Chapter 4
Emotional development
In the first two years infants progress from reactive pain and pleasure to a period
of high emotional responsiveness
Early Emotions
● First comes pain and pleasure
● Newborns are happy when they are being taken cared and cry when they are
hurt, hungry, tired, or frightened
○ Colic: uncontrolled crying
◆ Caused by immature digestion
○ Reflux: immature swallowing
● Curiosity is present as well, but it is there for a short amount of time.
○ Hunger and sleep overtake almost every other reaction
Smile and Laughing
● Social smile: evoked by a human face at about 6 weeks of a full term baby
● Laugh occurs between 2 and 4 months
● Laughter and curiosity builds up together
● Laugh loudly when they discover something new ○ Prefers looking at happy
faces rather than sad faces
Anger and Sadness
● Positive and negative emotions occur together
● Anger is triggered by frustration
○ Infants don’t like to be held when they want to explore
○ Anger is a healthy response
● Sadness produces physiological stress; impacts infants
● Social emotions, especially sad and fear shapes the brain (maybe)
● Sadness and depression has a correlation
Fear
● Evident at 9 months
● Separation anxiety: clinging and crying when a caregiver is about to leave
○ Normal at age 1 and intensifies at age 2
○ Interferes with sleep: might cry when they wake up alone
◆ Comforted by a transitional object
● Stranger anxiety: fear of unfamiliar people when they move in too close
○ Normal for infants to be feared of strangers - good sign - infant memory is
active and engaged
○ Parents are a factor
○ Fear of anything that is unexpected
◆ Experience and reassurance can shape it
Emotional development
In the first two years infants progress from reactive pain and pleasure to a period
of high emotional responsiveness
Early Emotions
● First comes pain and pleasure
● Newborns are happy when they are being taken cared and cry when they are
hurt, hungry, tired, or frightened
○ Colic: uncontrolled crying
◆ Caused by immature digestion
○ Reflux: immature swallowing
● Curiosity is present as well, but it is there for a short amount of time.
○ Hunger and sleep overtake almost every other reaction
Smile and Laughing
● Social smile: evoked by a human face at about 6 weeks of a full term baby
● Laugh occurs between 2 and 4 months
● Laughter and curiosity builds up together
● Laugh loudly when they discover something new ○ Prefers looking at happy
faces rather than sad faces
Anger and Sadness
● Positive and negative emotions occur together
● Anger is triggered by frustration
○ Infants don’t like to be held when they want to explore
○ Anger is a healthy response
● Sadness produces physiological stress; impacts infants
● Social emotions, especially sad and fear shapes the brain (maybe)
● Sadness and depression has a correlation
Fear
● Evident at 9 months
● Separation anxiety: clinging and crying when a caregiver is about to leave
○ Normal at age 1 and intensifies at age 2
○ Interferes with sleep: might cry when they wake up alone
◆ Comforted by a transitional object
● Stranger anxiety: fear of unfamiliar people when they move in too close
○ Normal for infants to be feared of strangers - good sign - infant memory is
active and engaged
○ Parents are a factor
○ Fear of anything that is unexpected
◆ Experience and reassurance can shape it
