282 Unit 3 Infancy
Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc.
Love
As parents care for their babies and meet their
needs, babies become attached to them and begin to
feel and show love and affection. Babies show love
not only to important adults, but also to children
who keep them company.
Besides people, babies also become attached to
objects, such as pacifi ers, stuffed toys, or blankets
(Figure 10.6). Babies seem to need these objects even
more when they are upset or afraid, or when routines
change. Sometimes adults worry about children’s
love for these objects. Such attachments, however,
tend to give babies security and are important to
them. Children give up these objects in time.
Fear
The true emotion of fear is not present at birth.
Instead, newborns react with the startle refl ex when
they hear loud sounds or do not have support for
their bodies. The stimulus of a loud sound or bodily
Expressing Emotions
After disposition and social relations, the third
aspect of social-emotional development involves
expressing feelings. Long before babies express
feelings, the emotion center of the brain becomes
active. Because feelings are complex and tied to
thinking, memory, and even language, wiring for
emotions takes four years to complete.
Brain development research shows that by two
months of age, infants begin constructing emotions.
Infants fi rst get visual cues of emotions in others
at this age. During the fi rst three or four months,
infants have two basic responses to their world.
The fi rst is distress, shown by crying and muscle
tension. The second is excitement, shown by smiling,
cooing, and wiggling the body. By the end of the
fi rst year, infants can express love, fear, anxiety,
anger, jealousy, joy, and sadness. Infants who express
a range of emotions, from happy to unhappy,
show healthy development.
Figure 10.6 Babies may express love by becoming attached to objects, such as pacifi ers or blankets. How do you think
babies’ attachments to objects encourage the development of love?