emotion is a rapid appraisal of the personal significance of the situation, which pre- pares you for action.
A number of theorists take a functionalist approach to emotion, emphasizing that the broad function of
emotions is to energize behavior aimed at attaining personal goals
functionalist approach
Children’s emotional signals, such as smiling, crying, and attentive interest, powerfully affect the behavior
of others. Similarly, the emotional reactions of others regulate children’s social behavior. Careful analyses of
caregiver–infant interaction reveal that by 3 months, a complex com- munication system is in place in
which each partner responds in an appropriate and care- fully timed fashion to the other’s cues (Weinberg et
al., 1999). By the end of the first year, babies become increasingly skilled at joint attention—following the
caregiver’s line of regard. Through this checking of others’ emotions, called social referencing, young
children learn how to behave in a great many everyday situations.
Many other studies indicate that persistent psychological stress, manifested in anxiety, depressed mood,
anger, and irritability, is associated with a variety of health difficulties from infancy to adulthood.
Func- tionalist theorists point out that emotions contribute to the emergence of self-awareness. By the
middle of the second year, when self-awareness is sufficiently developed, children begin to experience a new
array of emotions with distinct functions.
Development of Emotional Expression
In line with the dynamic systems perspective, emotional expres- sions vary with the person’s developing
capacities, goals, and context. Infants, children, and adults use diverse responses to express a particular
emotion.
Basic emotions—happiness, interest, surprise, fear, anger, sadness, disgust—are universal in humans and
other primates and have a long evolutionary history of promoting survival. Between 6 and 10 weeks, the
parent’s communication evokes a broad grin called the social [Link], which appears around 3 to 4
months, reflects faster processing of information than smiling.
Newborn babies respond with generalized distress to a variety of unpleasant experiences. Expressions of
sadness also occur in response to pain, removal of an object, and brief separations, they are less common
than anger
the most frequent expression of fear is to unfamiliar adults, a response called stranger anxiety. Once
wariness develops, infants use the familiar caregiver as a secure base, or point from which to explore,
venturing into the environment and then returning for emotional support
humans are capable of a second, higher-order set of feelings, includ- ing guilt, shame, embarrassment, envy,
and pride. These are called self-conscious emotions because each involves injury to or enhancement of our
sense of self. Self-conscious emotions appear in the middle of the second year, as 18- to 24-month- olds
become firmly aware of the self as a separate, unique individual.
Besides expressing a wider range of emotions, children learn to manage their emotional expe- riences.
Emotional self-regulation refers to the strategies we use to adjust our emotional state to a comfortable
level of intensity so we can accomplish our goals.
Emotional self-regulation requires voluntary, effortful management of emotions. This capacity for effortful
control improves gradually, as the result of development of the prefron- tal cortex and the assistance of
caregivers
INFANCY – 410
EARLY CHILDHOOD
MIDDLE CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE
In addition to regulating internal emotional states, children must learn to control what they communicate
to others. All societies have emotional display rules that specify when, where, and how it is appropriate to
express emotions.
Understanding and Responding to the Emotions of Others
Children’s emotional expressiveness is intimately tied to their ability to interpret the emotional cues of
others. Some researchers claim that young babies respond in kind to others’ emotions through a built-in,
automatic process of emotional contagion (Stern, 1985).
Beginning at 8 to 10 months, when infants start to evaluate unfamiliar people, objects, and events in terms
of their own safety and security, they often engage in social referencing— relying on another person’s
emotional reaction to appraise an uncertain situation
In sum, toddlers use those signals to evaluate the safety and security of their surround- ings, to guide their
own actions, and to gather information about others’ intentions and preferences.
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Emotional development refers to the ability to recognize, express,
and manage feelings at different stages of life and to have
empathy for the feelings of others.1 The development of these
emotions, which include both positive and negative emotions, is
largely affected by relationships with parents, siblings, and peers.2
Infants between the ages of six and ten weeks begin to show
emotion with a social smile accompanied by actions and sounds
that represent pleasure. The social smile develops in response to
caregivers’ smiles and interactions. Around three to four months
infants begin to laugh, which demonstrates that they can
recognize incongruity in actions that deviate from the norm.
Laughter fosters reciprocal interactions with others, which
promotes social development. From six to twelve months infants
can begin to express emotions, such as fear, disgust, anger, and
sadness, which indicate to caregivers that they are experiencing
discomfort or displeasure and need attention. Infants will respond
to their emotions to the degree that their caregivers respond and
then learn from their emotional facial cues.3
During a child’s second year, toddlers begin expressing shame,
embarrassment, and pride, which are learned emotions based on
their culture. As they acquire language and learn to verbalize their
feelings, they can express their emotions of affection, distress,
pain, and fatigue. The ability to recognize and label emotions and
then to control emotional expression in ways that are consistent
with cultural expectations is called emotion regulation. Children
learn to self-regulatetheir emotions to be able to cope with
difficult situations. Usually by age two, children also begin to
acquire the complex emotional response of empathy by reading
others’ emotional cues and understanding their perspectives.4
By the age of three, children begin to understand society’s rules
regarding the appropriate expression of emotions. They are
taught by caregivers that expressions of anger and aggression are
to be controlled in the presence of adults, but they are less likely to
suppress negative emotional behavior around their peers. This
difference is the result of differing consequences of their behavior
with adults or with peers.5
Children acquire the ability to alter their emotional expressions by
around age four. They can display external expressions that do not
match their internal feelings, such as thanking a gift giver when
the gift is not really liked. This ability requires complex skills of
understanding the need to alter their expression, realizing the
perception of another, knowing that their expression does not
need to match their actual feelings, and having the motivation
and control to mask their true feelings convincingly.6
A wider variety of self-regulation skills is displayed by children
ages seven to eleven. Factors that influence their emotion
management decisions include the type of emotion experienced
as well as the relationship, age, and gender of the person involved.
Children develop a set of expectations of the outcomes they will
receive from different people. Parents might handle some
emotions better than peers, who might belittle or tease them.7
As school age children deal with their emotions and the people
involved with them, they develop social skills. Based on how they
perceive they compare with their peers, they either develop
confidence and are competent in useful skills or feel inferior and
unsuccessful.8 Their self-esteem is influenced by how they feel
others view them. If their performance does not match their
personal aspirations, they are likely to feel inferior and inadequate.
Conditions that threaten to expose their inadequacies can cause
anxiety. If children believe in themselves and their abilities, they
can have a stable, positive self-concept about themselves.9
During play, children increase their emotional maturity and social
competence by interacting with other children. Play helps
children practice their communication skills as they negotiate
roles and appreciate others’ feelings. They learn to share, wait their
turn, and handle conflicts while playing with others. Play also
allows children to express and cope with their feelings through
pretend play, which allows them to think out loud about their
experiences and feelings.10
