Skip to main content
Log in

Promoting the Emotional Development of Preschoolers

  • Published:
Early Childhood Education Journal Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper looks at evidence pertaining to the emotional development of preschoolers. The issues talked about include a synopsis of emotional expression, emotional understanding, the regulation of emotions, and their developmental significance. Furthermore, the role of the caregiver–child relationship as indicated by the security of attachment is provided. It is argued that caregivers influence the emotional development of children as they model, coach, and contingently respond to children. The implications of emotional development and the quality of the caregiver–child relationship for teachers as they pertain to affective displays, negotiation skills, affect regulation, and expectancies of children are discussed. Finally, some strategies for enhancing emotional development are suggested.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1973). The development of infant-mother attachment. In B. M. Caldwell & H. N. Ricciuti (Eds.), Review of child development research (Vol. 3., pp. 1-94). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss. Vol 1: Attachment. New York: Basic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Camras, L. A. (1980). Children's understanding of facial expressions used during conflict encounters. Child Development, 51, 879-885.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassidy, J. (1994). Emotion regulation: Influences of attachment relationships. In N. Fox (Ed.), The development of emotion regulation. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 59 (2-3, Serial No. 240), 228-249.

  • Cicchetti, D., Ganiban, J., & Barnett, D. (1991). Contributions from the study of high-risk populations to understanding the development of emotion regulation. In J. Garber & K. A. Dodge (Eds.), The development of emotion regulation and dysregulation (pp. 15-48). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crittenden, P. M. (1992). Quality of attachment in the preschool years. Development and Psychopathology, 4, 209-241.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummings, E. M., & Cummings, J. L. (1988). A process-oriented approach to children's coping with adult's angry behavior. Developmental Review, 8, 296-321.

    Google Scholar 

  • Denham, S. S. (1998). Emotional development in young children. New York: Guilford.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, J., & Hughes, C. (1998). Young children's understanding of emotions within close relationships. Cognition and Emotion, 12, 171-190.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Miller, P. A., Shell, R., Shea, C., & May-Plumlee, T. (1990). Preschoolers' vicarious emotional responding and their situational and dispositional prosocial behavior. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 36, 507-528.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1975). Unmasking the face. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halberstadt, A. G. (1991). Socialization of expressiveness: Family influences in particular and a model in general. In R. S. Feldman & S. Rimé (Eds.), Fundamentals of emotional expressiveness (pp. 106-162). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hartup, W. W. (1989). Social relationship and their developmental significance. American Psychologist, 44, 120-126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Killen, M., & Turiel, E. (1991). Conflict resolution in preschool social interactions. Early Education and Development, 2(3), 240-255.

    Google Scholar 

  • Main M., & Cassidy, J. (1988). Categories of response to reunion with the parent at age 6: Predictable from infant attachment classifications and stable over a 1-month period. Developmental Psychology, 24, 415-426.

    Google Scholar 

  • Malatesta, C. Z., Culver, C., Tesman, J. R., & Shepard, B. (1989). The development of emotional expression during the first two years of life. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 54 (1-2, Serial No. 219).

  • Mussen, P., & Eisenberg, N. (1977). Roots of caring, sharing, and helping: The development of prosocial behavior in children. San Francisco: Freeman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, J. L., Emde, R. N., & Korfmacher, J. (1997). Integrating an emotional regulation perspective in a program of prenatal and early childhood visitation. Journal of Community Psychology, 25, 59-75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saarni, C. (1987). Cultural rules and emotional experience: A commentary on Miller and Sperry's study. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 33, 535-540.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saarni, C. (1990). Emotional competence. In R. A. Thompson (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation: Vol. 36. Socioemotional development (pp. 115-161). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smiley, P., & Huttenlocher, J. (1989). Young children's acquisitions of emotion concepts. In P. Harris & C. Saarni (Eds.), Children's understanding of emotion (pp. 27-79). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sroufe, L. A. (1989). Pathways to adaptation and maladaptation: Psychopathology as developmental deviation. In D. Cicchetti (Ed.), Rochester Symposium on Developmental Psychopathology: Vol. 1 (pp. 13-24). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sroufe, L. A. (1997). Emotional development: The organization of emotional life in the early years. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strayer, J. (1980). A naturalistic study of empathic behaviors and their relation to affective states and perspective-taking skills in pre-school children. Child Development, 51, 815-822.

    Google Scholar 

  • Twardosz, S., Nordquist, V. M., Simon, R., & Botkin, D. (1983). The effect of group affection activities on the interaction of socially isolate children. Analysis and Intervention in Developmental Disabilities, 3, 311-338.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vaughn, B., Stevenson-Hinde, J., Waters, E., Kutsaftis, A., Lefever, G., Shouldice, A., Trudel, M., & Belsky, J. (1992). Attachment security and temperament in infancy and early childhood: Some con-ceptual clarifications. Developmental Psychology, 28, 463-473.

    Google Scholar 

  • Walden, T. A., & Field, T. (1990). Preschool children's social competence and production of discrimination of affective expressions. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 8, 65-76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zahn-Waxler, C., & Radke-Yarrow, M. (1990). The origins of empathic concern. Motivation and Emotion, 14, 107-130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zeaman, J., & Garber, J. (1996). Display rules for anger, sadness, and pain: It depends on who is watching. Child Development, 67, 957-973.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ashiabi, G.S. Promoting the Emotional Development of Preschoolers. Early Childhood Education Journal 28, 79–84 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009543203089

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009543203089

Navigation