Problem 2 – Shaffer & Kipp, Leman & Bremner
What do emotions do?
A baby’s displays of emotions clearly serve as communicative function that is likely to affect the behavior of
the caregiver. An infant’s emerging ability to recognize and interpret other’s emotions is an important
achievement that enables it to assume how it should be feeling or behaving in variety of situations.
Information contained in other people’s emotions contribute to the way the child understands the world.
Early Emotional Development
Emotions are subjective reactions to the environment, usually experienced as either pleasant or
unpleasant, generally accompanied by physiological arousal and often communicated to others.
At birth babies show interest, distress,
disgust and contentment. Primary
emotions that emerge between 3 to 7
months are anger, sadness, joy,
surprise and fear. These are
biologically programmed because they
emerge in all healthy babies at the
same age similarly in all cultures, they
do not require introspection or self-
reflection.
Later in the 2nd year, infants begin to
display complex emotions such as
embarrassment, shame, guilt,
envy/jealousy and pride. These are
also called self-conscious emotions because they only emerge when the child can recognize itself in a
mirror or photograph. Self-evaluative emotions such as shame, guilt and pride require both self-
recognition and an understanding of rules and standards.
Development of Primary Emotions
Izard has developed a coding system for infant emotional expression now in use: the maximally
discriminative facial movement or MAX coding system.
Positive Emotions
Newborn infant’s smiles are reflex smiles (simple smiles). These are usually spontaneous and appear to
depend on the infant’s internal state. The nature of the internal stimuli is unknown. But it gives the
caregivers pleasure and encourages them. Overall smiling helps keep caregivers nearby and becomes a
mean of communication and survival.
Between 3 to 8 weeks, infants begin to smile at external stimuli, like faces, voices, light touches etc. Infants
are particularly interested in human faces.
As infants grow older they tend to smile at different aspects of a human face. 4-week-old babies focus on
eyes but by the time they are 8-9 weeks they examine the mouth too. Smiling follows a pattern: they first
smile at the eyes, then mouth and then the entire face.
At 3 months they start to smile at familiar faces, it becomes discriminative. Smiling takes a social
dimension. Smiling becomes a signal of pleasure and not just arousal.
, One study found that 10-month olds reserve a special kind of smile for their mothers, these special smiles
are called Duchenne smiles. This smile also causes wrinkles around the eyes and the whole face lights up.
Babies show a display smile (combination of Duchenne and jaw drop) during play time too.
Individual differences in the amount of a
baby’s smile depends on the responsiveness
of the environment, cultural norms, and
gender. Girls generally show more
spontaneous smiles than boys in the newborn
period. Girls may be genetically better
prepared for social interaction (genetic
maturation pers.)
At 4-months old, babies become skilled at
laughing. It plays a very important role in
caregiver-infant interaction. At the end of the
1st year babies respond more to activities they
can participate (social games etc.) or they
create (practicing motor accomplishments).
Negative Emotions
Babies are also learning to be fearful of some events and people, especially unfamiliar ones. The negative
emotional response of fear of strangers evolves more slowly. Sroufe says there are 2 phases: At 3 months
infants show wariness, in which they respond with distress to an event that includes both familiar and
unfamiliar aspects because they can’t comprehend. By 7-9 months they show true fear, an immediate
negative reaction to an event that has specific meaning for them (seeing the face of a total stranger)
At 4 months babies smile less at unfamiliar faces than their mothers meaning they recognize familiar faces.
But they are not yet distressed, they show interest and compare the strangers face with the mother. Then
at 5 months this reaction of gaze and interest is replaced with a sober stare. At 6 months babies are likely
to display distress. By 7-9 months distress reaction gradually increases, wary reactions turn into clear fear.
Stranger distress/ fear of strangers is a developmental milestone, it’s inevitable and universal.
What do emotions do?
A baby’s displays of emotions clearly serve as communicative function that is likely to affect the behavior of
the caregiver. An infant’s emerging ability to recognize and interpret other’s emotions is an important
achievement that enables it to assume how it should be feeling or behaving in variety of situations.
Information contained in other people’s emotions contribute to the way the child understands the world.
Early Emotional Development
Emotions are subjective reactions to the environment, usually experienced as either pleasant or
unpleasant, generally accompanied by physiological arousal and often communicated to others.
At birth babies show interest, distress,
disgust and contentment. Primary
emotions that emerge between 3 to 7
months are anger, sadness, joy,
surprise and fear. These are
biologically programmed because they
emerge in all healthy babies at the
same age similarly in all cultures, they
do not require introspection or self-
reflection.
Later in the 2nd year, infants begin to
display complex emotions such as
embarrassment, shame, guilt,
envy/jealousy and pride. These are
also called self-conscious emotions because they only emerge when the child can recognize itself in a
mirror or photograph. Self-evaluative emotions such as shame, guilt and pride require both self-
recognition and an understanding of rules and standards.
Development of Primary Emotions
Izard has developed a coding system for infant emotional expression now in use: the maximally
discriminative facial movement or MAX coding system.
Positive Emotions
Newborn infant’s smiles are reflex smiles (simple smiles). These are usually spontaneous and appear to
depend on the infant’s internal state. The nature of the internal stimuli is unknown. But it gives the
caregivers pleasure and encourages them. Overall smiling helps keep caregivers nearby and becomes a
mean of communication and survival.
Between 3 to 8 weeks, infants begin to smile at external stimuli, like faces, voices, light touches etc. Infants
are particularly interested in human faces.
As infants grow older they tend to smile at different aspects of a human face. 4-week-old babies focus on
eyes but by the time they are 8-9 weeks they examine the mouth too. Smiling follows a pattern: they first
smile at the eyes, then mouth and then the entire face.
At 3 months they start to smile at familiar faces, it becomes discriminative. Smiling takes a social
dimension. Smiling becomes a signal of pleasure and not just arousal.
, One study found that 10-month olds reserve a special kind of smile for their mothers, these special smiles
are called Duchenne smiles. This smile also causes wrinkles around the eyes and the whole face lights up.
Babies show a display smile (combination of Duchenne and jaw drop) during play time too.
Individual differences in the amount of a
baby’s smile depends on the responsiveness
of the environment, cultural norms, and
gender. Girls generally show more
spontaneous smiles than boys in the newborn
period. Girls may be genetically better
prepared for social interaction (genetic
maturation pers.)
At 4-months old, babies become skilled at
laughing. It plays a very important role in
caregiver-infant interaction. At the end of the
1st year babies respond more to activities they
can participate (social games etc.) or they
create (practicing motor accomplishments).
Negative Emotions
Babies are also learning to be fearful of some events and people, especially unfamiliar ones. The negative
emotional response of fear of strangers evolves more slowly. Sroufe says there are 2 phases: At 3 months
infants show wariness, in which they respond with distress to an event that includes both familiar and
unfamiliar aspects because they can’t comprehend. By 7-9 months they show true fear, an immediate
negative reaction to an event that has specific meaning for them (seeing the face of a total stranger)
At 4 months babies smile less at unfamiliar faces than their mothers meaning they recognize familiar faces.
But they are not yet distressed, they show interest and compare the strangers face with the mother. Then
at 5 months this reaction of gaze and interest is replaced with a sober stare. At 6 months babies are likely
to display distress. By 7-9 months distress reaction gradually increases, wary reactions turn into clear fear.
Stranger distress/ fear of strangers is a developmental milestone, it’s inevitable and universal.
