Are we born with the ability to feel emotions? No one knows for sure, but observation of newborn facial expressions suggests that newborns experience interest, distress, disgust, and happiness or contentment (Izard, Woodburn, & Finlon, 2010). Of course, we do not know whether internal emotional states accompany these facial expressions, but infants’ facial expressions are remarkably similar to those of adults (Sullivan & Lewis, 2003).
Basic Emotions
Basic emotions, also known as primary emotions (happiness, sadness, interest, surprise, fear, anger, and disgust), are universal, experienced by people around the world (Cordaro et al., 2018; Lench, Baldwin, An, & Garrison, 2018). Basic emotions emerge in all infants at about the same ages and are seen and interpreted similarly in all cultures that have been studied, suggesting that they are inborn (Izard et al., 2010). Between 2 and 7 months of age, infants begin to display anger, sadness, joy, surprise, and fear (Bennett, Bendersky, & Lewis, 2005).
Research with adults suggests that emotions are the result of interactions among richly connected, subcortical brain structures, including the brainstem and the limbic system, as well as parts of the cerebral cortex (Celeghin, Diano, Bagnis, Viola, & Tamietto, 2017; Kragel & LaBar, 2016). These structures develop prenatally and are present in animals, suggesting that emotions serve a biological purpose, are crucial to survival, and are likely experienced by infants (Rolls, 2017; Turner, 2014).
Table 6.1
Emotions develop in predictable ways, as shown in Table 6.1. As mentioned, basic emotions are assumed to be inborn. During the first few months of life, however, the ways that primary emotions are displayed and the conditions that elicit them change. For example, in adults, smiling indicates happiness. Newborns smile, and smiling is one of the most important emotional expressions in infancy. Newborn smiles are reflexive, involuntary, and linked with shifts in arousal state (e.g., going from being asleep to drowsy wakefulness), and they occur frequently during periods of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep (Kawakami et al., 2008). At about 3 weeks, infants smile while awake and alert and in response to familiarity—familiar sounds, voices, and tastes (Sroufe & Waters, 1976).
During the second month of life, as infants’ vision improves, they smile more in response to visual stimuli—sights that catch their attention, such as bright objects coming into view (Sroufe, 1997). The social smile emerges between 6 and 10 weeks of age (Lewis, Hitchcock, & Sullivan, 2004). The social smile, which occurs in response to familiar people, is an important milestone in infant development because it shows social engagement (Messinger & Fogel, 2007). The social smile plays a large role in initiating and maintaining social interactions between infants and adults, especially by enhancing caregiver–child bonding. Parents are enthralled when their baby shows delight in seeing them, and the parents’ happy response encourages their baby to smile even more (Beebe et al., 2016).
Smiling is one of the most important emotional expressions in infancy because it plays a role in initiating and maintaining social interactions between infants and adults.
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As infants grow, laughs begin to accompany their smiles, and they laugh more often and at more things. Infants may show clear expressions of joy and intense happiness as early as 2½ months of age while playing with a parent and at 3 to 4 months of age in response to stimuli that they find highly arousing (Bornstein & Lamb, 2011). At 6 months of age, an infant might laugh at unusual sounds or sights, such as when Mommy puts a bowl on her head or makes a funny face. Laughing at unusual events illustrates the baby’s increasing cognitive competence as he or she knows what to expect and is surprised when something unexpected occurs. By a year of age, infants can smile deliberately to engage an adult.
Negative emotions change over time as well. Distress is evident at birth when newborns experience the discomfort of hunger, a heel prick, or a chilly temperature. Anger appears at about 6 months of age and develops rapidly, becoming more complex in terms of elicitors and responses (Lemerise & Dodge, 2008). Initially, physical restrictions such as being restrained in a high chair or when being dressed can elicit anger. The inability to carry out a desired act, such as unsuccessfully reaching to obtain a desired toy, can also provoke frustration and anger (Sullivan & Lewis, 2003). Between 8 and 20 months of age, infants gradually become more reactive, and anger is more easily aroused (Braungart-Rieker, Hill-Soderlund, & Karrass, 2010). They become aware of the actions of others, so that anger can be elicited by others’ behavior. For example, an infant may become upset when Mommy goes to the door to leave or when Grandma takes out the towels in preparation for bath time. During the second year of life, temper tantrums become common when the toddler’s attempts at autonomy are thwarted and he or she experiences frustration or stress. The anger escalates with the child’s stress level (Potegal, Robison, Anderson, Jordan, & Shapiro, 2007). Some toddlers show extreme tantrums, lie on the floor, scream, and jerk their arms and legs. Other children’s tantrums are more subtle. They may whine, mope, and stick out their lower lip.
Self-Conscious Emotions
Emotional development is an orderly process in which complex emotions build on the foundation of simple emotions. The development of self-conscious emotions, or secondary emotions—such as empathy, pride, embarrassment, shame, and guilt—depends on cognitive development, as well as an awareness of self. Self-conscious emotions do not begin to emerge until about 15 to 18 months, and they largely develop during the second and third years of life (Goodvin, Thompson, & Winer, 2015). To experience self-conscious emotions, toddlers must be able to have a sense of self, observe themselves and others, be aware of standards and rules, and compare their behavior with those standards (Lewis, 2016). Feelings of pride, for example, arise from accomplishing a personally meaningful goal, whereas guilt derives from realizing that one has violated a standard of conduct. Parental evaluations are the initial basis for many secondary emotions (Stipek, 1995).
Emotion Regulation
As children become aware of social standards and rules, emotion regulation—the ability to control their emotions—becomes important. How do infants regulate emotions? Very young infants have been observed to manage negative emotions by sucking vigorously on objects or turning their bodies away from distressing stimuli (Mangelsdorf, Shapiro, & Marzolf, 1995).
Smiling is also thought to serve a purpose in regulating emotions, as it allows the infant to control aspects of a situation without losing touch with it. When an infant gets excited and smiles, she looks away briefly. This may be a way of breaking herself away from the stimulus and allowing her to regroup, preventing overstimulation. Smiling is associated with a decline in heart rate, suggesting that it is a relaxation response to decrease an infant’s level of arousal.
Whereas 6-month-old infants are more likely to use gaze aversion and fussing as primary emotion regulatory strategies, 12-month-old infants are more likely to use self-soothing (e.g., thumb sucking, rocking themselves) and distraction (chewing on objects, playing with toys). By 18 months of age, toddlers actively attempt to change the distressing situation, such as by moving away from upsetting stimuli, and begin to use distraction, such as by playing with toys or talking (Crockenberg & Leerkes, 2004; Feldman, Dollberg, & Nadam, 2011).
After 18 months of age, toddlers’ vocabulary for talking about feelings develops rapidly, and their
