6.4: Infant Emotions
- Page ID
- 233854
\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \)
\( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)
\( \newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)
( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\)
\( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\)
\( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\)
\( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\)
\( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)
\( \newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\)
\( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)
\( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\)
\( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\)
\( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\)
\( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\)
\( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\)
\( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\)
\( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\)
\( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)
\( \newcommand{\vectorA}[1]{\vec{#1}} % arrow\)
\( \newcommand{\vectorAt}[1]{\vec{\text{#1}}} % arrow\)
\( \newcommand{\vectorB}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \)
\( \newcommand{\vectorC}[1]{\textbf{#1}} \)
\( \newcommand{\vectorD}[1]{\overrightarrow{#1}} \)
\( \newcommand{\vectorDt}[1]{\overrightarrow{\text{#1}}} \)
\( \newcommand{\vectE}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash{\mathbf {#1}}}} \)
\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \)
\( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)
\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Infant Emotions
Image Source: Designed by Freepik. Baby Collection.
Birth
Infants exhibit two emotional responses:
- attraction
- situations that bring comfort, stimulation, and pleasure
- withdrawal
- unpleasant stimulation such as bitter flavors or physical discomfort
- infants exhibit social engagement in the form of social smiling
- response to smiles to those who engage their positive attention
3 - 5 Months
- babies express pleasure as laughter
- babies express displeasure more specifically as fear, sadness, or anger
6 - 8 Months
- anger is often the reaction to being prevented from obtaining a goal, such as a toy being removed
- sadness is typically the response when infants are deprived of a caregiver
- fear is often associated with the presence of a stranger, known as stranger wariness (object permanence)
- fear is also associated departure of significant others known as separation anxiety (object permanence)
- may experience jealousy as young as 6 months of age
Categories of Emotions
Emotions are often divided into two general categories, basic emotions (primary) and self-conscious emotions (secondary).
- basic emotions (primary emotions) appear first in infancy
- interest
- happiness
- anger
- fear
- surprise
- sadness
- disgust
Toddlers are developing important traits of self-concept and self-esteem. Self-concept is how an individual views who they are based on their habits, skills and temperament. In other words, it is the ability to reflect on one's own traits, skills and behavior. This comes without judgement. It is the identifying information.
On the other hand, self-esteem is an attitude or view that an individual has about him or herself. It also refers to factors that we accept and value in ourselves and can be either negative or positive. Caregivers have a valuable role in helping children to develop positive self-esteem.
- self-conscious emotions (secondary emotions), appear as children start to develop a self-concept and require social instruction on when to feel such emotions
- envy
- pride
- shame
- guilt
- doubt
- embarrassment
Situations in which children learn self-conscious emotions varies from culture to culture.
- individualistic cultures teach us to feel pride in personal accomplishments
- collective cultures children are taught to not call attention to themselves, unless you wish to feel embarrassed for doing so
Facial Expression
Conveying emotion with facial expressions of emotion are important regulators of social interaction. In the developmental literature, this concept has been investigated under the concept of social referencing; that is, the process whereby infants seek out information from others to clarify a situation and then use that information to act.
Fig. 6.4. Illustrations of a visual cliff.
Image Source: Jay Hedge. Visual Cliff. ResearchGate.
A famous experiment in social referencing comes from work by Joseph Campos and colleagues and the visual cliff. The "cliff" is actually a table covered with a sturdy but transparent safety plexiglass and textured with a high-contrast checkerboard pattern, so that a drop off or cliff, is clearly visible through the plexiglass.
A toy is place on top of the safety glass to attract the infant and the mother is positioned beyond the toy at the far side of the table. When the baby invariably begins to crawling to their mothers. When the infants reached the center of the table, the mother posed an expression of fear, sadness, anger, interest, or joy. The results differed depending on the mother's facial expression.
- no infant crossed the table when the mother showed fear
- only 6% crossed when the mother posed anger
- 33% crossed when the mother posed sadness
- 75% crossed when the mother posed joy or interest
Other studies provide similar support for facial expressions as regulators of social interaction. In one study researchers posed facial expressions of neutral, anger, or disgust toward babies as they moved toward the toy and measured the amount of inhibition the babies showed in touching it. The results for 10-15-month olds were the same: anger produced the greatest inhibition, followed by disgust, with neutral the least.
This study was later replicated using joy and disgust expressions, altering the method so that the infants were not allowed to touch the toy until one hour after exposure to the expression. At 14 months of age, significantly more infants touched the toy when they saw joyful expressions, but fewer touched the toy when the infants saw disgust.
Watch the babies in the short video below.
Self-Regulation
A final emotional change is in self-regulation. Emotional self-regulation refers to strategies we use to control our emotional states so that we can attain goals. This requires effortful control of emotions and initially requires assistance from caregivers. Young infants have very limited capacity to adjust their emotional states and depend on their caregivers to help soothe themselves. Caregivers can offer distractions to redirect the infant’s attention and comfort to reduce the emotional distress.
As areas of the infant’s prefrontal cortex continue to develop, infants can tolerate more stimulation. By 4-6 months, babies can begin to shift their attention away from upsetting stimuli. Older infants and toddlers can more effectively communicate their need for help and can crawl or walk toward or away from various situations. This aids in their ability to self-regulate. Temperament also plays a role in children’s ability to control their emotional states, and individual differences have been noted in the emotional self-regulation of infants and toddlers.
Developing a Sense of Self
During the second year of life, children begin to recognize themselves as they gain a sense of self as separate from their primary caregiver. In a classic experiment children 9-24 months of age were placed in front of a mirror after a spot of rouge was placed on their nose as their mothers pretended to wipe something off the child’s face in the mirror. If the child reacted by touching his or her own nose rather than that of the “baby” in the mirror, it was taken to suggest that the child recognized the reflection as him or herself.
Between 15 and 24 months most infants developed a sense of self-awareness. Self-awareness is the realization that you are separate from others. Once a child has achieved self-awareness, the child is moving toward understanding social emotions such as guilt, shame or embarrassment, as well as sympathy or empathy.
Fig. 6.4.1. 13-month old looks at self in a mirror.
Image Source: Samantha Steele. Zoe peeking round the corner of the mirror. Flckr.com