Article
Infant Differential Behavioral Responding to Discrete Emotions
Emotion
(2017)
Abstract
Emotional communication regulates the behaviors of social partners. Research on individuals’ responding
to others’ emotions typically compares responses to a single negative emotion compared with
responses to a neutral or positive emotion. Furthermore, coding of such responses routinely measure
surface level features of the behavior (e.g., approach vs. avoidance) rather than its underlying function
(e.g., the goal of the approach or avoidant behavior). This investigation examined infants’ responding to
others’ emotional displays across 5 discrete emotions: joy, sadness, fear, anger, and disgust. Specifically,
16-, 19-, and 24-month-old infants observed an adult communicate a discrete emotion toward a stimulus
during a naturalistic interaction. Infants’ responses were coded to capture the function of their behaviors
(e.g., exploration, prosocial behavior, and security seeking). The results revealed a number of instances
indicating that infants use different functional behaviors in response to discrete emotions. Differences in
behaviors across emotions were clearest in the 24-month-old infants, though younger infants also
demonstrated some differential use of behaviors in response to discrete emotions. This is the first
comprehensive study to identify differences in how infants respond with goal-directed behaviors to
discrete emotions. Additionally, the inclusion of a function-based coding scheme and interpersonal
paradigms may be informative for future emotion research with children and adults. Possible developmental
accounts for the observed behaviors and the benefits of coding techniques emphasizing the
function of social behavior over their form are discussed.
Keywords
- emotional development,
- emotion responding,
- functionalist theory
Disciplines
Publication Date
March 30, 2017
DOI
10.1037/emo0000307
Citation Information
Eric A. Walle, Peter J. Reschke, Linda A. Camras and Joseph J. Campos. "Infant Differential Behavioral Responding to Discrete Emotions" Emotion (2017) p. 1 - 14 ISSN: 1528-3542 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/linda_camras/60/