and response to events.
Cultural Influences on Emotional Development
As we’ve already seen, emotional development does not occur in a vacuum. Contextual factors, such as culture, influence how infants interpret and express emotions, as well as what emotions they feel. In this section, we explore the role of context in shaping children’s knowledge about the appropriate display of emotions, as well as the degree to which children experience a fear common in infancy: stranger wariness.
Emotional Display Rules
Every society has a set of emotional display rules that specify the circumstances under which various emotions should or should not be expressed (Safdar et al., 2009). We learn these rules very early in life through interactions with others. Every interaction between parent and infant is shaped by the culture in which they live, which influences their emotional expressions (Bornstein, Arterberry, & Lamb, 2013). When North American mothers play with their 7-month-old babies, for instance, they tend to model positive emotions, restricting their own emotional displays to show joy, interest, and surprise (Malatesta & Haviland, 1982). They also are more attentive to infants’ expression of positive emotions, such as interest or surprise, and respond less to negative emotions (Broesch, Rochat, Olah, Broesch, & Henrich, 2016). Thus, babies are socialized to respond and display their emotions in socially acceptable ways.
In some cultures infants cry very little, perhaps because they are in constant contact with their mothers.
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Which emotions are considered acceptable, as well as how they should be expressed, differ by culture and context. North American parents tickle and stimulate their babies, encouraging squeals of pleasure. The Gusii and Aka people of Central Africa prefer to keep babies calm and quiet; they engage in little face-to-face play (Hewlett, Lamb, Shannon, Leyendecker, & Scholmerich, 1998; LeVine et al., 1994). These differences communicate cultural expectations about emotions (Halberstadt & Lozada, 2011). North American infants learn to express positive emotions, and Central African babies learn to restrain strong emotions.
Similarly, cultures often have particular beliefs about how much responsiveness is appropriate when babies cry and fuss, as well as expectations about infants’ abilities to regulate their own emotions (Halberstadt & Lozada, 2011). The !Kung hunter-gatherers of Botswana, Africa, respond to babies’ cries nearly immediately (within 10 seconds), whereas Western mothers tend to wait a considerably longer period of time before responding to infants’ cries (e.g., 10 minutes) (Barr, Konner, Bakeman, & Adamson, 1991). Fijian mothers tend to be more responsive than U.S. mothers to negative facial expressions in their infants (Broesch et al., 2016). Gusii mothers believe that constant holding, feeding, and physical care are essential for keeping an infant calm, which in turn protects the infant from harm and disease; therefore, like !Kung mothers, Gusii mothers respond immediately to their babies’ cries (LeVine et al., 1994). Non-Western infants are thought to cry very little because they are carried often (Bleah & Ellett, 2010). In one study, infants born to parents who were recent immigrants from Africa cried less than U.S. infants, illustrating the role of culture in influencing infant cries (Bleah & Ellett, 2010). Caregivers’ responses to infant cries influence infants’ capacity for self-regulation and responses to stress. Babies who receive more responsive and immediate caregiving when distressed show lower rates of persistent crying, spend more time in happy and calm states, and cry less overall as they approach their first birthday (Axia & Weisner, 2002; Papoušek & Papoušek, 1990).
Stranger Wariness
Many infants around the world display stranger wariness (also known as stranger anxiety), a fear of unfamiliar people. Whether infants show stranger wariness depends on the infants’ overall temperament, their past experience, and the situation in which they meet a stranger ( Goodvin, Thompson, & Winer, 2015). In many, but not all, cultures, stranger wariness emerges at about 6 months and increases throughout the first year of life, beginning to decrease after about 15 months of age (Bornstein et al., 2013; Sroufe, 1977).
Recent research has suggested that the pattern of stranger wariness varies among infants. Some show rapid increases and others show slow increases in stranger wariness; once wariness has been established, some infants show steady decline and others show more rapid changes. Twin studies suggest that these patterns are influenced by genetics, because the patterns of change are more similar among monozygotic twins (identical twins who share 100% of their genes) than dizygotic twins (fraternal twins who share 50% of their genes) twins (Brooker et al., 2013).
As attachments form, infants become more wary and display “stranger anxiety” when in the presence of unfamilar people. In many, but not all cultures, stranger wariness emerges at about 6 months and increases throughout the first year of life.
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Among North American infants, stranger wariness is so common that parents and caregivers generally expect it. However, infants of the Efe people of Zaire, Africa, show little stranger wariness. This is likely related to the Efe collective caregiving system, in which Efe babies are passed from one adult to another, relatives and nonrelatives alike (Tronick, Morelli, & Ivey, 1992), and the infants form relationships with the many people who care for them (Meehan & Hawks, 2013). In contrast, babies reared in Israeli kibbutzim (cooperative agricultural settlements that tend to be isolated and subjected to terrorist attacks) tend to demonstrate widespread wariness of strangers. By the end of the first year, when infants look to others for cues about how to respond emotionally, kibbutz babies display far greater anxiety than babies reared in Israeli cities (Saarni, Mumme, & Campos, 1998). In this way, stranger wariness may be adaptive, modifying infants’ drive to explore in light of contextual circumstances (Easterbrooks, Bartlett, Beeghly, & Thompson, 2012).
Stranger wariness illustrates the dynamic interactions among the individual and context. The infant’s tendencies toward social interaction and past experience with strangers are important, of course, but so is the mother’s anxiety. Infants whose mothers report greater stress reactivity, who experience more anxiety and negative affect in response to stress, show higher rates of stranger wariness (Brooker et al., 2013; Waters et al., 2014). Characteristics of the stranger (e.g., his or her height), the familiarity of the setting, and how quickly the stranger approaches influence how the infant appraises the situation. Infants are more open when the stranger is sensitive to the infant’s signals and approaches at the infant’s pace (Mangelsdorf, 1992).
Lives in Context
Maternal Depression and Emotional Development
Depression is characterized by a lack of emotion and a preoccupation with the self that makes it challenging for depressed mothers to care for their infants and recognize their infants’ needs.
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Challenging
