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Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood
08:09

Psychophysiological Assessment of the Effectiveness of Emotion Regulation Strategies in Childhood

Published on: February 11, 2017

Toddlers' understanding of peers' emotions

Sara R Nichols1, Margarita Svetlova, Celia A Brownell

  • 1University of Pittsburgh, Department of Psychology, 210 South Bouquet Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA. srn1@pitt.edu

The Journal of Genetic Psychology
|March 26, 2010
PubMed

Insights

Infants aged 12-24 months use peer emotions to guide toy play. Younger infants avoid toys with peer-expressed emotions, while 24-month-olds engage more with toys after negative peer reactions, especially if they have siblings.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Psychology
  • Social Cognition
  • Infant Behavior

Background:

  • The second year of life is crucial for developing social understanding and peer interaction skills.
  • Infants show increasing interest in peers and begin to interpret adult emotional cues.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if infants (12, 18, 24 months) use peer emotional signals to regulate their toy play.
  • To examine developmental changes in social referencing concerning peer affect.

Main Methods:

  • A social-referencing paradigm was employed with infants and child confederates.
  • Infants observed peers expressing positive, negative, or neutral emotions toward toys.
  • Subsequent infant play behavior with the toys was recorded.

Main Results:

  • 12-month-olds decreased play with toys eliciting peer positive or negative emotions.
  • 18-month-olds showed unsystematic responses.
  • 24-month-olds increased play with toys after observing negative peer affect.
  • Children with siblings showed a typical social-referencing fear response, decreasing play.

Conclusions:

  • Infants' use of peer emotional cues for behavior regulation develops throughout the second year of life.
  • Sibling experience may influence social referencing responses.
  • Findings highlight the interplay between social understanding and peer engagement in early development.

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