Emergent Themes in the Study of Emotional Development and Emotion Regulation

Makes explicit a reconceptualization of the nature of emotion that over the past decade has fostered the study of emotion regulation. In the past, emotions were considered to be feeling states indexed by behavioral expressions; now, emotions are considered to be processes of establishing, maintainin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Developmental psychology 1989-05, Vol.25 (3), p.394-402
Main Authors: Campos, Joseph J, Campos, Rosemary G, Barrett, Karen Caplovitz
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Child development
Developmental psychology
Emotional Development
Emotions
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Self-Control
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Summary:Makes explicit a reconceptualization of the nature of emotion that over the past decade has fostered the study of emotion regulation. In the past, emotions were considered to be feeling states indexed by behavioral expressions; now, emotions are considered to be processes of establishing, maintaining, or disrupting the relation between the organism and the environment on matters of significance to the person. When emotions were conceptualized in the traditional way as feelings, emotion regulation centered on ego-defense mechanisms and display rules. The former was difficult to test; the latter was narrow in scope. By contrast, the notion of emotions as relational processes has shifted interest to the study of person/environment transactions in the elicitations of emotion and to the functions of action tendencies, emotional "expressions," language, and behavioral coping mechanisms. The article also treats the importance of affect in the continuity of self-development by documenting the impressive stability of at least two emotional dispositions: irritability and inhibition.
ISSN:0012-1649
1939-0599
DOI:10.1037/0012-1649.25.3.394