Emotional expression begins in infancy. Crying is a powerful means of communication for newborns. Distress, pleasure, anger, fear, and interest are among the earliest emotions that infants display. Young infants occasionally laugh and smile, although smiling deliberately at others typically does not emerge until age 4 months. Emotions such as sadness and fear are typically seen in the second half of the first year of life.
Toddlerhood is characterized by rapid development of the brain’s limbic system and frontal lobe as well as greater independence from parents. Consequently, toddlers begin to show more complex feelings such as pride (in asserting autonomy) and shame (in taking risks and failing). Between the ages of 3 and 5, children develop greater capacity for empathy. Empathy is dependent on their ability to attend to other’s emotional expressions, label them correctly, and take their perspective. Children with autism spectrum disorder typically show delays in their emotional expression and understanding of others’ feelings.
Advances in cognition, especially language, allow preschoolers and young school-age children to label and to differentiate their own emotions. For example, kindergarteners can begin to distinguish feeling “mad” from feeling “sad.” Young children also become better able to share their feelings verbally, rather than expressing them through aggression, crying, or throwing tantrums. Young children also learn how to alter their emotional expressions in different contexts. For example, the emotions a child can express at home might be different from the emotions he might show in the classroom or on a playground (Bridges, 2018).
Emotion Regulation
A major task during childhood and adolescence is to develop increased capacity for emotion regulation. Emotion regulation refers to the processes we use to recognize, label, and control our feelings and the way we express these feelings through our actions. Emotion regulation is important to all aspects of development: it affects our attention, concentration, thought processes, memory, relationships, and ability to set and achieve long-term goals (Odle, 2016).
Children’s ability to regulate their emotions changes over time. Initially, emotion regulation is highly dependent on others. For example, an infant might cry for his mother when he is cold or hungry and a toddler might run to his father when he skins his knee on the playground. Gradually, children develop strategies to regulate their emotions more independently. For example, an older child might ride her bike to alleviate her anxiety about school and an adolescent might go to the movies with friends to take his mind off trouble at home. The ability to regulate one’s emotions independent of others is essential to social–emotional development (LeBlanc, Essau, & Ollendick, 2018).
The processes that children use to regulate emotions can be divided into two broad categories: effortful and reactive. Effortful processes involve deliberately changing one’s attention, thoughts, or actions with the goal of increasing positive emotions or achieving long-term objectives. Imagine that a girl misses a free throw and her team loses an important basketball game. To regulate her emotions, she could engage in a wide range of effortful processes. For example, she could direct her attention away from her missed shot and, instead, focus on words of encouragement from her teammates like, “Don’t worry about it. You’ll get it next time.” She could also reappraise the situation and think to herself, “Even professional basketball players don’t make all of their shots.” She could also look at the situation as a learning opportunity and resolve to practice her shooting (Eisenberg, Hernandez, & Spinrad, 2018).
In contrast, reactive processes are automatic responses to emotions that children adopt in a rigid or habitual manner. For example, the girl who missed the game-winning free throw could respond by crying and running to the locker room, or she could tantrum or shove an opponent. Reactive processes like these may help the girl feel better in the short term, but they hinder her ability to reach long-term goals. She’s unlikely to get much playing time after crying or fighting.
Many childhood disorders occur when children habitually and rigidly rely on reactive processes to regulate their emotions. For example, internalizing disorders, like anxiety and depression, occur when children react to stressful events through inhibition, avoidance, or withdrawal. In contrast, externalizing disorders, like conduct problems and ADHD, occur when children automatically respond to emotion-provoking experiences through aggression or impulsivity (Fernandes, Tan-Manusukhani, & Essau, 2018; Hannesdottir & Ollendick, 2018).
Other disorders also reflect difficulty with emotion regulation. For example, disruptive mood dysregulation disorder is seen in young children who exhibit chronic irritability and severe temper outbursts. Treatment for this disorder involves teaching children to avoid situations that might trigger tantrums and finding new ways to cope with negative emotions. Eating disorders also sometimes reflect underlying problems with emotion regulation. Some adolescents engage in bingeing or purging as a maladaptive way to reduce anxiety, depression, or low self-worth. Self-injurious behaviors, like burning or cutting, can also be seen as a problematic attempt to regulate emotions. The treatment of these disorders typically involves replacing these maladaptive emotion-regulation strategies with healthier, more effective coping skills (Baudinet, Dawson, Madden, & Hay, 2018; Kircanski, Leibenluft, & Brotman, 2019).
Review
Early emotional development is chiefly concerned with emotional expression and accurately understanding the feelings of others. Children with autism often experience problems developing these skills.
Later emotional development focuses on increased capacity for emotion regulation, that is, the ability to recognize, label, and control our feelings and emotional displays. Children with conduct problems, anxiety, and mood disorders often have difficulty with emotion regulation.
2.4 Social–Cultural Influences on Development
How Do Parents Influence Development?
Temperament and Goodness-of-Fit
Temperament refers to an infant’s characteristic pattern of actions and emotions in response to environmental stimuli. It is typically observable in the first few weeks after birth (Kagan, 2014). Temperament is relatively stable over time and across situations. Temperament reflects one aspect of personality that is believed to be largely innate. Children enter the world with a particular temperament that helps them make sense of their experiences. These experiences, in turn, interact with their temperament and shape their personalities (Stifter & Dollar, 2016).
Parents of two or more children can appreciate differences in temperament. One child may be relatively quiet, easy to calm when upset, yet timid in new situations. His sibling, however, may cry at the slightest provocation, be a poor sleeper and picky eater, and act like a daredevil on the playground. Temperament helps to explain why biological siblings, who share 50% of their genes in common and are raised by the same parents, can behave so differently.
The New York Longitudinal Study provides us with the best data regarding the relationship between temperament in infancy and personality later in life. In this study, Stella Chess, Alexander Thomas, and Herbert Birch (1965) categorized children into one of three temperament clusters:
1 Easy children tended to show a high degree of positive emotions during parent–child interactions, engaged in regular daily routines, and were at ease with new people and situations. They could be soothed quickly when upset. These children were classified as “easy” because they presented fewer problems to their caregivers.
2 Difficult children tended to display more negative emotions and irritability during parent–child interactions; showed more intense reactions to environmental stimuli; and
