How Does Emotional Development Occur in Childhood?

In the last decade, the rise in the study of emotions and their influence on the psychological well-being of human beings has revolutionized the conception of these, giving them a role as fundamental as cognitive processes had at the end of the last century.

But… How does the maturation of this capacity occur in human beings during the first years of life?

Table of Contents

What is meant by emotional development?

Since emotional development is a phenomenon that consists of many components, therefore when its description and conceptualization is carried out The following axes must be addressed:

Since the human being is a social being, In its nature, both emotional and social development are linked ; Through the first, the second is achieved, since from the identification, experimentation and communication of emotions (expression and understanding) and through empathy and training in social skills (both key elements of emotional development), the establishment can occur. of the social relationships between an individual and the rest of the beings that surround him.

All of this is also possible at the same time as language development takes place which is essential to achieve this interpersonal connection through communication processes.

Emotional development in early childhood

As mentioned previously, The ultimate purpose of emotions refers to issues related to communication between individuals. It could be said, therefore, that it presents an adaptive function to the environment and motivates the individual’s behavior to achieve certain objectives.

In the process of emotional development, so complex and multifactorial, in the first months of life the child begins incipient associations between the external situations that occur and the resulting emotional reactions observed in the caregivers. At six months a baby can respond to displays of affection with positive emotions, as well as potentially dangerous situations with other less pleasant emotions.

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Even so, their understanding of the relationship between behavior and emotional state is very limited: their emotional reactivity maintains a very close relationship with the child’s temperament, so the level of internal emotional self-control is very low during this stage, with caregivers being those who make it possible.

The symbolic game and the emotional bond

The most relevant milestone that will mark a before and after in the emotional development of the child will be the achievement of the capacity for symbolic play, usually around two years of age. At the moment begin to represent their own and others’ emotional states through language which implies the previous step to the development of empathy.

The emotional bond established between the attachment figure and the child becomes a fundamental factor in the emotional development of the child during this first evolutionary stage. That the child perceives security, trust, affection, care and protection from the parents (or caregivers) will be essential to avoid the formation of a functioning of rejection and avoidance towards these figures. This type of resistant or ambivalent attachment pattern becomes a risk factor in the subsequent appearance of future psychopathologies or emotional alterations.

…and in adolescence

Despite The beginning of adolescence indicates the consolidation of the emotional development of the individual where the understanding of one’s own and others’ emotional states is carried out in a more satisfactory and deeper way, its application is not complete since the very processes involved in this vital stage make the manifestations of the first difficult.

During adolescence, children carry out cognitive reasoning through hypothetical-deductive logic, from which they compare and base their understanding and emotional expression on previous personal experiences that provide them with sufficient information to correctly interpret the new situation they face. .

On the other hand, although sharpen your empathic capacity, they are also characterized by a psychological egocentrism by which they are very focused on the image of themselves that is transmitted to others and the type of evaluations that others can make regarding their personal characteristics. Therefore, one of the main goals lies in working and maintaining a positive self-concept to offer to themselves and others.

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Furthermore, because at a neuroanatomical level the adolescent brain is not yet fully completed (especially with regard to prefrontal structures and synapses, which are responsible for making decisions and ensuring the expression of mature behavior or adult) in adolescence There is great variability in the quality and intensity of emotional expression as well as little flexibility in endogenous emotional self-regulation, which is why the transition to opposite mood states in very short periods of time is common, the so-called emotional lability.

The role of the school environment

In parallel with the family context, the school also becomes a very important socializing agent for the child and plays a very relevant role in the child’s emotional development.

Thus, the current school It is not only understood as an entity that transmits instrumental and technical knowledge but also among its main functions is to educate the student in the acquisition of ethical and moral values and principles, in promoting the achievement of critical reasoning, in the assumption of modes of behavior and attitudes appropriate to living in society ( achieving their understanding), in learning a series of capacities and social skills that allow them to establish satisfactory interpersonal ties and even in solving vital problems.

To consolidate all these aspects, it is essential to achieve adequate emotional development, since both the cognitive aspect and that related to emotions intervene in every psychological process.

Besides, Achieving adequate emotional development also enables the child to adopt an optimistic attitude in the achievement of academic objectives and a more adaptive self-perception of school competence, which results in the promotion of a more manifest achievement motivation that facilitates the maintenance of that state of motivation and volition to improve their learning capacity. All of this makes them more resistant and less vulnerable to criticism and social comparisons that, although carried out unconsciously, are established in relation to the results obtained by the child and by peers.

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The attributional style

Another very relevant aspect in which the school has considerable responsibility is in establishing the attributional style of the students. Attributional style is defined as the process by which the individual gives cause to the situations he faces.

An internal attributional style indicates that the person knows themselves to be an active agent of what happens in their environment and understands the motivations that they give rise to as controllable. An external attributional style is identified with more passive subjects, who have the conception that factors such as luck are what motivate the situations they experience. Without a doubt, the first is psychologically more appropriate and the one that is most closely related to satisfactory emotional development.

emotional intelligence

In recent times, a paradigm shift has taken place regarding the importance of promoting emotional intelligence. There is beginning to be empirical evidence, therefore, that Emotional intelligence has a very intense influence when making daily decisions about the nature of interpersonal relationships or in the acquisition of deeper and more complete self-knowledge about oneself.

Being such a complex competence, its development is carried out gradually and slowly, covering approximately the first two decades of life. Therefore, achieving an adequate establishment during childhood and adolescence will be decisive in emotional (psychological) functioning in adult life.