Our Emotions

Emotions

The development in human beings

Definition of Emotions

Emotion is a term frequently and familiarly used as synonymous with feeling.

In psychology it signifies a reaction involving certain physiological changes, such as an accelerated or retarded pulse rate, the diminished or increased activities of certain glands, or a change in body temperature, which stimulate the individual, or some component part of his or her body, to further activity.

The three primary reactions of this type are anger, love, and fear, which occur either as an immediate response to external stimuli or are the result of an indirect subjective process, such as memory, association, or introspection(the detailed mental examination of your own feelings, thoughts, and motives)

Importance

The importance of social relationships to the regulation of emotion is a topic that interests developmental scientists across the life course.

A baby depends on caregivers to manage his or her distress, and children learn to manage emotions by seeking assistance and talking about their feelings with trusted adults.

Adolescents rely on their peers for emotional understanding, and adults maintain emotional well-being through supportive friendships, especially in later life.

The sequential development of emotions

During the first three to four months:

 An infant has what we might call “emotion reflexes,” registering surprise , joy, distress, and excitement without learning. 

However fear is not a “emotion reflexes”

Between the age of 4 to 10 months:

Fear and anger appears

The second year:

Sadness, anxiety, and affection or tenderness.

By age 4 :

Children show guilt and shame; Indicating the sense of self is developing. 

By age 5:

Children display pride, humility, envy, and jealously ; These indicate great “ self- awareness”

By age 6 or 7 :

Children express emotion that indicate a judgement of self in comparison with qualities that others possess.

i.e. They exhibit feelings about relative abilities, attractiveness, honesty, bravery, dominance, and popularity.

By puberty :

Children can express the entire range of an emotion requiring abstract thought is a feeling of sympathy toward a group that one does not know.