1 Psychology and human development1.12 Stages of human development
1.12.8 Emotion literacy, emotional regulation and fears
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Written by Resident Doctor Committee · Published
Emotional development
Primary emotions are present within the first six months of life.
Self-conscious emotions (guilt, shame, pride) emerge at around 3 years, once the child has a sense of self and has internalised standards.
Emotion literacy is recognising, naming, understanding and communicating feelings. Children who cannot describe distress may show it through behaviour, physical symptoms or refusal.
Emotional regulation
Emotional regulation changes the intensity, duration or expression of an emotion to meet a goal. It is not simply suppression, which may leave physiological arousal unchanged.
Regulation moves from co-regulation, where the caregiver soothes the infant, to self-regulation through self-talk, problem solving and reappraisal in childhood.
Typical fears by age
Marks called the changing pattern of childhood fears the ontogenetic parade.
Age | Fear | Why it appears then |
|---|---|---|
First weeks and months | Sudden loud noises, falling | These are the earliest age-typical fears |
6 to 11 months, usually 7 to 9 | Strangers | The infant has a selective attachment and tells unfamiliar from familiar faces |
Preschool, 2 to 5 years | Animals, peaking at around 3 years | A common normal fear |
Preschool, 2 to 5 years | Monsters, imaginary creatures, the dark (dark from 4 to 5 years) | The child can now imagine absent things |
About 7 to 8 years | Death | The child grasps that death is irreversible, universal and ends bodily function |
Middle childhood, 6 to 11 years | Injury, illness, burglars | The child understands real danger better |
Adolescence, 12 to 17 years | Negative evaluation by peers | Abstract thinking lets the young person imagine how others see them |
Teenage years onwards | Failure, serious illness, death | Abstract thinking about the self and the future |
Separation anxiety follows stranger anxiety and is most prominent in the second year.
Developmental fear or anxiety problem
Most childhood fears are transient.
A fear suggests a problem when it is unexpected for the child's age, persists unchanged over months, overwhelms ordinary support, or restricts school, sleep, friendships or family life.
Avoidance keeps a fear going because relief reinforces it and stops the child testing the feared prediction. Graded, supported exposure tests that prediction.