Infant Emotions: First 2 Years Development

Development of Emotions in Infants

• Infants progress from reactive pain and pleasure to complex socio-emotional awareness within the first two years.
• Primary emotions are innate, universal, and emerge distinctly during infancy.
• Colic presents as uncontrollable crying, typically subsiding by three months of age.
• The social smile is elicited by human faces and is influenced by the infant's development since conception.
• Anger is evident around six months, while sadness may appear earlier, indicating withdrawal instead of a call for help.

Factors Influencing Fear

• Awareness of discrepancies plays a crucial role in the development of fear in infants.
• An infant’s temperament varies and can influence their emotional responses.
• The social context, including interactions with caregivers and environments, affects fear levels.
• Social fear peaks during the middle of the first year before it begins to decrease.
• Separation anxiety starts at age one, intensifying by age two, then subsiding over time.
• Stranger wariness arises as a common fear of unfamiliar individuals; if persistent after age three, it may develop into disorders in adulthood, such as generalized anxiety disorder or social phobia.
• One-year-olds may show wariness toward unexpected situations but can overcome it with repeated experiences and reassurance.

Secondary Emotions and Self-Awareness

• Secondary emotions emerge from awareness of others and their feelings.
• Self-awareness typically develops between 15 and 24 months, marking the understanding of one's distinct body and mind.

Understanding Temperament

• Temperament refers to individual differences in emotions, activity levels, and self-regulation, influenced by genetics and prenatal factors.
• Temperament traits include:
  • Effortful control: the ability to regulate attention and emotions, including self-soothing.
  • Negative mood: characteristics of being fearful and unhappy.
  • Exuberance: traits associated with being active and sociable.
• Excessive stress and fear can negatively impact brain development, leading to slower growth and fewer dendrite formations, as well as impairing the immune system.

Impact of Caregiver Behavior

• Infant emotional responses can be shaped by caregiver interactions during infancy, influencing the adult brain's emotional processing.

Importance of Social Involvement

• Synchrony in early parent-infant interactions fosters social skills development; its absence may indicate potential future emotional and cognitive issues.
• The still-face paradigm demonstrates that synchrony is experience-expectant, critical for healthy emotional growth.

Explore the developmental milestones of infants within their first two years, focusing on primary emotions and the emergence of complex socio-emotional patterns. This quiz covers topics such as colic, social smiles, and the factors influencing fear and anger in infants.