Do babies have feelings?
Children were capable of showing at least five emotions –
• Joy
• Interest
• Surprise
• Anger
• Fear.
Various emotions appear in children over the first two years:
Birth
• interest
• distress
• disgust
• suggestion of a smile (happiness/contentment)
Three to four months
• Anger
Five to seven months
• Sadness
• Shame
• Shyness
• Fear
Second year of life
• Guilt
• Contempt
18 to 24 months
• Begin to vocalise their feelings
• Begin to “fake†expressions
• Become more manipulative.
The fact is, though, that we just don’t know what emotions a child feels, or how the experience of emotions is perceived by the infant. Emotional experience is very subjective, so it is very difficult to study, and we can only make assumptions from observed behaviours. Remember that until the 1980’s, it was generally assumed that infants, like animals, had undeveloped nervous systems and could not feel pain or suffering. Fortunately, most scientists no longer believe this, and no longer interpret fear or pain responses as reflex actions, but realise that they signal genuine distress, fear and suffering.
Smiling
The two most basic emotional signals evident in an infant are "smiling" and "fear". Child psychologists claim that the first instances of smiling in infants are based on biological factors: smiling is a reflex response to being satisfied. For instance, infants smile when stroked on the cheek or when in a physical state of relaxation. Only after a few weeks, the theory goes, does the infant’s smile become a social reaction. The infant’s smile then becomes a social signal, a response to other people’s smiles and playful facial expressions and gestures. After a few months, laughter occurs. At first laughter is elicited by tactile
stimuli (such as rocking or bouncing on the knee), and visual stimuli (such as pulling a funny face). Later, at six months and over, infants laugh more often in response to social (interactive) games such as peek a boo.
The origins of smiling
Biological explanation - Some theorists claim that the infant is biologically programmed to smile. There is evidence to support this claim; however some researchers have found that certain environments stimulate smiling more than others. Infants from family homes smile far more than infants from institutionalised homes. The nature-nurture debate again relates here.
This explanation of smiling also explains why infants of a certain age will smile in response to some games and not others. It all depends on the sophistication of their level of schema processing (ie. cognitive level of development). Example: A game of snakes and ladders may be too complex for a three year old child to form schemata about, so the child shows no interest. A child of three may already have habituated against the sound of a set of rattles; so they also show no interest in the rattles.
Fear
Few adults have not witnessed the fearful reactions of infants when, for example, they are picked up by a stranger. Fear is one of the later emotions to develop. A peculiar fact is that during the first six months of life, infants exhibit no fear of strangers.
The origins of fear
Fear is one of the later emotions to develop. Fear is also closely related to the mother-child attachment (see below). Psychologists vary in opinion as to whether fear is a biologically innate phenomenon, or whether it is learnt from environmental cues. There is evidence to support both. Factors that support the innate theory:
• The time of onset and developmental pattern of fear is much more similar in monozygotic twins than in dizygotic twins.
• Cross cultural studies show that the time of onset and developmental pattern of fear is more or less the same in all cultures (it is universal).
It is fair to say that the human species has been programmed to experience fear for the sake of survival, but that the specific path of fear development, and the specific objects feared, vary according to environmental influence and experience.
Social learning perspective on fear Through experimental research, social learning theorists have demonstrated how infants learn to fear.
They learn fear by classical conditioning. For example, the infant explores the environment, places his hand on a heater, and feels pain. Perhaps from that one lesson, or perhaps after the cycle has been repeated, the infant learns to associate the heater with pain, and learns to fear the heater.
Social learning theorists have also demonstrated how fear can be learned vicariously. Researchers exposed infants to films of an infant exhibiting a fearful response to a model of Mickey Mouse, and a neutral response to a model of Donald Duck. The children who had viewed these films later exhibited a pattern of avoidance when offered Mickey Mouse, and no such fear when exposed to Donald Duck. It has also been found that infant’s fear is often a response to fearful reactions in the parent. They can pick up even the most subtle cues of such fears, and subsequently learn to fear that same thing themselves.
Can babies recognize emotions?
Very young babies will often begin to cry if they hear another neonate crying. LaBarbera et al (1976) found that infants of 3-4 months could discriminate photos of happy from sad faces. The age at which infants can interpret emotion responses is about 7-10 months. At this point, they will begin to monitor heir mother’s emotional response to uncertain situations to determine how to respond. This social referencing will also extend to strangers at around 12 months. If they approach a toy and stranger smiles, they will continue to play with it, if the stranger shows a fearful expression, the child will become wary and avoid the object (Klinnert et al, 1986).
At four years of age, children are better than adults at producing emotional expressions, while adults are better at recognising these expressions.
IS DAY CARE A DEVELOPMENTAL HAZARD TO CHILDREN?
Many child psychologists insist that the mother attachment is the most important influence on the child's emotional development. It is hard to tell whether this is a biological rule, or whether it is a result of the fact that, in our society, the mother is still usually the infant’s primary caretaker. During the first crucial three years, where the infant keenly learns so much about life, it is usually the mother who provides the environment for this learning.
Infants tend to form strong attachments to people not because they provide food or nappy changing, but because they provide social, cognitive and emotional stimulation.
 In today’s society, where mothers work more than ever before, sometimes the father assumes the role of caretaker; and sometimes the child is assigned to a day care centre. Research has shown that day care is by no means detrimental. As regards fathers, infants are found to develop more positively if they have secure attachments with both the father and mother than if they have a secure attachment with only one parent. Researchers claim
that the quality rather than the quantity of time spent with the child is what is crucial to the development of secure attachments.
It has been determined beyond doubt that a secure and stimulating environment in the first three years of life is essential to a child’s development. Institutionalised children who suffer from deprivation of stimulation or lack of security will experience a detrimental effect on their development. However, these effects can also be reversed in the first three years of a child’s life. It has been found that if an infant is removed from an orphanage and put into an adopted home within the first three years of life, such a child can overcome problems and catch up cognitively with those who were adopted in early infancy.
On the other hand, in social structures where there are multiple care takers and child sharing (eg. in an Israeli Kibbutz), there is no evidence of negative effects on development. If day carers spend sufficient time with children (3 children to 1 day carer is optimal) and provide interesting resources, a child will develop well. It has, in fact, been shown that children from under-stimulating homes will show an improvement in cognitive development if exposed to good day care.
In relation to the influence of the physical environment used for pre school or day care facilities researchers measured the effects of the following three aspects:
• Size of Groups
• Density (space per child)
• Amount and variety of equipment.
The results are discussed below.
Effects of group size
Children in larger groups engaged in rougher, more active forms of play, while children in smaller groups engaged in more fantasy and imaginative play.
Density
Density had few effects on children except when spaces were very overcrowded: 15 square feet per child is regarded as crowded. Overcrowding resulted in less cooperative play and an increase in aggressive behaviour.
Equipment
Groups of children provided with adequate equipment showed less aggressive and distressed behaviour, yet with scarce equipment they still managed to share it, and actually played together more.