of knowing that another has what she/he wants. These early self-conscious
emotions appear during at age 15-24 months. They are not the consequence of the child’s
knowledge of the standards, rules and goals (SRGs) of the people around him/her, they are the
direct consequence of children’s ability to consider themselves in their interactions with others.

In the third year of life, children begin to incorporate the SRGs of their family and peers. This new
capacity gives rise to a new set of emotions, one which I have called self-conscious evaluative
emotions.5,8 They include a new form of embarrassment as well as guilt, shame, pride and hubris.
Embarrassment now occurs as a less intense form of shame. The child experiences
embarrassment when in the company of others it violates the SRG of the culture. At this point, the
child’s embarrassment can occur both as a function of being the object of another’s attention in
and of himself/herself, and also because of being the object of other’s attention because of a

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failure of some SRG.

Shame is the product of a complex set of cognitive activities: the evaluation of individual’s actions
in regard to their SRGs and their global evaluation of the self. The phenomenological experience
of the person having shame is that of a wish to hide, disappear or die.1,9 It is a highly negative and
painful state which also results in the disruption of ongoing behaviour, confusion in thought and
an inability to speak. There are specific actions people employ when shamed1 such as
reinterpreting the causes of the shame, self-splitting (multiple personalities), or forgetting
(repression). Shame is not produced by any specific situation but rather by the individual's
interpretation of the event.

The emotion of guilt or regret is produced when individuals evaluate their behaviour as failure but
focus on the specific features of the self, or on the self's action which led to the failure. Unlike
shame, where the focus is on the global self, here the individual focuses on the self’s actions and
behaviours which are likely to repair the failure. Because the cognitive attributional process
focuses on the action of the self rather than on the totality of self, the feeling that is produced –
guilt – is not as intensely negative as shame and does not lead to confusion and to the loss of
action, but is associated with it a corrective action which the individual can do to repair the failure.

Because in guilt the focus is on a specific attribution, individuals are capable of ridding themselves
of this emotional state through action. The corrective action can be directed toward the self as
well as toward the other; thus, unlike shame which is a melding of the self as subject and object,
in guilt the self is differentiated from the object. As such, the emotion is less intense and more
capable of dissipation.

Hubris is defined as exaggerated pride or self-confidence often resulting in retribution. It is an

example of pridefulness, something dislikeable and to be avoided. Hubris is a consequence of an
evaluation of success of one’s standards, rules and goals where the focus is on the global self. In
this emotion, the individual focuses on the total self as successful. It is associated with such
descriptions as “puffed up.” In extreme cases, it is associated with grandiosity or with narcissism.
10
Mueller and Dweck11 have shown that too much praise of children may result in negative
performance, the assumed mechanism may be in the enhancement of hubris in the children so
treated. In fact, hubristic is defined as to be insolent or contemptuous.

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From the outside, other people view the individual having hubris with some disdain. Prideful
people have difficulty in their interpersonal relations since their own hubris is likely to interfere
with the wishes, needs and desires of others, in which case there is likely to be interpersonal
conflict. Moreover, given the contemptuousness associated with hubris, the “other” is likely to be
shamed by the nature of the actions of the person having this emotion. At least three problems
are associated with the prideful person: (1) it is a transient but addictive emotion; (2) it is not
related to a specific action and, therefore, requires altering patterns of goal-setting or evaluation
around what constitutes success; and (3) it interferes with interpersonal relationships because of
its contemptuous and insolent nature.

Pride is the consequence of a successful evaluation of a specific action. The phenomenological

experience is “joy over an action, thought or feeling well done.” Here, again, the focus of pleasure
is specific and related to a particular behaviour. In pride, the self and object are separated as in
guilt. Unlike shame and hubris, where subject and object are fused, pride focuses the organism on
its specific action. The organism is engrossed in a specific action which gives it pride. Because this
positive state is associated with a particular action, individuals have available to themselves the
means by which they can reproduce the state. Notice that, unlike hubris, pride’s specific focus
allows for action. Because of the general use of the term “pride” to refer to “hubris,” “efficacy,”
and “satisfaction,” the study of pride as hubris has received relatively little attention. Dweck and
Leggett12 similarly have approached this problem through the use of individuals’ implicit theories
about the self which are cognitive attributions that serve as the stimuli for the elicitation of the
self-conscious emotion of mastery.

Implications

All of emotional life takes place in a social environment. From the beginning of life the early
emotional expressions such as joy, sadness, fear, anger, disgust and interest, are affected by the
social world. The situations that illicit these emotions and their expressions are affected by the
rules of their parents, siblings and peers. Thus, it is safe to conclude that even these early
emotional expressions are socialized. Even so, there is some reason to believe that these early
emotional expressions themselves are not learned but have an evolutionary adaptive significance
for the species.13

What is clear is that as we move from these early emotional action patterns to self-conscious
emotions, socialization plays an increasing role in determining what situation elicit what emotions,

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 19

as well as how they are expressed. One might think of development of emotional life as requiring
an ever increasing socialization influence.

In our cognitive-attributional model of the development of the self-conscious emotions, we see

that the SRGs the child incorporates as part of its socialization. Standards, rules and goals have to
be learned by the child, both through direct learning or through indirect observation.14 The SRGs
constitute the information the child acquires through culturalization to a particular society and
family. How the child evaluates his/her actions, thoughts and feelings is learned. In one family the
child’s action, for example, in getting a “B” on an exam, is considered a success while in another,
a failure. Evaluations are culturally determined, success and failure are cultural artifacts.
Moreover, how the child evaluates himself/herself or his/her self attribution, whether he/she sees
himself/herself in a global fashion or in a specific fashion is also learned. Global attributions give
rise to shame and hubris while specific attribution give rise to guilt and pride.

Our discussion of self-conscious emotions requires us to note that in order to understand them we
must keep in mind that the biology of the species, and the cultural rules that surround the child,
along with the child’s specific dispositional functions like temperament, are all necessary for the
understanding of their development. The emergence of the self-conscious evaluative emotions,
also called the moral emotions, truly marks the human condition and which sets us apart from the
rest of the animal world.

References

1. Lewis M. Shame: The exposed self. New York: The Free Press; 1992a.

2. Darwin CR. The expression of the emotions in man and animals. Chicago: University of

Chicago Press; 1965 (Original edition, 1872).

3. Lewis M. The self in self-conscious emotions. In: Stipek D, Recchia S, McClintic S, eds. Self-
evaluation in young children. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development

1992b;57(1, Serial No. 226).

4. Lewis M. The emergence of consciousness and its role in human development. In: LeDoux J,

Debiec, Moss H, eds. The Self: From Soul to Brain (Vol. 1001, 1-29). New York: Annals of the
New York Academy of Sciences; 2003.

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 20

 5. Lewis M. The rise of consciousness and the development of emotional life. New York:

Guilford Press; 2014.

6. Lewis M, Brooks-Gunn J. Toward a theory of social cognition: The development of self. In:

Uzgiris I, ed. New directions in child development: Social interaction and communication
during infancy. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass; 1979:1-20

7. Bischof-Kohler A. The development of empathy in infants. In M. E. Lamb & H. Keller (Eds.),

Development: Perspectives from German-speaking countries. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence

Erlbaum; 1991:245-273

8. Lewis M. Self-conscious emotions: Embarrassment, pride, shame, and guilt. In: Lewis M,

Haviland-Jones J, Feldman Barrett L, eds. Handbook of emotions. 3rd ed. New York: Guilford
Press; 2008:742-756

9. Lewis HB. Shame and guilt in neurosis. New York: International Universities Press; 1971.

10. Morrison AP. Shame: The underside of narcissism. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press; 1989.

11. Mueller CM, Dweck CS. Praise for intelligence can undermine children’s motivation and

performance. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 1998;75:33-52.

12. Dweck CS, Leggett EL. A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality.
Psychological Review 1988;95:256-273.

13. Izard CE. Human emotions. New York: Plenum Press; 1977.

14. Lewis M, Feiring C. Direct and indirect interactions in social relationships. In: Lipsitt L, ed.
Advances in infancy research, Vol. 1. New York: Ablex; 1981:129-161.

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 21

Emotions and Psychopathology in the First 5 Years
of Life
1
Dione M. Healey, PhD, 2Nathan S. Consedine, PhD
1
Department of Psychology, University of Otago, New Zealand, 2Department of Psychological
Medicine, University of Auckland, New Zealand
September 2022, Éd. rév.

Introduction

From the cradle to the grave, emotions are central to human functioning, saturating our thoughts
behaviour and experience in a manner so pervasive that we often forget. They motivate our most
important decisions, lie at the heart of social relatedness and are central to socialization and
cultural processes. Core aspects of emotions appear pre-wired1 and universal,2 with aspects of
expressive signalling, experience, and recognition appearing on a consistent developmental
schedule.1 In early life, emotions may act as a “readout” of internal states,3 with precursor
emotions evident within a few months and increasing differentiation seeing a near-adult level
expressive repertoire within three years.1 Developments in emotion regulation are somewhat
slower and appear more closely tied to cognitive and social development.

Although debate remains,4 Current thinking regarding emotions emphasizes their functionality;
they represent adaptations shaped by natural selection to facilitate responding to recurrent
situational types,3 promoting coordinated and historically adaptive changes in cognition,5
physiology,6 expressive signals,2 experience/motivation,3 and behaviour.7 Evolution has likely
designed emotions to “fit” early life challenges8 and the means by which they facilitate adaptation
is constrained by the capacities of the developing child.9 Importantly, emotions and emotion
regulation sometimes [mal]function.

The focus of this chapter is on the role of emotion in psychopathology from birth to five years, a
period in which behavioural, cognitive, and emotion regulatory skills interactively develop to
influence child functioning. Developmentally, these years are focused on the acquisition of basic
physical, cognitive, and emotional skills and on ensuring the environment meets basic needs.
Early life development is inherently social. Styles of relating (attachment) becomes increasingly
evident during this time, and core relationships come to serve as the foundation for the

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 22

development of more advanced skills such as emotion regulation.10

Subject

Given their ubiquity in developmental processes, it is unsurprising that imbalances or

dysregulations within emotion systems are central to psychopathology11 among children12 and
adults.13 Disturbances in emotional processes include issues with both positive and negative
emotions, the excess and absence of emotions, regulatory issues, and disconnections among
emotion sub-systems. Indeed, problems rooted in emotions are so pervasive that several writers
have suggested the field should group disorders by emotional symptomatology.14,15

Emotions are central to the development and maintenance of psychopathology in early life.
Research among children concentrates on links between temperament – a constellation of
affective dispositions – and outcome,16 particularly the roles of negative affectivity (NA)17 and
emotion regulation16. NA, a global measure of negative emotionality, incorporates experiences
and expressions of sadness, fear, anger/frustration with high intensity18 and predicts both
internalizing and externalizing disorders.19 Discrimination is somewhat better with emotion
regulation; under-regulation manifests in externalizing disorders (e.g., hyperactivity, defiance, and
aggression) and over-regulation predicts internalizing disorders (e.g., anxiety and depression.20

Problems

Progress has been made in the conceptualization and measurement of mental disorders among
children in recent years.21 Rates of disorders among children aged 2-5 years are similar to those
among older children, at 16.2% overall, 9% for externalizing/behavioural disorders, and 10.5% for
internalizing/emotional disorders [see 16 for a review]. However, despite improvements in the
conceptualisation of the psychopathological subtypes, the specificity with which early risk factors
link to outcomes remains poorly understood.22

In general, researchers conceptualize child psychopathology as having two broad classes of

contributor – child temperament and environmental events/contexts. Pre-natal factors may
influence the development of temperament and/or as an additional environmental influence.23 The
two extremes of temperamental emotionality – behavioural inhibition (over-regulation) and
disinhibition (under-regulation) have been linked to different patterns of biological arousal and
reactivity and show some ability to discriminate mental health outcomes. Work examining
environmental factors reveals a similarly mixed bag of global and specific indicators.24 Poor

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 23

supervision, sexual abuse, and peer problems predict externalising disorders while neglect may
be a specific predictor for Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). Exposure to violence and being
friendless are both globally predictive of internalizing disorder development while being raised in
a single parent family or foster care specifically predicts Depression. In this study, harsh discipline
was specific to Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and parental drug abuse and dangerous
environments were associated with combined anxiety disorders indicators.24
In general then, both temperament and environmental contexts predict risk in general.
Specificity is low, however, and how the two interact to influence goodness-of-it and the
development of psychopathology is yet to be clearly determined.

Research Context

As noted, developmental work examining the predictors of child psychopathology has emphasized
the role of broad risk characteristics in either the child or the caregiving environment. Both
internalizing and externalizing problems have been linked with the temperamental trait of
negative emotionality,18 while any disruption in the development of attachment or self-regulatory
ability (including behavioural, cognitive, and emotional) seems to predict increased risk.25
“Goodness-of-fit” between child dispositions and parental characteristics are critical to the
development of attachment and regulatory processes which, in turn, predict psychopathology.26,27

Key Research Questions

The most pressing questions regarding the links between emotions and early psychopathology
regard the specificity of the links between temperament, environmental events, and outcomes.
The particular aspects of child temperament that predict specific outcomes need to be
illuminated; it may be that to understand temperament’s links to child mental health outcomes,
we need to develop a more sophisticated characterisation of temperament and why we variation
of this kind exists. One approach that might extend understanding is to explicitly examine
temperament-linked dysfunctions as they occur within the experiential versus expressive aspects
of the emotions systems. Although the visible aspects of emotions may index internal states,3
emotion signals may or may not correspond to them in all instances and have their own distinct
functions.28 Similarly, work addressing the specificity of the links between environmental
characteristics and child outcomes is urgently needed.

Recent Research Results

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 24

Some recent work attempting to “deconstruct” the general negative affect risk factor has been
conducted. In one attempt, while both internalizing and externalizing children were rated higher
on the emotions of anger, fear, and sadness than controls, there were few differences between
the two groups, with internalizers slightly sadder and marginally less angry than externalizers.29
Similarly, a meta-analysis looking at temperament as a prospective predictor of psychopathology
and neurodiversity found that high negative emotionality and lower self-regulation predicted
greater psychopathology in general.30 Such findings suggest we have some way to go in seeking
to understand how risk characteristics result in children being differentially “shunted” down
externalizing versus internalizing pathways.

Research Gaps

Although progress has been made in the last few decades of research, gaps remain. First, despite
an increase in the specificity with which environmental24 and temperamental31 characteristics are
being measured as predictive of specific childhood disorders,24 the search for specificity in the
links between affective risk factors and outcomes has some way to go. Second, given the ubiquity
of emotional processes to child psychopathology, it is surprising that the literature has yet to
systematically examine the possible utility of a transdiagnostic approach (classification by
common process rather than phenomenology or, in children, by behavioural manifestation).

Conclusions

This chapter highlights the centrality of emotions to human functioning and how disruptions or
imbalances in the development of emotion and emotion regulation increase the risk of
psychopathology. While links between early global aspects of temperament (i.e., negative
affectivity) and subsequent psychopathology are established, the specificity of the relations seen
thus far is marginal and further investigation is required. Additionally, while child temperament
and environmental characteristics impact risk (both alone and in interaction), research examining
the “fit” between disposition and environmental factors is scanty and further work examining how
factors such as caregiver characteristics, socioeconomic class, trauma, and societal context
interact with child temperament is sorely needed.

Implications for parents, services, and policy

Although there are gaps, the centrality of emotion and emotion regulatory processes in the
development and maintenance of psychopathology is clear – inborn temperament sets the stage

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 25

for the individual’s emotional profile and thus influences how environments interact with them.
Data regarding these two key characteristics underscore the importance of the “fit” between
child and environmental factors and provide some guidance regarding possible interventions.
Work regarding hyperactive preschoolers, for example, highlights the protective role that positive
parenting and parent-child synchrony may have among at-risk children.26,27 Such work suggests
that early interventions should focus on programmes that improve parent-child emotional
synchrony and foster effective emotional control. Examples of such work includes Parent-Child
Interaction Therapy32 and the Incredible Years programme.33

References

1. Lewis M. The emergence of human emotions. In: Lewis M, Haviland-Jones J, Feldman-Barrett

L, eds. Handbook of emotions. Guilford: New York: 2008:304-319.

2. Elfenbein HA, Ambady N. On the universality and cultural specificity of emotion recognition:
A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin 2002;128(2):203-235.

3. Izard CE. The psychology of emotions. New York: Plenum Press; 1991.

4. Feldman-Barrett L. Are emotions natural kinds? Perspectives on Psychological Science

2013;1(1):28-58.

5. Keltner D, Ellsworth PCE, Edwards K. Beyond simple pessimism: Effects of sadness and anger
on social perception. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology 1993;64(5):740-752.

6. Larsen JT, Berntson GG, Poehlmann KM, Ito TA, Cacioppo JT. The psychophysiology of
emotion. In: Lewis M, Haviland-Jones J, Feldman-Barrett L (eds). The handbook of emotions.
3rd ed. New York: Guilford, 2008:180-195.

7. Consedine NS, Strongman KT, Magai C. Emotions and behavior: Data from a cross-cultural
recognition study. Cognition and Emotion 2003;17(6):881-902.

8. Consedine NS, Magai C. Emotion development in adulthood: A developmental functionalist

review and critique. In: Hoare C, ed. The Oxford handbook of adult development and
learning. Oxford University Press: New York; 2006:209-244.

9. Consedine NS. Capacities, targets, and tactics: Lifespan emotion regulation viewed from
developmental functionalism. In: Nyclicek I, Vingerhoets A, Zeelenberg M, eds. Emotion
regulation and wellbeing. New York: Springer; 2011:13-29.

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 26

 10. Kerig PK, Wenar C. Developmental psychopathology: from infancy through adolescence. 5th
ed. New York: McGraw-Hill; 2006.

11. Beauchaine TP, Cicchetti D. Emotion dysregulation and emerging psychopathology: A

transdiagnostic, transdisciplinary perspective. Development & Psychopathology
2019;31(3):799-804.

12. Bradley SJ. Affect regulation and the development of psychopathology. New York: Guilford;
2000.

13. Kring AM. Emotional disturbances as transdiagnostic processes. In: Lewis M, Haviland-Jones
J, Feldman-Barrett L, eds. The handbook of emotions. Guilford: New York; 2008:691-705.

14. Berenbaum H, Raghavan C, Le H-N, Vernon LL, Gomez JJ. A taxonomy of emotional
disturbances. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice 2003;10:206-226.

15. Watson D. Rethinking the mood and anxiety disorders: A quantitative hierarchical model for
DSM-V. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 2005;114(4):522-536.

16. Egger HL, Angold A. Common emotional and behavioural disorders in preschool children:
presentation, nosology, and epidemiology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
2006;47(3-4):313-337.

17. Rothbart MK, Ahadi SA, Hershey KL, Fisher P. Investigations of temperament at three to
seven years: The children's behavior questionnaire. Child Development 2001;72(5):1394-
1408.

18. Lengua LJ, West SG, Sandler IN. Temperament as a predictor of symptomatology in children:
Addressing contamination of measures. Child Development 1998;69(1):164-181.

19. Leaberry KD, Rosen PJ, Slaughter KE, Reese J, Fogleman ND. Temperamental negative affect,
emotion-specific regulation, and concurrent internalizing and externalizing pathology among
children with ADHD. Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorders 2019;11(3):311-332.

20. Cole PM, Michel MK, Teti LO. The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation: A
clinical perspective. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development
1994;59(2-3):73-102.

21. Carter AS, Briggs-Gowan MJ, Davis NO. Assessment of young children's social-emotional
development and psychopathology: Recent advances and recommendations for practice
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 2004;45(1):109-134.

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 27

 22. Copeland W, Shanahan L, Costello EJ, Angold A. Configurations of common childhood
psychosocial risk factors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines
2009;50(4):451-459.

23. Tien J, Lewis GD, Liu J. Prenatal risk factors for internalizing and externalizing problems in
childhood. World Journal of Pediatrics 2020;16(4):341-355.

24. Shanahan L, Copeland W, Costello EJ, Angold A. Specificity of putative psychosocial risk
factors for psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 2008;49(1):34-42.

25. Muris P, Ollendick TH. The role of temperament in the etiology of child psychopathology.
Clinical Child and Family Review 2005;8(4):271-289.

26. Healey DM, Flory JD, Miller CJ, Halperin JM. Maternal positive parenting style is associated
with better functioning in hyperactive/inattentive preschool children. Infant and Child
Development 2011;20(2):148-161.

27. Healey DM, Gopin CB, Grossman BR, Campbell SB, Halperin JM. Mother-child dyadic
synchrony is associated with better functioning in hyperactive/inattentive preschoolers.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 2010;51(9):1058-1066.

28. Brown WM, Consedine NS. Just how happy is the happy puppet? An emotion signaling and
kinship theory perspective on the behavioral phenotype of Angelman Syndrome children.
Medical Hypotheses 2004;63(3):377-385.

29. Eisenberg N, Sadovsky A, Spinrad TL, Fabes RA, Losoya SH, Valiente C, Reiser M,
Cumberland A, Shepard SA. The relations of problem behavior status to children's negative
emotionality, effortful control, and impulsivity: Concurrent relations and prediction of
change. Developmental Psychology 2005;41(1):193-211.

30. Kostyrka-Allchorne K, Wass SV, Sonuga-Barke EJS. Research Review: Do parent ratings of
infant negative emotionality and self-regulation predict psychopathology in childhood and
adolescence? A systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective longitudinal studies.
Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 2019;61(4):401-416.

31. Eisenberg N, Sadovsky A, Spinrad TL. Associations of emotion-related regulation with

language skills, emotion knowledge and academic outcomes. New Directions in Child and
Adolescent Development 2005;(109):109-118.

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 28

 32. Eyberg SM, Matarazzo RG. Training parents as therapists: A comparison between individual
parent–child interaction training and parent group didactic training. Journal of Clinical
Psychology 1980;36(2):492-499.

33. Webster-Stratton C. Preventing conduct problems in head start children: Strengthening

parenting competencies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 1988;66(5):715-730.

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 29

Autonomic state: A neurophysiological platform
for feelings, emotions, and social engagement
Stephen W. Porges, PhD

Trauma Research Consortium, Kinsey Institute, Indiana University Bloomington and Department of
Psychiatry, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, USA
September 2022

Introduction and Subject

How does physiology influence mental processes and behaviour? I have asked this question as I
studied children from birth including those with developmental challenges such as prematurity,1
Fragile-X-Syndrome,2 Autism Spectrum Disorders,3 Selective Mutism,4 Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome,5
and Prader Willi Syndrome6 with a common focus on identifying mechanisms that influence the
regulation of behaviour and emotions. Based on my research, I developed the Polyvagal Theory,7,8,9
which explores how neural circuits involved in the regulation of our bodily organs influence
emotional responses and behaviours toward others and our environment.

There is now an abundance of research documenting that the regulation of behavioural and
emotional state is mediated by the autonomic nervous system through neural pathways
originating in the brainstem that communicate with organs in our body forming a bi-directional
brain-body neural highway. When this system is functioning optimally, we can self-regulate and
welcome others to co-regulate through social behaviour.

Problems

The parallel investigations of neurophysiology, emotion, and social behaviour during child
development lead to questions of how these functional domains are inter-related. Basically, what
physiological mechanisms enable or disrupt emotional regulation and sociality? How does
knowledge of neuroanatomy, evolutionary biology, and autonomic state regulation inform us to
better understand emotional regulation and sociality in the developing child?

Research Context

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 30

Polyvagal Theory emphasizes the evolutionary transition from ancient now extinct asocial reptiles
to social mammals. Since we are mammals, we share with other mammals a virtually identical
brainstem with neural structures that monitor and regulate our autonomic nervous system. The
brainstem contains neural structures that regulate foundational survival mechanisms that
maintain life support functions without requiring the more evolved higher brain structures
required for conscious awareness and intentionality. The anatomy of the mammalian brainstem is
very similar to a reptilian brainstem, which was repurposed and modified through evolution to
support, in addition to defense, processes such as joyful play and intimacy.

Although mammalian, and especially humans, brains are well developed with a large cortex, their
brain architecture differs from vertebrates that evolved prior to mammals. In mammals there is a
great species variation in size of the cortex, as the intentional behaviours, learning, problem
solving, and selective sociality increases, so does the size of the cortex. Reptiles have a very small
cortex and the vertebrates that preceded reptiles such as amphibians and fish do not have a
cortex.

We can conceptualize evolution as a very slow developmental process occurring over hundreds of
millions of years during which there is a diversification of species or groups of organisms. During
this process, although there have been major changes in the architecture of the brain, some parts
of the brain appear relatively consistent across vertebrates, such as the brainstem. However,
even with modifications, the foundational survival processes regulated by brainstem mechanisms
continue, even in modern humans, to function outside our awareness. These survival
mechanisms reflexively shift physiological state to support or disrupt homeostatic processes that
support health, growth, and restoration. In response to threat, homeostasis is disrupted to support
biobehavioural strategies of defense such as the metabolically costly fight/flight behaviours or
metabolically conservative, but potentially lethal, death feigning reactions that are mediated by
an ancient defense system shared with very ancient vertebrates and seen in humans as fainting
during threat. This ancient system was adaptive for ancient vertebrates, who did not have a large
cortex that would rapidly be damaged when oxygen blood saturation level drops. Small
mammalian rodents have modified this ancient defense system to death feign by immobilizing for
short periods to appear to be dead to an active predator. Similar responses have been reported by
adults who survived severe abuse as children.

Functionally, when our autonomic nervous system is efficiently supporting homeostasis, signals
from our organs travel through sensory nerves to our brainstem and then from the brainstem to

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 31

higher brain structures that support a conscious awareness that we interpret as feelings of safety.
10
When homeostasis is disrupted the signals from our bodily organs are now interpreted as
feelings of threat. Feelings of threat trigger an array of emotions involving the limbic system
defined by structures above the ancient brainstem and outside the cortical areas involved in
consciousness. The process through which bodily states are consciously detected is called
interoception.

Key Research Questions

Can we document that specific cues of safety reflexively calm the autonomic nervous system to
optimize emotional regulation, sociality, learning, and health related homeostatic processes? Are
autonomic states reliable indicators of feeling safe or threatened?

Recent Research Results

Polyvagal Theory proposes that autonomic state functions as an intervening variable that
contributes to whether we experience positive emotions and socially engage, we defensively react
with fight or flight behaviours, or we immobilize and dissociate mimicking the death feigning
response of a mouse in the jaws of a cat. These examples illustrate the three functional
autonomic circuits in mammals9 described below:

1. The ventral vagal circuit regulating the calming branch of the vagus, a cranial nerve with a
branch connecting the brainstem and the heart. This pathway has the capacity to slow
heart rate and is linked to neural regulation of the striated muscles of the face and head to
form a social engagement system enabling autonomic state to be broadcast through face
and voice. In addition, this circuit can functionally manage the more primitive circuits
keeping them out states of defense to support prosocial activities of play and intimacy.

2. A spinal sympathetic system supporting mobilization, which is shared with several

vertebrate species that evolved prior to mammals. In mammals, if this metabolically costly
system is overwhelmed it will shut down and disinhibit the ancient dorsal vagal system.

3. An ancient dorsal vagal system is shared with virtually all vertebrates. When recruited in
defense conserves metabolic resources and functions to reduce oxygenated blood to reach
the brain. In mammals, although adaptive for short periods of time, it is potentially lethal.

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 32

These circuits, by paralleling evolution, are hierarchically organized in which newer circuits inhibit
older ones. Under threat, survival needs functionally result in a systematic disruption of this
hierarchical organization in which the evolutionary older circuits are now sequentially disinhibited
to optimize survival. This process was labeled ‘dissolution’ by John Hughlings Jackson,11 a
neurologist, who used the construct to describe the ‘de-evolution’ or evolution in reverse that he
observed following brain damage due to disease or injury.

This hierarchy is bi-directional and through neuroception, cues of safety can dampen, and cues of
danger can amplify threat reactions. The term, neuroception, is used to emphasize that the
nervous system is doing the detection outside of brain areas involved in conscious intentional
behaviour. Although higher brain structures may be involved in neuroception, the process is not
related to conscious awareness, which would require decision making time to determine the
source of the cues being detected. This decision is hardwired into a neuroception circuit to ensure
that an adjustment is rapidly made to optimize survival. For example, if you hear a loud noise,
you stop and then attempt to determine the origin and importance of the sound.

While virtually all evolutionarily antecedent all living organisms have a neuroception for threat,
only mammals have a neuroception for safety that detects cues of safety and reflexively down
regulates threat reactions. Watching a mother calm her crying baby by using a melodic (prosodic)
voice, is a powerful example. The baby’s cry reflects a physiological state of threat that has
resulted in a disruption of homeostasis. When the mother talks or sings to her baby, the baby
calms. A calmness that is observable in behaviour, muscle tone, and even autonomically in heart
rate.12 Similar calming influences of prosodic voice are observed when we calm mammalian pets
such as dogs, cats, and horses.

Research gaps

Polyvagal Theory provides a perspective to investigate how of autonomic state is involved in

feelings, emotions, and sociality. It provides insights into measurements of autonomic metrics
that would index features of sociality and feelings of safety. It would also lead to hypotheses
relating autonomic regulation features as being important potential mediators of emotional
dysregulation, social difficulties, and compromised mental processes. To test these hypotheses
accurate and objective measures of homeostatic function, distress, and feelings of safety are
required. Moreover, given the bidirectionality of the hierarchy of autonomic states, therapeutic
strategies, and new methodologies of intervention in which autonomic state would be the portal of

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 33

intervention could be tested to improve both mental and physical health.

Conclusions and Implications

The human behavioural repertoire is greatly influenced by autonomic state. The neural regulation
of autonomic state follows a developmental trajectory that can be disrupted by illness and early
experiences including prematurity and difficult deliveries. In addition, adverse experiences during
early development may functionally retuned the autonomic nervous system to be in a chronic
state of threat. Polyvagal Theory provides an optimistic perspective that assumes that many of
the defensive features that emerge spontaneously from an autonomic nervous system tuned to be
chronically defensive are manageable through therapeutic interventions leveraging a
neuroception of safety through the powerful calming influences of cues of safety.

Through evolution the brainstem area regulating the calming ventral vagus is also involved in the
neural regulation of the striated muscles of the face and head. This enabled vocalization and
facial expression to functionally broadcast autonomic state to conspecifics informing them that
they were or were not safe to approach. This link between autonomic state and the structures
that project emotion identifies neuroanatomical and neurophysiological mechanisms that support
co-regulation and sociality. An understanding of this link is being embraced the therapists and
educators, who are working with children chronically locked in an autonomic state of threat. This
knowledge will lead to an appreciation that many disruptive behaviours are emergent properties
of the autonomic nervous system being in a state of defense and not intentional nor available to
be modified through punishments or rewards.

References

1. Porges SW, Davila MI, Lewis GF, Kolacz J, Okonmah-Obazee S, Hane AA, Kwon KY, Ludwig RJ,

Myers MM, Welch MG. Autonomic regulation of preterm infants is enhanced by Family
Nurture Intervention. Developmental Psychobiology 2019;61(6):942-952.

2. Kolacz J, Raspa M, Heilman KJ, Porges SW. Evaluating sensory processing in fragile X

syndrome: Psychometric analysis of the brain body center sensory scales (BBCSS). Journal of
Autism and Developmental Disorders 2018;48(6):2187-2202.

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 34

 3. Porges SW, Bazhenova OV, Bal E, Carlson N, Sorokin Y, Heilman KJ, Cook EH, Lewis GF.

Reducing auditory hypersensitivities in autistic spectrum disorder: preliminary findings

evaluating the listening project protocol. Frontiers in Pediatrics 2014;2:80.

4. Heilman KJ, Connolly SD, Padilla WO, Wrzose, MI, Graczyk PA, Porges SW. Sluggish vagal

brake reactivity to physical exercise challenge in children with selective mutism.

Development and Psychopathology 2012;24(1):241-250.

5. Bulbena A, Baeza-Velasco C, Bulbena-Cabré A, Pailhez G, Critchley H, Chopra P, Mallorquí-

Bagué N, Frank C, Porges S. Psychiatric and psychological aspects in the Ehlers–Danlos

syndromes. American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part C, Seminars in Medical Genetics
2017;175(1):237-245.

6. Manning KE, Beresford-Webb JA, Aman LCS, Ring HA, Watson PC, Porges SW, Oliver C,

Jennings SR, Holland AJ. Transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (t-VNS): a novel effective
treatment for temper outbursts in adults with Prader-Willi syndrome indicated by results
from a non-blind study. PloS one 2019;14(12):e0223750.

7. Porges SW. Orienting in a defensive world: Mammalian modifications of our evolutionary

heritage. A polyvagal theory. Psychophysiology 1995;32(4):301-318.

8. Porges SW. The polyvagal theory: neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment,

communication, and self-regulation. New York: WW Norton; 2011.

9. Porges SW. Polyvagal theory: a biobehavioral journey to sociality. Comprehensive

Psychoneuroendocrinology 2021;7:100069.

10. Porges SW. Polyvagal theory: The science of safety. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience

2022;16: 871227.

11. Jackson JH. The Croonian lectures on evolution and dissolution of the nervous system. British
Medical Journal 1884;1(1215):703-707.

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 12. Kolacz J, daSilva EB, Lewis GF, Bertenthal BI, Porges SW. Associations between acoustic

features of maternal speech and infants’ emotion regulation following a social stressor.
Infancy 2022;27(1):135-158.

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Emotional Development in Childhood
1
Carolyn Saarni, PhD, 2Linda A. Camras, PhD
1
Sonoma State University, USA, 2DePaul University, USA
September 2022, Éd. rév.

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.3

Table 1. Noteworthy Markers of Emotional Development in Relation to Social Interaction

Age Period Regulation/Coping Expressive Behavior Relationship Building

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 37

Infancy: Self-soothing and learning to Behavior synchrony Social games and turn-
0 - 12 mos. modulate reactivity. with others in some taking (e.g., “peek-a-
expressive channels. boo”).
Regulation of attention in
service of coordinated action. Increasing Social referencing.
discrimination of
Reliance on caregivers for Socially instrumental
others’ expressions.
supportive “scaffolding” signal use (e.g., “fake”
during stressful Increasing expressive crying to get attention).
circumstances. responsiveness to
stimuli under
contingent control.

Increasing
coordination of
expressive behaviors
with emotion-eliciting
circumstances.

Toddlerhood: Emergence of self-awareness Self-evaluation and Anticipation of different

12 mos.-2½ and consciousness of own self-consciousness feelings toward different
years emotional response. evident in expressive people.
behavior
Irritability due to constraints Increasing discrimination
accompanying shame,
and limits imposed on of others’ emotions and
pride, coyness.
expanding autonomy and their meaningfulness.
exploration needs. Increasing verbal
Early forms of empathy
comprehension and
and prosocial action.
production of words for
expressive behavior
and affective states.

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 38

Preschool: Symbolic access facilitates Adoption of pretend Communication with
2-5 years emotion regulation, but expressive behavior in others elaborates child’s
symbols can also provoke play and teasing. understanding of social
distress. transactions and
Pragmatic awareness
expectations for
Communication with others that “false” facial
comportment.
extends child’s evaluation of expressions can
and awareness of own mislead another about Sympathetic and
feelings and of emotion- one’s feelings. prosocial behavior
eliciting events. toward peers.

Increasing insight into

others’ emotions.

Early Elementary Self-conscious emotions Adoption of “cool Increasing coordination

School: 5-7 years (e.g., embarrassment) are emotional front” with of social skills with one’s
targeted for regulation. peers. own and others’
emotions.
Seeking support from
caregivers still prominent Early understanding of
coping strategy, but consensually agreed
increasing reliance on upon emotion “scripts.”
situational problem-solving
evident.

Middle Childhood: Problem-solving preferred Appreciation of norms Awareness of multiple

7-10 years coping strategy if control is for expressive emotions toward the
at least moderate. behavior, whether same person.
genuine or dissembled.
Distancing strategies used if Use of multiple time
control is appraised as Use of expressive frames and unique
minimal. behavior to modulate personal information
relationship dynamics about another as aids in
(e.g., smiling while the development of close
reproaching a friend). friendships.

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 39

Preadolescence: Increasing accuracy in Distinction made Increasing social
10-13 years appraisal of realistic control between genuine sensitivity and
in stressful circumstances. emotional expression awareness of emotion
with close friends and “scripts” in conjunction
Capable of generating
managed displays with with social roles.
multiple solutions and
others.
differentiated strategies for
dealing with stress.

Adolescence: Awareness of one’s own Skillful adoption of Awareness of mutual and

13+ years emotion cycles (e.g., guilt self-presentation reciprocal
about feeling angry) strategies for communication of
facilitates insightful coping. impression emotions as affecting
management. quality of relationship.
Increasing integration of
moral character and personal
philosophy in dealing with
stress and subsequent
decisions.

Note. From Saarni (2000, pp. 74-75). Copyright 2000 by Jossey-Bass. Reprinted by permission of the author.

Recent Research Results

Sources of Emotion Competence

There is a general consensus that the development of emotion competence depends upon both
the child’s temperament and social-emotional experiences.4,5 Infants may differ in their
behavioural dispositions (i.e., their temperaments).6 For example, some infants may be more
irritable than others. However, if parents are able to rise to the challenge and provide sensitive
caregiving, a secure attachment relationship will develop. Sensitive caregiving is thought to
principally involve being able to accurately discern the infant’s communicative signals and
respond by meeting his or her needs. Yet, it is important to acknowledge that even the most
sensitive parents may not always be successful in alleviating their infant’s distress. Perfect
parenting is not required for a secure attachment relationship. Furthermore, even if the
relationship between infant and caregiver is problematic, a secure attachment relationship may

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 40

develop later in childhood if parenting quality improves. Securely attached children show more
positive and less negative affect than less secure (or insecure) and are better able to regulate
their emotions.7

Emotion regulation is an important aspect of the child’s emotional competence.8 During infancy,
emotion regulation lies chiefly in the hands of the infant’s caregivers. Sensitive caregivers are
able to discern early signs of distress on the part of the infant and act to mitigate such distress by
removing its source and/or by providing comfort to the infant. For example, parents may
simultaneously feed and gently rock a baby who is crying due to hunger. If the infant is crying due
to overarousal (e.g., being taken to a noisy family gathering), parents may take the baby to a
quiet room.

Socialization of Emotion Competence

For toddlers and younger children, several caregiver socialization strategies have been identified
that promote the development of the child’s ability to optimally cope with their emotional distress.
9
Several of these involve adults’ contingent responses to the child’s expression of emotion.
Supportive responses include: (a) acknowledging the child’s emotion and treating it as a
legitimate reaction to a distressing event, (b) helping the child feel better (e.g., by providing
comfort), and (c) helping the child actively cope with the source of their distress (e.g., learn how
to rectify a distressing situation or avoid a stressor). For example, if a child shows fear when
approached by a friendly but large and overly enthusiastic dog, a supportive parent might say
“That dog does look scary but he’s just excited to see you” and ask the dog’s owner to hold the
dog while the child and parent approach it together. Nonsupportive responses would include: (a)
minimizing, dismissing, or devaluing the child’s fear, (b) punishing or threatening punishment, and
(c) immoderate distress by the parent. For example, a nonsupportive parent might react in the
same scenario by saying “Don’t be a baby,” threaten to force the child to pet the dog, and/or
become excessively distressed by the child’s distress. These supportive and nonsupportive
strategies may be employed by both parents and other caregivers. Supportive contingent
responses have been linked to better social-emotional adjustment by younger children while
nonsupportive responses have been linked to higher levels of problematic child behaviour.
However, these generalizations must be qualified to acknowledge that the impact of caregiver
socialization behaviours on the child may differ due to a variety of factors. These include the
child’s temperament and age. For example, highly inhibited children may be less responsive to
parental suggestions about how to respond to potential threats (e.g., whether to approach a dog).

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 41

Parental behaviours that support emotion competence in younger children may backfire when
applied to older children or generalized across a wider range of contexts.10 For example,
encouraging children to freely admit their distress may be desirable in the context of interactions
between younger children and their parents but such open expression may be problematic in the
context of social interactions between older children and their peers (e.g., may be perceived as
“babyish” and lead to peer rejection).

Beyond their contingent responding to children’s emotion, other caregiver behaviours have been
identified that influence the development of greater or lesser emotion competence. These include
observational learning on the part of the child and explicit instruction on the part of the caregiver.
11
By observing how adults respond to emotionally challenging situations, children may develop
their own repertoire of responses. For example, children who observe adults in their environment
to respond with anger to a wide range of potential anger elicitors may themselves develop such a
tendency.12 Furthermore, once children reach an appropriate level of cognitive and language
development, caregivers may explicitly discuss appropriate and inappropriate ways of responding
to interpersonal threat and other elicitors of negative emotions.

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.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Although Carolyn Saarni unfortunately passed away in 2015, the emotion competence perspective
she developed during her lifetime continues to provide a valuable framework for thinking and
research on emotional development. Thus, this entry retains the framework Saarni presented in
the previous edition of this encyclopedia while adding a brief review of recent research relevant to

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 42

that framework.

References

1. Saarni C, Campos J, Camras L, & Witherington D. Principles of emotion and emotional

competence. In: Damon W, Lerner R, eds. Child and adolescent development: An advanced
course. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley; 2008:361-405

2. Saarni C. The interface of emotional development with social context. In: Lewis M, Haviland-
Jones J, Feldman Barrett L, eds. The handbook of emotions. 3rd ed. New York: Guilford Press;
2008:332-347.

3. Saarni C. Emotion competence: A developmental perspective. In: Bar-On R, Parker J, eds.

The handbook of emotional intelligence. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 2000:68-91.

4. Lewis M. The rise of consciousness and the development of emotional life. New York, NY:
Guilford Press; 2014.

5. Pérez-Edgar K. Through the looking glass: Temperament and emotion as separate and
interwoven constructs. In: LoBue V, Pérez-Edgar K, Buss K, eds. Handbook of emotional
development. Switzerland: Springer; 2019:139-168.

6. Rothbart MK. Becoming who we are: Temperament and personality in development. New
York, NY: Guilford Press; 2011.

7. Cooke JE, Kochendorfer LB, Stuart-Parrigon KL, Koehn AJ, Kerns KA. Parent–child attachment
and children’s experience and regulation of emotion: A meta-analytic review. Emotion
2019;19(6):1103-1126.

8. Saarni C. The development of emotional competence. New York, NY: Guilford Press; 1999.

9. Fabes RA, Poulin RE, Eisenberg N, Madden-Derdich DA. The Coping with Children's Negative
Emotions Scale (CCNES): Psychometric properties and relations with children's emotional
competence. Marriage & Family Review 2002;34(3-4):285-310.

10. Castro VL, Nelson JA. Social development quartet: When is parental supportiveness a good
thing? The dynamic value of parents' supportive emotion socialization across childhood.
Social Development 2018;27(3):461-465.

11. Eisenberg N, Cumberland A, Spinrad TL. Parental socialization of emotion. Psychological

Inquiry 1998;9(4):241-273.

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 43

 12. Leerkes EM, Bailes LG. Emotional development within the family context. In: LoBue V, Pérez-
Edgar K, Buss K, eds. Handbook of emotional development. Switzerland: Springer; 2019:627-
661.

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 44

Cultural Differences in Emotional Development
Heidi Keller, PhD

Emeritus Professor, Osnabrück University, Department of Human Sciences, Germany & Nevet
Greenhouse, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
September 2022

Introduction

Everybody seems to know what an emotion is, until being asked to define it.1 Accordingly there is
a myriad of definitions, some stressing more the biological roots, some more the cultural origins.
Meanwhile there seems at least to be consensus that emotions are complex mental states which
synthesize biological and cultural components, although the constituents and nature of this
interaction is still unclear.2,3 Emotions involve different dimensions, such as subjective experience,
expressiveness, psychophysiological changes, and behaviour.

The biological base of emotions is regarded as expressed in the universal equipment with basic
emotions, yet the presumed number differs between authors.4,5,6 The founder of human ethology,
Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeldt extended the biological base to a universal grammar of human behaviour.7
Nevertheless, the occurrence, the expression and the social regulation of emotions can differ
substantially between cultures.

In this paper emotions are regarded as part of the human repertoire, yet embodying marked
cultural differences in different domains.3 Children participate from birth on in sociocultural
encounters in which they co-construct their emotion system which is crucial for the definition of
self and identity. Different cultural pathways of emotional development could be related to
different conceptions of the self as grounded in wider cultural models. Cultural models are
organized through particular definitions and combinations of autonomy and relatedness as two
human basic needs as well as cultural constructs at the same time.

Subject

Understanding the cultural nature of emotions and their development is important for the
unbiased understanding of children’s development on a global scale. Emotions are differently
interwoven with cognition, motivation and behaviour in different cultures. Socio-emotional

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 45

development is centered around different lead emotions in different cultures, for example,
positive emotionality in Western middle - class contexts8 or shame in Chinese families.9
Understanding these dynamics is crucial for meeting ethical standards of assessing and
evaluating children’s and caregiver’s behaviours.

Problems

Research concerning children’s development is still dominated by the WEIRD (Western, Educated,
Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) world view. A tiny proportion of the world’s population
(estimations vary between 5 – 10%), who are basically different from other cultural groups, are
regarded as representing humans globally.10 The lack of cultural/cross-cultural studies is
meanwhile recognized and admitted,11,12,13 yet the reality of science and applications lags behind.

For example, classical attachment researchers accept as attachment research only studies
applying procedures that have been developed by themselves, such as the Strange Situation
Procedure in the original version.14 The authors of these procedures all belong to WEIRD cultures.
If adaptations are made, they are not far reaching enough, concerning, for example, only
translations of observational protocols or interview questions. However, already the vocabulary
may be different in different cultures, for example, there is no word for collaboration in Lamnso,
the language of North West Cameroonian Nso people, where collaboration is not a social concept
but a way of life (Melody Ngaidzeyuf Ndzenyuiy, PhD Candidate, personal communication, May 11,
2022).

Research Context

Most of the research on early emotional development consists of observational situations. A

parent, mostly the mother, is asked to play with her child in a standardized (mainly laboratory) or
semi standardized (mainly at home) situation often with the seemingly paradoxical instruction:
play as you would normally do. The situation is mainly defined as parent plays with child using
toys. These usually short, 2 to 30 minutes on the average, situations are videotaped and the
behavioural exchange is later coded with different, more or less standardized schemes by coders
who should not be informed about the research questions and the background of the participants.
This is of course not always to realize because of apparent phenotypical differences. Emotional
expression of infants (and mothers) is often classified as positive, negative or neutral. Interrater
agreement by mainly WEIRD coders is trained to reach a statistically acceptable level.15 Another

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 46

popular setting is confronting a child in a standardized laboratory arrangement with social or non-
social stimuli which are supposed to trigger the expression of particular emotions. As an example,
the still face paradigm instructs a mother to interrupt a face-to-face interaction with her baby by
freezing any facial expression. Children’s reactions are videotaped and coded.16

Key Research Questions

Research questions need to start with assessing the cultural conception of emotions in the
particular community under study. This implies the local understanding of what emotions are, how
they are embodied, how they are experienced and expressed and in which contextual conventions
they are embedded. This knowledge must be the basis for studying cultural pathways of
emotional development, which should ideally start with ethnographic longitudinal studies.

Recent Research Results

Early interactional situations following the WEIRD pattern of parent (mainly mother) – child
communication mainly consist of cycles of exclusive dyadic face-to- face exchange with
affectionate talking, smiling, increasing infant’s arousal, and the use of toys (distal communication
strategy). The expression of positive emotionality is crucial for co-regulation processes in this
cultural context. This communication strategy is mostly absent in traditional rural cultures where
proximate (body contact, body stimulation, rhythmical attunement) behavioural channels
emphasize co-regulation, which is largely enacted non-verbally. Facial expressions are supposed
to be neutral. Children grow up in multiple care networks where different caretakers may exert
different caretaking functions or act interchangeably.17 Children are often the main socialization
agents in baby care. Gabriel Scheidecker, for example, observed in Madagascan villages that the
peer group of 2 to 5 years of children were the dominant companions for children during the first
three years of life from their second year on. Children in peer groups also show face to face
contact and emotional expressions which in absent in the rare adult child encounters. Thus, these
children acquire two social scripts at the same time.18

Emotional neutrality is also the social norm in this (and structurally similar) cultural context(s)
when small children meet strangers for the first time. One-year-old Nso children reacted bodily
welcoming (stretching their arms) to an approaching stranger with a neutral facial expression.19
Children are socialized from early on to accept multiple people as part of the cooperative lifestyle.

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 47

Emotional development in early infancy can occur via multiple, culture-specific pathways as the
comparative analysis of mother infant play situations during infants 4 to 12 weeks of age in
Western middle-class families in Northern Italy, rural traditional Nso farmer families in Cameroon,
and West African immigrant families in Northern Italy revealed. Longitudinal sequential analysis of
maternal and infant behaviours showed that in Italian dyads mothers preferred the distal strategy,
whereas the Cameroonian Nso mothers mainly used motor stimulation combined with rhythmic
vocalizing, representing the proximate style. West African immigrant dyads showed a combination
of both face-to-face and proximate co-regulated exchanges observed in their new and native
cultures.20 Another example concerns the definition of joint attention as infants looking to their
mothers while jointly engaged with objects, accompanied by positive emotionality. Adopting a
broader and more inclusive definition as coordinated joint engagement with any social partner
involving social and non-social objects surrounded by any expression of emotionality (including
neutrality) is helpful to avoid potential ethnocentric bias. Three human groups with one-year old
focus children from urban families in the UK, Cameroonian Nso farmers and Aka foragers in the
Central African Republic were observed in their natural surroundings (as well as three groups of
chimpanzees living in diverse ecological settings). Joint attention (JA) with positive emotional tone
was significantly more common in middle-class settings. Coordinated Joint Engagement (CJE)
without specifying the emotional tone occurred frequently in all groups. Moreover, neither CJE or
JA was found to be unique to humans.21

All together there is a growing body of evidence emphasizing that diverse eco-cultural
experiences have significant impact on developmental outcomes of socio emotional as well as
development in general. Developmental trajectories are embedded in broader cultural models
that frame developmental goals in terms of culture specific conceptions of autonomy and
relatedness.8,22

Research Gaps

The biggest research gap is certainly the lack of cultural conscious research. The study of
emotions, as research in developmental and social sciences in general, is still dominated by
WEIRD researchers, studying WEIRD subjects in WEIRD environments with WEIRD methods and
protocols.10,11,12,13 Although there is substantial evidence from cultural psychology and anthropology
that all dimensions of emotions vary substantially across cultural contexts, systematic research is
lacking on cultural conceptions of emotions, the development of emotional experiences and
expressions, their interrelatedness with other developmental domains, as well as their

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 48

intracultural variation. This also implies the development of cultural conscious methodologies and
infrastructures for enabling inclusive and participatory research programs.23

Conclusions

Cultural conscious research is crucial for overcoming the ethnocentric bias of mainstream theory
and practice concerning emotions and emotional development. Only culture conscious research
can contribute to a global developmental science. Acknowledging cultural differences is deeply
interwoven with ethical issues since it necessitates abandoning the evaluation of diverse cultural
practices with monocultural standards, mainly derived from a WEIRD understanding of human
psychology. The narrative in different applied domains from education to family court decisions to
early child care and education programs is, that what differs from the WEIRD way of life is a
deficit.24 The consequences of this perspective are devastating when, for example, children are
placed in foster care because the educational agenda of their families/mothers deviates from a
classical mainly attachment based understanding of responsiveness and child centeredness.
Emotional expressiveness is crucial in this process.8 Ghanaian psychologist Seth Oppong has
convincingly outlined that “…how and why what is ethical in one culture becomes unethical in the
Ghanaian context and what is unethical in the Ghanaian context becomes ethical in another
culture.”.24

Implications for Parents, Services and Policy

The next important step is a change of perspective from an evaluative framework to an inclusive
one. There are different truths, different realities and different normative frameworks related to
emotions and their development across cultures that cannot be classified along one standard of
quality. The institutional early educational practice needs to distance itself from one definition of
pedagogical quality and accept the educational visions and practices of families with different
cultural models. Particularly the lack of emotional expressiveness, narrative brevity and avoidance
of eye contact, representing the code of conduct in many cultural environments are often
interpreted as psychiatric symptoms preventing proper and responsible care for children’s well-
being in family court decisions.

Global early childhood developmental programs aim at improving brain development of children
in the global south with changing parenting practices without assessing the need and without
taking local cultural socialization goals and practices into account.25 Often science is contrasted

©2022-2024 CEECD | EMOTIONS 49

with culture, where science is understood in WEIRD terms and culture as promoting deficits.8
Besides services and policy, educational curricula for professionals working in these different
domains need to be reformulated.

References

1. Fehr B, Russell JA. Concept of emotion viewed from a prototype perspective. Journal of
Experimental Psychology: General 1984;113(3):464-486. [Link]

3445.113.3.464

2. Röttger-Rössler B, Scheidecker G, Funk L, Holodynski M. Learning (by) feeling. A cross

cultural comparison of the development of emotions. Ethos 2015;43(2):187-220.

3. Keller H. The role of emotions in socialization processes across cultures. Implications for

theory and practice. In: Matsumoto D, Hwang HC, eds. The handbook of culture and
psychology. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press; 2020:188-209.

4. Izard CE. The psychology of emotions. New York, NY: Plenum; 1991.

5. Ekman P. An argument for basic emotions. Cognition and Emotion 1992;6(3/4):169-200.

6. Plutchik R. A general psychoevolutionary theory of emotion. In: Plutchik R, Kellermann H,

eds. Emotion: Theory, research and experience. Vol.1: Theories of emotion. New York, NY:
Academic Press; 1980:3-33.

7. Eibl-Eibesfeldt I. Die Biologie des menschlichen Verhaltens: Grundriss der Humanethologie.

5th ed. Vierkirchen: Pasenbach: Blank Media; 2004.

8. Keller H. The Myth of Attachment Theory. New York, NY: Routledge; 2021.

9. Fung H. Becoming a moral child: the socialization of shame among young Chinese children.
Ethos 1999; 27(2):180-209.

10. Henrich J, Heine S, Norenzayan A. The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain
Sciences 2010;33;61-135.

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 11. Arnett JJ. The neglected 95%: why American psychology needs to become less American.
American Psychologist 2008;63(7):602-614.

12. Nielsen M, Haun D, Kärtner J, Legare CH. The persistent sampling bias in developmental

psychology: A call to action. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2017;162:31-38.

13. Broesch T, Lew-Levy T, Kärtner J, Kanngiesser P, Kline M. A roadmap to doing culturally

grounded developmental science. Review of Philosophy and Psychology 2022.

[Link]

14. Mesman J, van IJzendoorn MH, Sagi-Schwartz A. Cross-cultural patterns of attachment:

Universals and contextual dimensions. In: Cassidy J, Shaver P. eds Handbook of Attachment.
3rd ed. New York, NY: Guilford Press; 2016:790-815.

15. Keller H. Cultures of Infancy. New York, NY: Psychology Press and Routledge Classic Editions;

2022.

16. Mesman J, van IJzendoorn MH, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ. Erratum to “The many faces of

the still-face paradigm: A review and meta-analysis. Developmental Review 2009; 29(2):120-
162

17. Keller H, Chaudhary N. Is the mother essential for attachment? Models of care in different

cultures. In: Keller H, Bard KA, eds. The cultural nature of attachment. Contextualizing
relationships and development. New York, NY: MIT Press; 2017: 109-138.

18. Scheidecker G. Caregivers, Parents, and peers: Patterns of Complementarity in the Social

World of Children in Rural Madagascar. Current Anthropology 2022. In press.

19. Otto H. Don’t show your emotions! Emotion regulation and attachment in the Cameroonian

Nso. In: Otto H, Keller H, eds. Different faces of attachment. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press; 2017:215-229.

20. Lavelli M, Carra C, Rossi G, Keller H. Culture specific development of early mother – infant

emotional co regulation: Italian, Cameroonian and West African immigrant dyads.

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 Developmental Psychology 2019;55(9):1850-1867.

21. Bard KA, Keller H, Ross K, Hewlett BS, Butler L, Boysen S, Matsuzawa T. Joint attention in

human and chimpanzee infants in varied socio-ecological contexts. Monographs of the

Society for Research in Child Development 2022;86(4):7-217.

22. Keller H, Kärtner J. Development – The culture–specific solution of universal developmental

tasks. In: Gelfand ML, Chiu C-Y, Hong Y, eds. Advances in culture and psychology Vol. 3: New
York, NY: Oxford University Press; 2013:63-116.

23. Burger O, Chen L, Erut A, Fong FTK, Rawlings B, Legare, CH. Developing Cross Cultural Data

Infrastructures (CCDIs) for Research in Cognitive and Behavioral Sciences. Review of

Philosophy and Psychology 2022. [Link]

24. Oppong S. When the ethical is unethical and the unethical is ethical: Cultural relativism in

ethical decision making. Polish Psychological Bulletin 2019;50(1):18-28.

25. Scheidecker G, Chaudhary N, Keller H, Mezzenzana F, Lancy D. Poor brain development in

the global south? Challenging the Evidence Base of Early Childhood Intervention. In review.

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Emotional Intelligence in the First Five Years of
Life
1
Susanne A. Denham, PhD, 2Katherine Zinsser, PhD, 3Craig S. Bailey, PhD
1
George Mason University, USA, 2University Illinois Chicago, USA, 3Yale School of Medicine, USA
September 2022, Éd. rév.

Introduction

The construct of emotional intelligence (EI) refers to a distinct group of mental abilities, in which
individuals 1) perceive, appraise and express emotions; 2) use emotions to facilitate thinking; 3)
understand the antecedents and consequences of emotions; and 4) regulate emotions in self and
others.1 These abilities dovetail well with what has been termed, in the developmental psychology
literature, as “emotional competence” (EC).2 Because of the developmental emphasis in the EC
literature, this is the term we use here. Young children’s EC – expression of useful emotions,
knowledge of emotions of self and others, and regulation of their own and others’ emotional
expressiveness and experience when necessary – contributes to their social and pre-academic
adjustment, both concurrently and across time.3-5

Subject

Because of the link with social and pre-academic success, there is considerable interest in the
topic of early childhood EC; its relevance to policymakers and service-providers in childcare, early
childhood education and mental health is becoming clear. There are three main components of
EC, with specific attainments during the early childhood period:2

Expression: Young children become able to use emotional communication to express clear
nonverbal messages about social situations and relationships (e.g., stamping feet, giving a hug).
They also develop empathic involvement in others’ emotions (e.g., patting a classmate in pain).
Further, they display complex social and self-conscious emotions, such as guilt, pride, shame and
contempt, in appropriate contexts.6,7

Knowledge: Young children’s abilities to accurately identify and label their own and others’
emotions, especially the discrete emotions of happiness, sadness, anger and fear, are emerging.
Particularly via the use of methods embedded within play, they can identify the causes and

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consequences of these emotions, and they show budding awareness of complex, individualized
causes for emotions.8

Regulation: Young children begin to regulate emotions in productive ways – showing awareness
of their feelings, monitoring them and modifying them when necessary, so that emotions aid,
rather than impede, coping in varying situations. Although young children begin to understand
which regulation strategies are most useful, they still often need adult assistance in these efforts.
6,7,9

The interrelationships of these aspects of EC must be underscored. Emotion knowledge

undoubtedly plays an important role in children’s ability to regulate emotion; when a child knows,
for example, that her playmate is delighted to heave her tricycle upright after a long struggle, she
is no longer distressed herself, trying to discern what to do with an angry friend. Further, her
emotion knowledge may assist her own adaptive, regulated emotion expression – if she
understands what makes her (and others) sad, and with what intensity, she may be able to show
sadness at falling off playground equipment in a way that elicits help without overwhelming her.
Because of the intricate inter-workings of the components of EC, it is no surprise that preschool
deficits in both emotion knowledge and under-regulated expression of anger predicted difficulties
with teachers and peers in kindergarten.5,8 For example, preschoolers with deficits in
understanding emotions have been found to show aggression or peer problems, both concurrently
and predictably.8,9 Moreover, aspects of early childhood EC, separately and as an interrelated
group, predict young children’s early school success.3-7,9

Research Context

The context of research into EC varies throughout development. The study of infant emotion has
relied predominantly on external signs of experienced emotions such as facial expressions,
gestures and vocalizations. As children leave infancy, researchers use both naturalistic
observations and direct assessment procedures in a variety of settings, to better capture
children’s expression and experience, understanding, and regulation of emotions. Procedures to
assess children’s EC sometimes use purposefully frustrating situations with and without adult
scaffolding to understand children’s regulation of emotions. Children’s responses to direct
questions, often within ecologically valid play procedures, show their understanding of self and
others’ feelings in differing situations, as well as causes and consequences of emotions.
Observational and self-report methods are used to examine adults’ socialization of children’s EC.

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Key Research Questions and Recent Findings

1. How is EC related to young children’s successful negotiations of other important

developmental tasks?

a) EC is related to young children’s success in relationships. Young children must learn to

send and receive emotional messages using their knowledge about emotions and their
abilities to regulate emotions, so that they may successfully negotiate interpersonal
exchanges, form relationships and maintain curiosity about and enthusiasm for their world.
When they do so, they have more satisfying, successful relationships with others, especially
in the new peer arena.4,7-9

b) EC is related to young children’s early school success. Emotions are ubiquitous in the
early childhood classroom; as young students learn alongside and in collaboration with
teachers and peers, they must utilize their emotions to facilitate learning. Children’s abilities
to understand emotions of self and other, regulate emotion, and express healthy emotions,
all work together to grease the cogs of a successful school experience.3,5-7

2. How do parents promote children’s EC?

By modeling various emotions, moderately expressive parents give children information

about the nature of emotions ̶ their expression, likely eliciting situations, and more
personalized causes.10,11 Living in a particular “affective climate” promotes children’s
experience, expression, and regulation of specific emotions.10 Specifically, a positive
affective climate promotes positive emotional outcomes in children.12 Conversely, where
families display more negative emotion, children fare worse with peers.13 Parents’ reactions
to young children’s emotions and their direct instruction about emotions are also important
socialization tools that support the development of EC.14

3. What else can we do to promote children’s EC?

There are opportunities to promote young children’s EC within childcare and early childhood
education settings.15 For example, the Preschool PATHS program teaches children about
emotion expression, knowledge, and regulation.16 Additional programs have been created
specifically for use in Head Start classrooms to help young children use EC effectively.17

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 Parent programming also exists.18

Research Gaps

Much basic research work is left to be done, particularly in examining how the components of EC
work together. Research also needs to situate EC abilities within the “whole child,” viewing how
EC interacts with other domains of development, both concurrently and predictably.

Further, despite accumulated findings on parental socialization, and early childhood research that
shows that teachers are engaging in emotion socialization behaviours, we know little about how
teachers (or, for that matter, peers or siblings10) socialize children’s EC.19 There are, however,
emerging findings that teachers’ modeling, reactions, and teaching do contribute to children’s
developing EC.20-23 Research is also needed to discern possible indirect contributors to EC, such as
parental psychopathology, divorce, poverty and child care quality.2 Moreover, our state of
knowledge is ripe for increased exploration of applied topics, such as evidence-based
programming. Finally, even more excellent assessment tools are needed in order to track EC
promotion in young children.24

Conclusion

In sum, emotional competence is a developmentally-evolving construct that encompasses

children’s abilities to appropriately express, interpret and regulate their emotions, as well as to
understand the emotions of others. Understanding the interrelationships between these facets of
EC, as well as how EC is socialized, is crucial in understanding the emotional experience of
children, and why some preschoolers have more highly developed EC than others. Extant findings
suggest that 1) EC is related to young children’s success in relationships; 2) EC is related to young
children’s early success in school; 3) parents model emotional expression and regulation and
structure environments that promote attaining EC; and 4) parent socialization of emotion is not
the only mechanism by which children’s EC is socialized. Understanding and promoting EC in the
home is emerging as vital, but research has needs more fully to explore how teachers and the
school context contribute to children’s EC.

Implications for Parents, Services and Policy

Although researchers, early childhood educators and policy makers are increasingly
understanding and valuing early childhood EC, gaps in such support still need to be bridged. To

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provide the optimal learning environment for every student, for example, teachers should be
trained in programming and assessment tools that promote EC. Parents should likewise be
supported in their roles as socializers of EC.

Educational standards continue to be essential. Policy initiatives also can encourage teacher
awareness of EC and help them to encourage it, thereby fostering harmonious classroom
environments and promoting the EC foundation that children can use across many contexts.
Legislative initiatives can help establish programs, allocate funds to create technical assistance
and training centers, and provide grants to support evidence-based EC programming and its
evaluation.24

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