Psychological analysis by Erikson indicated that children are born with a brain that is in the tabula rasa status. That is, they do not know anything. Practically, their brains are like a brand new book with so many blank pages. However, the experiences that they face in life act as the writings which fill the book. This is the reason as to why it is believed that children’s brain development is greatly affected by the environment, besides the genetic information of the child. In other words, the aspect of nature and nurture seems to play a major role in ensuring child development (Early Childhood Australia, 2013). There are many factors that affect a child’s emotional development. This paper seeks to prove that parents or caregivers greatly shape the manner in which a child’s brain develops emotion at the different stages in a child’s life.
One thing that cannot be denied is that infancy is a stage in which there is rapid brain development. The children tend to learn and retain a lot; some of which are retained till adulthood. According to the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (NSCDC) (2004), the child’s brains develop at a very high rate during the first months and years of life. It is not only the cognitive skills of the children that are developed at this time. Rather, there is also the development of social and emotional skills. According to the NSCDC (2004), scientific evidence reveals that emotional development kicks off early in life. As a matter of fact, it is closely related to the development of the language, cognitive, and social skills. However, emotional development is often neglected while the others form of development are given all the attention. Most parents and caregivers tend to give attention to cognitive development. However, as indicated by Belsky and de Haan (2011), it is very important for parents to keep track of their children’s emotional development.
Emotional development, just like other development, has its critical and sensitive periods. According to Grossman (2010), there are critical periods as well as sensitive periods during a child’s brain development. Critical periods are characterized by a window of time during which specific parts of an individual’s body are most vulnerable to stimuli or environmental interference. Critical periods, on the other hand, are time periods in which certain skills are learnt. Emotional development in infants also has similar critical and sensitive periods, as will be seen later in this paper.
The brain greatly affects how a child’s emotions develop. This is associated with the development of the brain itself. According to Grossman (2010), the biological basis of emotions is largely hooked on the brain system and brain development. Through investigations of brain metabolism during development, it has been proven that there are dynamic periods of metabolic maturation as well as neuronal growth which is correspondent with the processes of synaptic proliferations as well as pruning of unused pathways. This is termed as the plasticity of the brain. The physiologic plasticity acts as the basis for critical period learning and emotional development. This greatly explains the reason as to why children develop emotions as they grow up. the emotional development is correspondent with the brain development where unused pathways become active. In order to better understand this, there is need to look at the emotional development in the early stages of life.
According to Hannon (nd0 indicates that emotional development is associated with development of the brain. Emotional come about when the brain releases some neurotransmitters and neuroactive peptides. It is believed that the mid-brain, which is controlled from the amyglada, is responsible for releasing these. Different emotions depend on the peptides released. For instance, there is the emotion of fear. This is the feeling that comes when a stimuli necessiating flight is introduced. Once the stimuli is introduced, transmission starts from the amyglada. It moves through the hypothalamus to the body where it produces various reactions such as muscle tension, increased heartbeat, among other signs of fear. This mid-brain section has a capacity to learn and retain the history of such a stimulus. Future introduction of stimuli brings about the same feeling. This clearly explains how infants fear emotions. The emotion of anger occurs in more or less the same way as fear.
Hannon (nd) indicates that there is no clear understanding as to how sadness and happiness emotions are learnt in the brain. However, he argues that happiness resides as both a limbic process and as a result of neurotransmitters. Sadness, on the other hand, is related to the neurotransmitters. Sadness has the capacity to activate higher levels of memory and cognition among other processes which lead to introspection. Generally, Hannon (nd) argues that emotions are as a result of neurotransmitters in the brain. They are caused by certain stimuli. When a child is exposed to these stimuli, a chain of neurotransmission is initiated, leading to manifestation of a given stimuli. The brain stores this memory and future introduction of the stimuli leads to a similar reaction. This explains why children learn emotions with time.
Parents and caregivers have a great influence in this emotional development. This starts in the first months of life; early in life (Thompson, 2007). Within the first months of life, a child can show pleasure when there are familiar adults around. This happens mostly with parents where the children tend to smile when they see their parents or caregivers. As development goes on to about 1 year of age, the children tend to show more signs of emotions. For instance, they tend to have a sense of ownership and tend to say possessive words such as ‘my’ and ‘me’ with greater pride. The children also become quite self conscious. For instance, they can feel ashamed and need to hide when they do something wrong. This indicates that their emotional development is on the right track.
Harris, deRosnay, and Pons (2005) further indicate that as children start learning of language, they tend to be keener on emotions. At about 2 years of age, children tend to look for signs of emotions in the voices of their parents and caregivers. It is at this time that children look for facial expression as a sign of emotions. More often than not, kids at this stage tend to seek for approval before doing something. For instance, a child might want to reach for a toy that is high on the shelf. However, the child first looks at the parent or caregiver for a sign of encouragement or warning. This is a clear indication that there is emotional development. The child can easily read the emotions from the face of the adult. The adult therefore needs to be sensitive enough to the child. The development is greatly affected by the manner in which the parents or caregivers relate with their children.
Lastly, there is the stage which peaks at the age of 3 years which is associated with a confusion of feelings (Roberts, 2012). This is because much of the brain development has already taken place and the child has a sense of identity and independence. It is at this time that children tend to develop a wide range of emotions (Donaldson and Westerman, 2006). These include frustration, anger, fear, sadness, or affection. Children at this stage also tend to be more independent. They want to do things by themselves. For this reason, they tend to be very defiant and tend to use the term ‘No’ quiet often. At times the children might refuse to do things collaboratively but try to handle issues by themselves. Parents should look out for this signs as they show that there is sound emotional growth in their children (Harris, deRosnay, and Pons, 2005).
According to Pollak (2001), children at this stage tend to get more frustrated when they cannot do things by themselves. Since they tend to over expect much from themselves, they are likely to be more frustrated as they take to tasks that ere often too much for them. These emotions tend to overwhelm them, and the children are not in a position to contain or restrain the feelings. As such, they tend to “express themselves on impulse” (Pollak, 2001). The children at this stage tend to have “tantrums when frustrated or tired” (Donaldson and Westerman, 2006). They can also react by hitting out at the nearby individuals.
According to Uwmadison (2010), parents need to very understand at this time. They should be careful not to discourage their children’s emotional development. Most of the time, parents tend to punish their children when they throw tantrums. This is not right as the children are just learning how to express themselves. Instead of smacking the children, parents should help the children to clam down. When the child is calm, the parent can then advice the child on how to express themselves. For instance, the parents can make the child understand that instead of expressing their emotions through actions such as hitting out at others, they should express themselves in words such as sad, happy, angry, and tired, among others.
In conclusion, this essay has looked at how a child’s brain brings about emotional development. It is clear that emotional development takes place in stages and peaks at the age of 3 years. It starts at the infant stage where the child learns to show emotions such as pleasure. The emotional development at this stage is only concerned with the good of the self. As the child develops, they tend to look up to the adults nearby for signs of emotions. Finally, at the toddler stage, they begin to associate their emotions with their own good as well as the good of others. At 3 years of age, there is an emotional outburst that tends to confuse the children and they express themselves by impulse. Nurture is greatly needed at this stage to shape the development.
References
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Donaldson, S.K., & Westerman, M.A. (2006). Development of children's understanding of ambivalence and causal theories of emotions. Developmental Psychology, Vol. 22(5), pp. 655-662.
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Hannon, C.J. (nd). Emotion-based Control Mechanism for Agent Systems. Retrieved on 8th Nov. 2013 from http://ranger.uta.edu/~huber/S04/cse4392_SmartHome/ISE03hannon.pdf
Harris, P.L., de Rosnay, M., Pons, F. (2005). Language and Children's Understanding of Mental States. Current Directions in Psychological Science (Wiley-Blackwell), Vol. 14(2), p69-73.
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Pollak, S.D. (2001). Perceptual asymmetries reflect developmental changes in the neuropsychological mechanisms of emotion recognition. Emotion, Vol. 1(1), pp. 84-98.
Roberts, J. (2012). Review of 'Nurturing natures: Attachment and children's emotional, sociocultural and brain development'. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Vol. 17(2), pp. 126.
Thompson, R. (2007). Development of children's inferences of the emotions of others. Developmental Psychology, Vol. 23(1), pp. 124-131.
Uwmadison. (2010, November 30). Office Hours: Childhood Emotional Development. Retrieved September 18, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7cZBTkGAiU
