Emotions

What is emotion? Well I would say that it is one of the basic needs to all human development. According to Wikipedia it is stated that “emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical (internal) and environmental (external) influences”. Have you ever been curious of when we start showing our emotions? Well, here is a list of when we start showing some of the more common emotions. 

Fear: 9-15 months

Contentment: birth

Curiosity: 3 months

Social smile: 6 weeks

Laughter: 3-4 months

Anger: 4-6 months

Stranger wariness: 6 months starts/ 10-14 months shows well

Separation anxiety: 8-9 months

Pride: 2 years

Shame: 18 months

Embarrassment: 18 months

Self-awareness: 15-24 months

Isn’t it amazing that by 2 years old we can have such strong emotions embedded in us? Now you need to remember that this is based off of the typical child. Not all children will have a particular emotion at that exact time; however, it does not mean that it needs to be a concern. Emotions are complex and are a part of everyday life. We learn many things from emotions. Not all emotions do we like, but we go through and learn how to deal with those. 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotion

class discussion. Understanding Human Growth and Development. Sept. 20, 2011