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No chapter abstract available.

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Emotions are part of the basic equipment that allows human beings to understand and act in a social world. Children become aware of other people's emotions early in life, showing signs of happiness when they can play and be silly, or getting angry or upset when they cannot have a toy they want or when they see someone get hurt. They can be proud or ashamed of something they have done. Children who are upset look for someone to comfort them; happy children look for playmates or others who can share their happiness. Children who feel ashamed often react by withdrawing, while proud children seek interaction and recognition. Emotional development deals with the types of emotions children understand and express at different ages, and their ability to gradually adapt their emotional expressions and actions to different activities and social contexts.

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There is no generally accepted definition of “emotion,” but it is commonly agreed that emotions include feeling states as a reaction to an event or the result of evaluating a past or present situation or event, including social cues from others. Emotions comprise seven key elements: expression includes facial and other gestures, posture, movements, vocalization and linguistic content. Primary emotions are associated with evaluating an entire situation, or specific aspects of it, and include joy, sadness, fear and anger. Secondary or self-referential emotions are rooted in self-perception and an individual's evaluation according to a personal standard; they include pride, shame, embarrassment, guilt and envy.

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Emotion regulation refers to the monitoring and control of one's own emotional experiences and expressions and the ability to adapt them to one's personal goals and sociocultural conditions. Self-regulation can occur before, during or after an emotion has been expressed and can include the emotion itself, its particular expression and its intensity. Behavior is regulated by adapting emotional expressions and actions to a situation. New and unexpected events will generally elicit stronger emotions than events that are expected, but, in some cases, expectations about an emotionally positive or negative event can amplify a child's reactions. Children's expectations about their own birthday often lead to increasing emotional arousal as the day approaches.

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The issue of universal emotions and cultural differences is central to an understanding of emotional development. Some emotions, such as fear of dangerous animals, are probably universal in the sense that they share the same type of expression and are triggered by similar situations in all cultures. The cultural differences are noticeable early on. There are significant cultural differences in regard to the types of expressions that are used, the extent to which emotions are valued and the ways in which children are expected to show emotions and regulate them at different ages, for example between Cameroon and Germany. The Japanese children were not accustomed to these types of expressions and reacted more strongly to them than US children, who were more accustomed to anger.

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Most theories of emotional development are based on Darwin's hypothesis that the emotional expressions of human beings are the result of evolutionary adaptation. According to differential emotions theory, children begin with two innate forms of general arousal: one that may be called “discomfort” or “restlessness,” and another that may be called “comfort” or “contentment.” Theories of discrete emotions are based on the assumption that human beings have a set of basic innate emotions that are activated early on and appear quickly and automatically. According to Izard's theory, children are born with a system of emotions that lays the foundation for experiencing and expressing a number of basic emotions. In contrast to theories of differential emotions, discrete emotions are indivisible but can be combined into more complex emotions.

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Human beings show emotions in different ways, such as by vocalizing or sweating, but above all by movements of the mouth and eyebrows. Smiling is the first expression of contentment and joy, and a reflexivesmile is present from birth. The social smile, characterized by open eyes and a focused gaze, usually occurs for the first time when children are 6–10 weeks old. At the end of the neonatal period, infants also begin to smile in response to external stimulation. Deafblind children show a variation in emotional expression, but to a lesser degree than sighted children. Crying is the first expression interpreted as distress and discomfort. In newborns, crying is associated with high levels of physiological activation and can be triggered by internal and external stimulation.

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With age, children recognize a greater range of emotions and become more familiar with the relationship between emotions and external events, desires and beliefs. Emotions based on a personal moral standard are often called moral emotions. Self-referential emotions have a regulating function. Shame and guilt reduce the likelihood of repeating the action that triggered the emotion, whether it is something unreasonable a child has said or the inability to master a skill that is expected at a certain age. Pride is a combination of feeling joy and mastery. In early childhood, pride is a general feeling of doing “well,” often as a result of adults’ praise or recognition, such as a positive comment about a child's drawing. Shame is related to the violation of personal standards.

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Children's earliest emotional experiences usually occur within the family, and the family's emotional climate has an impact on how children express and regulate emotions. Toddlers tend to spend much time together with their mothers, and, when the latter show many positive emotions, the children show more positive emotions than negative ones as well. Parental sensitivity and reactions help shape children's feelings about themselves and others and are important for whether a child learns that it is acceptable to show emotions and seek help and support from others. Talking with others about emotions and emotional situations is important for the development of emotion regulation. Children first talk about emotions within the family. Girls seem to talk more about emotions than boys.

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Children's social world contains a myriad of emotional situations and expressions. Their reactions to the emotional expressions of others reflect their interpretation of these expressions and situations, as well as their own emotional regulation abilities. Empathy and sympathy are not emotions in their own right but emotional reactions to the condition or situation of another person. Infants can show expressions similar to those they perceive in others, but probably reflecting the child's perception of the situation more than the other person's emotional state. Children are aware that someone else is unhappy, rather than they themselves. The social environment is important for children's development of empathic and sympathetic reactions. Parents who react with empathy and sympathy when children are upset or anxious also seem to foster children who respond with empathy and sympathy when others are sad or upset.

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Symptoms of anxiety, depression and regulation disorders are relatively common in childhood and adolescence, and some children meet the criteria for a diagnosis. Children with anxiety often show symptoms of depression, but the two disorders develop along somewhat different paths. Depression and anxiety disorders tend to have a major impact on peer relations and school performance, but many children and adolescents are not referred for treatment. Anxiety seems to be related to social stress and insecurity. Anxiety disorders can lead to negative cascading effects. Late childhood and adolescence are vulnerable periods for developing anxiety, and most preventive programs target this age group. Treatment includes relaxation exercises, emotional training, strategies for coping with situations involving anxiety, controlled mental or physical exposure to anxiety-inducing things or situations (desensitization), and educating children and parents about anxiety and its treatment.

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No chapter abstract available.

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Temperament is often viewed as the starting point for children's personality. From the moment children are born, they meet the world in different ways. Some children are more active, emotional or irritable than others, or more reactive when hindered from doing something. Some children like to explore, while others respond with caution to changes and meeting new people, places and events. Nearly all 1-year-olds briefly check their activity when an unfamiliar adult wearing a mask enters the room, but, while some continue with what they were doing almost immediately, others remain still for a long time. Some children are particularly responsive to rewards; others are vulnerable to punishment. All of these differences reflect children's temperament, an individual reaction tendency, a behavioral and emotional disposition. Personality can be defined as a tendency to feel, think and act in ways that develop into individual patterns of an increasingly complex repertoire of thoughts, actions and emotions. It is commonly assumed that temperament has a strong biological basis, whereas personality also reflects the individual's experiences. Children with similar temperaments can develop highly different personalities depending on how they cope with the world and other people's reactions to them.

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As children experience many new things, “reaction to novelty” is a temperament trait of special importance. “High-reactive” or “inhibited" children tend to be cautious and shy and withdraw when meeting new people or things. There are different approaches to measuring temperament, each with strengths and weaknesses, and considerable discussion about which measures describe temperament best. Adult temperament is often described as “introverted” or “extraverted,” “inhibited” or “impulsive". The issue of stability is further complicated by the fact that the behaviors used to measure temperament change with age. Children's activity level, irritability and reactions to unfamiliar people and situations have an impact on how parents perceive children and relate to them. Parental response to the child's temperament changes as the child grows older. Children with a difficult temperament can be a challenge for parents.

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Nearly all theories of personality describe human qualities in terms of characteristic traits. Personality traits aim to describe an individual's general ways of reacting, independent of the situation. In practice, there is often little agreement when several persons assess the personality of the same child. Parents and teachers can have very different views on a child's personality, degree of aggression, industriousness and sociability. Bandura and Mischel dismiss the notion that children develop general personality traits; a child's tendencies to react and act reflect adaptations to actual situations and, therefore, must be seen in light of the child's challenges and relationships.

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Freud formulated the first comprehensive theory of personality development. His psychoanalytic theory established the basis for psychodynamic theories and has had enormous influence on the understanding of personality development in general. Theories about the development of children's relationships and self-development also incorporate assumptions about personality traits. According to Freud, the psychosexual phases give rise to individual differences in personality, as well as to mental health problems. Another central element in Freud's personality theory is the idea that the conflicts between the impulses of the id and the limitations of the superego lead to anxiety and use of defense mechanisms to reduce the anxiety. Erikson describes biologically determined phases in development in which personality is shaped by experience, but does not share Freud's view that personality traits are formed by conflicts linked to drive impulses.

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Temperament is generally regarded to be one of the cornerstones of adult personality. The temperament traits sociability, effortful control and negative emotionality are mirrored in the personality traits extraversion, conscientiousness and neuroticism. Kagan points out that the assumption of early personality formation contradicts the view that personality is the result of adaptation. Early differences in temperament confirm that children make their own unique contribution to the transactional process. Children who score high on agreeableness are described as considerate, empathic, generous, protective and kind. Children's personality traits vary in stability. Some children show high stability, whereas the personality development of others is marked by change.

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Genes have been found to influence personality development. The social environment is the major source of individual differences in personality. In most societies, the family represents the main social environment in childhood and adolescence. Parents are an important resource for children's psychological growth, for instance by engaging in conversations about the child herself and others. The differences between siblings and the relative dissimilarity between children and parents have led to discussions about the amount of influence parents actually have on their child's personality. Parents do not only represent their own experiences or personalities. Children who have been maltreated or abused often show poor development, but their developmental trajectories vary. Many parents who maltreat or abuse their children have themselves grown up under difficult circumstances and were subjected to abuse in childhood.

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A personality disorder is a pattern of inner experiences and behavior that deviates from cultural norms. Both child characteristics and environmental conditions appear to be related to later personality disorders. Harsh parenting as well as physical, emotional and sexual abuse in childhood and adolescence seem to represent increased risk of developing borderline personality disorder. Some personality disorders in adolescence and adulthood are considered to be maladaptive variants of the Big Five. Psychopathy is considered a personality disorder, and adolescents may show symptoms of psychopathy similarly to adults. Children who are social, secure and independent have a lower probability of developing internalizing disorders.

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Children's tendency to feel, think, react and act in particular ways is formed by the possibilities and limitations of their surroundings, as well as by their previous development, while at the same time they contribute to shaping their own environment. Children's personality reflects their development history, their goals and values, and the characteristics of the people in their surroundings. The parents’ own temperament and established behaviors determine how they initially meet the child's actions and reactions. An insecure father living under difficult conditions can become more secure by experiencing himself as a successful parent of a temperamentally easy child, or become more insecure if the child has a difficult temperament. Personality development is an adaptive transactional process. The environment can either hinder or promote children's ability to self-regulate and adapt, and is in turn affected by the child's self-regulating mechanisms.

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No chapter abstract available.

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Morality is the ability to tell right from wrong and forms the basis for judging whether one's own actions and those of others are just, caring and to the benefit of other people, or unjust, harmful and selfish. Morality is socially oriented, and moral norms and values, as well as the development of conscience, are crucial to human interaction and coexistence within societies. Thus, moral development is a process of enculturation and social functioning in a broader social and societal context. This chapter is about the biological and social bases of moral development and offers theoretical explanations of the emergence of moral reasoning, how children and adolescents reason about the morality of actions, based on their consequences and intentions, and resolve moral dilemmas. Moral development is related to prosocial and antisocial development, which is the topic of Part IV.

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Most major theories have a view on moral development and offer widely differing explanations. Some theories emphasize children's cognitive abilities as a basis for moral reasoning, while others see morality as primarily motivational and driven by emotions. According to Piaget, moral development is a process of differentiation whereby children gradually learn to distinguish actions based on reciprocity and fairness from actions based on ready-made rules by an authority. Kohlberg extends Piaget's theoretical framework, adding stages for adolescence and adulthood, and introduces the moral judgment interview, a predetermined set of stories consisting of moral dilemmas. According to Kohlberg, the stages of moral development are universal, and children and adolescents in different countries largely show the same development.

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The extent to which young children judge actions from a moral perspective in their first 2 years of life is subject to considerable disagreement. In their second year of life, children often help others as long as they understand how to do so. Toddlers show better understanding of the consequences actions may have whether they can cause harm, and what is and is not allowed in the family. The development of morality is related to relevant experiences, but morality does not reflect actions in the environment in any simple sense. Children and adolescents growing up with war and violence develop an understanding of what is morally right and wrong.

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Most theorists believe emotions play a decisive role in moral development, and self-evaluative emotions such as pride, guilt and shame are often referred to as “moral emotions”. Freud relates conscience and morality to anxiety and discomfort. Parents influence children by how they talk with them about moral issues, and the family's emotional climate determines how children react to rules. Children's own understanding of the relationship between moral transgressions and experienced emotions evolves gradually. Adolescents become increasingly aware of everyday moral conflicts and their complexities, leading to more subtle feelings and reasoning skills. Adolescence is an emotional period, and, for adolescents, their own and other people's emotions are central to their making sense of events in the social world and evaluating their own and other people's actions.

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The development of conscience begins in early childhood and continues throughout adolescence. Although most theorists emphasize the importance of other people's negative reactions for the development of conscience, there are several developmental pathways to conscience. The best parental strategy is one that suits the child's characteristics. In anxious children, the development of conscience seems best promoted by parental strategies based not on force but on explanations and warmth. Many impulsive children with little self-control develop poor social understanding and inadequate interaction strategies, and thus they end up in the unpopular children group. The ability to arrive at a negative emotional evaluation of one's own actions is considered an important characteristic of the mature individual and member of society. It is crucial for both society at large and for the individual's mental health that conscience and guilt develop without major complications. However, conscience shows significant individual variation.

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Atypical developmental pathways provide insight into the importance of emotions for morality and conscience. Some children and adolescents appear callous and unemotional, showing a lack of guilt and remorse, as well as manipulative behavior, impulsiveness and irresponsibility. As these traits also lie at the core of psychopathy, the terms psychopathic traits and callous-unemotional traits are often used interchangeably. Children and adolescents with callous-unemotional traits are aware of rewards and other positive aspects but less so of any potential punishment. A genetic basis is most prominent in the children who develop antisocial behavior. Children with autism spectrum disorder have social impairments and can also appear callous and unemotional, but without any strong connection to conduct disorders and criminal behavior. Unlike children with autism spectrum disorder, children with callous-unemotional traits have no problem understanding other people's thoughts and intentions.

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No chapter abstract available.

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In all human societies, people share with others and help each other, and such prosocial actions are necessary for societies to function. However, antisocial actions are also part of social life in most societies, both among children and adults. These behaviors are defined according to their functions in social interaction. The intention of prosocial actions is to benefit others, whereas antisocial actions aim to inflict physical or psychological harm on others. Children are social and gradually learn what is and is not appropriate and approved behavior when interacting with others in their society. Their social orientation can lead to both prosocial and antisocial actions, but these behaviors show opposing developmental trajectories (Padilla-Walker et al., 2017). This chapter describes the emergence of understanding and production of prosocial and antisocial behavior in children, and how parenting styles and other conditions may influence this development.

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The social norms of the society will influence the development of prosocial behavior, and parents guide their children toward actions that are considered prosocial in the culture; both parental expectations and their strategies to promote prosocial behavior in children change throughout childhood. Early development was similar across cultures, but, in middle childhood, cultural differences emerged for actions that had a cost to children, and the 14-year-olds approached the typical adult-level of sharing within their society. Typical prosocial actions consist of helping someone, such as picking up something a person has dropped or carrying something for another person; giving something to someone, such as sharing a toy with another child; or comforting someone who is upset, for example a child who has been injured. Principles of reciprocity and fairness have an early influence on sharing. Peers are an important mediator of prosocial behavior in adolescence.

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Antisocial behavior and behavioral disorders can be found in most countries, but their prevalence varies significantly, for example the prevalence for oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder is 1.2 percent in Italy, 5.3 percent in Britain and 7.1 percent in Yemen. Bullying represents a significant share of the aggression among children and adolescent groups. The social-cognitive model thus stresses the importance of children's perception of the social world. There is a relation between antisocial behavior in childhood and later adaptation, but following different developmental pathways. The early authority conflict pathway develops from early stubbornness to avoiding authority, such as truancy. The covert pathway follows a trajectory of covert antisocial behavior such as lying and shoplifting to more serious forms of delinquency such as property damage, car theft, burglary and selling drugs. The overt pathway escalates from bullying and harassment of others to physical fighting and violence.

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Parents are the core of children's social environment, and parental influence is important for the development of prosocial and antisocial behavior. Parental control is part of raising a child and can be important for preventing or reducing antisocial behavior and norm-violating activities in adolescence. Authoritative parenting is characterized by emotional warmth, moderate or high levels of control, and negotiation. Rearing styles reflect the characteristics of both parents and child, and the relationship between children and parents in general. Children who know that their parents are physically and emotionally available perceive disturbing events as less threatening than children with less sensitive and more unavailable parents. Nor is there a clear connection between what would be considered prosocial behavior in Western cultures and a warm, affectionate parenting style. The Waorani people of Amazonian Ecuador are highly belligerent and constantly at war with neighboring tribes and their basic philosophy are extremely individual-oriented.

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Violence and other forms of antisocial behavior are a serious problem in many countries. There are prevention and intervention programs with documented effects in reducing aggression and other forms of antisocial behavior and increasing non-violent conflict resolution, such as The Incredible Years and Triple P Programmed. Theory and research on prosocial and antisocial behavior provide guidelines for how parents and society can promote prosocial behavior and prevent antisocial development. Reducing poverty and preventing child neglect and abuse will contribute to preventing antisocial behavior. Although individual intervention is useful, the goal of society is to implement preventive measures aimed at larger groups or entire populations. The resources used by society to rehabilitate adolescents and adults are considerable in most countries. In the United States, antisocial behavior costs over a trillion dollars every year, making prevention an important priority in terms of human and economic factors.