Emotions

It is thought that the expression of emotion is the same across the world. Anger, sadness, fear, happiness, interest, and disgust are universal emotions and expressed the same way. This indicates that we may be biologically programmed to express emotions in a specific way.

Did you know? If new-borns are given sweet or bitter tasting liquids in the first few hours they show recognisable facial expressions relating to both?

The basic emotions in babies range along a continuum from 'negative to positive'. A range of emotions emerge at different ages. We can recognise them through the infants body language, facial expressions and tone of voice. They also use 'social referencing' - if they hear a loud voice they will look to a parent and are more likely to be frightened if the parent looks frightened.

Emotions - click the green buttons and try to guess the emotions being expressed in these photographs

A child looking interested A green tick A red cross
A child expressing anger A green tick A red cross
A child expressing sadness A green tick A red cross

A child expressing hapiness A green tick A red cross
A child expressing disgust A green tick A red cross
A child expressing fear A green tick A red cross

Emotional Development - see the timeline below to discover how different emotions develop over the first few months

  • Concise Emotional Development Timeline

    Positive Emotions                  Negative Emotions

  • Interest

    From Birth

  • Distress, Disgust

    From Birth

  • Joy, Happiness

    4 - 6 weeks

  • Suprise

    3 - 4 months

  • Anger, Sadness

    3 - 4 months

  • Fear

    3 - 9 months