Emotional Development during Infancy and Childhood - Development of Emotion

Topics

Estimated time: 11 minutes

Introduction
Responses of Psychologists
Age-wise Emotional Changes
Real-Life Application
Key Points: Development of Emotion

CISCE: Class 12

Introduction

When babies are born, they do not show clear emotions. Their reactions are general and not specific to any feeling. As babies grow, their emotions slowly become clearer and separated.

CISCE: Class 12

Responses of Psychologists

Several psychologists watched the recordings and gave different labels for the baby’s reactions:

Emotion Reported	Number of Psychologists
Anger	21
Hunger	12
Pain	6
Colic Pain	11
Awakened from Sleep	11
Noise	1
Grief	1
Rage	1
Fear	7
Bandage tight	1

The baby’s reaction was massive excitement that did not clearly match one emotion.
Psychologists gave many different answers, showing it’s hard to put a label on a newborn’s feelings.
This disagrees with Watson’s belief that babies are born with clear emotions like fear, rage, and love.

CISCE: Class 12

Age-wise Emotional Changes

Age	Emotions Seen	How They Show
Birth	General excitement	Gasping, crying, random movement
3 months	Distress, Delight	Crying for distress, smiling for delight
6 months	Anger, Disgust, Fear	Different faces, loud crying, stiff body
12 months	Elation, Affection	Happy smiles, attachment to familiar people or things
18 months	Jealousy, Affection for adults/children	Shares or shows strong likes/dislikes
24 months	Joy, Elation, Mature Affection	Laughs, hugs, shows deep feelings

CISCE: Class 12

Real-Life Application

Example from Experiments:

Researchers watched babies’ reactions to things like falling, hunger, or pain. Most said the babies showed general distress or excitement. Specific emotions, such as fear or anger, were difficult to label in newborns.

CISCE: Class 12

Key Points: Development of Emotion

Newborn babies show general excitement, not clear or specific emotions.
Psychologists gave different labels to the same reactions, showing emotions are unclear at birth.
This disagrees with John B. Watson, who believed babies are born with fixed emotions like fear and rage.
Emotions become clearer with age, developing from simple reactions (crying, smiling) to complex feelings (joy, affection).
By 2 years, children show more mature emotions like love, happiness, and strong preferences.