Emotional Development in the First 2 Years

What is emotion?

  • Emotions develop as infants move from reactive experiences of pleasure and pain to more complex socio-emotional awareness.
  • The trajectory is from basic, reflexive states to patterns that involve others, social interpretation, and self-awareness.

Primary Emotions

  • List of core, universal emotions: Happy, Sad, Mad (Anger), Fear, with related expressions
  • Additional observable states shown in the material: Surprised, Disgusted

Happiness

  • Social smile appears around 6 weeks6\text{ weeks} and is evoked by viewing human faces.
  • Laughter emerges around 3 to 4 months3\text{ to }4\text{ months} and is often tied to curiosity; discrimination of stimuli becomes more refined over time.

Sadness

  • Indicates withdrawal from a situation.
  • Associated with increased production of cortisol, signaling a physiological stress response in the infant.
  • Sadness is framed as a marker of stress and withdrawal, not merely a mood state.

Anger

  • First expressions appear around 6 months6\text{ months}.
  • Considered a healthy and expected response to frustration; reflects maturing impulse control and goal-directed behavior.

Fear

  • Emerges around 9 months9\text{ months} in response to people, objects, or situations.
  • Stranger wariness: infant stops smiling at friendly faces and may cry or look frightened when an unfamiliar person approaches.
  • Separation anxiety: tears, dismay, or anger when a familiar caregiver leaves.
  • If fear remains intense after age 3 years3\text{ years}, it may be evaluated as an emotional disorder.

The Toddler's Emotions

  • Anger and fear become less frequent but more focused as the toddler ages.
  • Laughing and crying become louder and more discriminating (more specific triggers identified).
  • Temper tantrums may appear as behavior becomes more intentional.
  • Secondary emotions (self-conscious emotions) begin to emerge, signaling growing social awareness.

Secondary Emotions

  • Include pride, shame, embarrassment, guilt.
  • These emotions require awareness of others’ opinions and social standards.

Self-awareness

  • Self-awareness is the recognition that a child is a distinct individual with separate body, mind, and actions.
  • Key milestone for self-awareness is mirror recognition.

Mirror Recognition (Self-awareness experiment)

  • Classic study: Lewis & Brooks (1978).
  • Participants: babies aged 9–24 months9\text{–}24\text{ months}.
  • Procedure: a dot of rouge placed on the infant’s nose; infant observes themselves in a mirror.
  • Findings:
    • Infants younger than 12 months12\text{ months} generally did not react as if they recognized the mark.
    • Infants aged 15–24 months15\text{–}24\text{ months} showed self-awareness by touching their own noses with curiosity.

Does everyone experience emotion the same?

  • Concept of temperament: biologically based differences between individuals in the intensity, regulation, and duration of emotional responses.
  • Distinctions:
    • Temperament traits are genetic.
    • Personality traits develop through interaction with the environment and experiences.

Temperament

  • Three dimensions of temperament:
    • Self-control: regulating attention and emotion, self-soothing abilities.
    • Negative mood: tendencies toward fearfulness, anger, and unhappiness.
    • Extraversion: activity level, sociability, and lack of shyness.
  • Each dimension influences later personality development and achievement.
  • Temperament is associated with distinctive patterns of hormones, brain activity, and behavior.

Nurture Working Through Nature

  • Neuroscience shows remarkable plasticity: experiences can shape behavioral outcomes across the lifespan.
  • Positive emotions build brain development; excessive fear and stress can slow brain growth (fewer dendrites).
  • Maltreated infants often develop abnormal stress responses and show atypical activity in:
    • Hypothalamus
    • Amygdala
    • Hippocampus
    • Prefrontal cortex

Do Babies' Temperaments Change?

  • Longitudinal evidence (Fox et al., 2001) on temperament changes from 4 months to 4 years.
  • Described trajectory patterns include:
    • Inhibited (fearful) at 4 months4\text{ months} may become Positive (exuberant) at later ages, or show a Variable pattern (sometimes fearful, sometimes not) by 9$, 14$, 24$, and 48\text{ months}.</li><li>Positive(exuberant)temperamentcanbecomestableacrossmultipletimepoints(e.g.,.</li> <li>Positive (exuberant) temperament can become stable across multiple time points (e.g.,9\text{, }14\text{, }24\text{, }48\text{ months}).</li></ul></li><li>Reportedpercentages(fromtheslidedata,Foxetal.,2001)illustratemultipletrajectoriesandnotablechangeacrosstimepoints:approximately).</li></ul></li> <li>Reported percentages (from the slide data, Fox et al., 2001) illustrate multiple trajectories and notable change across time points: approximately44\%toto48\text{ months}forsometransitions,aboutfor some transitions, about42\%remainingpositiveatremaining positive at9, 14, 24, 48\text{ months},andothertrajectoriesatapproximately, and other trajectories at approximately80\%,,12\%,,15\%,and, and5\%foralternatepatterns.</li><li>Overallimplication:temperamentisnotfixedinthefirstyears;multipletrajectoriesexistwithbothstabilityandchange.</li></ul><h3id="howemotionsdevelop">Howemotionsdevelop</h3><ul><li>Primaryemotionsarereflexiveinyounginfants.</li><li>Temperamentisinborn,buttheexpressionoftemperamentisinfluencedbythesocialcontext(e.g.,earlyexperiencescandampenoramplifyfearorshyness).</li><li>Secondaryemotionsinvolveself−andsocial−awareness(e.g.,self−referencing:lookingtoothers’reactionswhenuncertainabouthowtorespond).</li><li>Parentsshapehowchildreninterpretandcopewiththeiremotions.</li></ul><h3id="howareemotionsdisplayedorcontrolled">Howareemotionsdisplayedorcontrolled?</h3><ul><li>Primaryemotionsareuniversal;infantshavelimitedornocontroloverdisplaysofemotion.</li><li>Secondaryemotionsareshapedbyculturalnormsregardingwhen,how,andtowhomemotionsshouldbeshown.</li><li>Childrenlearntoregulateanddisplaytheiremotionsinlinewiththesesocialnorms.</li></ul><h3id="ataboutthistimedevelopingemotionstimeline">AtAboutThisTime:DevelopingEmotions(timeline)</h3><ul><li>Newborn:distress;contentment</li><li>for alternate patterns.</li> <li>Overall implication: temperament is not fixed in the first years; multiple trajectories exist with both stability and change.</li> </ul> <h3 id="howemotionsdevelop">How emotions develop</h3> <ul> <li>Primary emotions are reflexive in young infants.</li> <li>Temperament is inborn, but the expression of temperament is influenced by the social context (e.g., early experiences can dampen or amplify fear or shyness).</li> <li>Secondary emotions involve self- and social-awareness (e.g., self-referencing: looking to others’ reactions when uncertain about how to respond).</li> <li>Parents shape how children interpret and cope with their emotions.</li> </ul> <h3 id="howareemotionsdisplayedorcontrolled">How are emotions displayed or controlled?</h3> <ul> <li>Primary emotions are universal; infants have limited or no control over displays of emotion.</li> <li>Secondary emotions are shaped by cultural norms regarding when, how, and to whom emotions should be shown.</li> <li>Children learn to regulate and display their emotions in line with these social norms.</li> </ul> <h3 id="ataboutthistimedevelopingemotionstimeline">At About This Time: Developing Emotions (timeline)</h3> <ul> <li>Newborn: distress; contentment</li> <li>6\text{ weeks}:socialsmile</li><li>: social smile</li> <li>3\text{ months}:laughter;curiosity</li><li>: laughter; curiosity</li> <li>4\text{ months}:full,responsivesmiles</li><li>: full, responsive smiles</li> <li>4\text{–}8\text{ months}:anger</li><li>: anger</li> <li>9\text{–}14\text{ months}:fearofsocialevents(strangers,separationfromcaregiver)</li><li>: fear of social events (strangers, separation from caregiver)</li> <li>12\text{ months}:fearofunexpectedsightsandsounds</li><li>: fear of unexpected sights and sounds</li> <li>18\text{ months}$$: self-awareness; pride; shame; embarrassment