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.

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

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

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.

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

Emerges around 9\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\text{ years}, it may be evaluated as an emotional disorder.

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.

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.

Classic study: Lewis & Brooks (1978).
Participants: babies aged 9\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\text{ months} generally did not react as if they recognized the mark.
- Infants aged 15\text{–}24\text{ months} showed self-awareness by touching their own noses with curiosity.

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.

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.

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

Longitudinal evidence (Fox et al., 2001) on temperament changes from 4 months to 4 years.
Described trajectory patterns include:
- Inhibited (fearful) at 4\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}.
- Positive (exuberant) temperament can become stable across multiple time points (e.g., 9\text{, }14\text{, }24\text{, }48\text{ months}).
Reported percentages (from the slide data, Fox et al., 2001) illustrate multiple trajectories and notable change across time points: approximately 44\% to 48\text{ months} for some transitions, about 42\% remaining positive at 9, 14, 24, 48\text{ months}, and other trajectories at approximately 80\%, 12\%, 15\%, and 5\% for alternate patterns.
Overall implication: temperament is not fixed in the first years; multiple trajectories exist with both stability and change.

Primary emotions are reflexive in young infants.
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).
Secondary emotions involve self- and social-awareness (e.g., self-referencing: looking to others’ reactions when uncertain about how to respond).
Parents shape how children interpret and cope with their emotions.

Primary emotions are universal; infants have limited or no control over displays of emotion.
Secondary emotions are shaped by cultural norms regarding when, how, and to whom emotions should be shown.
Children learn to regulate and display their emotions in line with these social norms.

Newborn: distress; contentment
6\text{ weeks}: social smile
3\text{ months}: laughter; curiosity
4\text{ months}: full, responsive smiles
4\text{–}8\text{ months}: anger
9\text{–}14\text{ months}: fear of social events (strangers, separation from caregiver)
12\text{ months}: fear of unexpected sights and sounds
18\text{ months}$$: self-awareness; pride; shame; embarrassment