Lecture 15: What is emotion in the first years of life

Basic (discrete) Emotions Theory 

Emotions are innate, universal, and easily recognized by stereotyped facial expressions 

Theory of Constructed Emotion 

Emotions are our brain’s interpretation of how we are feeling, based on its past experience and knowledge

evolutionarily older brain systems that deal with emotion

limbic system

what does limbic system control for

emotion, motivation and simple judgment

what other brain system is involvled with emotions

cerebral cortex

what does cerebral cortex control for

voluntary action, complex judgment, symbolic thought

basic emotions

fear, surprise, disgust, anger, joy, sadness

secondary (self-conscious) emotions

pride, embarrassment, empathy, guilt, shame

• example of discontinuous growth

emotions shapes…

language use and language learning

Bucharest Early Intervention Project findings

• Emotion identification: previously institutionalized children performed worse than controls for all emotions

• Emotional understanding: previously institutionalized children performed worse than controls for all emotions except anger

• Depends on the time in the institution 

Functionalist perspective of emotions 

• The basic function of emotions is to promote action toward achieving a goal; in this view, emotions are not discrete from one another and vary somewhat based on the social environment

• Ex: when children want something to stop, they cry