Social and Emotional Development in Infancy

Abstract

Abstract This chapter highlights the importance of studying and understanding social and emotional development in the early years of life. Significant person (e.g., temperament) and context (e.g., caregiving environment) concepts are examined, particularly as they intertwine in emergent intra‐and interpersonal constructs and processes such as attachment relationships, self‐understanding, and emotion regulation. The chapter begins by setting socioemotional development in context: psychobiological, relational, and cultural. The review of research in this burgeoning field focuses on advances in the understanding of the development of emotional expression, sensitivity to others' emotions, and emotion regulation. In each of these areas social relationships are key, as illustrated in the review of the construct of attachment, considered a hallmark of socioemotional development in infancy. Transitions beyond infancy are noted in a discussion of representation, and self‐and other‐understanding. The chapter concludes by highlighting the implications of recent developments in theory and research in social and emotional development in infancy for public policies and practices and calls for an expanded and integrated research agenda that will inform these applications.

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