The emergence of distinct emotions in human development

forthcoming

Emotions drive our behaviours and help us navigate our physical and social worlds. While a broad range of distinct emotions have recently received attention in studies among adults, comparable research among young children remains scarce. We thus know next to nothing about when, how, and why emotions such as awe, excitement, and envy emerge in early development, limiting our understanding of how emotions motivate and guide young children’s everyday behaviour. This pioneering interdisciplinary research program on the emergence of distinct emotions in early development aims to systematically study 12 distinct emotions—interest, excitement, awe, feeling moved, schadenfreude, elevation, confusion, worry, disappointment, envy, resentment, and indignation—in children from nine months to five years. The central premises are that (1) we need to study different components of emotions: their elicitors, nonverbal expressions, physiological reactions, and effects on subsequent behaviours, as well as prerequisites and individual and social mechanisms of development; and (2) this research should be conducted in naturalistic contexts. Integrating qualitative approaches with ethological, experimental, longitudinal, and cross-cultural designs, I will empirically investigate when, how, and why distinct emotions emerge in early development. The first objective is to observe different components of emotions as they naturally occur in everyday life across cultures. The second objective is to experimentally examine the causes and consequences of the 12 emotions. The third objective is to map the timing, (socio-)cognitive prerequisites, and the individual and social mechanisms that give rise to these emotions. The overall ambition is to advance the first integrative and empirically grounded account of the emergence of distinct emotions in human development. This will revolutionize our understanding of the nature of emotion and the motivations behind young children’s behaviour.