Under a Creative Commons license
Open access
Highlights
•
Cognition-emotion interactions in infancy create the foundation for emotional development.
•
Appraisal is an antecedent of emotion differentiation and emotion regulation.
•
Contingent responding calibrates infants’ unique appraisal thresholds.
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Relational and sociocultural contexts shape infants’ emotional development.
Abstract
In this review, we synthesize evidence to highlight cognitive appraisal as an important developmental antecedent of individual differences in emotion differentiation and adept emotion regulation. Emotion differentiation is the degree to which emotions are experienced in a nuanced or “granular” way—as specific and separable phenomena. More extensive differentiation is related to positive wellbeing and has emerged as a correlate of emotion
regulation skill among adults. We argue that the cognitive appraisal processes that underlie these facets of emotional development are instantiated early in the first year of life and tuned by environmental input and experience. Powerful socializing input in the form of caregivers’ contingent and selective responding to infants’ emotional signals carves and calibrates the infant’s appraisal thresholds for what in their world ought to be noticed, deemed as important or personally meaningful, and
responded to (whether and how). These appraisal thresholds are thus unique to the individual child despite the ubiquity of the appraisal process in emotional responding. This appraisal infrastructure, while plastic and continually informed by experience across the lifespan, likely tunes subsequent emotion differentiation, with implications for children’s emotion regulatory choices and skills. We end with recommendations for future research in this area, including the urgent
need for developmental emotion science to investigate the diverse sociocultural contexts in which children’s cognitive appraisals, differentiation of emotions, and regulatory responses are being built across childhood.
Keywords
Infancy
Cognitive appraisal
Emotion differentiation
Emotion regulation
Emotion
socialization
Data availability
No data was used for the research described in the article.
© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.
1
In what order do emotional expressions likely occur in infants (earliest to latest)?
A)
fear, guilt, joy
B)
joy, fear, guilt
C)
fear, joy, guilt
D)
joy, guilt, fear
2
Which of the following is TRUE regarding children’s emotional expression?
A)
Children are more accurate producing than recognizing facial expressions.
B)
Children are more accurate recognizing facial expressions than producing their own facial expressions.
C)
Production and recognition of facial expressions develop simultaneously.
D)
Children cannot control their expressions until they are four years old.
3
What facial feature is the earliest effective elicitor of smiles in infants?
A)
the nose
B)
the eyes
C)
the mouth
D)
the cheeks
4
Which theory would describe attachment as an infant’s association of its mother with the reduction of its hunger drive?
A)
cognitive developmental theory
B)
psychoanalytic theory
C)
learning theory
D)
ethological theory
5
The ________ theory of attachment suggests the development of a mutual attachment where both the infant and the caregiver form attachments to each other.
A)
cognitive developmental
B)
psychoanalytic
C)
learning
D)
ethological
6
Which is TRUE about securely attached versus insecurely attached children?
A)
Securely attached children persist in problem-solving activities longer.
B)
Securely attached children exhibit less empathy due to their high self-image.
C)
Insecurely attached children are less aggressive.
D)
Insecurely attached children are more socially competent.
7
Which of the following is NOT a factor that influences whether or not a child will fear a particular stranger?
A)
distance from the stranger
B)
the behavior of the stranger
C)
the attractiveness of the stranger
D)
the age of the stranger
8
Research has discovered that there are cross-cultural similarities in the ages at which infants and children develop certain fears. Such findings are typically seen as supporting the theory that fear development is a _________ phenomenon.
A)
learned
B)
perceptual-cognitive
C)
psychoanalytic
D)
genetically determined
9
According to which theory does fear develop due to a neutral stimulus being paired with a naturally fearful stimulus?
A)
learning
B)
perceptual-cognitive
C)
psychoanalytic
D)
genetic determinism
10
According to Harter, children are capable of understanding that two emotions can be elicited by the same target or event only after reaching what age?
A)
18 years
B)
11 years
C)
8½ years
D)
6 years
11
All but one of the following are thought to be a function of emotions in infancy and childhood?
A)
Emotions regulate social distance.
B)
Emotional displays are used to regulate conflict.
C)
Emotional displays are the first step in language acquisition.
D)
Emotions provide a means of gaining control over the social world.
12
Preschoolers who send clear emotional signals
A)
are also skilled in judging emotional expressions.
B)
have not yet developed the ability to judge emotional expressions of others.
C)
tend to spend much time alone, away from social interactions.
D)
will not benefit from increased social contact with peers.
13
One of the most difficult tasks for children to learn in the development of emotional expression is
A)
the ability to mask emotions.
B)
acquisition of the “display rules” of emotional expression.
C)
the modulation of emotional expression.
D)
intensification and deintensification of emotion.
14
The fact that term infants smile at about six weeks after birth and premature infants often smile later (in accordance with their gestational age at birth) suggests the influence of
A)
learning factors.
B)
innate factors.
C)
environmental factors.
D)
perceptual-recognition factors.
15
Morticia is 9 years old and has always done things independently. However, what her parents tend to find more bothersome is her total lack of concern about their approval or disapproval of the things she does. Morticia appears
A)
to have developed a healthy attachment to her parents.
B)
to have failed to develop an attachment to her parents.
C)
to be redefining her attachment with her parents.
D)
to be overly attached to her parents.
16
With which of the following adults is an infant most likely to form an attachment?
A)
an unstimulating mother that provides routine physical care
B)
a depressed, withdrawn father
C)
a happy mother who responds inconsistently to the infant’s needs
D)
an attentive, stimulating father
17
Studies on infant attachment have shown
A)
that the early interactions between parent and child influence the quality of later attachment behaviors.
B)
children and parents who had an insecure attachment relationship were found to engage in synchronous behaviors that were reciprocal and mutually rewarding.
C)
parent-child attachment to be independent of other relationships in the family.
D)
secure attachments to be frequent when marital adjustment was low.
18
Research in the area of individual differences in fear reactions among infants has shown
A)
all children show distress to strangers whether they are shy or outgoing.
B)
some infants may be more fearful than others and these are the shy, “behaviorally inhibited” children.
C)
children’s initial reaction to strangers is one of curiosity.
D)
all strangers scare children when they are between 7 and 9 months of age.
19
Younger children differ from older children in their understanding of guilt in that they (the younger children) focus on
A)
biological urges.
B)
situational factors.
C)
personal responsibility.
D)
outcomes.
20
The development of social, cognitive and emotional capacities
A)
are clearly different areas of development and the development of one does not affect the other.
B)
are primarily dependent on cognitive functioning levels.
C)
are mutually interdependent.
D)
are only dependent for the child’s social development.
At what age are infants capable of social referencing quizlet?
Social referencing begins at 8 to 10 months, when infants actively seek emotional information from a trusted person in an uncertain situation. Toddlers use others' emotional messages to evaluate the safety of their surroundings, guide their own actions, and gather information about others' intentions.
Which of the following is the most frequent expression of an infants fear?
The most frequent expression of an infant's fear involves stranger anxiety, in which an infant shows a fear and wariness of strangers. Stranger anxiety usually emerges gradually. It first appears at about 6 months of age in the form of wary reactions.
What is the main problem with labeling children as difficult quizlet?
What is the main problem with labeling children as "difficult"? It can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. older adults deliberately withdraw from contact with close friends, and focus their relationships only on family members.
Which emotion type develops in the first six months of life and is also present in animals quizlet?
Answer: Primary emotions are emotions that are present in humans and animals; these emotions appear in the first 6 months of the human infant's development.