Book Description

Emotions in Early Development reviews important theoretical advances in the understanding of emotions in early development, paying particular attention to issues such as the extent to which infants are born with certain emotions; how one infers the existence of emotion in infants; and the relations between emotion and cognition. The connection between emotions and personality is also discussed, along with the role of parent-child interactions in the appearance and development of emotions. Comprised of 11 chapters, this volume begins with a summary of issues in the development of emotion in infancy, from the function of emotions to the problem of labeling affects in infants as well as the development of smile, stranger anxiety, and the sense of self. The next chapter examines the parent-infant communication system, with emphasis on the two-way, primarily nonverbal, interaction that takes place between mother and infant and the nature of the learning processes that occur in both the infant and the mother. The reader is then introduced to a concept known as social referencing, or the use of emotional information gained from another person to help evaluate situations. Subsequent chapters focus on individual differences in emotional expressions observed in one-year-old infants; Piaget's theory of cognitive development and its implications for a theory of emotions; emotional sequences and consequences; and the relationship between attachment and separation processes in infancy. The final chapter integrates an epigenetic view of emotions with psychoanalytic concepts. This book will be of interest to child psychologists.